Let's turn together to Matthew chapter 16, and we will look this evening at the last paragraph of that chapter, verses 21 through 28. Now, in this passage of Holy Scripture, there are some deep, mysterious things that deserve much attention and careful study. There are things that are full of spiritual truth and instruction, but they need to be properly understood. So as we look at this passage of scripture, I pray that God, the Holy Spirit, who inspired Matthew to write these things for our learning and our admonition, will give us instruction as only he can. May he be our teacher.

We're gonna look at these verses together, one at a time, and I want to show you seven things in this passage. First, look at verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus to show his disciples how that he must. Now underscore those two words, he must. He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day.

Now in this verse, we see that as a man, as our mediator, as our substitute, as the surety of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah's servant, must go through certain things and must do certain things. There are some things that he must do because he has become our surety and our savior, the mediator of the everlasting covenant. Now certainly, when you think of the Lord Jesus in his divine character, when you think of him as God, for he is God, then these words could never be written of him, he must. They could never be said concerning God, he must do anything, because God is absolutely free and independent of all creatures and all creation. But concerning the God-man, concerning the mediator, concerning Jesus Christ as our surety, as Jehovah's servant, there are some things he must do because he agreed to do them before the world was in the covenant of grace.

You remember our Lord Jesus told his parents, his earthly parents, his physical mother and his adopted father, that he must be about his father's business. When they missed him when he was just 12 years old, They missed him out of the caravan and the Lord had stayed around at Jerusalem to teach folks in the temple when he was just 12 years old. He was giving instruction in the word of God. And they were concerned and they were distraught. They came looking for him and the Lord Jesus said, wish you not that I must be about my father's business.

The reason he came into this world was to do his father's will. He said, lo, I come, and the volume of the book, it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, oh my God. He said, my meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me. He said to his own, Zacchaeus, that chosen sinner to whom he had come in Luke chapter 19, he said, I must abide at thy house. Why? Why must he abide at Zacchaeus' house and not at somebody else's house? Because Zacchaeus was a chosen sinner, one to whom he had come in the appointed time of mercy. And so that speaks of a must with regard to the effectual call of God's grace. There comes a time when every chosen sinner must be called by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn over to John chapter 4. Hold your hands here, Matthew. Let's look at one of these. In John chapter 4, We read again of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse four, and he must needs go through Samaria. Now, if you'll notice in verse three, he left Judea and was going to Galilee. And he would not normally have gone through Samaria. That was not the normal course for a Jew to travel in. It was not the most direct course, but the Lord Jesus said he must needs go through Samaria. And the reason he must needs go through Samaria is that there was an adulterous woman down in Samaria, who at the time when he would come to Jacob's well, there she would come to draw water.

And the Lord Jesus must go there to meet her, because thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, the psalmist said. And the time had come when this woman must be made to know the Savior, and so he goes to meet her. And the same is true now. in divine providence by the sovereign arrangement of God's providence. The Lord Jesus arranges the affairs of the universe to carry the gospel to chosen centers at the appointed time of mercy when they must be made willing in the day of his power.

And in our text, Our Lord Jesus told his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, that he must die, and that he must rise again the third day. He said in another place that he must be numbered with the transgressors. The time had come when the Lord Jesus was now preparing his disciples for his death.

He had come into the world not to be a political messiah. Now, this is a terrible mistake that was made by many. They think that the Lord Jesus came here to be a political earthly monarch, a messiah who would simply be one who establishes an earthly kingdom in Israel. And that's what the Jews looked for and expected. That's what his disciples looked for and expected, right up until the time that he ascended back into heaven after the resurrection. You remember they asked, will thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? But the problem is that folks looked for a political messiah, and our Lord Jesus came to be a spiritual messiah, a deliverer of his people from their sins. And so he begins to prepare his disciples now, these who had forsaken all and followed him.

