Mark 8:27-30 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying to them… The claim of Jesus to be the Messiah should be examined. I. Such knowledge of Christ as the true Messiah CANNOT BE COMMUNICATED BY MAN TO MAN. We may have an acquaintance with ancient records of kingdoms and states that have passed away; we may acquire an intimate acquaintance with warriors, and heroes, and statesmen, and early monarchs, and yet be utterly uninfluenced and unaffected by what we learn; we may read of much. that is heroic, and noble, and heart-stirring, in the achievements of many masterminds of days that are gone by, and only have our minds influenced, as by a bright and glowing dream. And so may it be with the Scripture records. We may be delighted, not only with the detail of ancient history, as recorded in the Bible, but we may be touched with the poetry and the pathos with which the Bible abounds, and we may acquire such an appetite for the Bible, in that sense, as shall induce us to come to it, as affording the most pleasant, and delightful, and intellectual study, and yet be unacquainted with Jesus, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and the one Mediator between our sinful souls and God; and instances are to be found, and ever have been, in which the mind has been stored with the truth, and the heart untouched by it. It is because we have reason to fear that this is too common, that we press upon you the fact that a merely intellectual acquaintance with the Bible is not such an acquaintance with Christ as will meet the necessity of your case. A speculative knowledge of Christ may be acquired by the exercise of the natural faculties; systems of theology may be conceived, magnificent and striking views may be obtained; and yet the heart of a man, as a sinner, may be altogether unmoved. He may contemplate the wondrous plan of redemption, as centred in Christ, and as achieved by Christ, "in the fulness of time": but he may never feel the want of redemption. He may read, and be assured of the fact, that "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," and yet never be in fear of perishing for want of Christ. He may read, and be well assured of the fact, that "God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son"; he may go on, and read the next verse, in which it is affirmed, "He that hath the Son hath life, but he that hath not the Son hath not life," and set remain destitute of the "life," which God has given in Christ, because he as yet knows not that he is "dead in trespasses and sins." He may know, and be ready to declare, without fearing contradiction, that Christ hath "abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel"; but he may not know (or if he does, he is not influenced by the knowledge) that he is still subject to all the consequences of sin which Jesus came to remove. He may read in another place, that "the gift of God is eternal life," and yet be ignorant that all his life he has been earning "the wages of sin," which "is death." II. That revelation then, must be first general; and secondly, particular. "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, BUT MY FATHER, WHICH IS IN HEAVEN." It is the prerogative of the Father in heaven to reveal His Son. Angels cannot tell what Jesus is; the highest intellect in heaven would fail to reveal it. But the Father does reveal it. But as we have seen that multitudes remain ignorant, though God has opened the page of revelation, we need a particular revelation. The Bible is a revelation from God the Father to us; but we need a revelation of Christ in us. During all lives, God has revealed Christ to us; but has He revealed Christ in us. It must be the result o! an express revelation from God the Father, through His own blessed Spirit, to our inward souls; it must be the everlasting Spirit "taking of the things of Christ, and showing them to us." III. THAT BLESSED ARE THEY WHO HAVE SUCH A KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST, AS A REVELATION FROM GOD. "Blessed art thou, Simon," etc. There is no true state that can be deemed blessed, but that which results from a saving knowledge of Christ. He who has this revelation is blessed. 1. In the certainty of his knowledge. He hath the witness in himself. 2. In the reality of the effects of the truth. "The truth has made him free." He is "an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ." 3. In the final and eternal results which follow. "Eye hath not seen," etc. (G. Fisk, LL. B.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? |
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