Transcript (Auto-generated)

This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

Thank you so much. I think we're still wrestling with one hearing aid with a slap whistle. If we were able to cheque. If that's you, I don't know. If you would like a Bible and you don't have one, now is the time to speak up.

It would be great if anyone has the Scriptures. Wonderful, wonderful. Shall we pray?

Father God, thank you so much for your word. Pray that you will be with us by your spirit, that you would teach us what you would have us learn. That you would show Christ clearly to us this morning. In Jesus name, amen. Well, this morning we are coming to the end of our series on Luke's Gospel, our short series showing us who Jesus is.

And as I was thinking about this question today, it got me thinking about pizza. That's a natural thing to do, isn't it? There is a lovely pizza restaurant in Linfield, Sicilian. They didn't pay me to say this, but it's true. As you look down the menu, you will find there's so many good things to choose from.

And you think, I will either have to keep coming or I don't know what to choose. They have a wonderful pizza where you can have four pizzas on one pizza, one of which is a calzo, which is amazing if you know what that is. No. So you don't have to choose. And I thought, this is wonderful for all the fence sitters of us out here, isn't it?

Those of us who find decisions sometimes difficult, we can just have our pizza and eat it too. All four types. I was thinking about pizza because this passage is all about making decisions. In fact, it's all about making one decision. And that is, who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? And not really in some vague way, who is Jesus for you? Do you know who he is for you? You see, Jesus meets the crowds, the disciples in this story, and he asks them this question. Who do you say I am?

You may be surprised that he'd asked the disciples that question. The disciples had been with him for a long time by now. They'd had their tea with him, they'd walked with him, all of these different things, but. But they still need to make this answer. Who do you say Jesus is?

And it may be we are similar to the disciples. We've heard about Jesus for a long time. Maybe we've come to church for many years. Maybe we've been in this building for years and years and years hearing all about Jesus. But we've never really settled this question.

Once and for all, who do you say Jesus is because it's not just a question for the disciples, it's a question for us. It jumps off the page to us. Who do you say Jesus is? And it needs answering. Unlike the pizza, we can't sit on the fence about this question.

If we've encountered Jesus in scripture at all, as everyone in this building has now, even if it's your first time, we have to respond to him in some way. Our response might be to try to ignore him. But that says something very clearly about what we think of Him. We all have to make a choice. And the choice here that we're called to is to follow Jesus.

It may be that you want to sit on the fence this morning. It may be that you have questions unanswered. You have things that you're wondering about for the future. The truth is we follow Jesus not because we know all of the answers, not because we know what the future holds, but because of who he is. In any relationship, we don't know everything, do we?

But we commit to that relationship because of the other person. And so we can follow Jesus. This morning says our passage, first of all, because of who he is, because of. Because of what he's done and because of where he takes us. Because of where he takes us.

The first thing is because of who he is. And really they're all because of who he is. For three points. But this makes a nice three points. Verse 18.

Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, who do the crowds say I am? Who do the crowds say I am? That's an interesting question, isn't it? Why the crowds? Why the crowds?

The crowds are an interesting character in the Gospels. I don't know if you've ever paid attention to them or thought about it much, but they sort of. They're the fence sitting people in Jesus life. If you were Jesus has his followers. On the one hand, his disciples and others.

Those who have given up their fishing nets, left their father in the boat, whatever it might be. Those who have decided to follow Jesus, on the other hand, we have Pharisees, we have teachers of the law. And these are people who have rejected Jesus, They've rejected him. In between, these two are the crowds. They stand at some distance from Jesus wherever he goes, but they don't hate him.

They kind of don't want to get rid of him. But they're not really all in. They want to have their cake and eat it too. They're up for the miracles. They're there for the feeding of the 5,000.

They're there to bring their sick, but they're not really that close. They're not up for followers. And so Jesus asks, what do they say about me? People who admire Jesus, maybe from a distance. Well, the disciples answer verse 19.

Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah. And still others that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.

Now this is an interesting answer. This is an interesting answer. I would think they might say he's a very special teacher or he's a new prophet or something like that. But instead they give three answers that are amazing. The first is John the Baptist.

Well, John the Baptist lost his head not long before, and they know that. The second answer is Elijah. He's much deader than John the Baptist, hundreds of years deader than John the Baptist. And then they just say it outright. One of the prophets long ago has been raised to life.

So who is Jesus? The crowds say, I'm willing to believe he's someone raised to life. Well, that sounds like a good answer, doesn't it? That's quite an amazing thing to believe, isn't it? I accept he's risen to life.

And yet there's something lacking in that answer. Somehow, despite what a big answer it is, it's not enough. Because Jesus doesn't say to the disciples, Correct. Listen to that. He says to Peter, well, he says to them, what about you?

