Welcome to a redemption hill podcast for more
information about redemption so go to redemption hill
dot com.
So we're in Luke chapter 9
versus 1 through
27
this morning. So go ahead and we will
read the word of the Lord.
And he called the 12 and gave them
power and authority over all demons to cure
diseases.
And he sent them out to reclaim the
kingdom of god and to heal
And he said to them take nothing for
your journey, no staff, no bag, nor bread,
nor money, and do not have 2 tu
and whatever house you enter stay there
and from there depart. And whenever they go,
do not... And they do not receive you
when you leave,
that town shake off the dust from your
feet as a testimony against them, and they
departed and went through the villages preaching the
gospel and healing
everywhere.
Now, Here, the Tetra heard about all that
was happening and he was perplexed
because it was said by some that John
had been raised from the dead,
by some that Elijah had appeared and by
others that are that 1 of the prophets
of old had arise, Harriet said John I
beheaded,
but who is this about whom I'm hearing
such things and he sought to see him.
Verse 10 on the return, the apostles told
him all that they had done.
And he had took them and withdrew
part to a town called Ba sad.
When the crowds learned it, they followed him
and were welcoming
any welcome them and spoke to them about
the kingdom of God, and cured those who
had need of healing. Now, the day began
to wear away and the 12 came and
said to him, send the crowd away
to go into the surrounding villages in the
countryside to find a lodging and get provisions
for we are here in a desolate... In
a desolate place.
But he said to them, you give them
something to eat.
And they said we have no more than
5 loaves and 2 fishes unless
we would go and buy food for all
these people. For there about 5000 men, and
he said to disciples, have them sit down
in groups of about 50 each.
And they did so, and he had them
all sit down and taking the 5 loaves
on the 2 fish. He looked up to
heaven, and he set a blessing over them.
Then he broke the lows and gave them
to the disciples set before the crowd and
the 8
and were satisfied.
And what was left over was picked up
was about 12 baskets of broken pieces.
Now it happened that is he was praying
alone, the disciples were with him, and he
asked them who do the crowds say that
I am.
And they answered him John the baptist, but
at others say Elijah,
And others that 1 of the prophets of
old has risen, then he said to them,
but who do you say that I am?
And Peter answered
the Christ of God.
And he strictly charged and commanded them to
tell this to no 1 saying the son
of man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and the
chief priests and scribes and be killed and
on the third day raised.
And he said to all, if anyone would
come after me.
Let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me. Forever whoever would
save his life will lose it, whoever loses
his life for my sake will save it.
For what does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and and forfeit
fits or loses us himself.
Forever is ashamed of me and of my
words of him, will the son of man
be ashamed when he comes in his glory
and the glory of the father and of
the holy angels. But I tell you truly,
there are some standing here who will not
taste death
until they see the kingdom of God. This
is the word of the Lord.
Father ask that you drawn here to us
through your word.
Now, we hang on your promise that word
doesn't return, void that you're always working that
you're always moving that you're always speaking so
come and speak to us.
Give us open ears, let us hear, Lord
today. H spirit come and shows the beauty
of who jesus is and what he's done,
may that become more real may at in
our soul and unlock worship and gratitude, To
mean that worship should be pleasing to you.
We pray that in your name, God. Amen.
So when I lived in
Iowa in in Des moines for several years,
I I made a bad decision 1 time.
Like, I I probably made several bad decisions,
but only share 1 for right now.
I I agreed to train with a boxer
named 7 Ramirez who went to our church.
I I literally do not remember how this
came to be. Like, I can't imagine that
I would would've have asked him to hit
me in the face or anything like that,
but The scenario still happened. I found myself
in a real boxing gym
in a little bit of a sketchy side
of town, standing in front of a man
with possible pinned up anger issues.
Who came from a boxing family, and he
was gonna teach me a thing or 2
about boxing.
When I say serious boxing family, like all
of the brothers in this family thought,
and and 1 of his brothers was an
actual professional boxer, like, not a Youtube boxer
like now, like, he was... He fought for
belts and and and Juan.
And Stephen was no s. He
likely stop competing because he had a family
early.
And so this was kind of his track
record, and I was
overweight with no workout regimen at all.
So I was worried quite worried to to
say I was fearful would have been an
understatement. At the time, I I didn't know
really what I was walking into? I didn't
know did did he wanna teach me to
box? Was he trying to help me get
fit?
