PM Matthew 16:11-18 Satan's tripwires

[0:00] Tonight is taken from St. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, reading from verse 11 to 20.

[0:11] ! I have originally dropped the former lines here in this chapter.

[0:22] ! Nevertheless, they certainly will fit in with what I'm speaking on tonight. These disciples had became confused as regarding not bringing bread to this particular meeting. Jesus had fed the 5,000 and here he was with his disciples and this crowd here on these previous verses and they were a little mixed up as to we haven't brought any bread. But they misunderstood what Jesus was really referring to. This was more than human bread, it was spiritual bread.

[1:24] And he was warning them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees whose doctrines were against the doctrines of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And Jesus indeed sort of rebuked them and rebuked their thoughts on what they were thinking was not what Jesus was applying to the spiritual bread.

[2:06] And so they were a little bit confused. And he came to confirm what was the true bread and what was the truth of the whole matter as to spiritual bread and feeding upon it.

[2:28] And so, really the point I believe in these verses is that Jesus was speaking to them of the true and living bread in which a man feasts shall never hunger again.

[2:49] And to beware of the leaven of the leaven of the leaven of the leaven of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

[3:00] So we catch up here from, what did I say, verse 11 to 18. And we'll read from there, verse 11 to 18.

[3:13] Then they, no, Jesus said, where am I here? Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven, he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of the bread of the Pharisees and the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

[3:41] Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples, what do people say that I, the Son of Man, is?

[3:56] You'll notice he refers himself to the Son of Man, not God. Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

[4:08] Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered them, blessed are you, Simon, but Jonah, for flesh and blood does not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

[4:28] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rope I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[4:41] 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 lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

[4:59] Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. May God add his blessing to that reading of his own personal and holy word.

[5:16] And to his name be the glory. We are faced with two very prominent and positive questions asked by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[5:39] Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? He was speaking to a much wider world by such a question.

[5:58] But then he comes in closer and nearer to the personal situation. He says, whom do you say that I, the Son of Man, am?

[6:12] Two very profound questions. Jesus made many claims during his ministry here upon earth.

[6:30] He was not only the Son of Man, but he claimed to be God. He claimed to be God.

[6:41] That was an ultimate claim for anyone to make. No one has ever made such a claim and attained to it as the claim of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[6:57] Would you or would I tonight claim to be God? Certainly or not.

[7:08] Never, never could that be applied to any of us. Because we all have sinned and come short of the glory of that living and true God.

[7:23] He claimed to be God. He claimed to be God. And he was God. And not only so was he God.

[7:35] But as we already read in these previous verses, that we omitted, that Christ had warned the people to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

[7:56] That is the doctrine and their beliefs. False teachers. False doctrines. And claims to the truth.

[8:09] And Jesus warned them, Beware of not only the Sadducees and the Pharisees, but all who are against the truth of the gospel and the word of God.

[8:28] And you know, these Pharisees and Sadducees are still with us today. And this still applies to their doctrines.

[8:42] And our ability to beware of their teachings and their doctrines. No one has ever made a claim of that of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[8:57] Did not the only claim to be God, but he substantiated these claims by his actions and by his words.

[9:09] All that he done was applicable to God, his heavenly fire. Claims beyond all human existence.

[9:20] Eternal and invincible and fulfilled to the word. Every one of them here by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[9:33] All are in this word of God. We have everything there pertaining to Jesus Christ and to whom God is the ultimate and absolute truth.

[9:56] He claimed to be the truth and he claimed to be God. He claimed to be the ultimate truth and the representative of God, his Father.

[10:12] And as I said before, he claimed that ultimate claim to be God for he was God. But he also was man.

[10:25] The man, the God-man. He came as man and yet he was God. And he'd done the works and carried out the commands of God.

[10:42] You and I live in a world today of many gods. Small g's. Many gods. So many who live too as if they were gods.

[10:55] Many in this world today live as if they were gods. That they were superior to everything else and all things else. They live, as it were, as gods on earth.

[11:09] But gods in a small g. And I don't know what lady. I can't remember the name of the lady.

[11:21] But there was one lady said of one of the Roman Catholic pontists. She said he was not only the vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, but he was Jesus Christ incarnate in the flesh.

[11:40] Now there's a claim for you. He was not only the vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, but he was Jesus Christ incarnate in the flesh.

[12:03] Now the claims of our Lord did not or do not even today, more than ever today, so forth, without going without contradiction.

[12:18] Jesus' life was full of contradiction. Those who opposed and questioned his acts and his teachings.

