Amen. Turn with me in your Bible to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 16. We'll begin in verse 21. Today, we are going to discuss Jesus teaching on what it means to follow him. Churches across the globe today are filled with people gathered together who profess that they are Christians. And yet, many of them have never actually followed Christ. Many people gather to hear a message that Jesus came to give them, as one popular preacher of our day says, their best life now. that Jesus died so that we could inherit lots of stuff, a good marriage, a fat paycheck. I once had an elder rebuke me for not preaching this message. Some of the elders I've had in a different denomination wanted me to tell everyone that if they just came to our church, God would love them and they would have a great marriage and a lot of money. But that's That's not what Christianity is about. You and I know this. Back in Jesus day, there were many who followed Jesus for the same reason. Do you remember? The feeding of the five thousand, what happened right after Jesus fed five thousand people with one boy's lunch, perhaps five thousand men and their families, the next day they all came back. wanting more food. And Jesus talked to them and he told them, I didn't come so that you could just have physical bread, I came to offer you myself and. I am the bread of life. But most of them stopped following him. Because they didn't want Jesus, they just wanted his blessings. But lest we think that we ourselves are never affected by this type of thinking, let us consider carefully Jesus teaching about what it looks like to follow him. Remember, Peter made the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God before Jesus died, and Peter denied knowing Him three times. Even for believers, who are true believers, who have a true confession of faith, this charge that we are going to read applies to us. We shouldn't take it for granted that we are following Jesus well today. But we seek to listen to God's word in Matthew, chapter 16, beginning in verse 21. 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. Now, just a note here. Remember when The angels talked to the women who came to the tomb after he was raised. They told the women, Jesus is not here. He is risen just as he said. But somehow the disciples had forgotten. So the fact is that as Jesus is telling the disciples this thing that we're reading right here, it didn't sink in. They didn't understand it. They thought perhaps that this was another one of his parables, one of the stories he shares to illustrate some theoretical truth, some idea. Not that Jesus was actually physically going to be killed and was then going to rise from the dead, if they had listened and believed, if they had understood this, they wouldn't have despaired when he went to the cross. Let's keep reading. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, rebuke Jesus of all people, 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 are 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 whomever 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. Let us pray. Father in heaven, your word is sometimes heavy. Sometimes it challenges us and calls us to places we maybe wouldn't like to go. But you love us. You love us with an everlasting love, a love that never ends, a love that is so deep we will never plumb its depths, a love that we cannot comprehend, a love that can carry us through messages like this one that call us to do something hard, impossible, beyond us. So we pray, Father, that as you speak through the power of your Spirit to us in this passage today, that you will plant our feet firmly in your love for us, that we will know that your grace covers all our sins, all our shortcomings, every time we fail to hit the mark of your perfection. But in the midst of that love, Father, we pray that you would discipline us as a loving father disciplines his children, that you would instruct us, that you would teach us, that you would guide us on Your path of righteousness, for Your name's sake, for Your glory. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I think about this text and what we have just read, the first word that comes to my mind is, Wow! How would you have liked to have been the one who rebuked Jesus telling him he would not die on a cross, only to have Jesus tell you, get behind me, Satan. It would crush me. And then to have this text recorded in the scriptures for everybody to read throughout church history. It would not have been fun to have been Peter on that day. And yet, God loved Peter. And God loved each person who was there that day. And this text, if Jesus hadn't resisted, if he hadn't called out Satan there, if he hadn't taken the stand that he had taken, then he wouldn't have stood up against the temptation of the devil. And he wouldn't be our perfect Savior, and we wouldn't be saved. But God loves us. And God loved Peter enough that day to rebuke Peter and to show him directly where the thoughts of his heart and the motivations of his heart were not from God, but from Satan. And he rebuked him. And then he took the opportunity to instruct all who were there on this very key difference of understanding about what it means to follow Jesus. from what Satan wanted Peter and the disciples to believe, and what the world wants, versus God's call on our lives and God's kingdom, which is far better. Because Satan would have us believe that Jesus came for your best life now. disciples, as you probably know, were following Jesus in the hope that he would have an earthly, physical kingdom, that he would be just like King David, that he would have a new throne in the center of Jerusalem, that they would kick out the Romans, that that Israel would be glorious and wealthy and that the 12 disciples would get to sit next to Jesus and rule over the land and be part of that kingdom. But when Jesus talks about kingdom, as you know, that's not what he was