The Great Confession

Introduction to a Pivotal Point in Mark's Gospel

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 4th, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Let us turn together to the 8th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark as we continue our consecutive expositions in this portion of God's Holy Word. Mark chapter 8, and I shall read in your hearing verses 27 through 30. Mark 8, beginning with verse 27.

0:42 And Jesus went forth and his disciples into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am? And they told him, saying, John the Baptist. And others, Elijah. But others, one of the prophets.

1:14 And he asked them, But who say you that I am? Peter answers and says unto him, You are the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. Let us again seek the face of God in prayer and ask, Let us ask God by the Holy Spirit to come and illuminate our minds as we come to this vital portion of his own Holy Word.

1:49 Let us pray.

1:53 Our Father, we have sung of the great truth that Christ himself draws near in his own Word. And we acknowledge that we can find no satisfaction, no food for our souls, no warmth to our coldness. sui omnium by merely exercising our minds concerning the thoughts which those words convey.

2:27 O Lord, we will leave many of us frustrated, disappointed, grieved in spirit, if Christ himself does not draw near in his own Holy Word. O Holy Spirit, sent from the exalted Lord, to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them, to apply them with power, come in your own person and ministry and fill up the sacred page with the very livingness of Jesus, as together we meditate upon His Word. O hear us and come to us in our need, we plead through Christ our Lord. Amen. In coming to the paragraph read in your hearing, we've arrived at a point in Mark's Gospel that is a very significant point. Some commentators have suggested it is so significant as to designate it as the beginning of the second half of Mark's Gospel.

The Foundation of Christ's Person for His Work

3:42 Now, whether this sharp align of demarcation is proper may be a matter of debate. However, what is undebatable from the text and from the immediately following context is that we have indeed arrived at an entirely new dimension of our Lord's instruction and interaction with His disciples. From this point onward, we have arrived at a point in Mark's Gospel that is a very significant point. point on, and with increasing frequency, our Lord gives explicit announcements about His forthcoming death and resurrection. You will notice that in verse 31 we are informed, and He began to teach them. That is, there was the beginning of a new form of teaching on this issue, that 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 after three days rise again. Previous to this, there had been some veiled references. Very early in His ministry, He

5:01 said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. A veiled reference. A veiled reference. A veiled reference. A veiled reference. A veiled reference. A veiled reference to His death and to His resurrection. There were some subtle allusions to it. There were some figures of speech that pointed to it, even the chapter we are now reading in our consecutive reading. But from this point on, no longer will there be veiled references, subtle allusions, some vivid metaphors and images of His death. Rather, there will be bold, straight-forward, unambiguous assertions that He must suffer, He must die, and on the third day be raised from the dead. He begins to instruct His disciples that in the accomplishment of His purposes for His people, rejection, the cross, and the open tomb are absolute necessities. Now, in preparation for these clear pronouncements with respect to His saving

6:17 work, He first of all draws forth a confession with respect to the uniqueness and precise identity of His person. Mark leaves us no doubt as to the identity of His person, for He began His gospel with these words, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or Jesus Messiah, the Son of God. But from 1-1 through to the present passage, there is no explicit assertion of His identity as Messiah and as Son of God. There is wonderment as people behold His mighty works. We saw in one of the previous sections, they cried out, What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him? And though there had been the confession of foul spirits as to His identity, there was no such precise confession elicited from the disciples. But here at this

7:35 point, our Lord, as He stands on the threshold, of this concentrated instruction regarding the manner in which His redemptive work will be accomplished, namely, by suffering, death, and resurrection, is concerned to draw forth a focused, unambiguous confession with respect to precisely who He is. Now, this should not surprise us, for it is an oft-repeated principle of Scripture that the foundation for the efficacy of the work of Christ is laid in the constitution and nature of the person of Christ. Or to state it differently, it is because Jesus of Nazareth is who He is, that He is able to do what He does. The foundation for His work is laid in the constitution of His person. And so our Lord, before giving more definitive and precise teaching to the disciples with reference to the nature of His work, is going

Circumstances of the Great Confession: People and Place

8:59 to draw out of them this confession with reference to the identity of His person. And in so doing, what we have as the center issue in verses twenty-seven to thirty is that great confession. The great confession which focuses upon the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. Now, as we attempt to think our way through the passage, we shall have occasion to note, first of all, the circumstances in which the great confession was made.

