Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ - Voddie Baucham

0:00 Well, we have a great deal of ground to cover this morning. This morning we will be at Mark chapter 8, verse 27 through the end of chapter 8 in Mark. We're looking quite simply at the identity of Jesus, the identity of Jesus. Now, in order for us to grasp this, we have to understand what's going on in Mark. and there are some incredible subtleties that are happening here in the gospel of Mark. And if you look with me for a moment, we'll see some of those subtleties. First of all, in chapter 8 and verse 27, you see that Jesus now is in Capernaum. I mean, Caesarea Philippi, excuse me. He's in the north at Caesarea Philippi, and from now until chapter 10 and verse 52, he is on what I like to refer to as the middle passage in the Gospel of Mark. From this point on, Jesus will make his move from the north down to the south, down to Jerusalem.

1:05 Not only is he moving from north to south, but he is moving from miracle worker to martyr. He is on the way to Jerusalem to die. And in fact, the phrase on the way is used five times in the book of Mark, all of them in this section. Only 19 verses in the New Testament contain the Greek phrase, entehodo, or on the way. 19 times, 19 verses, that's it. Five of those occur right here in Mark, and every one of them occurs between 822 and 1052, because that's the theme of the middle passage. He is on his way to Jerusalem. Now, if you'll look with me, we can see that happens, first of all, in 827. Secondly, it happens in 933 827 we'll look at in a minute but look at 933 with me they came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he began to question them what were you discussing where? in Tehoto on the way, it's the second time he uses that phrase next time he uses it is in the next verse, verse 34 they kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another which one of them was the greatest.

2:39 The next time we see it is down in 1032. Look with me in 1032. and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem. The same Greek phrase is used there, en tehodo, on the way. And at 10.52, 10.52,

3:03 Jesus said to him, this is blind Bartimaeus, go, your faith has made you well. Immediately he regained his sight and began following him on the road. On what road? 10.52, he's on the road back to Jerusalem from Jericho. It's the only time this Greek phrase shows up in the book of Mark. And in the book of Mark, right here between 8.22 and 10.52, where we have five statements of on the way. This middle passage where the entire gospel changes, where everything in Mark moves from the first half, where we see the identity of Jesus as the miracle worker and the great teacher to the second half where we see Jesus moving purposefully down to Jerusalem where he will be crucified. There's a frame.

3:54 Last week we saw the first part of the frame. The first part of the frame was the healing of a blind man. The last part of the frame in chapter 10 verse 52 is the healing of blind Bartimaeus. Now, why does Mark frame the middle passage with the healing of two blind men? By the way, if you'll remember, the first healing of the blind man was the only progressive miracle that we see.

4:18 He touches them and says, what do you see? I see men, but they look like trees walking around. Touches them again, and he finally sees. What's that about? Well, we don't know exactly because the text doesn't tell us. But when you put it together with the fact that we are now on the way, that we are now moving toward Jerusalem, and that one more thing happens here three times between 822 and 1052, three times. In 827, in 930, and in 1032, Jesus does what? He foretells his death, his crucifixion, and his resurrection.

5:02 To whom? to the disciples. what's the purpose of the middle passage? The purpose of the middle passage is this. Jesus is revealing to his disciples and to you and to me that he's not just a miracle worker. He came to do something greater than perform these miracles.

5:26 So at the beginning of the frame, there's a blind man. At the end of the frame, there's a blind man. In the middle, there are the disciples who are told three times in this one middle passage the same thing. I am going to be crucified. The chief priests and the elders and the teachers of the law are the ones who are going to do it, but I'm going to rise again on the third day. Not only do we see that three times, but we're about to look at Peter's great confession of who Jesus is right before he tells them that he must be crucified. And next week, we are going to look at the miracle of the transfiguration. which is what? Jesus opening their eyes, almost a direct repeat of what he did with the blind man. Touches them the first time, he doesn't quite see perfectly, so he touches them again and he sees it even better. We're going to see in our passage today, he tells them who he really is and they don't see perfectly. And then next week, we'll see him show them again on the Mount of Transfiguration.

