Thanks, Bo. We're going to read from Matthew chapter 16, starting at verse 13, and we're going to read all the way through to chapter 17, verse 8.
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, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter, 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, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For 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.
And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said,
This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise, have no fear.
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
It's the word of God.
Well, good morning, everyone.
If you're visiting today, my name is David.
I'm the pastor here.
We're getting back into Matthew's gospel today.
I was tempted to try and summarize all the way up to chapter 1 to 18, but I thought that would be so confusing if I tried to do that.
In the bulletin, on the front page, there's some links to YouTube, something called the Bible Project,
where it goes for about eight minutes each, and you've got these illustrations.
It's really handy.
If you haven't heard of it before, check it out.
Like, I'd really encourage us to, I don't know if you've ever done this before,
but have you read through a whole gospel in one or two or a few sittings?
Because we often, in church, we break it up into these little bits,
and we can just lose the progression and the themes and the picture of Jesus that builds up.
So I'd really, as we get into Matthew again, can I encourage us to, I don't know,
audio book, however you want to do it, let's sit in Matthew's gospel.
But however, we pray, and then we'll get into God's word.
Father, as we just sang about, I ask that through your word,
you would help us see your glory and your wonder,
so that you might move our hearts to praise you even more.
So I pray this for all of us in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, I want to start by saying something that I struggle to believe on a daily basis.
Whatever situation you're in, I'm in,
the thing you and I need more than anything else to live well
isn't steps to follow or techniques.
It isn't power.
It isn't some outcome.
It's to know, and by know I mean really, personally, internally,
till it gets to our emotions and our imaginations,
know who Jesus is in any situation.
I'm about to go on holidays, and I want to do lots of things,
spending time with family.
I want to sleep.
I want to paint our front door and finish that up.
There's lots of things I'm like, I really want this.
But actually, the thing I need to rest is to know this Jesus afresh.
Any situation.
You're fearful for your children.
Who is Jesus to you when you're fearful for your children?
Who is Jesus to you when you're anxious about tomorrow,
about next month or next year?
Who is Jesus to you when you have experienced,
or someone you love has experienced,
a massive injustice?
Who is he to you when you can't break free of that addiction?
Who is he to you when you start to get disillusioned with this church,
or maybe the leadership?
Who is he to you?
Who is he to you when you're just utterly overwhelmed,
either mentally or just...
Because the life Jesus calls us to,
he just inserts himself so deeply into our life.
He lays claims on our life that is radical.
It covers every situation.
In our text today, here's his description of a Christian.
If you're following along in your Bibles,
chapter 16, verse 24.
If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
To deny yourself is not simply don't be selfish.
It's not there's a last piece of pizza
and the Christian thing to do is deny yourself.
That's not what he's saying here.
If you remember a number of years ago,
there was this political crisis
where members of parliament were found to have dual citizenship.
And the high court said,
you can't be a politician in Australia
and represent this government
if you've got an allegiance to another country.
They had to renounce their other citizenship
if they're going to be in parliament.
Deny here is renounce.
If you're going to follow Jesus,
you need to renounce that allegiance to self,
that self-rule.
The Bible says all of us naturally think
we have the right to sit on the throne of our lives.
And the Bible says,
no, no, God created us.
That is a delusion.
We need to renounce self if we're going to follow Jesus.
And he says, take up your cross.
That is more than just saying
you need to endure hardship if you're going to be a Christian.
Unbelievers get cancer as well.
It's not just saying endure hardship.
To any Jew or Roman of the time,
crucifixion was not just painful,
it was the world publicly rejecting you.
The world saying you are not worthy of life,
you are not worthy of any dignity,
even clothing.
To carry your cross is to not belong.
You don't belong to this world.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
a movie came out about him last year.
I haven't seen it.
I cannot recommend it either.
I have no idea.
But just trying to help you understand
who I'm talking about.
Christian in World War II,
executed days before the end of the war.
He famously put this verse,
when Christ calls a man or woman,
he bids him come and die.
Come and die to self-rule.
Come and die to this world.
And find your life in me.
It's radical stuff.
