This tape is entitled the inescapable question and
is given by Skip Heitzik.
Let's open up with the word of prayer
Father we thank you that You are our
special guest in this service this evening And
we invite you Lord to open up your
word and show us wondrous things out of
it cause our minds and hearts to understand
what we read and Motivate us Lord to
apply it in an obedient lifestyle For we
ask it in Jesus name.
Amen There's a term that some of us
use called biblical literacy It is understanding what
the Bible says and it comes through being
exposed to the truth of it But there
was a guy one time and I brought
the story about him who stood before a
church council and they were actually Candidating him
to see if he should become a member
of the church and they wanted to test
his knowledge of the Bible his accuracy of
the scripture and so they turned to him
and they said well Tell us what your
favorite Book in the Bible is he said
well, it's in the New Testament.
It's the book of parables And they said
hmm Why don't you tell us one of
the stories?
from this book of parables and so this
uncertain candidate stood in front of these men
and said well once upon a time a
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
fell among thieves and the thorns grew up
and choked that man and he went on
and the Queen of Sheba saw him and
she gave that man sir a thousand talents
of gold and silver and a hundred changes
of raiment and he got in his chariot
and drove furiously and When he was driving
along under a big tree his hair got
caught in a limb and left him hanging
there And he hung there many days and
nights and the Ravens brought him food to
eat and water to drink And one night
while he was hanging there asleep his wife
Delilah came along and cut off his hair
and he dropped and fell on the stony
ground and it began to rain and it
rained and rained for 40 days and 40
nights and He hid himself in a cave
and he went out and he met a
man that said come and take supper with
me But he said I cannot come for
I have married a wife and the man
went out into the highways and byways and
compelled him to come in and He went
on and came to Jerusalem and saw Queen
Jezebel sitting high up in a window And
when she saw him she laughed and he
said throw her down and he said throw
her down from there again, and they threw
her down 70 times 7 and Of the
fragments they picked up 12 baskets full Haha
Now whose wife will she be in the
Day of Judgment Quite sketchy in his Bible
knowledge Of course, there is one certain person
in certain Biblical theme that no one can
ever make a mistake about and that is
who Jesus is you can make a mistake
about a lot of things in the scripture
oftentimes.
We misquote it But if there's one thing
you can never make a mistake about that's
the person of Jesus And I think you
will agree there has been no person in
history who has influenced the world like Jesus
Christ has Our whole method of dating revolves
around Jesus being born.
We have BC and we have a D
No check is valid.
No document is legal unless it bears reference
to the birth of Jesus Christ.
It has to be dated Socrates taught for
40 years Plato taught for 50 years Aristotle
taught for 40 years Jesus only taught for
three years and yet he had more influence
on all of the world than all of
these men put together Jesus never was a
painter.
He never drew a picture and you think
of all the paintings that have him as
the subject He never wrote a song but
Bach Mendelssohn and some of the greatest songwriters
use Jesus as the center and the theme
of their music well in chapter 16 Jesus
is still training his disciples They are in
a process of discovering who Jesus is and
chapter 16 is the final examination it's the
test and there's only two questions on this
test and One of these questions is the
ultimate question that every human being must face
in life In fact, this one question is
the hinge that opens the door of eternity
for every single person and that is who
is Jesus Christ personally to you and It's
a question that everyone must face non-christian
and Christian or we read in verse 13
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples Saying who do
men say that I the Son of Man
am?
And so they said some say John the
Baptist and some Elijah others Jeremiah or one
of the prophets and he said to them,
but who do you say that I am
and Simon Peter answered and said you are
the Christ or Messiah the Son of the
Living God Jesus answered and said to him
blessed are you Simon bar Jonah for flesh
and blood has not revealed it to you
but my father who is in heaven and
You are Peter and upon this rock.
I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it I
will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven and whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven and whatever you
loose on earth Shall be loosed in heaven
Now Peter got it, right Who is Jesus?
You will never be settled Until that question
is settled and once that question is settled
in your life You can be settled and
have rest.
