In the sermon 'Peter's Confession and Saving Faith,' Peter Allison explores the pivotal moment when Peter declares Jesus as the 'Christ of God' in Luke 9. The sermon examines different types of faith: historical, self-serving, popular, and saving faith. Historical faith recognizes Jesus as a historical figure, while self-serving faith follows Jesus for personal benefit. Popular faith is driven by the crowd's actions. However, none of these equate to saving faith, which requires understanding the true nature of Christ and His mission. The sermon emphasizes God's sovereignty in salvation, asserting that faith comes not from miracles but from divine revelation and prayer. Jesus' question to His disciples about His identity aims to elicit a genuine confession of faith, grounded in knowledge and experience. Allison explains why Jesus instructed His disciples not to reveal His Messiahship at that time, highlighting the centrality of the cross in understanding Christ's role as the Messiah. The significance of the cross is underscored as essential to salvation, with Jesus' death seen as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the only way to redeem humanity from sin. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to embrace saving faith, willing to endure suffering for the joy of eternal life with Christ.

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Luke, chapter 9. I'd like to read beginning of 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 and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day. May His Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Almighty Heavenly Father, please sanctify these sinful lips and this vessel of clay to proclaim the riches of Your glory. Please speak to us.

Please give us understanding and open the eyes of our minds and hearts and enable us to receive with meekness your Word and to search the scriptures to see if these things are so. Lord, give to us a hunger and a thirst for Your Word and Your righteousness. Give to us a longing to worship You, to know You, To be in you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

While a lot happens between verses 17 and 18, many events transpire between these two verses. There's no chronological language connecting them. It says, and it happened. There's no and then indicating a historical progression. Simply a statement that something happened.

And so looking at the other passages, looking at the other accounts of this event in the other Gospels, we can piece together a few of the things that have happened in this time, and it's probably been several months. So we learn from the other Gospels that between these two verses 17 and 18, Jesus walked in the waters of the Sea of Galilee and Peter tried to follow Him. At Gennesaret, Jesus healed more people. And in Capernaum, He had His John 6 discourse on the bread of life and teaching on the sovereignty of God in salvation, that no one can come to the Father who sent Him unless the Father draws Him. No one can come to Christ unless the Father who sent Christ draws Him.

And it's at this point that Jesus' disciples begin to turn away from Him, begin to reject Him. They're offended at this statement of Jesus that no one can come to Christ unless the Father who sent Christ draw him. They're offended when Jesus teaches this truth about God's sovereignty. And so they they don't follow him anymore. And we read that Jesus asked his disciples, do you want to go away too?

He then goes to Tyre and Sidon, which are quite a ways up the north coast, where he healed the Syrophoenician woman who had faith unlike any he had seen in Israel. And Then he went back to the region of Decapolis, which is on the southeast side of the city. For you, it's down here. For the Seagallies, it's down here. Taron's side and her way up on the coast, way northeast.

He's all the way down here now. These are some day's journeys. These cities are apart from each other. Then he went back to the region of Decapolis, where he healed many more people, where he fed the 4, 000 with seven loaves and a few fish. The capitalists is over on the east coast of the Sea of Galilee and then he works his way up around the Sea of Galilee to the west side, came back to Bethsaida on the north where he had fed the 5, 000 people and now he's going to go 25 more miles north to up to Caesarea Philippi.

He's on the extreme edge of anything Israelite, anything Jewish. It's up here sort of away from probably the great crowds. In the account in Mark, we read that it's on the road as they went up to the towns of Caesarea Philippi. Luke doesn't tell us where they are. He just says that it happened as he was alone praying.

Well, Mark says he's on the road on the way up to Caesarea Philippi. Luke says he's praying. Both of these things are true. We recognize 25 miles is a long day's journey, maybe even a little bit, maybe a little bit more than a day's journey, maybe, depending how fast they walked, how long they walked. And so it's very possible that in the course of this journey that Jesus has stopped to pray, he prayed frequently.

And so he's praying for the disciples. He's praying alone and his disciples join him. And Jesus asked them the great question that every person has to answer. Who is Christ? Who is Christ?

Most anybody that you ask has an answer. Some people have what we might call a historical faith in Christ. They believe that Jesus was a historical person, was a historical person, a great teacher maybe. And that's when Jesus asked that question, who do the crowds say that I am? That's the answer that the apostles give.

Some people think you're John the Baptist. Some people think that you're Elijah. Today that's the kind of answer you will get from some people. Oh, he was a great teacher. He was a great man.

He was a great example, maybe. He was, maybe he was a wise man. But he was just a man. We might call that a historical faith. Of course, Jesus said that he was God, so if you believe he was a great teacher, but you believe that he was just a man, then you have a bit of a conundrum.

Either he wasn't such a great teacher and taught erroneous things such as he was God, or they're believing, they're not believing what he said, even though they're saying He's a great teacher. Some people have what we might call a self-serving faith. They're attracted to his miracles, to someone who has healed them of their sicknesses, to someone who may be raised, one of their loved ones, from the dead. They're attracted to that. They follow that.