6:29 so we're on the move we're on the way we are in Tehodo we're on the road from the north furthest point of his ministry to the south in Jerusalem the end point of his ministry we're on the road from the miracle worker to the martyr and we're on the road that will open the eyes of the disciples and that will open the eyes of you and of me to the true ministry and mission of Jesus. Look with me if you will. Beginning at verse 27. And the first thing that we see is that the identity of Jesus has always been a source of debate. Jesus went out along with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

7:26 And on the way, he questioned his disciples saying, who do people say that I am? They told him saying, John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. And others, one of the prophets. Who do men say that I am? Have you Googled me, guys? What's out there about me? And they got answers, did they not? Because everybody had an opinion about who Jesus was. he's doing these miracles everybody hears about the miracles everybody understands that the miracles are happening but what do the miracles mean that's the ultimate question some say the miracles mean that john the baptist has actually come back john the baptist is now reincarnate in the person of jesus christ others say that the miracles mean he's one of the prophets some have different ideas of what the miracles mean because they have to debate the identity of Jesus we know he's not just a regular man but who is he these debates raged and they continue to rage on even today for example there was a group called the ebionites the ebionites denied that Jesus was actually divine.

8:46 The Ebionites made this argument, that what happened was at his baptism, the Spirit, the Christ, came on Jesus and took over him. But on the cross, when he cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That that's when the Christ, the Spirit, actually left him. that's the ebionites would argue now this has been revived in our times in new age teaching new age teaching is actually that jesus was a man but what happened was as a man he got in touch with the divine part of him better than any other man in history and that's why he's worthy of mention and that's why he's worthy of note because he got in touch with the christ spirit so the ebionites believe this is early second century now late first century the docetists actually believed the opposite they denied the genuine humanity of jesus and so in docetism what you have is people who say they're gnostics remember gnostics believe that matter is bad Matter is evil.

9:55 So God would never touch matter. God would never inhabit matter. So Jesus was actually never fully human. He was always just fully divine. And so they would say that when he walked, he didn't really leave footprints. Because he wasn't a human being. He just appeared to be a human being.

10:19 Then you also have Arianism. Arianism is a little bit late. A couple centuries later, early 4th century. And Arianism goes back to the Ebionites and actually denies the fact that Jesus is genuinely divine. The Arians argue that Jesus is actually the first created being. And that after he was created, he created everything else. Now, this has been revived in our day, in the 19th century, in the religion of the Jehovah's Witnesses. how so? Well, the Jehovah's Witness movement is built on the heresy of Arianism, and the idea that Jesus is not fully divine. This is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. It's the Jehovah's Witnesses Bible. Listen in Colossians chapter 1, beginning of verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible.

11:29 No matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities, all other things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist. notice a word there that's not in your bible other all other things why do they need that word other and by the way i will give them this they're honest because they put it in brackets and when you see something in brackets that means it's not in the original but you need it in order to understand what's being said there and so they realize that the bible if left by itself teaches that jesus is god the creator so they have to put that in brackets because you can't be left by yourself to read that part of the Bible, because you'll never get to Arianism that way. So they add the word other. Not only that, but perhaps the most famous thing that the Jehovah's Witnesses do in their Bible is in John 1. In the beginning, the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.

12:35 little g not god the word was a god there's a small problem though and here's the deal if you ever want to start a cultic religion that shoots off of christianity and you're going to change the bible here's my piece of advice for you do a thorough job the joe's witnesses didn't because look at what comes after this after they refer to jesus as a god here's the first problem okay and I know you didn't come here for a Greek lesson and I, I, usually we don't do all of this stuff. But in the Greek, John 1 sounds like this. In Arche en Hologos, Kai Hologos en Proston Theon, Kai Theos en Hologos. Now why is that important? It's important because literally in the Greek, in Arche en Hologos, in the beginning was the Word. Kai Hologos en Proston Theon, and the Word was with God. Not a God, not the God, it was with God. Kai Theos and Hologos. And God was the Word. Literally in the Greek, that's what it says.

13:44 God was the Word. The reference is immediately after the last reference to God. So that's problem number one. But most people are not going to read that from their Greek Bibles. That's okay. You don't have to. Because look at what they do after they doctor up the Scriptures there. The Word was a God. Verse 3, all things came into existence through Him, and apart from Him, not even one thing came into existence. Well, that doesn't match the lie they told in Colossians 1 because they didn't insert other. Do you see that? so Jesus created being and in Colossians 1 they make that clear because he was created then he created all other things then they get to John 1 and they just stopped they didn't complete the job and they let John 1 3 say what John 1 3 says and it messes up their whole entire argument but this is an ancient heresy it's not new not by a long shot in fact these heresies have been dealt with listen to this in the nicene creed that condemned arianism and a lot of people wonder why all these different creeds was getting together with all these different creeds and things like that listen to the nicene creed the first few lines of the nicene creed and see if you understand exactly to whom they are referring. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,