Do you just wanna spend time
with me? Or did he actually not like
me at all and he wanted an Ali
for beating the guitar out of me and
not getting arrested for it. I
I didn't know. But either way, I found
myself in this boxing gym, and we had
to start from square 1, like, a complete
novice in this whole boxing arrangement. So what
did it start with? Teaching me to to
wrap my hands properly at least so I
don't break my hands and teaching me how
to stand and how to hit pads and
how to do combinations and how to snap
a jab and how to move your hips,
and we had to start from a very
early
spot with all of this. And surely,
slowly, but surely, we work past some of
the just the the the basic things into
hitting pads for about a minute at a
time in rounds.
If you've never tried that, like hitting a
a pad over and over for a minute,
wall out of shape,
Like, I don't recommend it. It it's it's
not fun. Who knew that moving in a
circle trying to hit pads and combinations could
make you wanna throw up so fast, but
but it did.
And then 1 day, it escalated even more.
Stephen decided that we would spa.
And I've I've learned how to wrap my
hands. I've hit pads and almost throwing up,
and now we're gonna try and hit each
other in the face. Awesome.
And I was terrified. He could have killed
me and luckily, he he didn't... I'm grateful
for that. My wife is grateful for that.
My face, my nose is grateful.
For that that he didn't take it
out too hard on me, but quicken into
spa, I found out AAA couple things just
really, really fast.
First, I do not like getting hit.
It's not fun, like 0 out of 10,
not recommended it at all.
And the second thing that I learned really
quick is I'm not good at not getting
hit. Which is not a great combination.
Right? If you if you're tracking, that's a
problem getting hit stinks, and and when you're
standing in front of a person who's boxed
all their life, Like, I'm I'm getting hit
a lot. And a big part of my
problem, outside of the complete utter lack of
skill or
stamina, like, it's out of shape. A big
part of my problem was what we'll call
the defensive
conundrum of boxing.
Boxing, you're meant to keep your hands up
and your head down so you don't get
blasted in the face. Right? You're trying to
not get knocked out. So you gotta keep
your hands up at all
times.
So you don't get dusted in the head.
But but if you keep your hands up
all the time, what does that do? It
leaves you wide open to get hit in
the mid section.
And as bad as getting hit in the
faces. It's it's... Again, 0 out of 10,
don't recommend it, getting hit in the stomach,
when your gas being an out of air
and trying not to throw up. It is
is is it is pretty awful
in its own. Right? It's back to the
idea again of me not liking to get
hit very much. So here was my problem.
When I kick my my hands up, I
I would just get belly blasted and immediately,
then like, drop my hands and leave myself
open to getting hit in the face. Right?
I I couldn't just absorb the shot and
keep moving. Apparently, that's what boxer do. They
have stomach muscles. And you hit them in
the stomach and they keep moving.
But I'm not sure I have stomach muscles.
I've never seen them.
It's plausible and impossible that I have a
genetic defect and they just don't exist.
Anyway.
I couldn't take a body shot back then
I didn't have the core strength to do
it. I probably still cancel. Don't try.
But if you hit me in a stomach,
I'm gonna drop my hands with the quick,
like,
and then I'm gonna get hit in the
face, and it's gonna be over and not
fun. So my my boxing career didn't last
very long. III quit before
too long and
Though I wasn't a very good boxer or
this kind of stomach to ahead, conundrum and
paradigm is is 1 that you'll hear boxer
talk about a lot or comment or coaches
when they're training a box to say hey,
go ahead and work the body over and
over and over,
and slowly, but steadily, it... It's gonna pay
dividends for you if you do it. The
the shots that you you hit someone in
the stomach with. They're not really meant to
knock them out. But the
accumulation of them over time will open up
something else bigger down the road. It'll set
them up for for dropping their hands and
having the the big shot to the to
the head. Now this idea of a steady
diet of 1 thing leading to something bigger.
I bring that up because it's all like
I think of. That's the imagery that was
in my head all week when reading this
text.
Luke has been pepper in a specific idea
over,
in over and an over. In a way
that you may or may not have paid
much attention to. I've I've tried to kinda
keep it ahead of us.
Yet, he was kind of setting up for
today what we'll call the the question, the
the big shot.
And the question that he has been setting
up that he's been an in all along
is just simply who is Jesus
to you or who do you say that
he is?
That question is not what I call a
Build d to bear Jesus question. It's not
well, who's Jesus to you, And and what
kind of personality and persona and look would
would you create for a savior that you'd
wanna worship to like the creation gets to
mold the creator? It's more of a personal
in nature question?
Who who do you think Jesus is?
And what does that mean to you? How
does that change your life? How does that
affect your life? Who is he to you
And what does that do?