Now, what I love about Jesus is
he motivates us through choice.
The verbs in here, in verse 24,
you and I are the ones doing the verbs.
He doesn't crush yourself,
crush your sense of self.
You're the one who is to renounce.
Self.
He doesn't place the cross on you.
He says, you take it up willingly.
A Christian is motivated by choice.
And then he gives reasons.
He could have just said that,
but he's trying to motivate our hearts
in the following verses.
He's trying to give us positive reasons,
not fearful reasons,
to choose this.
that you really will find your life
if you do this.
It will feel like dying,
but you will find your life.
Verse 25,
for, here's the reason.
Here's why you should choose to die.
Whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
will find it.
The most selfish thing you and I can do
in any situation
is to
renounce self
and not cling to this world
and try and find your life in him.
It's the most,
he's appealing to our desire for life.
You want to find your life?
Find it in me.
Verse 26,
we love pros and cons lists,
don't we?
Here's a pros and cons list.
If you could have it all,
I don't know what you're dreaming about,
if you could have it,
you think your heart will be settled
and your life would have meaning
and joy
and you're flourishing
if you could have it
in this world.
Well,
what will you gain
if you're denying Jesus
in pursuing that?
It comes at the cost of your life.
A man,
I heard just,
it was an article,
ABC,
I don't know if you saw it
this past week,
a man
was sending that final transaction,
he was buying a house,
it was settlement day,
he thought he was about to get
the keys to his house.
The email looked so legit
and all they did
is change the bank details
and he sent it to the wrong,
it was a scam.
His life savings,
no how,
like the bank can't,
couldn't fix it.
Jesus is saying,
what you think,
what you and I think
we're going to find life
in this world
is transferring
to the wrong account.
It is a scam.
Giving all our soul,
all our life
to the wrong account.
You'd be devastated
if you transferred
that bank account.
I don't think
we think it's a scam
because we're all,
we're all doing it.
We keep thinking
the next thing
is going to satisfy
my heart.
The prophet Jeremiah
in chapter 9,
23
puts it really
poetically,
powerfully.
Let not the wise man
boast in his wisdom.
Let not the mighty man
boast in his might.
Let not the rich man
boast in his riches,
but let him who boasts
boasts in this,
that he understands
and knows me.
He's saying
we will find our life
in knowing him
more and more.
Now I don't think,
I'm sure,
you and I
can't do this.
He's not calling
for us
to self-discipline.
He's not saying
try harder
to do this.
Our hearts,
for us to willingly
renounce self
and die to the world
and look for life
in Jesus,
that is more
than trying harder.
We need to be convinced
of two things.
Who is he?
Who is this guy
who says
your soul
will be satisfied
in him?
And what did he come
to do
to give us life?
They are the two questions
that Matthew's gospel
is framed on.
Up to chapter 16
is about who he is,
especially.
And then from then on
it's about what he came
to do
to give us this life.
And chapter 16
here is
a turning point.
We get both
of these truths.
In the previous section,
verses 13 to 17,
we have a summary
of some people's
conclusions of Jesus
up to this point.
People who met Jesus,
they saw his miracles.
miracles.
The Pharisees,
the religious leaders,
they've come to their
conclusion already
months ago.
Yes, he does miracles,
but he's a liar.
It's by the power
of Satan.
They've already decided
he's got to go.
He's got to get him
out of their lives.
The crowds
are closer.
They're closer to the truth.
They're much more respectful.
He's somebody.
He's a prophet.
He points to God.
He speaks on behalf of God.
But whether you're drowning
100 kilometres
out from shore
in the ocean
or you're 100 metres,
if you're drowning,
you are still
in grave danger.
Peter represents
the only conclusion
that can save,
and he's representing
the 12 apostles here.
You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
This conclusion is,
we're coming to a climax
in this section of Matthew.
It's teaching us
how to read
the stories of Jesus.
I think we can often
read these stories
as my life feels
like I'm in a boat
and there's a storm.
If only I look to Jesus
and he can calm
that storm.
These aren't
self-help stories
of what we should do.
We're meant to have
the questions
of the apostles
on our mind.
