Matthew chapter 16 is where we're
at this time. And in the last few studies,
we saw Peter, along with the other apostles, thrown for a
loop in our last week's study. Verse 20 of chapter 16, we read,
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man
that he was Jesus Christ. And from that time forth began
Jesus, in verse 21, to show unto his disciples how that he must
go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and
of the chief priests, and of the scribes, and be killed, and
be raised again the third day. Imagine what it must have been
like for these men They've been going along with
our Lord. Our Lord has been showing them all these wonderful miracles. I can't even imagine how wonderful
that miracle of feeding the 5,000 must have been to actually sit
and watch. And be walking around carrying
the baskets, and the baskets just aren't... people are taken
out, but it's not going empty. That's just a mind-boggling miracle
when you think about it in human form. So they've seen our Lord
and Savior do these things, and they, oh, yeah, this has got
to be the, this absolutely has to be the man of God, the Messiah. But throughout all their lives,
up until the point where the Lord had called them, until the
Lord had gone by the very ones that were at the seaside and
said, come, follow me with the power of God. They had been taught
that the Messiah was going to come and set up his own kingdom. They had been taught of the Pharisees,
and of the scribes, and of the religious world. This is the
way it's going to be. It's going to be, we're going
to have this. Our Messiah is going to do this.
He's going to take over. When the people of Jerusalem
of that day, they were all under the impression that, because
they were under the rule of Rome, that this Messiah is going to
come and release us of all that. Who is this man now? I mean,
just a moment ago, he was the son of the living God. And now
you're telling me you're going to die? I don't understand. I can picture that. I can understand that thought. What is this foolishness? This
man of God should die. As the Son of the Living God,
how could He die? Better yet, why would He die?
especially at the hands of these priests. In verse 22, we can see ourselves
in this very circumstance. And can we not think how we might
have responded the same at that same point in our earlier walk
with the Lord? Look at verses 22 and 23 together.
Then Peter took Him, our Lord and Savior, And he began to rebuke
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto
thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Our Lord, turn to
Peter. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me,
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. is about to deal with the pride
of the flesh. Now I'm going to quote from Don
Fortner, where he wrote, we are once again taught that a man
can be a true disciple and yet be a weak disciple also, ignorant
about some things. The issue of great importance
is not what do you know, but who. Folks, you guys know me. You
guys know me well. And you know where I come from.
Some of you have been here longer than I have and have watched
John Reeves come in dressed in his leathers. Not that there was anything wrong
with that. I'm not pointing that out, but that's just the John
Reeves that was there once before. You know what kind of learning
I've had. I know so little about God's
Word. I often ask my Lord, how can
I stand before your people and declare what you've written in
your book? And I keep coming back to this
very same thing that Don Fortner just said. It's not who you know, it's not
what you know in Scripture, John, it's who you know. And I know
the Lord. I know who He is. He's my Savior. He's God Almighty, just as you
know that. Lord, help me to never stand
before people and give any kind of impression that I'm some knowledgeable person
of the Scriptures. But I know how to look into Him
and look for my Lord in Him, because He has taught me the
same way He has taught each and every one of you. It's not the doctrine that saves,
but Christ. Pastor Fortner goes on to write,
he says, I do not suggest for a moment that a person can be
saved trusting a false Christ. But the Scriptures do show us
by numerous examples that people who truly trust Christ are ignorant
of many, many, many, many things. Peter was, without a doubt, born
again and a true believer. You can read about that in Matthew
16, verses 16 through 19, which we just read the other day. And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. He was a man taught of God, as
it says in verse 17. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. Who can read the conversation
between Christ and Peter in the preceding verses and imagine
that Peter was not yet converted? Such an idea is ludicrous. Yet
there are some who, attempting to defend an erroneous system
of doctrine, they dogmatically assert that neither Peter nor
any of the other apostles and disciples of Christ were converted
until after the Lord's resurrection. This faithful and gracious man
behaved very foolishly and ignorantly, yes. Peter actually rebuked the
Lord Jesus and he sought, as Satan did, to hinder him from
doing what he had come to do. This man who was so faithful
in so many, many things became an instrument of Satan in his
time of weakness. Because he had become an instrument
of Satan, the Lord Jesus rebuked His disciple as Satan himself.
He said, He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me, for Thou savest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men." He spoke to Peter as though he
were himself Satan because he had become Satan's instrument.
The Lord said unto Peter, Thou art an offense unto me, a stumbling
block. Peter was looking at things,
judging things, and acting from a purely human point of view.
Carnal in every way. An emotional point of view. His
flesh was in the way. His flesh kept him from seeing
at that time the blessed necessity of our Savior's death. You might
ask, is this Peter? Is this the same man that our
Savior had just declared blessed of God? Yes, He is. He is the
same man. Yet to this man, beloved of God,
chosen, redeemed, and called by grace, to this man so highly
favored and blessed of God, the Lord Jesus spoke as He has never
spoke to any other. Isn't that interesting? Our Lord never said this to any
of His other loved ones. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou
art an offense unto me. Let us lay this to heart, folks.
