The Big Question
Series: StandAlone
October 25, 2020
Kasey Murphy
Episode Notes
The Big Question.
Anyone Have kids? You remember when they were small they
would ask all kinds of unanswerable questions?
“Daddy, why does the glue not stick to the inside of the
bottle?”
“Daddy why are giraffes so funny looking?”
“Why do I have 2 eyes if I only see one thing?”
“Why cant I lick my own elbow?”
When Hallie was little we were in line at a clothing store and
the girl in front of us was, lets just say not dressed Modestly,
and Hallie asked very loudly, “daddy does she know she not
wearing any clothes?”
A lot of unanswerable questions out there isn’t there?
Really there is a lot of funny questions that don’t keep us up at
night. But there’s also some that we wrestle with that we can
never answer this side of heaven. “Why do bad things happen
to good people, why death, why pain, why cancer?”
And while we may not be able to adequately answer or at least
understand the answer to a lot of questions on this earth, there
is one that I want to ask you today that you must answer
because it has eternal consequences either way you answer it.
Turn in your bibles to
Matthew 16:13-20
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They
replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still
others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about
you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter
answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living
God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for
this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my
Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, [a] and on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades [b] will not
overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be [c] bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be [d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then
he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the
Messiah.
God is asking you the same question today. And the answer is
paramount to your eternity.
Who do you say that Jesus is?
Now the physical place Jesus asked this question is important
to the question itself. He asked this question in a northern part
of Israel, called Caesarea Philippi, Mindy and I have actually
stood in the place that most believe they were sitting and it
was amazing.
(Show picture)
But its important that Jesus asked this in that spot because the
place was named after Caesar, and Philip. Caesar as in the
princes or rulers of the Roman Empire, Who claimed to be
God’s, and Phillip a gifted and powerful political leader among
the Jews.
Right were Jesus asked this question was the place that
everyone from Israel would come to present offerings to false
God’s. Then Jesus asks his disciples 2 questions.
1. Who do others say that I am? In other words what does
the crowd think about me, the popular opinion of the day.
- They say you are John the Baptist, they say Elijah, or
Jeremiah, or a prophet come back to life.
And the disciples have no problem answering this question,
They can spout off what others think all day long, but then Like
Jesus does he makes it personal.
2. “Ok now that we know what others think of me, I’m going
to ask those that have spent the most time with me, (ie
the first Christians) Who do you say that I am?”
The single most important question that you can answer in this
life. More important than who you marry, or where you live,
what you do or the car you drive, Who do you say that Jesus is?
Not what your cousin says, or your sister, or your mom, your
brother or friend, who do YOU say Jesus is?
It’s like Jesus was having a define the relationship moment with
his disciples and I believe when you define who someone is to
you it makes it easier to live the way you should.
Now notice the Bible doesn’t give us multiple answers for this.
I can just imagine the moment. Jesus asks Who does everyone
say I am? They all throw out multiple things then he says ok
now we know what those that don’t know me think, what
about those that do. And crickets until one speaks up.
Peter who was never afraid to put his foot in his mouth breaks
the silence and nails the answer on its head.
Verse 16.
“Simon Peter answered , “You are the Messiah, the Son of the
Living God.”
Now that is a very specific answer, not generic at all. Not the
cosmic force that sustains life. Not some crazy transcendental ,
‘you are the infinite cosmos and the eternal equinox.”
You see EVERYONE WANTS TO BE GENERIC ABOUT JESUS!
He was a good teacher, or a prophet, or he said a lot of really
good things, was a good leader, or spiritual guru like Ghandi or
Mohamed, or Buddha…. But Not peter. Peter was specific.
You are my savior!! The One I have been waiting for ALL MY
LIFE! And I’m ready to give my life to follow after you!
Peter gives a Very specific answer and Jesus replies with this in
verse 17-20.
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this
was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in
heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, [a] and on this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of Hades [b] will not overcome it. 19 I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you
bind on earth will be [c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be [d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his
disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
I love that Jesus changed his name in this moment.
He revealed to him his true Identity when Peter had a
revelation about Jesus’s true identity.
We cant have a revelation about WHO Jesus is calling us to be
until we have a revelation about WHO Jesus is!
That’s important to think about because…..
When you don’t understand the purpose of a thing, all you can
do is mistreat that thing.
