Our scripture reading for this morning kind of carries on where we left off last week in Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 24, but I'll start in verse 13 because of the context in which this passage comes to us. Listen, for this is the word of the Lord. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 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 on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. As for the reading of God's word, may he bless it to us. Please be seated. Like I said last time, I really love this passage of the Bible. This really serves as something of a turning point or a high point in Matthew's Gospel. As the Gospel of Matthew takes us from the birth of Christ to his crucifixion and to his resurrection, This passage really serves as something of a turning point as Jesus identifies who he is, and he gets his disciples to confess and to see who he is. And then he shares with them what that means. This conversation really serves as a turning point, then, for the entire book. For how does this conversation begin, as we just read? Jesus asks this all-important question to his disciples. Who do you say that I am? Now, he's been giving them the answer to this question through his preaching, through his miraculous ministry, but this is the first time he puts the question to them. In response, Peter speaks up, making the good confession, and he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And we see that the Lord's ministry, his works, his preaching, his miracles has not been in vain. The Holy Spirit has been working, bringing knowledge, bringing understanding to the disciples' hearts. And so this conversation begins with this identity, the identity of Jesus. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. He is the Son of the Living God. He is the promised Son of David. He is the promised Son of Abraham. This is the second Adam who has come to redeem and to restore the people of God. So as Peter reveals the identity of Jesus to us, Jesus responds. He responds by giving us the identity of his church. This church will be built on a firm foundation. It'll be built on the apostolic witness, the Bible that you're holding. is evidence of Christ building his church on the rock of Peter and the apostles. We're told that Jesus will build his church. We're told that even the assaults of death and Hades will not defeat the church. Not even the grave will conquer Christ's kingdom. And from here, Jesus updates his disciples then concerning his mission. They need to know about his identity But they also need to know about his calling, what he is going to do. 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 on the third day be raised. And don't you see the disciples' confusion then in Peter? Having just made the good confession, he gets the identity of Jesus spot on. But now this mission of Christ is just too much. He attempts to take Jesus aside and rebuke him, but Peter ends up being the one rebuked. For as Jesus has just poured blessings upon Peter for understanding what the crowds had not seen, Jesus now calls Peter the enemy, saying, get behind me, Satan. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. And so do you see the flow of this conversation up until this point? We're shown the identity of Christ in bold and clear terms. This leads Jesus to respond with the identity of his church. And so when Jesus begins to describe his own mission and his calling, Doesn't it make sense that this would lead him to describe the mission and calling of his church? And once more we're thrown right back into this amazing contrast. Last week we saw how the identity of Christ and this mission of Christ don't seem to fit. Not even Peter understands the connection and he tries to rebuke Jesus for it. I mean, how can it be that the Lord's chosen Messiah, the deliverer, the redeemer, the son of David, the one promised with an eternal throne, how could he be persecuted and die? How could the son of the living God be handed over then to enemies to be tortured and killed? Shouldn't God be triumphing over his enemies? Doesn't he sit in judgment over the nations? We just sang Psalm 2. Psalm 2 describes what happens when the peoples plot against the Lord and against his anointed. What happens when enemies raise their heads against the Son of God? He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord of hosts holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, terrifying them in his fury, saying, as for me, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I've begotten you. Ask of me, I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. The Lord is not threatened by the threats and schemes of his enemies. So then why is the Son of God, why is the incarnate Lord talking about his death and his defeat at the hands of his enemies. Well, as our Lord reminds Peter, it doesn't make sense to us. If it doesn't make sense to us, it's because we're setting our minds on the things of man and not the things of God. And as our Lord reminds Peter, our Lord is calling us to put on his perspective, to see things from his vantage point, And this brings to mind then a similar contrast just as we are tempted to see this disconnect between the powerful Son of God going to Jerusalem to suffer. It's easy for us to also see a disconnect between the identity of the church as Jesus has just described her, and then this calling of the church as those who follow Jesus by taking up a cross. Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Perhaps we've heard these verses before, but this should be incredibly startling. I mean, what has the Lord just promised? He has just promised that he will build his church. He has just promised that the gates of hell will not withstand against his church. This means, of course, that the world in which Christ is building his church is dangerous. That there are winds that sweep through and would attempt to collapse the church. That there are enemies who would attempt to tear down the church. that the very gates of Hades, the place of death and the grave would attempt to swallow the church. And given then this dangerous atmosphere, think of all the things the Lord could give to equip the church in this treacherous place. I mean, he has the very access to the powers over heaven and earth, all of creation is subject to his authority. And what weapon does he give? What defense does he give to display his glory? What instrument does he provide to ensure the church's success? He says, take up a cross. He offers worldly defeat, humiliation. He offers the loss of life. and yet he's offering true life. And this absolutely influences the way in which we then follow the Lord. This calls us to abandon our selfish pursuits. Rather than following Christ because of what blessings we might find from his hand, Christ calls us to follow him by giving up those very things that we would hold most dear. Christ calls us to follow him by giving up our very lives for his sake. And yet what our Lord offers is not ultimately death, but life itself. And this causes us to rearrange our priorities. So much of our efforts and energy goes into preserving what health and success we have in this world. So much time and money is spent prolonging comfort and ease. And we so quickly run to our works. We so quickly seek to find our success and our comfort and our pride in what we have done, in what we have accomplished. Even as believers, we find so much rest and security when we're being obedient. Even as believers, we find that we can often look to our own abilities to find comfort and to find our rest. But what Christ is calling us to is something more. He is calling us to true life. To pursue true life that's not found in our stuff or in our abilities, but in following him. So that to follow Christ is to follow him on his way to that cross. As we can see already, Christ's life is marked by the cross. His life has one destination. His ministry is now marching toward that tree. And yet just as decidedly as Jesus is marching toward the cross, our Lord is also marching beyond it. Don't you see, this is why Jesus is directing us to that cross. Because he doesn't operate according to the wisdom of the world. that in trying to save ourselves, we are actually losing our life. In trying to save ourselves, we are bringing judgment upon ourselves. But what the cross of Christ declares is that you cannot do it. The cross of Christ declares that you cannot save yourself. All your best efforts merely bring further judgment. The cross declares that it took the death of the very Son of God himself to save you from your sin. Our own efforts toward salvation are fruitless, which is why Paul can say in Galatians 2, that through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. You see, it's only in Christ's death that we find true forgiveness of our sins. And it's only in Christ's resurrection that we find true hope and true acceptance before our God. Do you see then what Jesus is doing throughout this passage? He is bringing us comfort. Comfort from the cross. That our greatest comfort is not found in avoiding trials or persecutions or problems in this life. That our greatest comfort is found not in lives of ease and a painless existence. but that our greatest comfort is actually found in those trials, in those sufferings, and even in death. That our greatest comfort is in a Savior who didn't buy past the cross, but endured it, and was raised on the third day from it. This is what makes the resurrection such a comfort for us. This is why we gather on the first day of the week, the day Christ was raised from the dead, For the resurrection declares that the injustice, that the suffering that we see and endure now, the death that surrounds us, is not the final word. The resurrection declares that Christ has conquered death and sin itself. The resurrection declares that Christ has claimed us as his own, and that just as he was raised, so will we be raised. Therefore, this is what makes the cross such good news. The resurrection declares that Christ's work was sufficient. That he didn't go to atone for his own death, for his own sin, since he had none. Instead, he went to atone for your sin. And the resurrection proves that he was victorious. Do you see why this goes against the world's way of thinking? Whoever saves his life, he says, will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. That's just not the way the world teaches us to operate. Christ does not promise a life free from suffering and death. He does not promise a path that sidesteps trials and difficulties. Rather, don't you see, he is giving you a life that perseveres through these things, even through death. Now, I forget where I first heard this, but I'm sure you've all heard the saying, even during times of suffering, that God will never give you more than you can handle. Isn't that such a comfort? Isn't that such a soothing platitude, that God's rooting for you, that you can handle it? But think about what Paul prayed. When Paul prayed about the thorn in his flesh, which brought him great suffering, he says three times, I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. What did God say? I know you can do it. You're strong enough. I would never give you more than you can handle, Paul. He says, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, but when I am weak, then I am strong. God is continually giving us more than we can handle, so that we can rest in him. Christ calls us to