Matthew16:20-26

History

· Here we have a story withdrawal Jesus made with his disciples.

· Jesus withdrew to the districts of Caesarea Philippi.

· The population was mainly non-Jewish, and there Jesus would have peace to teach the Twelve

· It is of the most dramatic interest to see where Jesus chose to ask this question.

· There can have been few districts with more religious associations than Caesarea Philippi.

o Many temples of the ancient Syrian Baal worship.

o It was said to be the birthplace of the great god Plan, the god of nature

o The legends of the gods of Greece gathered around Caesarea Philippi

o the source of the Jordan this would make it significant in Jewish history

o A temple of white marble built to the godhead of Caesar.

o Jesus stands in an area littered with the temples

§ Jesus in the midst of all the worlds religions of the time asks men who they believe him to be, and expects the answer, The Son of God

Last week Peter was the Rock

· Peter hears from the Father

· The keys of opening the gospel were entrusted to him 1st and to us also

· Jesus asks all of us “who” He is “Pilate”

· Jesus is our corner stone, peter was the 1st stone laid next to the foundation of Jesus

· The powers of the enemy will not prevail against the kingdom and government of Jesus

Let’s continue to read with that background

Matthew16:20-26

20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

21 From that time Jesus began to show 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 up on the third day.

22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

I. The prohibition by Christ (16:20) opposite of the great commission

A. The disciples were thinking in the natural

1. They saw Jesus…. God as Messiah

2. And understood Him to be a conquering King to over throw the current rulers and lead them to power

3. Jesus and His kingdom is not about the natural things of this world

B. When we first get saved, sometimes years after we are saved we are still thinking in the natural way

1. We are to look at things from a spiritual perspective

20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

2. They are not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah

a) They would have wrecked what Jesus was trying to do

b) We need to know what discipleship is

c) Are we ready? Do we know who Jesus is and what he came to do ….

C. The passion of Christ (16:21)

1. Jesus predicts his future sufferings, death, and resurrection

21 From that time Jesus began to show 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 up on the third day.

II. The 2 rebukes (16:22-23)

A. Peter rebukes Jesus (16:22)

22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”

1. He is upset that the Savior would talk about his sufferings and death

2. Peter’s reaction shows just how far the disciples were from realizing just what Jesus meant when he claimed to be the Messiah and the Son of God

B. Jesus rebukes Satan (16:23)

1. Jesus rebukes the Devil for influencing Peter to speak as he has

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

C. Satan literally means the Adversary

1. “Get behind Me, Satan!

2. Behind me….. You are to follow me!

a) Origen (ECF) suggested that, Jesus was saying to Peter:

(1) “Peter, your place is behind me, not in front of me

(2) It is your place to follow me in the way I choose, not to try to lead me in the way you would like me to go.”

(3) It does not banish Peter from Christ’s presence; rather it recalls him to his proper place, as a follower walking in the footsteps of Jesus

(4) “Become my follower again.”

b) Peter, come back to following me, and not the natural world order

c) Jesus is reminding satan that Jesus is God and he will not take a second place

(1) Satan is any force which seeks to deflect us from the way of God

(2) Satan is any influence which seeks to make us turn back from the hard way that God has set before us

(3) Satan is any power which seeks to make human desires take the place of the divine direction of obedience

D. We should really look at the interest of a thing before we buy it

1. Is it God’s interest

2. Or is it the worlds interest

E. We must try to imagining and catch the tone of voice in which Jesus spoke

1. I do not believe Jesus said it with a snarl of anger in his voice and a blaze of indignant passion in his eyes

2. I believe Jesus said it like a man wounded to the heart

3. With deep grief and a kind of shuddering horror

4. Why should he react like that?

F. Jesus responded this way because in that moment Jesus realized

1. Who was really speaking

G. The message came back to him with cruel force the temptations which he had faced in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry

H. here Jesus had been tempted to

1. Give them bread, and they will follow you

2. Give them material things, and they will follow you

3. Give them sensations and they will follow you

4. Give them wonders and they will follow you

5. Compromise with the world and they will follow you

6. Reduce your standards, and they will follow you

7. It was precisely the same temptations of Satan

I. How many of these has the church of God succumbed too

“And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13)

a) Here it was

b) Peter was confronting Jesus with that way of escape from the Cross

(1) If a “new” direction is a way of avoiding the cross in your life consider the source….

c) Peter was unknowingly reiterating and confronting Jesus

(1) This time form a loved one and friend

(2) The hardest temptation of all is the one which seems to come from protecting love

d) God the Father loves us the most and has chosen our path

(1) The crosses in our life are not meant to not to make life easy

(2) the crosses are to make life great

2. | Ask the congregation what it says verse 23 last part |

How do you know if a loved one or friend is tempting you away from the cross, what does the last third of vs 23

a) Not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

b) Rebuke them in love

(1) With kindness, humility, Patience and care for them more then yourself

c) Tell them to quit trying to lead God

d) And follow God instead

III. The requirements (16:24-26) Jesus lists the conditions for true discipleship

A. How quickly has the “rock”

B. The rock became a …what in …………verse 23 …..

“Get behind Me, Satan! …………..You are a stumbling block to Me

1. Peter the rock Turned into an instrument of the devil

2. Do not be hard on Peter

3. How many times do we as a “rock” turn into a stumbling object …

a) Where we are remain placed is what determines which we are

b) Adam by Eve, Job by his wife, and here Christ by his beloved Peter

C. Turning the rebuke of one into a warning to all

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

D. Jesus began to open their eyes to the fact there was no way but the way of the Cross

1. These are things which Jesus said to men again and again (Matthew 10:37-39; Mark 8:34-37; Luke 9:23-27; Luke 14:25-27; Luke 17:33; John 12:25)

a) We must come after Jesus

b) We must to obey Jesus Christ

c) We follow we do not lead

2. Deny our self

a) We use it to mean giving up something

b) To deny oneself means in every moment of life to say no to self and yes to God

c) To deny oneself means once, finally and for all to dethrone self and to enthrone God

d) To deny oneself means to obliterate self as the dominant principle of life, and to make God the ruling principle, more, the ruling passion, of life

e) If you hear an objection with an I in it think about your objection before you raise it

E. OUR cross is also the way for us

1. A life of sacrificial service

2. To take up the cross means to identify with Christ in His rejection, shame, suffering, and death

3. It might be a place where the reward will be small and the prestige non-existent

4. We will certainly have to sacrifice time and leisure and pleasure in order to serve God through the service of others

“Let him take up his cross daily.”

5. A life lived in the constant daily awareness of the works of what God is doing and the and when god is meeting those needs of others

a) I only do those things I see my Father doing

John 5:19

19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

F. Saving of life?