9:38 The circumstances in which the great confession was made. And our attention is directed first of all as to the circumstances to the people who made it and in whose presence it was made. The text begins with these words, And Jesus went forth and his disciples. Once again we have in this section of the gospel an emphasis upon the fact that Jesus has drawn away from the crowds, drawn away from the pressure of the milling multitudes, and is spending concentrated quality time with the inner circle of the twelve. No longer is there the pressure of the throngs. No longer is there the constant harassment of the skeptical, unbelieving, jealous, Jewish leaders who hounded his steps and constantly sought to catch him in his words. But he's in that company in which he finds such delight.

10:50 He is in the intimate inner circle of fellowship with his own disciples. But then in the circumstances surrounding the great confession, we are pointed not only to the people involved in that confession, but the place. The text tells us that he went forth and his disciples into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Now what is or where is this Caesarea Philippi?

11:25 Well those of you who have a little acquaintance with biblical geography will know that there is a Caesarea that is on the western coast or the western shore of Palestine bordering on what is the western coast of Palestine. That is, on the western coast of Palestine. So it's on the western coast of Palestine. So it's on the western coast of Palestine.

11:38 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 town at the extreme northern boundary of Palestine, about 30 miles inland from Tyre and 50 miles south and west of Damascus. It lies in the beautiful hill country of the southern Slovakia. And it was probably very near to the scene of our Lord's transfiguration, an event that we shall come to in a few weeks' time, God willing. The town was very ancient and perhaps the Baal Gad town of

12:55 Joshua, chapters 12, verse 7, 13, 5. And for centuries it was a center of the worship of the heathen god Pan, whence it was known as Penelope. And it was also known as Panias, and whence the modern name Banias, because there is no P in the Arabic alphabet. Augustus Caesar presented it with the surrounding country to Herod the Great, who built a temple there in honor of the emperor. And then Herod's son, Philip the Tetrarch, enlarged the town and named it Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from the other Caesarea, literally the Caesarea of Philip. That is, the Caesarea connected with Philip's activity in enlarging and beautifying that town. It lies at the easternmost of the four sources of the Jordan, and near here these streams unite to form the main river. It was at a secluded spot near here that the Lord began to prepare his disciples for his approaching suffering and death and resurrection, and where Peter made his way to the city of Caesarea.

14:08 It was at this spot that the Lord made his famous confession. We are told by those who have studied Bible lands that it is perhaps one of the most beautiful spots in all of Palestine. And then they go on to describe some of the natural beauty of that scenery. And so in keeping with our Lord's purpose at this point in his ministry, in which ministering to the multitudes day after day is not in the plan of the Father, rather this drawing aside with his disciples to concentrate his teaching upon them in the remaining months of his earthly pilgrimage, perhaps there were few places in all Palestine more conducive to lengthy walks out amidst beautiful scenery that would remind them constantly of the beauty of God, and the wisdom and power of God and His morning handiwork, and dispose their minds away from hearings andbumps and censussions never inquired a word of God and either under that same air of sin, not even photos of the cross or the turn, foreth filmmakers or photographs, and desecituation for call Chronicles which are set to hand in the minds of the destruction of the Roman Num破 at Rising Dawn on each part. expose their minds by external circumstances to be susceptible to the teaching of our Lord Jesus. But then there is a stroke added by Luke that not only indicates the circumstances with reference to the people and the place, but also the spiritual climate. Mark tells us that as they were on the way

Circumstances of the Great Confession: Spiritual Climate

15:34 into perhaps one of the outlying suburbs or villages of the main city, Caesarea Philippi, it was on the way that He spoke to them. Luke adds this very interesting stroke in Luke 9 and verse 18. And it came to pass as He was praying apart, the disciples were with Him and He added, Now in harmonizing the statements, something like this apparently transpired. They are in the way with our Lord in one of the smaller suburban villages of Caesarea Philippi. And as they are on the way, Jesus draws aside to pray. But He does not leave His disciples at such a distance that they can be said to be apart. He does not leave them apart.