It was a W Tozer who said these
words we do not preach Christ with a
comma after his name as though waiting for
something else or Christ with a dash after
his name as though leading to something else,
but we preach Christ Period Now in this
section of Scripture Jesus has withdrawn from the
crowds and he's gotten alone with his disciples
The people were trying to force him to
become a king as we read this morning
the leaders were out to get rid of
him and to kill him and so Jesus
with withdraws from the disciples gets alone to
an area up north and He's preparing them
with this question this test.
Now what we're going to do tonight is
examine three things You could slice this message
up into three sections First who do people
say Jesus is or what is the popular
opinion poll of who this Jesus character is
and then who does Jesus say he is
and Finally the question that Jesus brings to
Peter, but who do you say that I
am?
now first of all the crowd or First
of all that the the popular opinion it
says in verse 13 when Jesus came to
the region of Caesarea Philippi He popped this
question Which means that Jesus and his disciples
took a walk a long walk by the
way 25 miles from Galilee to the northeast
is an area called Caesarea Philippi first of
all it was a welcome relief from Galilee,
which is 700 feet below sea level quite
hot in the summertime and Walking up 25
miles is the Golan Heights.
It's a beautiful area right at the foot
of Mount Hermon It was a very important
place to the Jewish nation Because it was
there at Caesarea Philippi That the River Jordan
began and gave life to all of Israel
But it also was important to many religions
in fact it was said that at one
time there were as many as 14 pagan
temples at Caesarea Philippi at One time there
was the temple to Baal who was worshipped
in the Old Testament he was called the
God of fertility whom people worshipped by sexual
prostitution and by taking their newborn babies and
Sacrificing them killing them to Baal Later on
there was a temple to the Greek God
Panaeus there was a mythological legend that said
that this God was born in a cave
at the mouth of the Jordan River then
A few years after that it was Herod
the Great who built a temple to worship
Caesar Augustus by the way Caesar Augustus literally
means Caesar of the gods because he was
worshipped as a deity It was as if
Jesus deliberately took his disciples to this place
that was famous for its religious background and
with this religious backdrop Deliberately Contrasts himself and
his claims to all of the other religions
that were popular throughout history It was there
at this backdrop that he said who do
men say that I am Now for anyone
else to ask that question it would be
arrogant If one of your friends walked up
to you and said now who do men
say that I am You'd probably say who
cares who they say you are you're not
that important and For anyone else to ask
that would seem prideful, but it's essential that
Jesus asked that because a correct Assessment of
who Jesus is is critical to salvation I'll
refresh your memory with what Paul said in
Romans that If you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead you
shall be saved Now when Jesus asked this
question Who do men say that I am
He was not Gleaning information from them.
He already knew the answer to the question
He knew what people thought about who he
was, but Jesus Deliberately asked the question I
believe to let the disciples ponder Think through
the popular perception of who Jesus was During
that time who do men say that I
am?
It was as if Jesus was saying now,
let's see the result of my ministry After
all of the things I've said after all
of the miracles I perform.
What is the result of my ministry?
What do people think about me?
What did do the disciples know?
About what other people feel that I really
am to them And so he asked this
kind of a test question.
Who do men say that I am?
Now as you can read the opinions varied
didn't they?
You know what the opinions today still vary
as to who Jesus Christ is Jesus is
still today the most controversial person on the
face of the earth people have more kooky
ideas as to who Jesus is than anyone
else and People have very different ideas and
opinions about who he is, you know, it's
real funny Though people know that there was
something extraordinary about him something even divine He
said the most incredible thing and though they
will rank him with some of the greatest
people who ever lived Oftentimes the opinions and
assessments of Jesus are shallow of being accurate
Well, let's look at what they said about
him First of all, some said you're John
the Baptist Now how on earth did they
get the idea that Jesus was John the
Baptist?
Well, remember Herod the Great?
Herod who put John in prison and eventually
killed him.
Well, he heard the reports of this Jesus
walking around the Israel area He heard the
reports and he was scared.
He said it's John the Baptist.
He's risen from the dead he's gonna haunt
me for what I did to him and
This rumor circulated and people believed it.
It is funny that people were so quick
to believe that he was Reincarnated John the
Baptist rather than believe that he was the
Messiah but they believed that he was John
the Baptist and I think that there were
certain similarities between Jesus ministry and John John
the Baptist was quite fiery He was uncompromising.
He was a black and white preacher.
