Walking The Way Of The Cross

Secular -

A Sunday School teacher asked her class, "Does anyone know what the Prophet Elijah’s last words were?"

A little boy in the back stood up and said, "Go, get ‘em, Tiger!"

The teacher was confused. "Where on earth did you hear that?"

The boy replied, "In the Bible! It says right there: 'Elijah went up in a roar.'"

Historical/Cultural Context -

This Gospel is written by Matthew, also known as Levi who was a former tax collector. It was most likely written between AD 50-60. Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus. Matthew wrote primarily to Jewish believers—people who knew the Old Testament well. Matthew had one goal: to prove that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Kings, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Connecting the Old Testament prophecies to the life of Christ, proving that every word God spoke was coming true in Jesus. The key themes of the Gospel include Jesus as King, The Kingdom of Heaven, Fulfillment of Prophecy and discipleship.

Biblical Text -

Matthew 16:21–28 NKJV

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “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.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - We Need To Avoid Opportunity For The Flesh, Be Willing to Lose Our Life For His & Look Forward To His Coming Again.

Life Point- Avoid Opportunity For The Flesh

Exegetical -

Matthew 16:21–23 BSB

From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Homiletical -

Jesus starts to prepare the disciples for what is to come and what is to become of Him. That He would indeed die, but that He would raise again to life

Now this brings up all kinds of theology that we won’t get into today but let’s talk a little bit about this.

We are human. Does our humanity cease when the body ceases to exist? No, because our humanity continues with our spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:8 BSB

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

I don’t stop being me because I am away from the body. I am still me, just without the body.

So did Jesus stop being Jesus just because He was away from the body for 3 days? No, of course not. He was and will always be Jesus, 100% God and 100% man. Which is called the hypostatic union.

Peter pulls Jesus aside and chastises him, try to correct him. Rebuking Him saying that He surely would not die.

But Jesus says get Behind me Satan. That he doesn’t have the mind of God on this but the mind of men.

It was God’s will that Jesus die the way He died in order to redeem man from sin.

Satan is an interesting term. Who is the god of the world according to scripture? By world I mean the system, the ways men do things.

The term Satan means agitator, adversary and is the proper name for the angel that fell and took 1/3 of the angels with him. The Devil.

Peter had in mind that Jesus would eventually overthrow the Romans and take an earthly kingdom and in that regard he was thinking fleshly.

Peter who just a few verses ago had a revelation of Jesus by the father, now is thinking like an ordinary man whose mind is rooted in the system of the world, which is controlled by Satan.

This ought not be.

However, you and I are the same today. We have wonderful revelations from God and then turn around and do the stupidest stuff because our minds move on from the will and power of God to that of the world.

We need to keep our minds on those things which are good, pure, perfect, holy and of good report.

Philippians 4:8 BSB

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.

If we don’t then we may miss the will of God for ourselves and for others. We become a stumbling block to the brethren thinking only of the flesh and not the spiritual.

How about you today? Are you thinking only in the flesh and not in the Spirit? You are the one that gets to make that choice as a Christian. You have 2 natures. The Fleshly sin nature or the new nature in Christ.

Galatians 5:13–17 BSB

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

Illustration -

In ancient Rome, gladiators were often tempted by the thrill of battle. These warriors would train to fight in arenas, drawn to glory yet facing severe moral dilemmas. One legendary gladiator, Spiculus, famously turned down an opportunity to kill his opponent, choosing mercy instead. This act of self-control illustrates Paul’s exhortation to avoid opportunities for the flesh. Just like Spiculus, we must tame our impulses, making choices aligned with Christ’s teachings instead of our sinful nature.

Life Point - Be Willing To Lose Your Life For His

Exegetical -

Matthew 16:24–26 BSB

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Homiletical -

Talking about opportunities for the flesh and doing the will of God, Jesus says something that seems backward to our understanding.

If you want Jesus, you must deny yourself and take up a torture device that leads to death and follow Him

He knew He was going to the cross and He was telling them that they need to be willing to do the same for Him. To give up your life and crucify it to receive a new life in Him.

This would have shocked and dismayed His disciples. I mean who wants to be tortured and eventually die? I know I don’t, but this was an illustration of what they needed to be willing to do.

Jesus warns them that whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but if you lose your life for His sake you will find it.

As a Christian I can’t imagine why someone would turn down an invitation to follow Christ. To have closeness with the Savior, The Holy Spirit & the Father. With God Himself seems like a ridiculously easy choice to me. I can’t imagine not making that choice.

Yet there are those who would choose this world and it’s ways of doing things over Jesus.

Jesus says think about this. What good is it to gain all this world has to offer but lose your own soul to the fires of Hell? What can a man give in exchange for his soul.

Yet there are those out there who do it everyday. They would rather run after the worldly things than run toward God.

Illustration -

Years ago, must have been more than 20 years now. A deacon friend of mine and I went to visit with someone who I knew. We witnessed and we talked about Jesus. He said you know I have been baptized doesn’t that mean I am going to heaven? I told him no. That is the first command Jesus gives us after we have been saved and shows solidarity to Christ after our salvation. It identifies us as Christians and lets the world know that we are a new creation in Christ.

Well that went over like a lead balloon.

I let him know what salvation is. That is giving up your life for His life. For talking up your cross daily and following Him. It starts with giving up all that you are for all that He is. What’s more is that he understood what we were saying. His final response to us before we were ushered out was and I will never forget this. I quote, “I just love the ladies too much.”

“I just love the ladies too much.” How short sighted. He was so stuck in his particular sin that he didn’t want to give it up. He decided that his sins of fornications meant more to him than Jesus ever could. He looked dead serious when he said it, he wasn’t being flippant.

He traded fornications in exchange for his soul.

I learned an important lesson that day. There are those out there that will in all sincerity turn their back on Christ for the fleeting promises of sin, know what it will cost them.

Life Point - Look Forward To His Coming

Exegetical -

Matthew 16:27–28 BSB

For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Homiletical -

This is a hotly debated verse but I will make it real simple.

What is Jesus talking about here?

He is talking about the future.

The Son of Man will in His father’s flory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

Where else do we see language like this?

The book of revelation. When Christ comes to judge the living and the dead. The end times.

Then He says some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom

Doesn’t that mean Jesus should already have returned? Nope. I will tell you why.

You see immediately following this scripture we are told about the mount of transfiguration where Jesus is transfigured before 3 of his disciples and they see Him in His glory. Those 3 got a preview of the coming kingdom, fulfilling this verse.

If that’s not enough for you. John saw Him coming in His kingdom when he wrote the book of Revelation. He describes this event. Also fulfilling this verse.

What does this mean to us?

It means sin and Satan loses in the end and the back of the Bible tells us Jesus wins; and because He wins, by extension, so do we. We win. We get to be restored to a Holy and sinless state where we will not be bothered by it anymore.

How good is that?

This means that no matter how bad it gets for Christians here on earth we have the new heaven and the new earth to look forward to.

I look forwarded to the day when the trump shall sound

1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 BSB

By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

Life Principle– We Need To Avoid Opportunity For The Flesh, Be Willing to Lose Our Life For His & Look Forward To His Coming Again.

Call to Action – altar call….