He says, now, fellas, I'm going to leave you. I'm gonna be taken from you. When he spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit, he said, it's expedient for you that I should go away. And now the Lord Jesus goes to speak to his disciples and says, I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer at Jerusalem. I must be delivered to the hands of the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests, and I'll be killed at Jerusalem. But I'll rise again the third day.

Now, the reason why he must suffer and die is just this. First, God had ordained it, and the prophets had clearly revealed it in all the types of the law, in all the law itself, and in all the words of the prophets, it had been clearly revealed that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, must suffer and die. But more than anything else, the necessity of our Savior's death was the justice of God. Now, please understand that. The Lord Jesus must die because there's no other way in which God can be just and the justifier of the ungodly.

This is the crucial issue of the gospel. Now in this place, you hear it all the time from me. and from virtually every other preacher that comes in here, sooner or later in the course of the message is going to tell you that God must be just to justify. Why do we stress so much emphasis upon that? Because this is the heart of everything. This is the crux of all Christianity.

This is the basic essential truth of the gospel that must be understood. There is no way for God in his holiness to justify and save guilty sinners apart from the satisfaction of justice by the blood of Jesus Christ his son. That's the reason for our Lord's suffering and death.

If you should go and ask preachers, Not just people sitting in the pews. He asked folks sitting in the pew why the Lord Jesus had to die. You might expect that perhaps they would not answer any better than the preachers. But go ask preachers. Any of them. Any of them. Just pick up the phone and call them. Talk to them if you can get their attention. They're not too busy to talk to you.

And ask them, why did the Son of God have to die? Why don't you just do that? Just do that. Why did he have to die? Let me know if you find one who answers the question according to this word. They don't know. Men today live in a fog with regard to the gospel. They're utterly ignorant of God's justice.

The Lord Jesus did not have to die to prove his love for us. He did not have to die because he wanted to be gracious to us and convince us of his love. You can do that in many ways without dying. Now, his death was certainly a display and manifestation of God's love for his people. But the necessity of Christ's death is that sin must be punished, and the only way God can punish our sins and yet save our souls is through the satisfactory sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his Son. He must be just if he is to justify us.

Now, when our Lord said to his disciples that he must suffer and die at Jerusalem, you and I cannot begin to imagine how shocking that must have been to them. Just how shocking it must have been. These fellows had left family and friends. They had left their companions, their bosom buddies, they'd left them to follow the master. This one who had come, the son of God, Peter confessed, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. This we know, you are he of whom the prophet spoke. And now the Lord says to him, I'm going to leave you.

I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to die. I want to be killed at Jerusalem. And I can just picture what's going to become of us now. What's going to happen to us now? What will be the result of this? What confusion, what chaos, what ruin there will be because of this?

They didn't understand that the establishing of his kingdom was to be accomplished by his death and resurrection. And so that led Peter in his confusion and in his weakness to make the statements that he made in the following verses. Now, secondly, we are once again taught in verses 22 and 23, that a man can be a true disciple, a true believer, and yet be a weak disciple, a weak believer, and very, very ignorant of many things.

Look at verse 22. Then Peter took it. Now, try to get the sense of this. Language could not be more strong suggesting what happened. Peter heard the master speak that, he took him by the arm and pulled him aside and began to rebuke him. What an astounding thing. Began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord. This shall not be under thee. This shall not be under thee. And then the Lord Jesus turned and said to Peter, Peter had pulled him aside and kind of rebuked him. But the Lord Jesus turned and spoke to Peter so that everybody heard what he said. Matthew records it here. 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. Now, please hear and understand what I'm going to say here. The issue, the crucial issue for your soul is not what you know. You can have a head plump full of knowledge and a heart utterly empty of life. The issue is not what you know. The issue is who you know.

Now it is certainly, certainly true that no one can be saved trusting a false Jesus. And to trust in that false Christ, that Antichrist, who is presented the effeminate, helpless, sort of imaginary God that is commonly preached in our generation, certainly is not salvation. But do not ever imagine that in order for a person to be saved, he must have a certain grasp of knowledge and a certain measure of understanding. The person who is saved by God's grace is one who believes Christ as is revealed in this book.

