Sorry, that's why we're here. Turn to Matthew 16. I do want
to express my gratitude for the hospitality. The motel room over
there is just great. It's a great room. The food you
ladies fixed. If it weren't for you, I'd be
30 pounds lighter. It's good, but I'm good with
that. I'm good with that. I appreciate it. Thank you. I
think, as your pastor said, we haven't known each other very
long, but I tell you this, I know a preacher when I hear him. I
know a preacher of the gospel when I hear one, and God's given
you one. And I know you're thankful for him and his family. The title of the message is Christ
Must Suffer, Die, and Rise Again. Let me read verse 21 through
23. From that time forth, began Jesus to show unto his
disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many
things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed
and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and
began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, pity
thyself, his wife saying. This shall not be unto thee.
But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou
art an offense unto me. For thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those things that be of men. It is evident the disciples did
not know the full work of the Messiah. It's evident by this
situation going on here. All babes in Christ, there was
much growing to be done. However, they did believe, and
this is important here, they did believe the one thing essential
to salvation, and it's this. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. This is what the eunuch said
in answer to Philip in Acts 8, 37. He asked about being baptized,
and Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe,
and I believe with all my heart, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Now you can be taught. Now you
can be taught. Now you can learn something.
You're not teachable until you believe with all your heart that
Jesus Christ, that He is the Christ, that He is the Son of
God. That's when we become teachable because that's evidence that
God has done something for us. That's evidence that God has
done a work of grace in us, that he's given us a new heart. And
that's the only heart that can be taught. You can't teach that
old heart. You can't teach that. But this, this is the first step. I believe thou art of Christ.
After our Lord asked his disciples over earlier in this chapter,
he said, whom do men say that I the son of man am? And they
said, well, some say you're Jeremiah, some a prophet. It's evident
that men are confused. People are confused, and they
still are. They're still confused. And he said, Peter, and he said
to them, who do you say I am? He said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And after that, after that statement,
he begins to reveal to them more fully the work of redemption. what's about to happen. Now what
we have here is a revelation. Then we have Peter's response
to the revelation. Then we have the Lord's response
to Peter. Now here's a revelation that he gives them. He said that
he must, he must go to Jerusalem. Here is a predestinated must. All that our Lord must do in
order to save sinners was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. It was already taken care of. When Adam fell and the Lord
came walking in the garden in the cool of the day, Adam heard
the voice of God walking in the cool... Doesn't that sound so
peaceful? That just sounds like it's just a... It sounds like
he's just strolling through the garden in the cool of the day.
No lightning, no thunder, not what happened at Mount Sinai. Why? It's because Jesus Christ
was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. This
matter's already taken care of. This matter's already taken care
of. Salvation was not plan B. It's always been plan A. One
time in the study, my pastor Henry, Someone asked him this
over a situation that was going on, and they said, what's plan
B? He said, I don't have plan B. And I heard that and I thought,
that was a little strange, no plan B, no backup plan. I learned later that plan B is
a plan for failure. Faith, now listen, faith doesn't
have a plan B. I'll tell you what faith does,
the next thing. Faith just does the next thing.
And I learned that. I learned that when you look
to Christ and you trust in Christ, it's always plan A. But with
God, it's always being plan A. It's never been changed. God has not changed anything
since, well, before creation. Before creation, not one thing's
changed. That's very comforting to hear.
when you live in a world of change. You live in a body of change,
and we go through changes. He never changes. Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's stability. I like stability. I do. Now, why must he go through,
or go to Jerusalem? Well, he must go to Jerusalem
to fulfill the scriptures. You know, everything our Lord
did was in fulfilling of the Scriptures. He must fulfill the
Scriptures. All the Scriptures are written
about Him. It's not written for our entertainment.
It's not written for us to learn what went on in history. It's
learned of Him. And He must fulfill the Scriptures. And then, He had to go there
because it's the place appointed for the sacrifice. God appointed
that place where the sacrifice, the Passover, was offered and
atonement made. And the high priest must go there
and offer the sacrifice. He's the high priest and he's
the sacrifice. He's the high priest and he's
the Passover. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed
for us. Now when the Lord made this known
to His disciples, it greatly distressed them. They were expecting
Him to establish the kingdom right then and there. They were
ready, but they didn't realize what needed to be done yet. They
were expecting Him to do at that time what He's gonna do when
He comes a second time. What they didn't realize also
was that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. The kingdom
of men is gonna be done away with. This is all gonna be done
away with. But there's a kingdom that's
an everlasting kingdom. And that's the kingdom he established.
