Jesus the Messiah Pt 2

Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew, chapter 16.

Today we move into part two of our series of Jesus the Messiah. We said that there would be three things that we'd look at in this series. We would see a question, a confession, and a revelation. Last week we saw the question. The religious leaders came to Jesus, testing him, and they asked him a question. They said, can you show us some kind of an attesting sign so that you can prove who you are,

so that you can prove that you are the Messiah? Of course, Jesus tells them he won't give them any kind of sign, and then he begins to warn the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and the scribes. Well, as we move into today's section, we sort of pick up where we left off. The disciples, remember, had gotten into the boat with Jesus and gone to the other side, and when they got to the other side is when they realized they had no bread, and they thought that Jesus, in speaking of the leaven of the Pharisees and the scribes, thought he was talking about bread.

And so now we're with the disciples and Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. And today's message is broken up into three sections, the confession, the prediction, and the instruction. We pick up in verse 13. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, And they said, And some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And he said to them, And Simon Peter answered, And Jesus said to him, And blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven. I also say that you are Peter, and upon you is the Son of God, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Then he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ. Now we find that they have moved into this region of Caesarea Philippi. This region of Caesarea Philippi, again, is a predominantly Gentile region. Again, it's kind of interesting that Matthew is the gospel written to the Jewish, but it seems like Matthew is spending a lot of time writing about Jesus doing work in the region of the Gentiles.

And in this region of the Gentiles of Caesarea Philippi, idolatry had abounded at one time. And so there was monuments to idols all over. And so as Jesus stood there, both with the understanding that the religious of the Jews had their opinion about him, and with the backdrop of all of the idolatrous things behind him, he begins to ask his disciples a question. And the question that he asks them, is this, who do people say that the Son of Man is?

You see, Jesus was well aware that people had their opinions. And isn't it kind of interesting? I always like to say that opinions are sort of like armpits. Everybody has one, and most of them stink. Right? And Jesus knew that that was the case about people. That everybody was going to have their opinion about Jesus. Because remember, Jesus is one of the most polarizing individuals to ever walk planet earth.

And so Jesus asked them this question. And as he asks them this question, they begin to, throw out the suggestions of what the religious people of that time say. Some say, John the Baptist. Remember, Herod had said that. He thought Jesus was perhaps John the Baptist, come back to life. Some people say, Elijah. Because before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord,

Elijah was supposed to show up. Some say, Jeremiah. And then some say, one of the prophets. Now it's interesting because all of these things that the people were saying, the religious leaders especially about Jesus, were not negative things. These were great men that he was being compared to. Men who were very godly. Men who, in their time on earth, served the Lord with all of their heart.

And God had used in very powerful ways. These things were not insults about Jesus. The problem with the suggestions that were given by the religious of that time, is that it still did not fully grasp who Jesus is. And it reminded me, one of my favorite questions that when I was working with youth all the time, I asked teenagers is, what do your friends say about Jesus?

What are some of the opinions that people have about Jesus? And it was always fascinating to hear what some of the kids would come up with, that their friends would say about Jesus. We know some of the opinions of today. Jesus was a good man. Jesus was a great teacher. Jesus was a prophet. Jesus was a social organizer. That's the one I hate the most. Jesus was a social reformer.

Jesus came as an example of a good person to be. And while there's some truth in a good number of those statements, except the social organizer thing, while there's some truth in a lot of those statements, none of them go far enough for who Jesus is. Because Jesus is so much more than that. As a matter of fact, the confession that Peter makes of Jesus is going to be the most important.

Because in all of those things, it falls short of the fact that Jesus is actually God, come down in the flesh to dwell among us. And so as we look at these suggestions that people have, it's kind of interesting what they have to say, but they all fall short. But then Jesus gets a little bit more pointed with his disciples. And he looks at them and he asks them what I think is probably a pretty penetrating question by this point in time.

He says to them, But who do you say that I am? Now to me, that's a very penetrating question that Jesus asks his disciples. We're at least two years into Jesus' ministry by this point in time, if not closer to two and a half years into Jesus' ministry. And he's walked with these guys for a very long time. They have been with him through thick and thin. They have been with him through ups and downs.