talking about. And here Jesus draws a line in the sand, so to speak, for the disciples and says to them, if your thinking is what Satan would have you to think, if your thinking is that prosperity in this world and all that this world has to offer is what it means to follow me, then that is not who I am and you have no part in the real Jesus. You have no part in God's plan. Instead, you have to understand that to follow me means you take up your cross, you die to yourself, and you come with me. It's not glorious. It's shameful. It's not prosperity and health and wealth. It's death and poverty. It is not this life, it's the next. Hebrews tells us that it was for the joy set before him that Jesus endured the cross, the joy of our redemption, the joy of being united with him for eternity, not for anything in this world. I want us to see three things, and none of what I just said was even in my text. But there are three things I want us to see this morning. First of all, when Jesus ministered to the disciples, he traded the comfort of agreement for the truth which frees. He traded the comfort of agreement for truth that would free the disciples. And as we follow Jesus, so must we. Don't seek the comfort of agreement. Seek the truth that frees. From that time, Jesus began, it says, to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes. These are the religious leaders of his day. These are the pastors. These are the synod members. The elders, the Presbytery, these are the rightful authorities that God's word has set up in his day. And yet the people sitting in those positions are going to crucify Jesus. But when Peter comes and says to Jesus, no, you're not going to be killed, you're not going to be betrayed. then Jesus does not hug Peter and say, well, let's agree to disagree. He doesn't say to Peter, well, I think we need to have a gentle conversation, and I should just show you a little bit of a different perspective. Jesus recognizes that there's a threat here, that what is on the line is not only Jesus following the plan of God, but the core gospel truths that every one of the disciples who are there today who would be the apostles needed to accept. And so he says, get behind me, Satan. Now, in our church today, you will rarely hear anybody condemn another leader in the church as teaching a false gospel, a heresy, a doctrine of demons, of being possessed of the ideals of Satan, or perhaps of even representing Satan himself. And yet Jesus says to Peter, who is a saint, who has already made a public profession that Jesus is Lord, get behind me, Satan. He doesn't mince words. This is not to say we should be unloving. It is to say that oftentimes those who are the most loving do not mince words when they see danger. If you're asleep in your bed and you are heavily medicated because you just had a surgery yesterday, and you are not really aware of what's going on and a firefighter breaks down the door and you are terrified and he rips you out of the bed and runs out of the house with you, you might be angry and you might say, this firefighter doesn't care about me at all. And you might even try to hit him. But what he may be doing is saving you from a burning building that is collapsing around you because he loves you. Jesus loved Peter enough to use the appropriate words to get his attention and call him to repentance from a very deeply ingrained misunderstanding. Not only a misunderstanding, a deeply ingrained false gospel. And this is what it took. Get behind me, Satan. As some of you know, I was run off from the last church I served, not by the congregation, but by a committee, a session. One of the things that they told me was the reason they were running me off was because I preached messages that were relevant to the congregation. That's a direct quote. You preached messages relevant to the congregation. It isn't comfortable. When you love people enough to tell them a truth that they don't want to hear, sometimes you too will be rejected. I think that's part of what Jesus is saying to the disciples here today. You must take up your cross and follow me. You too will be rejected. You too will be run off. You too will be ashamed. by others, even the religious leaders, the elders, the chief priests, the scribes are the ones who killed Jesus. And Jesus says to the disciples, if you would follow me, you must also take up your cross. Jesus actively, intentionally, decisively taught his disciples the gospel as is contrary to the doctrine of demons. that fills many churches today. When the text says that Jesus began to show them these things, we're to understand that Jesus is actually taking them through Old Testament teachings. He was showing them. Where does He show them? How does Jesus show the disciples? What does it mean? He is reminding them of the Psalms, of the prophecies of the Old Testament that said that the Messiah would come, he would be the Lamb of God. He's showing them what he later says in Matthew, that all of the Old Testament speaks of him and his ministry. He began to show them these things. The only authority that we have to proclaim truth is the word of God. Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness? Three times he has tempted Jesus, God himself, the revelation of God, the word of God, as John puts it. But when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, what is the first thing that he does every time he's tempted? He quotes. the Old Testament. He quotes the scriptures. Our authority comes from the Word of God. Any truth that we cling to comes from the Word of God. Any basis upon which to rebuke someone else would come, should come only from the Word of God. But when The word of God is brought to our attention and others rebuke us. We must submit to God's word. But as we go through that process of choosing to seek the truth of the scriptures rather than the comfort of of a surface level agreement. We will be persecuted because there are many out there who don't want to hear or follow God's word. Second of all, Jesus responsibly shared the gospel. Peter thought he was doing Jesus a favor. I'm convinced that that in Peter's mind, when he pulls Jesus aside and says, you will not go and die. Peter is thinks he's doing something caring and loving and compassionate for Jesus. He didn't want Jesus to speak about suffering and dying, and today in many churches, Around the world, there are people who don't want to talk about suffering and dying. Peter, of course, was speaking from evil within his heart, masquerading as love. He selfishly wanted Jesus to sit on a throne with riches and glory so that he could sit with him and enjoy those same riches and glory. He didn't want to sit with Jesus in sorrow. and persecution and death. Peter wasn't able to hear the part about Jesus rising from the dead. He wasn't able to get to the glory of the resurrection and of God's plan. He got stuck on the cross. And beloved, this happens when you talk to people about Jesus, people get stuck on the cross. They can't hear the part about heaven. They can't hear the part about the resurrection. What they what they get stuck on is how can you how dare you tell me that I am a sinner so wicked that Jesus had to die, that God had to die for me? How can you how can you tell me that? So unloving, they'll say, so unkind, so judgmental. Peter got stuck. Jesus, what was that? The cross? No, you can't go to the cross. But Jesus wasn't depressed. He wasn't he wasn't suicidal. He wasn't he didn't he wasn't a a intentional and and narcissistic martyr. He wasn't a masochist. Jesus was part of God's plan, the only plan for the redemption of the world, the only plan that would result in people being saved. And so Peter couldn't understand. the resurrection or Jesus' motivation in sharing with them that he was going to suffer and die. Jesus didn't tell this to the disciples so that they would weep with him. He told it to the disciples to prepare them because the day was coming when they would be tested, when Jesus would be crucified, when they would have a choice. Do we run or do we stay? And Jesus wanted them to know this is part of God's plan. Something did not go wrong. This is what God's doing to save the world from their sins. Don't lose your faith when persecution comes. But Jesus took that opportunity as soon as it came up to tell Peter that is a false gospel of prosperity. The gospel is I'm going to die. And then God is going to raise me from the dead. And you can be raised too. He took the opportunity. It's not a warm, fuzzy, welcoming message. But it's truth. Peter probably didn't like the gospel he was hearing. If you had asked Peter in that moment whether he thought these words of Jesus were good news, He would have said no. This is not the gospel. This is not good news. Jesus, you're going to die. Everything that I lived for, everything that I thought was Christianity, it's not true. This isn't gospel news. I wonder what would happen if somebody walked up to Joel Osteen and said to him, let's have a conversation. some pastor, and Joel Osteen began to tempt him to preach a prosperity gospel, your best life now. And that pastor, and let's say it's televised, and that pastor responded, he was feeling tempted, and he responded to Joel Osteen and said, get behind me, Satan. This is not God's plan. This is not the gospel. You are tempting me and you are a hindrance to me. What would the world say? What would the church say? They would crucify that guy. They'd run him off. The headlines would be, so-called preacher filled with the hatred of Satan, rebukes man of God. The world gets it all backwards. One of the best badges of honor I had from the church, the last church I served, said there were somebody who said to me, You've turned this church into a church of hatred. And at first, when she said this, I was shocked and horrified. You know, what did I do wrong? So I asked her, what do you mean? And her response was, you're telling people that they need to trust in Jesus to be saved. You're telling people that they need to share the gospel with their neighbors. How dare you be so hateful as to think that someone else is going to hell, that God would judge somebody just because they don't believe what you believe. And I asked this person, why do you think Jesus was crucified? Why do you think he went to the cross? But there was no answer for that. But here's the point. If you're in the world and you're sharing the gospel, you're telling people about Jesus, they will persecute you. They will lie about you. Jesus didn't care. Jesus loved his disciples enough that even if some of the 12 had left him that day and said, we're not following you to the cross, Jesus. He was still going to tell them the truth because it was the only hope that they had. Jesus traded the temporary safety of going with the crowd for the permanent safety of embracing God's plan of going to the cross and trusting in his father and the spirit to raise him from the dead. And we must trade temporary safety on this earth for the safety of the cross. of a life lived in sacrifice before the Lord, that we too might enjoy the resurrection. Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whomever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. You know, there's a lot of hard teachings in the gospel of Matthew. A lot of hard teachings. They should bring us to our knees. They should remind us of the reason that we gather every Sunday morning. The reason that we need to be in prayer every day. Because we need the help of the Spirit to live a Christian life. It's not possible on our own. It should also remind you of this. God doesn't call us to do anything He didn't do Himself. And He doesn't call us to do anything He doesn't empower us to do. That's grace. Grace and love and mercy. When I read this text and I evaluate my life, am I willing and ready and able to take up my cross and follow Jesus? The answer is no. 15, 20 years ago the answer was yes. Today, the answer is no, I'm not ready. And you know the difference? 