Mathew 16 Lesson

WHO IS JESUS?

Of all the questions that have ever been asked, none were ever more important than this one:

• “Who do you say that I am?” – Mathew 16:15.

This was a question that Jesus asked His disciples as He began preparing them for His upcoming:

1. Death,
2. Burial,
3. And resurrection.

Each of us must be able to answer this question for ourselves.

Who do we say that Jesus is?

To help us begin to answer this question, we will look at how Jesus described Himself, in His own words.

WHO DID JESUS SAY THAT HE IS?

There is no better place to learn who Jesus is than to hear Him describe Himself.

Listed below are seven verses spoken by Jesus about Himself:

1. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” - John 14:6,
2. “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of life.” - John 8:12,
3. “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” - John 6:35,
4. “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” - John 11:25,
5. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” - Revelation 22:13,
6. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” - John 10:9,
7. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” - John 10:11,

JESUS THE SAVIOR

The Bible teaches that everyone who believes in Jesus will never die:

• “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” - John 11:25.

Believing in Jesus is one of five matters of salvation discussed in the Bible:

1. Believe in Jesus.  “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” –  Acts 16:31, 
2. Confess our belief in Him.  “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” –  Romans 10:10, 
3. Repent (turn away from) of our sins.  “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” –  Luke 13:3, 
4. Be baptized.  “ Baptism  now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” –  1 Peter 3:21  and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” –  Mark 16:16, 
5. Obey God’s commandments.  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”  –  Mathew 7:21. 

All paths to Heaven go through Jesus. 

Therefore, it is imperative that we know who He is, so that we can learn from Him, and follow His example.

THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

You can never go wrong following the example of Jesus! 

There is a popular expression, “What would Jesus do?” 

It is popular for a reason.

Thinking about how Jesus would handle a situation is the best thing that anyone can do.

We would do well in any situation to pause and ask ourselves how Jesus would handle things.

Therefore, the more that we know about the life and teachings of Jesus, the more successful we will be in trying to follow His perfect example.

The Bible is full of scriptures that talk about the importance of following Jesus, His teachings, and His example. For today’s lesson, we have selected the following three:

1. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” - Mathew 16:24,
2. “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” - 1 Peter 2:21,
3. “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’” - John 8:12.

JESUS, THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Jesus is the good shepherd, and we are His flock.

In His own words, Jesus said:

1. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” – John 10:11,
2. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15.

There are several takeaways from these two verses. From them, we learn that:

1. Jesus is the good shepherd because He was willing to die for us,
2. If we follow Jesus, He will know us as God the Father knows Him.

These are comforting words to meditate on. They show us just how much our Savior loves us.

As we reflect on that, we must always remember that while on earth, Jesus was God and man at the same time. Therefore, He can relate to all our feelings and emotions.

The following three verses talk about Jesus being both God and man:

1. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14,
2. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.    And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.” - Philippians 2:5-8,
3. “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.” – Hebrews 4:15.

As followers of Jesus, we are His flock.  

And because we are His flock, He knows us. (Hebrews 4:15)

And because when He was on earth, Jesus was both God and man, He understands our struggles and our temptations.

It is a great privilege to have Jesus as our Good Shephard.

As the Good Shephard, Jesus:

1. Knows us,
2. Loves us,
3. Protects us.

CONCLUSION

There is only one way to get to Heaven, and that is through Jesus. 

This is reason enough for us to make sure that we understand as much as we can about Jesus.

1. Who Jesus is.
2. Who He was during His time on earth.
3. And how much He loves us.

We cannot follow Jesus unless we know who He is. And we cannot understand who He is without reading the Bible.

One of the ways that Jesus referred to Himself is “The Good Shepherd.”

He is the Good Shepherd, and if we follow Him, He will know us, love us, and protect us.

We will end today’s study with the following words spoken by Jesus:

• “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” – John 14:15-17.