They have seen the miracles that he has performed. And he has been patient with them even in the midst of all of their doubts. And so Jesus, at this what I consider somewhat pivotal time in his ministry, asks them this very pointed question. And I think the reason why Jesus asks them this question is because he is drawing very near to the cross. And he needs to know who he's really asking.

He needs to know who he's really dealing with as he draws near to the cross to know that he has a group of men that are behind him that will support him in the ministry after he's gone. It's kind of interesting, too, because I think one of the greatest questions that we can answer for ourselves is, Who do I say that Jesus is? See, there's only going to be one question we're going to have to ask or that we're going to have to answer when we stand before the Father. It won't have to do with what our opinion on abortion is, although I do think that's very important.

It won't have to do with what your opinion on same-sex marriage is, although I think that that's important. The one question that he will ask you will not even have to do with how good of a person you've been on this earth, although I think that that's an important thing. We'll talk about that when we get to discipleship. The one question we'll have to answer is, What did you do with Jesus?

Who did you believe that he is? Because all of those other things cannot be correct unless I'm right on this point about Jesus. And everybody, at some point in time, is going to have to answer the question for themselves, Who do you think that Jesus is? Because he's a polarizing individual. He can't just be a good man and a good teacher because the claims that he made, if he is not the Messiah,

are called lies. And so, as C.S. Lewis so aptly put it in his book, Mere Christianity, Jesus is either a liar and a lunatic, or he is the very Son of God. The decision is up to you. So, he asks his disciples this question, and the first one to answer is Simon Peter. Now, typically, when Simon Peter gets ready to answer, all of the boys sit back, grab themselves a box of popcorn,

and just wait for the storm to begin, right? Because they know Peter's going to say something really fun, and Jesus is going to have to correct him. That's not what happens this time. You see, this time, Peter, in all of his boldness, Peter, in his ability to speak without thinking, had developed a faith reflex. And the faith reflex that Peter had developed

caused him to say this, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In the Greek, that would be written, You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. It's kind of interesting how many times the, that direct article is used there, and it's important because it is specifically pointing out who he is. And as Peter makes this confession, he boldly proclaims, After the time that I have spent with you, the claims that you've made, the things that you've done, the way that you've taught, I have come to a distinct, settled understanding that you are the Messiah, the Christ, the Chosen One, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus, I think, with a little tear welling up in his eye, I can't prove that scripturally, but you do have to wonder, looks at Peter, and he says a really bold statement. He says, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. He looks at Peter and he says, You are so blessed. And he calls him his given Hebrew name, Simon Bar-Jonah.

Simon, son of John, because flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but only my Father who is in heaven. Now from this, we draw a very interesting conclusion, and one that we should pay attention to. Spiritual truth is not something we can discern in a fleshly sort of way. Spiritual truth is not something that descends upon us because you studied long enough.

I think you should study. I think it's one of the greatest things you can do, spend as much time in God's word as possible. But spiritual truth, spiritual truth is revealed by the Spirit. Truth of God is revealed to us by God. That's why one person can read the word of God and come to a settled conclusion that they don't care one way or the other who God is,

and another person can study the word of God and come to a settled conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, that there is one true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who came in bodily form, and He's coming again in bodily form the exact same way. You know why those two people exist? Because one had it revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, the other one was simply studying it for their own knowledge. You say, there's so many things about God I don't know.

How do I learn all of these things about God? You need to start asking the Holy Spirit to teach you. Because as you get into what God's word has to say, it must be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit because that's exactly what happened to Peter. God revealed it to him by the Holy Spirit and He always does so slowly but surely because we're going to find that Peter's going to make one massive step forward.

One massive step forward here and then one massive step backwards in just a moment because God works in us slowly but surely. But He makes this incredibly bold statement and God so blessed that moment. And you know how good Peter had to have felt at this point in time, right? Well, Jesus doesn't stop there with His praise of Peter. Notice what He says. He says,

I also say this to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. But you notice that Jesus just used two different names for this man that made this great declaration. What did He call him first? Did you pay attention to it? The first thing He says, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Why? Because that's His given Hebrew name.

