Unraveling the Identity of Jesus: A Journey Through Luke

You know, it's an indication of how extraordinary a thing it was to actually

be in the presence of Jesus that the question of his true identity has been

kind of woven like a thread through Luke's entire narrative here in the scriptures.

In fact, it's not often that the words and the deeds of an individual cause

their contemporaries to actually struggle with the nature of that person's existence.

But we've seen the question, it probably comes to your mind today, who is this, right?

It was asked repeatedly by different people in different places.

We've seen it in Luke 4, 5, 7, 8, and here chapter 9.

And while we've seen the correct answer to that question in the mouths of angels

all the way back in chapter 2, and demons, by the way, in chapter 4 and chapter 8.

Up to this point, we are still waiting, church, for Jesus' disciples to put

all of the pieces together here and come up with the truth.

And so with that thought in mind,

we're going to look at a confession that takes place in this passage.

In fact, in verse 19, it is in that context that Jesus was praying alone one

day, and perhaps he was praying that his disciples would have clarity about

who he was. for when they came along, he put the question to them.

As we noticed in the passage we read earlier, who do the crowds say that I am?

And the disciples actually reply, if you remember in verse 19.

With the same three options that had so perplexed Herod in verses,

actually chapter 7, verse 8.

John the Baptist, who else?

Elijah or some prophet of old, right? All three of those options would have

been seen as positive options.

Clearly popular opinion regarding Jesus was favorable, but Jesus isn't concerned,

church, primarily with public opinion, is he? No.

He wants to have a personal conversation with his disciples.

So in verse 20, he presses them for their personal conviction.

Peter, presumably speaking on behalf of the others replies what?

Right. God's Messiah. Messiah is a Hebrew word, by the way, that simply means anointed.

And in the Old Testament, kings, if you remember, were anointed for the task

to which they were called.

And God had promised that he would one day send an heir of David who would sit

on this throne and rule in a greater kingdom than his ancestor had known.

Remember the Old Testament, he gave those promises, 2 Samuel, Psalm, Jeremiah, Luke.

In fact, the title Messiah was consistently used to refer to that expected royal

Davidic figure that's coming, right?

In fact, Carson and Beal, commentators here of the New Testament,

they actually commentate here on the use of the Old Testament.

They say this, they said, Peter's declaration that

Jesus is the Messiah is bold and clear and we see that in scripture he doesn't

miss words does he he just comes right out and say it you know that's old Peter

for you right he's just right there always just throwing it out and he's saying

that Jesus was the long-awaited anointed ruler.

And what's far more, I think, breathtaking is that Jesus' response to it all.

He actually, if you notice there, he actually embraces what Peter says.

In fact, in Matthew's account, which we did not read today of these events,

in Matthew 16, verse 17, you can look at it.

Matthew 16:17

Jesus explicitly affirms Peter's confession in the strongest terms there.

In fact, that in and of itself, though, doesn't make Jesus unique.

History is full of crazy cult leaders who had delusions along those lines,

but they all eventually faded from the scene because the truth was obvious to

everybody, but their small band of little hoodwinked followers. right?

And so, but among the religious leaders who had actually established a following

among reasonable people,

only Jesus, if you notice, thought that he was the Messiah sent by God to save the world.

And near the beginning of this chapter here that we referred to in this book,

I was telling you about Carson and Bill, this commentary, they actually had

the chapter on Buddhism, the religions of man in that book.

In fact, Houston Smith commented on it. He specializes in world religions.

He's not a follower of Jesus, by the way, in any traditional sense,

but he writes this about it.

He says, how many people have provoked this question, not who are you with respect

to name, origin, or ancestry, but what are you?

What order of being do you belong to, he says? What species do you represent?

Not Caesar, certainly, not Napoleon, not even Socrates, only to Jesus and Buddha.

When the people carried their puzzlement to the Buddha himself,

the answer he gave provided a handle for this, his entire message.

Are you a god, they ask? No, an angel. No, a saint.

No, then what are you? Buddha answered, I am awake.

You see, Buddha actually shrunk from this claim that he was God, right?

But Jesus here, I want y'all to see in this passage, was not shy about acknowledging who he was.

Buddha insisted that he was not the point. But Jesus affirms Peter's confession

that we see in this passage.

Jesus is unique on the world stage, someone who actually thought of himself

in the highest terms and yet was a compelling and attractive presence to all

those around him, right?

