Sermon Tone Analysis

*"COMING AFTER JESUS"*

                                                   Matthew 16:21-27

/21 //From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that *he must be killed* and *on the third day be raised to life*.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

“Never, Lord!” he said.

“This shall never happen to you!” /

/23 //Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!

You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the *things of God*, but *the things of men*.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must *deny himself* and *take up his cross* and *follow me*.

25 For whoever wants to *save his life* will lose it, but whoever *loses his life* for me will find it.

26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

/

 

INTRO:

This had to be one of the most trying, difficult and saddest days in Peter's life.

Only a little while before this Peter had declared Jesus

               to be "the Christ, the Son of the living God."

And Jesus said,

       "Peter, you didn't get that from your own thinking

               but you received that truth from above.

And now, here is this moment in Peter's life

       in which Peter goes from God inspired to Satan inspired

 

*Go back with me* for a moment, if you would

       to the beginning moment

               when Peter began to walk with Jesus.

When Peter first came after Jesus:

               Matthew 4:18-19

                      Peter and Andrew are fishing and Jesus came by and said,

                             /"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men."/

Peter and Andrew laid down the things for fishing for fish

                      and picked up the things for fishing for men.

*Peter had spent his life coming after Jesus*.

\\ But on this day it was as if Jesus and Peter

                             were standing at a fork in the road.

Jesus begins to go down one direction of the fork

               and Peter thinks Jesus is going down the wrong road.

Peter stops Jesus and tells him he is traveling down the wrong road.

To Peter these two roads are well marked:

       One was marked with defeat

               and the other was marked with victory.

Peter wanted Jesus to go down the road to "victory."

Victory: becoming the Christ - the Messiah

                             Taking charge - ruling over Jerusalem

                             Kicking the Roman's out.

Jesus the powerful ruler!

But, to Peter,  Jesus was heading down the road of death,

              and to Peter, death meant defeat.

What Peter didn't understand was that

       Jesus never made his decisions based upon what would appear to be best for himself.

Jesus always made his decisions upon what he understood to be the will of God

                *(what was best for God).*

What ever is best for God is always what is best for us,

                                                   although it may not “appear” so at the time.

For Jesus, one road was marked "The things of men"

                                    the other, "The things of God."

 

Jesus looks at Peter and he says,

       /"Out of my sight Satan."/

/               For/ /"You do not have in mind *the things of God*, but *the things of men*."/

*WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?* (v.

21-23)

 

       Lesson: It is possible to confuse the things of men with the things of God.

Lesson: It is possible for any of us at certain points in our life to think that we are speaking the

                      things of God and discover later that we're not.

Peter had good intention; he thought he was helping the Christ make the right decision.

Lesson: We must be careful not to let our emotions rule when discerning the things of God.

Peter never dreamed that Satan was controlling his action.

e.g.

Karen Lusby called to ministry.

\\ What do you have in mind?

Are you seeking the things of God?

               How do we know the things of God?

 

Now Jesus stands at this fork in the road.

And he says,        "Here's what you must do if you are to come after me."

 

                     *Self denial*, *cross bearing*, *follow Christ*.

These are the things of God.

 

*THREE STEPS TO COMING AFTER JESUS*.

/          24 //Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must/

/                       *deny himself* and *take up his cross* and *follow me*/

 

       Get the picture.

Peter pulls Jesus aside and speaks to him quietly.

v.22

                                    Jesus rebuffs Peter.

v.23

                                    Jesus shouts to all of the disciples his requirements for coming after him.

v.24

 

*1.

Deny Ourselves  - saying no to the flesh*

              How do you know if you are living a life of self-denial?

When every time you are making a decision,

                             the question that comes to your mind is not, “*What is best for me?”*

                             but rather, the only question you have is,      “*What is best for God*?”

Some say that Christianity is a don't religion…...don't do this, don't to that.

e.g.

Ten Commandants

 

              There are plenty of don’ts to the Christian life

                     and these don'ts are aimed        at the power of the flesh.

SOME SAY:

       I don't worry about the don'ts anymore because when I got saved, my want to got changed.

*But your flesh will never want to do the things of God*.

*We must learn to say NO*!  Titus 2:11-2

/11 //For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

12 It *teaches *us to say *“No”* to ungodliness and worldly passions, and *to live* self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…/