SPEAKER_00: Well, it is an honor and a privilege to be here.
SPEAKER_00: I have a deep affection for your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I've learned from him over the years.
SPEAKER_00: And we do pray for this church regularly at Baltimore Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: So you are considered a sister church to us.
SPEAKER_00: And it's wonderful to be in a place that uh upholds the glory of Christ and the glory of his cross.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And as we even uh sang this morning about uh the glory of the cross and uh lifting high the cross of Jesus Christ, so I feel right at home uh here.
SPEAKER_00: So why don't you grab your Bibles and uh open up to Matthew chapter 16?
SPEAKER_00: We'll be in Matthew chapter 16 uh this morning.
SPEAKER_00: My focus will be in uh verses 20 to 28, uh but I'll read from verse 13 just to set the context before us.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 16, starting at verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you follow with me as I read?
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Some say John the Baptist and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, But who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Then when he warned the disciples that they should tell no one, then he warned the disciples they should tell no one that he was the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, for you are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests but man's.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Forever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
SPEAKER_00: For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
SPEAKER_00: Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
SPEAKER_00: For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels, and then will repay every man according to his deeds.
SPEAKER_00: Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you bow your heads with me for a word of prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, Father, we recognize that this is your word.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we pray that you would open up your word to us, help us to understand the things that are contained here.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray that you would help me as a weak instrument to be a blessing to your people, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In R.
SPEAKER_00: C.
SPEAKER_00: Sproul's book, The Cross of Christ, he opens up with an illustration and he talks about the millions of dollars that companies spend on logos, you know, these little symbols that identify a company and say something about what that company is, what that company is selling, and how we can recognize many companies just by the logo itself, like the Nike swoosh or an apple with the a bite out of the side of it, or uh what is the uh the most recognized symbol in America, which is the McDonald's arches, the most recognized symbol in America, uh the McDonald's arches.
SPEAKER_00: But Christianity also has a symbol that we're recognized by, and that symbol is the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is the universal symbol of Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: And that's for good reason, because there would be no Christianity without the cross.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus never died on the cross, there would be no Christian church.
SPEAKER_00: The church was literally paid for by the blood of Christ on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 says, Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which listen to this, he purchased with his own blood.
SPEAKER_00: The church was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Ephesians, it lets us know that we're reconciled in one body to God through the cross, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: So we can't imagine a church without a cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's what we preach about, and it's the right thing to preach about.
SPEAKER_00: Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 23 says, But we preach Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_00: And in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 2, he says, For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
SPEAKER_00: A preacher who does not preach the cross does not deserve to be called the preacher.
SPEAKER_00: He might be a motivational speaker, but he is not a preacher of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's not a Christian preacher.
SPEAKER_00: It's also the cross of Christ, it's also what makes our music distinctly Christian.
SPEAKER_00: If we kept the cross out of it, you know, out of our lyrics, out of the things that we sing about, the things that we praise.
SPEAKER_00: If we just spoke about the love of God, if we just spoke about peace, about unity, we might have a much wider audience for what we have to sing.
SPEAKER_00: But it would be stripped of its power.
SPEAKER_00: The cross is the power of the Christian music.
SPEAKER_00: Think about some of the songs that we sing.
SPEAKER_00: Beneath the cross, down at the cross, lift high the cross, the power of the cross, the wonderful cross, the old rugged cross, when I survey the wondrous cross.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just scratching the surface because even when the cross is not in the title, you don't have to go very far down into the lyrics before you're bumping up against something of the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're those who glory in the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And the symbol of the cross, often when we come to the buildings that we even worship in, uh the symbol of the cross is to be found somewhere, usually in a Christian building, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's the cross that reminds us of the one who died there.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when uh we first started meeting as a church, uh our church just celebrated eight years of uh of ministry in Baltimore.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember uh we met for a year for a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: Even before that, uh we met in uh one of our members' basements and uh uh we did Bible studies there, but uh what he did was he he brought out a little cross and he kind of hung it you know behind me whenever I would uh you give a lesson.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, it just doesn't seem right that there's not a cross, you know, in the building.
