[0:00] Go with me to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. I was trying to figure out where to go with my messages and then I realized we're in March.
[0:17] Easter is in March this year, so maybe we need to go along that theme instead of some of the others that I was thinking about. So I was looking for things about Easter and I came across a message and I read it and I said, that is good.
[0:34] And so I borrowed the message and I've added to it and changed things and did some things with it. But I want you to listen today. We're talking about coming into the Easter season.
[0:44] And as we do that, it reminds me that, you know, a lot of Christianity today emphasizes me.
[0:58] Jesus came for others. But a lot of Christianity is my forgiveness, my answer to prayers, my blessings, my spiritual gifts, my Christian service, my whatever.
[1:09] Peter is going to learn around this Easter time, coming into it, that it is about Jesus. It is not about you, Peter. Look with me at Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 13.
[1:24] It says, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
[1:39] And he said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
[1:50] And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
[2:03] And I say unto thee that thou art Peter. And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
[2:15] And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples, and they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
[2:29] From that time forth began Jesus to show his disciples how he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day.
[2:44] Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, being far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan.
[2:55] Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, I pray this morning that you would help us to learn things from the life of Peter.
[3:11] Father, especially learn that it is about Jesus. It is not about us. We need to keep our focus on Jesus. Who he is, what he has done, what he is doing, and what will happen at the end of time.
[3:27] It is all about Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to see that this morning. Help us to be reminded through the life of Peter that it is about Jesus. Lord, minister, I pray in Jesus' name.
[3:39] Amen. You see on there, if you've got your bulletin open there, the first point this morning, Peter recognizes the Christ. Peter recognizes the Christ. As I said, much of our Christianity today is concerned about us.
[3:54] What do I want? What should I do? God should take and he should help me in everything that I ask him. When I pray, he should answer.
[4:06] We treat God like a vending machine. We treat him like, you know, God, this is what I want. I expect it. God, this is what I want. I expect it. Peter had to learn.
[4:18] It's about Jesus. It's not about you. So, we've gone back six months before Easter. There is Caesarea Philippi. Today, Caesarea Philippi is actually a national park in Israel.
[4:31] The headwaters of the Jordan River come out in Caesarea Philippi. He takes the 12 disciples there and he asks them the question, who do men say that I, the son of man, am?
[4:44] And he gets all kinds of answers. Some say you're John the Baptist. Some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're Isaiah. Some say you're one of the prophets. Who do you say that I am? And Peter comes up with the right answer.
[4:54] Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Wonderful answer given by Peter as to who he is. Peter and all the disciples have been looking for an earthly Messiah.
[5:07] They understand Jesus is this Messiah. When Peter talks about Christ there, he's talking about the Messiah that they've been waiting for. All Israel has been looking for the Messiah.
[5:19] The one who is going to come. Who is going to be their deliverer. The one who is going to throw the Romans out. Push the Romans back to the sea and send them back to Italy and get them out of their country. They were looking for another David.
[5:32] They were looking for another King David. To come in and to deliver them from what was going on. And so he's looking for an earthly ruler. So he says you are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God.
[5:47] You know, it's interesting. Jesus says, look, Peter, that's a great answer. And that answer that you gave is the right answer.
[6:00] But Peter, you didn't come up with that on your own. My father gave you that answer. God has given you that answer. Jesus says, look, the father's working in your life.
[6:12] Peter, you're not thinking this up on your own. And from that point on, Peter and Jesus immediately go two different directions. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
[6:23] Jesus, I'm heading toward the cross. I'm heading to give my life so men may be saved. Peter's thinking, we got a king who's going to get rid of these Romans.
[6:35] They're going to take care of this situation and put us back and be in the kingdom that we should be. Jesus is looking to the cross. Peter's looking for a kingdom and all the glories that go with it.
[6:48] After Peter made that statement, you notice what it said in 21 there? From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem. Why? To suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and raised the third day.