If we step back and look at Luke
from a... What I call a 30000 foot
view. If you zoom out a it a
little bit, and you look not just into
the to all the nuts and bolts, but
you look back at the themes of what's
going on, you're gonna see the opening of
Luke was an announcement that Jesus was coming.
And then Mary, the mother of Jesus
before he was ever born,
declared in a section called the the mag
hot that Jesus was
the Lord.
God the savior in the flesh, the 1
in whom blessing would come
to the children of god in a broken
world.
But since that declaration of Mary over who
Jesus was, the rest of the book shows
us this ongoing
wrestle with people to answer that same question.
She declared who Jesus is, but we see
this ongoing wrestler where other people are trying
to figure out who he is, and they're
they're struggling a little bit. The answers are
many. They're all over the board.
Notice maybe in in Nazareth right after Jesus
earthly ministry kicked off earlier in the book.
Jesus goes to his hometown. He begins to
to minister. The question is who is this
Jesus? They would answer it with...
He's just
not much of anything at all. He's just
the son of Joseph. Like, we know where
that kid grew up. We... We've seen him
grow up. He... He's a nobody.
That's all we see him as.
So in Jesus because they answered it that
way, begin to speak authoritative
to them.
If you remember they tried to throw them
off of a cliff for it.
Then we shift a little bit later, Jesus
Heals a para man in front of a
group of ph,
and he also tells the man that his
sins are forgiven in that that dialogue to
which the ph he said
to the question who is Jesus well Jesus
just a bla.
Because only God can forgive sins and we
don't think that you are God, so they
rejected him, then a little bit later. Jesus
heals a widow son and the crowd who
saw it it said that which Jesus was
surely a great prophet.
That's all that he was to them. He
wasn't the god man.
Use just a cool man doing good things.
You may or may not actually speak for.
Got it. Or you follow in the ins
and outs and the struggle.
A little after that, the ph declared that
Jesus was a glut and a drunk.
All you like to do is is love
and hang out with sinful people What what
they're doing to the of who is Jesus,
is they're implying, Well Jesus is just a
morally compromised person.
That's all he is. And then in a
dinner party, people struggle with Who Jesus is
and they ask the question themselves, Who is
this?
Who can do the things that he's claiming
to do and then Jesus calms the the
storm on the boat with the disciples, and
they asked the same question. Who is this?
The commands the the wind and the the
waves and they listen to him?
And after that a demon declared that Jesus
is the most high God.
And he begs Jesus not to torment him
and throw him into the abyss.
Are you kinda seeing the pepper, the the
body shots that the constant press of 1
question of who is Jesus. Luke is pressing
this over and over?
Who's Jesus to you? What does that mean
to your life? What does that mean to
the rest of humanity and all of that
sets up Jesus just flat out asking the
question?
Who am I?
Follow this. In the text today, we shift
from Luke showing us how other people
wrestled with the question of who is Jesus
to now Jesus going yeah yeah. Okay.
But what about you?
I get that everyone trying to wrestle and
figure it out, but But I don't wanna
talk about them anymore. I wanna talk about
you right here right now, Who do you
say that I am. No more kind of
beating around
the Bush who You. It's time to decide.
What is your answer?
Now let's be clear though I've used the
analogy of body shots and and head shots.
Jesus isn't trying to knock you out.
But he is trying to make sure that
you can process this and you don't ignore
it.
As we dig through the large text for
today, maybe it's easiest to see that there's
2 themes that gets bounced through a little
bit. We'll call them the commission
and the question.
And versus 1 through 6 in the opening,
and then we skip a little bit to
10 through 17,
it deals with the commission
while the rest versus 7 through 9
in 18 through 27 deal with that question
of who is
Jesus.
We see at the opening of the text
Jesus calls the 12
disciples,
and he gives them power and authority over
the demons and the ability to cure
diseases. And then he sends them out. This
is important.
To pro claim the kingdom of God and
to heal. This is the the commissioning of
the apostles. Prior to that, the disciples it
just followed Jesus around.
They listen to him preach. They saw him
navigate people and situations. They saw him perform
miracles and won works, but they're just witnesses.
They're sitting in the stands. They're their fans,
just kinda watching what Jesus does, the action
from the sidelines, but now Jesus is involving
them into the work as the sent ones.
Jesus at this point is is going, hey,
I'm appointing you to this ministry to to
join me.
And noticed that he doesn't just appoint them.
He equip them.
He's been training them. He's been teaching them.
He's been disc decipher and showing them what
to to to do.