SPEAKER_00: We we need the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's something it's just just not right if unless we're we're focusing on the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I actually heard a number of years ago uh that there were some churches that were taking down the symbol of the cross from their buildings, you know, removing it from the steeples, removing it from uh any visibility within the churches.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I remember during that time that there was a pastor who was interviewed, and uh the question was, are you offended that these churches are taking their crosses down from the buildings?
SPEAKER_00: Because they're hoping not to offend anybody, so they're removing these crosses.
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you offended that these churches are taking down the cross?
SPEAKER_00: And he says, No, I'm not offended that they're taking down the cross.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just offended that they would call themselves a church.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm offended by.
SPEAKER_00: We can't imagine Christianity without the cross, but during the ministry of Christ, his disciples couldn't imagine Christianity with the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It was the furthest thing from the disciples' mind.
SPEAKER_00: They had no plan for the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It was absurd, it was offensive, it was completely unacceptable, but the cross was always there, casting its shadow, even though the details were hidden to the disciples at first.
SPEAKER_00: And there were plenty of hints that Jesus gave along the way, but the disciples missed it.
SPEAKER_00: Back in uh Matthew chapter 9, uh, Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom.
SPEAKER_00: And in that chapter in verse 15, Jesus said to them, The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?
SPEAKER_00: But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
SPEAKER_00: So he lets them know that I'm going to be taken away.
SPEAKER_00: What do the disciples understand by that?
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they didn't really think that he would be taken away.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what they were thinking, but taken away didn't mean taken away for the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew chapter 12, uh, Jesus confronted the scribes and the Pharisees, and after they asked him for a sign, Jesus answered them in verse 39, and he said to them, An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it, but the sign of Jonah, the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish or the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And what were the disciples thinking when he said that?
SPEAKER_00: You know, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, obviously for them didn't mean three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Crucifixion on the Roman cross, three days in a tomb, was the furthest thing from these disciples' minds.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't conceive of a Messiah who would be crucified.
SPEAKER_00: The cross had nothing to do with their plans.
SPEAKER_00: And in Matthew chapter 16, what we have in the Gospels is this turning point.
SPEAKER_00: Because prior to the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus spoke about his death in a way that was veiled to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't quite put it together.
SPEAKER_00: But after Peter makes this confession that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, now Jesus speaks plainly about what is to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And he plainly talks to them about the plan.
SPEAKER_00: What is the plan?
SPEAKER_00: The plan is the cross.
SPEAKER_00: The cross.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: After correctly identifying who Jesus was, now the disciples were prepared to hear what his plan was.
SPEAKER_00: They were prepared to hear what Jesus had come to do.
SPEAKER_00: And beginning in verse 20, we really have these series of unexpected turns that followed the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: And first of all, there was this unexpected restriction.
SPEAKER_00: Unexpected restriction.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Then he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Tell no one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus celebrated Peter's revelation that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus celebrated that.
SPEAKER_00: It pointed to his spiritual vision that God had revealed something to Peter that he could have spent his entire lifetime looking for and not get.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It was the a pivotal, life-altering, earth-shattering moment for Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like Jesus is saying, Peter, that's so great.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: It's been revealed to you by the Father who I am.
SPEAKER_00: I am so excited for this revelation.
SPEAKER_00: And I just got to tell you one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Don't tell anybody about it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't share that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had news?
SPEAKER_00: No, somebody shares news with you and they say, you know, I want to share something with you, but don't but don't say anything about it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're expecting.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: I can't, I can't say anything.
SPEAKER_00: Can't share that news.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people come to me as a as a pastor and they say that I'm expecting.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, what what announcement am I supposed to make and not supposed to make?
SPEAKER_00: So it's like you're trying to figure out in your mind, can I share this or not?
SPEAKER_00: You know, one one family they were having twins and they wanted to keep that secret for a while, and it was kind of hard because she was already showing, but but there's news that people say, hey, don't, I don't want you to share anything.
SPEAKER_00: Don't say anything about this.
SPEAKER_00: I remember back in college, there was uh this one time we were trying to surprise one of our friends, and we snuck into his apartment, you know, got his keys, snuck into his apartment, and we're gonna jump out and surprise him for his birthday.