[7:04] Jesus knew that the cross was awaiting him. Jesus knew from the time he was born until the time he's going to die, that was his purpose for being here.
[7:15] Was to go to the cross. It was the next item on his list of things he was going to do before he went back to heaven. See, the problem is, is the problem all of us have a lot of times.
[7:28] Problem of perception and expectation. We have a perception of things and we expect things to be this way. We kind of have that attitude again when we're talking about prayer.
[7:40] I go to God. I pray. He's going to answer in this way. Well, he doesn't always answer in this way. He always answers. But it's not always the way that we want. Peter had wrong expectations.
[7:52] And Jesus is teaching him, no, it's not about the kingdom. No, it's not about what you want, Peter. It's what I need to do. He rebukes him.
[8:07] Peter rebukes Jesus. Oh, no, no, wait a minute. You're not going to die. You're not going to go before those guys. You're not going to do all this. Peter didn't want anything to do with the cross. You think about what the cross meant back then.
[8:19] The cross was agony. It was humiliation. It was final. Peter has no room in his life for a cross.
[8:34] I want the kingdom. I'm going to be with Jesus. I'm one of the 12 that goes with Jesus. I'm one of the 12 that's been with him for three years. I'm one of the 12 who, when he sets up his kingdom, I am going to be there ruling right alongside him.
[8:47] It's going to be great. No idea of a cross in there anywhere. Jesus had other thoughts. And Jesus says to Peter, Peter has just said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[9:03] Jesus just said, Great answer, Peter. You got that from God. And then he starts talking about what's going to happen. And Peter says, No, no, no, no, no. And Jesus says, Get thee behind me, Satan.
[9:16] Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God. What did he call Peter? Satan. Why would he call Peter Satan?
[9:27] Because Peter wanted the exact same thing Satan wanted. Satan didn't want Jesus going to the cross. He didn't want salvation being available to all men.
[9:37] Remember when Jesus was tempted of Satan in the wilderness? Well, it was one of the things that he was offered. See all these kingdoms? They're yours. I will give them to you. I always thought that was interesting when Satan's saying, I'll give you this and I'll give you this and I'm giving you.
[9:50] It wasn't Satan's to give in the first place. It already belonged to Jesus. Jesus is about to face the agony of the cross.
[10:01] And Peter's going, No, no, no, no. That's not for you. Turn with me over to Mark, chapter 14. Mark, chapter 14.
[10:18] It's a long chapter. You want to be toward the end of the chapter. Jesus said that Peter wanted to enjoy the things of men, not the things of God.
[10:30] It's about Jesus. It's not about Peter. Look at what happens in chapter 14 of Mark, beginning of verse 66. It says, And as Peter was beneath the palace, they had come with one of the maids of the high priest.
[10:46] And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest.
[11:00] And he went out onto the porch, and the cock crew. And a maid saw him again, and began to say unto them that stood by, This is one of them.
[11:11] And he denied it again. And a little after they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeeth thereto.
[11:26] When he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew.
[11:37] And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crows twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he, when he thought thereon, he wept.
[11:50] I find it interesting. Jesus had told him, Before the cock crows twice, you're going to deny me three times. Peter denies the first time, and the cock crows. You would think, he went, Oh, wait a minute.
[12:05] He said, I'm going to deny him three times before the cock crows twice. The cock just crowed. I just denied him in the cock. Ooh. Maybe I need to think about this. Maybe I need to think about what I'm doing here.
[12:19] Doesn't seem to ever occur to him. During the darkness of that night, in the trial taking place, Jesus' arrest. Jesus is being led before the high priest, Caiaphas.
[12:34] Peter's outside, warming himself by the fires. It says he sat with the servants, and warmed himself by the fire. If you can look back at Mark, 14, 54.
[12:47] Peter was trying to follow Jesus. I'll give Peter this. He was trying to follow Jesus, more than the other disciples. Peter and John were the only two there. All the estimate had disappeared.