16:36 He does not leave them apart. He does not leave them apart. They come to Him. For Luke says, Though our Lord is praying apart, yet His disciples are with Him.

16:46 And the verb used points in the direction of the physical proximity of the disciples to our Lord. So He is apart, yet not so far apart that they are not aware that He is praying. They have learned from their previous intercourse with their Lord that when He gave Himself to concentrated seasons of prayer, it was often prior to some epical event in His own life or in His own dealings with them as His disciples. And so in that climate of intimate communion with Christ, in surroundings very conducive to concentrated, undisturbed teaching, and in a spiritual climate in which they know their Lord has come, fresh from intense, concentrated communion with His Father, it is in that context that our Lord Jesus draws forth the Great Confession. Seek then to see, to feel, to enter in to the circumstances of this scene, for the Holy Ghost has recorded them as much as the Great Confession. And if He has recorded them, then it is so. It is so.

18:07 It is so. It is because He wants us to put the Confession into the context in which the Lord elicited it from His disciples. Then notice, secondly, having considered the circumstances of the Great Confession, the probing questions which precipitated the Great Confession. The probing questions which precipitated the Great Confession.

The Probing Questions: Popular Opinion

18:35 And we have questions, question one and its answer, question two and its answer. First of all, then, question one. On the way, He asked His disciples saying unto them, who do men say that I am? And the English grammarians debate about whether it should be rendered whom or who do men say that I am.

19:01 I will stick with the reading in our 1901 American Standard Version. Along the way, coming fresh from intense communion with His Father, our Lord pauses. And as He pauses, He addresses a question to His disciples that focuses upon His own personal identity. And what He is asking them is this.

19:29 I want you to give me a consensus of current popular opinion with respect to my identity. Now, He did not do this because He was ignorant of that opinion. John 2, 24 and 25 tells us that Jesus did not need to have anyone testify concerning men, for He Himself knew what was in men. Our Lord did not do this in order to find out what men were thinking or saying.

20:03 He did it in order to set the stage for drawing forth the personal confession of His own intimate followers. Nonetheless, He does ask them, what is the current consensus with reference to me? And when Mark uses the word, who do men say that I am, he is referring not to all men, including those who have already made a judgment. The Pharisees had called Him a blasphemer because He forgave sin.

20:37 They said He was in league with the devil and did His miracles by the power of that relationship to the host of darkness. But as we read in Luke, it was a question, who do the multitudes say that I am, referring obviously to those vast multitudes throughout Galilee who had seen His mighty miracles, the multitudes who had eaten the bread and the fish, multiplied in His own hands, those who had seen Him unstop the ears of the deaf and loosen the tongues of the dumb and even raised the dead. He is asking, who do the multitudes say that I am? Those who have followed, those who have seen my miracles, those who have heard me preach and have wondered at the grace and the authority with which I have spoken. What is the current consensus? And the answer in all three synoptic gospels falls into three categories.

21:44 Notice, And they told him, saying, John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, but others, one of the prophets. Now where in the world did the vast multitudes get the notion that the identity of Jesus was to be understood in terms of one of these three categories? First of all, answering the question, you'll remember that there was someone else who believed that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. We studied about that man Herod, the man who ruled up in that area, and it was his opinion that the mighty works that were being done by Jesus were a manifestation of special power given to John in virtue of his being raised from the dead. For John did no miracles in the day of his life. But the common consensus was that John was raised from the dead, therefore these mighty powers were at work in him. Now obviously, this opinion could only be held by those who did not see Jesus and John together at the baptism of Jesus.

23:04 Who were not there to behold them. those infrequent interactions between the two. So there was the opinion that Jesus Christ was John the Baptist risen from the dead, the one who was the forerunner of Messiah. But then others were of the opinion that it was Elijah.