Peter, it cannot be doubted, was a believer. Any question about that? I have read a few things and I've seen a few things where fellows trying to fit everything into their little cubicles so that their theology is always consistent with their puny brains, have tried to suggest that Peter was not a believer. And when Peter said this, it proves that he wasn't yet converted. But if you look back at the confession that Peter made and the exchange that took place between Peter and the Lord Jesus in verses 16 through 18, I challenge anybody to give any reasonable exposition of those verses and say Peter was not yet a believer.

He said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Now it's well enough, a man could say that and not be a believer, I know that. But listen to what our Lord says to Peter. He said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jones. Who's blessed? Who's blessed? Not the reprobate, not the unbelieving, the believing.

For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Now somebody to whom God has revealed truth is one of God's own. More than that, the Lord Jesus said concerning Peter's confession, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And then he said to Peter, I give to you the keys of the kingdom.

Now this man was certainly a believer. He was a follower of Christ. He was one who indeed knew the Lord Jesus Christ in saving mercy. But this faithful and gracious man behaved terribly foolishly and terribly ignorantly. He actually rebuked the Son of God. Actually rebuked Him.

Oh, when men get in the flesh, when men behave according to the principle of the flesh. Now, listen to me. Peter was behaving in the flesh. horribly evil deed he did here, but he was acting out of a principle of human love, care, and concern. Can you get a hold of that?

He was concerned for the master. He loved him. But he took him by the arm and he pulled him aside and he said, this is not going to happen to you. He began to rebuke him. Oh, sometimes, sometimes, all the time when we act according to the flesh, when we are directed by the flesh, when our minds are governed by human emotion and human care, we act contrary to the will of God, and that's what Peter did here. He rebuked the master. He acted like Satan.

He tried to hinder him from doing what he'd come to do. He tried to, out of love for the Savior, and out of genuine care for the Savior, out of genuine care for himself, and for the church of God, and for the Son of God, this man, Peter, stood in front of Christ like Satan and said, no, you're not gonna go and do that. You know, he tried to stop him from doing what he'd come to do. Just exactly like Satan, he tried to keep him from fulfilling his covenant engagements.

This man who was so faithful in so many, many things became an instrument in Satan's hands, an instrument in his time of weakness because of his folly, an instrument in Satan's hands to oppose the Son of God. Now notice the rebuke that our Lord gave of this disciple.

He looked at Peter and said, get thee behind me, Satan. Why? Not because Peter was demon possessed, not because Peter was himself reprobate, but because Peter was acting like Satan. And Satan was acting through Peter, influencing Peter in what he did, attempting to stop the Son of God from his purpose and his determination. He had become Satan's instrument, so the Lord Jesus said to him, get thee behind me, Satan, foe, accuser, for thou art an offense unto me.

Now that's the reason. He said, Peter, you've become a stumbling block. Not that he was actually a stumbling block, because nothing was going to keep him from doing what he had determined to do. But Peter had become a stumbling block in his way, and with this stern rebuke, the Lord Jesus picks the stumbling block up and throws it out of the way.

But he said, Peter, you're an offense to me. You're an offense to me. And that's what Satan is. He's an offense. And so the Lord Jesus speaks to Peter and says, you've become an offense to me. For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Now, this was Peter's problem. He was looking at things, judging things, and acting purely from a human, carnal, emotional point of view. His flesh was in the way. His flesh kept him from seeing, at least at this time, the blessed necessity of our Savior's death. He said, Peter, You don't savor the things of God in flesh. Your actions betray that you have been overcome with your flesh. Just been overcome with your flesh. Now listen to me, children of God. Listen carefully.

