What the Da Vinci Code suggested about Jesus could change you.

Can the view of one man determine your future?

Can anyone’s destiny be determined by how they view someone?

Yes! You are about to venture into your future.

It will be determined by your view of this one person.

Over and Over again in our society the question which has rocked our whole society is – “Who was Jesus?” The Da Vinci Code, a book written by Dan Brown, a professing Christian, has brought to the forefront the greatest controversy in modern history. Brown did not create the theories nor the skewed logic in his writings, but merely brought them to the table of debate. The debate about the identity of this man named Jesus. For you see this question did not start with Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code, but with Jesus himself.

Turn to Matthew 16:13-16 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar- Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ”

Jesus himself put forth the most important question of all time, “Who do you say that I, Jesus, am?”   I would like to put forward to all of you this morning that Jesus received from Peter the answer that would build the church, bring heaven to earth, bind things on earth and loose things on earth with the power of God.   Now I might be a little slow on some things, but it is obvious to me that Peter’s answer about who Jesus was transformed not only Peter, but much of the society of his day and I contend will do the same today – based on who you say that Jesus is.

For you see Jesus is still asking that question to all men throughout our world. But notice even in His day the answers varied.

1. Some say you are John the Baptist
2. Some say you are Elijah
3. Some say you are Jeremiah
4. Some say you are one of the Prophets

Ok Peter, But who do you say that I am? That is your question. Don’t tell me what other men are saying, tell me who you say that I am. For your answer determines your destiny, not what someone else thinks or says.

Who do you say that I am? That is the question on our college campuses, on the internet, in our business centers, in our communities at large which will determine a man’s destiny.

Today, as in Jesus day people had differing opinions. Recently, there has become a firestorm of opinions that books such as The Da Vinci Code have intensified.

Jesus has spent about two years teaching and training His students. After an interaction with some false teachers, He warned his students in verse 6 to “be careful” and to “be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” At first they didn’t get what Jesus was talking about then they realized that yeast stood for the false teaching that the leaders were propagating (see verse 12). The thing about yeast is that it doesn’t take much of it to affect big change. That’s because while it is small and subtle in how it works, it is also alive. By itself, not much happens, but when combined with other ingredients, it is activated and unleashes its power.

There has been a lot of teaching today about an alternative Jesus. These differing views of Jesus lower the position of Jesus as given us in scriptures. These are not bad answers in themselves but they all fall short of who Jesus really is because no one was openly confessing that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. Here’s the point. Whenever you ask a group of people about Jesus, they’ll come up with many different answers. Friends, they can’t all be right. The disciples knew what people were saying about Jesus and they were able to summarize these beliefs. Likewise, it’s important for us to listen to the different views about Jesus today so that we know what people are thinking and how we can help them see the truth.

As Rev. Bryan Bill in his message on “Cracking the Da Vinci code” states that leads to the question: How does the Da Vinci Code characterize Christ? One of the major implications of this book is that Jesus was just a man, not the Messiah and definitely not God. Here are some actual quotes from pages 232-235 in the book:

• “Nothing in Christianity is original” (page 232).
• Referring to the Council of Nicea, the character Teabing states: “Until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet…a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal” (page 233).
• “By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the human world, an entity whose power was unchallengeable” (page 233).
• “It was all about power,” Teabing continued. “Christ as Messiah was critical to the functioning of Church and state. Many scholars claim that the early Church literally stole Jesus from His original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power” (page 233).
• “The twist is this,” Teabing said, talking faster now. “…Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death…” (page 234)
• “What I mean,” Teabing countered, “is that almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false” (page 235).

These views of Jesus contribute to a wide spectrum of beliefs about Him, and according to Ray Pritchard, the Da Vinci Code has capitalized on three intersecting cultural trends (www.keepbelieving.com/sermons).

1. Widespread skepticism. Polls show that people distrust all authority and are therefore susceptible to claims about long-hidden secrets and complicated conspiracies involving riddles and codes. Even the judge in the suit against Dan Brown included hidden codes in his written ruling on the case and it was just solved this week.

2. Enormous spiritual confusion. Once someone doubts authority, they are soon open to believe anything. If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.

3. Deep spiritual hunger. I made reference to this last week, pointing out that according to Ecclesiastes 3:11, each of us have been created to know God. Our hearts are indeed restless until we know Him.