You could not misunderstand him And Jesus was
also quite fiery many times did not compromise
the truth but preached it with great fervency
and you either loved John the Baptist or
you hated him and The way Jesus preached
you either loved him or you hated him
Even Jesus said you're either for me or
against me and there was such a similarity
In the way, they presented their ministries that
they thought you know that reminds me of
John the Baptist And perhaps it was the
zeal with with Jesus preached and lived that
reminded them of John the Baptist or Perhaps
it was the emphasis That John the Baptist
had in his ministry that reminded them when
they saw Jesus Remember John the Baptist emphasized
doing good and not just saying the right
thing People came to him to be baptized
in the Jordan River and they said John
what should we do?
And he said bring forth fruit Befitting repentance
if you have two cloaks and you see
someone who has none give them one do
something rather than just say something if you're
a tax collector don't rip people off be
fair and So in saying that Jesus was
John the Baptist they were saying, you know,
Jesus is a good man he emphasizes what
is right and what is good and You
know, there are many people who say the
same thing today about Jesus they will recognize
Jesus as a good man Not the Messiah
Not the Son of God Not God in
human flesh But they'll at least give him
the idea that well, he's good You know,
I get that all the time, don't you?
Oh, I don't believe Jesus is God like
you Christians do but he was a good
man And then somebody said well, he's Elijah
or one of the prophets Yeah What they
get the idea that he was Elijah He's
been dead 900 years at this point Well,
remember there's that strange scripture in the Old
Testament book of Malachi that promised before the
Messiah comes God said I will send Elijah
the prophet Jews today still at Passover Will
keep a plate on the table and an
empty chair in case Elijah pops in during
the feast and wants to have a meal
They're awaiting Elijah who will precede the Messiah
because if Elijah comes the Messiah is not
far away But what was it that reminded
the people of Elijah when they saw Jesus?
Well, what do you think of when you
think of Elijah?
Power Powerful man Elijah was the greatest prophet
to the Jews in the Old Testament Remember
on Mount Carmel Elijah said bring 450 prophets
of Baal and I'll stand up to all
of them alone and He called fire down
from heaven and he crispy crittered him right
there on the spot Toasted him.
You don't want to mess with Elijah There
were more miracles at the hand of this
one prophet than all of the other prophets
in the Old Testament Well, Jesus too was
a man of miracles Jesus to heal people
like Elijah Jesus raised people from the dead
like Elijah and they saw this man of
miraculous power and they thought he's a prophet
and you know Today people have the same
idea of who Jesus is.
They'll say oh, he's a good man, and
he's even a prophet one of many prophets
in the lineup of prophets like Moses Elijah
Buddha Muhammad Confucius On down the list Jesus
was a good person.
He was even a powerful mighty prophet And
then they said he was Jeremiah Now you
might wonder why would people think he's Jeremiah
Well, there was a Jewish story that was
circulating around that time and some of the
Jews believed that before the Messiah comes that
Jeremiah will appear to the Jewish nation and
restore proper worship for the altar and for
the ark in the temple Also, there was
an earmark of Jeremiah's ministry that reminded them
When they saw Jesus of Jeremiah and that
is he was a compassionate prophet Jeremiah wept
over the sins of his people There's a
book in the Old Testament called Lamentations where
Jeremiah is literally weeping as he sees the
city being destroyed By her enemy.
He was not a callous man.
He was a very compassionate man.
And so was Jesus It says that when
Jesus saw the crowd of people he had
compassion on them because they were like sheep
having no shepherd And you know many people
today have the same view of Jesus like
they did back then They'll say oh, he's
a good man like John the Baptist.
He's a miraculous powerful man like Elijah or
He's so loving and so compassionate not the
Messiah not the Son of God Not God
in human flesh just a good guy a
prophet a loving compassionate person Who do men
say that I am and all of their
answers are very reflective of what people say
today now as you can see the opinions
varied and Every single opinion was contradictory Because
you couldn't be John the Baptist and Elijah
at the same time and All of these
opinions were wrong Because Jesus wasn't Elijah.
Jesus wasn't John the Baptist Jesus wasn't Jeremiah
or just one of the prophets He was
Jesus the Messiah the Son of the Living
God Though they had many opinions of who
he was like people do today.