[12:59] Peter's there. He's trying, but, he's concerned about his physical being. It's cold out. I'm going to go by the fire. Warm myself up. He's more concerned about that.
[13:13] He's out there. He's with the wrong crowd. He's with the wrong crowd, the wrong people. He needs to be with Jesus. So here he is.
[13:23] He's warming himself. One of the maids comes up and says, you know, you were with Jesus. Here's a place Peter could have said the exact same thing.
[13:34] Nope. Well, yes, I am. I'm with him because he is the Christ, the son of the living God. Those words don't come out of his mouth this time.
[13:45] He denies him. You remember a few hours earlier, we didn't cover this, but a few hours earlier, Peter had vehemently declared to the Lord he would never deny him.
[13:58] I will go to the death with you. I will never, never do that. That's only a couple hours ago. And now here he is. He's denied him once already.
[14:11] When the maid comes, he says, denied him. I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't understand it at all. What are you talking about? And then, a second one shows up.
[14:27] Peter's again thinking, we need to drive these enemies out. We need to go, go to war with them. We need to, to take them and just get rid of them. But now he's on trial for treason, and for blasphemy.
[14:39] I don't understand. It's not about you, Peter. It's about Jesus. What he wants, what he needs to do.
[14:52] Another maid comes up. Says, he was one of them. And says, he denied it again. He has a second chance. He's heard, he's done once, he heard the cock crow, he's got another chance.
[15:08] He doesn't say, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. He says, I don't know. No. Uh-uh. He could have identified with Jesus.
[15:19] He could have identified with his sufferings. He's looking for the glories of the kingdom. Says, after a little while, they that stood by, said again to Peter, surely thou art one of them, for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeeth thereto.
[15:41] Mark 14, 70. They had evidence against Peter. We know you're one of those Galileans. We can tell by the way you talk that you're one of them.
[15:52] He had an accent, a dialect. Like, when Howard brings Sherry. You know Sherry's not from Maine. It's really obvious he's not from Maine.
[16:06] He's from down south somewhere. Jesus, Peter, you guys are from Galilee. We can tell by the way you talk. So, what does Peter do?
[16:19] Yeah, you're right. He is the Christ, the son of the living God. Uh, nope. As I say, he began to do, he began to curse and to swear. I know not this man of whom you speak.
[16:32] Don't you notice what he did? He began to curse and to swear. You know, the Bible tells us, whatever's in the heart comes out the mouth.
[16:48] And Peter, as much as he wants to say, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, he's still got some heart problems going on. He's still got some things that he needs to deal with. Because he starts to curse and to swear.
[17:08] His heart was filled with fear. His heart was filled with disappointment. There's a second thing about this.
[17:19] You think about it for a second. Peter said, I don't know him. How can you not know him? You just spent three years with him. You've been with him for three years, following him everywhere he went, listening to everything he said, watching every miracle he performed, from making a lame man walk, to people who couldn't talk, be able to speak, to watching people raised from the dead.
[17:46] And he goes, I don't know him. Really? After three years of watching Jesus perform miracle after miracle after miracle, three years after watching him and listening to the teaching, listening to the Sermon on the Mount, listening to the things he said in the Garden of Gethsemane, you don't know him?
[18:09] See, it didn't fit with Peter's expectations. It's about Jesus, not about you, Peter. Go with me one more place.
[18:21] Go to John chapter 21. John chapter 21. Oh, I forgot. Peter denies the Christ. In this third one, Peter reconciles with the Christ.
[18:33] John chapter 21. Look with me, beginning at verse 15. John chapter 21, beginning at verse 15. So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, thou son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?
[18:52] He said unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, he said unto him, feed my lambs. He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
[19:05] He said unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my sheep. He said unto him a third time, the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
[19:20] Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
[19:32] Jesus said unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
[19:49] This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, follow me.
