Thank you for the opportunity to study. Bless our time. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. We're in Matthew chapter 16. We have done one of the five theological bombshells. This is the parallel passage to Mark chapter eight. And coming up to Mark chapter nine, there's just more information given in Matthew's account than in Mark. And there's a couple of things that's just very, very important. The first theological bombshell, you are the Christ, the son of the God, the living one. Blessed are you, Simon Marjona, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but your father who is in heaven. Here's the second theological bombshell. Matthew chapter 16, verse 18. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." This is the first time that the word church occurs in the Bible, and a future tense is used. Jesus didn't say, I have been building my church since Adam and Eve. He didn't say, I have my church in the Old Testament. He says, I will build not a church, not the church, I will build My church the jewish people did not go to church. They went to temple or they went to synagogue And he they unless he gave them some kind of explanation off to the side. They had no idea Oblivious to what he's talking about the church play a major factor in acts 2 and a major factor up to history to this point Here's the third theological bombshell if you mark your bible Matthew chapter 16 verse 21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, Mark chapter 10, the journey starts, and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day. This is the first time that Jesus talks about his death. Now he has dropped some hints before, but this is the first time specifically. that he talks about his death. This is some chapter. You are the Christ, like you were the Christ, the son of the God, the living one. I will build my church. I am going to die. That's the third theological bombshell. He never talked about his death without talking about the resurrection. The death of Jesus without the resurrection of Jesus is a sad story. The death of Jesus with the resurrection is a triumphant story. Big, big difference. We do not pray to a dead savior. We do not pray to a buried God. We pray to a live savior who has ascended to the right hand of the father on high. Now, instead of saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, here's what Jesus says. Here's our fourth theological bombshell in this chapter. In verse 24 of Matthew 16, then Jesus said to his disciples, if any Jew wishes to come after me, notice back up. He doesn't say if any Jew wishes to come after me. Notice what he says. He doesn't say only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He says, if anyone wishes to follow me, Anyone is very, very broad. Anyone is very, very inclusive. This is part with the Jew and also eventually with the Gentile. It would be a lot more fun to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand because the king would come in and all the kingdom aspect of that. But here's what it's gonna cost you if you were going to be his disciple. This is not secret sensitive material. This is not prosperity gospel. This is not name it and claim it. If anyone wishes to come after me, Matthew 16, 24, let him one of three things. One, deny himself, take up his cross, Luke adds the word daily, and follow me. Three items. It goes against our nature to deny ourself. Deny ourself, take up a cross, follow him. Those were some bombshells, one right after another. And then in Matthew 16 verse five, and I have to apologize for those that were here for a year or so ago, two years ago, I forget the exact timeframe. We have to do some material that's related to the cup and the glory. Some of you have read the cup and the glory. Some of you have not. Louise, have you read the cup and the glory? And you call yourself a Christian. Let me do the follow-up. Have you read The Darkness and the Glory? Everybody knows what to get Louise for Christmas now. I look forward to hearing as you read this. It'll be waiting for you. So for those who were here or who have read The Cup and the Glory, And anyway, we just have to do some things that I have done here in some of the previous sessions. So my apologies ahead of time. This will hopefully stir you up a way of remembrance for the two of you in this room that have read that. And for the others, we'll pray from there. Here comes, we need to ask her. Here we go. Here is our fifth theological bombshell. Verse 27, for the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. You could word it this way. This is the first time that Jesus teaches on the glory of God. And he does so at his return. This would be the end of the age, Matthew 13. The end of the age, he is returning in the glory of God because he is the second member of the Godhead. So these are five theological bombshells. You are the Christ and you are the Christ, the son of the living God. I will build my church. I am going to die. Here's the cost of following me. I am going to return in the glory