But now he gives them the power and
authority to do it on their own. They're
going to be the apostles, the sent ones
to do the work of the church in
the early stages
of the church through the new testament.
So we see that Jesus gives them power
and authority,
but it's for a purpose.
So that they can pro preclude the kingdom
of God.
This means he didn't send them out to
reclaim the overthrow rome, and he didn't send
them out to to pro claim that they
were gonna bring Israel back to a world
power stage. You didn't send them out to
pro claim a gospel of of a autonomy
or into that individuality or prosperity.
He sent them out to reclaim the kingdom
of god this is what I want you
to do claim the kingdom of God.
Now the concept of the kingdom of God
may feel a little bit distant or hard
to to pin down, but Jesus said if
I came, and cast out demons by the
finger of God,
well then you know the kingdom of God
has come to you.
Jesus saying 1 way that you'll know the
kingdom of God is here
is you're gonna see the king's power at
work. And you go, oh, okay. I I
see it. And he later said that the
kingdom of God isn't visible in the way
that you speck, meaning the kingdom of God,
you're not gonna have somebody go, oh, there
it is. Oh, or or over here it
is because the kingdom of God is actually
within the people of God.
What Jesus is framing up is this combination.
The kingdom of God
is the power of God.
That comes to bear in places and spaces
and people
who are under the reign of God, the
sovereignty of God. You you follow that. The
the kingdom of god is where the power
of God is is is revealed through the
people of God under the reign and sovereignty
of God.
That's why the the kingdom of god is
not a geographic location. You can't like map
out the The outskirts of it like you
would Boone County, the kingdom of God is
where you see the power
of god working.
Most specifically when people
have got reigning and ruling over their lives.
To preach the kingdom of God to anyone
is to declare that god reign over things.
It's to declare God reign overall, and you
could live inside of his power under reign
in his freedom as his children with an
inheritance forever and in his love.
You can accept that and live in light
of that or you can reject it and
live outside of it.
Now in their day, if we think about
this, the the cross has not happened yet,
we we we need to understand we... We
we're given, like, all the notes ahead of
time, and and they're on the early side.
So the the cross hasn't happened. So they
would have preach maybe AAAA tad differently than
we would about the kingdom of God. We
now preach the kingdom of God.
By by preaching that King Jesus died on
the cross.
To adopt sinner and redeem them and reconcile
them to god so that we can live
in and walk in and participate in the
kingdom of god if we believe
in Jesus for the work of salvation for
us,
and then as Romans says we we confess
him with our mouth and follow him with
our life.
If we do that, we get to walk
in the kingdom of God, and that's the
place where Jesus reign and rules over our
lives and we're waiting for him to come
finish what he started.
So when Jesus commissions the 12 to go
out and preach the kingdom of God.
He tells them something interesting. He says, hey,
take no staff or no money bag,
No bread.
Don't bring 2 2 next. What he's saying
is don't over pack.
But I don't over pac he means don't
pack much at all. Just go.
This is like the anti of when my
family goes to Colorado.
Right? Bike rack loaded to the to the
gills. We have the the the the rooftop
loaded to the gills.
I can't hardly see out of the window
because the back backseat loaded to the gills,
like, he's saying don't do that.
The reasons that he's saying this are are
many, but I think a lot of them
kind of boil down to the idea of
dependence.
Remember you're sending the 12 out and they
have new power over demons
into cure diseases
and have mighty works happen.
I don't I don't know about you. May
may maybe maybe you have them more together
than me, but
For the 12, if you have this, like,
newfound power,
it'd be a little bit easy to start
thinking that your pretty hot stuff.
Did you see that miracle? Did you see
that? Did you see what just... Did did
you see that amazing thing? Did you see
how the crowds were react It it would
have been really easy for them? To get
high on themselves. So Jesus tells them don't
go out over prepared or what I'll call
over insured so that you stay depending on
me.
I'm not trying to hurt you.
But I'm gonna make sure that you don't
boast yourself, and you're gonna need to connect
to me in order to carry this out
and move my faith.
Further, many religious leaders the time, they were
all basing what they did on on acquiring
money and wealth and status and safety and
Jesus says, you know what?
I'm gonna have you take nothing to demonstrate
what you're preaching is different.
We're not seeking money. They didn't prioritize
safety. They prioritize the message of the kingdom
of God. This is what matters. God has
come to do something.
Among his people,
Notice this Jesus also says and when you
go when a person doesn't receive you.
I mean, that I won't have anything to
do with with your your message of the
kingdom of god,
says when you leave that town, shake off
the dust from your feet as a testimony
against them and just walk away.
