One of my favorite movies is a movie called Arlington Road. Now this movie is from like the late 1990s, so spoiler alert, but I doubt that something that old anybody's going to really care whether I mess up the ending. It stars Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins, and Jeff Bridges is a widowed history professor His wife died in an FBI shootout because of a mistake by the FBI. He's a history professor, and his specialty is debunking conspiracy theories. Some new neighbors move in across the street, Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack. They're friendly, but then he starts noticing things, and he gets worried. Talks to his FBI friend, and the FBI friend's going, ah, nothing wrong here. Well, it goes on and on and on, and finally, Jeff Bridges figures out that Tim Robbins and his wife are homegrown terrorists who are going to bomb the J. Edgar Hoover building, the FBI building. And so he knows what the van looks like that has the bomb. He knows how they're going to get it into the parking garage. And so he's in a mad rush driving into Washington to stop this bombing of the FBI building where his friend works, where so many colleagues of his wife worked. And he gets there just in the nick of time. He's able to get into the parking garage. And they go and find this van and open it up, and it's empty. And they thought, well, that's strange. And then Jeff Bridges goes back to look at his own car and realizes the bomb is in his trunk. And the bomb blows up. The Hoover building falls down. And they end with news reports talking about how Jeff Bridges was upset with the FBI, and that's why he did it. Sorry, the film actually ends with showing Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack moving into another neighborhood. And you may ask why I like that. It's just that crazy ending that grips you, where it leaves you going, what? What just happened? I shared this with Rebecca and she said, I hated that movie because of the ending. Well, love it or hate it, that's the movie. You might wish for a different ending. You might be sorry you watched the movie because of this ending. But one thing you can't do is change the ending of the movie. Here in scripture, we're gonna be looking at, and I haven't read it yet, have I? We're gonna be looking at an episode with Jesus and Peter, and in some ways it's inspirational, but listen, when I get there, some of you know the story already, and see if you're not asking yourself, wait, what? This is Matthew chapter 16 starting in verse 13. Listen as our God speaks to us. 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, Simon, son of 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, the rock, 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 on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the 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 Jesus 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, 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. This is the word of our God. So I'm reading the first part and isn't it kind of inspiring? Wow, Peter gets it. And then Jesus blesses him. Incredibly, you are Peter, the rock. And on you, on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. More than that, I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. You're going, wow. And then Jesus begins to explain how this is going to happen. And Peter, who just said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God, says, no, what? It gets better as we move toward this ending. Jesus actually calls him Satan. What? But you just said, you just said you're gonna build your church on him. Now you're calling him Satan. I don't get it, Lord. And then he tells you. Look, I'm gonna be crucified, that's how I'm gonna be killed, but you know what? You know what your blessing is? You get to take up your cross daily and follow me. What? Shocking, Jesus turns everything we think we know, that we think we want, he takes it and he turns it on its head. But Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he speaks truly. So here's what I want you to see today. This is the main idea. That to truly follow Jesus, we have to follow the real Jesus. The Jesus who is presented to us in the scriptures. All right. In order to truly follow Jesus, we have to follow the real Jesus, the Jesus who is presented to us in the scriptures. And so I want to do this by looking at just the three little sections here, if you're using the ESV. It's divided into three little sections. And I want to look at a spirit-inspired recognition. I want to look at a flesh-inspired rejection. and then a faith-inspired journey. All right, so a spirit-inspired recognition. All right, Jesus asked the question. Jesus asked the question in verse 13. He says, who do people say that I am? What's floating around out there generally? And you see the answers. There's a broad set of answers. The people in general had seen Jesus' miracles. They knew he was special, probably felt like he was sent from God. But all of these answers fall far short. Is he a prophet? Well, in a sense, yes, but he's more than a prophet. Is he Elijah? No, Elijah's already been here. And so they're talking about this. And so the apostles had plenty of things to answer him with, who do people say that I am? But then Jesus narrows the question. No, no, no. Now, who do you say that I am? And he's speaking to all the apostles. And Peter, who is always the first to speak, whether it's something stupid or not, he'll blurt it right out there. Like Peter, I don't have one of those filters in either. But Peter blurts out this answer, you are the Christ, the son of the living