All of them were dead wrong and So
then comes the next question who do men
or who do you say that I am?
You know, I found something interesting about people
It seems that those who are the most
ignorant about a subject are often the most
opinionated about it They won't take the time
to research the study and to examine all
of the facts But they're very opinionated about
a certain subject and I find this in
concerning Jesus quite often They'll have long stories
and ideas of who Jesus is and they'll
live their life based on those ideas But
they never take the time to check it
out for themselves They will live off the
opinions of someone else or their formulate their
own They know nothing about the subject, but
they're very opinionated and folks.
That's why you shouldn't be influenced by the
opinions of the crowd Because they so different
from one another and they're so contradictory and
they're so wrong Just because most people believe
something so what at one time most of
the world thought that the earth was flat
It was part of the science textbook Well,
you know most people believe it's true.
It's got to be true Well, it's not
true, is it?
And I could go for evolution.
I could go for who Jesus is or
a number of subjects The crowd should not
be the gauge as to what you believe
Now since the time of Jesus many many
people have stated who they believe Jesus Christ
is and They've said some very wonderful exonerating
honorable things But many of them are inaccurate.
They're not quite right Let me quote a
few of them first Napoleon Bonaparte who said
Alexander Caesar and Charlemagne and myself have found
a great Empire But Jesus alone founded his
empire upon love I know men and Jesus
Christ is more than a man.
That sounds wonderful, but it's not totally accurate
Let's go on Josephus Jewish historian and Pharisee
at one time said There was at this
time a man named Jesus a wise man
if it's lawful to call him a man
But he was a doer of wonderful works
Traveling on through history man by the name
of Strauss a German rationalist said Jesus is
the highest model of religion very nice complimentary
thing to say But he's inaccurate Then there
was the Frenchman Renan who was an atheist
who said Jesus is the greatest among the
sons of men Now in modern times people
say Jesus is a superstar all of these
compliments fall short of identifying who he really
is And you know, this is the funny
part while people will talk about who they
think Jesus is and you know God to
me is a concept Why don't you ask
Jesus who he is Before you formulate an
opinion let the man speak Who do men
say that I am And before we get
into that question, who do you say that
I am who did Jesus say he was
you see Jesus made some astonishing Unique claims
that no one has ever made and either
those claims are right or they're wrong He
made claims that set him apart from everyone
else Who founded any religion or any system
or any person that people worship up to
this point?
You know, isn't it interesting that when you
discuss Jesus people will become angry And you
can discuss Muhammad Buddha Confucius Any one of
the leaders Any religion but in a crowded
room talk about Jesus and people get a
little scared And you also notice when people
want to swear that they take the name
of Jesus they don't say Oh Buddha hurt
my thumb They don't stub their toe and
say I'm Mohammed You know why?
because Jesus made claims that Buddha Mohammed and
all of these other jokers never made and
The claims that he made when a person
is confronted with them scares them frankly a
little bit They get a little bit itchy.
They don't want to face the facts Jesus
said I am the way the truth the
life No one comes to the father except
through me Quite a claim.
No one ever else has made that claim
One of his disciples Philip said Jesus Would
you just show us the father and we'll
be happy Well, of course you would who
wouldn't But Jesus said Philip don't you know
who I am if you've seen me you've
seen the father Quite a claim.
No one's ever made that claim Jesus was
the one that promised to quench universal thirst
for everyone To the woman at the well,
he said drink from this water and you'll
thirst again But if a person drinks from
the water that I give him he will
never ever thirst Then there was the night
that Jesus was having dinner at the home
of an elite Pharisee and many famous religious
elite Religious leaders were there and as they
were having the meal a harlot came in
and Started crying all over Jesus feet and
taking his hair and started wiping him down
And the Pharisees were thinking, you know, if
this guy were a prophet he would know
who this woman is Then Jesus said something
that just blew him away he turned to
the woman and he said woman your sins
are forgiven And the Pharisees No one except
God can forgive sin, right Now you're catching
on You see he made some incredible claim
That we must deal with and If these
claims are true, then he's not just a
prophet He's not just a nice guy.
Not just a good teacher.
Not just a miracle worker He's who he
claimed to be Let me read a couple
scriptures don't have to turn to them Let
me just read a few of these claims
a little further on and John chapter 5
goes like this For this reason the Jews
persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because
he had done these things on the Sabbath
Jesus answered them.