The point was there's an urgency to go
preach.
But there's also an urgency to preach to
those who will listen.
Jesus is beginning to tell them, do not
spend too much time, begging people to hear
you.
Begging people to believe worry that they won't
accept you or your message or your ideas
in front of them, preach to those who
will hear and accept the truth.
Now there's an interesting element here. He you
can contend, and you can try and persuade,
and you can give some some some discourse
for for the desire to change people's mind
about the kingdom of God, but Jesus saying
don't beg them and don't linger too long
if they're hard hearted.
I find this powerful encouraging to my heart.
I often believers have this sense. When when
they said, okay. I'm gonna go do the
thing. I'm gonna go gonna go share the
gospel. I'm I'm gonna go share about Jesus,
but they have the sense that when they're
sharing the gospel that they're kind of begging
and pleading and hoping, please please please where
you accept what I'm saying to you.
Please like our Jesus.
Please
allow our jesus into your life. Please listen
to our gospel. Well, please come to our
church. Please don't think that we're weird. Please.
Come come come as if we're sowing like
a crummy used car or or an extended
warranty on a 20 dollar item.
Pray that we see clearly that we're not
selling a lame product.
Right? Do you understand this is what Jesus
just say, hey, go preach and share. But
if they're not gonna accept, don't beg them
to take it,
We're declaring the good news of Jesus isn't
in his kingdom,
which is the single most constant good of
all creation and everyone needs it. You don't
have a bad product or a bad thing.
You have to truth and the light, and
that's what you're sharing. And some will accept
it,
and some will refuse it.
If we cannot understand that someone will refuse
it and move on,
then we'll probably get disheartening and stop sharing
altogether spend too much time with the same
person never realizing there are other people who
could hear.
And, I'm encouraged by that. You have the
truth.
No matter what the world says to you.
You have the truth.
Then the text shifts to the question
setup part.
It looks at King Hair. He was the
same guy. If you remember the text earlier
in the book who be beheaded John the
baptist.
Here hears that the 12 are going out,
and they're doing what Jesus did. So now
it's not just 1 guy. It's more
a whole lot more and the 12 claiming
the good news,
of the kingdom of God and that it's
doing something.
Which makes Harriet perplexed and he starts getting
worried. He starts wondering how who is this
guy.
He can't actually be John the baptist. I
had that guy's head cut off. It it...
People are saying elijah that doesn't make sense.
Is it is it a prophet of old
Harriet sees the effects of the kingdom of
God breaking onto the scene. Remember this is
king Here,
and King Hair doesn't want anybody challenge him.
So he's trying to figure out is this
Jesus a threat to me. Even he's asking
this question who is this, not because I
wanna know and follow
He wants to know if he's should try
and take him out.
That's why he says that he sought Jesus,
not to hear the gospel. He he wants
to know. Is is this another problem that
I need to take care of?
Even he was wrestling.
After Jesus sends the 12 apostles out, they
return for a debrief,
Then this is a great lesson on disciples
ship, I think. Right? He taught them, empowered
them, sends them out, then they come back
to tell their stories of how it went.
This went really good. This was awful. I
said the dumbest thing in the world. I
didn't know what to do here. Like, they're
they're coming back to debrief,
but the problem is the crowds learn what
they were doing and followed them.
So Jesus began to speak through the crowds
about the kingdom of God and heal any
who had need of it until it got
late on that night.
And the 12 disciples said to Jesus, should
we send the crowd away? I I kinda
think that we should.
It's getting late.
Send them out to go get their own
provisions to get their own food and and
and get their own place to stay. I
mean, we're a long ways off, Jesus. Like,
it it's getting late. You you really need
to send them away.
Twitch Jesus replies.
You give them something to eat.
Like, that's a fairly wild thing to hear
in the moment. There is a crowd of
5000
men not to mention women and kids conservatively.
There's probably well over 15000 people. This is
not like a little group. This is a
massive crowd they have 5 loaves of bread
and 2 fish and jesus goes,
launch feed them. Like, what do he what
do you mean feed? Like, How how am
I so how am I supposed to do
that?
And Jesus took the small amount of food
and he broke the bread and he blessed
it and he split the crowds into groups
of of 50 and he fed them all.
And here this point because this is the
part that I think has meant to jump
off the page.
To the point that they were all satisfied.
Not just to where like, they could get
home
or they were okay where some were satisfied,
what Jesus provided to those people? There was
none who would go, like, I just I
just don't really feel like I got what
I needed here.