That's the kingdom he established. And I believe this, their misunderstanding
came from bad teachers. Bad teachers, I thought about
this, I thought, they had some bad teachers. If their teachers
had been correct, the disciples would have known better. They
would have known better. They had some bad teachers, no
doubt. It's very important who we listen
to. It's very important that we take
heed to what we hear. The scripture says, take heed
to what you hear. For what measure you meet it with, it shall be
measured to you again. It's very important. Now by this
revelation, Christ shows his foreknowledge. He knew exactly
what was about to happen. Nothing took him by surprise.
You know, you and I are on a need-to-know basis. We're pretty much on a
need-to-know basis. He knew everything. He knew exactly
what was going to happen. He knew his work. He was telling
them exactly what's about to take place. He knew His work. He was obedient to His work.
He was a willing servant. He's willing to die for a bunch
of wretched people like you and me. God. God. God came into this world
willing, willing to go to the cross and sacrifice Himself for
us. God not only provided the lamb,
but God is the lamb. He is the lamb. Look over in
Acts, let me see, Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, in verse
28, listen to this scripture. Acts 20, 28. Paul says, take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." Who purchased
the church? God did. How did he do it? With his own blood. And our Lord was willing to finish
his work In the light of the cost of our redemption Now he has a here is a we have
here a person a particular person revealed he says he he didn't
say we He didn't say we must go to Jerusalem. The sheep are
gonna be scattered He must go to Jerusalem He's
not he's not talking about someone else. He's talking about himself.
This is God in the flesh and He must go to Jerusalem. The
work of redemption is His work and no one else's. It's no one
else's work. No one else is going to have
a hand in this. He is going to tread the winepress
of God's wrath alone. If we put a finger to it, we
mess it up. We mess it up. He's got to do
this alone. He must do it. The Father spoke from heaven.
He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This
is the one. This is the Redeemer. This is
the one who must go to Jerusalem. This is the one who must go there.
And he's going to do three things. He's going to go there and he's
going to do three things. First of all, he's going to suffer.
Suffer. Our sins deserve suffering. Punishment. Punishment. The law requires suffering for
sin and not just a quick death. He cannot go to Jerusalem and
just be put to death quickly. You know, we try to put, when
we have capital punishment, we try to do it humanely. We try
to do it in a very humane way, just make it quick and over.
He couldn't do that because he's dying for sin. And he's dying
for the sin of his elect. And their sin deserves suffering. Suffering. Why suffering? Well, first of all, to fulfill
the scriptures. The scripture says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. He was tormented. He was wounded for our transgression
and bruised for our inequities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. You'd be surprised how many people
don't understand. Even Siri can't even understand. Do I need to get plainer? That's all right. Let me tell
you something, okay? I was preaching for Paul Mahan, and I was trying
to use my GPS on the way to the church, and I forgot to turn
it off. First time I've ever done it, because I usually never
take it. I'm preaching, and my brother calls me when I'm standing
right there in a pulpit, and I cover that thing. I said, I
can't believe this. I said, I'll never jump on anybody again.
The phone goes off, because mine did it. But anyway. I understand. But there's a good
time to turn them off. Anyway, let's get back here.
Why suffering? To fulfill the scriptures and
because God is holy. God is holy. And God must punish
sin. You know it's only right God
punishing sin is not God getting even. It's just God doing right. You know when God glorifies himself,
it's God doing right. Such a person ought to be glorified.
Now if I did it, it'd be an ego trip and it'd be wrong. But for
God to glorify such perfection is right. It's only right. It
would be wrong for him not to do it. It would be wrong for
him not to do it. He must glorify Him, and He must
punish sin. He must do right. He must do
right. Therefore, He must punish sin.
He's got to satisfy His law. I know men don't, this world,
this human race, they don't think much of God's law, but He does.
