Matthew 16:13-17, When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 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
John 14:6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 17:3, Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
Who do people say that Jesus is?
Who Did Jesus Say that He is?
Jesus describes His origin
John 4:38, 40, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me…40, For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” –C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
John 6:41-43, So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
John 6:51, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Jesus Claims to be the God of the Sabbath
Matthew 12:2, When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:7-8, If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
John 5:16-18, So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
Jesus claims to be Eternal
John 8:51, Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
John 8:52b-53, Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
John 8:56-59, Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” 57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” 58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
John 8:59, At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 10:30-33, I and the Father are one.” 31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Matthew 16:16-17, 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
Jesus’ Way Is Consistent With Reality
1. Jesus’ teaching about the human heart is consistent with Reality
John 3:3, Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again
Matthew 15:19-20, For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person
Jeremiah 17:9, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
John 3:16-18, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
2. Jesus’ teaching about morality is consistent with Reality
“The character of Jesus has not only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive in its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may be truly said that the simple record of three years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists.” –William Lecky, historian & skeptic
3. Jesus Changes Lives
Matthew 16:16-17, Jesus asked, Who do you say that I am.