But the word Simon's kind of interesting. The word Simon carries with it the idea of somebody who is a little bit shifty. Not shifty like he's looking to rob you any moment, but shifty meaning he has a really hard time standing strong. We might call him flighty or flaky today. That's who Simon was. And so when Jesus first declared it, He said, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah.

Because flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. It was my Father in heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter. You know what the word Peter means? The word Peter means rock. It actually means a small stone. But the idea is still given there. Why? Because Peter, though shifty, though flaky, though untrustworthy as a man, in the hands of God, with the understanding of the Messiah,

he could become one who was solid on his foundation. One that could be fully dependent upon. He says this because it's a proclamation of who he would become, not necessarily who he was at that point in time. And so as he does so, he says, Blessed are you, or I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Now, the next two or three verses that we cover are what we call controversial. Because there's some different opinions on these verses. And so I'm just going to tell you what I really feel like they mean based upon what Scripture has to say here. He says, I call you Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

So the first question we ask ourselves is, what is the rock that he's going to build his church upon? Well, if you initially read it, you think, well, the rock is Peter. There's actually three interpretations of this. Some people say that the rock is Peter, that he would build his church upon Peter. Therefore, the Roman Catholics have the idea that Peter was the very first pope.

Maybe. The second interpretation is that this rock that's being spoken of is Peter's confession of who Jesus is as the Messiah, the son of the living God. That's plausible. Then the third interpretation is that when Jesus says, and on this rock, he's actually referring to himself, the rock of Jesus Christ, the living God, upon this rock I will build my church.

So I want to give you my take on it based upon my own study of Scripture and my own spending a great deal of time laboring over this this week. First of all, I do think that there's something to be said about who Peter was going to be. Because Peter would be a rock for the church. As a matter of fact, he would be one of those. The founding members of the church on the day of Pentecost,

God would use him in a powerful way on the day of Pentecost to bring the gospel to the Jews. God would later use him in the book of Acts to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Praise God, because we're all Gentiles. At least I think most of us are. God would use him as a rock in the church. And so while I do think that that's true, I don't think that's the fullness of what's being said there.

I believe what Jesus is saying is that Peter's confession, which points to the fact that Jesus is the rock, is what he's going to build it upon. Jesus is saying, what you said, Peter, that I am the Messiah, the Son of the living God, that confession of the truth of who I am is what I will build the church upon. And brothers and sisters, if we ever have any question, we can just look at what Peter had to say. Because he said, we are all living stones founded upon the rock of Jesus Christ.

Jesus here, after Peter makes this great confession, says, I will build a church upon the truth of who I am and I will use you to start it. That's what he tells Peter at this point in time. He then goes on to give another controversial statement. He says in the gates of Hades will not overpower it. In other words, death will never be able to overcome the church.

The enemy will never be able to overcome the church. He now gives another controversial statement. In verse 19 he says, 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. You see why this gets used to say that Peter was the very first pope? Because I don't know if you all realize this or not,

but the pope, they say, is the one that has the power to forgive sins or not. The Roman Catholic Church says the pope is the one that has the power to set doctrines, and the church is the one that has the power to set doctrines. As a matter of fact, I just watched a video by a guy named Father Mike. If you ever watched any videos by Father Mike, and he said it's really important that the church be able to set the doctrine.

Here's the problem with that statement. If we give the church the power to set the doctrine, then all of a sudden I can start deciding what I do and do not want to happen within my church. I can start telling you things like, oh, well, you're going to have to go through a little bit of a holding period after you die, and hopefully your good will outweigh your bad. If not, you'll have to serve a time of penance.

If you serve that time of penance, then maybe God will let you into the kingdom of heaven. But you know what? I have a good deal for you. You can purchase your loved one's way out of purgatory to where he doesn't have to pay penance by paying me this thing called an indulgence. You see, that's what I could do if the church is who is able to set the doctrine.

