Hey teachers, Ben Jennings here. This is session
number three in the second half of our study
in Matthew. It covers Matthew chapter 16 verses
13 to 26. And this particular lesson is called
Following Jesus because it really is all about
that. Disciples of Jesus follow Jesus. We are
students of Jesus. We are followers, imitators
of Jesus. This what this lesson is all about
and we can't really fully follow Jesus Christ
as his disciples until we acknowledge three realities
that we're going to see Presented here in this
lesson number one The first reality is that we
know and accept his true identity. So the reality
is has identity as true identity Matthew 16.
This is a great passage Starting at verse 13
when Jesus came to the coast accessory of Philippi
He asked his disciples saying whom do men say
that thy the son of man? am. And they said, some
said there are John the Baptist, some Elias,
others Jeremiah, so one of the prophets. I think
it's interesting, he says, son of man, he's claiming
to be deity there. Go back and check out Daniel
chapter 7, I believe. Their answer back to him
is, well, people are saying that you're like,
John the Baptist come back, or one of these other
prophets come back. He says under verse 15, but
whom say ye that I am? It doesn't really matter
what everybody else is saying. Who do you say
that I am? What's my identity to you? Verse 16,
and Simon Peter, and that's why we said we have
to know and accept his true identity. Peter gets
it right, at least at the first part. Simon Peter
answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God, right? You're the Messiah,
you're the anointed one, and you're equal with
the Father, you are God. Verse 17. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou
Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is
in heaven. And I say also unto thee thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it." This is Peter being the first of one of
the first to declare the truth that the truth
that God will build his church on what is that
truth that Jesus Christ that Jesus is the Christ
the Son of the Living God To be a follower of
Jesus. You have to rightly identify him. You
have to get him, right? He says in verse 19 I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven and whatsoever shall be bind thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven then charged he is disciples that they
should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Essentially, this identity is going to be how
people get into the kingdom of God. If they're
born again, if they're born from above, if they
believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the
living God, they can get in. If they don't, then
they won't. And then he tells his disciples not
to tell anybody, and I believe at this point
he knows he needs to be rejected, he knows he
needs to go to the cross and die. And so this
is something he's got a timing for what he's
trying to say. The truth of the matter is that
Jesus' disciples can't really be true, authentic
followers of him unless they rightly understood
him. And these guys definitely understood who
Jesus was. So the first thing we have to do to
follow him fully as his disciples is to acknowledge
his true identity. Number two, we embrace his
mission as Messiah and Savior. Verse 21. From
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his
disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem,
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed and be raised again
the third day. Right there you've got the gospel.
He starts foretelling his death, his burial,
and his resurrection. Then Peter took him and
began to rebuke him saying be it far from thee
Lord This shall not be unto thee. I can't think
it's interesting. He rightly identified Jesus's
identity But then as Jesus kind of not kind of
was Jesus prophesied the gospel his reason for
coming Peter saying no. No, I don't want this
to be the case It's clear that he doesn't understand
the full ramifications of the gospel at this
point I think he probably thinks he's doing the
right thing by saying, I don't want Jesus to
die. You're my savior. I'm a messiah. I want
you to be the king on the throne. I don't want
you to be a savior who dies. Verse 23, but then
look at what Jesus does. He's thinking like a
man. He's thinking like basically the temporary
like what's best for right now for the here and
now and not for eternity and so God's mission
was to send Jesus to die to be buried and rise
again and so a denial of that gospel is is a
problem and so Peter in this moment is acting
like Satan would act and be being against the
gospel When Jesus says this is why I'm coming.
This is what I'm doing. We have no right to say
no don't do that like he's he has a mission he
is the Messiah and We rightly identify him, but
that means we also in identifying him realize
he's the authority and and his mission is is
paramount We deny his mission when we don't when
we're silent when we don't Do what he said go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature To be a true follower, we have to embrace
his mission after we identify him rightly. Number
three, then we sacrifice our personal agendas
to him. Now, it's not about us and what we want,
it's about him, right? Verse 24. Then said Jesus
unto his disciples, if any man will come after
me, let him deny himself, take up his cross,
and follow me. He just said, I'm going to be
killed, suffer many things. Raise again the third
day and by the way, if you want to follow me,
you got to take up a cross Whosoever will save
his life will lose it shall lose it. He started
will lose his life for my sake shall find it
For what shall I profit a man if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall
a man give in exchange? For his soul there's
a temporary and there's an eternal do not sacrifice
the eternal for the temporary Don't try to save
this life by sacrificing the next. Give away
your life and follow Jesus. That's what God's
calling us. We have to put aside our personal
agendas to follow Jesus. This is a hard saying.
This is a hard thing for many people. People
like to believe in Jesus. to get him out of hell
but to it's the lord thing that kind of becomes
difficult right like i need to take up my cross
to follow him there's salvation there's sanctification
there's there's getting right with god and then
there's being made right by god by following
after jesus even when it's hard and uh being
a disciple means that sometimes it's going to
be easy i sorry sometimes it's not going to be
easy that's what i meant sorry Can't even say
it right? This is this is tough. So Following
Jesus isn't always easy We accept this true identity
identity, but that's not where it stops. We have
to actually acknowledge his mission as Savior
and Embrace that and that means that sometimes
we take up a cross. We sacrifice our personal
agendas for his He's in charge. I hope that helped
you think through the lesson. This is like a
really important passage and one I hope that
you're going to be able to speak on and teach
authentically, sincerely, and without hypocrisy.
If you can't, take some time this week to really
spend some time with God and be right with Him
when you go give this lesson. All right, hope
it helped.