He sure does. It says in 1 Peter 3, 18, For Christ
also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. Why? that he might bring us to
God. That's what's going on. He's
bringing us to God. He's not just trying to save
sinners. He's saving sinners and bringing them to God, spotless,
blameless, blameless. And it says he must suffer many
things. We have many sins. We have many sins and they all
must be dealt with. But he must suffer many things
in order to secure our salvation. He's got to go to Jerusalem.
The high priest has got to go to Jerusalem. The sacrifice has
got to be offered, and it's got to be offered not to me and you. It's got to be offered to God.
It's the Lord's Passover. It's the Lord's Passover. It
degenerated over time and became the Jewish Passover. But now
listen, Christ is the Lord's Passover. He's the Lord's Passover. And it says he must suffer many
things of the elders. This shows here one of the things,
how bad things had gotten. How much it had degenerated. He's got to suffer many things
of the elders, that's the establishment. Then he's got to suffer many
things of the chief priests, that's the religious leaders.
And then the scribes, that's the scholars. All of these made
up the great Sanhedrin court. And they all turned thumbs down
on him. Established religion turned thumbs down on him. And they do today. It hasn't
changed. It hasn't changed. You take the
majority of religion, turns thumb down on the Jesus Christ of this
book. Now Paul said they'll come preaching
another Jesus. They don't turn thumbs down on
him because they can mold him. They can mold him just however
they want to mold him. But the sovereign Christ of this
book, majority of religion turns thumb,
there's only one true religion, it's of God. And it's all of
grace. And it's all of grace. And it's
all of Christ. And it's all about Jesus Christ.
The rest of them have turned thumbs down on him. He must suffer
many things of the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
but I tell you what he, but the greatest sufferings, his greatest
sufferings came at the hands of God. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? I'm looking at why. I'm looking
at why. I cannot express such love. I can't dive that deep. I can't comprehend that in this
mind of mine. But he suffered at the hands
of God. He suffered the hell you and
I who believe would have suffered. That's just astounding. But not only must he suffer,
he must be killed. He must be killed. Put to death
in the flesh. Just as a sacrifice didn't die
of itself, Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ, he must be put
to death. He must be offered up to God
as a sacrifice for his people. He must taste death for everyone
whom he represented. You know that everyone here that
believes, you will not taste death. You're gonna taste dying. His body dying. My body's dying. I'm not dying.
But this body's dying. Every time I look in the mirror,
I see it headed to the ground. It's dying. But I'm not gonna taste death. I'm not gonna die. I'm gonna
go be with the Lord as soon as these eyes shut. With the Lord. It can lay this
old house in the ground. And the sooner the better. He must be killed, he must be
sacrificed, he must taste death for everyone he represented.
Salvation from sin and salvation from the curse of the law cannot
come any other way. It cannot be any other way. Father,
if it be possible, Let this cup pass from me. Did it? No. If it were possible, it would
have. It's not possible. God, listen. God cannot just
forgive me. He cannot just forgive me because
I ask him to forgive me. There's got to be satisfaction
made for the sins I'm asking forgiveness for. And I want you
to get, this has given me real comfort here. Maybe it'll give
to you. When I ask God for forgiveness
of my sins, I know and I understand, by the grace of God, I know this,
that the sins that I ask forgiveness for, the blood of Christ answers
for. His blood answers for the very
sins I ask forgiveness for. And on that basis, God can forgive
me. He can forgive me my sins. Because
there's the punishment. There's the blood. All that's
needed for God to forgive me is in Christ. It's in Christ. But now here's the good news.
Here's the good news. It keeps getting better. And
rise again the third day. Yes, he must suffer. Yes, he
must be killed. But thank God. Thank God he must
rise again the third day. Listen in Romans 4.25. Who was
delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. He was delivered over to death
for our offenses. God raised him again for our
justification. We are justified in Jesus Christ. Cleared of all charges. Not one
charge against his people. Not one. If the Lord Jesus Christ
is not risen, we are yet in our sins, there's no salvation, and
we are not justified. But thank God he's risen. He's
risen. Let me read something to you
over here if you want to turn to Revelation chapter 5. He's risen, I said, we, listen,
we have a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ. A dead, a dead,
someone said this once, a dead Christ can't save anyone. But
the living Lord can. He can. If he stays dead, nobody's
saved. But over here in Revelation chapter
five, let me get there. Listen to verse six. And I beheld,
and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in
the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, but there's a lamb. It's not laying there dead. It's not laying there dead. He's
standing there in his sacrificial character, and he's alive. It's
the living sacrifice that saves us. He died for our sins to satisfy
God's law, but he lives. The lamb of God lives. And he
stands there before the throne and says, as it had been slain. Had Peter been listening, he
would have heard the good news. He would have heard the good
news. He would not have taken the Lord aside and rebuked him. Can you believe that? He rebuked
the God of heaven and earth. What our Lord said was a complete
shock to his way of thinking. Death meant failure. Ours, yes. His, no. His meant success. You know, when he talked to Elijah
and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration, you know what they talked about?