They were all satisfied. And afterwards, there were
12 baskets of leftovers picked up of extra.
Again, you you need to process what Luke
trying to show you. Yes, Cool miracle, but
he's showing us other things as well. They
had 5 things of bread. Like, probably pretty
tiny. I might give me my daily bread.
It's supposed to last 1 man, 1 meal
or 1 day, and a couple little fish.
And after Jesus does this work. There's 12...
That's 7 items. I'm I'm pretty good at
math. That's 7 items, and now there's 12
baskets left over.
Crisis sufficient to satisfy all,
more than sufficient.
Won't sit long in the miracle even though
it is amazing, but I think it's another
invitation for the disciples to believe though.
Remember during the storm when they thought they
were gonna die, they didn't allow themselves to
consider Jesus at all that he was there.
And now on the feeding of the crowd,
they didn't consider Jesus once more. Again, that
Jesus was with them. Again, and again, he's
teaching them, do not forget your faith.
Remember that question, where's your faith in this.
Don't forget me even when things seem impossible.
Remember in my kingdom, I have the power.
So come to me. Believe in me consider
me, even when things seem impossible to you.
All things are possible for me. So come
to me. I have what you need.
And again, in light of the
the truth, and I have what others need.
Never forget it.
I what satisfies,
I am the world that never goes dry,
He he's beginning to show, like, I have
the power, but I need you to see
me as more than just a miracle worker.
I am your satisfaction.
Friends that's what we're searching for.
This gives a perfect transition
To a little bit later, Jesus is off
praying with the disciples. Remember, Luca showing us
this consistent pattern of getting away to get
close with the father.
And Jesus sets it up? He asked them?
Who do the crowds say that I am?
This question is 1 of popular opinion. It's
external.
Who do others say that I am. What
what is the what is the word on
the streets? What what what what would Twitter
be saying about me
to which the disciples give an answer very
similar to what Her does, will some think
that you are a John the Baptist.
Others elijah, others just another prophet,
He's showing them or they're giving an answer
that everyone's wrestling in in different ways. Some
people think that you're just
fiction and don't even exist, and some people
have crazy ideas. Like, the the ideas are
many over who you are, and then Jesus
says, okay. Cool. Cool. Cool Cool.
But what about you?
Outside of others, outside of the popular opinion
outside of all the noise. What about you?
Who do you say that I am?
All of a sudden, it's not external anymore.
It's personal.
All
What about you?
We worry so much about other people's lives
and other people's faith and Jesus will not
let us. What about you?
Peter ended up answering
the Christ of God.
Now, Peter's answer, it it it may be
harder for us to under stand,
we're we're used to hearing
the the the term or title Jesus or
or Jesus Christ, or, we're we're used to
maybe hearing some of those. So we We're
gonna miss in here that Peter
says the Christ and he's using a Greek
word for a hebrew title of messiah.
Which also means anointed 1. Peter is confessing
out loud. He's saying more than you're the
Jesus Christ. He he's saying you were the
anointed
1
the messiah of all,
you've come to say to the people of
God.
You're the 1 that people have been waiting
for since King David,
the savior who had overthrow the enemies of
Israel and all humanity namely sin.
You were going to gather up from from
the 4 corners of the Earth God's people
and establish an usher in a perfect rain
over the earth.
While people... While Peter and the disciples didn't
understand every detail perfectly, what they did see
and pro and agree to hear. Is the
biggest pictures that Jesus is the promised 1
of God.
The entire old testament is about you. You're
the 1. You're the messiah,
you are the scent 1. You're not just
a prophet,
You are the redeem.
The long awaited savior, the hope of salvation,
you are the deliver.
Kent Hughes says this again, they've just been
asked who do you say that I am?
Ke Hughes says what we think about Jesus
is everything.
Acceptance or rejection of him makes all the
difference. We must understand that he is
messiah.
God's son who came to us in human
flesh and was crucified, buried and raised from
the dead, thus paying the full penalty for
our sins.
He now reign in heaven and 1 day
will judge every human who's has ever lived.
To be there with him, we must believe
this,
we must rest our lives on this.
Now interestingly, Peter's confession of who Jesus was
was correct.
But do you notice what Jesus says to
him right after? He he strictly tells him
and in the words here, it's like, almost
a rebuke. It's a, a heavy.
Don't tell anyone yet.
Keep it quiet.
That that that seems a little bit confusing.
Like, a I nailed it. I got it
right. Don't tell nobody.
What?
He tells him why because the son of
man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders and the chief priests and
the scribes in and here it is and
be killed.