Wow, Christ's Messiah, right? He was the Messiah, God's Messiah.

And of all the religious thinkers, think about this today, In human history.

None makes a claim, or in this case, allows a claim to be made about himself like Jesus does.

Y'all, if you've had any doubt, let me just tell you, Jesus,

all through Scripture, it makes this plain.

Even in the Old Testament, he's God's Messiah, God in the flesh.

And y'all, that's so important because if Jesus had not been God in the flesh,

100% God, 100% man, then our salvation would have never been able to have been

taken place, never been purchased, never would have happened.

And it was equally important, and I've shared this with you before,

that he was 100% God and 100% man, because salvation hinges on both.

But let me just tell you about a shocking plan that Jesus had.

You probably noticed it already in this passage.

Maybe you've scratched your head over it before, because we might expect that

that follow-up to Peter's bold confession,

his bold declaration, would be a triumphant celebration in a worldwide broadcast

of this big news that Jesus is God's anointed one, right? He's Messiah.

Instead, what does it say in verse 21 of Luke 9?

Jesus, what? Strictly warned them not to tell anyone this truth.

Huh? Right? We're thinking that probably.

And, you know, this prohibition is temporary. Once Jesus had been raised from

the dead, if you remember, the disciples will be empowered and expected to take

the message about Jesus to the world.

We see that in Acts 1.8. But it is surprising.

We're not told exactly in this passage why Jesus sets down this prohibition.

But the next thing that Jesus says makes it seem that he doesn't want this word

to get around because he doesn't want there to be confusion about what kind

of Messiah he's going to be.

Because the expectation, if you remember, was that Messiah would come from God as what?

A mighty military commander, a warrior who would throw off the oppressors of

God's people and take over as God's king on the throne right then and there.

It talks about in John 6, verse 15.

John 6:15

You know, they were expecting him to overthrow their Roman oppressors, right?

And of course, there's an element of truth in that, in that belief.

But as one scholar points out that Jesus will eventually exercise authority

over the whole world, but not at this moment.

He actually says this. I think it's Bach who wrote this. He says,

the misunderstanding that is so dangerous is one of timing, not substance.

It wasn't God's time for Jesus, this truth to be revealed. And he told him,

hey, keep it down, right?

And so Jesus makes it abundantly clear in the next verses that his messianic

ministry, as we see, would not begin with political triumph,

would it? And military conquest.

Instead, what's gonna happen? What did he say about his ministry to define it in verse 22?

Instead, what did he say? The son of man must what?

You mean it didn't say throw parties and have a good time? No.

He said, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders,

the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and must be killed.

Jesus, y'all, God's Messiah, but the path that he will travel,

this is so important today, is not one of quick glory, but of terrible suffering.

You see, the paradoxes are stark here. Jesus is talking about the Messiah and

the Son of Man, both titles that can connote glory and power in terms of the

suffering, servant of Isaiah.

The most glorious one will suffer greatly and then be rejected and killed,

not by the enemies of Israel, but by who? His leadership, right?

He'll show his power. Get this,

church. He will show his power by allowing others to have power over him.

When he's at the mercy of others, he's simply doing what he knows,

if you look there in that passage, must happen according to his father's decree.

You see, there's an incredible love that stands behind Jesus' statement here

that the Son of Man must suffer.

Nothing outside of God constrains him or forces him to do anything that he doesn't wish to do.

But the necessity of Christ's suffering is rooted in God's free decision that

we see to take away the sins of his people, that's you and me,

and restore them to himself.

You see, these things must happen only because God loved the world so much,

Eastwood that he sent his son to die for sinners.

Now, I've got to ask you today, how many of you are sinners out there today?

I mean, we don't like to throw the hands up, but it's true, right?

Because if you're not a sinner, God didn't come for you. You have no hope if

you're not a sinner. Because he said, yeah, I came for the sick, not the well.

So if you got it all together, you don't quite understand God's salvation.

And I want you to know today, the truth is none of us have it all together,

right? We all fall short of God's glory.

But followed by this here is a shocking call to us, a shocking call.

Look at this in this next slide. He says, there's yet another must before Jesus'

teaching is complete, right?

The Son of Man must suffer. In light of that suffering and obligation is placed

on anybody, though, who wants to be a disciple. What is a disciple?

Right, a follower of Christ, right? Somebody who follows Jesus.