of God with his angels, which are also my angels. He doesn't say so at the time. And then he says, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God, or the son of man coming in his kingdom rather. Now look at chapter 17 of Matthew before we head over to Mark's gospel. And six days later, he took with him Peter, James, and John, three witnesses under the Mosaic covenant. and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And this is the transfiguration. So Matthew 16, the five theological bombshells, the last one is the glory of God. The transfiguration is a preview of the glory of God on the face of Messiah. It is temporary. It is to reveal the glory of God. This is what the king and the kingdom is going to look like when he comes back. Only a brief display that closed back down and we see the parallel over in Mark chapter 8 But what is left out is there's no reference to the church And it's just worded it's kind of abbreviated somewhat look at what it says since we're here I'm in Mark chapter 8 some of the theological bombshells are here, but not quite all of them and For instance, we are in, and this is still part of the fourth withdrawal and return. So there in Matthew 8, 27, when Jesus went out along with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, with all the false gods carved into it, including Pan, and he questioned them and says, who do people say that I am? And they told him, St. John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets. And he continued by questioning them. But who do you say that I am? Now look at this abbreviated Gentile audience answer. This is not that this is bad, it's just incomplete. It was a lot more complete in the Matthew 16 account. Here it just says, you are the Messiah in Mark chapter eight, verse 29. It doesn't say you are the Messiah Christ, the son of the God, the living one. It just says you are the Messiah. And then verse 30, It says he warned them to tell no one about this. And so it leaves out a very, very vital information that we needed to see in Matthew's gospel. The church is left out. I find this amazing in a way. I can't wait to ask God about this. Of all the gospels that you would think that the church would show up, the Gentile gospel, the gospel of Mark would be a good one to have it show up, wouldn't it? But God put it in the Jewish gospel of Matthew. Now any of the gospels, it's not just that there's a Jewish gospel now for Matthew and it has no revelation related to any of us. It's not saying that, it's just predominantly Jewish there. But he gave the Jews a preview of what was gonna take place from Acts chapter two all the way up to the present time. But it's an abbreviated edition of what Matthew 16 is. It doesn't say who the Messiah is, verse 29. It doesn't say if he's the son of David, the son of man, or the son of God. It just says you're the Messiah. It doesn't say, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood, and I reveal this to you, but your father who lives in heaven. It doesn't say that I will build my church. But he does say in verse 31 he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priest and the scribes and be killed and after three days again rise again rather. He was stating the matter plainly and Peter took him aside began to rebuke him. And turning around and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. Now, just real quickly, how many in here have read the darkness and the glory? I see that hand, is there another? All right, so there's, most of you have not read the dark, we know Louise, she has confessed her sins already, that she has not read the darkness and the glory. I'm going to tweak your interest in this just so, I'm gonna give you a question that is going to aggravate you. It's a two-part question. So in Matthew 16, Mark chapter eight, parallel passage over in Luke chapter nine, we don't go there, but still the same thing with this. In Matthew 16, in verse 21, when Jesus says, I am going to die, Peter takes him off to the side and says, with the strongest language possible in the Greek language, You don't need to know that, but it's the strongest language we use. Peter says, this will by no means whatsoever ever happen to you. You are not going to die. And Jesus said, thank you, Peter. You are such a pal for looking out for my interest. Thank you. Blessed are you. It's not what Jesus says, is it? Jesus says, get behind me. Satan. Now this does not mean that Peter was Satan-possessed. But Peter opened his mouth in Matthew 16 and God used it. