Matthew 16:13-16

Introduction
“This ancient creed summarizes the cardinal tenets of Christian belief, including those affirmations of the confessing church that capture the very essence of Christian thought and faith. It boldly declares that there is truth that is foundational to life, a truth that cannot be compromised without the peril of falling into the abyss of meaninglessness. Any creed can be affirmed by the lips without being embraced by the heart. But once a creed is embraced by the heart, the mind is captured by it. The mind held captive by the Word of God is a transformed and transforming mind. It is a new mind that yields a new life.” RC Sproul

The Apostle’s Creed Centers on a Name: JESUS!

“But the real centerpiece of the Apostle’s Creed is not a doctrine but a name…Our faith centers on personal attachment to him.” B. Myers

I. Jesus is the Christ
“I believe in Jesus Christ…”
Christ – ‘the anointed one’ – it is the Greek for the OT Hebrew word ‘Messiah’

v.16 – Peter says, “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

“And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” Acts 5:42

“Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” 1 John 2:22

II. Jesus is God’s Only Son
The word ‘only’ suggests one of a kind. It is the Greek word ‘monogenes’

monogenes has two primary definitions:
"pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship."

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” Hebrews 11:17,18

"pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind."

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9

III. Jesus Is Lord
The title Lord is the most exalted title given to Jesus. The Greek word is kyrios.

This word is used to translate the Hebrew Adonai which was a title for God himself.

Psalm 8:1 – “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

The NT teaches that Jesus has received the title of Lord (Kyrios).
It is the name of Jesus that ‘is above every name…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:9b-11

IV. Conclusion
“I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus Christ]: 'I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.” CS Lewis, Mere Christianity