Let us turn again to God's Word
in that portion that we read in Matthew 16 the passage that
we were considering this morning I read then from verse 13 here
in Matthew 16 read from verse 13 through to verse 23 where
we have the Lord Jesus coming into the coast of Caesarea Philippi
and asking his disciples concerning the things that men were saying
with regards to himself. And then he goes on and asks,
ìWhom say ye that I am?î And this morning we considered Peterís
response, Peterís reply. We consider the confession of
faith that Peter makes, particularly there in verse 16. Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Well, tonight I want us to turn
to what follows and consider for our text of verses 21, 22
and 23 in Matthew 16 verses 21 to 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, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said
unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offence
unto me. For thou savest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. And what we have here
really is the offence that Peter causes. How Peter offends the
Lord as Christ says in verse 23, Thou art an offence unto
men. The contrast between what the
Lord had said previously in blessing, in verse 17, Blessed art thou
Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood, I have not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. He was blessed
in his great confession of faith but now he is addressed as the
instrument of Satan and an offense onto the Lord Jesus Christ. Now before we come to this portion
then and the contrast let me just remind you of something
of what we were saying earlier for those who were not present
on that occasion We spoke of how really the text forms a double
text. We not only have the confession
here at Caesarea Philippi, but we also have that passage at
the end of John chapter 6, where again it is Peter who says, Lord
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art at Christ
the Son of the Living God Peter makes a double confession here
in in Matthew 16 also there in John chapter 6 and how Peter
was blessed oh we have the blessing of Peter blessed art thou says
the Lord without contradiction The Apostle
Paul tells us how the less is blessed of the better. Oh, it
is the Lord who blesses. The Lord says to Abraham back
in the Old Testament, Genesis 22, in blessing, I will bless
thee. And is not this man, Simon Peter,
a true child of Abraham? Not only naturally is he One
descended from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and down through
the generations he is a Jew. But he is not only a natural
descendant of Abraham, he is part of Abraham's spiritual seed
as he makes his great confession. For God said, Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and caused us to approach unto thee. The psalmist is there acknowledging
all the goodness of God in blessing those who are brought to approach
to him and to acknowledge him. How Peter is blessed and he is
blessed in this that he is granted such a revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. And why is he blessed? Because
of what follows. This is not any natural thing,
this is the evidence of the work of God in the soul of the man.
My Father which is in heaven, he says, hath revealed it unto
thee. Oh, he was favoured with that
revelation. the fulfillment of the promise
of the New Testament that they shall be all taught of God. Every
man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh
unto me, says the Lord Jesus. He knew that revelation from
the Father, he knew that ministry of the Holy Spirit. Christ had said that the Spirit
is the one who glorifies Him, who takes of the things of Christ
and shows them unto sinners. The Lord Himself says, I will
love him and will manifest myself to him. Oh, it's a manifested
religion, it's a revealed religion that this man has been blessed
with. And so we observe the blessing
of Peter this morning and the revelation of Christ it is granted
to him and thou in all of this we see him as one who is soundly
converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what does the Lord say? Verse 18, I say unto thee that
thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. When he was first
brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew, there in John chapter
1, the Lord says, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas. Thou shalt
be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. So, he is that, he is a stone,
that stone that is built upon that foundation which is laid,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. built upon, built into this great
confession that he has made. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. Well, these are some of those
things that we sought to say this morning concerning this
man. We spoke of the theology of the man and the wonder of
what we have in this confession. It's a great confession of faith.
Thou art the Christ. the Son of the Living God. How
John tells us there in that first general epistle in chapter 5. This is the victory that overcometh
the world even our faith. You is he that overcometh the
world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. And this is the faith of Peter.
He believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. He is the
Christ, the Promised One, the Messiah. But turning from those
things that we were looking at this morning and coming now to
what follows, strange words really that follow. Here in verse 23,
when the Lord turns again and addresses Peter, Get thee behind
me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me, for thou savest not
the things that be of God, but those that be of men." What are
the things that are being spoken of here? Thou savest not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men. It was the cross. It was the cross that so offended
Peter. There in verse 21 and 22 we read,
from that time forth, from the time when Peter has made his
confession, acknowledging the person of the Lord Jesus, from
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples 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. It's interesting how we have
previously that acknowledgement from Peter concerning the person
the person of Jesus of Nazareth that he is the Messiah, that
he is the son of God and then the Lord immediately begins to
speak of his work Now these two things come together,
the person of Christ and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our salvation of course is
here, in the person of Christ, in the work of Christ. We cannot separate these two.