15 or 20 years ago, I tried to do it on my own and I failed. Today, I get down on my knees and I admit, Jesus, I need your help. Because I can't carry this cross. I can't live this life. My heart is weak. My sins are many. My selfishness runs far deeper than I understood 15, 20 years ago. There's more sin in our hearts that is hidden from our sight than there is sin that we've ever been able to see. And yet, Jesus tells us the truth. He gives us the invitation. And remember, Jesus talks about the faith of a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain. If we trust in Jesus, even a little, He'll give us the strength to do what's required in taking up our cross to follow Him. But that's the cost. We have to count the cost. You know, sometimes you may have taken a train ride or got on an airplane to go across the country. Before you did, did you Did you pick the train or the airplane that was going to the destination you wanted? Did you count the number of dollars that it was going to take and and pay that amount of money up front so you could get on that plane or that train? What Jesus is doing for the disciples here is he's saying, look, I'm like a train or an airplane, I'm going in a certain direction and I want you to know where it is I'm going and what it's going to cost you to come with me. It's not that you can do it on your own, but if you get on this journey, if you get on this plane, I will take you there, but it's going to cost you your life. You're going to be laughed at. You're going to be scorned. You're going to lose jobs. People are not going to pay you. You're going to be lied about. You're going to be persecuted because of me. Along the journey, you will die. But the destination is the resurrection. The destination is eternal life. If you seek to save your life, if you seek to escape with all your stuff and your pride and your best life now, you will not have been on that train with me. And you won't get to the destination that I'm going to. So trade this temporary life, the temporary safety of going with the crowd, of being popular, of being silent and not sharing your faith, of not taking a stand for the gospel and avoiding the public eye or or anything that is uncomfortable. Instead, spend your life honoring me, publicly associating with me. Endure the suffering and do as Jesus did. Lay down your life for the joy set before you of being with Jesus for all of eternity. The cross, as you know, is a symbol of guilt and shame. Who dies on a cross? The worst of criminals, the worst murderers and rapists, the worst traitors, only those who should be shamed. The scum of the earth. They're the ones who take up the cross. That's why the Roman soldiers marched them in front of the crowds and everyone boos and everyone scorns and everyone tells their children, see how terrible that person is. Don't be like them. They made an example of that's what happens to Christians who truly follow Jesus. The world will hate us. There are two times when we must take up our cross to follow Jesus. we've been talking about in front of other people as a testimony. But there's another time, and that is when we have sinned. We've all sinned. We confess in the Westminster Standards that we sin daily in thoughts and in word and in deed, and it's biblical. I mean, 1 John, John tells us that if you confess your sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive you your sins. But it goes on to say, if you don't confess your sins, and this is an ongoing tense in the Greek, if you don't continue to confess your sins and your need of a savior, then you aren't forgiven. And you don't know Jesus. And you call God a liar. One of the ways we take up our cross to follow Jesus is that we recognize that unlike Jesus, we deserve the cross. Unlike Jesus, we admit to the world and to each other and publicly we confess that we are sinners. Apart from the grace of God, we would rightly, justly be sent to hell, condemned to burn for all of eternity. But Jesus paid the price for us. That's taking up your cross, beloved. Because when we make that confession to the world and we say, I am a sinner in need of a savior, the world will hate you. They will throw stones at you. They will curse you. They will not want to do business with you. They will lie about you. Why? Because they hate the truth that they are also a sinner in need of a Savior, because they don't want to bow their knee to Jesus as their Lord, as their King, and they don't want to acknowledge their sin and their shame and their need for a Savior. They're too proud. And when we confess our sins, what is salvation to us is condemnation to them. The cross was also full of suffering and death. You know the one, the number one reason people don't want to share their faith? They don't want to take up their cross. They don't want to suffer. We don't want to suffer. It's hard enough to be rejected. If you go knock on your neighbor's door and you say, hey, I'd like to tell you about Jesus. And then they slam the door in your face. That's rejection and that hurts. But I just tried to buy a business, I went down to this big association I was looking to purchase a business and it wasn't offered to me. And I think that, and they said it was because it's a bad culture, bad cultural fit. I'm convinced that the reason it's a bad cultural fit is because I'm not getting drunk on the weekends and boasting about doing things with other women I shouldn't be doing. And I don't fit the culture. That's minor. It's a loss of financial opportunity. It's minor. It doesn't affect my family that much, but it will affect you and me over a lifetime as we follow Christ and the world hates us or just doesn't want to associate with us or doesn't want to do business with us. This is not the path to prosperity today. There's another way in which taking up our cross maybe is a little bit