We turn in the Word of God to hear it read, and we stand together. Psalm 2, and then Luke chapter 9. In Luke chapter 9, Jesus asks his disciples the question, who do men say that I am, and who do you say that I am? And Peter's answer will be the Christ. And Psalm 2 is one of the clearest revelations of the Christ, the Messiah. The coming King of Israel. The Son of David. Prophesied here in Psalm 2. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear the word of the Lord. Why did the nations rage and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore be wise, O kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son. lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. As Psalm 2 speaks of the Lord and his anointed or his Messiah, remember that the New Testament word for anointed or Messiah is Christ. We turn to Luke chapter 9 and verse 18. And it happened, as he 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 that one of the old prophets has risen again. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said, the Christ of God. And he strictly warned them, commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day." This is the Word of the living God. We turn for the preaching of the Word to Luke 9, verses 18-22, 18-20 more narrowly as the focus for the preaching of the Word this morning. Perhaps you've heard this phrase I don't know if some of you, if you have heard this, do any of you perhaps know what it means to break the fourth wall? What does it mean to break the fourth wall? I see some of you nodding and probably some of you saying, wondering what is Peter talking about? What it means is this. To break the fourth wall is when a performer acknowledges the presence of the audience. or speaks directly to the audience. And this can be done on stage, it can also be done, sometimes you see this used in film, for example, when surprisingly a character who you are simply supposed to be watching, sort of passively, turns to speak directly to the camera as if to speak to you. Suddenly breaking what is called the fourth wall, the invisible wall between the audience and what they are supposed to be observing passively. And that brings us to an observation in our technology and entertainment saturated culture that we are very accustomed to watching things from afar passively. To be passive receivers, to be acted upon with very little conscious interaction often, to simply to ingest and to take in. to listen to music, to watch, to hear, to be passive receivers. And we're very little in the way of conscious, conscious interaction with what is coming to us. And as we add a world of special effects and CGI and now artificial intelligence to drive and fuel what we listen to, watch, read, We are entering ever deeper into that passive world of being acted upon. Such a degree that I often think about in the act of preaching that the work of preaching or teaching the word that the wonders and so-called miracles, the scenes and the stories that are placed before us by use of these means are so powerful and moving and all present that the Word of God is competing against 10,000 voices, compelling voices often. The Word of God will always triumph, we're not worried about that. But I would hazard to say that in this kind of world, it's easy to transpose those habits of being passive on how you receive the Word. To be just an observer, Or how you would listen to a sermon. Maybe an observer and a critic. But fail to realize that this is far from what the Scriptures really are. We do not passively observe them. They are addressed directly to us. There is no fourth wall. When the Word is preached, it is intended to reach your heart directly. It is God speaking to you. It is not a performance. Not something you listen to passively, it is the direct communication of God to you. It's the word of God addressed to humanity, it's the divine voice in history. Again, even though we are conditioned to think like there is a fourth wall, there is no fourth wall here. The word then calls for contemplation and response. There is no available neutrality or detached observation. And here in the text it becomes even more clear because we are presented with the urgent and pressing claims of the identity of Jesus Christ for which your response or to which your response determines your eternal destiny. There should be no possible way to listen passively. You were given a soul that would last forever. All of you will be raised on the last day, the final resurrection. There is nothing passive about the message of the gospel, the identity of Jesus Christ, it's life or death. Our text makes this clear to us in the following way. Luke has been giving us an orderly account as he writes to Theophilus in chapter 1 and verse 4. An orderly account of the things that Jesus said and did. He continued to say and do. He writes another account in the book of Acts. He has been presenting to us Jesus Christ. How? By apostolic eyewitness and certification. The narrative opened with an aged couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth, We're too old to have children, but I've been praying. And the Lord answered their prayers with the visitation of an angel who said, you're going to have a son named John. And he's going to be the forerunner of the Messiah, the Messiah is coming. This opening of the Gospel of Luke is earth-shaking. It ties the Gospel of Luke to the entirety of God's revelatory word in history. The Messiah is coming. You're going to have the forerunner. As quickly as we hear that, we hear the angel Gabriel say to Mary that the virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel. Essentially