[20:00] Jesus, Peter had denied Jesus three times before Jesus went to the cross. Jesus has gone to the cross, given his life to pay the price for our sin. He has risen from the dead, showing that he has power over sin and hell and death and all of that, and that he can give us eternal life.
[20:19] He is now back with the disciples. He's teaching them things before he gets ready to go back to heaven. And they go out fishing. Peter, remember, the first part of this story, Peter had said, I'm going fishing.
[20:33] I'm going back to doing what I used to do. I'm going back where I feel safe, comfortable, something I know, something I can hang on to. And so he goes back to that. Jesus shows up.
[20:45] They catch a whole bunch of fish. They didn't catch anything all night, but now they catch a whole bunch of fish. And Peter realizes who that is on shore. And he jumps off the boat and swims the shore to be spending time with Jesus, to talk with him.
[21:02] And now Jesus is asking, Peter, do you love me? Interesting. Back to that first passage we looked at, back in Matthew.
[21:18] Peter said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, you're going to be called Peter from now on.
[21:30] The rock. Now that all this has happened and taken place, do you notice in this chapter, chapter 21 of John, what does Jesus call him?
[21:43] Simon. Thou son of Jonas. Simon. Simon. Lovest thou me more than these? Peter had decided to go back to fishing.
[21:55] Peter had decided to go back to his old life. So Jesus comes now and he says, calls him by his old name. You've decided to go back. You've backslidden.
[22:06] You've decided to go back. You've decided to go away from me. Simon. So three times he calls him Simon. Not rock. Not Peter.
[22:18] But the old name. Because he was following the old ways. Doing the old things. Second thing, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him more than these.
[22:31] I always thought, Peter, do you love me more than these other disciples? Do you love me more than these? As I was reading, some authorities, some scholars say, no, that's not what he was referring to.
[22:49] They say what he was referring to, Peter, do you love me more than the fish? Remember, he went back to fishing. He went back to what he was comfortable with.
[23:00] Peter, do you love me more than fishing? That should be an easy answer, shouldn't it? It should be an easy one for us to do. Peter's about to learn some more about it's about Jesus, not about Peter.
[23:14] You've all heard sermons about the words that are used here. Jesus is using when he says, Peter, do you love me? He's using the word agape. Peter, do you love me with a deep, passionate, sacrificial love?
[23:30] And Peter's answering him, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Love, philio, a different word for love. You all know the word philio.
[23:42] It has the idea of a friend, a brotherhood. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. That's where we get that from. Philio, I love you like a brother, I love you like a friend, I like you.
[23:57] That's basically what he's saying. And Peter uses that word to answer when Jesus gives him the word agape, sacrificial, passionate, deep love.
[24:10] Three times Jesus asked Peter that. Peter, do you love me? And three times Peter answers him with that philio, I like you.
[24:26] so much so he's doing it that when Christ asked him the third time, he doesn't use agape the third time. Third time he uses the word philio.
[24:38] Peter, do you really like me? And what's Peter's answer? He says, thou knowest all things.
[24:50] Thou knowest that I love thee. God, you know everything. Yes, I love you.
[25:03] Think of how that must have felt to Peter. Peter denied Christ three times. Three times Jesus asked him, do you love me? And the best Peter could come up with, yes, I like you as a friend.
[25:15] Do we do that same thing to Jesus? Because a lot of times when we deny the Lord as Christians in several different ways, are we cursing, swearing, doing all those things?
[25:39] what's in the heart comes out the mouth. And he says, look, don't do that, because you're showing me that you do not love me with all your heart.
[25:51] You do not love me with all your soul, strength, might, and all those things. He talks about in other verses. Do we deny him by hanging out with those who do not love him?
[26:06] Peter was hanging out with the wrong crowd. He wasn't up there with Jesus hanging out with him. He's hanging out with the other crowd. He says, look, if you love me, you want to be with others who love me.