Anyone in here handy? Like you can work on cars and your
house and all that? I like to work on cars and houses and build
stuff with my hands, gives me satisfaction to know I did it. But
it never fails I will be in the middle of working on something
and I will need a tool that I don’t own. Some tool that is
essential in completing the job but I cant go get that tool
because I would have to stop. So what do I do? I improvise
right, use pliers as a hammer, pocket knife as a pry bar, and so
fourth. I remember one time we were putting beds together at
the women’s shelter in town and I brought all my tools in for
the whole team to use and someone was having a hard time
getting a bolt in the spot it was supposed to go so they took my
socket wrench and used it as a hammer. Few minutes later my
friend comes walking up to me with pieces of a socket wrench,
“sorry man I think I used this wrong.” Yeah you didn’t know
what it was supposed to be used for and so you misused it.
Now your holding the pieces of a valuable tool in your hands.
So many people don’t understand the purpose of their lives and
are left holding the broken pieces due to the misuse of
something they don’t understand.
You can never understand your identity and purpose until you
understand who Jesus is!
You need to answer the question Jesus asked his disciples that
day in Caseria Phillipi. Who do you say I am?
Here are 3 things you need to know before you make a decision
about who Jesus is.
1. Public opinion is unstable and unreliable.
Never more true than during an election year.
Listen you can’t base your largest decisions off of public opinion
because it changes constantly.
In my life I have seen some fads come and go. I remember
when skinny jeans were cool the first time…. We called em girl
jeans, I knew guys who went and bought jeans from the girls
section.
I remember when country music was country music, not rap.
I remember when cell phones used T9 instead of having
keyboards.
When internet made strange noises and took 10 minutes to
boot up, when you would get kicked off if someone picked up
the lan line phone in your house.
Public opinion changes, don’t let a fickle confused persons
opinion about Jesus be your standard of truth.
2. This question isn’t to be taken lightly.
Who you say Jesus is will be the greatest question you can ever
answer so make your mind up yourself.
This decision isn’t just a temporary decision it is literally life and
death and more than that its Life and Life. Life in Heaven or
Life in Hell. This is a question of ETERNITY so don’t get it wrong.
Heard someone say one time, “If I’m wrong about Jesus being
the Messiah (and we aren’t wrong btw) then when I die nothing
happens, if your wrong about him not being the Messiah, then
you end up in Hell.
I don’t know about y’all but I want to lean into caution on that
one. It’s of paramount importance to answer this question
correctly.
3. No one decides what you believe about Jesus but you.
It doesn’t matter what your mom or dad, or auntie who is really
religious thinks about Jesus. It doesn’t get passed down to you
by watching someone else’s faith, you cant get it through
osmosis. You have to actively make a decision yourself.
I ask people a lot to tell me about when they gave their heart
and life to Christ and way too many times I hear “ I was born a
Christian, or Ive always been in church.”
Listen that doesn’t save you. Thank God you grew up in a good
Christian home but your parents faith cant keep you from
flames. Only a personal relationship with the King of Kings can
do that.
The bible teaches us that we aren’t born into the family of God
we are born into sin because of the separation that we created
long ago from God. But thank God he made the way for us to
bridge that gap and that way is Jesus Christ. He’s not just a
way to bridge the gap, just one way among lots of ways. He is
THE WAY!
So you have to make a decision for yourself, are you going to
believe in THE WAY or try your own way.
Jesus explains it this way.
John 10:1-18
10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but
climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the
shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his
voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his
own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they
will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize
a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what
he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I amthe gate for the sheep. 8 All who
have come before meare thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to
them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. [a] They will come in and
go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have
come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The
hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf
coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.Then the wolf attacks the flock and
scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the
sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the
Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have
other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to
my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves
me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I
lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up
again. This command I received from my Father.”
What you need to know about a sheep pen at this time is there
was only one door. They did this for the safety of the sheep, if
you only have one door then there is only one place that is
open to attack. Jesus says that he is the door, he is the gate.
Shepherds in this day would literally spend 24 hours a day with
the sheep, and that meant when it was time to sleep the
shepherd would get the sheep into a pen, and then he would
do something that Jesus is describing here. He would take his
coat off, lay it down in the door of the pen, and sleep in the
door way becoming the Gate himself. Jesus is saying he is the
only way in and the only way out. Without him we aren’t
getting in!
John 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.
He’s not just your gate, he’s your protector. The shepherd laid
there not so much to confine the sheep as to protect them.
Listen you and I need a shepherd so that when Satan comes to
do what he does, steal, kill and destroy then he has to go over
Jesus to get to us!
It’s like Jesus is saying “Over my Dead Body will you take them”.
“I purchased these sheep on the Cross, He’s mine, She’s mine!”
You’re his!
There is no other way but Jesus. He’s not a good idea he’s our
only HOPE!
He’s not one among many options he’s the only way!
What you need to know is the way to salvation is JESUS! He is
the way to be forgiven and set free, You can have eternity with
Jesus, you can have joy and peace, you can have everything
that Jesus gives you.
But it all comes down to one question. WHO DO YOU SAY THAT
HE IS?