God in verse 15. So think about this for a second. All throughout the gospels, but certainly in the book of Matthew, the apostles sort of ignorance is emphasized, their lack of understanding. Chapter 8, verse 27, Jesus calms the wind and the waves, and the apostles' response is, who is this guy? Jesus is often saying to them, do you not understand? Do you not yet get it? Even the passage just before this, starting in 16, verse 5, Jesus asked them these questions and they're in the form of a mild rebuke. He says in verse nine, do you not yet perceive, do you not yet remember the loaves, five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you gathered, or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread when he's talking about beware of the leaven, the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I did not speak about bread. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware the leaven of the bread, but the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. All the time, they're just kind of confused. And so Jesus said, okay, let me put it a little bit more simply for you. And they don't get it. And that's common. And so where does this come from in Peter? Because Peter has been one of these that hasn't got it. He's been one of these that's been asking the question, who is this Jesus guy? And he blurts out, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus gives him this incredible blessing because it's true. The first thing he says is, Peter, you understand that you didn't come up with that yourself. This is not a flesh and blood answer, but my father, revealed it to you. Now I have a, I've called this little section a spirit inspired recognition. I say that just because technically the father sends the Holy spirit to reveal it. That's just the way it works in scripture. And so, uh, that's why I put it that way. Peter's understanding here is not because of his stellar intellect, but because God has revealed it to him. And because of that, that marks Peter off as something special. Again, not because of something in Peter, but because God has chosen him and chosen to reveal this to him. And so Jesus gives him this incredible blessing. He says, I tell you, that you are Peter. Now, maybe you know this, in Aramaic his name was Cephas, which is a big rock. In Greek, a big rock is Petra, but that's feminine, so he has to call him Petros, but Petros happens to mean pebble, and so there's all kind of curiosity about this, saying that Peter can't be the rock, Peter's a pebble and Jesus is the rock, but in essence here what's happening is that Jesus says, your name means rock and I am going to build my church upon this rock. That is, upon you. Not you as the weak Peter, the Peter who says dumb things all the time, but the Peter whom I have chosen and I have called. Now, there are other places where Jesus is called the rock on which the church is built. There are other places where the foundation of the church is the apostles and the prophets. So this is the metaphor that Jesus is using here. It's not like we can go to another passage of the Bible and say, no, Peter can't be the rock because. There's different metaphors to describe the church. But Peter is the first to grasp it by God's revelation. And so Jesus is going to use that to build the church. Jesus is going to use Peter's recognition to build his church, that we come to Christ by the recognition of who he really is. who the Jesus is presented in scripture. And there's more. The gates of hell is not an uncommon term. And it actually means the powers of hell are not going to prevail against the church that Jesus has built on a rock. The powers of hell Think about that. If you're a gamer, you have no idea what the powers of hell are. But it kind of gives you a picture, you know, if you're going through some dungeon and there's this, it's worse than that. It's the powers of hell that are going to come against you. And yet the church will not be moved. We have a pastor friend who's fond of saying the greatest proof for the existence of God is that the church is still here after 2,000 years. 2,000 years of assault and the church is still here. And more than that, he grants Peter, he grants the church, in fact, Not merely Peter. There are some churches who think that Peter and his chosen successors only have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. But Peter and the church built upon Peter have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What are those keys? Well, if we look through scripture, it seems that the keys are the message of the gospel. In fact, we open the gates to everyone we speak to with the gospel message. And those that God is calling will receive it. And that's their admission to the kingdom of heaven. But in another sense, whenever we share the gospel with somebody whom God is not calling and they're rejecting it, That actually is locking the gates in their face. And it is building up judgment for those who reject Jesus Christ. On the day of judgment, God will say, did you not hear this message? And reject it. And so this is incredible that in fact, you and I, as the church, have this power. And it's a power that we're called to use. To use in proclaiming to people. Now I'm not saying you have to go get a tract and memorize a three or five point outline of what the gospel is or something like that. Although that's not a bad thing to do. But in fact, everywhere we go, we live the gospel, we breathe the gospel, we talk about Jesus Christ. And it wouldn't be a bad thing to know the gospel in one sentence. Maybe like something out of Galatians, that a person is not justified