[12:31] Multitudes who questioned Jesus about his acts and his claims. And this alone, we must be assured, that this was moved by the great accuser of the brethren.

[12:53] The great accuser of Christ and his followers. And against all that was concerning God and of Christ, Jesus our Lord.

[13:06] Someone has said, the greatest aim of Satan was to prevent Christ from going to the cross and be crucified for our sins.

[13:22] The greatest aim of Satan was to keep Christ from the cross. And just you think of it, if he had succeeded in one of his great tripwires, if he had succeeded to defeat the Lord Jesus Christ and his temptation, what would this earth ever have come to?

[13:49] I've entitled this tonight, Satan's Tripwires. The Bible is full of them. Snares, traps, invisible and at times unseen in our daily lives.

[14:06] Entering into us and it is hard at times for us to escape these tripwires and snares that Satan has prepared for us.

[14:21] Acts or deeds that you and I commit and we say, oh, I should never have done that what I've done. I should never have committed that act that I've done.

[14:34] Words which we have spoken that we say, oh, I wish I'd never said these words. Thoughts that occur in our minds that should never have been.

[14:52] and actions which we should never have taken part in or even words which we have never spoken. Bringing to us that guilt of sin into our consciences day by day.

[15:10] So let us tonight come in spirit as it were to Caesarea Philippi. And here we are faced with these two questions.

[15:22] Here is one of Satan's many tip wires. Many of Satan's tip wires. Jesus asks the most profound question here.

[15:36] Who do men say that I the son of man am? And who do you say that I the son of man? Notice he terms himself as the son of man not the son of God.

[15:56] It's a question put to the outsiders of the worldly crowd that were there standing by and it demonstrates to us that it requires an answer.

[16:11] and I believe that this is the very foundation and pillar and solid grounds of your faith and mine.

[16:23] it is a profound question that lies at the truth of the whole matter. And this is the very foundation one of the foundations of our faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[16:47] And as to whom Jesus was and claiming to be I believe that this too is at the root of these questions.

[17:01] Was Jesus whom he claimed to be or was he a fake? Was Jesus whom he was claiming to be not only a saviour of men and the son of God he even claimed to be God doubt the ultimate claims that called for real assertion by so many.

[17:33] Such answers to this things that we should know and things that we do know and that we should know contain for us in God's word.

[17:46] God's love. This is denied by thousands today simply the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:59] Who was Christ? Was he whom he claimed to be simply the son of man or the son of God?

[18:09] I remember as a youngster a young boy and my boy days being absolutely completely seemed to be the victim of cultists no names mentioned a great friend of mine trying his utmost by biblical quotations to capture me into his cult by Satan's many trip wires.

[18:49] in spite of my grandfather who was a Christian reading the Bible to me and taking me on his knee and trying to make me sing at four year old the 23rd Psalm which was a total failure then to be.

[19:16] This my grandfather taught me many spoke to in many occasions from the scriptures at four year old but again I still not was wholly taking in what I had heard and what I was being taught and for many years I was wholly ignorant of the word of God and what the scriptures was speaking to me of until this cultist friend came along who was a great friend of me and who insisted it that him and I have a Bible study and I decided well I'll go along with him I don't know what he's maybe talking about but I'll go and attend his Bible studies!

[20:17] he was very aggressive about it as his present day cult is very aggressive even today and what he was saying to me seemed fairly convincing for a time he took me to Revelation 3 in verse 14 where it refers to Christ as the firstborn of creation Christ the firstborn of creation this says the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God now what is this saying he said he said it is saying that Christ did not exist God created

[21:19] Christ and through creating Christ created the world and everything else that you and I see and witness today God created Christ and through Christ created the world which we are in he created everything else that you and I see how do you answer that how did I answer that I was tripped I was tripped into one of Satan's trip wires and but I thought later on with little knowledge whatsoever the scripture I thought to myself there's something missing here there's something missing here because I always believed that God the Father God the Son and

[22:20] God the Holy Spirit that there was a trinity but where was Christ he said Christ was created so therefore he was admitting that one time Christ did not exist and I thought there's someone wrong here but there is one thing it did it sent me to the word of God as never before I was determined to find an answer to these plaguing portions of scripture that was putting across my path and he was hardly giving my time to breathe to try and find an answer to these quotations and I was determined that I'm going to find an answer and knock out to this tormenting aggressive cultist and you know

[23:26] I found a friend who was well acquainted with the Greek and I asked him about it what some of these texts that were being quoted meant and he said to me concerning this one in Revelation he said in the Greek it means the prime source the prime source of all creation the prime source of the creation of God so that nothing else stemmed from this that God and Christ were in the beginning of the creation he was and is before all things he was