Those are the people that left him when he began talking about the sovereignty of God. And that they weren't able to come to Him in their own power, by their own understanding. Those who have a self-serving faith think that it's all about them. And If they think it's good for them, if it makes it feel good, then they will believe and follow Jesus. But if it's uncomfortable doctrines, or there's any kind of sacrifice involved, then they're out of there.

They're gone. Never see them again. So there are some in Jesus' day too, like our day, that have a self-serving faith, a good times faith. If it helps me, if it solves my problems, if it makes me feel good, if I like it, then I'll believe. But if I don't like it today, well, I won't.

Some had a popular faith. He was the popular person. The crowds are following him. There are some people that just want to be where the crowd is. They just want to do what other people are doing.

They don't want to be different. They don't want to be the ones standing alone. So if the crowds are following Jesus well, I will too. And when the crowds stop following Him, then so do they. You might call that a popular faith.

But those are not saving faith. The faith that falls away in the time of difficulty Jesus talked about, that was like the seed that fell on the rocks. And when the sun came up, it didn't have any water, and so it perished. Or the good times faith, the popular faith that gets easily choked out by the cares of this world when the people, when it's no longer popular, when everybody else is no longer doing it, then they're gone as well. That's not saving faith.

And so Jesus asks then His disciples, yes, but who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Jesus has been teaching the disciples for some time now. He's gone through that first year of his ministry where he went down into Judea. He's gone through his second year of ministry where he is been wildly popular.

They wanted to make him a king we read about after the feeding of the 5, 000 because they thought, wow, he would make a great general. We wouldn't have to worry about food for our army. We'd have a huge advantage. If he's our general, we have a huge advantage over the Romans. Jesus didn't ask his disciples, who am I?

Who do you think I am? He taught them, he rebuked them for their unbelief at times, he chided them, he instructed them, he tested them, But he waits. He waits before he seeks to elicit from them a confession or profession of faith. Because you see, saving faith is a knowledgeable faith. Saving faith knows something about the object of that faith.

So Jesus doesn't press his disciples for a quick profession of faith. He doesn't want to cash in as it were on his popularity While many crowds are following him. It'd be very easy to say yes, you are the Son of God You are the Christ Of God When He's healing many and the crowds want to make Him a king, and He's wildly popular, it's not when Jesus is asking for their profession of faith. He's not asking after he heals Peter's mother-in-law of a fever. He waits.

He waits until there's opposition, until the people are leaving, until there's a price to pay. And so we never want to, that's why we don't have an altar call here. Our purpose isn't to bring as many people into this service and to bring them to the emotional point of coming up to the front and making a profession of faith in ignorance. Jesus doesn't rush the disciples to a profession of faith. He wants to ensure that they have a grounding, the knowledge, the understanding, so that their profession of faith is arising out of true saving faith.

We also see that faith doesn't come by miracles. Some of the generations that witnessed the greatest miracles were the most unbelieving generations. We talked at some length previously about how the children of Israel that left Egypt saw unprecedented miracles and deliverances and great signs and wonders and yet that was an unbelieving generation whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. This generation before Jesus, in which Jesus lived, was an apostate generation that rejected and crucified the Lord of Glory. Jesus wept over them, we read in Matthew, over the judgment that would fall on them for their unbelief.

The book of Revelation, as we're seeing, is a description of those judgments as they came in history upon their donation for their unbelief. Faith doesn't come by miracles. I think that's Jesus is praying here before this. He doesn't say exactly what he's praying for, but we know that he did pray for his disciples. He told them that he prayed for them, and I think quite possibly he was praying for them.

They were on his mind as he was praying for the Father to draw them, to give them saving faith. And it was out of that prayer then that as they come to him, he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am? And who do you, more importantly, who do you say that I am we don't know for sure but I I think that's possible you see people don't reject Jesus for lack of evidence. They reject Him because their heart is darkened and it cannot understand. Their process, their very process of thinking is darkened.

The miracles don't bring people to faith, that's just a self-serving faith. But saving faith recognizes that Jesus fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Saving faith comes when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and understanding of who Christ is. And this work comes as we pray. This work comes as we ask the Lord to do this work in people.

So Jesus then asks them, Who do you say that I am? Peter's answer. Peter answered as he often did for the disciples. He was the one who often spoke first and put his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion. He earned Jesus' rebuke on another occasion for his rash speaking.

But here He is first to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Christ of God. Christ is not his last name. He is not Jesus Christ. He is Jesus the Christ. Christ is the Greek transliteration of the word for Messiah, or the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah.

Both Messiah is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for anointed one. Christ or Christos is the transliteration of the Greek word that means the anointed one. So we have three words in three different languages that all mean the same thing. Jesus, then, is the Christ of God, the Christ of God. There is one There is but one.