When they're in that boat
and Jesus calms
the storm,
they're like,
what sort of man
is this?
And then when he walks
on water,
they come to the conclusion,
truly you are the Son of God
and they worship him.
That's how we're meant
to be reading
Matthew's Gospel.
Matthew has a particular
focus on fulfillment
of the Old Testament
compared to Mark or Luke.
We think a sermon
on the mount
is in Matthew's Gospel.
He's up a mountain
and he's a new Moses.
Who is this guy
who says of the law
of God,
you heard that it was said
don't commit murder
and all those things,
but I say to you.
Who dares speak
about the law of God
like that?
I say to you.
He's a new Moses.
He's a greater Moses.
He's a greater David.
He's not just conquering
human armies,
he's conquering
Satan's armies.
He's a greater Solomon.
No one can match
his wisdom.
They try and trip him up.
No one can match
his wisdom.
He's a greater Israel.
Israel failed
that testing
in the wilderness
whereas this son obeys.
He's a greater temple
when he forgives
the paralyzed man
and he forgives his sin
if you remember that story.
It's not the temple
you find forgiveness,
it's in this man
that you find forgiveness.
All of it is building
this picture
of who
this
Jesus is.
Now Simon Peter
he's told
that when he
when he makes
this confession
you are the son
of the living God
he said
bless you
Simon
for flesh
and blood
has not revealed
this to you
but my father
who is in heaven.
if you can see
who Jesus is
I think this verse
is telling us
don't credit
your own knowledge
don't credit
your own wisdom
don't credit
your own humility
if you and I
can see
who Jesus is
it's because
the father
has given us
eyes to see
the sun
can shine
in the sky
but if you
don't have eyes
to see
you won't see it.
God has to both
reveal the sun
his sun
through his word
but he also
needs to give us
eyes to see him
if you can see him
praise his grace
if you are
struggling to see him
ask him
the father
loves to answer
that prayer
now Jesus
goes on to say
that
on Peter
he's going to
build his church
for today
I just
I'm not going to
go into the detail
of why
I do not think
that is
going down
the Catholic
claim of a Pope
I feel like
I need to say
more
talk to me
later
if you want
to know
more about
that
but
it's
it's on
the basis
of
these apostles
who saw
Jesus
and heard
Jesus
it's their
confession
that he
is the
son of
God
that you
and I
can
make that
same
confession
you won't
come to the
conclusion
that Jesus
is the
son of
God
without
the
apostles
it's on
that
foundation
that you
and I
can make
the same
confession
you are
the Christ
and be
saved
it's
their
faith
that
builds
our
faith
and
Satan
attacks
this
faith
he attacks
this
church
that Jesus
is building
the gates
of hell
will not
prevail
against
his
church
that
picture
of gates
it's
a metaphor
for
all the
armies
all the
fortifications
all the
evil forces
are against
coming to
this
conclusion
that Jesus
is the
Messiah
but Jesus
says
no one's
gonna
all the
armies
are not
going
to
destroy
the
faith
of my
people
it's a
beautiful
promise
so that's
how we can
know
who this
Jesus
is
a
friend
once
asked me
what
my
favorite
song
about
heaven
was
and
the
song
that came
to my
mind
was
by
King's
Kaleidoscope
If you
don't know
them
look them
up
if it's
not your
taste
that's
okay
but
one of
their
songs
is
called
I
Know
I
have
been
given
a
taste
for
something
that
nothing
in
this
world
can
satisfy
but
I
know
that
a
time
is
coming
when
I
will
be
in
glorious
delight
I
know
I
will
run
through
heaven
streets
of
gold
shouting
hallelujah
Christ
alone
I
know
I
will
dance
and
sing
and
bow
before
the
throne
yeah
this
I
know
!
Oh!
But how
do I
know?
How
do you
know?
How
can
you
know?
