Matthew 16:20-28
The Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples not to reveal His identity as the Messiah.
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From then on, He began to teach them that He must go to Jerusalem, where He would suffer at the hands of the Jewish leadership, be killed, and raised the 3rd day.
*******
If we are to know God, we must be sure of who the Lord Jesus is, and why He came to this earth.
We must know the Person and the Work of Christ.
*******
Peter confessed that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God'.
But he could not accept that the Lord Jesus had to suffer and to die.
*******
He rebuked the Lord Jesus for saying these things.
But the Saviour rebuked him with the words, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offence to me.”
*******
Peter wanted to turn the Lord Jesus away from His mission of suffering and death.
Such thoughts could only come from the devil!
*******
The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”.
*******
Discipleship is a costly business.
But the alternative to following Christ is too dreadful to contemplate.
“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
*******
To prefer the world and its passing pleasures to the Lord Jesus Christ is the height of folly!
To lose one’s soul is to suffer eternal loss.
*******
Have we taken up our cross to follow Christ?
Are we denying ourselves to please Him?
*******
The Lord Jesus went on to speak of His coming again.
*******
He promised that some of those present would not die until they had seen Him coming in His kingdom.
This probably refers to His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
*******
The gospel had a tremendous impact upon the Roman world which the apostles were accused of turning upside down.
The Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples not to reveal His identity as the Messiah.
*******
From then on, He began to teach them that He must go to Jerusalem, where He would suffer at the hands of the Jewish leadership, be killed, and raised the 3rd day.
*******
If we are to know God, we must be sure of who the Lord Jesus is, and why He came to this earth.
We must know the Person and the Work of Christ.
*******
Peter confessed that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God'.
But he could not accept that the Lord Jesus had to suffer and to die.
*******
He rebuked the Lord Jesus for saying these things.
But the Saviour rebuked him with the words, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offence to me.”
*******
Peter wanted to turn the Lord Jesus away from His mission of suffering and death.
Such thoughts could only come from the devil!
*******
The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”.
*******
Discipleship is a costly business.
But the alternative to following Christ is too dreadful to contemplate.
“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
*******
To prefer the world and its passing pleasures to the Lord Jesus Christ is the height of folly!
To lose one’s soul is to suffer eternal loss.
*******
Have we taken up our cross to follow Christ?
Are we denying ourselves to please Him?
*******
The Lord Jesus went on to speak of His coming again.
*******
He promised that some of those present would not die until they had seen Him coming in His kingdom.
This probably refers to His resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
*******
The gospel had a tremendous impact upon the Roman world which the apostles were accused of turning upside down.
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