delivering the message of Isaiah 7 personally to her. The Messiah is coming. And as there were angels who spoke to Zacharias, there would be a whole multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying at the birth of Jesus, glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men. And then the shepherds went into the world telling everyone what they had heard and seen about the Savior who was born in the city of David, Christ the Lord, Messiah, Lord. And then we have traced. His childhood in the temple and His baptism, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. His temptation in the wilderness as He overcomes Satan and the whole of the kingdom of darkness. And then His authoritative teaching. His astonishing power over the demonic kingdom. His ability to still the storms of the sea. His ability to go to the sick and with a touch of the woman with the issue of blood to heal, to go to Jairus' daughter and raise her up. The widow of Nain to take her son who was dead and make him alive again. And then in the immediate context to look at 5,000 and many more who were hungry like sheep without a shepherd in the wilderness and to break the bread and the fish so that there's 12 baskets left over with divine supernatural saving power. Here is Jesus Christ. He could overcome storms and demons and illness and death and hunger. And we have received one rapid-fire report after another of His saving power, compassion, glory, and victories. And the Apostles tell us this happened in space and time history. And you could put it this way, you've been watching as you've been listening. Reading the Gospels is like joining the disciples. We were made for this, to take in divine revelation, the revelation of the power and glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, to ponder it like Mary did as he pondered these things in her heart, and then to respond. And Luke chapter 9, these verses here, 18 to 20, are going to press on your heart. that you can't take all these things in and not ask and answer the question, who is this? Who is this that does these great things? The importance of the response to what you've heard is central in this text, that you would not be passive but that you would contemplate and respond with a confession, that you would not be willing to do what we so often do, just sit and receive, but recognize that we're being spoken directly to. And that's what Jesus does for his disciples here. He elicits a response. First, what Jesus does in this text is he introduces a topic, the topic of his identity. Before he asks for a direct response from his disciples who've had a front row seat and we by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit have joined with them in that front row seat to see the glory of Christ. Before he asks them personally for a response, he first raises the topic of his own identity. The second thing he's gonna do is ask for a response and we're gonna learn lessons from these two things. But first he raises the topic of his identity. He begins slowly before he moves to the question he's gonna pose to the disciples. I'd remind you, as I just did a moment ago, we read, and it happened, and we read that he was alone praying. We read in the other Gospels that he was in a fairly deserted place near Caesarea Philippi. He has withdrawn from the crowds, but let's remember what he just did. I said a moment ago, he fed the 5,000 with his own hands. With divine power and glory, he has fed the 5,000. And it's interesting that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all connect this question to the feeding of the 5,000 with bread. The other place where we read a similar confession is in John chapter six, where Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. In the gospel of John, this confession is connected to the feeding of the 5,000. In other words, all four gospels do the same thing. They place before us Christ's supernatural ability to give life and salvation by his own divine power as the capstone of his self-revelation that leads up to the question of his identity. What was he doing before he asked his questions and raised the topic? He was alone praying. His disciples joined him. We'll get back to his praying later. How does he then introduce the question of this identity? I said that he does, but how does he do it? What does the text say? His disciples joined him and he asked them saying, who do the crowds say that I am? What are people saying about me? What do people think about me? Last Christmas, we had some family over. Actually, my niece who got married last Saturday, Sarah, who married Murray. We really enjoyed their wedding, great Christian testimony. It was a great joy to be there. Murray was at our place with Sarah last Christmas. And Murray had never been, I don't think he'd ever been to the US or to South Carolina. And so we had a very good time every evening. I said, Murray, this is what we're gonna do. At the end of the day, We just want to hear your observations. What do you find interesting about life in South Carolina? And it was actually quite entertaining. He had great observations, astute observations, entertaining observations. He was reflecting on what he thought about what he was seeing. And our Savior is saying, something to his disciples, what are people saying about what they're seeing? Tell me a little bit. Now it's a question with a history. There's a history of identity questions in the gospel. Who is Jesus Christ? It's not the first time we have it in the gospel. Let me give you a few examples in this gospel. There are times when Jesus is directly identified. People