Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Challenge of the Cross (Matt 16:21-23)*

* *

#. *The Cross Foretold (v.

21)*

#. *The Significance of the Timing of this Revelation (v.

21a)*

#. *The Startling Truth of This Revelation (v.

21b-d)*

#. *The Cross Forbidden (vv.

22-23)*

#. *How Peter Rebuked the Lord (v.

22)*

#. *How the Lord Rebuked Peter (v. 23)*

\\ *Introduction:*

* I’ve heard that it is proper etiquette that whenever you introduce two people that you should give the name of each person and then tell something about him or her – where the person is from or what he does.

“David, I would like for you to meet Don.

He is from Orlando, Florida.”

Or, “John, this is Shawn.

Shawn is a professor of Church History.”

* In a sense, in Chapter 16 Matthew is introducing us to Jesus Christ in this way.

He has been telling us about Jesus all along, of course, but here he gets to the heart of the introduction.

Who is Jesus?

* Peter had the answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” *(v.

16)*  Jesus himself provides the second part of the introduction.

What does the Christ do?  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 on the third day be raised.

*(v.

21)*

* From the opening verse of Matthew’s gospel to it’s conclusion with the Great Commission, Matthew is concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ – the long promised Messiah, God’s Anointed One – and with working out the implications of this weighty fact.

* Chapter 16 presents a turning point in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life and work.

* *

*Matt 16*  16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 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.

18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock a I will build my church, and the gates of hell b shall not prevail against it.

* *

* In *verse 16*, Peter speaks for all the disciples when he confesses that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

* Jesus’ reply is that such belief in Him is divinely revealed knowledge.

And it is through this powerful, divine, knowledge that Christ will build His church.

* In *verses 21-28*, Jesus begins to show His disciples the implications of this knowledge.

Jesus speaks plainly about what is to come in Jerusalem.

There is both glory and pain in store for Jesus and His followers.

* In *verses 21-23*, Jesus reveals that, despite God’s revelation, the disciples were still slow to comprehend the nature of His mission.

And in *verses 24-28*, Jesus teaches His disciples that to follow Him means to deny your will and to live in radical devotion to Christ.

* This morning we will look at the first half of this passage, examining closely Jesus’ statement of His mission, Peter’s rebuke of Jesus, and Jesus’ counter rebuke of Peter.

* In rebuking Peter, Jesus tells us that human reasoning cannot comprehend God’s purposes.

Like our first confession, our following after Jesus must also be on God’s terms.

* Tonight, we will look at the second half of this passage and consider what it means to follow Christ to Calvary.

*Matt 16*  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 on the third day be raised.

22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! a This shall never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!

You are a hindrance b to me.

For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

 

*1.

**The Cross Foretold (v.

21)*

*a.

The Significance of the Timing of this Revelation (v.

21a)*

 

*Matt 16*  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 on the third day be raised.

·        *“From that time”* seems to be a transition phrase Matthew used to indicate a significant change in Jesus’ ministry.

·        The same phrase is used in *4:17* to mark the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry to Israel.

·        Here it is used to mark the beginning of Jesus’ private ministry to the Twelve.

The first phase of Jesus’ ministry was primarily public, with some occasional private instruction.

The second phase was primarily private, with some occasional public instruction.

·        God had just revealed to the disciples that Jesus is the Messiah.

Now He is ready to reveal the Messiah’s mission.

·        This is God’s practice of progressive revelation.

He doesn’t reveal ALL the plan to everyone ALL at the same time.

·        Christ reveals His mind to His people gradually, and lets in light as they can bear it, and are fit to receive it.

\\ ·        *Application:*

o       */Christian:/* Are you struggling to understand a certain doctrine or do you sometimes get frustrated that other believers sometimes fail to see what you see so clearly?

Trust God to reveal His truth in His time when His people are ready to receive it.

Don’t be impatient with your brothers because God hasn’t yet revealed a certain truth to them.

Jesus, our good teacher, knows they are ready to receive what He wants them to know.

And don’t be proud.

You only know what you do because God showed it to you.

o       */Unbeliever/**:*  You may find what we are talking about this morning to be incomprehensible.

Not that you don’t understand the words that are being spoken, but you just fail to see their significance.

You don’t see how it affects you.

The Bible says that Satan has blinded your eyes so that you are unable to see the gospel of the glory of Christ (*2 Cor 4:4*).

Pray that your eyes may be opened, that God would reveal Himself to you in Christ.

* *

*Matt 16*  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 on the third day be raised.

* Did the disciples understand what Jesus was telling them?

In one sense they didn’t understand it at all, because when Jesus was arrested and killed, his death was a shock to them and they scattered, each to his own home, like the Emmaus disciples (*Luke 24:13-35*).

Not one of them understood the necessity of his death or anticipated his resurrection.

In fact, most of them refused to believe in the resurrection even after they had heard about it.

* On the other hand, the disciples understood Jesus’ words all too well.

Otherwise, why would Peter have tried to dissuade Jesus from this “mistaken” way of thinking?

* Peter had wholeheartedly responded to the truth about the Christ.

The truth about the cross was something else.

Peter could not accept that.

* The man who triumphed gloriously when faced with the deity of Christ, fell flat on his face when faced with the death of Christ.

* Godhead was possible to understand; Golgotha was impossible.

* When Peter rebuked Jesus for declaring that He must be crucified in Jerusalem by the Jewish leaders there, he either forgot or ignored his earlier confession.

Peter had just proclaimed Jesus to be *“the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16)*; yet when Jesus made a statement that did not fit Peter’s idea about the Messiah, the apostle held to his way above the Lord’s and found himself contradicting the Son of God he had just confessed.

* *Application:*  Don’t miss the important lesson here: /It’s possible to exactly right one minute and terribly wrong the next.

/

* One minute Peter is a prophet, a true spokesmen for God.

The next minute he is advancing the agenda of the devil, not realizing that in trying to deflect Jesus from the cross he is actually asking for his own damnation since apart from Jesus’ death neither he, nor any of us, can be saved.

* If we are going to be right in spiritual things, it will only be to the extent we study the Bible and grow in understanding.

* By this time Peter had been a believer for some time, so that the lessons drawn from this passage are therefore for believers.

Not even Christians can know and understand God’s ways except through a proper understanding and submission to His Word and the illumination of His Spirit.

When believers insist on their own way above God’s, then, like Peter, they become an offense and a stumbling block.

* *

*b.

The Startling Truth of This Revelation (v.

21b-c)*

 

* Let’s look more closely at the *startling truth* of what Jesus told His disciples.

* At this time Jesus began to show His disciples some deeper and more difficult truths about His divine plan and work.

*Matt 16*  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 on the third day be raised*.

* It was not that He had said nothing previously about His rejection and crucifixion.

In veiled ways He had spoken of his impeding death.

He told them *“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”