Who do you say I am? And Peter answers, God's Messiah or the Messiah of God.

So what's the difference between these answers? The difference is this. Where the crowds are willing to accept Jesus as someone amazing, even someone raised to life from of old, they don't see that he is the Messiah. God's one and only final answer to the issue in the world of sin and death. Even though they're willing to believe, yes, he's raised from the dead, they're willing to say that.

They're not willing to see that he is God's one unique final solution for mankind.

Jesus, you see, is not one amongst many. He is the one, the Messiah of God.

And that's what Peter sees. And because of this, Jesus came. Not just there's a sense in which the prophets came to proclaim God's standards and to call people to repentance and to turn back to God. But the prophets didn't bring them repentance, they called them to it to do it themselves. The difference with Jesus is that he comes to do all that he said, not just to call us to do the things he asks.

Does that make Sense. Think of it like this. I don't know if there are any teachers or ex teachers in the room. I know there are some, in fact, but I'm going to say a word that will send a shiver down your spine. Are you ready?

Off Said.

It's a. It's a scary word, isn't it? Ofsted to any teacher. Any teacher who knows that feeling, that Ofsted is Jew. Because an inspector comes round, has a look at the school and as you know, they give a verdict.

They say, you're doing well here. Well here, very badly here, whatever. And then they say, you are okay, you're good. Maybe you're excellent. Maybe you need improvement.

What an Ofsted inspector doesn't do is say, and next week I'm coming back and I'm going to roll up my sleeves and we'll sort this out. That's not what they do, is it? Absolutely not. They say, you better sort this out. Well, this is how the crowds felt about Jesus, as if he's just saying things at them to do.

Jesus is not like an Ofsted inspector. He doesn't come to search around our lives, to give us a report of the areas that we think he thinks we should be doing better. He doesn't finally give us a grade, needs improvement. Good, maybe for some of us, outstanding. That's not what Jesus does.

He comes in and he does what he says. And this is our second point. And this is where Jesus leads. We follow him because of what he's done. Look at verse 21 with me.

Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.

Jesus says this because there was a ferment of ideas going on around at the time of what Jesus was going, what the Messiah would be. Some people felt that the Messiah would be a political leader, someone to rise up and bring release from the Romans. We know that because in John, chapter six, Jesus is worried about that very thing. And so he says, don't tell anybody that I'm the Messiah, lest they misunderstand. I've not just come for political revolution, I've come for more.

As he goes on to explain verse 22, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. And he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Whatever ideas about the Messiah, Jesus says he must suffer, die and be raised. This is what must happen. And there's really just one must in the original.

Our second must in this verse is to help us understand it, because the first one's quite far away in the sentence. There's one must, and he must do all of these things. One idea. Suffer, be rejected, be killed on the third day, be raised to life. You see, there is a raising to life, but it comes after suffering on the cross.

And that contrasts with the crowds. The crowds wanted the raising to life without any of the suffering and the cross. They want the glory without the road of suffering that Jesus was to walk through. Who doesn't glory without the cross? And yet the cross is God's glory, actually.

All in that little word must, that little must. Because why must Jesus suffer? Why must he? What's making him do that? Is someone saying to him, jesus, if you don't, I will.

No, he's the King of the universe. So what makes it necessary for him to suffer and die? What makes it necessary is his love for you, his love for you personally. And it makes it necessary because he is not willing to lose you. And faced with this choice, Jesus, will you die or will your beloved die?

He says, I'll die. Because actually he must die if he's not to give you up. And he won't give you up. So he must die. What an amazing must that is, isn't it?

He must because of his love. And yet there's even more for us to see. Because when Luke uses that word, Son of Man, or Jesus says the Son of Man, we're reminded of Jesus in his glory, aren't we? You remember that in the Old Testament, in the book of Daniel, the Son of man is one who meets the ancient of days and has all glory. Jesus had all glory before the foundation of the world.

That's what he's given up. That's what he deserves. He's given that up to come to earth because he must suffer. Why? Because of you.

Jesus wasn't a nobody who did impressive things that made him a somebody. If he didn't die, he would still be in glory. He would still be enjoying eternal glory with his Father. The only thing making him do it is his love for you and for me. And it's a particular love.

It's not a vague. Jesus didn't die vaguely, so that if one day you might want him to die for you, he would have done. He died for you and me in particular. Those sins that you or I have committed, perhaps this morning, the very sins that nailed him to that cross. Not sin in general, our particular sins.

If it hadn't been for you, if it hadn't been for me, Jesus would not have been on that cross.

And so we can say we have an interest in Jesus blood. We have an interest because it was shed for you and for me. I don't know if you are a fan of the Beatles. I'm a Beatles fan. I'm sure there are some Beatles fans around on the album Rubber Soul.