You see, the church is not the one that sets the doctrine. You say, but Ryan, I thought the church set the doctrine. The word of God is what sets the doctrine. And this Father Mike Trump, he tried to say, in the book of Acts, the disciples were always setting doctrine because they were the church, therefore they set the doctrine. Every doctrine of the New Testament

has first of all been introduced in the Old Testament. And that's important for us to understand. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. In the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. God will never allow doctrines to be established that will not also line up with what his word has to say. And when we start thinking that we can establish our own doctrines based on what we think is right,

then all of a sudden we move into false teaching and we lead other people astray. When Jesus said that he was giving Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, he was giving Peter a mission. A mission that he would then confirm after his resurrection when he told Peter to feed my sheep, tend my lambs, feed my lambs. He was giving Peter the mission to take the gospel to the rest of the world.

Because who was the one that stood up on the day of Pentecost, the day of the birth of the church, and gave one of the greatest sermons we see preached in the book of Acts where 3,000 people were saved of the Jewish people that day? Who was the guy that gave the sermon? It was Peter. He opened the door to heaven with his message of the gospel to the Jewish people.

And then as you move on into the book of Acts, who was it that first took the gospel to the Gentiles and opened the key to the gates of heaven with the message of the gospel to the entire nation of the Gentiles? It was Peter. You see, God would give Peter that mission. God would give Peter that ability to go and proclaim for the first time the gospel to those two groups of people.

And in a lesser way, may I say, you and I have those same keys in our own lives. Not because of who you are, but because once you have been entrusted with the gospel message, you can now open the door to the gates of heaven to anyone simply by showing them the truth of who Jesus is. And then once they put their faith in the truth of who Jesus is, the gates of heaven swing wide and the angels begin to celebrate. He goes on to say, and the things that you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Again, that gives him the apostolic authority to speak forth the truth from the Old Testament into the lives of the New Testament. And so we see this great confession of Peter, but now Jesus begins to give a prediction. You see, Jesus is coming very close to the time of the cross, and he needs his disciples to be prepared for this. And so for the first time in Matthew's gospel, Jesus, the Messiah, speaks of his mission.

Notice what he says, verse 21. From that time, Jesus began to show him and 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 be raised up on the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.

You are a stumbling block, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's. Gosh, from the highest of highs to being called Satan. So Jesus begins to speak, and he tells his disciples, and he's really specific about what's coming, right? He's really specific, because he needs them to be prepared. Now, they didn't listen to everything he had to say,

but he told them several things. He said, first of all, you need to understand, he began to show his disciples. Now, I wonder if that doesn't mean he began to show them from Scripture, because you can clearly see the message of the cross all throughout the Old Testament. But it says, he began to show his disciples. This is what's going to have to happen. He must go to Jerusalem,

where he will suffer many things from the hands of the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day. He said, there's going to come a time where I'm going to have to go to Jerusalem. And when I go to Jerusalem, I will be arrested and treated very badly by the religious leaders. We know that that's true, because they not only spent time beating him, but they turned him over to the Romans to beat him.

He said, and then I must be killed. But I will be raised again on the third day. I will be raised from the dead three days later. In all of the teaching of who Jesus is, we must remember his mission the first time he came to earth. The first time he visited planet earth, his mission was single-minded, to be the sacrifice, for our sins. You see, if he isn't killed,

then his life on earth was a wonderful example, but it does nothing to set us free from our sin. So he tells them, this is my mission, is to come and to suffer and to be killed. And all they heard at the last part was, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Right? That was, and be raised up on the third day. We know that's what they heard, because when he was killed,

they were like, oh, life is over. Nothing's ever going to be able to happen again. What are we going to do? The angels are like, hey, remember that one time he was like, hey, I'm going to be raised again three days later? He kind of meant it. Go back to Jerusalem. That's where he's going to be. They didn't hear that last part. Peter didn't hear that last part.

All he knows is, he loves Jesus with all of his heart. Quite frankly, God speaks to him now. Matter of fact, God speaks through him now. Right? Remember what Jesus said? Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. My Father in heaven did. As a matter of fact, I will build my church on the confession that you just made. The gates of heaven will be given to you.

