Skip to content A Deeper Look at Jesus' Identity in Luke 9 Jul 10 · 14 min ...more
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The Defining Question: Who is Jesus? 0:09 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Today, we're in Luke chapter 9, a great chapter, exciting chapter. In fact, it's the, the third longest chapter in Luke with 62 verses. And depending on how you count0:21 them, about a dozen different, topics or events in this chapter. Verse 18, and it happened as he was alone praying that the his disciples joined him, and he asked them saying, who did the0:33 crowd say that I am? Now we looked at this question that Jesus posed to his disciples back in Matthew, but we're gonna look at it from a slightly different angle. As it is, this question is0:45 a life defining question. But first, we're gonna take a quick overview of, the rest of the chapter. Beginning in verses 1 through 6, we have Jesus sending out the 120:57 disciples on really what was a training mission. Verse 1, then he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to1:08 heal the sick. Now just a kind of a brief note on this opening section, Jesus gives them power and authority. They are commissioned and they're given the tools1:20 that they need for the mission to preach the kingdom or the gospel and to deliver from demons and from and and to heal from diseases. Notice what they minister1:32 to here. Okay? Don't miss this. The spiritual, mental, and physical well-being of people, body, mind, and soul. Now some today view religion as merely a spiritual1:44 concept. Well, we are spiritual beings first and foremost. Right? And if we get the spiritual right, meaning our relationship with our creator,1:57 the mental comes into balance and the physical is impacted. Now I understand there are physiological issues that come into play, but generally speaking, alright, generally speaking, the2:09 spiritual void in the lives of people often leads to behaviors that cascade into both mental and physical problems, and we see the interconnectedness2:20 right here in this passage. Alright. In verses 10 through 17, Jesus feeds the 5000. We looked at this in in Matthew, and we're gonna look at it again in in John when we get2:32 to John's gospel because there's more information about the event. And I actually I love that event. It is is 1 of the, 1 of my favorite accounts, in in the gospels, and we're2:44 gonna look at that in more detail in John. Alright. Jesus again retreats to a place of solitude to pray, and then he puts this life defining question before his disciples in verse 18.2:56 And and, again, we're gonna return to this in a moment. But quickly, I'm gonna give you a kind of an overview of the rest of the chapter. The Mount of Transfiguration verses 28 through 36, verses 37 through3:08 42, Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit. Jesus warns of his coming death, verses 43 through 45. Verses 46 through 48, the disciples are3:19 jockeying for position. And, verses 50 49 through 50, the kingdom of God is bigger than you and your church. And then in verse 51, Jesus sets his face to go3:31 to the cross. Verses 52 through 56, the Samaritan village rejects a visit by Jesus. And, verses 57 through 62, no place for double mindedness3:43 in the kingdom of God. Alright. So we're, as I said, in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we have a lot of the same accounts and even some over in3:55 John. And so, you know, we'll we'll sometimes, we'll deal with all of them, but sometimes we'll deal with them in 1 of the particular gospel, accounts because4:07 they provide more detail. And I wanna go a little bit deeper into this defining question of life. So let's go back to verse 18. And it happened as he4:19 was alone praying that his disciples joined him, and he asked them saying, who do the crowds say that I am? So they answered and said, John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others say 1 of the the old prophets has4:31 risen again. Now, this this whole kind of encounter begins back in verse 7, so let's go back to verse 7. Now Herod, the tetrarch, heard all that4:42 was done by him, that is Jesus, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, guilty conscience, I think, and by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that4:54 1 of the old prophets had risen. Herod said, John, I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? So he sought to see him. So Jesus now in in verse 20, we're5:06 gonna go to verse 20. He zeroes in on the real question. Okay? He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Right? It's it's 1 thing what other people say. It's5:18 what what's being said out there, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered and said, the Christ of God. Now, we are told, and I agree, that 1 of the5:30 defining questions of life, everybody wants to ask it, who am I? Who am I? But that question cannot be fully answered without answering the question of who is Jesus.5:43 Getting that question right is a piece of life's puzzle that allows us to put the other pieces into place. So who is Jesus to you? Is he is he a great teacher or a profound5:55 prophet? Is he the son of God or Messiah who came to redeem us from our sin? Is he your savior? This is a defining question of life. Who is Jesus to you? When we know that6:07 answer, we're then confronted with another question that then allows us to answer the question of who am I. That question reveals our identity. Jesus put that6:18 question before his disciples. Next, look at verse 23. Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever6:30 did desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it for a man if he gains the whole world6:42 and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in his father's and of the holy angels.6:54 See, when we have the right answer of who Jesus is, then we have to answer this question, will we follow him? And from that decision flows the answer of who am I.7:07 Look at what it means to follow Jesus. You see, it well, let me just keep going here. I don't I don't wanna get off, on a tangent. Look what it means to follow Jesus. Number7:19 1, denial of self. What does that look like? Well, it's not about us. It is about Jesus. It is about living for something greater than ourselves. In our denial of self and denial of the7:31 desires for the transient things of this life comes our purpose, living for the eternal. And Matthew 6 33 says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of7:43 these things will be added unto you. Remember, living in the kingdom, the kingdom of God is counterintuitive to the human nature, the nature of7:55 man. It it is totally opposite. If we seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, forsaking these things that we we're we're just conditioned to pursue,8:07 guess what? All these things are added in the end, and and we're dead to the world. We deny it's denial of self, and then it is dead to the world. The cross, as he said, you you you take up your cross. The cross8:19 was an instrument of death. We must overcome the fear of what man can do to us. The rejection, the cancel culture, all of those things. We can't serve God8:31 and man at the same time. We can't have a reverence and a fear of God and a fear of what men have to say. In Matthew 10 28, it says, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but8:43 rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Now there's a there's a great line in a classic movie. I probably mentioned it before. It's 12 o'clock high.8:54 It's a old black and white movie in, General Frank Savage is played by Gregory Peck. Some of you who are older will remember these are back when movies9:06 were movies. So he takes command of the the, of a wing of the army's eighth Air Corps, that was conducting these daylight bombing raids over Germany in World War 2. Now the9:18 crews were and and these by the way, these, you look back on this, these daylight bombing raids were critical to turning the war in World War 2 because they were precise bombing raids over Germany. And9:30 the but the crews were suffering from all kinds of physical and mental issues because of the stress and the fear, because the the the the casualty rates were so high. And and so Savage comes in as the new9:42 commander. He assembles all the men and he walks out onto the stage and he tells them this, quote, consider yourselves already dead. And then he walks out. It was stunning, but it was a turning point for that9:54 squadron because you can't kill a dead man. And when we take up our cross to follow Christ and we've died to this world, the world can't affect us. They can't touch us.10:06 By the way, this includes all those threats that are short of physical death as well. Alright? We we should not fear being canceled, deplatformed, or marginalized by the world.10:19 You can't be a disciple of Christ and be concerned about what the world has to say. Now that does not mean that does not mean that, we're to be offensive in our conduct. We should do nothing10:31 in word or deed that would bring reproach upon the name of Christ. But if we're ridiculed, as Jesus said, because of we're following him, we should rejoice. When we follow Christ and die to this world, our10:42 life takes on a much deeper and eternal focus. As Galatians 2 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the10:54 life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And then the third aspect, so we have the denial of self, dead to the11:06 world, and then third is devotion to Jesus. Look again at verse 26. There is a connection with denying oneself in order to proclaim Jesus. If we deny11:18 him, if we're ashamed of being associated with him, look at the consequences. He will be ashamed, or as we read in Matthew, he will deny us before the father if we deny him11:30 before man. To follow him, to follow Jesus means we are not ashamed of him and his gospel. Paul said in, said this in Romans 1 16, he says, for I am11:42 not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. When we know when we11:54 know that Jesus is the son of God, the savior of the world, those who put their faith in him, those who trust him, those who turn their lives over to him, and we make the decision to12:06 deny ourselves, to die to the world, and to devote ourselves to him, we have then answered the question of who he is. Then we can answer12:18 the question of who am I, because our identity then is in Christ. Father, we thank you for your word. And, and, again, we ask the Holy Spirit to open our12:30 minds and our spirits to receive what the whole what what you are teaching us through your your word, through what the Holy Spirit, our teacher, is teaching us. And and I pray that we would12:41 be transformed, that we would we would be dead to this world, that we would deny ourselves and the things that we want, and we would conform our passions. Our passions would be conformed12:53 to your purposes and your plans for our lives. And and we would proclaim Jesus to a world that is looking for answers as to who are we? Why are we here? All13:05 of that is answered in a relationship with Jesus Christ. So father, we pray that you would continue to guide us on this journey and and we invite more. We pray the holy spirit would draw more13:17 onto this journey, that, Lord, that we would be transformed by the truth of your word. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for being with me this morning. And, by the way, for those in, the Baton13:29 Rouge area, we will be having our monthly, Stand on the Word Bible study this Saturday night. So we invite you to come join us. We'll also be, putting that up online on that13:41 Stand Firm app as well. So if you don't have the Stand Firm app, get the Stand Firm app, and you can join us at, about 7 o'clock, central time. It'd be 8 o'clock eastern time for our13:52 monthly stand on the word, bible study. Alright. Until next time, keep standing on the word.14:02 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan, available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutesIn this video 0:00 The Defining Question: Who is Jesus?
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