We live in a sad day and age where there are words like identity thrown around a lot. Not with good meanings either. The Disciples got asked a question about identity and one of them gets it right. In Luke 9:18-20. “One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them. ‘Who do people say I am?’ ‘Well,’ they replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets, risen from the dead.’
We’ve got what DC comics would call an Identity Crisis going on here I mean look at the way many different people viewed Jesus. So why is Zac making a point of all this. Peter is about to give us the correct answer.
“Then he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah sent from God!’”
What you believe about Jesus affects your faith. It changes how you interact with others. It determines your salvation. You have to believe he is the one and only Son of God. He died on a cross and rose from the dead and is seated in Heaven and will return. Without this you can claim to be a Christian but it won’t be true. If you see no change in your life you need to back up and examine what you are claiming for salvation because God won’t leave you alone. Following God forces you to make choices often.
Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
See what you believe really and truly matters and you’re going to have to give it some thought. Good works ain’t going to save you. If you count on that you’re in trouble. We can’t even claim credit for salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this: it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
Salvation can only be found in Jesus. Not church attendance, good works or any other thing you want to try.
John 14:6 “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’”
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
You asked why I made such a big deal of what you believe about Jesus Christ well it’s because it is the most important choice in your life and you had better be right about what you believe.
I had a person tell me a few months back he didn’t believe God protected people anymore he just believes we were left to cause and effect and nothing else really matters. To me that is a choice to have a very small god you claim to serve. At that point why pray? You’ve already limited the sovereignty of God. I told him I still believe the same God who put a cloud by day above the nation of Israel and a Pillar of Fire by night is still on his throne and can still protect his people. As a child growing up my mom read how God placed a hedge of protection around Job and she prayed that over my sister and I. I can look back and tell you God has protected me. What you believe about Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible matter a great deal.
So you gotta ask yourself. Who do you say that he is?
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