23:28 Now why Elijah? Well again, for the simple reason that in the messianic expectation of the Jews, Elijah was to play a very significant part. The last prophet to speak, Malachi said in Malachi 4, 5, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come, and he shall turn the heart of the people of Israel. The heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

24:09 And you'll remember that in another place in the Gospel record, there is this allusion to the present prevailing conviction. How say the scribes that Elijah must come first? And Jesus says, that's right, he must come, and he has come in the person of John the Baptist. But you see, there is a difference between the two.

24:29 But you see, there was this prevailing conviction that before the dawning of the day of the Lord in the appearance of Messiah, Elijah would come and would minister to God's covenant people. And so those who failed to see its fulfillment in John, or had not heard perhaps of the ministry of John, it was their conviction that his identity was none other than that of Elijah. But then there were others who said, no, one of the prophets, or as Luke tells us, one of the old prophets has risen from the dead. And the prophet that is specified in Matthew's account is Jeremiah. So here was another category of the prevailing consensus when people would gather in the marketplace, when women would gather for a cup of tea, when men would meet out in the fields to work. And the conversation turned to this mighty miracle worker who had gone through the entire region of Galilee, and they were discussing, who do you think he is? Who do you think he is?

25:39 There were not a few who said, ah, God has visited his people and raised to life one of the old prophets. And perhaps there were peculiar dimensions of his prophetic ministry that had echoes and overtones of some of the dominant emphases of Jeremiah. Jeremiah's ministry, that ministry of denunciation of the religious leaders, for again and again Jeremiah is crying out against the false shepherds who cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Perhaps Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, found some echo in the one who is designated as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

26:23 But for whatever reason, there was this prevailing consensus. One of the old prophets has been raised from the dead. Now, did you notice that in all of those there is nothing denigrating? What a wonderful thing if any one of us were put in the class of John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets.

26:51 Of John, Jesus said, there's not been one born of woman greater than he. Of Elijah. He is set forth as the prime example of prevailing prayer among the prophets in James chapter five. And of Jeremiah and the other prophets, they are continually referred to in terms that would make us envy that position.

27:17 So though the common consensus in many ways was noble and admirable, and there was nothing denigrating, there was one problem with that consensus. There was one problem. There was one problem with that consensus. It was literally light years away from reality.

27:36 It was spiritual light years away from reality. John the Baptist was a sinner who would have gone to hell but for the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Elijah was a sinner who would have died and gone to hell instead of going up to heaven in a flaming chariot had Jesus not died for his sins and risen from the dead. And all of the prophets, however great they may have been, were fallen sons of Adam dependent upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and acceptance with God. Nonetheless, our Lord asked the question and the response is given. But now, notice question. Number two and its answer.

The Probing Questions: Peter's Confession

28:34 Having received from the disciples the common consensus as to his identity, he now turns and in a way that doesn't come through in an English translation but is very evident in the original. Our Lord very pointedly says, But who say ye that I am? We might translate it this way. But you, who do ye say that I am?

29:09 We say as a confession of their perception of reality that I am John, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the old prophets raised from the dead. But who do you, even you, my followers, who have seen the same miracles that they have seen, who have heard the same sermons that they have heard, who have been exposed to the same manifestations, of my mighty works and power, who do you say that I am? In other words, our Lord is pressing upon them a resolution in their own minds as to their convictions about his identity. He's saying, in essence, you've done your job as poll takers.

30:04 You've done your job as consensus. You've done your job as consensus takers. Now my question is not what do they say, but what do you say? And what do you say was not a question desiring a response of a mere verbal parrot-like nature.

30:24 He is saying, what do you say, what do you confess, as the deepest perception of your heart and the deepest religious conviction of your identity? Who do you say that I am? Then the answer, in which Peter becomes spokesman for the entire group, is this.

30:51 Peter answered and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. In Luke, you have a little expansion. You are the Christ of God. Matthew gives us the fullest account.