My father has been working until now and
I have been working.
He put himself on par with God's activity
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to
kill him because he not only broke the
Sabbath But he said that God was his
father making himself equal with God John 10
the Jews surrounded him and said to him
How long do you keep us in doubt
if you are the Messiah then tell us
plainly and Jesus answered.
I told you And you don't believe I
and my father are one Means one in
essence One in unity The Jews took up
stones to stone him and Jesus said many
good works have I done for which of
them do you stone me?
And Jesus answered saying not for a good
work.
Do we stone you but for blasphemy because
you being a man make yourself God See,
they definitely understood his claim And then the
icing on the cake is John chapter 8
Where the enemies of Jesus are around him
and Jesus said your father Abraham rejoiced to
see my day and he saw it He
was glad the Jews said to him.
You're not even 50 years old yet You
said you've seen Abraham Jesus said to them
most assuredly I say to you before Abraham
was I am and He used a Greek
construction Ego me Which is the same as
in the Old Testament when Moses said who
shall I say sent me and God said
I am that I am Before Abraham was
I am did the Jews to stand and
go.
Okay, great No scripture tells us this Then
they took up stones to stone at him
Why because they knew who he claimed to
be that he claimed to be God in
human flesh Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin a
few years later and The high priest looked
at him and said are you the Son
of God which is the title for deity?
Jesus said right on let's paraphrase You're accurate
I am and it says the high priest
tore his robe Now high priest was forbidden
by law to tear his garment unless someone
committed blasphemy He tore his robe Because Jesus
claimed to be God.
Oh Who do men say that I am?
Well, wait a minute Jesus.
Who do you say that?
You are the Son of God God in
human flesh Not a good teacher like John
the Baptist Not just a prophet like Elijah
Not just a compassionate wonderful person like Jeremiah
the Son of God God in human flesh
That's who Jesus Christ claimed to be and
he accepted worship as God for you remember
after the resurrection He said Thomas Take your
hand and touch these wounds and see that
it is I and Thomas fell down and
you remember what he said He said my
lord and my God Now that's accurate Who
Jesus claimed he was folks.
Let's be very honest here.
If Jesus was not God he deserves an
Academy Award Because he played it to the
hilt and he made such claim There was
a man in the 1800s early 1900s by
the name of CS Lewis a brilliant educator
from Cambridge England He was an atheist He
Didn't like Christians, but he converted to Christianity
and later on.
He wrote a book called mere Christianity and
he wrote these words.
I Am trying here to prevent anyone saying
the really foolish thing that people often say
about him Which is I am ready to
accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but
I don't accept his claim to be God
That is one thing We must not say
for any man who was merely a man
and said the sort of things that Jesus
said would not be a great moral teacher
He would either be a lunatic on the
level with the man who says he's a
poached egg Or else he would be the
devil of hell You must make the choice
either this man was and is the Son
of God or else a madman or something
worse Now if you were to boil it
down just logically you'd say that there's two
options To the claims of Jesus and that
is either his claims were accurate or his
claims were false Those are the only two
options you have he made claims.
He was either right or wrong Okay, let's
suppose just for a minute.
He was wrong.
He made all of his wonderful claims, but
he was wrong well, you only again have
two alternatives a When he spoke the claims
he knew he was wrong or be when
he spoke the claims He really believed in
them, but he was wrong and he didn't
know it Well, let's explore the first option.
Let's say Jesus claimed.
I'm the way the truth of life.
I'm God.
I'm the Son of God and He knew
that his claims were false, what does that
make him a liar Not a good prophet
a nice teacher Makes him a liar if
he said something and deliberately misrepresented the truth.
He lied and he was a hypocrite Because
he told people to tell the truth at
all costs while he himself didn't do it
and It would also make him a fool
wouldn't it because it was those very claims
that nailed him to a cross Well, let's
explore the second option let's say he was
wrong and he really believed in his claims
Really thought he was all those things, but
he was just wrong.
I mean many people have said things and
they're just mistaken What does that make him?
It makes him a crazy person any person
who would make those sort of claim and
Really believed they were true, but they weren't
makes him a megalomaniac is the psychological term
delusions of grandeur What would you think if
President Bush stood on national television?