We make much of the work. But let us never lose sight of
the person who accomplished that great salvation. And here we have in what the Lord is saying to Peter the must of divine necessity. He must go on to Jerusalem, he
says. He must go on to Jerusalem. This was the very purpose of
His coming into the world, that He might there, outside the walls
of Jerusalem, make that great sacrifice for sins once and for
all. Remember how on another occasion
in John 12 and verse 27, we read these words, Christ says, Now
is my soul troubled? And what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. All for this cause, that great
cause of redemption, the Lord Jesus must come to this hour. When the hour had come that he
should be received up we are told how he steadfastly set his
face to go to Jerusalem. He speaks here then so plainly
of the cross and that death that he must die, he must be killed
and raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee, Lord, these shall
not be done unto thee." It is the cross, it is the cross that
is so offensive to Simon Peter. What do we learn concerning the
cross of the Lord Jesus? Well, there is certainly shame
associated with that cross. These men who reject him, who will demand from
Pilate that he crucify him. They were the leaders of the
Jews. He must go on to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. These were the very leaders of
the Jews. They sat in the seat of Moses. Remember how the Lord speaks
of them in chapter 23. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. But the Lord, you see, tells
the people that they are sitting in the seat of Moses. The very men, you see, who will
pour scorn upon the Lord Jesus, who will reject Him, who are
bent upon His destruction. Many a time they would have stoned
him to death. But of course they could not
lay a finger upon him. His hour was not yet come. When
his hour was come, no man could take his life from him. As he
says there in John chapter 10, I have power to lay it down,
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. All but what What a shameful death, he must
die. He hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, says Paul, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. It was the most cruel form of
execution that the Romans had devised. And this was the very
way in which the Lord of Glory must suffer and bleed and die
in making that great sin atoning sacrifice. There is a shame.
There is a shame to the cross. And of course, the shame is not
that it's such a dreadful way of execution and would be associated
with the very worst form of criminal in the Roman world. But in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ there is also the idea of sin. Here the mention of death reminds
us of sin. He must be killed. This is what He is telling His
disciples. His life is going to come to an end. It's going
to happen at Jerusalem and the Jewish authorities will have
a hand in it but there is no escaping the fact that He will
be killed. And what does death remind us
of? Death reminds us of sin. That is so plain from what we
read in Holy Scripture. We have the account there at
the beginning of our Bibles in Genesis chapter 3. We have the
record, the historic record of our first parents, how they transgressed
the commandment of God and the consequence of their disobedience. God had said quite plainly to
Adam in the day that they'll eat us thereof concerning that
forbidden fruit. the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die or the devil might come and contradict
the word of God as he does through the serpent to eat thou shalt
not surely die the foolishness of man who embraces that lie
the lie of the devil and rejects the truth of God But we see quite
clearly here in Holy Scripture that death is the reminder of
sin. The soul that sinneth it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. And how the disciples of the
Lord Jesus quite evidently equate sufferings with sin. in John chapter 9 where we read
of that man who was born blind. And what do the disciples say
to the Lord? They come with that question.
Who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?
They are equating the sufferings of people with sin. This is the way in which men
think. Certainly the way in which the
Jews would think. And here we have the Lord speaking
of himself as one who is going to die. He's going to suffer. How could Christ die? Peter had made this remarkable
confession. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. How can Christ, whom they are
looking to as the promised Messiah, whom they see as the Holy One
of Israel, and they have been with Him now for many months,
even a number of years, hearing His ministry, witnessing the
manner of His living, Or they knew that this man was holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens. How could Christ die? How is
it possible that this one could be killed? Well, we know the
answer, of course, that that death that he died was in fact
a substitutionary death. Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, says Peter, the just for the unjust to bring us to
God. That's why he died. He died to
atone for sins not his own. Paul says the same as Peter,
that God hath made him that is the Lord Jesus, God has made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him when God sends Him into the world.
This is the mission that He is to accomplish. We read of God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin and
thereby condemning sin in the flesh. This is why he must die,
but Peter doesn't understand any of that at this juncture.