The death he should accomplish. It was an accomplishment. Death
for the Lord Jesus Christ was an accomplishment. He accomplished
our salvation. He accomplished our redemption.
He accomplished satisfaction. He accomplished everything God
sent him to accomplish. I have finished the work that
you gave me to do. But our Lord, our Lord turned
to Peter and he said, and this is scary, He said, get thee behind me,
Satan. Sharpest rebuke he's ever given any of his children. Get thee behind me, Satan. You
are an adversary. Adversary, that's what he is.
He said that way of thinking, that way of talking, he's saying
you, Peter, basically saying you don't know
what spirit you're of. I've heard people say, if I'd
been there, I would've stopped it. Well, that's just what Peter
tried to do. And the Lord said, that's satanic.
That's satanic. I'm glad that the Lord Jesus
Christ died for me on Calvary's tree, and I'd go to hell, and
you would too. Nobody would be saved. Nobody would be saved. That's exactly what Satan would
have wanted us to do, wanted Peter to do. Stop him! Pity thyself! He turned and he said, Peter,
get behind me. Or, get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art, listen, thou art an offense unto me. Thou savest
not the things of God. He's saying, this is of God.
This is of God. This is not of men. We didn't get together. We didn't
go into the council halls of eternity and help him make this
up. There was no committee called.
This is of God. This is of God before creation. This is the purpose of creation.
All things were created by him and for him. The fall wasn't
an accident. It was in the purpose of God. The death of Jesus Christ is
not a tragedy. He said to some of those people
that were weeping, he said, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves. Weep for yourselves. I'm rising
again. I'm rising again. He's confident of this. I'm gonna
go to the cross, I'm gonna suffer many things. His vision was marred
more than any man. I'm gonna die, but I'm coming
back. I'm going to come back with the people that are justified. Clear. And I'm going to bring
them home. You know what Judah said about Benjamin?
I'll bring him home. Put it in my hands, I'll bring
him home. Christ is my assurity. You know, one of the greatest
thoughts that I have that gives me comfort is this. that Jesus
Christ is responsible for me. I'm glad I'm not responsible
for me. I messed that up a long time
ago. Long time ago. But my Lord, the God of heaven
and earth, is responsible for me. He's my surety. He's my surety. He paid the debt I couldn't pay.
Now, it's not like Reuben. Reuben said, whenever Reuben
was talking about Benjamin, he said, You send him with me, and
if I don't bring him back, you can kill my two sons." Well,
whoop-dee-doo. It's like, I'll sign the note,
but if you fail, then Paul can pay it. No, but Judah said, if
I don't bring him back, I'll bear the blame forever. If one
person perishes for whom Jesus Christ died for, he has to bear
the blame forever. But that's not gonna happen.
That's just not gonna happen. He cannot fail. How important is, let me close
here. How important is the cross? Well, let me read these to you.
I've got them written down here. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, that's important isn't it? He made peace. He is our peace. By Him to reconcile
all things unto Himself. He has reconciled us through
the cross, through His cross. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And then it says in Colossians
2, 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to His cross. I must go to Jerusalem. in order
for you and I to have peace with God, in order for you and I to
be reconciled to God, he's gotta die. There was a man executed
in my place for me. The love of God and my sins caused
a man to be executed in my place. God's love to me and having to
deal with my sins. A man was executed, the God-man
executed in my place. We rejoice, this is the last,
we rejoice in Christ and Him crucified. This is our salvation. Paul said this, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
we glory in anything else other than that, we're lost. But God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, 2.
For I determine not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. If you and I are going to establish
fellowship, we're going to establish it over Jesus Christ. And we're
not going to have it. It's not going to be established.