State of the Union message all the cameras
are focused in on him all of America's
watching him closely and he says now read
my lips I'm the way the truth of
life.
No one comes to God unless he comes
through me.
I'm the resurrection in the life Before Abraham
was I existed They toss him into the
brink.
They put him in a white coat.
He's a crazy man you don't make these
sort of claims and Believe that they're true
when they're false unless you're nuts And then
again that doesn't make him a moral teacher
Just a prophet a loving compassionate person there's
a third option and that is his claims
were accurate and He is the Son of
God And he is the way the truth
of life He is God in human flesh.
You must be born again and the claims
of Christ confront you like they confront everyone
else Jesus Christ either was who he said
he was or he's a lunatic or a
liar Again it was CS Lewis who wrote
these words.
You can shut him up for a fool
You can spit at him and you can
kill him as a demon or you can
fall at his feet and call him Lord
and God but let us not come with
any patronizing nonsense about his being a great
human teacher He has not left that option
open to us and he did not intend
to Now when the disciples told Jesus the
popular opinions of the crowds Jesus knew and
the disciples knew that that wasn't accurate.
And so now Jesus asks the second ultimate
question on the test He says, okay now
that I know what people think about me,
who do you say that I am?
I'm sure that there was a little bit
of silence for a few minutes Because now
we're not talking about other people Jesus zeroes
the sermon home to them Well, they answered
him.
Let's read the verses together verse 17 or
verse 16 Simon Peter answered and said you
are the Christ the Son of the Living
God Jesus said blessed are you Simon Barjona
in other words bingo Right on you got
it, right?
You passed the test Her flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you But my
father who is in heaven you didn't get
this information from listening to the crowd.
In fact What you are saying is contradictory
to what they are saying But my father
has revealed this to you and you are
Peter and on this rock I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it What Peter believed and
what Peter said was against what people were
saying in his day Dwight L.
Moody a famous preacher in Chicago once said
that those Christians who move the world are
those Christians who?
Refuse to let the world move them They
stay right where they're at You know one
thing's for sure folks.
You can never make a decision about who
Jesus is by listening to other people And
isn't it funny how so many people will
take what other people say?
For all of their education and knowledge about
the gospel, they will listen to opinions rather
than check it out You can't discover who
Jesus is by asking people there's another thing
for sure and That is the evidence for
Jesus being the Son of God is there
The evidence for him being God and human
flesh is there For you to reject that
evidence Means you are stubborn or you want
to stay in a state of immorality and
rebellion against God because the facts are there
and There are many people who say you
know I Just can't believe in God Josh
McDowell was giving a series of lectures one
time and he said To one person who
was in the crowd.
He spoke about who Jesus wasn't very intellectual
professor.
He said You know Josh it was a
great study and all but I just can't
believe That Jesus is the Son of God.
I just can't I'd like to but I
can't Josh said let me ask you something
If I could prove to you that he
was would you give your life to him
the man said no Josh said then don't
tell me you can't tell me you won't
You don't have a problem with your will
or with your ability, but with your will
You should say I refuse I won't believe
in him Now that question is still an
inescapable question Who do you say that Jesus
is now some of you would automatically say
he's the Son of God But there's some
others you might say well.
I don't know I've always believed.
He was a good person.
He was a prophet he said wonderful things
he did wonderful things and My friends and
my parents say this about him well, you
know right now.
It doesn't really matter That's not the issue
what other people say about him Not even
the issue right now what he says about
himself.
That's a given But what do you personally
individually say about Jesus who is Jesus to
you tonight?
You know what it's impossible to be neutral
isn't it?
Wasn't it Jesus who said you are either
for me, or you're against me You either
help gather or you scatter I?
Don't give you that option of neutrality you
say skip Why are you making such a
big issue about the person of Jesus that
he's the Son of God that he's God
in human flesh I?
Mean why is that the big deal well?
let me tell you why it's the big
deal because John closes out his gospel by
saying these things and Truly Jesus did many
other signs in the presence of his disciples
which are not written in this book But
these are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ the Son of God
And that believing you may have life in
his name That's why we're making such a
big deal out of it Because Jesus said
and did certain things and by believing in
them you may have life in his name
your decision determines your destiny I Remember I
read to you what Napoleon said about Jesus
well Did you know that later on in
life Napoleon wrote something else about him listen
to this?