A disciple of Jesus, he says in verse 23, look at it, a disciple of Jesus must

deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow him.

You know, it's important, I think, to notice here the scope of what Jesus is saying.

First of all, who's the call? Whoever would be a follower of Jesus must comply with these directions.

They're not reserved for a special class of super disciples,

are they, right? Or martyrs. They're not optional.

All of Jesus's followers, church, must deny themselves.

And we might think of self-denial. I think sometimes we have trivial thoughts,

sometimes like in terms of refraining from certain luxuries or when a person

on a budget, I just got to deny myself some frivolous purchase like Starbucks

coffee or something, right?

I'm on a budget or some special dessert. I can't have dessert, I'm suffering, right?

But Jesus is calling his people to something much more radical. I want y'all to see that.

In fact, John Stott actually comments on this passage.

Listen to what he says, it's so important. He says to deny ourselves is to behave

toward ourselves as Peter did towards Jesus when he denied him three times.

The verb is the same.

Arparneomai. He disowned him, repudated him, turned his back on him.

Self-denial is not denying to ourselves luxuries such as chocolates,

cakes, cigarettes, and cocktails.

Although it might include this, it is actually denying or disowning ourselves,

renouncing our supposed right to go our own way.

To deny oneself is to turn from the idolatry of self-centeredness.

To deny, that word literally means to refuse to associate with any longer.

When we deny ourselves, we refuse to associate with any longer that old man.

We die to that, right? We deny ourselves all those things that we want,

all the things we want for ourselves, and we take up our cross,

and I'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment, daily, and follow Jesus.

But that being the case, church, we can understand why all followers of Jesus must deny themselves.

Any attempt, you got to get this today, any attempt at discipleship that does

not involve renouncing autonomy or saying, I can do it all on my own,

right? I'm I'm a self-made person, right?

And self-love is not actually following Jesus in any meaningful way.

If we would make him our master, Eastwood, we must first remove ourselves from that position.

Do you hear what God's word is telling us today? We're no longer the one who

calls the shots. Jesus is.

We deny ourselves. We refuse to associate with our old man any longer.

And we follow Christ. We pick up our cross daily and follow him.

So maybe our modern familiarity, by the way, with the cross,

our modern familiarity is what?

Bracelet, piece of jewelry that hangs around the neck, right?

A decoration on a church window, possibly, or in the baptistry,

or somewhere displayed.

But I think that that's robbed Jesus' next statement of much of its scandal.

Let me tell you why. Because in Jesus' day, a cross was a disgusting thing,

akin perhaps to a lynch mob's noose in its capacity to actually create this

dread in those who saw it.

It was a cruel method of execution, in fact, used by the Romans to keep people

in line, to keep people from provinces from rebelling.

And when Jesus says that anyone who wants to be a disciple of his must pick

up their cross in verse 23, he is speaking in the starkest of terms.

Romans actually required the condemned, if you remember, to carry the horizontal

piece of their cross to the execution site.

What does that tell us? A man who was carrying his cross was on a one-way trip to death.

Jesus here, he's not talking about physical death, though that's possible that

following Jesus in a radical way could cost you your life.

Instead, though, Jesus here is talking about, again, dying to your old way of

life and crucifying that old self-centered way of living.

Following Jesus, y'all, is kind of a kind of death because every area of a disciple's

life is radically changed.

Guess what? Our finances are changed. Our ambitions are changed.

Our sexuality, our entertainments.

In fact, even our relationships must all be brought into conformity with the

wishes of Jesus, because now he's our Lord, right? He's our master.

And as a follower of Jesus, make the daily choice to pick up our cross,

to pick up your cross, to pick up my cross.

Every part of that day, when you do that, when I do that, is going to be impacted

by that decision, every part of it.

You know, Jesus frames here his call of discipleship in extreme terms,

using words like whoever and must. We saw those.

And in doing that, church, he excludes anyone who wants some other kind of discipleship.

It's a daily activity, not merely a decision that's made one time and left to the wayside.

Y'all, we're talking about being a follower of Jesus.

You see, picking up one's cross

is the most extreme way to describe the self-denial required of disciples.

If we take Jesus's word seriously in this passage, we have to admit that much

that passes for Christianity today was going to eventually be revealed as a demonic counterfeit.

Come on, church, I'm telling you, We look at all around today and much of what

people claim they're following Jesus. It's obvious that they're not following Jesus, is it?