SPEAKER_00: And there's this one guy next to me who just couldn't keep his mouth shut.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the the entire time, it's like he's snickering and laughing, and you know, the keys are jingling at the door, the guy's finally about to step in, and before he could even break through the door, it's like, surprise! I couldn't hold it back anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: You ruined it for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like we broke into his apartment for nothing.
SPEAKER_00: But here's this news that Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one that we've been waiting for.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Messiah, this is the promised king.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is what all of history has been heading towards.
SPEAKER_00: And now Jesus says that's so great that you understand that, Peter, but but don't share anything about it.
SPEAKER_00: Why did Jesus want to keep this a secret?
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't everybody know who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: There was a song I used to sing, you know, way back that says, you know, everybody ought to know.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody ought to know who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, doesn't everybody need to know?
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't everybody know who Jesus is?
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says, I don't want you to share this news because you're not yet prepared for what I'm going to do.
SPEAKER_00: You only have part of the message.
SPEAKER_00: You know who I am, but you're not yet prepared for what I've come to do.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that Jesus withheld his identity from the multitudes at this point is because they weren't prepared for the plan that he had.
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish depiction of the Messiah was of this conquering king, you know, like the one that we read about in Psalm chapter 2, you know, who breaks the nations with the rod of iron, shatters them like earthen pottery.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't create room in their theology for the same Messiah to suffer and die.
SPEAKER_00: They thought that, you know, maybe that's somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: Some uh Jewish scholars talk about a second Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's one who comes to rule, and there's another one that came to die, but it's not the same person.
SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah 53, when it speaks about one who is despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, they say that must be somebody else, or you know, maybe it's referring to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But it can't be talking about the conquering king that we're expecting.
SPEAKER_00: In their minds, the Messiah comes to crush.
SPEAKER_00: The Messiah does not come to be crushed.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the disciples' understanding.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they understood it.
SPEAKER_00: And it was important that they didn't give in to the understanding of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: So he gives them this strict warning: don't tell anybody.
SPEAKER_00: He uses a severe order, an authoritative command.
SPEAKER_00: Tell no one.
SPEAKER_00: It's this unexpected restriction.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's followed by this unexpected revelation in verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, from the elders and chief priests, and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Do you want to know what I've come for?
SPEAKER_00: I've come to die.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I've come for.
SPEAKER_00: I've come to die.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what his disciples couldn't wrap their minds around.
SPEAKER_00: In Mark chapter 9, it speaks of another occasion when Jesus spoke about his death and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples couldn't get it then either, and it says they were afraid to ask him.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't get the concept of the resurrection until much later.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't wrap their minds around the resurrection because they couldn't wrap their minds around the death.
SPEAKER_00: How does this conquering king suffer and die?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: That's beneath the dignity of the king to suffer and die.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of the things that makes Christianity so absurd to many in the Muslim population.
SPEAKER_00: Because they say, how could the Almighty God subject himself to be killed at the hands of his own creation?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, remember one time witnessing to a Muslim uh man in uh in Baltimore, and he says, you know, it makes no sense that Jesus would be God, the Son of God, and come and die at the hands of his own creation.
SPEAKER_00: That makes no sense.
SPEAKER_00: I said, You're exactly right, it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what makes the gospel such amazing grace.
SPEAKER_00: That God would come in the person of Jesus Christ and die for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's what makes it so amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing love.
SPEAKER_00: How can it be that thou, my God, would die for me?
SPEAKER_00: Amazing love.
SPEAKER_00: And it shouldn't make sense to us that God would come and do this and pay such a price for so wicked a class of beings as us.
SPEAKER_00: Why would God do this?
SPEAKER_00: A Muslim can't even picture a prophet dying in that way, much less God in human flesh dying in that way.
SPEAKER_00: Makes no sense.
SPEAKER_00: But what we learn from this brief verse when Jesus says that it must happen this way is that this was the predetermined plan of God.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus says that He he must go, from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He uses a word that means it is necessary.
SPEAKER_00: This is necessary for me.