Lets pray.
Anyone Have kids? You remember when they were small they
would ask all kinds of unanswerable questions?
“Daddy, why does the glue not stick to the inside of the
bottle?”
“Daddy why are giraffes so funny looking?”
“Why do I have 2 eyes if I only see one thing?”
“Why cant I lick my own elbow?”
When Hallie was little we were in line at a clothing store and
the girl in front of us was, lets just say not dressed Modestly,
and Hallie asked very loudly, “daddy does she know she not
wearing any clothes?”
A lot of unanswerable questions out there isn’t there?
Really there is a lot of funny questions that don’t keep us up at
night. But there’s also some that we wrestle with that we can
never answer this side of heaven. “Why do bad things happen
to good people, why death, why pain, why cancer?”
And while we may not be able to adequately answer or at least
understand the answer to a lot of questions on this earth, there
is one that I want to ask you today that you must answer
because it has eternal consequences either way you answer it.
Turn in your bibles to
Matthew 16:13-20
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They
replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still
others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about
you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter
answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living
God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for
this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my
Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, [a] and on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades [b] will not
overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be [c] bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be [d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then
he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the
Messiah.
God is asking you the same question today. And the answer is
paramount to your eternity.
Who do you say that Jesus is?
Now the physical place Jesus asked this question is important
to the question itself. He asked this question in a northern part
of Israel, called Caesarea Philippi, Mindy and I have actually
stood in the place that most believe they were sitting and it
was amazing.
(Show picture)
But its important that Jesus asked this in that spot because the
place was named after Caesar, and Philip. Caesar as in the
princes or rulers of the Roman Empire, Who claimed to be
God’s, and Phillip a gifted and powerful political leader among
the Jews.
Right were Jesus asked this question was the place that
everyone from Israel would come to present offerings to false
God’s. Then Jesus asks his disciples 2 questions.
1. Who do others say that I am? In other words what does
the crowd think about me, the popular opinion of the day.
- They say you are John the Baptist, they say Elijah, or
Jeremiah, or a prophet come back to life.
And the disciples have no problem answering this question,
They can spout off what others think all day long, but then Like
Jesus does he makes it personal.
2. “Ok now that we know what others think of me, I’m going
to ask those that have spent the most time with me, (ie
the first Christians) Who do you say that I am?”
The single most important question that you can answer in this
life. More important than who you marry, or where you live,
what you do or the car you drive, Who do you say that Jesus is?
Not what your cousin says, or your sister, or your mom, your
brother or friend, who do YOU say Jesus is?
It’s like Jesus was having a define the relationship moment with
his disciples and I believe when you define who someone is to
you it makes it easier to live the way you should.
Now notice the Bible doesn’t give us multiple answers for this.
I can just imagine the moment. Jesus asks Who does everyone
say I am? They all throw out multiple things then he says ok
now we know what those that don’t know me think, what
about those that do. And crickets until one speaks up.
Peter who was never afraid to put his foot in his mouth breaks
the silence and nails the answer on its head.
Verse 16.
“Simon Peter answered , “You are the Messiah, the Son of the
Living God.”
Now that is a very specific answer, not generic at all. Not the
cosmic force that sustains life. Not some crazy transcendental ,
‘you are the infinite cosmos and the eternal equinox.”
You see EVERYONE WANTS TO BE GENERIC ABOUT JESUS!
He was a good teacher, or a prophet, or he said a lot of really
good things, was a good leader, or spiritual guru like Ghandi or
Mohamed, or Buddha…. But Not peter. Peter was specific.
You are my savior!! The One I have been waiting for ALL MY
LIFE! And I’m ready to give my life to follow after you!
Peter gives a Very specific answer and Jesus replies with this in
verse 17-20.
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this
was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in
heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, [a] and on this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of Hades [b] will not overcome it. 19 I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you
bind on earth will be [c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be [d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his
disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
I love that Jesus changed his name in this moment.
He revealed to him his true Identity when Peter had a
revelation about Jesus’s true identity.
We cant have a revelation about WHO Jesus is calling us to be
until we have a revelation about WHO Jesus is!
That’s important to think about because…..
When you don’t understand the purpose of a thing, all you can
do is mistreat that thing.
Anyone in here handy? Like you can work on cars and your
house and all that? I like to work on cars and houses and build
stuff with my hands, gives me satisfaction to know I did it. But
it never fails I will be in the middle of working on something
and I will need a tool that I don’t own. Some tool that is
essential in completing the job but I cant go get that tool
because I would have to stop. So what do I do? I improvise
right, use pliers as a hammer, pocket knife as a pry bar, and so
fourth. I remember one time we were putting beds together at
the women’s shelter in town and I brought all my tools in for
the whole team to use and someone was having a hard time
getting a bolt in the spot it was supposed to go so they took my
socket wrench and used it as a hammer. Few minutes later my
friend comes walking up to me with pieces of a socket wrench,
“sorry man I think I used this wrong.” Yeah you didn’t know
what it was supposed to be used for and so you misused it.