We have churches that claim this, but it's obvious that they're not following Jesus.

It's a counterfeit Christianity. It's a counterfeit.

It's not actually dying to ourselves and picking up our cross daily and following Jesus.

In fact, positive feelings about Jesus, maybe liking that name,

Jesus. I'll wear it on a t-shirt. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, right?

You got to watch people who say Jesus too much, by the way, because they just

are in love with the name.

But as we see in scripture, he also says, don't be ashamed of the name,

but don't be ashamed of my words.

You see, people a lot of times can wear the T-shirt, but they don't care about

what God said in his word, about God's law, about his standard, about his holiness.

You see, we stop and we think, positive feelings about Jesus,

a commitment even to social justice that we hear so much today,

by the way, which is not in the Bible.

The Bible only speaks of justice. There's just justice, by the way.

There's no such thing as social justice according to God.

It's just justice and injustice. us. A general posture of moral uprightness,

none of those things are proof that we belong to Jesus.

You ought to know that from 1 Corinthians 13, man. We can give to the poor.

We can help the homeless. We can do all those great things that we should be doing as Christians.

But if you aren't a disciple of Christ, if you aren't dying to yourself daily,

picking up your cross and following him, submitting to his word,

the authority of his scripture, submitting to him in every area,

guess what? You're not a disciple.

You're not a disciple. And I think that's why so many are not sharing their

faith, by the way, because Jesus already promised, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.

The problem is not following. Therefore, we're not fishing.

Because God said, do you follow? You fish.

Sorry if we don't like it. I'm just telling you what God's word says.

You see, the only kind of Christ-following is self-denying, cross-bearing discipleship. That's it.

It's important to remember, though, that we're not saved by taking up the cross.

Rather, we are saved because Jesus took up his cross. Praise God for that.

He doesn't call his followers to anything that he's not done for us already.

In fact, I think this is a strange sales pitch. Anybody ever been in sales?

Anybody out there ever done a sales job? Maybe you're in one,

okay? This is a strange sales pitch, by the way.

It seems that Jesus would make a terrible salesman to me.

In fact, in these verses, he violates every principle of effective evangelism

and every popular church growth strategy.

Any marketer would actually tell Jesus that, hey, if you want people to follow

you, you should emphasize the bennies.

You know what I mean by that? The benefits, right?

Of discipleship and try to draw attention away from whatever,

you know, those costs might be. But here, what does Jesus do?

He leads with the costs, Brother Ronnie. He leads with what it costs to follow him.

In God's economy, I want y'all to get this. Losing one's life is actually the path to blessing.

Do you see that? Look at verse 24 quickly.

If someone wants to save his life by refusing to pick up the cross of discipleship,

y'all, and by clinging desperately to his rights and privileges,

he'll find in the end, according to verse 24, that he's lost it.

Whether he's gained in the process of whatever he's gained in the process of

clinging tightly to his own will, or his life, his own life,

trying to preserve it, he's going to lose it in the end, Jesus said.

Even if he gains the entire world, it says, along the way, what good will that do him? Verse 25.

You see, paradoxically, the call to pick up your cross is a call to come and save your life.

When a condemned man, get this, church, carried his cross, it was a public spectacle.

And in the same way, I got to share with y'all today, according to this passage,

following Jesus is a public event.

If a would-be disciple is ashamed of him and his words and will not confess

him publicly, Jesus himself said that he'll be ashamed of him when he returns in judgment.

If we deny our relationship to Jesus before men, he'll deny that we're his on the last day.

When that happens, the one who sought to retain his life by refusing the cross

of discipleship, church, will find that he's forfeited his very self, his soul.

You know, in the days here when Luke was written, Christians were being persecuted, weren't they?

Imprisoned and even killed for their faith in Jesus. In fact,

for first century Christians, as well as believers in many contexts around the

world today even, The temptation to be ashamed of Jesus was sometimes a temptation to self-preservation.

And as like the good old USA and Western societies became more hostile to Jesus'

claim to be the truth and the only way to God,

which by the way, if you haven't looked lately, our culture hates God. It's very obvious.

Believers in those contexts will have to decide whether they're willing to be

insulted and thought less of and called all sorts of names intolerant,

bigots, all that for their connection to Jesus.

You see, Jesus's words, church, are sobering.