But on the third day rise again, this
had to be a a shock. Remember, I
I just understood that you're the Messiah, the
set 1 of God, the the the anointed
1 to come and be the redeem, Now
you're telling me you're gonna die.
Again, the why why the secret.
Why the weight to proclaimed Jesus messiah.
They'd already been telling people about the kingdom
of god being at hand.
Why why couldn't they spell out that that
Jesus was the long awaited 1. And the
reason for this
is that many wouldn't have understood what it
meant and they would have tried to make
it mean what they wanted it to mean.
All explain that. If they started to claim
Jesus messiah, the long awaited 1,
there would be many who'd go
okay. Yes. Love it, and they begin to
try and push a political agenda to to
overthrow any cost and make Jesus win.
Many un regenerate, unsafe people would push Jesus
forward without ever looking to him for their
sin.
Were their adoption to the kingdom of God.
I want you to be the 1 who
fixes things. I don't know necessarily want you
to be my savior. This is the worry.
They just look at Jesus as a means
to get what they wanted. So Jesus is
letting them know. My reign has to come
with rejection and suffering.
My work isn't to come march in
power earthly kingdoms like rome,
I've come as the anointed 1 to die
to pay for the sins of the lost,
He's telling him, you can't say everything yet
because I can't have other people stop my
death.
Or through my per. I remember I've come
to die.
The messiah is the lamb of god, the
lamb has to be slain.
So you can't tell everyone yet. It's not
time for that.
If we read versus 18 through 27 1
more time.
We'll begin to try and figure out how
to thread the needle a little bit.
Now it happened that as they were praying
alone, the disciples were with him, and he
asked them who did the crowds say that
I am,
and they answered John the baptist, but other
say Elijah,
And others the 1 of the prophets of
old has arise. Then he said to them,
but who do you say that I am
and Peter answered the Christ of God.
And he strictly charged them and commanded them
to tell this to no 1 saying 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
on the third day raised period.
The next verses go with those.
And he said to all,
if anyone would come after me, let him
deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow
me,
forever would save his life will lose it
whoever loses life for my sake, we'll save
it.
For what is it profit man if he
gains the whole world and loses or forfeit
himself for whoever is ashamed of me and
over my words,
of of him, will the son of man
be ashamed when he comes in glory and
the glory of the father and the holy
angels. But I tell you truly,
there's some standing here who will not taste
death until they see the kingdom of god.
Often these verses are accumulated into you. Okay?
Section 18 through 22.
So the question, who do you said? I
am the cry. You got it right. Don't
tell anyone. Period, like, a month later maybe
he preach the other part. They think. The
the 23 through 27. As if they're a
different theme and they're not, they go together,
I'm going to die. That's who I am.
Following me means something for you and death
is included as well. This message can't be
taken apart.
Luke shows us the disciples know Jesus is
the messiah.
And immediately, he hooks the reality of the
messiah,
with the reality of death of laying down
his life of not self protecting.
With that foundation, we hear Jesus say, if
anyone would come after me, if anyone would
follow me. If anyone would know me. If
anyone would
would identify by with me as their savior.
If you have any lot with me?
Because we're moving past, who do you say
that I am in words, to a heart
that knows who he is and actually follows
him. If anyone would have any
identification with me that's real, let him deny
himself and take up at his cross
and follow me.
That is if you think he is the
messiah.
If you think Jesus is your personal savior
then
You can't just believe things about him. You
have to follow him.
If we think okay. What does that mean?
Am I supposed to die on cross, nobody
he explains it.
If we live trying to save ourselves,
If we live trying to keep our own
life trying to protect ourselves trying to get
everything that we want,
live for only what feels good and what's
easy and the path of least resistance then
we'll actually lose our life.
This is what is called the paradox of
the kingdom of God, the of the upside
down nature of the kingdom of God. When
a person fights to protect and indulge and
get... Though they think that's the key to
where life comes from. It actually empty their
life of all meaning and joy.
And it leads not only to spiritual death,
but eternal consequences as well.
That's why Jesus says just 1 of the
most simple but profound versus what good is
it?
What good
he he's he's giving you a picture, say
you get it all,
all of it. Everything that you've ever wanted,
like, you day dream what what I could
have if I want the lunch... Say you
get everything.
Good is it if you lose your soul
to get it.
That's a terrible trade.
He's showing us what is so hard in
cultural christianity.
Belief in Jesus in a biblical form leads
to following him.
Not to the cross physically, but it leads
to following him in the way of the
cross.