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood is not revealed to you, your father's who have it. Peter opened his mouth and Satan used it. Satan influenced his thoughts, Satan didn't possess him, but Satan influenced his thinking. Jesus says, I'm going to die. Peter says, no, you're not. This will never happen to you. Get behind me, Satan, you're a stumbling block. You're not setting your mind on the things of God, you're setting your mind on the things of man. In Matthew 16, everything makes sense with this. The last thing in the world that Satan would want is for Jesus to go to the cross, right? Well, it's very evident that he would use Peter in an effort to keep Jesus from ever going to the cross. He would use Peter to try to convince him not to go. Everything about Matthew 16 makes sense. If Jesus goes to the cross and finishes everything, Satan's dominion is over, the serpent's head is crushed, Genesis 3.15. That journey to Jerusalem in Mark chapter 10, that is such an important journey. We'll see that in our next session. If Jesus goes to the cross and accomplishes everything, then Satan's dominion is defeated. So the last thing that Satan would want in Matthew 16 is for Jesus to go to the cross. Agreed? And now let me ask you this. And it'll give Louise something to think about, too, with us. We'll have to cut off Oprah and start being in the Bible, so this will be good for her, too. And so, here's the second part of the follow-up question. Matthew 16 makes sense. You know what doesn't make sense? Luke 22, 3, Satan enters into you, in order to bring about the crucifixion. Matthew 16, don't go to the cross. Luke 22, come to the cross. It would seem the absolute last thing that Satan would want is for Jesus to go to the cross. Matthew 16 makes sense. Luke 22 verse three initially doesn't make sense. So the darkness and the glory is going to deal with this, is going to answer that question. That's a very important question. That was one, by the way, that just I woke up with and it never went away. I'd be watching an American football game, which God intended to use hands and throw the ball type deal, real football, but we won't go there. I would be watching American football and be thinking about Matthew 16, come to the cross, Luke 22, three, don't go to the cross. I got it backwards. Matthew 16, don't go to the cross, Luke 22, three, come to the cross. I'd be watching a movie with my wife. I'd be watching something else. And I'd be thinking about this and it just never went away. It just never left me. And I was able to run then, this was before I had a hip replaced, I was able to run then, I'd go for a long run, I'd think about this. Matthew 16, don't go through the cross, Luke 22, three, Satan says, come to the cross. The second part was why was the darkness over the cross? Six hour crucifixion, three hours in the light, three hours in the darkness. Everything that Jesus said, he said in the light. The darkness resided, Jesus said nothing. The darkness departed, Jesus said his last words. So why was this? That is how we did our entry into the gospel of Mark's study. For those that were here yesterday to kind of get into where we were going That is the second part of the glory series the darkness and the glory it always ends with the glory But why was the darkness of the cross? Why Matthew 16 and Luke 22 3? You can ask Louise next time you see her she will have read this and so but anyway, it's it's a you'll find it and He who has ears and hear what the Spirit is saying. Off we go, beloveds. So here we are in Mark's gospel as we work our way down. In verse 33, you got behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's. He summoned the multitudes with his disciples and said to them, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, see the parallel. That would have been our fourth theological bombshell in Matthew 16. And here is our fifth theological bombshell in Matthew 16, which is in this case Mark 8, verse 38. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words. Beloved, if you mark your Bibles, that's a good one to mark. Whoever's ashamed of me and my words, they go hand in hand. You cannot have the person of Jesus without the words of Jesus. Liberal scholars try to divorce that all the time. You can't have it. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. So that's our parallel passage that we saw in Matthew 16 that gave more information. Now in Matthew 17, it was the transfiguration. So we're not surprised to see in chapter nine, the transfiguration. He was saying to them, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. Now, I don't know about you, I know myself. I mean, I've lived with myself for almost 60 years. If I were one of the 12, I would raise my hand. If Jesus said, there are some of you who are not going to taste death until they see what the kingdom looks like. Count me in, right? I'd volunteer. I don't know if I've been begged, but I would volunteer for that one. So six days later, he takes them Peter and James and John and brought him up the high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his garments became radiant and exceedingly white. There's no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Eliza appeared to them along with Moses. And they were conversing with Jesus. And Peter said, answered and said in verse five, Rabbi, it's good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. For he did not know what to answer, for they were terrified. Just for the record, Peter spoke as a good Jew would speak. And you can