Great Confession (Part 2)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

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Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven. This is not some effort of the human who did it all.

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God bestowed it upon them. Verse 18, and I tell you, you are

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Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

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On you, Peter, emphatically, you are the one who just made this statement. But on this, what does that mean?

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You are Peter, that part is undeniable, and on this rock I will build my church. So this rock, what is it?

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There are three main interpretations. What are those three interpretations? This rock means what? Interpretation one, this rock is

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Peter. And the Roman Catholics love this translation, love this interpretation because Peter is the first pope of many popes.

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And we build the church through the papacy started with Peter.

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But some evangelicals believe that it's Peter as well because they say just because the Catholics torque it, we don't need to do that.

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So William Hendrickson believes this, D .A. Carson believes this. There's nothing said in here about apostolic succession and infallibility.

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And so this would be a good option to believe that Peter, on this rock, I'm going to build the church, and option one.

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Option two, probably you're more familiar with this one, that when the text says, and on this rock, this rock is the confession that Peter just uttered.

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You're Jesus the Messiah. That's the confession that the church is built upon, and everyone who comes into the church will say that very thing.

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Jesus is Lord. Early Catholic fathers believed this. Chrysostom said, on this rock, that is, on the faith of his confession, he did not say upon Peter, for it was not upon man, but upon his faith.

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Southern Baptist Broadus believes that. So option one, Peter, built on Peter. Option two, the confession of Peter.

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But option three, and I've always dabbled between the first two, it's just kind of like I'm an oscillating, I oscillate between the first two, but the third one has a lot of good to it, and I might just have this view.

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I'll tell you in a minute. Christ is the rock, that Christ himself is the rock, on this rock, on this bedrock, uses a feminine noun.

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Boyce said, the idea is that Peter was only a little stone, perhaps only a pebble, but that Jesus is the foundation on which the church is built.

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Peter, your name's a rock, but I'm going to build the church on the rock myself. Now, let's stop and just think about that for a second before we just throw it out.

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Think like a Jew for a second. Old Testament, true or false, thinks about God as a rock.

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God is a rock, Old Testament, strong, fortress, mighty tower, stability, reliability.

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No one would argue with that when you think about God as a rock. Put my feet on a rock. There's something to be said about the rock of ages.

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God is a rock. That is absolutely true. But if I really wanted to get into the mind of Peter, how did

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Peter interpret this? Where would I go? How would I know what Peter would think? Does Peter think

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Jesus is a stone or a rock? Figuratively. Let's turn to 1 Peter 2 and find out.

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1 Peter 2 gives us a little insight. Which view you hold, I don't really care.

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I just don't think you should dismiss this view as fast as maybe you had before, maybe as fast as I had before.

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Certainly, there's a bigger point that comes after this. But for the sake of just being fair and dealing with the text, 1

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Peter 2, verse 8, excuse me, verse 4. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious.

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You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.

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To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture.

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Behold, I am laying in Zion's stone a cornerstone chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

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So the honor is for you who believe. But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

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And, verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

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They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

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How did Peter understand those verses? Seems to me that he understood at least that the church was to be built on Jesus Christ.

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He knew the church wasn't going to be built on himself. Obviously, he's not the supreme pontiff.

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That's not the reason to believe it. But no matter which way you take, that it's on Peter, it's on his confession, or it's on Jesus, here is the issue.

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Let's go to the end of verse 18. Back to Matthew chapter 16, verse 18. What does it matter? We know

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Jesus is building the church and nothing can stop it. That's the right news. Whether it's on Peter, whether it's on his confession, or whether it's on Jesus, at the end of the day, nothing can stop the church.

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Take a look at the passage. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That's ESV. Or the gates of Hades is a better translation.

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Gates of death. So what's happening here? Overall, nothing can stop

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Jesus from building the church. That's going to be the main point. And by the way, I'm very, very glad for that.

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And that's, by the way, the reason why I put all my energy into the local church. That's why

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I say, you know what? I've been burned by people in the church, maybe more than you have. But I'm still absorbed in the local church.

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People say, well, those people, they did some things to me at church. And so I'm just going to go off and do home church, which is no church at all.

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If it's just you and your wife and your kids, that's not a church. I'm not saying churches can't be real if they meet in homes.