[24:29] God and there is a difference he told me in the words of of God and by God so he was saying the cult of a time Christ did not exist and by that I was tripped by one of Satan's tripped wires but thanks be to God many who have been tripped by these wires have by God and his word been raised up again and able to stand upon their own feet you see Satan tried his trip wires away back in that perfect paradise of God his trip wires on Eve surely he said God has not said you shall die surely

[25:32] God has not said that you shall die and Eve fell over it and maybe perhaps never rose up from it again but we have the consequences today with us in this world in which you and I live the consequences of that day when Eve tripped over one of Satan's trip wires he tried it on David didn't he and Beth Seder for Sheba he tried it on him and God realized and saw this trip wire that David fell over and God raised David again to where he raised him to you see every day in our lives you and

[26:39] I are faced up these trip wires of Satan unexpectedly things happen that we never thought would happen how did that happen what caused that or what caused this and these are the unseen but not unexperienced trip wires that he sets before us and his ultimate trip wire was even against our Lord Jesus Christ in that bleak wilderness but to no avail and notice Satan used scripture scripture he uses these trip wires from scripture and he used them on our Lord Jesus

[27:40] Christ above anybody but alas to no avail Christ supreme answer was from God's word Christ said to him it is written it is written in the word of God and for us too in our exploits with the evil one is the word of God it's all here it is written said Jesus it is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God the inspired and living truth of God was the answer for our Lord Jesus Christ and if it was the answer for our Lord Jesus Christ then it is the answer for you and I Satan was demolished through our

[28:45] Lord Jesus Christ by simply quoting from the same scripture that Satan chose to quote from the scripture was the only answer to every trip wire that Satan brings across our pathway he tried it with Aaron when Moses was up in the mount he got Aaron to listen to the people and make this golden calf but again God intervened and asked Moses to pray for Aaron and Aaron was raised up to stand again upon his spiritual feet but he succeeded with

[29:46] Judas as chariot and with so many ever sins at such an occasion to at the Lord's the very Lord's supper it simply says in John 13 verse 27 then Satan entered into the heart of Judas Satan entered into the heart of Judas and he went and Judas never rose again from that trip wire he was entangled in it and it says it simply says it was night it was darkness for Judas and he went out and hanged himself went out and hanged himself now we do read in scripture that a lot of these occasions took place that the scriptures might be fulfilled and it is so that these items were that the scriptures and prophecy might be fulfilled in the will and purposes of

[31:10] God and we cannot question these situations even Satan's triple wires are there in the purposes of God and scripture might be fulfilled and to someone else in spite of all the truth that was expounded to them in these previous verses that we omitted tonight were to them unacceptable the doctrine of scribes and Pharisees were brought out by the Lord Jesus Christ and more confusion to them as to their witness Jesus says before Abraham was I am before

[32:13] Abraham was I am glad to see my day Abraham was glad to see my day so Christ existed by these words here and they were not satisfied and they said you're not yet 50 years old and you say you have seen Abraham come on do you expect us to receive such teaching and words as these then they want it it says they want it to stone him for speaking on such terms they would have taken him out and stoned him to death as was with many in these particular days and they said do you mean to say that if you are a son of man that you indeed have been before

[33:41] Abraham and Jesus said who do men say that I the son of man am and they come up with many answers to this situation great names and great witnesses to the word of God and they say oh some say you're Elias well Elias was great and did many wonderful things and many things were done by him some say that you're one of the old prophets risen from the dead but you remember what Herod said here was John cast into prison for the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ and even

[34:42] John seemed to be a bit confused if he had got things right and John was the man who proclaimed the coming of Jesus and remember he said behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and here he is sitting in prison waiting for death by a king who some stupendous vow had made had to take and have John beheaded and John sends his disciples out to Jesus and saying are you the one that is to come or seek we for another and Jesus rock like confirmation said John has witnessed and seen all that has happened and heard all the words does he need any more convincing of who

[35:47] I am and so they returned with the answer to John but John was beheaded just the same so these men that Jesus confronted they said either we are liars or Jesus is not speaking the truth but it was them who were the liars who do men say that they are well they come up like they are today coming up with many names and as Jesus said lo here is Christ lo there is Christ Christ here and Christ there imitations of our Lord Jesus Christ and his teachings and

[36:49] Jesus said be on your guard go not there but follow the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ think of the Mount of Transfiguration where do we find answers to these situations where men deny the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ Jesus said who do men say that I the son of man am and where do we find answers to such trip wires as Satan has put before us even by using scriptures think of the

