Subject: Matthew #43 Title: Peter s Confession Text: Matthew 16:13-25

Transcription

1 Subject: Matthew #43 Title: Peter s Confession Text: Matthew 16:13-25 Matthew 16:13 Then Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 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. 18 And I say also 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. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew 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. 22 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: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 24 hen said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Introduction Matthew Chapters 11 through 16 have recorded the progressive and intensified objections and rejection of the ministry of Jesus Christ: * Matthew 11 - The rejection of John and Jesus generation; the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum * Matthew 12 - Controversy with the Pharisees. They plan to destroy Him (12:14-21) * Matthew 13 - The consequences of the rejection - Parables; rejection at Nazareth * Matthew 14 - Rejection by Herod, withdrawal of Christ * Matthew 15 - Rejection by Pharisees and Scribes * Matthew 16 - Rejection by Pharisees and Sadducees 1

2 All of this brings us to one of the most controversial passages of Scripture in all of the Bible in vs Outline of Matthew 16 I. The Religious Leaders Second Request for a Sign (1-4) II. Jesus Warns against the Pharisees and Sadducees (5-12) III. Peter s Confession (13-20) IV. Jesus Speaks of His Death, Burial and Resurrection (21-23) V. Jesus Speaks of Discipleship (24-28) Outline for Today s Message: III. Peter s Confession (13-20) A. Whom do men say that I am? (13) B. Whom do ye say that I am? (15,16) C. The rock (18) D. The church (18) E. The gates of hell (18) F. The keys of the kingdom (19) G. Binding and loosing (19) IV. Jesus Speaks of His Death, Burial and Resurrection (21-23) A. Jesus prediction (21) B. Peter s objection (22) C. Jesus accusation (23) V. Jesus Speaks of Discipleship (24-28) A. The cross and discipleship (24) B. The paradox of the cross (25-27) C. The promise beyond the cross (28) III. Peter s Confession (13-20) Jesus has withdrawn to predominantly Gentile portions of Israel. Caesarea Philippi (v.13) is approximately 25 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee. A. Jesus asks the question, Whom do men say that I am? (13). Of course, Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist. The Old Testament closed with a promise of the coming of Elijah (Malachi 4:5). Jeremiah was also conjectured based upon some rabbinic tradition. Jesus was obviously viewed as a prophet. B. Jesus then turns the question toward the disciples, But whom say ye (you, plural) that I am? (15). Answering on behalf of the 12 disciples, Peter says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (16). 2

3 After the calming of the storm recorded in Chapter 14, the disciples came and worshipped Christ and called Him the Son of God (14:33). The Christ is the Anointed One, the Messiah. Jesus is recognized as more than a prophet, He is the promised Messiah. In v.17, Jesus addresses Peter after his declaration and says, in effect, You have been given a dose of Divine awareness, the Father has revealed this to you. C. What follows in the next v.18 is one of the most controversial statements in the Word of God, And I say also 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. There are three possible ways to interpret the statement of Jesus: 1. Peter is the rock and the church will be built upon him. 2. Jesus is the rock and He is speaking of Himself. I Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 3. The truth stated in Peter s confession is the rock - Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The last two reveal essentially the same thing. Reasons for rejecting #1: * Peter is never called a rock, but Jesus is and God is in the Scriptures. * Peter is called out five verses later for his imperception. * The New Testament record does not chronicle the primacy of Peter. * Peter never claims apostolic primacy for himself. * Etc. D. The reference to my church is the first mention of church in the New Testament. This is the foundation and initial formation of His New Testament people. Later on, the church will be known as the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12). The church is Jesus church, not God s church - my. 3

4 E. The gates of hell - Gates do one of two things - keep things in or keep things out. The gates of hell protect the abode of the dead. Jesus is saying that those gates will not keep my gospel, my message, my kingdom out. The dead will hear and they will not be kept in. Ultimately, death will have no more sting (I Corinthians 15:55). F. The keys of the kingdom must have something to do with the words of God. The words unlock the doors of truth, and the apostles will be the human gospel authorities. They will be used largely to pen the words of the New Testament and administrate and distribute the truth. G. What they bind (forbid) and loose (permit) will be authorized by Christ and His Holy Spirit. Look at Acts 15 for an example. The idea of binding and loosing was familiar to the Jewish people. The rabbis had the power of binding and loosing in this sense - they bound or loosed an individual in the application of a particular point of the Law. The apostles are given the authority to set authoritative boundaries for the New Covenant community. R. T. France writes, We should understand this as Jesus giving both the permission and the authority to the first generation Apostles to make the rules for the early Church and indirectly the inspired writings that would guide all generations of Christians. Barclay writes, Binding and loosing were administrative terms in daily Jewish life; whenever a Jew came up against the Law of Moses, that person was either bound (forbidden) or loosed (permitted) in regard to the Law...To bind something was to declare it forbidden; to loose was to declare it allowed. Jesus tells His disciples not to tell anyone he was Jesus the Christ (20) because his time had not yet come. As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, the rejection of and hatred for Jesus continues to escalate. Jesus now warns His disciples of the extreme circumstances that are about to fall upon Him and ultimately them. IV. Jesus Speaks of His Death, Burial and Resurrection (21-23) The statement of v.21 that He had to suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day, had to be a complete shock to the disciples. Jesus is Messiah, and He must go to Jerusalem to be killed. Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4

5 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and affl icted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was affl icted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 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, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfi ed: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), and suffer as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). What was at stake - God s love and man s sin. But v.22 shows that Peter took Jesus aside and reprimanded Him - Nothing of the sort will happen to you if I have anything to say about it. Jesus replied, Get thee behind me Satan (23). Peter is accused of looking at all of this from a human perspective. Peter does not understand and has no idea concerning the spiritual issues at stake. Peter is acting like Satan, attempting to thwart the plan of God, casting doubt upon the very words of Messiah, the Son of God. What a reversal! V. Jesus Speaks of Discipleship (24-25) Discipleship begins with conversion. The question is asked in v.15, But whom say ye that I am? That is the most important question in life. What is your concept or belief about Jesus? 5

6 Was He a liar, lunatic, self-deceived, or is He Lord? Whom do you say that He is? In Matthew 10:38-39, Jesus said almost the identical statement that is found in Matthew 16:24-25, And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that fi ndeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall fi nd it. Several things are said in Matthew 16:24-25: * disciples come after me * deny himself - not self-denial, but complete surrender * take up his cross - deny himself * follow me - v.21 - suffer many things Verse 25 says that saving or protecting your life for yourself, as opposed to following the demands of v.24, will result in loss. Verses 25 and 26 force us to ask ourselves these questions: * What is life all about? * What is really important? * Is life all about me? * Have I lost my soul? Matthew 16:27 then promises that God has reserved a day in the future to settle all personal accounts, For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. * He will come. * He will reward every man. * Rewards will be according to his works. Matthew 16:28 serves as an introduction to Chapter 17:1-9 that speaks of the Mount of Transfiguration, 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. The greatest question in life - Who is Jesus Christ? - Whom do you say that He is? - What if you were to gain the whole world and lose your soul? - What is the value of a soul? your soul? You cannot gain resurrection life until you die to self. You cannot be raised to newness of life until you have died to the old life - repentance, deny self.. 6