He said if Socrates would enter the room
we should rise and do him honor But
if Jesus Christ came into the room we
should fall down on our knees and worship
him And that's right.
We should worship him Now I don't need
to tell you you already know, but there
are many voices out in that world Telling
you what you ought to do telling you
how you ought to live telling you what
their idea about God is or religion or?
Eternity there's the New Age.
There's this cult.
There's that religion many voices Well who do
you say that he is I Heard about
a guy in England he had trouble hearing
even at a hearing aid And he went
to his doctor and had him self-checked
And it says as soon as the doctor
pulled the hearing aid out of his ear
immediately his hearing improved and They discovered that
this man wore the hearing aid in the
wrong ear for 20 years What a bummer
20 years He had the thing in the
wrong ear listening to the wrong voices Did
you notice something that?
Peter made a personal discovery He didn't listen
to everybody else's voice after watching Jesus Perform
his miracles after hearing what Jesus was saying
he made his own personal discovery of Who
he was He made his own personal step
If you do much traveling and you take
a car and drive on I-10 and
end up down in, Louisiana Just as you're
driving up over the bridge to go over
the Mississippi River.
There's a billboard it towers above the city
You can't miss it as you're going up
over the bridge There's a picture of Jesus
dying on the cross blood coming out of
his hands and his feet and in bold
letters It simply says now it's your move
a Great message now, it's your move Tonight
I'm not asking you who people say that
he is.
I already know what they say he is
Tonight I am NOT asking what Jesus says
about himself We already know who he is
what he claimed to be but who do
you personally say he is now?
You know what that is a question that
frankly many people Hear and put off for
years.
I was raised in a religious home I
thought because I went to church and was
religious that I answered that question and I
didn't I Was resting upon what my parents
told me but I haven't made it ever
up to that point a personal decision and
commitment to Jesus and Many people grow up
like that.
They're drug to church They're very religious they're
very upright, but they've never settled the question
of who Jesus is to them personally and
Until you've come to him and said my
lord and my god that question isn't settled.
Let's pray right now Our Heavenly Father You
sent Jesus into this world to die for
sinners And that by dying he might save
them or for so many of us We
have already answered the question We believe you're
the Messiah the Son of God By believing
we have life in that name and there
are others Lord precious ones whom you love
Who've not yet made a step all they
believe In their head, I guess they know
But they've never surrendered to you they've never
fallen down on their knees and said my
lord and my god I commit myself to
you Lord I pray right now, would you
do in this room a mighty work of
tenderly drawing those to that place of saying
I Say that you are the Messiah the
Son of the Living God and tonight I
commit my life to you tonight.
I surrender to you Lord then would you
invade their life and change them?
And let them know Your goodness and your
mercy As you are continuing to pray The
time of great reverence I'd ask no one
to leave the auditorium right now.
I am going to give an invitation and
I'm going to ask I'm going to plead
with you That if you have never surrendered
to this Unique individual Jesus who alone can
give you purpose and meaning in life that
you do it tonight That you won't wait
another day that you won't say.
Oh, I'll think about it You do it
now You won't go out and ask your
friends if it's okay, you won't go home
and ask your parents if it's okay You
will make a commitment to Jesus tonight If
you desire to have the forgiveness of your
sins and get a clean start a clean
slate If you desire to experience the love
and the forgiveness of Jesus I want you
to surrender your life to Jesus tonight And
if that is your desire, I want you
to take the first step as God tonight
would ask you the same question Who do
you say that Jesus is?
While listening to this tape perhaps God's Spirit
has been talking to your heart If you
felt the need to draw closer to your
Creator, why not start today?
God has provided a way for man to
enter into relationship with him forever through his
son Jesus Christ Jesus said I'm the way
the truth and the life no man comes
to the father, but by me The Bible
says that as many as receive him to
them give he power to become the children
of God You too can receive him right
now by asking him to forgive you of
your sin And asking him to come into
your life and to be Lord and Savior
of your life If you'd like to receive
Jesus Christ in your life today, you can
do so through a simple little prayer