in God's sight by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus. There's a little one sentence thing that you could say. So, were called to that because of the great privilege of holding these keys. But then comes this odd, strange change of events. Because Peter has confessed Jesus clearly, in other words, the disciples now should have no issue understanding who it is that Jesus is, who Jesus is, because Peter's just said it very clearly, and Jesus has affirmed it. They now understand. And so in verse 21, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and so on. So here we're at a flesh-inspired rejection. All right? Mark says that Jesus began to tell them plainly Here it says that Jesus began to show them. Well, how do you show somebody something? To show them seems to indicate that you're not simply telling them, but you're giving them some kind of proof or showing them something. Almost certainly, Jesus is showing them from the scriptures, just like he does on the Emmaus Road. It says he began to show them from the scriptures how the Son of Man had to die. Jesus is showing them from the scriptures that he has to suffer and be killed and on the third day to be raised. And certainly one of the passages is the passage that Gordon read earlier. I say certainly, I have no idea. But there's a very good chance that that's one of the, because Gordon called it, what was it, the Mount Everest of the gospel in the Old Testament or something like that? Whatever, it was a great expression, Gordon. I just wish I could remember it. In fact, it does clearly point out that the Messiah is someone who will lay down his life, who will sacrifice himself in order to bear the transgressions of God's people. Jesus is showing them that. Maybe he turned to Psalm 22, where he points out in that line, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Exactly what it is that he will face on the cross. And this has got to be not only shocking to the disciples, but quite frightening. You know, they have certain expectations of who the Messiah ought to be. He ought to be the guy that kicks the Romans out and sets up a Jewish kingdom here on earth. So Jesus begins to teach clearly that the Messiah has to suffer And this is a hard teaching. And so Peter, the one who has just confessed Jesus, because God revealed it to him, turns it right around. And in spite of his earlier recognition, now we have this strong rejection, this flesh-inspired rejection. Peter says, never. All right, in verse 22, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. And it's really emphatic, like Peter's in his face. I mean, the language here is really emphatic. He's strongly rebuking Jesus. What is Peter in fact saying? That he knows God's will better than God himself. I think I've told you before that I really struggle with people who begin sentences with, my God would never. Now that can be the beginning of a very orthodox statement. My God would never lie, my God would never break a promise, something like that. But most often it's not. The emphasis is, I've got this impression of who God is, and if you try and tell me different, I'm going to rebuke you. We might say, well, what about in the scriptures? Still, they want to rebuke you. We want God to be what we want him to be. Understand here that Peter did not have all of his sin removed immediately where he'd never sin again. He still showed the weakness of sin in his own life by daring to think that he can contradict Jesus, the Messiah, the son of the living God. Peter contradicts him. And it elicits, and actually his strong rebuke elicits a stronger rebuke. All right, verse 23. But Jesus 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 men. And that's where I got this flesh-inspired response, setting your mind on the things of men. That's the flesh. That's when we set our minds on how to accomplish what I want to accomplish without acknowledging God, without seeking God's counsel, without praying, without looking at the scriptures. I want what I want. We're very close to what Peter is here. And this strong rebuke, get behind me, Satan. The same Peter who by the revelation of God grasped who Jesus was is now turning away from that. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we're always in danger of doing that as well. Doug is in danger of doing that. Don't see me pointing a finger. It happens so easily. But look at the stakes here. When we let that happen, what are we doing when we reject the Lord? Now, we can't actually be a stumbling block to the Lord, but in fact, Jesus calls him Satan. Can anybody think of a stronger rebuke from Jesus than to be called Satan? Hard to think of one. Why? He says, get behind me, Satan. Well, if you will turn, or Jackson, whoever's back there, if you'll put up the passage from Matthew 4. Let's see Jesus' interaction with the actual Satan. These are when Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness. And this is the third temptation, starting in Matthew 4, verse 8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. And he says, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And Jesus said to him, be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only will you serve. To Peter, he says, get behind me, Satan. To Satan, he says, be gone, Satan. But in fact, in the original, he's using the same word. He adds the words behind me, but in essence, he's saying, It means go away, where he says, go away, Satan. In the desert, he says to Peter, go away behind me, that direction, Peter. He uses the same words as he does to Satan, which makes the rebuke even more powerful. Why does he do that? Well, what did