576. Gospel of Luke - Chapter 9 (#3) - Peter declares that Jesus is "The Christ" - June 17, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast, we will be exploring the book of Proverbs. In Jesus name, Amen. This is Proverbs 17, beginning in verse 1. Better is a dry

[00:00:50] morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame and will share an inheritance among the brothers. The refining pot is for

[00:01:08] silver and the furnace for gold but the Lord casts the hearts. An evil doer gives heed to false lips, a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. He who mocks the poor, reproaches his maker,

[00:01:28] he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. Children's children are the crown of old men and the glory of children is their father. Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool, much less

[00:01:44] lying lips to a prince. A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor wherever he turns he prospers. He who covers a transgression seeks love that he who repeats a matter separates

[00:02:04] friends. Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool and evil man seeks only rebellion, therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him. Let a man meet a bear

[00:02:23] robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly. Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is like releasing water, therefore stop, contention before a coral starts. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just,

[00:02:50] both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. Why is there in the hand of a fool the purchase price of wisdom since he has no heart for it? A friend loves at all times and a brother

[00:03:08] is born for adversity. A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge and becomes surety for his friend. He who loves transgression loves strife and he who exalts his gate seeks

[00:03:27] destruction. He who has a deceitful heart finds no good and he who has a perverse tongue falls into evil. He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow and the father of a fool has no joy.

[00:03:47] A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. A wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back to pervert the ways of justice. Wisdom is in the sight of him

[00:04:06] who has understanding that the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him also to punish their righteous is not good,

[00:04:24] nor to strike princes for their upripements. He who has knowledge spares his words and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace,

[00:04:43] when he shuts his lips. He is considered perceptive. Friends, today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 17 and proper 17 verse 17 says this. A friend loves at all times and a brother is born

[00:05:05] for adversity. Now friends, we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today, but what I'd like to do is to begin the week by continuing where we left off on Thursday's podcast

[00:05:22] last Wednesday we began chapter 9 of Luke and on Thursday we continued that but we left off with verse 17. So today we are going to pick up chapter 9 of Luke beginning in verse 18 and it happened as he was alone praying that disciples joined him and he asked them saying,

[00:05:50] who do the crowds say that I am? And friends, I want to pause for just a moment because 18 is important and it says as it happened as he was alone praying that his disciples joined him.

[00:06:09] A friend's I want to make it perfectly clear that Jesus was an inhabit of praying to his father God. He often did that and I mentioned that because it is a reminder that we need to be thinking

[00:06:27] about prayer in our lives today. Jesus said the example, he would often go aside by himself to pray and we should do the same things as well. Who do the crowds say that I am? So they answered

[00:06:48] and said, John the Baptist, but some say Elijah and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. Now friends, I want to go back and remind us of our discussion about

[00:07:05] Herod last week and Herod wanted to meet Jesus and Herod thought and Herod was told that Jesus was either John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the old prophets. And I mentioned on one

[00:07:24] of the podcast last week that Jesus had been re-incarminged as John the Baptist. That is what Herod believed and here we are basically being told the same thing. So they believe that Jesus

[00:07:44] has been brought back. He was either John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the former prophets of old. They actually believed that and they did not believe that he was the Son of God.

[00:08:01] He said to them, that who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said the Christ of God. So friends, the first point I want to pick up today is Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ.

[00:08:21] Now friends, I am reading out of the Nelson study Bible and what I'd like to do is read several commentaries today on the three points that I am going to be making. And this is verse 20.

[00:08:39] It says the Christ of God. The emphasis here is on the Messianic role of Jesus. He is the promised one who was ushering in a new era. However, Jesus would soon reveal to the disciples that His Messiahship would have elements of suffering that the disciples did not expect.

[00:09:10] And I want to mention not only that the disciples not expect that nor did any of Jesus' followers. They believed that the Messiah was going to come and usher in a new kingdom. And that kingdom

[00:09:28] would eventually be the ruling kingdom of that time. They actually believed that Jesus in His Messiahship was going to actually overturn the Roman government and he would usher in a new kingdom.

[00:09:45] And that is not what happened. And that is why so many Jews refused to believe that He was the Messiah. Let's go to verse 21. And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying

[00:10:05] 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. So friends, point number two is key in today's lesson.

[00:10:27] Jesus is predicting and prophesying His death and resurrection. Now this is the first time that Jesus has made mention of this in the Gospel of Luke. Let's go to the commentary for verse 21. Tell this to no one. Jesus knew that the Messianic role that the people and the

[00:10:54] disciples expected was much different from His actual role as the Messiah. The element of suffering that the Messiah would endure was not a part of popular expectation. Thus, Jesus' Messiahship could not be openly proclaimed before the true nature of the Messiah was revealed.