The key to the gates of heaven will be given to you. And Peter's going, I knew it was time. Feeling good. Feeling real good. Spirit's flowing. Everything's working the way it's supposed to. Jesus makes this claim, and he's like, don't worry, boys. I'll handle this. God speaks through me. He goes up to Jesus. I think my favorite part of this is that it says,

he took him aside and began to rebuke him. I think Matthew enjoyed writing this, because you know everybody gave Peter a hard time. They're like, hey, Peter, remember that one time you rebuked Jesus? And then they all start laughing about it because of how funny. He's like, very funny, guys. Come on. I thought we were past that by now. And so Matthew, in writing this, is like,

and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, like a moron. Saying, God forbid it. This shall never happen to you. You can picture this scene, right? He's like, Jesus, listen. We've got good things going right now, okay? Got a good crowd following us. Miracles are happening every time. People are really becoming followers right now. This whole death thing, that's going to bring the whole gang down, right?

Look, they're all sad. John's crying, right? Like, the whole gang is just brought down by this statement. It's the saddest thing I've ever heard. Jesus, we're not going to let that happen to you, right? We are few, but we are strong. We are strong when you're among us. Thinking that Jesus is going to be like, thanks, Pete. I appreciate the support. But that's not what Jesus says.

He turns to him and says, get behind me, Satan. What? Why does he say, get behind me, Satan? Is Jesus actually calling, which, by the way, well, anyway, never mind. I've said enough about all that. I'm going to get myself in trouble. I don't think he's actually calling Peter Satan. But Peter's being used as a stumbling block of Satan at this point in time. Why?

Why does Jesus call him this? Well, the next section points it out. He says,

What was the real problem that Peter had right now? Peter could only see things from the lens of humanity. Peter could only see things through the lens of how it was going to affect him. And all he could see is that the loss of his best friend would be the worst thing that could happen to him. What he didn't realize was, first of all, it was only a temporary loss of his best friend

because he would be brought back to life. Second of all, if his best friend didn't die, he would be separated from him for eternity. So his mind was only set on the temporary here and now. Gosh, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? It feels like the culture we're living in now. A lot of us are getting nervous about the things that are happening because we don't know

what comes next in the world. Maybe Jesus comes next. I don't know. But all of these things are preparing for Jesus coming back. Therefore, we must maintain an eternal perspective with everything that's going on right now. Why is the United States of America seem to be crumbling right now? Because in the end times, there cannot be a United States world power.

There cannot be a strong United States. Why? Because if there's a strong United States, then there can't be an antichrist. And if there can't be an antichrist, then all of the things that Jesus said were going to come can't come yet. And so in order for there to be a one world government and an antichrist that has a peace plan and all of these things, there can't be one world superpower.

And so all of the things that we see happening right now, sometimes we're only viewing through my own interest. I don't want to pay $5 a gallon gasoline. I promise, right? That's just all that there is to it. I don't want to do that. I don't want my cost of my daily cup of coffee to go up, but it did this week, and that's okay. I don't want any of those things to happen.

I don't want our nation to face the difficulties that I can very easily see it facing in the next very short amount of time. But I'm also well aware of the fact that God's plan is bigger. And I must keep my mind focused on God's interests and not my own. What was the original sin? The original sin is that Eve said, I can have what I want. I can be my own God.

I can set my mind on my own interests instead of God's. And brothers and sisters, that continues to be the most prevalent thing that we see happening in our culture today. I watched a video this week. I've never heard of this because I'm getting old and I don't pay attention anymore. I'm not around teenagers as much as I used to be. I watched this video and this guy said,

he was asking his youth pastor, he said, talk to your kids. This is out in California, Temecula. Talk to your kids and find out what some of the biggest sins that they and their peers are dealing with. And he came back and said one of the biggest things that was mentioned is the sin of manifestation. I'm like, I don't know what that means. And of course the old guy that's the pastor,

who's probably my age or just a little bit older said, I don't know what manifestation is. Maybe you don't either. The idea, it's basically positive confession in a whole new package. There's this entire method. It's called the 3-6-9 method. You wake up in the morning and you think about what you want. The idea is that if I think enough about what I want, then it will eventually become mine

because my energy will go towards that and its energy will draw it to me. It's the craziest thing you've ever heard, but there's this 3-6-9 method, right? You get up in the morning. You spend, I think it was 27 seconds thinking about this one thing that you want. And then you write it down three times, whatever it is that you want. Halfway through the day, you do the same thing.