Satan offer him up here in Matthew four? He showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, I'll give these to you, if only you'll bow down and worship me. He's offering Jesus what Jesus already owns, but Jesus' path to acquire them is through the cross. And Satan is offering Jesus, he's offering Jesus a kingdom without a cross, without suffering. And what is Peter doing? Never, Lord, you will never suffer and die for us. Peter is offering Jesus, tempting Jesus, as it were, to a kingdom without a cross. And it's blasphemy. And that's why Jesus has this harsh rebuke. And he calls him a hindrance, literally stumbling block. Peter uses this term in 1 Peter when he quotes the psalm that talks about a rock that causes men to stumble. Peter, the rock, is now being a big rock that's a stumbling block in Jesus' path, not a rock that's serving as the foundation of the church. And you understand that the revelation from God didn't change who Peter was or God's plan for Peter. The call of God is irrevocable. God's plan is irrevocable. God's not going through history saying, this didn't happen, let me shift a few pieces around here and make this come out right. No, but in fact, Peter's denial shows that he is, sorry, Peter's denial shows that God's call is irrevocable because we see that Peter continues to fail, but ultimately, by God's grace, is the leader of the church, the one who steps forward on the day of Pentecost. So, think about this. Jesus, that night in the garden, sorry, the night of the Last Supper, in the garden, Jesus says, says, you'll all fall away because of me. Peter says, no, no, no, no. Even if all fall away, I won't fall away. Now, there's an ancient tradition where Jesus turns to him and says, dude, really? Do you remember the confession and then what you immediately said? Peter continues to be A broken, flawed human being who by God's grace is used. And in fact, this ought to be a great encouragement to you. Every one of you is broken and flawed. I happen to know because I am broken and flawed. And that doesn't mean that God loves you any less because Christ has died for you. And it doesn't mean that God is going to punish you somehow by making by taking away your call and giving you some sort of meaningless, purposeless existence until Jesus comes back. It's not like that at all. Because you see, Jesus turns to his disciples in verse 24 and talks about this faith-inspired journey. And because of time, I'm not gonna be able to unpack this much, but Jesus says, You are going to take this instrument of torture and death upon you and carry it all the days of your lives, but understand that this cross is also the instrument of your salvation. He is saying to us the Christian life is going to be a life of suffering. There's no place in the gospel for this idea that Jesus wants us to be fat, rich, and happy. He wants us to be filled with joy and he wants to prepare us for ministry. Paul boasts, especially in 2 Corinthians, which I've been spending some time in, Paul boasts all the time about his sufferings, not about how great he is. Jesus says, take up your cross daily and follow me. Why? Because as our Lord the Messiah suffered, we should expect no less. Peter himself in acts suffers imprisonments and beatings and ultimately is crucified under the reign of Nero. All right. So here we take up and carry around with us the instrument of our death, but the instrument of our death is also the instrument of our salvation. There's more here, but let me wrap this up. The rest of the story is that Peter continues to be a headstrong, foolish, right up through his denial, but, as I said, the call of God is irrevocable. And it is not, God's call on Peter's life is not in spite of what Peter does, in spite of Peter's weaknesses, in spite of Peter's weakness and failing, but because of them. Because you see, when God takes someone who is weak, then it is God's glory who is shown through us. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. When he takes someone who may be foolish, like Peter, and uses him greatly, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And it is from a position of weakness that you minister, that you can show grace to those who are around you, that you can display the gospel. It shows that God's call is by grace and grace alone, not because of any particular worthiness on our part. So Peter is restored in John 21. And in Acts, we see this rock stepping forward at Pentecost, enduring the beatings and imprisonment. And occasionally being the same old Peter, Paul has to rebuke him in Galatians 2. But if you read 1 and 2 Peter, you get this understanding that God, God is powerfully at work in this man, is speaking through this man and still speaking through him today. And so let's, today we're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper, meaning that we're going to celebrate Jesus' great victory, one through weakness, one through a broken body and shed blood. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, your ways are not our ways. We confess that, we acknowledge it, we acknowledge that as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are your ways above our ways. And so it would not occur to us that this is how you would work, but I pray that we might take encouragement as broken vessels Because the light of your grace and your glory is shining through those cracks. We pray that we would rejoice to bear the cross that each one of us has to bear. And we pray that we might know the genuine joy. of having you at work in our lives, preparing us for an eternity in your presence. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.