SPEAKER_00: It was a divine appointment.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you flip over to Acts chapter 2?
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 2, what we have is Peter's first sermon, and this is after he's fully convinced of the person of Christ as well as the plan of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But in Acts chapter 2, starting at verse 22, he speaks to the men of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 2, starting at verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Men of Israel, listen to these words.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.
SPEAKER_00: This man delivered over by what?
SPEAKER_00: The predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death.
SPEAKER_00: And what Peter lets us know here is that this was the plan of God for Jesus to go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: This is a wonderful verse that demonstrates both God's sovereignty as well as man's uh ability here and uh determination.
SPEAKER_00: Was was were men responsible for putting Jesus to death?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Man's responsibility, 100%.
SPEAKER_00: Men were responsible for putting Jesus Christ on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, You nailed him to a cross.
SPEAKER_00: The responsibility falls on you.
SPEAKER_00: You put him to death by the hands of godless men, 100% responsible.
SPEAKER_00: He lays it at their feet.
SPEAKER_00: But was God also in control?
SPEAKER_00: Did God orchestrate the events of the cross?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, 100%.
SPEAKER_00: This happened at the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.
SPEAKER_00: God was in complete control over all the details.
SPEAKER_00: It was a divine appointment.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says, I must go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: This is the plan of God for me to go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, God's not up in heaven hitting the panic button, you know, when he sees Jesus going to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: This is all part of the plan.
SPEAKER_00: We also learn from this verse that Jesus himself was determined to go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: It was the predetermined plan of God, but it was also the determination of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_00: If you knew that all you had to do to avoid the cruelest torture and ridicule that you would ever experience in your life, that all you had to do to avoid that was just not go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I was told this morning that the severest torture and cruelty is awaiting you at Emmanuel Bible church, I might be back in Baltimore this morning, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know, might want to avoid that.
SPEAKER_00: But here Jesus knows what's ahead of him, and he says, I must go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: I'm determined to go exactly to where the Father has predetermined for me to go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm determined to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says in Matthew 20, Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes and will be condemned to death.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wasn't thrown into the lion's den.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus walked into the lion's den.
SPEAKER_00: He walked into it.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what they were coming to do on that night of his betrayal in John chapter 18.
SPEAKER_00: We have Judas with a Roman cohort coming with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of having to search out and find Jesus, I mean, the reason they brought the torch is because they thought they were going to be on this massive manhunt, you know, to try to find Jesus hiding somewhere underneath a bush somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus walks straight up to them and says, Hey, who are you looking for?
SPEAKER_00: Whom do you seek?
SPEAKER_00: Just to let them know that uh uh just in case you think you're in charge, I'm the one who's in charge here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who's in charge.
SPEAKER_00: He went right to those who were coming to take his life.
SPEAKER_00: And just as a footnote, just to buy the way, if if you're coming to take down the Son of God, you might need more than just a couple of lanterns and torches, you know, and a couple clubs, you know, to take them down.
SPEAKER_00: You might need just a little bit more firepower if that's what you're intending to do, to take down Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus Christ flattens them with just a word from his mouth, just to let them know that you're not taking me by force.
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming voluntarily.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was in charge of every detail.
SPEAKER_00: He laid down his life.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again.
SPEAKER_00: No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was determined to go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, it was the prediction of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Predetermined plan of God.
SPEAKER_00: It was Jesus' determination to go, and it was also the prediction of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: On the night of his betrayal, Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come against me with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would a robber?
SPEAKER_00: But then in verse 56, he says, All this has taken place to fulfill the scriptures of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: This is all according to the prediction of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Zechariah 13 says, Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what happened.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of years before the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: In great detail, Psalm 22 spoke about exactly what was to happen.
SPEAKER_00: All who sneer, who see me sneer at me, they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, Commit yourself to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let him deliver him.
SPEAKER_00: Let him rescue him because he delights in him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it's melted within me.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, I can count on my bones.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, they pierce my hands and my feet.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, they divide my garments.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, pinpoint detail about the details of the cross, hundreds of years before it happened.
SPEAKER_00: It was the prediction of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: You can't make this stuff up.