Six
days
after
making
this
confession
we're
given
this
gracious
wonderful
confirmation
to
see
who it
is
who
promises
you'll
find
life
find
glory
in
him
so
Peter
James
and
John
are
up
a
mountain
this
is
better
than
if
you
got a
dream
tonight
of
a
revelation
of
Jesus
this
is
better
you
couldn't
be
sure
about
that
dream
whereas
here
we've
got
three
people
three
witnesses
!
who
testify
to the
same
phenomenon
for a
brief
moment
we
get a
glimpse
into
who
this
guy
is
before
he
came
into
the
world
we
get
a
glimpse
into
who
he
is
right
now
who
is
in
this
room
with
us
by
his
spirit
we
get
a
glimpse
!
of
who
it
is
who's
coming
back
at
the
end
of
history
he
was
transfigured
before
them
and
his
face
shone
like
the
sun
and
his
clothes
became
white
as
light
how does
that go
in your
noggin
how does
that fit
in the
categories
of your
beings
that are
in
reality
some
people
brush
this
aside
and
go
who
does
his
laundry
don't
make
a joke
is
trying
to
deflect
how
confronting
this
is
there
is
a
threat
here
who
is
this
guy
there's
so much
Old Testament
imagery
in this
account
we've got
this
bright
glory
cloud
up a
mountain
and
when the
Israelites
were freed
from Egypt
the
Shekinah
I can't
even say
the word
Shekinah
thank you
Shekinah
glory
a
pillar of
cloud
by day
and fire
by night
destroyed
Pharaoh's
armies
and protected
the people
and up
Mount Sinai
turned that
mountain
into a
volcano
basically
Moses
experienced
this glory
up a
mountain
and
Elijah
experienced
this same
glory
a voice
up a
mountain
and here
we are
up a
mountain
again
but there's
something
different
here
there's
something
very
different
the
divine
manifestation
splendor
is coming
out of
a person
he is
not
like
Moses
and Elijah
who
point
to glory
he
he is
the glory
at the
heart
of the
universe
is
a
person
N.T.
Wright
says
an author
UK
Christian
author
N.T.
Wright
says
how can
you live
with the
terrifying
thought
that the
hurricane
has become
human
that fire
has become
flesh
that
capital
L
life
itself
became
life
and
warped
in our
midst
Christianity
either means
that
or it
means
nothing
it is
either
the most
devastating
disclosure
of the
deepest
reality
of the
world
or it
is a
sham
and
nonsense
a bit
of deceitful
play
acting
most of
us
unable
to cope
with
saying
either
of those
things
condemn
ourselves
to live
in the
shadow
world
in
between
Peter's
error
let's
make
three
tenths
I want
to stay
here
with
you
guys
he
puts
Jesus
on the
same
level
as
Moses
and
Elijah
they're
just
the
support
acts
they're
the
backup
dancers
I'm
not
sure
if
that's
a
disrespectful
way
to
talk
about
Moses
and
Elijah
the
main
act
all
the
Old
Testament
was
pointing
!
to
this
person
this
radiating
the
glory
of
God
son
it's
as soon
as the
disciples
confess
that
Jesus
is
this
son
they
get
this
beautiful
confirmation
but it's
at this
point
that
Jesus
starts
to say
why
he
came
his
mission
chapter
16
verse
21
from
that
time
Jesus
began
to
show
his
disciples
that
he
must
go
to
Jerusalem
and
suffer
many
things
from
the
elders
and
chief
priests
and
scribes
and
be
killed
I
know
if
you've
gone
to
church
for
a while
we've
heard
this
so
many
times
but I
lingered
on that
word
this
week
that
radiating
face
killed
and on
the third
day
be
raised
in the
screenplay
Jesus
Christ
Superstar
Pilate
says in
the play
when
Jesus
comes
in
who
is
this
broken
man
cluttering
up my
hallways
so
this
is
Jesus
Christ
I'm
really
quite
surprised
you
look
so
small
not a
king
at
all
most
people
today
back
then
still
today
can't
see
his
glory
that
he
would
go
to
the
cross
for a
brief
moment
up
this
mountain
we're
given
this
glimpse
to
the
divine
light
that
he
would
become
so
small
not
a