Do not ever allow your emotions Do not ever allow your experiences. Do not ever allow your feelings. Do not ever allow your human relationships, husband-wife relationship, mother-sister relationship, mother-daughter, son and father. Don't allow any relationship on this earth to cause you to judge according to the flesh what God's written in His word. Don't do it.

Our biggest problems, our biggest problems come from judging after the flesh, not according to the word of God. Our biggest problem. I got a, or Shelby got a card from a lady just yesterday or today who was trying to defend visions and dreams and that nonsense. Because I've experienced this. Don't subject the word of God to your experience. Subject your experience to the word of God. You understand what I'm saying? So that in everything we judge not after the flesh, but judge righteous judgment. We don't consider and determine things according to emotion, but according to the scriptures.

All right, now thirdly, this exchange between Peter and the master teaches us that there is no doctrine in the Bible so deeply important as the doctrine of Christ's sin atoning death is our substitute. Peter was talking to him about his death and our Lord was talking to Peter about his death. And when Peter spoke as he did, the Lord rebuked him sternly because he wants us to understand that this is the crucial issue of the controversy between him and Satan.

And that man who denies the doctrine of Christ's effectual atonement, who denies the merit and efficacy of Christ's death as our substitute, no matter what else he says that might be true, does not savor the things that are of God. C.H. Spurgeon rather said, he knows not the truth. He knows not the taste, the aroma, 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.

Now, let me stress one more time, one more time in your hearing, that the gospel of Christ, the message of God revealed in this book, is the substitutionary, sacrificial death of Christ by which he put away our sins. This is the issue of issues. A man or woman may be an error concerning many things and have only a disease in their skin. But someone who's an error concerning the death of Christ and the benefits arising from his death, anyone who's an error concerning the efficacy of the atonement of our Lord Jesus has a heart disease that's gonna kill him. It's utterly destructive.

There is absolutely no way that anybody can walk with God in life and not believe what God says concerning the accomplishments of Christ in his death. J.C. Ryle said the death of Christ is the central truth of Christianity. Right views of his vicarious death and the benefits of it lie at the very foundation of Bible religion.

At the very foundation. Fourthly, The Lord Jesus teaches us that true saving faith involves deliberate, persevering self-denial and consecration. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Now, language cannot be more plain. Faith in Christ always necessitates self-denial and consecration. Always.

Some of you here may be struggling with the claims of Christ upon you. And if you are, the struggle is not whether or not you want to be saved. That's not the issue. The struggle is not whether or not you want to go to heaven when you die. The struggle is who will run my life. That's the issue. Your struggle in your soul has nothing at all to do with whether or not you want this thing called salvation.

The struggle is whether or not you will surrender to the rule of Jesus Christ as your Lord. That's the issue. Now, faith in Christ of necessity involves that surrender. Our Lord says, if you're going to come after me, you deny yourself. That is, you give up your life to me. That's what it is. You give up the rule of your life to me. He said on another occasion, whoso saveth his life shall lose it. He that loses his life shall find it. That's what salvation is. That's what faith is.

It's losing your life to the rule of Jesus Christ. Now, this giving up of yourself, this denying of self, involves a daily taking of your cross to follow him. That means that you, day by day, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, continually, are faced with choices and decisions every day, every day. And the choices are these. I will either compromise Christ, his truth, his name, and his glory, or I will incur for myself trouble and pain and sorrow and heartache, cost and difficulty. I'll follow him, cost whatever, cost whatever. That's what is take up your cross and follow him.

Bearing your cross is not suffering things that you have no choice in. That's not it. Somebody gets cancer or gets some disease or endure some catastrophe and folks say, well, you have to bear your cross. That's not bearing your cross. Your cross, Bob, is something that you willfully, deliberately take up. knowing what it's gonna cost you to follow the master.

That's exactly what it is. And the believer begins confessing Christ in baptism. He begins walking with the Lord Jesus and the time comes, whether he either confesses him or doesn't, he takes up his cross and follows him. And he does so perseveringly. We never give up the choice.