You write it down six times. At the end of the day, you write it down nine times. And you do this enough and eventually you'll have what you want. Now, it's the craziest thing I've ever heard. And I thought, this has got to be a fringy thing. Like nobody's got to have ever heard about that. So I got on the old Google machine and I looked it up and I'm like, son of a gun.

It's forever. The hashtags on TikTok, there's like billions of them. That all have to do with this thing. But you know what is at the heart of it? At the heart of it is man's interest, not God's. Right? It's what do I want and how can I get what I want? You'll find that almost, you'll find that every cult ends up coming down to, it's what I want. Or whatever the leader wants.

So Jesus looks at him and says, you're set on the wrong interests. You need to have a heart set on me. Which causes Jesus to begin to give instruction. So we look at verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to 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 will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

Now, as Jesus begins to give instruction, the first thing he's going to give is the definition of a disciple. The definition of a disciple. Now, I want to point something out to us. In our culture today, being a disciple of Jesus Christ seems to be not painted in the picture that Jesus just painted here right now. As a matter of fact, I feel like, for the most part,

the church in general, myself included sometimes, tries to paint the picture of a disciple of Jesus Christ as living the happiest life you could ever imagine. Ever live. Right? Listen. Would you like your life to be free from trouble? Would you like your life to be free from worry? Would you like to always feel loved and accepted everywhere you go? Well, you should put your faith in Jesus today.

Because if you put your faith in Jesus today, you'll have everything that you need. And that's not all. You'll also have a best friend that's with you all the time. And listen, while some of those things are true, that Jesus will love you and accept you and you'll have peace because of knowing who he is, your life will not be perfect once you know that. You'll know Jesus.

As a matter of fact, you will begin to embark on a life of discipleship. And a life of discipleship does not mean I get to do what I want to do. It doesn't mean I can have Jesus and everything else that I want to. You see, right now, we try to paint the picture of Christianity as this. You can love Jesus and don't worry about all those foul words that come out of your mouth.

Just keep talking however you want to. The most important thing is that you love Jesus. You can love Jesus and bang whoever you want to. It doesn't really matter because the most important thing is that you love Jesus. You can love Jesus and smoke up as much as you want to because the most important thing is that you love Jesus. You can love Jesus and get drunk as much as you want to

or drink as much as you want to because the most important thing is that you love Jesus because all you have to do is just confess those sins and don't worry about it. Brothers and sisters, that's not knowing Jesus. All of those things are over here. Jesus is over there. So if I'm going to know Jesus, all of those things can't be a part of it. Because those are mutually exclusive things

and yet that's what the world continues to tell us. The world that has infiltrated the church. The world that has infiltrated the church. That says, do what you want to do, do who you want to do, be who you want to be, and still love Jesus. In the Old Testament it was called syncretism. You know what syncretism is? Syncretism means I can sync together knowing God

with all of the other religions of the world. We're not even worried about the other religions of the world anymore. All we care about is loving God and living how I want to live. But Jesus gives a true definition of what a disciple looks like right here. Notice what he says. If anyone wishes to come after me, in other words, if anyone wishes to call themselves a follower of Jesus,

a Christian, he must do three things. Number one, he must deny himself. He must deny himself. Now, denying self is a much more overarching statement than simple self-denial. I will go through times of self-denial. They're not very often. I will go through times where I will deny myself certain things. Like about 10.30 in the morning I go, I should stop drinking coffee now

because I'm going to want to go for a run later so I'll start denying myself coffee and start making myself drink water because I don't like to cramp up when I run. So I'll do a small portion of self-denial. That's not what Jesus is talking about here. He is talking about an overarching life decision that you make of absolute surrender of all of who you are to the will of God.

That means that if I live a life of denying myself there is no portion of me that does not say not my will but your will be done. The words that come out of my mouth are no longer mine to decide. I talk the way you want me to talk. The way that I walk in life is no longer the way that I want to go, I'll go where you want me to go. The career path that I follow

is no longer what I want to do, it's what you want me to do. The person I love is no longer what I want, it's what you want. All of my life is fully surrendered to everything that God wants for me. And initially you think, that's so restrictive. No, it's so freeing. The most freeing thing you can do is say all of me belongs to Jesus and I will follow you with all of my heart.

