Who Do You Say That I Am – Part 1
Matthew 16:15-18 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
In Part I we saw that Jesus asked the question, “Who do men say that I am?”, followed by “Who do you say that I am?” That is an essential question that every Christian must answer on a daily basis – who is Jesus to you? It is not a one time thing to be answered just when we are saved, i.e., “He is the Son of God and my Lord and Savior”, and that’s the end of it.
Each day we are presented with situations where we answer that question. If our body is sick, we need to know that He is our Healer. If we need direction and guidance, we need to know He is our Shepherd that will lead us.
Last time (see Part 1) We took a look at the seven redemptive names that God revealed in the Old Testament that describe an aspect of His relationship to us.
Trust in the Lord
God’s ability to be our Redeemer, i.e., to be those things to us that His redemptive names reveal, depends a lot on how much we trust Him. It is very hard to help someone that does not trust you; they actually put obstacles in the way of that help rather than cooperate.
I remember one time one of my boys got a splinter in his thumb when he was small. It hurt, and he was crying, but when he saw I got out some tweezers he was more afraid that it would hurt more and wouldn’t stay still. I finally had to pin him down and hold his hand in a strong grip and let my wife take the splinter out, with him hollering “No, no, no…!” the whole time.
Psalms 37:3-5 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
“Faithfulness” and “trustworthy” are synonyms. We can feed on His faithfulness – i.e., draw nourishment from it – so our trust can grow. Commit your way – i.e., trust in Him for guidance.
Proverbs 3:5-6 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Psalms 37:6-8 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret–it only causes harm.
At the bottom line, trust means that you will not worry, because you expect the Lord to take care of you. Worry does you no good, it does not accomplish anything. Actually, it is worse than useless, it can and does harm. It hinders God from getting help to you. It can have a negative physical effect on you.
How many times does the Bible say not to worry, or fear, or have care? I bet you can think of a few right off the bat, both Old Testament and New Testament. It must be important for God to say it over and over again.
Putting our trust in God will also increase our usefulness to Him. Trust not only enables God to do things for you, it enables Him to do things through us.
Proverbs 22:17-21 AMP 17 Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge;
18 For it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them.
19 So that your trust (belief, reliance, support, and confidence) may be in the Lord, I have made known these things to you today, even to you.
20 Have I not written to you [long ago] excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
21 To make you know the certainty of the words of truth, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?
Vs. 19 here says that Solomon made known these things to us in order that our trust may be in the Lord. That is, he has spoken of ways to develop our trust in the Lord.
The “things” are in vs. 17 and 18:
Listen and hear the words to the wise. The Amplified version brings out the additional meaning of consenting and submitting to them; the literal Hebrew means to bow down to.
Apply your mind to knowledge. This means make an active effort to study, to seek out meaning.
Keep them in your mind. The word keep means to guard and watch, to protect. Be on guard against things that would steal it away.
Fix them on your lips. Establish them in your mouth. The Amplified version brings out the meaning, so that your lips are accustomed to confessing them. Remember “confess” means to say the same thing. The idea here is that you develop a habit of saying what the Word says.
Faith In Yourself
Faith and trust in God are essential. But there is a certain amount of faith in yourself that is also necessary. This faith is not to be based on your own greatness and abilities, but on God’s ability working through you. It is a confidence that is born out of knowing who you are and who you belong to.
If God is going to do something in this earth, He does it through people. Think of it, the most important task after the redemption of mankind He has left up to His Church – and that is the preaching of that message.
Romans 10:13-14 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
He has left the responsibility of spreading the message of salvation to people like you and me. And if we don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.
We cannot remove ourselves from the equation. It is not “all up to God” – it never has been. There is a certain part that is up to us.
It is not enough to believe that He can do all things. You also need to believe that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Phillipians 4:13).
Who do you say that you are?
In our foundation text, after Simon confessed who Jesus was (‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”), Jesus turned right around and told Simon who he was (“You are Peter, a Rock…”).
There are many many scriptures that talk about who you are, what you have, and what you can do in Christ. They are characterized by phrases like “in Him”, “in Christ”, “with Him”, etc. We should apply the homologeo principle to these scriptures and say the same thing that God says about us.
2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
I am a new creation in Christ; old things have passed away all things have become new.
Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 5:21 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ. He took my sin, and gave me His righteousness (right standing with God) instead. Remember Jehovah-tsidkenu? He is the Lord my Righteousness.
Ephesians 2:4-7 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
I was dead in sin, but He made me alive in Christ, and raised me up to sit together with Him on His throne in heavenly places.
Ephesians 1:3 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
I am blessed. In Christ, every blessing in those heavenly places (where I sit together with Him) is mine. Note that this doesn’t only refer to things after we die and go to heaven. Every blessing on this natural earth starts out as a blessing in the spiritual realm.
1 Corinthians 1:30 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and redemption–
He is my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification (he is what sets me apart) and my redemption.
James 1:5 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
If I lack wisdom (and I don’t know what to do), all I have to do is ask, since Jesus became for me wisdom from God.
Ephesians 6:10-11 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
He is the source of my strength. He supplies to me armor for protection and weapons for battle so that I not only am protected against the enemy’s attack, but I can go after him and tear down his strongholds.
Mark 16:17-18 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
I am a Believer! I cast out demons, I speak with new tongues, poisonous things will not harm me, and I lay my hands on the sick and they recover!
Be a Blessing
It is a wonderful thing to be blessed of God. You know what is even better? To be an instrument of God to be a blessing to someone else. That can take numerous forms..
- Praying for someone. And not just a token little prayer, but laboring on someone else’s behalf.
- Sharing an encouraging word when someone is down. This could be a prophetic word.
- Using your skills and talents to help someone. Help somebody move with your truck. If you are mechanically inclined, help fix someone’s car. Watch their kids so they can have a break. My wife is a computer techie. She’s helped many people reformat their computer when it’s bogged down or caught a virus.
- Being the hand of God to heal.
- Giving. Meeting somebody’s need.
Luke 6:38 KJV Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
It’s great when this happens to you. But what about going beyond that and being one of the “men” who is pouring into someone else’s lap?
Abraham received the blessing of God, and in him all the families of the earth were blessed.
Say that of yourself: “I am blessed in order that I can be a blessing!”