follow after him, which means that we are called to worship a king who suffers, a king who demonstrates his power through weakness. As Paul again says at 1 Corinthians 1 27, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Do you see who gets the glory in this kind of a deliverance? A deliverance through suffering, through pain, and through weakness. Our Lord is not only comforting us with the weaknesses of this cross, Notice what else he's doing. That by directing us to the cross and therefore by directing us to suffering and pain and death, and then by directing us to the resurrection, what Jesus is ultimately doing in this passage is directing our eyes to himself. Don't you see, this is what defines your life in this world. This is where your true identity is found. Not in the avoidance of suffering, nor is it found in the suffering, in that diagnosis. That is not who you are. Your identity is found in Christ. Your life is not found in what you do or in what you suffer. Instead, your life is to be found in Him. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? What shall a man give in return for his life? Jesus' story does not end with the cross. He didn't just die to show us his love. He didn't just die in some noble quest of martyrdom. His death actually accomplished something. Not just to serve as an example, but actually to triumph over death and the grave. He died in order to crucify our sin and its curse. And having fulfilled his mission, he is given a reward. Here he's already referring to his own coming with judgment, with dominion, with a kingdom. And he's recalling the language of Daniel 7's vision with reference to himself. He refers to himself as the Son of Man. This is an official title from Daniel's revelation in Daniel 7. Referring to this divine champion, Daniel says that, I saw in the night visions, behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. He came to the Ancient of Days, was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Therefore, rather than causing us to speculate as to when Jesus is coming back, we're told that our Lord will return to judge the nations at the end of the age, But he's not giving us a clue here as to when that might be. The coming of the Son of Man, he describes as using this language of Daniel 7. And where is the Son of Man going? Where is he coming in this vision? He's being presented before the Ancient of Days. He's being presented with power, with dominion, with an eternal throne in the very courts of heaven. Jesus' return to earth is but as an extension of the power and the authority he's already been given in his resurrection and his ascension to the Father's right hand. This is why you can talk about these two events as if they're happening simultaneously. He has been raised in perfection. He has been glorified. He has been given a throne and a kingdom over which he now rules. You see, our Lord is not opposed to glory. As we see, he's been given all authority, all glory on heaven and on earth. But how does he wield that authority? How does he empower his church? Is it with the weapons of this world? With crusades, with dominions, with glory? No, as we've seen, the church is being preserved through her death. And in this, we follow the pattern of our Savior. Because we've been given a foolish mission according to the world. That we demonstrate the Lord's power not through power, but through weakness. That we demonstrate the Lord's wisdom not through our own wisdom, but through the foolishness of the cross. And yet this is where true life is truly found. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Therefore, beloved, let us cling to Christ that much more clearly and dearly, that in him we have everything. Christ directs us to himself this morning. May we therefore be emboldened to pick up our own crosses, to follow him, whatever the cost, for his power and glory is hidden from this world, because it looks like weakness, because it looks like death. But by calling us to the cross and to the resurrection, our Lord is causing us to rest in his own finished work. When we face challenges and trials too difficult to bear, we see in our Savior the perfection of his victory. We see the cost of following him, and we see the life we are being given, where he will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Through trials, And through the cross, our Lord is preparing you to taste of the glories of his kingdom. That they may taste bitter for the moment, but they are preparing you for the glories of eternity. So take comfort in the fact that our Lord validates our suffering. He doesn't cover it up or say it's no big deal. He has gone before us, preparing our way through it, knowing that we too will suffer, losing all for the sake of finding it all in Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your presence in the midst of our suffering. We thank you that you are not far from us. You are not simply rooting for us from the sidelines. but that you are at work, even in the most difficult of circumstances, demonstrating your power through weakness. May our strength not cause us to boast. May our frailty not cause us to despair. May we see our neediness, and may we forever praise you for your power and for your glory. We thank you that you are at work even now, preparing that place for us, that you are not slow in your coming, but that your timing is perfect. And so we thank you that while we suffer here and now, while our suffering hurts, we thank you that you have already conquered all of these things in Christ, and that we have such great hope and such great confidence that even in the midst of these sufferings, you are being glorified for your good purposes. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.