31:08 You are the Christ. The Son of the living God. Now again, there is no contradiction. There is the fullest statement recorded in Matthew, a mediating statement in Luke, and then this briefest confession recorded by Mark.

31:27 You are the Christ. Now when Peter spoke those words, what was he affirming? What was he confessing? What was he expressing of his own heart's conviction about Christ?

31:41 About the identity of the person of Jesus? Well, we must understand that the word Christ is not a name, but it is a title. We were apprised this morning that a little girl was born to one of our families, and we were also informed that a name or two names had been assigned to her. Now those names, lovely as they sound upon our ear, do not confer any position or speak of any title.

32:16 They do not speak of any office. But when Peter said you are the Christ, what he was saying is you are the anointed one. The word Christos comes from the verb krio, which means to anoint. And so Christos is the anointed one.

32:41 That is the one promised in the Old Testament as God's Messiah, who would be anointed by the Spirit to fulfill every function of the Messianic office, who would set up the Messianic kingdom, who would establish his Messianic rule and reign in his capacity as Messiah. Now this conviction expressed by Peter did not begin, at this point, as though it were a bolt of lightning that just struck him the moment Jesus looked at them and said, who do you say that I am? There was a growing conviction that his identity was to be understood as nothing less than God's anointed one, the Christ of God. If you will carefully read the first chapter of John, you will remember that they were first drawn to him by the testimony, we have found him, of whom Moses and the prophets did speak. We have found the Messiah. Come and see.

33:51 And their initial attachment to him was in terms of that witness of his Messianic identity. But now over a period of approximately two years, they have lived in intimate contact with this one to whom they initially committed themselves, along the shores of Galilee. And in that intimate connection, seeing his life in every set of circumstances, beholding his works morning, noon, and night, in all kinds of circumstances and diverse relationships, everything has now come to a clear, unshakable, inward perception, tentative perception, tentative conviction, has now become clear, unshakable conviction. And it bursts forth in the language of Peter. He doesn't preface it with the words, we be, or we convicted. Response of Peter is, you, or in the language of Luke, you are the Christ,

35:20 in the language of Matthew, you are the Christ, are nothing less than Son of the living God. You are the Son. You see, Mark has already tipped his hat on this issue in his first words. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not repeated here.

35:44 He's already showed his hand on this issue. And those whose minds are so perverse that they are determined to find error actually take the omission of that which is included in Matthew as an indication of the horrible errors of the Bible, when all they show is the horrible perversity of their own hearts.

The Strict Prohibition and Its Reasons

36:09 So the second question elicits the Great Confession. And then, following that, we have the strict prohibition, which followed the Great Confession. A strange thing, verse 30. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him a strict prohibition which follows the Great Confession.

36:36 Consider with me the prohibition itself, and then the reason for it. The word, used for charged them, is a very strong word. It's the word that we will find, God willing, when we come to verse 32 in this very chapter. And he spoke the saying openly, and Peter took him and began, here's the word, to rebuke him.

36:58 He began to charge him. He began to expostulate with him. He began vehemently to oppose him. That's the word.

37:08 It's the word used earlier in Mark, when Jesus, strictly charged the demon to come out of a man. It's the word often translated by rebuke. He rebuked the winds and the waves. So the disciples understood, and it must have been a tremendous let down.

37:26 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.

37:57 Don't go off to school looking like a little bum. Now the same Johnny tucks his shirt tail in, and he comes home, and later that afternoon he's so excited, got so much pent-up energy, wants to go play with his friend, and he starts off across the street, and he doesn't look both ways. Now you yell at him and say, Johnny! Don't you ever, ever, ever do that again!

38:21 You see the difference? In one you're giving some directions, but in the other, there's an element of toothiness in it. Well that's the word used here. Jesus did not give a mild suggestion, or even a strong inference.

38:36 He strictly charged them. They understood that this was a weighty matter in the judgment of our Lord. They were to tell no man, that is Matthew 16, 20, they were to tell no man that He was the Christ. He fully accepted the implications of the Great Confession.