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That's not my point. But this running away from the body because you've been burned.

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Friends, Jesus is building the church. And it's going to be built. And by the way, history affirms that statement.

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For 2 ,000 years, Jesus has been building the church. True? And nothing has been able to stop it.

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And when you kill people in the church, it's just the martyr's blood is a seedbed for the rest of the church. Nothing can stop the church.

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Say, well, you know, the church has burned me. Well, if you love Jesus, you'll love the church. I don't like the church, but I love

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Jesus. That's why this whole thing, this word community, when I hear this word community thrown everywhere,

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I bought one a gag. Now, they wouldn't say this, but this word community means all these one another's.

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And I think when I think of the church, I think of the head and the body. I don't go to churches for community.

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I go to churches to worship Jesus Christ. I get community as a side note. By the way, if you love

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Jesus, you'll love this church. If you love community and friendship and getting together, small groups, this, that, and the other, you may or may not make it.

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Community is focused on one another. Body says, I have a head, I have allegiance, I report to.

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Bride says, I have a groom that I'm under and I want to honor and respect and obey. And so here we have

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Jesus saying, I'm going to build the church. Where would you like to put all your energies? In the thing that wins, the bride of Christ.

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Now, certainly seminaries are parachurch. I would like seminaries. Most seminaries

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I probably don't like should be cemeteries, but some cemetery seminaries now are living and active, like Southern Seminary.

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But I want to be with the local church. Sadly, the church hasn't done everything she should do, so parachurch arises.

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But if I'm going to pour all my efforts and energies into anything, I want to pour it into something that Jesus says, I'm building, and it wins.

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He wins. I'm not after community. I'm after serving

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Christ by serving you. Community is a benefit, a side benefit. But this whole,

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I think, we're going to do community. Matter of fact, remember in the Bible it says, if you want to emphasize something Old Testament, holy, holy, holy.

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Holy, separate, sanctified. Or if you want to emphasize something at the end of a sentence, you say, six things the

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Lord hates, yes, even what? Seven. So I think, not this Sunday night, but next

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Sunday night, I'm going to do a series called, six words I hate, yes, even seven. Followed by six words

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I love, yes, even seven. And some of those words that I hate are relevant, authentic, community.

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Here's the point, the church wins. Because the church has a head, Jesus Christ. And on the church, either it's confession, or Peter pointing to Jesus, or on Jesus himself, he is the head.

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If you want community serving Jesus, I'm all down with community. But if it's just, we just do authentic community.

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I'm thinking, well, where's the head of the church? Where's the Messiah? Where's the king? And here the gates of hell shall not prevail.

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Two major options. Option one, that the gates of hell are offensive, driving, attacking.

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There's something after us. It's like some kind of tanks are coming. Like, here we go. And the church, even though Satan is going to hound the church, the church wins, option one.

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And would that be true in general? It's true. Jesus wins no matter what hell does.

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That's how it's typically translated. But look at gates. What do you mean gates?

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If it said sword, if it said some kind of bow and arrow, modern parlance, if it said some kind of machine guns, and the machine guns of hell can't stop the church, we win.

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But it says gates. What are gates? Gates aren't offensive.

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Gates, at least in a cemetery, well, that doesn't really work too well, but I'll say it anyway.

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Cemetery gates are meant to help keep people out. But these gates here in Jewish language, gates of death kept people dead.

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It'd be pretty weird if our cemetery gates down the street weren't to keep you out after dusk. It was to keep the people in.

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But if you would think like a Jew, and you heard that term gates of Hades, you'd think there are gates, metaphorically speaking, holding everybody in death's grip.

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What's the worst enemy you have? And it's not Satan. It's death.

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You could say sin and other things, but I'm talking here in the context of death. Can death stop the church from growing?

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No, because her captain, her savior, her Lord was raised from the dead.

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And it doesn't take you very long to read in Hebrews that Jesus triumphs over the dead. So Jesus says,

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Peter, that's right. I'm the Messiah, and I'm going to build this church. And you know what can't stop me?

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It's death. Of course Satan can't stop Jesus, but he's talking here specifically, death can't prevail against me.