more difficult for good, conservative, evangelical, reformed, mature churchgoers. And that is that oftentimes when somebody is seeking to do what is right, and maybe they tell the truth to somebody in their congregation, maybe a neighbor, a friend, a brother, sister, and that person rejects it, He gets bent out of shape and feels personally hurt, confronted but personally hurt, feels rebuked like Peter felt rebuked by Jesus. Then that person may go and slander the first person. They may talk behind their backs about them. They might not recognize what they're doing, but they're spreading lies. about someone who loved them. This happens every day in the church. Surely it doesn't happen here, but it has happened. I've seen it as a pastor over the years. I've served in about five different congregations as a pastor on staff, and I've seen it in pretty much every one of them at some level where somebody is attempting to love somebody, but they tell the truth and the truth is not well received. And as a consequence, there is gossip and slander because the person whose feelings were hurt wanted to be justified. Taking up our cross sometimes means enduring being lied about and offering grace and love and mercy even in that context. I don't think any of us here probably believe the prosperity gospel, but I'll just say that Jesus obviously traded the wealth of this world for the wealth of the next. Jesus could have been king of Jerusalem. Not only did Satan tempt him and say, I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth, In John four, Jesus said, no, I'm going to receive from my father what he plans for me in his time. I'm not going to worship you in exchange for these kingdoms. But also, if you'll recall later on when the crowds on the one week before Jesus is crucified, the crowds gather and they sing Hosanna. And they put down palm branches. And here is the king, Jesus. And Jesus rides in on a bull that's never been ridden to the center of the city. The ride, the journey that is traditionally for the conquering king. And when he gets there, it's expected that he's going to have a coronation ceremony. He's going to be crowned. They're going to put a crown on his head. And then he is going to rule. And he is going to take over the local governments. But when Jesus gets to the center of town, what does he do? He turns around and goes home. And that's what sparks the anger in the city of Jerusalem that you see a week later when they stand up and they cry out, crucify him. He disappointed us. Jesus could have had all the wealth of Jerusalem, could have had all the wealth of the world, but he traded it for heaven. And so must we. Jesus doesn't call us to chase money. He calls us to chase him, to take up our cross means we do not live for comfort. We do not live for prosperity or a middle class lifestyle in a culture and a country that is increasingly opposed to God publicly, that increasingly is opposed to God's morals, God's ethics, God's name, even a recognition of God as a general generic God is being opposed in our culture and a culture in which We are headed quickly to a place where children are removed from the homes of parents who do not agree with the social liberalism and progressive, godless ethics of our day. It will be increasingly impossible to live a normal, happy, middle-class life and follow Jesus. But that's okay, because Jesus didn't call us to do those things. He calls us to follow Him, to take up our cross, to trust in Him, and to live for the next life, and to lay down our lives and our comforts today to the glory of God. And let me just remind you in closing that we can't do this without the Spirit of God empowering us and working in our hearts and through us, giving us the fruit of salvation Jesus offers us in His death and resurrection. Let's pray. Father, You are God. You created all things. You hold the universe in Your hands. Jesus, You have called us to this impossible mission There's not one of us here who wants to jump up and take a cross and march in front of the whole city naked and ashamed and go and bleed and die. Everything inside of us screams no. But you call us to this because it's the only way to follow Jesus. And we thank you, Jesus. We thank you that you don't leave us to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit, you are the one who empowers us. You're the one who convicts us. You're the one who who creates in us a desire to love you, a desire to speak the truth and the endurance to continue carrying the cross when people spit at us and whip us and beat us and make fun of us and persecute us, whatever that looks like in our lives today. Father, I ask that you would strengthen your church, every one of us today, because we'll all fail apart from you. Strengthen us, fill us with the Spirit of God, the courage and the wisdom that we need, and the desire and the will to do it, so that we can follow you, Jesus, wherever you go, wherever you lead. Resting in you, even as the world hates us, persecutes us, and condemns us, because we associate with you, Jesus. We ask for this grace today, for the strength that only comes from you, so that we would know it's not our power. There's nothing we can boast in. It's you. Any good thing that we do is you, and there are so many bad things that we do that we can take no credit. But we thank you for taking care of our sins. for dying to pay for them and we thank you that when you call us to die for the gospel, sake of the gospel proclamation, that you go with us, you go before us, you give us the courage that we need and the strength and the grace. We thank you for that. And I ask Father that you would encourage our hearts with your love because we know that when there is a difficult call, we have to receive your love. We have to know that you love us. if we're going to even be able to hear these words from you. So we pray that you would assure our hearts of your love and strengthen and encourage us today.