This is so great an offense to Simon Peter, because the dying
of the Christ would seem such an impossibility. It is such
a solemn reminder of the awful truth of sins. There's an offence here, there's
an offence in the cross. But there in the cross also,
of course, we see the offence of sacrifice. The sacrifice of
the cross. How really this was so hard for
Peter to grasp. How could he, who gives life,
die? Remember what he says in that
parallel confession at the end of John chapter 6. Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. All this man has the words of
eternal life. This is a man who can declare
himself I am the resurrection and the life. either believeth
in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die or believeth so this how
can this man who is the Christ of God die? now the Lord does speak of his
resurrection but Peter doesn't seem to grasp
that truth at all There in verse 21, 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. But the disciples don't understand
that. They don't understand the real
nature of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what
the Lord says to Pilate in that trial that he has to endure before
the Roman governor, that mockery of a trial. He says my kingdom
is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world
then would my servants fight? They don't really understand
the true nature, the spiritual nature of the kingdom of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the language that we find
in another Gospel, those words that we have in Luke chapter
17. There in Luke chapter 17 and verses
20 and 21, When he was demanded of the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Or the margin
says, The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show. Neither shall they say, Lo here,
or lo there. For behold, the kingdom of God
is within you. Or the kingdom of God is within
you. It is that reign of Christ that God establishes in the heart
of the sinner. That's a wondrous thing, is it
not? Or if we are sinners, we know something of ourselves.
We know that in us that is in our flesh there dwelleth no good
thing. And we need to know that inward kingdom. We need to know
the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is able to subdue every
iniquity. The Lord Jesus Christ who is
able to establish in our poor souls that blessed reign of grace
and to deliver us from all our unbelieving doubts and fears.
It is a spiritual kingdom. It's an inward kingdom. And see
how the Lord continues here in this chapter. verse 26 he says,
What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Or real religion concerns a man's
never dying soul. It's not a kingdom of this world,
it's a spiritual kingdom and the disciples don't understand
that. They don't understand the true
significance of what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to accomplish
when he dies there upon the cross at Calvary. They don't understand everything.
They are those who like any child of God have to grow in grace.
and that growth in grace is growing in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. So there are those things here
that clearly are an offense to Peter. And it is this doctrine,
it's the doctrine of the cross of the Lord Jesus. But then,
coming to the words of verse 23, we see how that Peter offended
the Lord Jesus. How Peter offended the Lord Jesus. Get thee behind me, Satan, thou
art an offence unto me. For thou savest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. Again, mark the contrast
here. Mark the change. What the Lord
had said just shortly beforehand in verse 17. Blessed art thou
Simon bar Jonah and now get thee behind me Satan thou art an offense
unto me. Well what changes? What changes? We remarked this morning that
not long previously in chapter 14 where the Lord is walking
on the waters to his disciples out in the boat and Peter so
bold so impulsive he's out of the boat and Peter is walking
on the waters and then his eyes are taken off Christ and
he becomes so aware of the of the winds and the waves and he
begins to sink and he cries out Lord save me and the Lord saves
him immediately and they are in the boat but then the Lord
rebukes him O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt
what a man is this Peter one minute you see the Lord rebuking
him because of his doubts and his fears pointing out to him
that his faith is so little and yet so shortly after that
in chapter 14 here in chapter 16 the Lord pronouncing him to
be such a blessed man because he made such a bold beautiful
confession of his faith and now the Lord rebuking him again oh
what changes and you know This is the lot of God's people. What
do we read in Psalm 55 and verse 19? We read of those who have
no changes. Because they have no changes, the psalmist says,
therefore they fear not God. We will have changes. We will
have changes. In the world you shall have tribulation.
We were considering it only last Thursday. The words of the Lord
Jesus there at the end of John 16. We must, says the apostle. echoing Christ's own words, we
must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God. We will know changes. Our life
will be a scene of mercies and mishaps. I don't know if you've
ever taken up that little book of Ralph Erskine's, his Gospel
Sonnets. I love that section, where he
speaks of the believer's life as a riddle. it's a life of changes
and that was the case with Peter so we're not to be surprised if we're blessed one moment we
need to be very much aware that we might be puffed up with pride and then what will happen We
will have a sad fall. And one wonders, was this the
case with Peter? Was this the case with Peter?