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Not even death can overthrow the church. That's good news. It's good news for those of us who have loved ones who are

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Christians and have died. They're dead, but they live. The indestructibility of the church.

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That's why I never say to myself, what's the mission of the church? What's my mission? People want a mission statement.

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What's the vision of your church, pastor? I have no vision. I have no vision. I have no purpose statement.

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Here's what I have. Jesus Christ the King has saved me and commissioned me to go equip people for the work of ministry, and to go evangelize, and to go train, and to preach the

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Bible verse by verse so you know the mind of God. And so my job isn't what vision do

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I have for the church. I never ask that question. Here's the question I ask. Since it's Jesus' church, how can

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I be faithful? I don't have anything new. I don't have any kind of vision. I don't know how big this church is going to be.

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Maybe after today's sermon it's going to shrink a lot. I have no idea. That will solve all our building problems. My job is faithfulness because it's

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Jesus' church, and he builds the church. And MacArthur always says, therefore, I don't want to be in competition with Jesus about people in the church.

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I'm a nobody, but if I would be gone for six weeks this summer and the church would fall apart, then what a disaster that would be.

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Verse 19. I know some of you are saying, you're never going to finish the chapter. Verse 19.

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I 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.

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He's talking to the disciples there. And again, it's another sticky wicket theologically, but you've got two options.

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Option one is, Rome has the keys to who gets into heaven and who doesn't. Option two is, if you tell someone, disciples, or anyone after, like you all or me, if you tell an unbeliever, if you repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ Jesus, the risen

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Savior, who died on behalf of sinners like you, that you can have assurance of the forgiveness of sins, if you in fact truly believe that.

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That's all he's saying. Heidelberg Catechism said, how is the kingdom of heaven open and shut?

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By the preaching of the gospel. Answer, by proclaiming and openly witnessing according to the command of Christ.

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To believers, one and all, that whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God for the sake of Christ's merits.

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And on the contrary, by proclaiming and witnessing to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them so long as they are not converted.

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Question 84. Verse 20. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the

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Christ. Remember, there's this brewing, you're the king, political messiah.

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Jesus says, no, I'm on the way to Jerusalem right now, let's be quiet about it. Congregation, don't make this your life verse for witnessing.

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Right, you look at it and you go, there it is, it's right there in the Bible. Jesus strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the

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Christ. And if I say that thing to my person at work, or my friend, or my neighbor, they might be upset.

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So I've got a Bible verse to do my no evangelism. That was then, this is now.

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We have no such thing to say we're not going to tell anyone, we do the exact moment. Today, there's no reason to keep the secret.

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Christ's command in Matthew 28 is to proclaim this. You know that Jesus is the messiah, so why wouldn't you tell someone else?

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Fear of man, fear of promotion, fear of all kinds of other things. Lots of pastors have done this, so I might as well do it too.

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Pick five people that you think are the most in your heart, that you desire the most to be saved, and just keep praying for them over and over and over.

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Or how about like this? A guy in high school was told, he was a Christian, pick the man who you think is the least savable in your life, who is the most corrupt now, and pray for him.

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My brother Pat is a pastor now. And just a few years ago, he met that man who was in high school, who was in,

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I think, in Navigator Campus Crusade for Christ, who said, you know what, the rascalist, the most rascally guy

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I know, the most, you know, the horrible sinner, scallywag, the person that I know would never get saved, except for the grace of God.

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His name is Pat Abendroth, and I'm going to start praying for him every day. And then later, Pat was given the opportunity to meet that man.

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So we have marching orders, but there's a cost. Let's look at verse 20 from that time. Now everything changes.

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No more quiet, cloistering. Jesus began to show the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem.

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By the way, all of the rest of Matthew chapter 17 through 28 is summarized in this verse. You want a summary of the next several chapters so you don't have to read it?

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Well, you want to read it, but this is the summary. Suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

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And now comes the full court press to Jerusalem. All the rest of Matthew 16 through 28 is encapsulated in this particular verse.

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And what does verse 22 say? Matthew 22, 16, 22, And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

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It's the word you use to rebuke a demon or a dog. Far be it from you,

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Lord, this shall never happen to you. Jesus, by the way,

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I'm going to say it anyway because I don't want anybody to be influenced. That verse encapsulates

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Joel Osteen right there. Glory first, then suffering.