Now your holding the pieces of a valuable tool in your hands.
So many people don’t understand the purpose of their lives and
are left holding the broken pieces due to the misuse of
something they don’t understand.
You can never understand your identity and purpose until you
understand who Jesus is!
You need to answer the question Jesus asked his disciples that
day in Caseria Phillipi. Who do you say I am?
Here are 3 things you need to know before you make a decision
about who Jesus is.
1. Public opinion is unstable and unreliable.
Never more true than during an election year.
Listen you can’t base your largest decisions off of public opinion
because it changes constantly.
In my life I have seen some fads come and go. I remember
when skinny jeans were cool the first time…. We called em girl
jeans, I knew guys who went and bought jeans from the girls
section.
I remember when country music was country music, not rap.
I remember when cell phones used T9 instead of having
keyboards.
When internet made strange noises and took 10 minutes to
boot up, when you would get kicked off if someone picked up
the lan line phone in your house.
Public opinion changes, don’t let a fickle confused persons
opinion about Jesus be your standard of truth.
2. This question isn’t to be taken lightly.
Who you say Jesus is will be the greatest question you can ever
answer so make your mind up yourself.
This decision isn’t just a temporary decision it is literally life and
death and more than that its Life and Life. Life in Heaven or
Life in Hell. This is a question of ETERNITY so don’t get it wrong.
Heard someone say one time, “If I’m wrong about Jesus being
the Messiah (and we aren’t wrong btw) then when I die nothing
happens, if your wrong about him not being the Messiah, then
you end up in Hell.
I don’t know about y’all but I want to lean into caution on that
one. It’s of paramount importance to answer this question
correctly.
3. No one decides what you believe about Jesus but you.
It doesn’t matter what your mom or dad, or auntie who is really
religious thinks about Jesus. It doesn’t get passed down to you
by watching someone else’s faith, you cant get it through
osmosis. You have to actively make a decision yourself.
I ask people a lot to tell me about when they gave their heart
and life to Christ and way too many times I hear “ I was born a
Christian, or Ive always been in church.”
Listen that doesn’t save you. Thank God you grew up in a good
Christian home but your parents faith cant keep you from
flames. Only a personal relationship with the King of Kings can
do that.
The bible teaches us that we aren’t born into the family of God
we are born into sin because of the separation that we created
long ago from God. But thank God he made the way for us to
bridge that gap and that way is Jesus Christ. He’s not just a
way to bridge the gap, just one way among lots of ways. He is
THE WAY!
So you have to make a decision for yourself, are you going to
believe in THE WAY or try your own way.
Jesus explains it this way.
John 10:1-18
10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but
climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the
shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his
voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his
own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they
will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize
a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what
he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I amthe gate for the sheep. 8 All who
have come before meare thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to
them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. [a] They will come in and
go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have
come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The
hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf
coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.Then the wolf attacks the flock and
scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the
sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the
Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have
other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to
my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves
me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I
lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up
again. This command I received from my Father.”
What you need to know about a sheep pen at this time is there
was only one door. They did this for the safety of the sheep, if
you only have one door then there is only one place that is
open to attack. Jesus says that he is the door, he is the gate.
Shepherds in this day would literally spend 24 hours a day with
the sheep, and that meant when it was time to sleep the
shepherd would get the sheep into a pen, and then he would
do something that Jesus is describing here. He would take his
coat off, lay it down in the door of the pen, and sleep in the
door way becoming the Gate himself. Jesus is saying he is the
only way in and the only way out. Without him we aren’t
getting in!
John 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.
He’s not just your gate, he’s your protector. The shepherd laid
there not so much to confine the sheep as to protect them.
Listen you and I need a shepherd so that when Satan comes to
do what he does, steal, kill and destroy then he has to go over
Jesus to get to us!
It’s like Jesus is saying “Over my Dead Body will you take them”.
“I purchased these sheep on the Cross, He’s mine, She’s mine!”
You’re his!
There is no other way but Jesus. He’s not a good idea he’s our
only HOPE!
He’s not one among many options he’s the only way!
What you need to know is the way to salvation is JESUS! He is
the way to be forgiven and set free, You can have eternity with
Jesus, you can have joy and peace, you can have everything
that Jesus gives you.
But it all comes down to one question. WHO DO YOU SAY THAT
HE IS?
Lets pray.
Content Copyright Belongs to San Angelo First Assembly
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