So, Jesus asks the question “Who do you say that I am?” Whoa! Jesus is saying to us – who are you telling people that I am? With all the misinformation today about Jesus are our voices telling people who Jesus truly is?

You see Dan Brown claims to be a Christian. Yes he does. But here’s the problem. Who does Dan Brown say that Jesus is? Dan Brown believes in a different Jesus that the Bible teaches and also who most of us believe Him to be. Are there others who claim to be Christians and yet have a different view of Jesus? Yes sir Buddy! That’s it. With a different view of Jesus I am let off the hook with making him my Lord and Savior.

Peter had the courage to confess Christ in a pagan setting and was willing to give a view that was contrary to the prevailing climate of his culture. His answer became the bedrock for the launch of an unstoppable community called the church, against which the “gates of Hades will not overcome” (Matthew 16:18). We participate in Peter’s profession when we stand up and say in response to the deceptive errors in the DaVinci Code: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Is it true that almost everything our fathers have taught us about Christ is false? Let’s take a look at this spurious claim by first looking at what Scripture teaches. The view by the modern crowd is that Jesus was somehow upgraded to a ‘God Status’ later by the Council of Nicea and then by Constantine for the purpose of extending His power and later the Churches power. The first century Christians did not believe Jesus to be the Son of God, but rather a teacher of truths which will lead us to God. This is best seen in the recently found books called, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Judas, The Gospel of Mary, and The Gospel of Peter. These Gnostic books which have been clearly shown to be from the late 2^nd to 3^rd centuries when the Gnostic movement, a cultic movement in Egypt and North Africa, came about. However, when we read the Gospels given us in the scripture Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the letters of Paul and others in the New Testament, all 27 are dated in the first century we find a common thread. That thread from the very beginning, not changed later to control and manipulate people, was that Jesus was the Son of the Living God, Messiah, and Savior of the World.

Let’s read what the Bible says.

John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

John 1:29: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

John 1:45: “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth…”

John 1:49: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God…”

John 2:11: “…He thus revealed His glory and the disciples put their faith in him.”

John 5:18: “For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

John 5:27: “And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man.”

John 5:46: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.”

John 6:69: “We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 7:31: “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?”

John 8:24: “…If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

John 8:58: “…Before Abraham was born, I am!”

John 10:30: “I and the Father are one.”

Listen to what was said in the early early letters of the church:

1 Corinthians 8:6: “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

Colossians 1:19: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.”

Hebrews 1:8: “But about the Son he [the Father] says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever…’”

2 Peter 1:1: “…our God and Savior Jesus Christ…”

The claim that Jesus was just a mortal man until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD is ridiculous and Brown’s statement that the early church hijacked Jesus’ message, shrouding it in “an impenetrable cloak of divinity is absurd.” Not only are the Scriptures strong in their assertion of the deity of Christ, the early church fathers were unequivocally clear that Jesus Christ is God. In his book called, “Cracking Da Vinci’s Code,” James Garlow includes some statements made by these leaders (page 94). I’ve included the approximate date in parenthesis:

• Ignatius (A.D. 105): “God Himself was manifest in human form.”
• Clement (A.D. 150): “It is fitting that you should think of Jesus Christ as of God.”
• Justin Martyr (A.D. 160): “The Father of the universe has a Son. And He…is even God.”
• Irenaeus (A.D. 180): “He is God, for the name Emmanuel indicates this.”
• Origen (A.D. 225): “No one should be offended that the Savior is also God.”

Let me go back to Peter’s confession. When he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, no one disputed it amongst the other disciples and especially by Jesus himself. His disciples themselves had not verbalized it yet but knew Jesus to be God in the flesh, the Messiah.

Now, I want you to know that your destiny, your future, your eternity determines how you view this Jesus. Do you see Him as Messiah, the only Son of the living God? Or do you see him as a mystic, or a prophet, or a good benevolent teacher? For if you view him in any other way than the one to be worshipped and followed as Lord of our Lives then you miss the whole boat.

Also, I will tell you two more points:

1. We are called to profess who Jesus is to others.
2. We are to ask others – “Who do you say that Jesus is?”

This is the beginning of Salvation and the beginning of leading people to Jesus. You will know where a man stands quickly when you ask him this question, “But who do you say that Jesus is?”

I would like for you to quote with me the Confession of the Christian Church most used over the centuries:

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end…

Amen! Amen!