[26:20] You want to be with others who share the same faith that you do, the same values that you do. Are there times when we put other things before getting together with God's people, God's house?
[26:37] He says, so be so very careful. Stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of saying, I don't know this man by the things that we do, we need to be saying, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[26:53] As a Christian, all about Jesus and not about you. It's not about how I feel. It's not about how I want things to turn out. It's not about the things I desire in life.
[27:06] Jesus went to the cross. He died for us. Jesus rose again for you and for me, so that we might have the opportunity to rise again as well.
[27:25] So we might have a home in heaven. So we might have all those things that accompany salvation throughout this part of life that we talked about a few weeks ago.
[27:38] What does Jesus want from us? He wants us to love him. All of our heart, soul, mind, is ring. He wants us to love him with everything that we have.
[27:52] He wants us to come and say, thank you for saving me. Thank you for going to the cross. Thank you for giving your life that I might have eternal life.
[28:06] Thank you for what you have done. See, a lot of people think he wants me to do this and he wants me to do that and he wants me to do this thing. No, he wants you to love him.
[28:20] If you truly love him, all those other things will happen. But you need to love him first. See, Peter remembered is the darkness of the hour, the darkness of the things.
[28:34] He denied Christ. But it doesn't stop there. You don't have time this morning, but if you go over to the book of Acts and you start reading in the book of Acts chapter 2, you only have to go two chapters into Acts, you find a whole different Peter over there.
[28:55] After this incident, when Jesus talked to him and said, Peter, do you love me? Peter got the message. And Peter goes on to Pentecost and he preaches a message about Jesus Christ to the people there.
[29:15] And 3,000 people get saved. He goes from, Lord, you know that I like you. Lord, I denied you and stuff, but you know that I like you, to where he's talking to multitudes of people.
[29:31] He says, Jesus, he's the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he doesn't mean the Messiah is coming to set up a kingdom anymore here on this earth. He now understands exactly who Jesus is.
[29:43] He's setting up a kingdom that is worldwide. He's setting up a kingdom that's going to go on forever. He's setting up a kingdom that we can be a part of and we can go to heaven with him one day.
[29:57] He says, look, I understand who Jesus is now. He has died for my sin. He rose again so that I could have victory over sin. He has gone back to heaven so that we can all go back to heaven.
[30:14] He says, look, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter had two things to learn.
[30:27] Thou art the Christ. Son of the living God. It's about Jesus. It's not about me. Have we learned who Jesus is?
[30:39] Have we understood that it's all about him? You hear me say over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over looking unto Jesus.
[30:52] That's our job. that's what we're to do. It's all about him. Do we understand that?
[31:04] Or are we going to have to go through things like Peter did before we truly understand it's all about Jesus and not about us? When we do that, think of the difference in your life.
[31:17] Peter went from scared, denying, hiding from Jesus at times, not truly being honest with Jesus about who he was and stuff, to Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and 3,000 people got saved.
[31:38] Who is Jesus to us? Who is Jesus to you? Is he the Christ, the Son of the living God? There may be somebody here this morning who doesn't know Jesus Christ as Savior.
[31:52] They never understood what it was about Jesus that's so important. Well, I would be glad to take the word of God and show you how you can know 100% for sure that you are on your way to heaven.
[32:06] I would take the word of God and I would show you the verses in the Bible that says that you can know for sure that you're on your way. how you can know for sure that you have a relationship.
[32:19] See, a lot of people talk about having a religion. We don't believe in religion here. We believe in having a relationship with Jesus Christ and that's what we want everyone to have, a relationship with Jesus Christ.
[32:32] You become part of our church or do things, we'd love to have you, but the more important thing is where are you going to spend eternity? And that all comes back to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
[32:44] I was talking to a young man yesterday about that. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.
[32:56] Jesus is what it's all about. We understand that. If you want to know more about that, come and talk to me after the service. In the meantime, let's stand.
[33:09] Look at the screen.