If the Lord God is pleased to leave us, even momentarily to
ourselves and to our own judgment, we are sure to fall into great
and grievous evil. We are kept by the power of God
and by his power alone. If He removes His restraining
hand, people will come in and take over the very world that
we live in. Perhaps it is for just this reason
that the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record both our Savior's
great love for us and Peter's terrible inexcusable weakness
at the very same time, so that we might see both hand in hand. So great is our need and so great
is the determination of His love for our souls that the Lord Jesus
Christ zealously longed for the hour when His sufferings and
death upon the christened tree, He would accomplish redemption
for us. It is said in Scripture that
He was, as He put it, straightened until it was finished." End of quote. This is why we come to this table.
This table doesn't do anything for us. The crop and the bread
that we eat, that doesn't do anything for us. But it reminds
us of what He has done for us. It's to remind ourselves that
the flesh is weak. I hear you say, my flesh is weak. I am weak. but thou art strong. We give glory to our God for
everything, folks. Everything. I love what you just
prayed, Brother Darrell. God, we look to you for our strength. He is our strength. And when
we recognize that, when we know that, everything about us becomes
Praise to Him for what He has given us and for what He does
for us. Only our Savior could have done
what was needed for redemption. Men of the world will spend eternity
and still will not accomplish the full payment of what their
sin, what the wages of their sin is. This exchange between
Peter and the Master teaches us that there is no doctrine
in the Bible so important as the doctrine of Christ's sin-atoning
death as our substitute. The man who denies the doctrine
of Christ's effectual atonement, who denies the merit and the
efficacy of Christ's death as our substitute, no matter what
else they might say that has truth in it, They do not savor
the things that be of God. Charles Spurgeon wrote this,
he says, in regards to what I just read, he knows not the taste
or the aroma or the essence of spiritual things. And however
much he may honor Jesus in words, he is an enemy, a real Satan
towards the true Christ. The death of Christ, as J.C.
Ryle stated, is the central truth of all Christianity. To deny
it in any way, not just to deny the death, but to deny the power
thereof. To say that Jesus died for some,
for all, and that they have the power to reject it or accept
it is a denial of the efficacy of Christ's death. And right
views of his vicarious death and the benefits resulting of
it lie at the very foundation of Bible religion. If we are
wrong here, folks, then we are ruined forever. Error on many points is only
a skin disease. Error about Christ's death is
a disease of the heart. If a man tries to mix works with
grace, he destroys the doctrine of grace. You cannot have the
two together. And the senatoning death of Christ
the Lord is all of grace. Our Lord did not have to come
to this world and do what He did. He could have just created
everything anew, couldn't He? But He loved us from before the
world began. You see, this is all part of
the plan. And as you and I sit here today and we look at that,
we love that part of the plan, don't we? What a bittersweet thing it is
to think about our Lord and Savior and what He had to go through.
The One who is perfect in every way. You and I can't even imagine
what that's like for sin to be put on Him who knew no sin. But yet that's a wonderful thing
to a sinner. What mercy, what grace our Lord
has for us, doesn't it? So perfect in every way. So cleansing
in every way. Jesus paid it all. All to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
but He washed it white as snow. Whenever we think about the death
of Christ, let us always remember four things about it. Number
one, our Savior's death was accomplished
by His own sovereign will and purpose. In the book of John,
chapter 10, verses 17 and 18, we read, Therefore does my Father
love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down Myself. I have
the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of My Father. He who has all power in heaven
and earth laid down His life for us. How shall He not give
us everything else that there is? Secondly, when we consider the
death of our Lord and Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ died as
the substitute for His elect. He did not die for the world,
folks. We have to be clear about that,
because there are many in the world today who will stand before
people and declare that. He died as a substitute for His
elect, a perfect death. In John chapter 10, it says,
I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His life for
the sheep. To say that the Lord Jesus Christ
laid down His life for the whole world, and that some would go
to hell, is to say that His life meant nothing. His death meant
nothing. It accomplished nothing. In John chapter 10 verse 15,
And as the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and
I laid down my life for my sheep. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 it
says, For He hath made Him, the Father hath made Him, the Son,
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made righteous,
the righteousness of God in Him. When we think of the death of
our Lord and Savior, we must also remember this, that when
He died for us, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree,
being made sin and a curse for us, the Son of God fully satisfied
all demands of divine justice for His chosen
people. Isaiah 53, 10 through 11, we
read, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hands. He shall see the travail of his
soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. and fourthly, let's consider
these four points as we go about the rest of our morning. When we consider the death of
our Savior on the cross, we must consider that it was completely
successful in His, that He was completely successful in His
work of redemption. In Isaiah 42 verse 4 it says,
And he shall not fail, nor be discouraged. In Galatians 3 verse
13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. In Matthew 1 verse 21, And she
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. For he shall
save his people from their sins. Whatever we intended to accomplish,
whatever he intended to accomplish, he accomplished. And he accomplished
it perfectly. Otherwise, you could not call
him God. God does all things right. All that He intended to
redeem, He has redeemed. We say this often, that there
will be no empty seats in heaven. Scripture tells us the people
of God have been made to sit in heavenly places. Not that heavenly places have
been made possible for them to sit in, but they have been made
to sit in heavenly places. I, you, you have been made to sit in
heavenly places in our Lord and Savior. Is there any other place for
you to sit? No. He shall be called Jesus, for
He shall save His people. Amen? you stand with.