The Great Confession

In this part of the sermon: Martin details the setting of the confession, highlighting Jesus' withdrawal with His disciples from the crowds to the secluded and beautiful region of Caesarea Philippi. This…

Martin reads a paragraph from the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary to provide a detailed geographical and historical context for Caesarea Philippi, explaining its location, ancient names, and significance.

was then called the Great Sea, we would call the Mediterranean Sea. And it plays a central place in the record found in the Book of Acts. But this Caesarea was inland, about 30 miles due north of Bethsaida, right up to the very headwaters of the Jordan River. Perhaps the best thing I can do to give you a synopsis of the place and why it was called Caesarea Philippi is to read the brief paragraph out of the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, a great Bible aid or aid in Bible study. And I commend it to you if you don't possess one. It ought to be on the shelf of every Christian home. It was a...

11:38 - 12:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: First of all, they were not ready to bear a proper witness to His identity as Messiah. They were not ready to bear a proper, balanced witness to His identity as Messiah.

Martin uses the analogy of a parent's different tones when telling a child to tuck in a shirt versus yelling at them for running into the street. This illustrates the strong, 'toothy' nature of Jesus' 'strict charge' or 'rebuke' to His disciples.

Out comes this glorious confession, and it's met, not primarily praise in Mark's account, though Matthew tells us there was a word directed especially to Peter. But there comes this, strict prohibition, this warning with teeth in it. Let me illustrate it this way. You might say to a child who's off his, on his way to school, and he's got one of his shirt tails hanging out, now Johnny, stick your shirt tail in.

37:26 - 37:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure your confession of Jesus as the Christ is a deep, heartfelt conviction, not a mere verbal repetition learned from others.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his family's parakeet learning to say 'Buddy is a pretty boy.' This illustrates the difference between a mere verbal, parrot-like repetition of a confession and a genuine, heartfelt, Spirit-revealed conviction about Christ's identity.

But you see, if that's all you've come to see, if all you've come to know and experience in your heart is noble, admirable, lofty, exalted thought, putting Him in the category of the best, my friend, you, like those people, are speaking from a proper conception of Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing less than the confession you are the Christ of Nazareth. That confession is a reflection of reality. That confession must be made not as a parrot could make it. Some of you know that we have a little parakeet. We've had him in our home for several months and if he has heard once, he has heard thousands of t...

48:34 - 49:37 Read in full sermon