are saying, or rather spirits say who he is. In Luke chapter 4 and verse 34 when Jesus cast out an unclean spirit the unclean spirit says let us alone What do we have to do with you Jesus of Nazareth Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God There's an identity theme here When Jesus forgives and heals the paralytic and he says man your sins are forgiven you the scribes and Pharisees ask an identity question who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins, but God alone who is this and Again, it's the who question. There's questions and statements all through the gospel. This isn't the first time the identity of Jesus Christ is raised. When Jesus calms the wind and the waves, you remember, the disciples marveled and said to one another, who can this be? For he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." And then in our chapter, chapter 9, Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by him and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, some Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the old prophets had risen again. This question is Herod's question. It's the disciples' question. His identity is on the mind of the demons. His identity question is on the mind of the scribes and Pharisees. The whole country is asking. It appears that only the demons are the ones who, at least to this point, we know understand something of who he is. And when Jesus asked the question, who do crowds say that I am? He's not saying they know that you're Jesus of Nazareth. I'm not asking for his hometown or his popularity. That's not the question. His identity. How is this one doing these things and what does that mean about who he is? Who do men say that I am? A great, pressing, very public question captivating the whole land of Israel and all the way up from the king to the shepherds. Why is everybody asking this question? Because of his origin. An angel came to Gabriel, certainly people knew about this story. Because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and a virgin conceived and bore a son. Because of his teaching as one who had authority. Because of his miracles. I just recounted some of them, but the word to the paralytic, rise, take up your bed and walk. Jairus' daughter, little girl, I say to you, arise. The widow of Nain, you remember that. The whole funeral procession was coming out of the city. Jesus with the multitude of his disciples. Great public act of a resurrection from the dead. The feeding of the 5,000. The words of the shepherds for the chant of the angels. The whole of Israel is asking questions about his identity because his ministry is public and powerful. Astonishing power. And then the claims that are made about him positively. The demons, you are the Christ of God. When Jesus was asked, who are you? And by what authority do you forgive sins? And going back to the healing of the paralytic, our Savior has made powerful claims about his identity in public. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, calling himself the Messiah, the Son of Man, the one of Daniel's vision. And then we have the words of the father, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased to hear him at the baptism. We have miracles, we have teaching, we have statements of identity and authority, we have all of this floating through the whole land of Israel. And people are discussing it. What do the disciples say? Well they say exactly what we read in verses nine through seven, what all Israel is saying. They've got their ear to the ground. So they answered and said, John the Baptist. Some say Elijah, others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. Three theories that are floating around about his identity. Who is it? John the Baptist. This was Herod's fear earlier. Oh no, cut off his head and he's back. Terrifying. John lives again. Number two, Elijah. Kind of makes sense. Why, Elijah never died. He was taken up to heaven, maybe he came back. He's the great prophet of the Old Testament. These miracles that he's doing look an awful lot like the ministry of Elijah. And the book of Malachi said that Elijah will come again. Maybe it's Elijah. Or one of the prophets. Do you remember Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 18 that the Lord will raise up a prophet greater than Moses? Maybe this is the next in the line of prophets. This is a prophet. Or maybe it's some sort of appearance of one of the other prophets, Zechariah or Micah. You see, there's a grasping here for identity. There's a category of prophetic power and witness. They're searching for who he might be. There's nothing new under the sun. People today are still searching for who Jesus is. I was reading a headline in the New York Times just the other day, and it was in the news, this headline. It read the following, a conversation about the virgin birth that maybe wasn't. So interesting, one of the flagship newspapers of our country has to write an article wrestling with the question of the identity of Jesus Christ, thousands of years later. Still the question of the day. Who do men say that I am? Not sure, he was born of a virgin, but we need to do, we have to wrestle with this identity question. And there's all kind of answers through history. Some people said completely mythological, which almost nobody is willing to say anymore because of the overwhelming historical evidence in the Bible and outside of the scriptures that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure. So step two is what people do is they say, okay, we're gonna search for the historical Jesus, which is a code for saying we don't really like