38:58 Fully accepted all of them to acknowledge in His person God's anointed prophet and King who would establish His messianic kingdom and rule over it unto the ages of the ages. But having, elicited the Confession, having accepted the implications of it, He gives this strict prohibition to tell no man of His identity as the Christ. Now why did He do this? Well it is not explicit in the text, but surely in the immediate and larger context, the answer is clear.

39:37 And there are many things that are not explicit in the text that are clear when we bring the light of the entirety of the biblical witness to bear upon the text, which is the only responsible way to study, to expound, and to preach the Bible. And there were two reasons, at least. 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.

40:10 There is no question in the mind of Peter and the other disciples as to His identity. But in the next paragraph, when he says as Messiah, I must build my messianic kingdom upon my blood, and my opium doesn't build His kingdom by a cross, and a bloody execution at the hands of apostate religious leaders. No, no, never, never, never, never. The Lord had to call him a devil.

40:49 His thinking about how to establish His reign was yet very twisted and inadequate. So Jesus did not say, do not send them out half-cocked to preach what they knew in such a way that would undermine His very mission as Messiah. It's a good lesson for thorough ministerial preparation, you see it? Until men can responsibly declare the portion and balance Jesus has done for them, yes, let them give it whenever.

41:28 Whoever can cut a straight course in the word of truth by having a grasp upon the whole counsel of God into relatedness and in its proper balance, they were not ready to bear a balanced witness to His messianic identity, because they did not yet see that suffering, rejection, crucifixion, and open tomb lay in the path of the establishment of His messianic reign. After Pentecost, He knew it. Peter had no problem then standing on that day and saying, this Jesus whom you crucified, God has exalted Him and made Him Lord. He said, don't, because you're not ready. And secondly, the masses would have completely misunderstood as well. We read this morning that the mob of the Jews who had eaten bread in His hands were ready to force Him and make Him a king.

42:43 Their whole conception of Messiah's reign, listen carefully, was a conception that was born of a selective choice. Certain Old Testament threats, strands of thought, that overlooked other large strands of thought, in the Messiah's servant are one and the same person. It was through redemption to His people. It was through it that He would bring redemption to His people.

43:22 They conveniently overlooked the suffering servant passages as most Jews do to this day. Or misapply the suffering servant passages to their own suffering as a nation over the centuries. In our Lord's own self-consciousness, He was everything that the suffering servant was to be, as well as everything that God's glorious messianic King was to be. But the masses did not understand that, and had the disciples gone out and proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth the mighty miracle worker, the nature of the multitudes would have been such that there would have been an even greater roadblock than a Peter standing between Him and the cross. There would have been the roadblock of the pressure of the multitudes who would force Him to a place of political influence and power and smash the head of the enemy Rome and liberate their nation in a carnal and political way. Well, that's the passage, dear people, as best I know how to open it up. The circumstances of the great confession, Jesus and the disciples, there in the regions of Caesarea Philippi, in a context of great intimacy, prayerfulness on the part of our Lord, the probing questions

The Central Application: Who Do YOU Say That I Am?

44:49 that drew forth the great confession, question one about the common consensus and its answer, question two and Peter's answer on behalf of the twelve, and then the strict prohibition which followed the great confession. Now then, what are we to learn from all of this? What is all of this saying to you and to me here this morning? Well, there is one and only one point of application that I wish to make this morning.

45:24 Though I confess my mind has been torn in many directions, and one that I had thought originally I might enlarge upon I've already sneaked in, but I want us to concentrate upon this one issue. And the issue is this. In the light of the passage that we've meditated, upon this morning, I'm prepared to assert that there is nothing more important in life than your answer to the question, Who do you say that I am? And I would like you to picture the Lord Jesus standing in our midst this morning in all the livingness and power of His resurrection life, and saying not, Who do men say that I am? Don't take a pad of paper and a pencil and go door to door and take a consensus of current opinion about Jesus. No. My question is, Who for you have witnessed in the record of Mark's Gospel?