go back to Zechariah 14 and see the basis for his answer if you want to. What he says there, you'll find in Zechariah chapter 14 is the basis for what he says about building the booths there. And all at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus. Whoops, I left out a verse. Verse seven, then a cloud formed overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. Now, if you are a Galilean fisherman, this is a pretty good day. You got to hear the audible voice of God. You got to see Moses and Elijah. Not everybody could say that, but you know what else? They got to see very briefly the glory of God on the face of Messiah. Now we may not think that's that big a deal. I promise you this biblically. It is an incredibly big deal. In 2 Corinthians chapter four, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light. What light? That the gospel, what gospel? About the Christ, the Son of God. For we do not preach ourselves, or Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your bond and service for Jesus' sake. For God who said, light shall shine out of darkness, Genesis one, This is one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Messiah. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, about verses 3 through 6, 3 through 7, they're there. Satan blinds people to the gospel of the glory of Christ. It's that big a deal. You know how else big a deal it is? Will, where are we headed? Here's your big chance to start them. Where are we headed? In the Bible, where are we headed? 2 Peter, that's exactly right. Good answer, 2 Peter. I saw the lips for him, it's 2 Peter. Good answer. Good answer, good answer. 2 Peter is similar to 2 Timothy because it's Peter's death row epistle. Second Timothy, we saw Paul's death row epistle. Second Peter, by this time he is getting ready to die. We saw in John 21, Jesus told him the manner of death by which he would glorify God. This is about 30, 32, 34 years after the gospel events. Peter's an older man chronologically. He is an older man spiritually. And here's what he says in chapter one, verse 12. Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth, which is present. And I consider it right, as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up my way of reminder, knowing, verse 14, that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. from John chapter 21, the matter of death by which he would glorify God. Now, Peter is on death row, so to speak. He has a matter of days to live. This is the last epistle that he'll ever write. I have gone into people's rooms in hospitals who've known that death was just a matter of hours away, in some cases a matter of days away. There was one lady, I did a funeral for her in Washington, D.C. She was about 80 years old. She was a sinner saved by grace. Her kidneys were failing. They told her she had about five days to live. She looked good, looked healthy. The color looked good. You wouldn't know that this lady was going to die in five days unless the doctors had told you. I guess with all the tests they knew about this and right on the money about five days. This lady was a Christian, got saved as a child, had walked with the Lord all the days of her life, so to speak. Here was somebody who was looking forward to seeing her savior. But back in the 1940s, she had a nine-year-old girl die of leukemia. Now, people will go back to the most important things in their life. I've seen people terrified, and rightly so, before dying that weren't saved. But with this lady, she was going home to see her savior. She couldn't wait to see her daughter. I didn't have to prompt this. I mean, this is just something that, this is something very, very special to her. Doesn't matter that it's 30, 40 years removed, she can't wait to see her daughter. And I did her funeral and it wasn't so much that she died, she did, she got promoted and went to heaven. Peter, on his death row, of all the things that he could have written, he didn't say, I walked on water. He didn't say, I was in the room when Jairus' daughter was raised from the dead. He didn't say, I peeked into the empty tomb. He didn't say, I saw Jesus ascend into the clouds. The one event that he went back to of all the things that he did, of all the things he heard with Jesus, and better still, The one thing the Holy Spirit took him back to was to the transfiguration. It's that important. Look at what it says. Verse 16, for we did not follow cleverly devised tales. We made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this, was made to him by the majestic glory, another name for God. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. The transfiguration is that important. It's important enough to Satan to blind people's minds to it. It's important enough to God to put it in his word in Peter's death row epistle. He went back to the day in Mark chapter nine, Matthew chapter 17, Luke chapter nine. Will is leaving because I called on him. He went out from us because he was not of us. If he had been of us, he would have remained. He went out of us so that it might become evident that he was not really of us. And he returns and he goes out again. And the second condition is worse than the first. A dog always returns to his wallet. One of the secret sensitive verses. All right, beloved, we are back to Mark chapter nine. So we'll put it this way. The transfiguration may not sound like that big of a deal. I promise you this, it is that big of a deal. Now, don't feel bad that we weren't there for Lisa. How many verses should I say? I'll be kind. I'll be gracious. We'll wait till Donna leaves. Here we go. Transfiguration. Don't feel bad that we didn't see the preview. We're going to see the fullness. I'll be on good behavior too. Jennifer. No, this is still her Bible. Ah, there she is. Just kidding, just kidding. Here we are back in Mark chapter 9. That's just a preview. The transfiguration was just a snapshot, so to speak. A temporary unveiling of the glory of God on the face of Messiah. But this is what, when you go to 2 Corinthians 4, this is what Satan blinds people's minds to right now. They don't want to go with the glory of God, they'll go with the glory of themselves, the glory of man, the glory of fallen images, you name it. The glory of false religion, you fill in the blank however you want to or whatever fits your own situation. But the glory of God on the face of Christ, that's a big deal. This is what the king and the kingdom is going to look like when he returns. He is going to return in glory. He is going to reign in glory. He is going to come back with the glory of God. Now poor in a way, Peter, James, and John, poor them in a way. I mean, I would love to have seen that event, but how's this for hard instructions from Jesus? Verse nine, as they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen. until the Son of Man should be raised from the dead. Now, how hard is that gonna be? These guys aren't good liars. I hope you're not a good liar. These guys are not practiced liars. They have seen, they've seen Moses, they have seen Elijah, they have heard the audible voice of God, and they temporarily saw the glory of God on the face of Christ. And Jesus says, don't tell anybody what you saw. So when they come down from the mountain, you know the other nine are gonna say, what did y'all do up there? Nothing. What are they gonna say? We didn't see Moses. We didn't see Elijah. What are they gonna say? They can't tell what they know Three of them know what the other nine do not. Do you think they would ever look at Jesus the same way with us? I don't think they slept for a week. They got to temporarily see the glory of God on the face of Christ and it changed them forever. It said the glory of God really is a extremely important thing. We don't have time to go there sometime on your own. You can go to John chapter 13, Judas is dismissed. By the way, Matthew 16, don't go to the cross. Luke 22, three, Satan enters into Judas in order to bring about the crucifixion, come to the cross. Darkness and the glory will point you in the right direction with this. But in John chapter 13, once Judas is dismissed, Jesus says, now is the son of man glorified. In fact, let's do this real, real quickly. Will, where are we headed to? John 13, that's exactly right. John, good answer. John 13, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, John. 13. Judas is dismissed. Look at verse 31 of John 13. Now, therefore, when he, Judas, had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him immediately. Now, five uses of glory, glory, glory, glory, glory in some form immediately, If I'm Peter, if I'm James, if I'm John, I'm going, watch this, watch this, watch this. Because they're thinking everything about the Mount of Tennessee creation. Now how's this for an emotional rollercoaster going off and then that freefall? Y'all have rollercoasters here? Do you call them that? Okay. Just want to make sure that they're not called something else. All right, on the freefall thing, the rollercoaster, Jesus says with us, little children, verse 33, I'm with you a little while longer. He says, seek me. And as I said to the Jews, that would be the unbelieving Jews, they're all Jews in that room. Where I am going, you cannot come. Now I say to you also, Now Peter's mind cuts off at this point. Wait a minute, instead of glory now immediately, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory now immediately, where I am going, and he uses the word dynamite. You do not have the capacity, you do not have the ability to go where I am going. This is not lack of permission. This is utter lack of capacity that where I am going, You are not able to go with me. Because he is getting ready to go where someone else cannot go except for him. And we will see that in our next session. I want to take just a few minutes, if you will, with your prayer partners from what we have learned, two or three things we have learned from the previous two sessions. And let's talk with one another. And then we've got one more session to conclude our handling of the sword. Off we go.