Mark 8:27  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?
28  And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
29  And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
30  And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

PLEASE NOTE:
There will be no live-streaming today. We will still have our services as usual with a guest speaker today. Thank you to those who are praying for us at this time.

We are reminded here that Jesus took His disciples to many different towns. His goal was to teach the truth prior to His crucifixion. He came to fulfill every prophecy regarding His first coming. In this passage we again find Jesus outside of the boundaries of Israel. Jesus had spent the majority of His time in Israel. He had shown them that He was the long promised Messiah. He was fulfilling all the signs regarding His first coming. He would do many more miracles yet, but everything He did was in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.
The Pharisees were a studious people, but they studied the wrong things. They allowed their imaginations to supersede the truth. They set themselves up as the authority and everything needed to agree with what they claimed. They were wrong, but they were too proud to admit that fact.
Caesarea Philippi was named after Caesar Augustus and after Phillip, the tetrarch of that region. It was in the region of Mount Hermon. Jesus chose that place to further teach His disciples important truths. The truth shall make you free. In order to receive the truth, we need to get rid of the distractions.
The local church is to be a place where the truth reigns supreme. God directed Paul to write:

I Timothy 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

It is quite telling to see how many people are willing to hold on to teaching that contradicts the Word of God. Sadly, rather than submitting to the truth, many people choose a perversion that promotes lies. Then they attack that which is truth to defend their lies.
Jesus used every moment as a teaching moment. Our minds are busy. We need to have them directed to think truth. Lost people have no time for truth. Truth is subjective to them. However, those who are saved, need to take every thought captive and be sure that every thought is brought into obedience to Christ.
Thus Jesus asked His disciples what they believed about Him. The disciples were listening to other voices besides the voice of Jesus. Today as well, we hear many different voices. I am not talking of those who are classified as “schizophrenic”. I am talking of the many ideas that people have on various subjects. There are a large variety of voices when it comes to the Word of God. The hundreds of different “denominations” is evidence of that. The New Evangelical philosophy was founded to try to bring unity among the many different teachings. Rather than accepting the Word of God as THE AUTHORITY, it dismisses an authoritative Word and accepts the imaginations of many and leaves it up to people to decide which voices they want to follow.
Of course God gives man the option of believing the truth or rejecting it. He provides the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, Who works in the heart of lost people to show them the need for truth in their lives. Most people dismiss His work, but a few will eventually respond and be saved. Those who are saved are directed by the same Holy Spirit to grow in the Truth.
Today we have the many different religious groups who all claim to believe in the true God. The wide array of beliefs that they teach clearly shows they are not following the Truth.
Jesus did not teach that way. He asked His disciples to tell Him what they were hearing. However, He also asked them what they were believing. John the Baptist had been a faithful servant of God. However, he was not the same as Jesus. Elijah was a faithful Old Testament prophet but he was long dead. Other people thought Jesus was one of the prophets that was come back. Those who believed those lies, denied the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. John and Elijah and the other prophets were not gods. They were men of God. They were chosen and authorized to teach the truth. Their words were authoritative. They did not make up their own ideas. They were moved by God and spoke the truth and they desired to help others to know the fear of God in their hearts.
Jesus then asked His disciples whom they believed Jesus to be. Peter was the outspoken disciple. He did not always think before he spoke. In this case he stated: “Thou art the Christ.”
Matthew records that Peter made a correct statement on this important question. Jesus stated that Peter made the correct statement because God gave him the right answer. Peter was not a lost man at this time. He had much to learn but he was led by God to speak a completely true statement here.
Jesus was pleased with what Peter said. However, He charged them not to tell others Who He was.
The opposition to Jesus was growing. It was not time for Jesus to go to the cross yet. Due to the hardness of the hearts of many, Jesus needed to restrict the Truth at that time. It is a shame when people become so entrenched in a lie that they become extremely hostile to the truth.
The Pharisees would use anything they could to try to condemn Jesus. Jesus was not afraid of truth. He is Truth. He was going to continue to teach the Truth and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem would be a very public statement of Who He was. At His trial He would be accused of blasphemy for speaking the Truth. The Truth would condemn the Pharisees and their followers. The Truth is still condemning many today who refuse the Truth.

John 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

The sad reality is that the Pharisees rejected the truth. They had established themselves as the possessors of truth. They judged Jesus by their heresies. Jesus exposed them over and over again. Now Jesus told the disciples not to speak openly about Who Jesus was. The Pharisees did not want to know the truth, and so Jesus would withhold the truth from them for a time.
Today is the Lord’s Day. It is the day that God has given us to go to the “pillar and ground of the truth”. The truth is absolute. It is also liberating.

Galatians 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Jesus gave His disciples many opportunities to hear the Truth. He showed them that the Truth cannot be mixed with lies. He IS TRUTH and He helped His disciples to settle for nothing less than the Truth. That is the same thing we need today as well. We need the Truth. We need to guard against casting our pearls to the swine. We also need to help those who are seeking truth to be established in Truth. That is the great need of man.
Pastor Bartel