SPEAKER_00: And it was absolutely necessary as well, not only because it was the predetermined plan of God and the determination of the Son, prediction of the scriptures, but it was also the only way that salvation could be possible for us, right?
SPEAKER_00: Why must he go to the cross?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the only way that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other way.
SPEAKER_00: Just prior to the crucifixion, Jesus fell on his face before his father.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 26, verse 39, it says he went a little beyond them, fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, not as I will, but as ye will.
SPEAKER_00: He just crumbles under the weight of the prospect of bearing the wrath of God for the sins of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Not as I will, but as ye will.
SPEAKER_00: I'm determined to do what you ask of me.
SPEAKER_00: If there was any other way, Father, for these sins to be forgiven, but not as I will, as ye will.
SPEAKER_00: Was there any other way for our sins to be forgiven?
SPEAKER_00: The answer is absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: This was the only way.
SPEAKER_00: The only way for our sins to be forgiven was by the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 9.22 says, one may almost say that all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: It had to happen this way.
SPEAKER_00: Predetermined plan of the Father, determined will of the Son, prediction of the Old Testament, scriptures, the only acceptable way of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And nothing is going to stand in the way of this plan.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely nothing is going to get in the way of the plan of God being fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Which makes the next verse so unexpected because somebody tried to get in the way.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: This is the unexpected rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This shall never happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, so much for papal infallibility, right?
SPEAKER_00: So much for the first pope.
SPEAKER_00: Peter goes from being the rock to being the stumbling block, all within the same conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And we might give Peter a hard time, but Peter's just saying what everybody else was already thinking.
SPEAKER_00: And nobody had in their mind that the career path for the Messiah was going to end in crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: But how Peter goes from this shocking, you know, revelation that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, to doing this about face and now rebuking the one that he just identified as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you know, is shocking to us.
SPEAKER_00: But what Peter does is he uh pulls Jesus aside to say, Lord, let me let me tell you what's not gonna happen, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh like this plan that you're talking about, I mean, you know, maybe sounded like a good idea, but I'm telling you it is not.
SPEAKER_00: He pulls them aside.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Greek word that's used here is proslumbano.
SPEAKER_00: It literally means to pull one aside to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Likely what Peter did was physically grab Jesus to take him away for a private audience.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus, I really don't want to embarrass you in front of the rest of the guys.
SPEAKER_00: Can we talk over here for a minute?
SPEAKER_00: Just come on over.
SPEAKER_00: Pulls Jesus aside so we can have this private conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And the language that's used is a strong language, this strong encounter.
SPEAKER_00: The word for rebuke, when it says he took him aside and began to rebuke him, it's the same word that's used earlier in Matthew for Jesus stilling the storms and casting out demons.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same word that's used of Peter rebuking Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's telling the Lord, this has to stop.
SPEAKER_00: It's a word that's used for cease and desist.
SPEAKER_00: I am commanding you to cease and desist right now.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like take that thought out of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: This has to stop.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you've gone too far this time.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter also attempts to bring God's character into the picture.
SPEAKER_00: As if he had a better idea of God's plan than Jesus did, who, by the way, is God, just in case you forgot, right?
SPEAKER_00: He says, uh, God forbid it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: God forbid this.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, far be it from you in some of your translations.
SPEAKER_00: What's attempting uh to be translated here is this idea that God is more gracious than that Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you're not thinking correctly about the character of God.
SPEAKER_00: God forbid that anything like that would ever happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: Perish the thought.
SPEAKER_00: And another way that Peter strengthens this is uh he just doesn't say, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's the the double negative in the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, this shall never, never happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Never, never, never.
SPEAKER_00: I'm absolutely sure about this, absolutely certain.
SPEAKER_00: This shall never happen to you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you'd have to believe that somewhere in the middle of all that, that there was a true affection for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You know, some attempt to protect Jesus from shame and disgrace.
SPEAKER_00: But all of that would have run contrary to what Jesus just said is what must happen.
SPEAKER_00: This must happen this way.
SPEAKER_00: I'm determined for it to happen.
SPEAKER_00: It's the prediction of the scriptures, it's the only hope of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter says, no, no, no, no, that's that's not the plan.