A great album. I'm sure you all know it. There's a song, Michelle. Do you know that one? Who knows this one?

I don't know if Michelle existed. I hope she did. If she did, whichever one of them wrote that song, I don't know. It sounds like a McCartney song, doesn't it? Rather than John Lennon.

But if Michelle existed, she had a song written for her in particular, didn't she? That's pretty cool, isn't it? Because sometimes musicians write songs for their fans in general, don't they? I do this for my f, but they don't have a particular fan in mind.

Well, sometimes we can think of the cross like that, as if Jesus died for his fans. And if people like it, then it's for you. And if you don't, it's not. We are each individually much more like Michelle. Jesus went to that cross, not in general, but for you in particular.

That's an amazing thing. My name was written on his hands, graven on his heart.

And so we have an interest in his blood. And because of this, because Jesus will go through suffering in the cross, he leads us there as well. This is what he talks about, verse 23. Then he said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. This is the beginning of that bit, the suffering and the cross.

And this is an individual call. In the Old version, it would say, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross or her cross. Each individual must take up their cross. Again, not a general call. We're each individually called to follow Christ to take up our cross.

But like the crowds, we can say, I don't really want to take up the cross. I would love the glory without the cross. I'd love the resurrection without the death. But Jesus said, whoever comes after me must deny himself or herself and take up his or her cross and follow me.

This teaches us that the call in the Christian life is not easy. Each individual says, jesus will take up the cross. It will be hard for all of us.

Some people aren't asked to deny themselves, while others will be able to do what their heart's content. Every individual is called to deny herself.

Everyone. It may be that as we commit to Christ maybe for the first time, our life will be harder to worry. It may be true as we take up our cross. And yet that's the beginning of the journey through suffering in the cross to glory. Because the way leads to life.

Verse 24. Whoever wants to save his or her life will lose it. But whoever loses his or her life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very soul? As the old version has it, we win our soul in Christ.

It's so worth it. Yes, there's taking up our cross. Let's put that in perspective of through suffering and the cross to glory. What a wonderful truth that is.

We sometimes undergo momentary suffering, don't we, for greater glory. I don't know if there are Star wars fans in the house. I'm sure there are. When a new Star wars film comes out, it's a big deal, as I'm sure you know. And as the cinema shows the new film, you see queues for miles and miles and people are there for hours, if not days, to get in, to see what's going to happen next, to ensure their place.

Why is it that someone can stand outside a cinema for days? Because of the hope of the Millennium Falcon or whatever it is. It's worth it. That hope draws us and encourages us and strengthens us. And yet, when you think about it, that is the most trivial, silly example you could ever imagine for what we're talking about.

Losing your own soul. Gaining your own soul.

It would be silly to say to someone in that Star wars queue, why don't you go home and put your feet up instead and have a cup of tea? Don't worry about it. They would say, no, I'm not missing out on. Seeing that momentary suffering in light of coming glory is not impossible. Because of that hope, Jesus is taking us to resurrection life.

What a wonderful, wonderful thing. And so Jesus invites us on this journey, not straight to glory, as the crowds wanted, through suffering on the cross, something many here will testify to. But many here will also testify that he's worth it, that he has brought them through and he brings to resurrection life. So this morning it may be that we are in the situation like the crowds. We follow Jesus from a distance, perhaps for years.

And yet we've always resisted denying ourselves and taking up our cross because we don't want to give up momentary comfort. This morning, follow Christ because He's worth it, because he is the Messiah who died for you.

You have an interest in his blood in particular. You may be thinking, I just don't have the faith. Whether you have a weak faith or a strong faith, you still lay hold of the same Christ. If a baby holds on to a parent, it's the same as a big strong child holding onto a parent. The same strong, powerful parent that is like us with Christ.

Cling to a strong Christ with a weak faith. Don't let that stop you.

So we come to Christ this morning saying we know who you are. Not just a wonder worker, not even just one who came back from the dead, but one who is the Messiah of God. For me, maybe that we have said that prayer, that we have taken that for ourselves many years ago. It may be that we have never actually taken Christ for our own. Even maybe after years we followed him at a distance, like the crowds.

Today is the day to draw near. Today is the day to have him as the Messiah of God for you. So I'm going to say a prayer accepting Christ for our own, thanking him that he must die because of his love for me. And I'd love you to join with me if you would like to. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you that your love compelled you to die for me. I'm sorry that it was my sin that held you there.

But I say this morning you are God's Messiah. And I know you died for me, that I have an interest in your blood. And I want you as my Lord. Help me by your spirit to deny myself, take up my cross and follow you in Jesus name, Amen.