46:38 All witnessed. You went to the synagogue and seen Him cast out the demons. You with me have stood by the sea and seen our Lord speak to heaving billows, and we've seen them become calm as glass. We've seen Him go to the garrisoned demoniac.

47:03 The man given up is hopeless. And we have stood and beheld that man clothed in his right mind, sat on the slope of that hill by the sea, and in our mind's eye with the Scriptures open, we've beheld our Lord give thanks for the loaves and the fishes breaking and breaking, and breaking and breaking, and breaking until thousands are fed. We have heard His words, speaking as no man ever spake. And now the time comes when all this must be brought to a resolution.

47:41 Who do you say that I am? What is my identity? Now where has it brought you? Has it brought you only as those multitudes?

47:56 They were prepared to acknowledge that He was no ordinary man. There's nothing in the consensus. That says He's an imposter. He's a fake.

48:06 He's a charlatan. He's a magician who's just pulling the wool over our eyes. All of these miracles are mere sleight of hand. No.

48:15 He spoke in very high and admirable terms of hymns. John the Baptist raised from the dead. Elijah come back from the place where he went in the fiery chariot. Or one of the ancient prophets raised from the dead.

48:34 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 times the words by various voices in our home, Buddy is a pretty boy. Buddy is a pretty boy.

49:37 Buddy is a pretty boy. Pretty boy, pretty boy. Buddy is a pretty boy. Now we found out a few weeks ago that Buddy is a girl, so he's really confused.

49:44 So now sometimes he hears, Buddy is a pretty girl. Buddy is a pretty girl. Well, it shouldn't surprise us that a few weeks ago we began to hear, Buddy is a pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty. He's beginning to say the word pretty.

50:00 And the more we say it, the clearer he says it. Well, you see, you can teach a parakeet to say, and I don't mean to be irreverent, you can teach a parrot, a parakeet, to say, you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the Christ, the Son of God.

50:18 A proper confession. But it's simply an exercise of its larynx, if it has one, and its tongue, and whatever a budgie, or a parrot, or a parakeet speaks with. You're sitting underground teaching and preaching in Sunday school and church, and all their influences brought you like a louse. Is the Son of God?

50:53 No, I'm not asking you that. What I'm asking is this. Have you known what it was that Peter knew that caused him to make this confession? For we read in Matthew 16, 17, Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.

51:26 Peter, you are making this proper confession, not in virtue of that which any human agency can impart. Flesh and blood stands for any human agency of whatever kind and influence. He says no. You understand my identity because my Father has effected in you a work of spiritual illumination.

51:53 Flesh and blood has not revealed it, but my Father who is in heaven. My friend, I ask you, who do you say that he is? Were he to stand before you today and take you aside from every other person in this congregation, and lay his gracious hands upon your shoulder and look straight into your eyes and say, Who do you, John, Mary, Henry, Peter? into his eyes that are as a flame of fire and that search the innermost depths of the being, could you look into his eyes and say, You are the Christ. You are the anointed Messiah, Son of the living God. You are the one anointed to be prophet to your people. In all Jesus, you are the anointed prophet.

53:01 In you I have come to see the truth, the truth about myself as a sinner, the truth about my standing before your Father as condemned and under wrath. Lord Jesus, you are Messiah, final and great prophet, raised up like the prophet after the order of Moses. You are that prophet. You have taught me what I am by nature and where I stand before the court of heaven.

53:31 You have taught me that there is no way of life and salvation but in your own work on behalf of sinners. You've taught me that I must turn from my sin and lay hold of you in the virtue of your saving work. You are the Christ, the anointed one. You are the prophet who has taught me all that matters in life and death and the world to come.

53:56 You are Messiah, God's anointed priest, the one who took upon himself all of my liabilities, who offered himself up without spot unto God on my behalf. Lord Jesus, you are the Christ, the anointed priest, and in my guilt and in my defilement you alone to my needs as a sinner in your work as both offerer and offerer, suffering one, who by his own sacrifice has put away sin forever, who by constant intercession applies the virtue and the efficacy of the blood shed once for all upon the cross. You are the Christ, the anointed king, David's greater son, seated now upon David's throne. Disgraces of David, you've brought me out from the tyranny of the reign of the devil. You've brought me out from under that prince of darkness who drove me with his whips and had me going headlong to my mighty anointed king.

