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Jesus Sets the Highest Standards for His Disciples
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 16:20-25
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared September 26, 2022)
(New version with information about Christians being in Christ.)
BACKGROUND:
*Today's message is about the high standards Jesus sets for His disciples, so please open your Bibles to Matthew 16.
This chapter begins with Christ-rejecting Pharisees and Sadducees trying to trap Jesus by asking Him for a sign from heaven.
*Up to this point Matthew had mentioned the Pharisees 11 times, but he had only mentioned the Sadducees once.
That was in Matthew 3:7 where John the Baptist "saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism."
And he rightly called them out by saying, "Brood of vipers!
Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
*For the most part, both groups were a horrible brood of snakes.
And it's important for us to understand how evil these Pharisees and Sadducees were.
The Lord had already given them countless miraculous signs that proved He was the promised Messiah.
But no sign would have been enough for those ungodly religious elites.
*For over a hundred years, the Pharisees had basically been in charge of telling all the other Jews what was right or wrong.
But they had added thousands of petty rules to God's Law, and turned it into a terrible burden on God's people.
Then Jesus came along and rejected their rules, like their ungodly law against healing on the Sabbath Day.
(1)
*The Sadducees were wealthy aristocrats, who were happy to cooperate with their Roman conquerors.
They were normally bitter enemies of the Pharisees, because they rejected their religious rules.
But the Sadducees were worse in a different way, because they also rejected essential truth in God's Word.
*The Sadducees denied the existence of angels and demons.
They denied God’s involvement in everyday life.
They denied the resurrection of the dead.
They also denied the afterlife, believing that souls perished at death.
So, no Heaven or Hell.
*And it's shocking to hear, but the Sadducees were the chief priests in that day.
They also held the majority of seats on their Supreme Court that would condemn the Lord.
No wonder that in vs. 4, Jesus left these wicked Pharisees and Sadducees alone.
(2)
*By this time, the Lord was in the 3rd year of His ministry.
J. Vernon McGee estimated that Jesus was only 6 months away from the cross.
Those evil leaders, who hated each other, had come together in their common hatred of the Lord.
They were obsessed with His destruction, and had been plotting His death for months.
(3)
*William Barclay explained that "Jesus needed some time alone with his disciples, so He withdrew to the region of Caesarea Philippi.
It was 25 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee.
The people there were mainly non-Jewish, like the soldiers of the Roman Empire.
Locals worshiped in temples dedicated to the demonic gods of the Syrians and Greeks.
Caesarea Philippi also had a giant, white marble temple that was built to worship the Roman Emperor as God.
(4)
*John Phillips said that there on the edge of the Gentile world, Jesus stayed with His disciples for about a week.
There Jesus began to speak plainly about His cross, and for the first time, He spoke about His Church.
That's why John Phillips called Matthew 16 "the great divide" of Matthew’s Gospel.
(5)
*As Jesus focused on His Church and His cross here, He was speaking to His 12 disciples.
But we must understand that the word "disciple" simply means "student," "learner," "follower," or "imitator."
And in that sense, Christians, we are also called to be the Lord's disciples.
*Thank God, we are citizens of Heaven, children of God, friends of God, and much, much more.
But we are also called to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
And the same standards that Jesus gave to the twelve, apply to all of us today.
Please think about this truth as we read Matthew 16:20-25.
MESSAGE:
*I read about a little boy who was trying to memorize some Scripture, and he accidentally got two verses jumbled together.
It came out this way: "A lie is an abomination unto the Lord. . .
-- And a very present help in trouble."
(6)
*Some people live like that's a real verse from the Bible.
But Jesus always tells the truth.
And in this Scripture where the Lord calls us to be His followers, He doesn't sugar-coat it.
Jesus wants us to know the truth about being one of His disciples.
He wants all of us to count the cost, so in vs. 24 the Lord tells us three things we must do as His disciples.
1. FIRST, WE MUST SAY "NO" TO OUR SELFISHNESS.
*In vs. 24, Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself."
Why does the Lord ask us to deny ourselves?
One of the main reasons why is because we have a self to deny.
It's the part of us that gets grumpy, grouchy, gripey and whiny.
*It's the part of me that only cares about me, and has to get its own way.
It's the part of us that has to get the last word, and is so quick to criticize others.
Worst of all, it's the part of us that pulls away from the things of God, and gets in the way of what the Lord is trying to do.
Paul was talking about this selfish, sinful nature in Romans 7:18 when he said, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing."
*We all have a self to deny.
And self was part of the reason why Peter began to argue with the Lord in vs. 22: "Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!'''
*Of course, Peter cared about Jesus, and did not want the Lord to suffer.
But Peter didn't want Peter to suffer either!
These disciples wanted to throw the Romans out and rule Israel with Jesus.
But Peter needed to deny himself.
And He did not realize that he was actually opposing God's plan for His Kingdom.
*That's why Jesus gave Peter such a strong rebuke in vs. 23: "Get behind Me, Satan!
You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
*"Satan."
-- Not what we want to hear the Lord calling us, Amen?
That's why every one of us who believes in Jesus needs to deny our self.
We must say "no" to our selfishness.
*Nell Mohney found this out years ago on an airplane flight to Jackson.
Nell was flying to Jackson, Tennessee, to give a lecture at Lambuth College.
She thought it was odd that no one was at the airport to meet her.
*Nell then went to a phone booth to call the college and found that there was no Lambuth College in the book.
When she called the operator to ask for the college, the operator asked, "Where do you think you are?"
*"Jackson, Tennessee," she replied, and the operator answered, "No! -- You are in Jackson, Mississippi."
*The airline had made the mistake, and five others were in the same situation.
Delta provided a small plane and flew them to Jackson, Tennessee.
It was a terribly hot day.
The plane was bumpy.
Sweat was pouring down everybody's face.
We can imagine how aggravated those five people were.
But Nell couldn't help but notice that the young woman sitting next to her was crying.
She looked like she had a terrible problem.
*Nell was a good counselor, but at that moment, she was tired, sick-at-her-stomach, and frustrated.
She turned to the window and whispered a prayer: "No, Lord, I'm sick.
I just can't get involved."
But Nell couldn't get any peace about it, so she whispered again: "Okay, Lord, I'll talk to her."
*She turned and asked the young woman, "Is there something wrong?
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