[00:11:22] Now let's look at the commentary for verse 22. Must suffer and be rejected and be killed and be raised. This is the first of several predictions in Luke of Jesus' suffering and vindication. The disciples struggled to understand what Jesus was saying. They could not comprehend

[00:11:51] how Jesus's predictions fit in God's plan. Only after Jesus' resurrection and His explanation of the Scriptures to them did they begin to understand. Let's go to verse 23. Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take

[00:12:20] up His cross daily and follow Me for whoever desires to save His life will lose it. But whoever loses His life for My sake will save it. So friends, point number three is so important.

[00:12:42] We are to take up our cross if we are to follow Him. So basically what Jesus is telling His disciples at that time He is telling us to do the same thing today. Let's look at the commentary for

[00:13:01] verse 23. Take up His cross daily. Although Jesus offered salvation as a free gift, He also warned that following Him would entail suffering and hardship. Now friends, we don't suffer the same hardship that Jesus did. But we are going to suffer if we proclaim

[00:13:32] that we are Christians and followers of Jesus. A lot of people will mock us, a lot of people will make fun of us and we need to be ready for that. Let's look at verse 25. For what profit

[00:13:47] is it to a man if He gains the whole world and His is Himself destroyed or lost? And that means that His soul hangs in the balance. So friends, if we choose to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior,

[00:14:13] then we are going to gain eternity with Jesus. But if we choose to reject Him and His word and His offer of salvation, then our souls will be destroyed and lost. And we will spend eternity

[00:14:33] forever out of the presence of Jesus and we will go to hell. Let's look at the commentary for verses 24 and 25. It makes no sense to attempt to save our lives on earth only to lose

[00:14:54] everything when our lives quickly and inevitably pass away. The wise course is to invest our earthly resources, our time, talents and wealth in what is eternal. If we lose our lives for Jesus' sake, that investment will produce returns for all eternity. Let's go to verse 26. For whoever

[00:15:28] is ashamed of me and my words of Him, the Son of man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in His fathers and of the Holy Angels. Let's look at the commentary for verse 26.

[00:15:49] Recognition of Jesus will be rewarded in the coming judgment. Failure to recognize Him will lead in significant loss. Let's go to verse 27 that I tell you truly, there are some standing here

[00:16:11] who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God. Now let's look at that commentary for verse 27. Since these disciples died before Jesus' return, the reference here is no doubt to the transfiguration and we will be talking about that on Wednesday's podcast. With this,

[00:16:39] there is probably also a prediction of the descent of the spirit at Pentecost. So friends, before we close today I'd like to go back to our proverb of the day and we are in

[00:16:56] proverb 17 and I'd like to go to verse 17 and it says, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity. Now friends, I often say that I like to tie in the verse that I pick for the

[00:17:16] proverb of the day with the story that we went over today. So in this particular case, the friend that I can be referring to here is Jesus. Now Jesus tells us that if we are to be followers of him

[00:17:34] that we must take up our cross daily and follow Him, and if we do that, we can consider Jesus to be our friend and we can talk to Him and we can pray to Him all the time. Let's look at the

[00:17:54] last portion of verse 17 and a brother is born for adversity. Let's look at the commentary for this verse. This proverb logs faithfulness, unlike fickle friends, a true friend is constant and a real brother helps in times of stress. And friends I often mentioned this, proverb 27 verse 17 talks about

[00:18:29] this. That verse says as iron, sharpen's iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. And this is what we're talking about in this verse today. A friend, a real friend, is someone who

[00:18:48] we can count on regardless of what is happening in our life. We know we have someone that we can trust to help us out when we truly have a need. Let's review our three points today.

[00:19:05] Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus wanted his disciples to know exactly who he was, but when Peter made this comment, Jesus told him and the rest of the disciples not to let

[00:19:23] the cat out of the bag so to speak and not to tell anyone that Jesus was the Christ. Point number two, Jesus predicts his death and resurrection. Friends keep in mind, Jesus all was new

[00:19:39] how he was going to end his life. He always knew that he was here and sent by God to forgive everyone of their sins. And the only way that he would be able to do that is to

[00:19:55] suffer death on a cross to forgive us of our sins. And point number three, we are to take up our cross as Jesus if we are going to follow him. And friends, things have not changed today.

[00:20:14] If we truly want to be followers of Jesus, we need to do that on a daily basis. For get about ourselves, forget about what our desires are and live our lives for him. Friends, I will never

[00:20:33] end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord in Savior. If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to repeat

[00:20:46] a simple prayer after me today. Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, you came to earth and died on a cross and forgave me of all of my sins. Jesus thank you for doing that. I ask that

[00:21:02] you come into my heart. I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward. I make you my Lord in Savior. Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make us say,

[00:21:18] shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Friends, tomorrow is testimony day. Please join me and a special guest as we further explore wisdom today.