Oh, there are times when we waffle. God forgive us. There are times when we fall. There are times when we behave like Peter here, so foolish and so ignorant. God forgive us. But the believer in his character and in the tenor of his life takes up his cross and follows Christ. And when he leaves this world, you'll find him following the master. Matthew Henry once wrote, the first lesson in Christ's school is self-denial, and it is. Now those who deny themselves here for Christ shall enjoy themselves in Christ forever. So I call on you, follow him. Take up your cross and follow the master. Fifthly, Our Lord Jesus, in verse 26, again reminds us that there is nothing so precious and nothing so valuable as your soul.

For what is a man profit? We all count profit and loss, don't we? You fellas who do business with other folks, you buy something, And before you buy it, I heard Buddy talking the other day, talking about buying a truck, and he thought time I get the engine in that thing, get it painted, fixed up, I have more money in it than it's worth. He's counting profit and loss. Counting profit and loss. Now, I bid you, young and old, weigh everything in this world. Everything. Weigh everything here and consider the cost. What is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

This question is so well known and so often repeated that I think few lay it to heart. And it ought to reverberate in our ears like a trumpet blast. It ought to cause our hearts to tremble. Whenever we're tempted to neglect our eternal interest, hear this word.

What will man give in exchange for his soul? There's nothing this world can offer. Nothing that money can buy. Nothing a man can give. Nothing to be named under heaven. that will be of any value in comparison to your soul. Nothing. Mamas and daddies learned it earlier. There is nothing, nothing, nothing so valuable as a soul, an eternity bound soul. God gives you the influence over your sons and daughters, train them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, beginning with this, beginning with this, nothing is of value in comparison to your soul.

Nothing. We live in a world where everything is temporary and vanishing. Nobody pays any attention. I'm telling you, everything here is temporary and vanishing. You'll be gone before you're done. We're going to a world where everything is eternal and permanent. Everything. Everything. If you stand before God in the naked Robed in the righteousness of Christ, having lost your life here and gained your soul forever, the bliss and glory of heaven will be everlasting.

Now, don't ever count anything here more valuable, of more weight, of greater concern than it will be when you have to lose it. Because sooner or later, you're gonna lose it. Then in verse 27, our savior, having declared the value of our souls, assures his disciples that their reward is yet to come. And that's the primary scope of verse 27.

For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels, then he shall reward every man according to his works. Now, certainly the wicked, will receive exactly what they deserve, everlasting punishment, and measure according to their guilt before God. And the righteous shall receive exactly what they deserve, not according to their personal merit, but according to the works of Christ imputed to them, according to the ledger of heaven, they shall inherit everlasting glory. Now then, this is the point.

Our reward, our reward, Can I use words like that? I guess I can, the Savior does. Our reward for following Him is not to be anticipated in this world. Don't anticipate it. It's not coming here. Our reward for following Him is glory yet to come. And we shall, as we overcome the trials and difficulties of this world, we shall at last triumph in Christ gloriously. All believers shall inherit heavenly glory. Now, one last thing in verse 28. The Lord Jesus shows us the connection between his death, his resurrection, and his kingdom or his spiritual reign as king.

Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Now, if you want to read some gobbledygook and some squirming, read the commentaries on this 28th verse. Fellas who are determined to mold the scriptures to their doctrine, especially those who consider themselves experts in prophetic matters, who have a visionary imagination that somehow they have managed to find some prophetic timetable by which God operates, and there's a future millennial kingdom out there yet to come, and they look at this verse of scripture. And our Lord said, there'd be some standing here, who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Well, boy, if you're looking for some future kingdom out there, if you're looking for some future earthly thousand-year reign out there, you got to find some way to make that thing fit. And so if you, I think some of you still have some Schofield Bibles laying around the house, look and see what they say on this. That's talking about folks who will be standing here in the next age.