king
at
all
that
he
would
go
to
that
cross
who
do
you
see
professor
brian
cox
you
might
have
seen
youtube
and
things
he
says
there's
200
billion
stars
in
the
milky
way
galaxy
each
with
their
own
planets
two
trillion
galaxies
and
he
says
I
challenge
anyone
to be
able to
picture
that
you
can't
picture
it
can
you
anyone
raise
your
hand
if you
can
picture
that
you
can't
you
can't
picture
it
and
all
that
was
made
through
this
sun
you
do
not
treat
someone
like
that
as
your
NRMA
roadside
assistance
you
just
ignore
until
you're
in
trouble
and
give
them
a
call
you
do
not
treat
someone
like
that
who
do
you
see
who
do
you
see
who
went
to
the
cross
for you
he
this
radiating
light
face
went
to that
cross
to die
for your
allegiance
to self
my
allegiance
to
self
he
chose
to die
for your
love
for this
world
for my
love
for this
world
we get
a little
taste
of
of his
grace
Peter
James
and John
they're in
the
presence
of the
glory
of God
and they
are on
their
face
terrified
and at
his
touch
he says
rise
have
no
fear
that's
why
he went
to the
cross
so that
when
we know
his
glory
is
coming
got no
fear
we're
just
looking
forward
to it
because
of the
forgiveness
he has
given
us
what you
and I
need
the
most
in
any
situation
is
to
know
him
I'm
still
struggling
to
believe
that
but
that's
what
we
need
the
most
in
any
situation
whatever
you're
going
through
right
now
we
need
to
know
him
more
afresh
again
if you
really want
to find
life
picture
world
war
two
concentration
camps
if
cory
ten
boom
you've
probably
heard
her name
before
picture
flea
infested
beds
an
overcrowded
dorm
of
women
and
many
of
them
gathered
around
this
little
bible
that
they've
snuck
in
most
of
them
sick
some
of
them
starving
to
death
but
through
the
light
of
the
moon
they're
gathered
around
this
little
bible
reading
Romans
8
who
shall
separate
us
from
the
love
of
Christ
shall
tribulation
or
distress
or
persecution
or
famine
or
nakedness
or
danger
or
sword
no
in
all
these
things
in
all
these
things
we
are
more
than
conquerors
through
him
who
loved
us
there
are
so
many
things
Corey
could
have
been
looking
to
for
more
life
that's
I'm
I don't
think
I'm
ever
going
to
go
through
something
as
hard
as
that
at
least
get
rid
of
the
fleas
out
of
the
bed
set
us
free
from
these
captors
and
the
injustice
of
it
but
here's
what
Corey
writes
I
would
look
about
as
her
sister
Betsy
read
Romans
8
and
watching
the
light
leap
from
face
to
face
of
the
women
more
than
conquerors
it
was
not
a
wish
it
was
a
fact
we
knew
it
we
experienced
it
minute
by
minute
poor
hated
hungry
we
are
more
than
conquerors
not
we
shall
be
we
are
life
in
Ravensbrook
took
place
on
two
separate
levels
mutually
impossible
one
the
observable
external
life
grew
every
day
more
horrible
the
other
the
life
we
lived
with
God
grew
daily
better
truth
upon
truth
glory
upon
glory
better
whatever
situation
you're
in
the
most
important
question
to ask
your
heart
is
who
is
Jesus
to
you
what
sense
of
worth
or
belonging
have
you
really
lost
if
people
cut
you
out
of
their
life
if
the
one
who
owns
the
angels
knows
you
by
name
who
is
Jesus
to
you
what
injustice
have
you
really
suffered
in
the
end
if
you
forgo
vengeance
and
this
king
puts
everything
right
in
the
end
who
is
this
Jesus
to
you
what
pleasure
what
experience
have
you
really
missed
out
on
if
he
purchased
glory
forever
for
you
at
his
right
hand
are
pleasures
forever
more
you
haven't
missed
out
on a
thing
overseas
trip
no
come on
I'm
sure
we
can
travel
in
the
newer
the
most
important
question
in
any
situation
we're
going
through
is
who
is
this
Jesus
to
you
finish
with
Jesus
words
whoever
loses
their
life
for
my
sake
will
find
it!