And there are times when that's gonna hurt.
It'll feel like death, but it's not. It's
the way of the savior.
It's the way that actually leads to life,
true life and salvation.
Here's the message to know Jesus rightly means
we follow him wholeheartedly.
How do we do that? We follow him
by living in light of his gospel.
Not in the ways of the world.
We follow his words and his commands and
his directive because he actually gave a lot
of really clear ones. We dedicate our lives
to him
And even when it leads us into suffering
or mock
or
ridicule or being left out.
We follow anyway. This is what it looks
like to live una ashamed of Jesus.
To follow him with our lives, even in
a public way.
This is what it looks like to live
una ashamed. Follow me
in that way and I'll stand una ashamed
of you before God.
1 of the interesting things I saw so
many things online
about the opening ceremony of the Olympics. And
you do you see the interesting thing that
happened there.
There was AAA
drag show recreation of the last supper
and I saw so many people, so mad.
Ind nation. And and there's a there's a
level that I think that can be appropriate
to this. But but I had a couple
conversations over the weekend, and
I said, why are you so surprised?
Jesus told us that we'd be laughed at?
Ridiculed mocked.
It's a part of it. And and there's
a part of people when they're like,
so offended how dare you? Is like, they
they just don't believe this was true.
What they're saying with their lives is that
I don't really wanna pick up my cross.
I want this to be easy. I wanna
get what I want. I want a genie
in a bottle to fix everything I want.
And any anytime it's not like that. I'm
out. I'm leaving.
Jesus told us at times we are gonna
be looked at this way.
There's an in escape reality that Jesus is
showing us and Luke highlighting.
Who you think Jesus is will affect your
life in the way you live.
You cannot believe that he's savior and reject
him.
You cannot receive his blessings
and reject his ways.
He's inviting those are his out of a
life of self protection.
Out of a life of selfish ness, or,
out of a life of self gratification that
just leaves you more empty than before, and
into the deep waters of fulfillment in him.
Began back to the miracle of the 5000,
and they were satisfied.
My heart just kept thinking in light of
the parable, the seed in the sore those
who whoever years let them here.
That belief lead to a life that's satisfied
in King Jesus fully satisfied.
Because he's the bread of life, the water
that won't run dry, the savior your kingdom
messiah. Will there be some unpleasant things? Sometimes
yeah, But the the weird paradoxes, you'll still
be fine satisfaction.
In him.
The question was presented to the disciples and
is now laid before us, who do you
think Jesus is, who is to you?
And then Jesus just pressed it further, and
what does that mean to your life?
Are you ashamed of me? Do you follow
me?
You walk after me?
The invitation is is really simple, come find
redemption and freedom in king Jesus.
Hedge no bets, burn your boats,
follow him with everything
and see that he's better, worthy full of
grace and mercy
following him won't always be easy. It's not
always gonna be terrible either there.
But you'll never look back and be, like,
I was not worth it I wasted my
life.
Why? Because he's sufficient,
and he is what satisfied over and over
and over think of Jesus words, I'm the
bread. On the water, on the well, on
the way. On the light he's showing you
over and over and over all the things
that your heart seek, I've got it. Come,
come find it.
Today, we'll
take comm like we normally do.
Ben you guys can come back up first
corinthians 11:23
through 26 says for I received from the
Lord.
What I also delivered to you, the Lord
Jesus from the night when he's betrayed took
bread.
And we had given things he broke. And
he said this is my body, which is
for you.
Do this as remembrance of me in the
same way also, he took the cup after
supper saying this cup is the new covenant
in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink and
remembrance it's of me for often as you
eat this bread and drink the cup, you
claim the Lord's death until he comes.
Once again, just like every week we We
come and we hear the lord. We hear
the word,
then we get to come to the table
again and remember that is him and him
alone that give us all that we have.
Yes, we can be fully satisfied in him,
but only because of what he's done.
So, yeah, it can be hard understanding that
the way of the cross sometimes walks you
into difficulty.
But you didn't have to earn it. You
didn't have to do the the dying on
the cross. You do the believing, and we
come to the table again and again to
remember it is him. And his kindness in
his beauty. I pray as you come to
the table that you would be satisfied.
I I pray if you've answered the question
of who is Jesus in a in a
metaphor
or knowledge based or he.
Your heart would begin to understand it.
That you would come to to him even
simple prayers today.
But I don't know if I feel satisfied,
Can you help me.
And see if he will meet you in
the place that you are, thank him for
the goodness that he is given you. That's
the hope for today.
Would you stand and pray with me?