SPEAKER_00: That is not the plan.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter might have meant well, but what Peter was actually doing was picking up Satan's lies and using it against the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He was actually at this time being Satan's mouthpiece.
SPEAKER_00: And anytime we oppose the clear direction and will of God, we're doing the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: We're picking up Satan's lines and singing it for him.
SPEAKER_00: There's this unexpected restriction, unexpected revelation, this unexpected rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 23, there's an unexpected response.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.
SPEAKER_00: And we we might have expected Jesus to kind of tone it down, maybe just a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: You know, to say, you know, hey, hey, Peter, you know, oh, you have little faith.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I I know you're mean well, you know, can I can I pull you aside?
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, since we're already here in private anyway, you pulled me away from everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's let's just kind of talk about this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're you're really not understanding the full plan.
SPEAKER_00: How long am I gonna have to explain this?
SPEAKER_00: You know, that that's not what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: He he he strongly comes against Peter with this response and and directs this word at him that he doesn't direct to any other disciple.
SPEAKER_00: Get behind me, Satan! What did he mean by that?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, did Satan enter into Peter's heart like he did to Judas at the Last Supper?
SPEAKER_00: You know, Luke 22, verse 3 lets us know that Satan actually entered into Judas Iscariot.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, is that what happened here?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that that's what's going on here at all.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Jesus in John 17 and verse 15 specifically prays that his own would be kept from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: In uh Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13, Jesus, uh the word of God says that uh we've been transferred from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his son.
SPEAKER_00: We've been released from that captivity.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 John chapter 5 and verse 18, it lets us know that the evil one does not touch him, referring to the believer.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not here that Satan physically entered into Peter.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the idea.
SPEAKER_00: So what's what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: It's not Satan entering into Peter's heart, but it was Satan filling Peter's heart with his own selfish desires.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what Jesus says when he calls Peter Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this again, verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: He turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests but man's.
SPEAKER_00: You're not setting your mind on what I desire.
SPEAKER_00: You're not setting your mind on what God desires.
SPEAKER_00: Like what you're actually setting your mind on are things that are fleshly, self-preserving, self-protecting, self-promoting, and those things don't belong to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter told the Lord, no, no, no, this shall never happen to you, he may not have realized it, but what he was actually speaking from was his own desires.
SPEAKER_00: Your desires are on your interests, man's interests, not on God's interests.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he said, get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter was saying, Lord, this can't happen to you, he's speaking from his own fleshly desires.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, this can't happen to you because, Lord, going to the cross wouldn't serve you, and serving yourself is actually good.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, because that's what I want.
SPEAKER_00: You know, so I don't want anything for you that I don't want for myself.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't want that, so Lord, I don't want that for you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, that can't happen because that doesn't preserve you, and preserving yourself is a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we we wouldn't want that for you because that's my interest.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's what I would want to be preserved.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that can't happen to you because that doesn't, I mean, going to the cross, that's shameful.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that doesn't promote you, that doesn't exalt you, and exalting yourself is is good.
SPEAKER_00: So this is how he's speaking.
SPEAKER_00: It was really Peter's own selfish, fleshly desires projected onto Christ, and he couldn't imagine Jesus wanting anything different than he would want.
SPEAKER_00: But that was of no help to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Jesus says, Your ideas are like a hindrance to me.
SPEAKER_00: You're in my way.
SPEAKER_00: It's a stumbling block to me.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, that word stumbling black was the trap that was set for for an animal, you know, to trigger a trap to, you know, like a you put a little piece of uh bait, you know, in a trap, and when the animal comes to grab the bait, that the the trap closes in on them.
SPEAKER_00: He says, you know, that that that's like a little piece of meat there that's trying to trap me.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're you're you're stumbling black to me.
SPEAKER_00: If I if I went for that, if I thought that way, I'd be trapped by that.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You're you're stumbling black to me, Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And what you need to do right now is get behind me.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus uses the same words here for Peter that he did for Satan back in Matthew chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Get behind me, Satan, depart from me.