The arrival of God's Messiah has set in motion a chain of events that's going

to lead inevitably to his suffering and ultimate return in his glory and in

the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. it says in verse 26.

I mean, the clock is ticking. Come on. The clock is ticking.

Jesus even promised in this passage, and I'll talk about this quickly,

some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.

Maybe you scratched your head over that one a few times, too.

The exact meaning of Jesus' words here is debated. We actually have different views.

In fact, I'm going to share four with you. Some say that Jesus mistakenly,

as it turns out, they say, believe that the full and consummated kingdom is

coming in the very near future, and that makes Jesus a misguided prophet of the apocalypse.

We can scratch that one off the list.

Others say Jesus is referring to the reality of the kingdom as it is inaugurated

either in his resurrection and ascension or at the coming of the Holy Spirit

at Pentecost. They're going to see the kingdom.

And then some think Jesus is talking about the transfiguration that we're going

to see in verses 28 through 36, which is a display of his glorious kingdom and

a promise that Jesus will one day come in his full glory.

And then lastly, some people just think that Jesus is prophesying the destruction

of Jerusalem in AD 70, which served as a foretaste of God's judgment.

So those are the views people have on that verse.

But clearly, and I already said this, but given all that we've seen and all

that we've heard so far from Jesus, that first possibility is to be rejected.

In context, y'all, I'm just going to be straight with you.

I know you like that. I really think here in this passage that Jesus seems to

be referring to his vindication at his resurrection and ascension into heaven.

The second option that we talked about.

They're going to see the kingdom on display, right?

But Jesus, but whether he means option two, three, or four, could be any of those.

His point is clear, though, isn't it? In light of that imminent,

I should say, arrival of his kingdom that's coming,

it's madness to continue living as if this present world were the ultimate reality.

Y'all, I hope you see today, if a disciple must pick up her cross daily or his

cross daily, then perhaps we should see embedded in that reality a call to daily

self-examination, right?

Ask yourself some questions as we close today.

What am I living for? What am I hoping to gain by my actions today?

How long will those things last?

What would it mean to lose my life today in order to save it in the end?

That should be the question, church. If you don't know Jesus today,

I'm just going to ask you briefly, right where you're at, you don't have to

stand right at this moment. Just close your eyes for a moment where you're seated.

I want you to think about today because, yeah, we had a challenging nature of

Christ's words here to his followers.

And we should expect our answers to those questions never to be anything less

than deeply challenging.

Have you repented of your sin and put your faith in Christ? Have you become

a disciple, a follower of Jesus?

You see, this passage today, Eastwood, describes what that looks like when we

deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him daily, and we're not ashamed of him or his words.

We don't shy away from that public spectacle of being a follower of Jesus in the public eye.

If that's you today, if you've never given your life to Christ right where you

are this morning, as Miss Sharon plays, I know we're not standing right now, and that's okay.

I just want you to think right now, if that's you, I encourage you right now,

if the Holy Spirit's moving in your heart to come to Christ,

I encourage you right now where you are, to forget about what other people think.

To get up from where you are right now and walk down this aisle.

I promise you, I'll meet you down here at the front, but I also promise you

when you get up and you take that first step, that God is going to be with you every step.

If you've never surrendered to him, if you've never said, Lord,

forgive me a sinner. I'm in need of you, Lord. I need your forgiveness.

I encourage you to do that right where you are right now. Just pour out your heart to him. Tell him.

There may be some of you here today. We're fixing to do the Lord's Supper.

We're going to receive the Lord's Supper in just a few moments.

There may be some of you here today that may have something in your life you just know is not right.

You need to repent of it right now, even as a believer especially.

If there's an attitude or some unforgiveness you're holding against somebody,

you need to make that right. Right now, I'm going to give you an opportunity.

Come before the Lord right now where you're at and pray. You may not have to

come down to this altar. It's open if you need to.

But right now where you are, those of you that may need to repent of something right now, do that.

Those of you that need Jesus, maybe, I encourage you to step out publicly because

that's what He called us to do.

There may be some of you here today as well that maybe you've never followed

the Lord in believer's baptism. God is, that's the first command Jesus gave, right?

And I've heard it's the easiest one, just getting wet, right?

And I encourage you, if you've never done that, if you've never followed the

Lord in believer's baptism, you get up, you come down and say, you know what?

I want to be obedient in every area of my life.

Right now, these moments, as Ms. Sharon plays, I want you to do business with God.