Messiah, there is but one mediator. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah, the anointed one of God. God's chosen some to that we sang speaks about God's declaring, I have I have installed my King on my holy That word there is, I have declared the decree, the Lord has said To me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession. Yes, I have set my king on my holy hill." this is a psalm that began with the rulers taking counsel together against Jehovah and against His anointed. Against His anointed. That is the word Messiah. That is Christ.

The rulers, The kings of the earth have set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Christ. Against His Christ. Saying, let us break their bonds and cast away their courts, speaking of Jehovah and Christ. Jesus is the Christ of God. Peter is identifying Jesus with this anointed one, who David spoke of in Psalm 2, yet I have set my king.

They've taken counsel together against is God's, the Father's, anointed one. Jesus is the Messiah. We read in the other accounts in Matthew, Jesus, Simon Peter says, you are the Christ, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus' immediate answer to him, which Luke does not give us, is, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven.

Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven. This is not something you arrived at because you saw the miracles. This isn't something that you arrived at by your own powers of deduction and logic. This is something you arrived at because it was revealed to you, it was given to you by the Father in heaven. The Holy Spirit has brought this understanding to you.

But then Jesus says something that might be surprising. And Luke does record this. He strictly warned and commanded them to tell no one, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and raised the third day. He strictly commanded them to tell these things to no one. Why would he do that?

Why would he tell Peter, don't tell anyone that Jesus is the Messiah. That's because of the centrality of the cross to saving faith. That's because of the centrality of the cross to saving faith. That's because of the centrality of the cross to saving faith. The Jews had a common misunderstanding of who the Messiah was.

They were all looking for the Messiah, even the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests, the Sadducees, all of these people, all of these Jews, And as well as Anna and the godly Jews that were looking for the Messiah. They were all looking for the Messiah. You ask any Jew at that time, are you looking for the Messiah? They would say, yes, we are. Do you believe in the Messiah?

Yes, we do. But they had a misunderstanding of what that was. Their Messiah was going to be a deliverer from Rome. Something like what the Maccabeans had done. In throwing off the tyranny of the Greek empires, the Greek rulers.

But that wasn't who Jesus was. Jesus had come to suffer and to die. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, by all the people who are looking for the Messiah, who say they are looking for the Messiah. Jesus must be rejected by them, by the church. Jesus is the chief cornerstone, but he's going to be rejected by men.

He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. A stone of stumbling to the Jews. A rock of offense. See, this is who the Messiah was. The Son of Man must suffer these things.

Jesus didn't die because the people got out of hand. Jesus said, no man takes my life. I lay it down and I take it up. Jesus must die in order to be our Savior, in order to pay the wrath of God against our sins. As a saving faith, if it is to be true faith, has to believe whatever is revealed in the scriptures and all that is revealed in the scriptures.

So if the disciples had told people that Jesus is the Messiah, they would have had a wrong understanding. Christ had to suffer. That was essential to His office as Messiah. There is no other way of salvation other than for Christ to die, to suffer and to die. Jesus wasn't there to save His people from Rome, He was there to save His people from their sins.

That's what His very name meant, Jehovah Saves. You will call His name Jesus, Gabriel said, because He will save His people from their sins. Jesus must die, because that was the only way He could fulfill His office as a Messiah. And so Jesus wanted the full gospel of who the Messiah was to be revealed before he was proclaimed to the crowds as the Messiah. It was after he had suffered and died that they were then commissioned to go into all the world and proclaim Jesus is the Messiah of God.

Jesus isn't interested in mere numbers. He's not interested in people who make a profession not out of knowledge and understanding. Saving faith is based on knowledge. It is based on knowing Christ, who Christ is. It's based on all of the Messiah Would have to all that the Messiah would do have to do and suffer the cross of Christ The cross is central to saving faith Christ didn't have to die on the cross.

He did so because of the joy that was set before him. The joy that was set before him of bringing many sons to glory. The joy of bringing to himself, gathering to himself his own body, His bride. A people zealous for good work. That was why Christ died.

And Christ calls us to have the same kind of faith for the joy that is set before us. That we're willing to suffer anything rather than to miss the joy of sitting down to that last marriage feast. We're willing to suffer the rejection of our family, the rejection even of our mother. The Bible puts it even to hate our mother. It's referring to being willing to suffer their rejection.

Being willing to suffer Even the rejection of children, the rejection of parents, even the rejection of spouses, husbands, and wives, for the sake of Christ, for the joy that is set before us, of sitting down with the Messiah, the Lamb, at the marriage feast. That must always be our view, our focus, and everything else, everything else is secondary to it. Seek first, Jesus said to his disciples, my kingdom and its righteousness. Let's pray. In Grace's Father in Heaven, We thank you for saving faith.

A faith that is not of our own, but it is your gift. A faith that through which we are enabled to lay hold of your grace, your gifts, your blessings, your sacrifice, of your righteousness. Oh Lord, may you strengthen our faith and set our eyes upon you that we might be willing to suffer whatever you call us to for the joy that you have set before us. Through Jesus we ask. Amen.