everything that the gospels say about Jesus or the apostles in their letters. So we're gonna narrow it down to what we find to be acceptable to us. And if you look through even, I give you the article in the New York Times, there are endless in the so-called divinity schools of our nation, endless papers and books written about who Jesus was, as if the question was so exceedingly complex that there really wasn't a way to find the answer. Notice something here then about the human condition. So when the crowds, they're grasping, but they can't get it, they can't find it. The thing we can learn here is the reliability of the fallen human condition. One thing we can say that the scriptures clearly teach is that no one by unaided human reason will be able to answer this question correctly. No one will ever rise above these categories, maybe a prophet, significant historical figure, Very influential teacher. In other words, an acknowledgement of his existence, but a falling short of his identity. That's the common pattern. No one in Jesus' day is saying, the Christ, the Son of God. Then and now are the same. People are content with agnosticism, skepticism, so long ago, so difficult, so many possible answers I couldn't possibly know. Why does Jesus bring up the question like this with his disciples? Notice his brilliance. He didn't need them to tell him what popular opinion was. Matter of fact, in John chapter two, well, in Luke chapter five, when he heals the paralytic, he already knows what the skeptics are thinking about him. He can answer your thoughts. He knows what you're thinking now. He knows what's in the heart of man, John chapter two. He didn't need new information. He understood completely what the wrestling, spiritual wrestling of Israel was. Why did he ask his disciples? Because he's leading into a far more personal question. A heart question. He moves now from the broad conversation to a personal one. What has he done by asking the first question? Now we've put aside the following, listen carefully, the chattering of the academics, the New York Times headlines, the opinion polls, what everybody else thinks. It's now out of the way. It's off the table. It's off the table because Jesus is interested in something else. Not for a passive discussion. but for a direct discussion. But now, who do you say that I am? Having swept off the table the noise and speculation, he tees up the second question. Who do you say that I am? And we get to the opening analogy of breaking the fourth wall. He's asking His disciples, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, you directly. Not what other people think, but what you think. He's saying to them, you know my teaching, my authority, and you've been astonished by it. You've witnessed my miracles, that I've commanded evil spirits, that I've healed the sick, that I've raised the dead. You saw the little girl walk. You heard me say, peace be still. You saw the bread, you ate it. Maybe some of the taste is still in your mouth. You know the claims. You heard the demoniac. You are the Christ of God. The Holy One of Israel. What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? You've heard me say that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. You have witnessed my authority. You have seen my power. There's no need for you to collect more evidence. You know the prophets. You've seen my ministry. You were there when the apostles of John came and said, are you the Messiah? And I sent them back with the answer. See, the deaf hear the lame walked. The poor have the gospel preached to them. You have everything you need to come to an answer. We've cleared the decks of what everyone else thinks. What do you think? No need to collect more evidence, no need for further observations or deliberation. And what's interesting here is for us to listen to the answer of the men in the front row seats. The apostles, they would go on to do what? They would leave their nets, they would leave their homes, their countries, their families, they would go to the whole world and they would die to tell the world the answer to the question, who is Jesus? They would pen the New Testament They would be the foundation stones of the New Covenant Church. They were appointed by divine decree. You are my witnesses. And what do they tell us? Peter writes this in his letters. We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. You have to understand, Peter's saying, when he writes to all the churches that he writes to, and there's two letters, he was saying, the things that we are telling you, we were eyewitnesses of the majesty of the Son of God. That's what we're communicating to you. John, that which we have seen and heard, and we declare to you that you may also have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Who do you say that I am? Listen to the question and the answer. Peter answered and said, the Christ of God. What a phrase, the Christ of God. I said earlier, we read from Psalm 2, the Lord and His anointed, the Father and the Son. Anointed or Messiah or Christ. Same word. Anointed, Messiah, and Christ. Brings us back to the Old Testament idea of anointing, which is to take oil and pour it on the head of a prophet, a priest, or a king, which was symbolic of the presence and power of the Spirit. The choosing of God for this one to be an instrument for divine purposes and the rule of God in the earth. And Peter says, you are not just a Christ, you are the Christ. The Christ of God. You are the great King. As Calvin says, commenting on this confession, the great priest king of Psalm 110, who came as a priest to save us from our sins and as a king to rule and defend us. You are the Christ and your origin is of God. And here Luke communicates to us a shorthand version of his confession, which we also read in Matthew chapter 16, and also in the gospel of Mark. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. The Christ. 2 Samuel 7, he's the son of David who would sit on the throne forever. Psalm 2, he's the father's great son who would be the king who would bring salvation and rule the nations. Psalm 72, the king who has dominion. Psalm 110, the king who has victory. Isaiah 7, the virgin who would conceive and bear a son, Emmanuel, which means God with us. Isaiah 9, for unto us a child is born, a son is given, this Messiah, the one who would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, Isaiah chapter 53. The one who is God with us, the promise of the new covenant, Jeremiah chapter 33. The one who is the great shepherd of the sheep and there'll be one flock and one shepherd, Ezekiel 37. The one who is the son of man who went to the ancient of days on the throne and received kingdom and glory and dominion and a people and all of this forever. The one who would be born of Bethlehem as Micah prophesied. The one who would be the great high priest as Zechariah prophesied. The one who would be the son of righteousness, the Messiah who would rise with healing in his wings as Malachi prophesied. Peter is saying you are that one from God. The one we've been waiting for. You are the priest cream with a glorious everlasting kingdom. You rule the cosmos. You are bringing salvation. You are gathering your people that we might join with you in the endless praise of the ancient of days on the throne. You are of God, the son of God. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That was the word of the father at the baptism. It would be the word of the father just later in this chapter of the transfiguration. We believe this about you. I take the title, Son of Man, verse 22. The Son of Man must suffer many things. We believe that you are the Son of Man. And ultimately, what Peter is doing here is something quite remarkable. If you go to chapter one again in verse 32, when the angel comes to Mary, with the revelation of Jesus Christ. He will be great. He'll be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Messiah, the Christ, the anointed. This is who you are. Not John the Baptist, not Elijah, not just another prophet, but the Christ of God. You are the one in whom all the Old Testament promises are yes and amen. You are the coming of the Lord, the Lord who ran the heavens and come down in human flesh for salvation and for a kingdom, the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ, category of one. No one else like him. The Christ of God. One mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. who gave himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle." That's Paul's testimony. And here's a great transition point in the gospel. All that precedes comes to a burning focus here. Highlighted, as we keep reading by Jesus' response that we'll see in the coming weeks, of the Son of Man who would suffer many things, be rejected, killed, and raised up on the third day, which perhaps the disciples don't fully understand yet. We know they don't. but they have gotten the core of his identity. He is the salvation of Israel, the savior of the world. Now let's go a little further in this idea of breaking that fourth wall. The purpose of the text is to speak to your heart directly. Why were the gospels written? John tells us in John chapter 20 why he wrote his gospel. And Luke tells us in Luke chapter 1 why he wrote the gospel of Luke. But these are written, John wrote, that you may believe that Jesus, listen, is the Christ, the Son of God. The careful penning, the inscribing, the inscripturation by the Holy Spirit of these words is so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Go back to the beginning of Luke chapter one. Theophilus, I have written you an orderly account that you may know the certainty of what you've believed. Two things here. That you would come to faith in Jesus Christ for the first time if you've never trusted him. Or number two, that what you have believed on him would be proved again to be true in the declaration of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. and that you would know more of the power of Christ and the power of His resurrection. Either to communicate salvation to the world for the first time or to increase our joy in our salvation in Christ and centrally the obtaining of eternal life hangs on the answer to this question. We'll see three applications simply from Jesus' question and then three more from Peter's answer. Clearly, number one, Jesus was not content with mere observation. You're not here to be a passive arm's-length observer. That's not why Jesus came. Christianity is not an intellectual arm's-length conjecture. It is a confrontation with Jesus Christ. in order that you might know him, the power of his resurrection, and to use John's language in John's first letter, that you may know that you know, increase in your certainty. Jesus is kind when he presses this question on your heart, digging in deep to see what you're made of and what you would answer. He makes us uncomfortable with ourselves as he presents us his own glory. And he wants us not to be content with mere observation, but he wants us to respond. Number two. Why? Because the way of salvation is found in the response, which is faith in Jesus Christ. He doesn't just want us to make us uncomfortable by probing. The point of Jesus asking these questions of you this morning. Is a response faith. His urgency here. He's the way, the truth, and the life. Paul understood the Gospel. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved. There's a response of heart and mouth that we see in Peter here. He's confessing. He's observing. He's contemplating. He's listening. He's answering the question. He's believing. Salvation comes this way. This is how you will be saved from sin, death, and every enemy. Third, your destiny is linked to one thing, your answer to the question, not public opinion polls. This question. Jesus says, who do you say that I am? The Christ of God. And if you are able to answer that question, you understand you understand its significance, power, and glory, the answer. And you understand that once having seen something, you want more. Again, to quote Paul, to know more of Christ and the power of his resurrection. If you would go back and you trace the pages of Luke and you start to search every phrase and every word, I want to see more of the Christ, the Son of God. I want more certainty. I want to see more glory. I want more assurance of my forgiveness. And then you start to realize that this Jesus will solve all my problems, every single one of them. He will take them all away, every one of them. If I'm sick, he can heal me. If I'm lonely, he'll find me. If I've sinned, he'll forgive me. If I'm in a storm, he can bring calm. If I die, he can raise me up again. There's nothing that he can't do because he's the Christ of God. And I have seen his glory and I believe and in believing I have life in his name. He's your vindicator, your protector, your salvation. How about Peter's answer? A few things. Number one, Peter's answer teaches us the clarity of the biblical record concerning Jesus. I said earlier, back to the skeptics, the scholars, and the religious. You know what people love to do? I mean, there's whole conferences. I said there's liberal seminaries all over the country. There's people who write books about the topic of who is Jesus. And many of them fall under the category that Paul described in Timothy, always learning, never coming to a knowledge of the truth. As a matter of fact, as I said earlier, you would think if you read everything they write, that this question is so complicated, who do you say that I am, that there's probably no way to find an answer, which is what the devil wants you to think. The Bible's not complicated, it's clear. We call this the perspicuity of scripture. It's clear. J.C. Ryle says a lot of people hover like a moth around religion. They're drawn to it, but they never land. The Bible says this is Jesus, come to him, it's clear. The presentation of the glory is unmistakable. At the end of it, the cross and the empty tomb is plain. The word is unambiguous as to the power, ministry, and person and work of Jesus Christ, the present rule of Christ. And Peter's witness is helpful for us. Clear the decks for the crowds. Who do you say that I am? The Christ of God. It's that clear. It's not hard. There's no one like him. Peter teaches us category of one savior of the world. Lastly, the importance of Christ for us. Sometimes you can focus or think about Christianity like this. I did a bad thing, I need forgiveness. My marriage is in trouble, I need help. I'm short on money. Jesus fed the 5,000. What are you doing in every case there? What could you be doing? You're not necessarily doing it. What could you be doing? What He has to give, I want. In other words, I just, I'm in a bad spot. And like the illustration, your neighbor has a tool that you need to finish the job, I need the tool, you go to your neighbor, get the tool, but you really don't have any need for your neighbor. You just want the thing. But what Jesus wants us to see is who He is. His identity and His salvation cannot be separated. You need Him. You need the Christ of God. You need to believe in Him. You need to have Him. Have Him abide in you and you in Him. You need Christ. He Himself is the good news, the fount of life, the salvation, the propitiation for our sins. He's our righteousness. He's our advocate with the Father. Our justification, sanctification, glorification is all in Him, can't be separated. You need Him, the person of Christ. His grace, what does the Bible always say? It's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross, what is it? The cross of Christ. You need Christ. You need Him to be yours. J.C. Ryle, you need a Christianity that saves. This is a thing personally grasped, personally experienced, personally felt, personally possessed. For in it, at the heart of it, is a person, the Christ of God. At the heart is Christ himself and his identity and mission, our salvation. Let's pray. Lord our God, we ask now that as we have Consider the majesty and glory of your son in the unmistakable terms of the gospel of Luke. And as you have, through your inspired word, asked us to consider him and to give our answer. Would we pray for grace? Believe in our hearts that he is Lord. or to confess with our mouth that he is Lord, believe in our hearts that you raised him from the dead. to embrace Him, to believe in Him, to love Him, to lay hold of Him, to see in Him, Father, your beauty and glory, to hear your testimony concerning Him, my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, that we might echo in our hearts He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so have life in Him forever. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Go now also with the blessing of the triune God. Peace to the brethren and love with faith from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity. Amen.