Because he who sins is a slave of sin. But he whom the Son has set free is free indeed. I find that the most joy that I walk in in my life, the most freedom that I walk in in my life is when I am living in the greatest obedience. I'll always think back to being a kid in school and as a kid in school sometimes a teacher would walk out of the classroom, right?

When the teacher would walk out of the classroom what's the whole class do? Right? Just goes nuts. But if you're the one kid in class that didn't go nuts, the teacher walks in and marches everybody else out of the class you're like, yup, living in freedom now and you're not. Because everybody else just got in trouble and you live with the great freedom of knowing

I'm not a part of that. I don't have to worry about that. When I was a high school wrestler there was a, I had to cut a bunch of weight and luckily I was cutting weight because I wasn't walking with Jesus at the time and so I might have been there with all those other people too. But I was cutting a bunch of weight and so I just, I stayed home and sweat all night, right? Because that's what I had to do.

And there was a huge party that took place out east of town and that party got busted by the police. And I remember the next morning hearing about all the guys that got in trouble and all I could think was how free I felt. Because I knew, I don't have to worry about that because I wasn't there. Right? You see walking in obedience is walking in freedom because I don't have

the guilt of all of the things that I've done wrong now. And so Jesus says you must deny yourself. And then the second thing he says you must do is take up your cross. Now for us the cross has been overly sanitized in the world that we live in today. There's sweet tattoos of the cross. We wear them around our necks. We decorate our homes with them. But that's not the way that

the first century Christians felt. The cross meant something much different to them. It was the most heinous form of capital punishment perhaps the world has ever seen. So heinous that if you were a Roman citizen it was illegal for you to be crucified. So when Jesus looked at his disciples and said if you want to follow me you have to first of all deny yourself and then you have to

take up your cross. They knew that that meant one thing. First of all that shocked them. They probably all went they knew that it meant one thing and one thing only, death. So if I'm to follow Jesus I deny myself and I put all of my self-will to death. All of my sin nature I have to put to death. All of the things that want to pursue anything besides God I have to put them to death.

Jesus was so bold as to say if your right hand sins you should cut it off. I do not want to see anybody show up next week with no right hand. The idea is the swift, serious nature with which we cut off sin in our life and cut off anything that keeps us from knowing Jesus in our lives. And then he says number three you must follow me. That word follow literally means

take the same path that I take. It means to walk alongside. I want to give you a little bit of an illustration of what this looks like. Last week last Sunday night the Tampa Bay Rays had their typical pride night but five of the players for the Tampa Bay Rays decided that they would decline taking part in it. To be a part of pride night what they were to do is wear a hat that had a

rainbow symbol of the Tampa Bay letters on their hat and there would be a rainbow splash that was on their arm. Five players said we're not going to do that because we feel like it violates our religious beliefs. So I'd like to read this very short little article I'd like to read this to you out of CBS Sports. Five players on the Tampa Bay rosters opted to not wear a patch the team added to its uniform intended to celebrate pride in Monday's or pride month in Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox. During the team's

16th annual pride night celebration Rays caps and uniforms had logos colored in the style of modern LGBTQ plus pride flag. But not everyone in the clubhouse chose to participate. Pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson were among the players who did not wear the patch on their uniform and chose to wear the team's standard caps for the June 4th home game. Adam was selected by the organization to speak on behalf of the players who opted out and called it a faith-based decision. And that

decision wasn't judgmental. An article in the Times quoted him as saying, it's a hard decision because ultimately we all said that we want them to know that all are welcome and loved here. But when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided it's just a lifestyle that maybe not that they look down on anybody or think differently. It's just that maybe we don't want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus who's encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior.