55:11 You've set me free. You've brought me under your gracious crown. You've brought me to love your scepter, you've brought me to love your throne. You are the Christ, son of the living God.

55:26 Oh, my friend, can you make that your confession? Were he to look into your eyes, could you say you are the Christ in yourself? But you are Christ, prophet, priest, and king, but my anointed one, my prophet, my priest, my king, if you can, my friend, God may have used the nurture of a Christian home, the drop-by-drop influence of the godly nurture of Sunday school and church and friends, but if you can say from the depths of your being in that integrity that will be forced upon us in the day of judgment, you are the Christ, you are my Christ. Flesh and blood did not reveal this, but the Father, who is in heaven. And furthermore, you'll notice that Peter made this confession at a time

The Nature of a Saving Confession and Concluding Prayer

56:53 when the whole prevailing tide was in another direction. This confession was not made at the height of Jesus' popularity. It was made after the events we'll read of in another week or two in John 6 when many of the disciples went back and walked no more and he turned and looked at the twelve and said, will you also go away? The popularity of Jesus had crested and in the face of opinions that were in themselves noble, nothing denigrating, but light years away the others was prepared and says about you, we know you see the mark of a saving confession of Christ is that it is never made with a view to the prevailing opinions about Jesus. It is often made in opposition to the prevailing opinions about Jesus. Is your confession such that you're prepared to be considered antiquated? You're prepared to be considered not quite with it, simplistic and mindless because you believe what Scripture says about Him and all that the Father has affirmed concerning Him?

58:21 A confession that's only made in the company of like confessors is no true confession. Jesus said, whosoever will confess me before men that is, who will confess me to be what I am in the midst of those who do not see nor confess me to be what I am, him will I confess before my Father. Oh, may God grant us to be honest with that one question this morning. Peter made the great confession and received the approbation of his Lord.

58:54 Can you make the same confession? If not, my friend, I plead with you to cry to God that He would do two things for you. Show you, first of all, how desperately you need all that Jesus is as the Christ. You need Him as your prophet to teach you, your priest to forgive and intercede for you, and your King to rule over and defend you.

59:21 That's reality. And if you don't see it, don't brag about it. It's your spiritual blindness that keeps you insensitive and ignorant of your need. And then pray that God, having shown you your need, will show you how perfectly suited Christ is to meet that need.

59:40 For everything He is as the Christ of God, He is not as a luxury, but as answerable to every area of human need and sin. May God grant that that prayer will be answered, for that's our prayer for you if you cannot say you are the Christ, our prayer is that God will show you your need of Him, and then show you His glory, that you may entrust yourself to Him, to be to you all that He is, to His believing people. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word. We thank You for Your Holy Son. We thank You for His patience in nurturing the understanding and the faith of His disciples. And we thank You that He continues to exercise that same patience to this very hour.

60:51 We pray for any who may be like that man that we studied last week, who have begun to see, but only see indistinctly and in broad, vague outlines. Lord, lead them on to clear sight until seeing themselves as they are in their sins, and seeing Your glory in the face of Christ. They may clearly apprehend the Lord Jesus in all of His grace and saving power, and may come to know Him. We pray for Your people, O God, that we will rejoice this morning, that whatever else You have denied us in this life, whatever else You may be denying us in this present hour of physical comforts and of the desires that are natural to us, if You have given us a sight of Your Son, we are wealthier than the wealthiest of the world. Regardless of what pain we may feel in our mortal frames, we thank You we will not feel the pains of hell forever. O Lord, we praise You for Your dear Son, may He be known and loved and trusted and acknowledged in this place for who He is, the very Christ of God. Hear our prayer,

62:20 and may Your Spirit attend the word preached as we leave this place. May we be followed by the gracious pressure of His ministry upon our hearts and minds. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.