[37:52] Mount of transfiguration and think of Christ baptism what does God say concerning our Lord Jesus Christ he said this is my beloved son on the mountain he said listen listen to him and it is baptism he said this is my beloved son in whom I am well placed another trip wire which I fell over was given me by this cultist he took me to where Jesus says of myself I can't do nothing of myself I can't do nothing he said where is

[38:55] God in this here's Jesus seemingly in a helpless situation unable to do anything and you know that tripped me as well and I said I have no answer to that situation whatsoever then through reading God's word and one or two commentators that was true Jesus could do nothing as a man because Jesus came as a man and as a man he was subject to his father God in heaven and what he came to do was what we as men could not do and that was to fulfill all the commands and the laws of his heavenly father which he did to the complete world so in his humanity that was quite true but not in his divinity as a man humanity but in his divinity the divine son of

[40:16] God and he was God so scripture gives us the answers to such trip wires as Satan would place in our way turn to Colossians 1 and verse 15 to 19 what does Colossians say there for by him Christ were all things created that are in heaven and in earth visible and invisible whether whether thrones dominions principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him all things consist in and through him is not talking about a created being

[41:19] I ask you and Colossians 2 and 9 for in him dwelleth all the Godhead bodily and listen to Colossians 1 verse 24 but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks and us Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God if Christ was created there must have been a time as I said before Christ did not exist then there must have been a time when God was incomplete there was no wisdom or power of God God was incomplete there was no father son and holy spirit but God is complete and he is three in one and one in three perfect unity in the

[42:24] Godhead so the deceivers were being deceived deceived deceivers being deceived in every matter concerning the word of God in John 10 30 we have what could be a more complete and concrete statement than this when Jesus says I and my father are one there's no separation there is there there's nothing there of Christ not existing I and my father are one and in Hebrews 1 and verse 1 we read God who

[43:25] God who in sundry times and divers manners spake by the prophets to our fathers has in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things things by whom he made the worlds and the brightness of his glory upholding all things how could he uphold all things if he was not God how could he uphold things if he had not created this world in which he upholds by his power and by his strength whom he has appointed all things and by whom he made the worlds the brightness of his glory upholding all things having purged our sins where is he now having purged our sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty where of the majesty on high the perfect conquer the perfect saviour the perfect

[44:53] God and what could be more convincing than these next two quotes God said let all the angels of God worship him would you and I ever consider thinking who God would ask angels to worship anyone else than God let all the angels of God worship him and here is one complete concrete statement and this is God speaking in verse 8 of John 8 God says that is speaking to Jesus thy throne O God is forever and ever thy throne O God is forever and ever whom do men say that

[46:00] I am Christ question is still to that outer world today outside of this church building that is Christ's question to humanity today whom do men say that I the son of man am but then he brings it in more closer and more personal because he's a personal God and a personal saviour and he says to you and to me tonight but whom do you say that I am the son of man am whom do you say that I am and that is our personal attachment to our Lord and Jesus Christ and he speaks to you and

[47:04] I tonight the very same question and words and demands an answer from each one of us Peter blotted out thou art the Christ the son of the living God thou art the Christ the son of the living God what a revelation given to such a mind when you consider that this same Peter was the very man who would go forth and defy and deny the very Christ that he was claiming to be the son of God but thanks be to God that through Christ and through God Peter was raised up from that entanglement of Satan's chip wire to even go and die for his

[48:09] Lord Jesus Christ Jesus comes closer and comes to each and every one of us personally with this very same question but who do you say that I am!

[48:26] and tonight you and I I trust can answer that very question as to which Peter gave an answer to our Lord there's a revelation from heaven itself and all that concerns Christ and God is for us and everyone that divine revelation of his truth if you ever go to Les Mahigo if you go into the church yard there you'll see a huge granite stone it's to a covenanting martyr Archibald Stuart who's in the toll booth at

[49:30] Edinburgh awaiting the death sentence and he wrote his testimony on paper before he was taken to be hanged and he was hanged and on the stone is that whole written testimony concerning what he thought and what his estimate of the Lord Jesus Christ was and this is what he said this is a quote from it if every drop of my blood and every hair of my head were a life I would gladly lay them down willingly for my lovely Lord Jesus Christ that was a man waiting for execution and he was hanged for that self-same

[50:34] Lord Jesus Christ whom he served and whom he trusted and believed Christ can each and every one of us say tonight with Peter thou art the Christ the son of the living God you are God but even more so can you and I say tonight thou art the Christ the son of the living God you are God and you are my saviour and my God our closing hymn of praise tonight won't