They'll not taste death. Well, that's nonsense. Some folks say, well, this is talking about the coming of Christ in 70 AD for the destruction of Jerusalem. Well, that's closer, but that's not it either. What seems obvious in the text and should seem obvious to anybody who just reads the word of God, our Lord was talking to those folks, Peter, James, and John. And he's talking to these disciples and he said, some of you standing right here will not taste death until I enter into my kingdom. Does that make sense to you?

Well, Yeah, but what kingdom is he talking about? Turn over to Acts chapter 2. He was talking about the public inaugural of his kingdom. The Lord Jesus became king as a result of his suffering and death, having brought in an everlasting righteousness and having put away sin. He is not someday going to become a king. He is now king, and he now sits upon the throne of his father David. Not a physical monarchy, not an earthly monarchy, not a Jewish kingdom, but our Lord Jesus is a spiritual king. He reigns in the hearts of his children, and he reigns over all the earth by the power God's given him.

Now look in Acts chapter 2 and verse Verse 32, Peter has already said, the fellows came and they said, well, these fellows are speaking in tongues because the Holy Spirit had been poured out. They said, well, they're drunk. And Peter said, no, you don't know what's going on. This is what Joel said was gonna happen. God's gonna pour out his spirit on all flesh, and men are gonna dream dreams, and they're gonna prophesy, and they're gonna speak in other tongues, and this has now come to pass.

This is that of which David spoke in the second psalm, or in the 16th psalm, rather, where it says, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Now look what it says in verse 32. This Jesus hath God raised up. whereof we are all witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost which he shed forth, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

He's entered into his kingdom. He sits upon the throne of his father. He reigns king forever. Now, certainly the Lord Jesus is coming again. But when he comes, he's not coming to establish a kingdom, he's coming in his kingdom. Do you see that? Back here in our text. They shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. When he comes again, he'll bring his sense with him and he will create all things new and he will establish his kingdom forever and forever wherein dwelleth nothing but righteousness.

May God add his blessings now to that portion of his word. Have you entered into Christ's kingdom? The way to enter into this kingdom is to bow to the king. Take his yoke upon you, learn of him. Bow to him as Lord and King and walk in his kingdom forever. Let's stand together for prayer. Our Father, we bless you for your word and for the blessed knowledge of your word, the blessed knowledge of the gospel of your free grace. Thank you for the measure of teaching that you've given us by your spirit.

We ask now that you will be pleased to grant to our friends, so many of our friends, your children, who suffer adversity and trial, heartache, discomfort of body and discomfort of mind. We ask that your hand and mercy be upon them, strengthen and comfort them. We pray for Alberta that you will sustain her soul. Give her strength of mind and of heart as well as strength of body according to your will.

We ask for James Lee that your hand and mercy be upon him. Thank you for these. Thank you for your goodness and grace and giving us one another, causing our paths to cross and causing our hearts to be united in Christ. Ask for Jim that your hand and mercy be upon him, give him the physical strength he needs in this hour.

Grant, according to your will, the blessings of your grace upon him and the ministry you've given him. Thank you for it. Now, Father, we ask that you will grant Bob and Sally traveling mercies. Grant me the same according to your will. Grant you blessings to attend the preaching of the gospel here this Lord's Day. cause Ron and Lindsay to be empowered of your spirit. I thank you for them. Thank you for this people. From the depths of my heart, I thank you for this people. Thank you for bringing us together.

For those of our number that are ill, pray your blessings on them. Teach us to love one another, teach us to walk with you, and teach us, Father, to faithfully serve the interest of your kingdom in our generation. calls us to take up our cross daily and follow our master. We pray for our young people. These will be graduating this year, particularly Jennifer and Christy. God, direct their hearts and direct their lives. We bring our sons and daughters to you once more and ask that you be merciful to them. Do for them what we cannot. Do for them what they neither can nor will do for themselves. Grant them hearts of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, for the glory of his name. Amen.