Luke 9:18 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Luke 9:18

Comments

Luke tells us that the Lord Jesus was alone praying. This was something that he did often. As a man he needed to pray to his heavenly Father, for although he was the God man, his human nature was not transformed into something superhuman which did not need to rely on God. It is of the nature of man that he is a dependant being and cannot live otherwise than in dependence upon his Father in heaven, and Christ reflected humanity in this respect also. But the disciples joined him and he asks them who the people say that he is. This was to draw attention to the inadequate understanding of the people as compared to the light which had been given to the disciples. Matthew and Mark tell us that he was in the region of Caesarea Philippi and on the road at the time.The whole issue here is the lordship, the authority, the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the substance of this teaching, that the only way anyone can come to God and can come to know him is to understand that they must bow the knee to the absolute lordship and authority of Christ. The disciples answered him, ‘Some say you are John the Baptist (risen from the dead); others say you are Elijah resurrected; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.’ We can understand why the crowd should think some of these things, given the miracles that Christ was doing.Now the crowd – the multitudes at this stage that saw the Saviour and observed his work – drew inadequate conclusions from what they saw. The Lord Jesus asked, ‘Whom say the people that I am?’ For the first time in generations there was in Israel a miracle worker. There was an outstanding teacher and figure, who could do mighty things and who spoke with authority and had a great sense of mission and had this radiant holiness and perfection. He was not at all like their regular teachers, their regular religious leaders. He had such invincible power, and so the people concluded that a prophet had arisen in their midst.

Application

Here is the crux of the matter for every one of us. Why is it that sometimes, even after we have come to understand something about the biblical message and about the way of salvation; even after we have come to grasp that we need a Saviour, that we are sinners and we are cut off from God and there is no spiritual life in us, and that our great need and the only hope is for us to have our sins washed away and forgiven; even after we grasp that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, came down out of heaven into this world for this purpose, to pay the price for us, to take our the punishment for us if we turn to him; even after that, there is so often a great struggle and a great hesitation in coming to God? We are in a state of rebellion against him. We are on our own, and therefore we are doomed and one day we will be condemned because of our sins. Our great need is of pardon and forgiveness from him and of new life which relates us to him so that we know him and walk with him. But if we know that much then what prevents us from coming to him? Indeed some people know that much and they do come to God. They in some shape or form repent of their sins, and they appeal to God to bless them and give them new lives according to the promise of the Bible, and yet nothing happens. Time goes by – weeks, months, sometimes even years – and those people still do not become true believers or true Christians. They never receive in their experience any answer to their prayer, any sense of power, any touch of God. Why would this be? Here is the issue. The crux of the matter is the lordship of Christ. We may know he is the Saviour. We may begin to desire him. We may even long for him. But if we have never yielded over our lives and surrendered our lives to him, to be our future Lord and our God, so that we shall serve him and love him and be his; if we haven't made him Lord when we repent then we shall never be saved. We can never come to him. At the end of the day the whole problem with us is sin.

Yes, but what is sin? It is rebellion. How can you repent of your sin and be sorry for your sin and continue in a state of independency from God? It's not possible. It's a contradiction in terms. I cannot say, ‘Lord I repent of my life and of my sin. I desire forgiveness and salvation’, and at the same time say, ‘but I want to still go on determining most of my own affairs. I'd like to be a rather independent sort of Christian. I'd like to keep on with the things I want and the things I want to do and my own self-determination, and at the same time have my sins forgiven. At the bottom of sin is rebellion. The fact that I want my own life and my own way. I can't have my sins forgiven and keep my rebellion. Until I come to him, not only as Saviour but as Lord, I cannot be saved.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Luke 9:18 Commentary and Bible Study