Just like Jesus encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage. It's no different. I couldn't come up with a better example of what it looks like to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. You see, he did it in a very bold and public way. And he is facing the criticism that goes along with that. ESPN reporters are calling him a

bigot and a homophobe. Other players are speaking out against him. But you know what? He said, I have to take a stand because I'll deny myself my desire for the praise of people, my desire for the love of people. He could have easily just said, I don't agree with it, but I'm going to keep that to myself. I'll wear the hat, I'll wear the rainbow, and I'll just be a little bit

more private about my faith. But that's not what he did. He denied himself, he took up his cross, and he followed Jesus. I would venture to say, and I don't know this for sure because I do not know the man, although I may have to buy one of his jerseys now. I do want to say, I feel like if you were to talk to him on a daily, if you were to have a day in and day out conversation

with him, this walk with Jesus is not just something he made public one day. I bet he denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows Jesus every day, which is why I'm pretty sure the players in his own clubhouse still respect him. He said, that's what discipleship looks like. And then he goes on from there to talk about the cost of discipleship. For whoever wishes, verse 25,

to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. So many people are trying to find themselves right now. Well, I just want to figure out who I really am. Well, if you don't start figuring out who you really are in Christ, and lose yourself in him, then you'll never really find your life. You see, too many people are running

around wishing to save their life. That guy could have done that. He could have saved his reputation. He could have saved his career. He could have saved everything. Because I guarantee he's going to lose endorsements. I guarantee he'll get passed over on some things. But he said, it's worth the cost. And you know what? All of heaven is celebrating him right now, not

because he stood up against homosexuality, but because he stood up for Jesus. Because he denied himself, took up his cross, and followed Jesus. And Jesus said, that's a disciple! And because of it, that guy is living his best life. Why? Because he's living in obedience, and he's living in freedom. And who cares what the rest of the world says? Jesus goes on from there to say,

what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Now that's a great question, isn't it? What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? There's a lot of people, a lot of them live in the capital of this nation, on both sides of the political aisle. Don't think whoever you support politically is immune to this.

On both sides of the political aisle that have found that they have sold their soul for a little bit of profit in the world. They have sold their soul because they either want the reputation of the world, or they want the money of the world. How much is your soul worth? How much popularity is your soul worth? How much money is your soul worth? How much temporary pleasure

is your soul worth? It says, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? And then Jesus tells us, verse 27, for the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. All of us, brothers and sisters, are going to stand before Jesus. We'll all stand before Jesus and give an account for what we've done in the body.

Give an account for the deeds that we've done. And I don't know about you, but when I stand before Jesus, I want to hear, well done good and faithful servant. So many that have gone before me, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, have stepped into eternity and heard those words from their Savior, because they lived a life of denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following Jesus. So I have two questions for you this morning, two questions that I would like to close with.

Number one, who do you say that Jesus is? Who is Jesus to you? Because everybody's going to have to make that decision someday in their life. Everybody's going to have to decide, who do I say that Jesus is, and how does that affect my life? Who is Jesus to you? Number two, are you really a disciple? I bet all of us, if we claim that we know Jesus, at one point in time have said, yes, I'm a

disciple of Jesus Christ, but given the definition that Jesus gives right here, are you really a disciple? I know that the popular thing is to make following Jesus easy, it's to make it seem like the happiest thing in the world that you'll ever do, and trust me, from somebody who's been walking with Jesus for over 20 years now, it's the greatest decision I've ever made in my life. Greatest. But at the same time, I know that it's the hardest step I could have taken in my life, and every day I have to wake up and say, today am I going to be a disciple of Jesus?

Am I going to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Him? Because anything worth doing is worth the sacrifice that it takes to do it. Amen? Let's all stand. I'll be praying for all of you, my flock, as I'm on vacation this next week, you will still be in my thoughts and prayers, I'll still be loving you from afar, and when I come back, hopefully even more refreshed,

and maybe a little more tan, and ready to go for the rest of the year, because brothers and sisters, as God's people, we have a lot of work ahead of us, don't we? But God's faithful. Father, we come before You, and I thank You for what Your Word has to say to us, and Lord, I just pray for hearts that are confident in who we are in You, and bold in stepping out as being true disciples of Jesus Christ. Lord, be with us as we go out from this place, and may Your Word continue to marinate our hearts.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.