SPEAKER_00: Get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus was being offered by Peter is the same thing that Satan offered to Jesus, to have the kingdom without the cross.
SPEAKER_00: You can have the crown without the cross.
SPEAKER_00: You know, all you got to do is just, you know, bow down right here and worship me.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you everything.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't you don't need to do it the hard way.
SPEAKER_00: We can do this easy.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go to the cross for that.
SPEAKER_00: Satan attempted to give Jesus the crown without the cross.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Satan was attempting to do.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that it was not Satan's plan for Jesus to go to the cross?
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't Satan's plan.
SPEAKER_00: Satan did all that he could to keep Jesus from going to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And it's only after that didn't work that he tried to make the cross so cruel that Jesus would change his mind about being on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: That was Satan's plan.
SPEAKER_00: That's Satan's plan.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 27, verse 40.
SPEAKER_00: You might have missed this before, but just listen to some of these verses, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 27, verse 40.
SPEAKER_00: You have the, those who are at the bottom of the cross, religious leaders.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 40 saying, You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
SPEAKER_00: If you are the Son of God, do what?
SPEAKER_00: Come down from the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Don't stay up there, come down from the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 27, verse 42.
SPEAKER_00: It says, He saved others, he cannot save himself.
SPEAKER_00: He is the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 15, verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: Let this Christ, the king of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe.
SPEAKER_00: And those who were crucified with him were also insulting him.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 23.
SPEAKER_00: The soldiers in verse 36, the soldiers who mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Now there was also an inscription above him, this is the king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abyss at him, saying, Are you not the Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Save yourself and us.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that this is coming from every possible angle that it can come from?
SPEAKER_00: The religious leader saying, Come down.
SPEAKER_00: The soldiers saying, Come down.
SPEAKER_00: The thief on the cross saying, Come down.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's saying, Jesus, don't do this, don't go through with this.
SPEAKER_00: Come down, come down, come down.
SPEAKER_00: It was never Satan's plan to keep Jesus on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he knew that the cross was a death sentence for him.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 says, When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which is hostile to us.
SPEAKER_00: He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him.
SPEAKER_00: The cross is where Jesus triumphed.
SPEAKER_00: So why would Jesus be so determined to go to the cross if that wasn't the plan of God?
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't Satan's plan for Jesus to be on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: That was God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: And it was at the cross that Satan was defeated and our salvation was secured.
SPEAKER_00: So Satan was filling Peter's mouth with his plan.
SPEAKER_00: My plan is not for Jesus to go to the cross, and he fills Peter's heart with his plan.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that the attacks of Satan, when we think about, you know, satanic attacks, do you know that it's uh it comes in ways that are much more harmless than we think about?
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes we think about, you know, where is Satan working?
SPEAKER_00: You know, you might think about, you know, the somewhere out in the woods and people making a sacrifice out in the woods somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's where Satan's at work.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know where Satan's at work?
SPEAKER_00: Every time you have a selfish desire, every time you oppose the will of God and say that, you know what, I'd I'd really like to preserve myself here, and I'll do that instead of sacrificing myself for the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's Satan at work right there.
SPEAKER_00: Every time you want to promote yourself, instead of honoring and lifting up the cross of Jesus Christ, that's that's Satan at work.
SPEAKER_00: Every time when you have an opportunity to speak about Jesus, and you know, that's not gonna promote me in this sense.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh people might come against me because I I lift up the cross of Christ and I'll I'll keep my mouth shut about the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That is Satan at work right there.
SPEAKER_00: The attacks of Satan are much more common than we think and much more harmless.
SPEAKER_00: They look much more harmless than we think they would.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know where a satanic attack is, you just need to ask yourself do I have self-preserving, self-serving, and self-promoting desires in opposition to the cross of Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the work of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: One of my uh friends uh went home to be with the Lord a number of years ago, uh Beth Quinn, uh wife of uh Lance Quinn.
SPEAKER_00: I served with him in ministry for a number of years in uh Little Rock.
SPEAKER_00: And uh in her years as she was passing, and uh right before she passed, I had an opportunity to sit down and talk with her and to say, you know, is there anything that's just kind of made more clear to you during this time as you know that you're soon to meet with the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: She said, uh, as I look around, sometimes I go to the mall, sometimes I just watch people.