What a changeable life. Think of those lines of John
Berridge, brisk and dull in half an hour, hot and cold, and sweet
and sour. That's the child of God. But
how Peter here, as he is rebuked by the Lord, is told quite clearly,
quite plainly, thou art an offence unto me. Why is this? Where is
the offence? Because what Peter is saying
is contrary to the great purpose of God. How the Lord has said quite strongly
He is showing unto his disciples this solemn truth how that he
must, he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer and be killed and
rise again the third day. He was ever conscious, you see,
that he had a work to accomplish. I must work the works of him
that sent me, he says. while it is day. The night cometh
when no man can work. All my meat is to do the will
of Him that sent me and to finish His work. He will finish that
work. And how will He finish that work? He will finish that
work at Calvary as He prays to the Father there in that 17th
chapter of John I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished
the work that thou gavest me to do." Order the work to finish. And Christ must be obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. That's all part and parcel
of the work. He is born to make that great
sin atoning sacrifice. But how this address of the Lord must
have grieved Peter, get thee behind me Satan. He is the instrument of the devil
here. This is a provocation of Satan himself, that great enemy
of Christ, that great enemy of the people of Christ. How he
hates Christ, how he hates Christians, All the Lord could say the Prince
of this world cometh and that's nothing in me. Nothing really
that he is able to take advantage of because of his impeccability. He is that one who could never
sin. He was tempted. Tempted in all
points like as we are, yet without sin. He could never sin. All that human nature. that holy
thing conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost
that human nature, that body, that soul the Prince of this
world cometh and hath nothing in me and yet all Satan will
loose everything all the weapons of his artillery upon the Lord
Jesus This is how the Lord must suffer. He says there in Luke
22 this is your hour and the power of darkness as he comes
to make that great sin atoning sacrifice. What an adversary
is Satan you see. Now when he comes to the Lord
in the temptations he will Even there seek to deflect the Lord
Jesus from that work that the Father had given Him to do. To
demonstrate in some other way the truth of who He is, the Son
of God. If thou be the Son of God, do
this, do that, do the other. But no, the Son of God must go
that way of the cross. That what had been covenanted
from all eternity. where he in that covenant stands
forward as the servant of God who will do all the will of his
Heavenly Father even there in the agonies of Gethsemane if
it be possible he says let this cup pass from me nevertheless
not as I will but as thou wilt but when he addresses Peter get
thee behind me Satan or remember that other occasion in Luke 22
when the Lord speaks again to him Simon, Simon behold Satan
hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but
I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not he tells Simon
Peter you see the devil has desired all of them, Satan has desired
to have you that he might sift you, that is a plural pronoun,
that's all the disciples of the Lord but I have prayed for thee,
that's a singular pronoun that thy faith fail not or Peter was
in grievous danger And do you remember how he did deny the
Lord three times? What does the Apostle Paul say?
Satan should get an advantage over us for we are not ignorant
of his devices. Oh, are we those friends? There
are precious remedies to Satan's devices. That lovely little book
by the Puritan Thomas Brooks. Precious remedies against Satan's
devices. He is such a cunning crafty foe. And he is active here you see,
even in the language of Simon Peter. Be it far from thee, Lord,
that shall not be unto thee, he says. Rebuking the Lord. And Peter learns the lesson.
Isn't it Peter who gives us that exhortation there at the end
of his first epistle? Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. Whom resists? Steadfast in the
faith. Peter learns the lesson. Without the Lord he is rebuking
him. He will frustrate the purpose of God. He is really here speaking
as an agent of Satan. And He is One who only wants
to please men. Thou savest not the things that
be of God, but those that be of men. Nothing pleasant about the cross. And we have to learn that lesson
that as Christ suffered, so too must His disciples suffer. That's hard. That's hard to the
flesh. The Lord understood that. So
He continues, verse 24, Then said Jesus unto His disciples,
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake
shall find it. There's a cost to being a disciple. There's a denying of self. there's
a taking up of the cross, there's not conforming to the ways of
the world. Or if we have faith, we'll find
that what goes hand in hand with that saving faith is the trial
of the faith. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, says Paul, not only to believe on Him, but
also to suffer for His sake. or what fellowship? What fellowship
could there be between a suffering Christ, a broken-hearted Savior,
and a hard-hearted sinner? No fellowship there. We must
know what it is to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death. We must take up our cross
and all that that involves to be crucified. I am crucified
with Christ as the Apostle yet I live yet not I but Christ liveth
in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me the
crucified life, the mortifying of all the deeds of the body
that we may live. How the Lord you see is yes rebuking
Peter thou the Lord loves Peter whom the Lord loveth he rebuketh
he chasteneth every son whom he receiveth all the Lord is
in it and Peter is receiving instruction from his Lord one
moment the Lord pronounces him a blessed man blessed art thou Simon bar Jonah, Simon son of
Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven. And yet even here when the Lord,
later, so soon after that, turns and speaks to him, Yet thee behind
me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me, for thou savest not
the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Oh, friends,
that we might be those who are ready even to receive the reprovings,
the rebukings of the Lord. What are we told concerning His
Word? It is profitable. It is profitable
for doctrine, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness. is profitable for reproofs, for
rebukes or that we might be those who as we come unto the word
of God simply want that the Lord should deal with us as He sees
our needs and speak to us and speak to us for our eternal profit
our eternal well-being or the Lord then be pleased to instruct
us even from this passage but I want to close on that positive
note, that remarkable confession of the faith of Simon Peter and
all that we might be able to utter those words with him and to say that Jesus Christ
is Lord Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ
the Son of the Living God Amen.