SPEAKER_00: And she says that uh people just have no real sense of eternity because they're so focused on the here and now.
SPEAKER_00: They're so busy serving themselves, promoting themselves, pampering themselves.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they go to the mall and they spend all kinds of time, you know, picking out just the right thing for themselves without a care about Jesus Christ, about what's eternal, about what's reality.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, and Satan just loves it so, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: He just loves it when we focus on everything else but what's most important, what's most central.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we get off track because we're not holding on to and lifting up the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We start to focus on ourselves, we serve ourselves, we promote ourselves, we preserve ourselves instead of lifting high the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You need to ask yourself that question.
SPEAKER_00: Am I truly holding up the cross?
SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to sacrifice myself for him?
SPEAKER_00: Which leads us into the next section here.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the unexpected requirement.
SPEAKER_00: Unexpected requirement.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus is heading to the cross and I'm following him, guess where I'm heading?
SPEAKER_00: I'm heading to the cross as well, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm heading to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, if you're going to be my follower, do you know what that means for you?
SPEAKER_00: That means that you're preparing yourself to sacrifice yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're preparing yourself to die.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: If you're really following after me, you're preparing yourself for death.
SPEAKER_00: It might be unexpected to us, but it makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25, whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
SPEAKER_00: For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
SPEAKER_00: Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you've come here today and you've you've heard about Christianity, you've heard about Christ, you've heard about the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe one of the things that's holding you back from truly following after Jesus Christ is you know what, I'm not ready for the sacrifice though.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like forgiveness of sins, eternal life, that all sounds great to me, but you know, all this, you know, picking up your cross business and uh denying myself and giving my will over to another as the the Lord of my life, I mean, that's what holds me back.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember for for me, uh, before I came to the Lord, that that is the that was the crux of the issue right there.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to give up control.
SPEAKER_00: Because I I really like myself.
SPEAKER_00: I I do want to preserve myself, I want to promote myself, I want to protect myself.
SPEAKER_00: But what Christ is asking me to do is to deny myself and give up myself.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm asking you to do today is to think about the alternative.
SPEAKER_00: If if you try to save your life on this side of eternity, you will lose it forever.
SPEAKER_00: And some people are making a horrible exchange.
SPEAKER_00: I'd rather keep my life now, preserve my life now, promote my life now, and lose it for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: It's not worth it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not worth it in the end.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of us who who have followed after Jesus Christ, you've repented of your sins, you've trusted in Jesus Christ, it's a lifelong walk within, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It's a lifelong walk of commitment, of denial.
SPEAKER_00: I love the poem by Amy Carmichael.
SPEAKER_00: She says, Hast thou no scar?
SPEAKER_00: No hidden scar on foot or side or hand?
SPEAKER_00: I hear thee sung as mighty in the land.
SPEAKER_00: I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star, but hast thou no scar?
SPEAKER_00: Hast thou no wound?
SPEAKER_00: Yet I was wounded by the archer spent, leaned me against the tree to die in rent, by a ravening beast that compassed me, I swooned.
SPEAKER_00: Hast thou no wound?
SPEAKER_00: No wound?
SPEAKER_00: No scar?
SPEAKER_00: Yet as the master shell the servant be, and pierced are the feet that follow me, but thine are whole.
SPEAKER_00: Can he have followed far who has no wound?
SPEAKER_00: No scar?
SPEAKER_00: Following after Jesus Christ, if you're truly following after Jesus Christ, it's the way to the cross, amen?
SPEAKER_00: It's the way to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go before the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, so much for this time that we've had in your word.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Father, we pray that you would allow your word to speak to us, Lord, and that we wouldn't shield ourselves and hide ourselves from the impact of these words.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Father, may we be those who lift high the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For your name's sake, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: area, I would love to meet you personally at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our service times and other church information is on our website at ibc.church.
SPEAKER_01: If you want information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: location, go to tms.edu.
SPEAKER_01: I hope this resource has been an encouragement to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: May the Lord bless you.