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That encapsulates Satan who says, you know what? Why go through the crucifixion when you just bow down to me right now and genuflect and I'll give it to you all.

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The Christian way, never forget it. Suffering, then glory. Suffering, then the crown.

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Cross, then glory. And earlier Satan was telling the same thing, and now you get an echo reverb of Satan through Peter.

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He's gone, one scholar said, from A plus to dunce cap right here. But he turned to Peter and said, get behind me,

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Satan. I memorize that in King James. Remember King James? Get thee behind me,

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Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God.

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Suffering first, cross first, then glory, but on the things of man. Give me prosperity now, your best life now.

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Christ's death is so central. Leon Morris said to God's plan that should try to avoid it was to do the work of none less than the evil one himself.

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We just read in 1 Peter chapter 1 through 5, it's God's will for Christians to suffer. The suffering servant

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Jesus has Christian followers who suffer. Glory without suffering, that's not

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God, that's Satan. Warren Burysby said, God's M .O. is suffering transformed into glory.

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That's better. And we're in a society now where it's Christianity, no cross, that'll be just fine.

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For Jesus, Christianity without the cross is Satanic. The way of discipleship, though, is costly.

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It'll be more than human blood, sweat, and tears, Mr. Churchill, verse 24. Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

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Demand one, deny yourself. Just say no, no, just say no to yourself.

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And in our society full of self -fulfillment, self -esteem, self -love, self, self, self, say no to self.

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Yeah, but Jesus, just how much should I say no to myself? Demand two, take up your cross.

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By the way, this is not your nagging spouse. This is not the cross you have to bear. This is not your physical ailment.

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This is the cross. How far do you deny yourself? Up to and including death for the sake of Jesus if he asks you to die.

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Church tradition says John died of extreme old age. Peter crucified upside down.

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Andrew died on a cross. James, the younger brother of the Savior, thrown from the pinnacle of the temple.

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Bartholomew skinned alive. James beheaded at Jerusalem. Thomas, the doubter, run through the body with a lance.

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Philip hanged by the neck. Thaddeus shot by arrows. The other Simon died on a cross in Iran.

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Nicene Council, important meeting in the third, fourth century, had 318 delegates.

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Only 12 had not lost an eye or a hand or were not lame by torture for their

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Christian faith. So let's get together a bunch of people. Alliance for Confessing Evangelicals and 306 are marred for the gospel.

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And then finally Jesus says, and follow me. Keep on following me. People say, well, do you have to believe the

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Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, and in today's parlance, I like to say, do you believe Jesus enough to follow him? Because if you don't, that's not real belief.

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That's just intellectual suicide. Believe enough to follow.

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And there are consequences. Look, verse 25. And there are joys, verse 25. It's good and it's bad depending on do you repent or do you not.

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And whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, wonderfully, amazingly, graciously, he'll find it.

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Serving the Messiah above all else. Verse 26.

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For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? What shall a man give in return for his soul?

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You take all the goods of the world and put it on this side of the scale. Everything in the entire world. All the gold, all the silver, all the treasures.

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And you put one human soul on this side and one soul.

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What shall a man give in return for his soul? And then he says, finally, for the

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Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father. Oh, for the Christian, what a day that'll be.

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But then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

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For the unbeliever, tragedy. Mark 8 says that when that Son of Man comes and if people are ashamed of him, there's going to be trouble.

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And then finally, it ties in more to the next chapter, but I said I'd finish this chapter, so verse 28.

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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.

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Some of you men right here are going to get rewards right now. You're going to see the

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Father in all his glory. Well, what do we do with a chapter like this? Then I simply ask you, anyone could preach this chapter and have the application.

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One, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? I can't believe that every person in this room,

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I hope it's true, is born again. You heard the message last week, you must be born again. You hear the message today, do you believe?

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And you say, well, I don't believe, but I'm willing to be open. How about God help my unbelief?

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You must repent and believe in the risen Savior, Christ Jesus, who bore our sins on his body on the tree.

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What's another thing you could say? Put all your energies into serving one another. You are the church.

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This kind of language in Matthew 16 should forever rid people who say, well, you know what?

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I think the church should do this. I think the church should do that. BBC's weak here.

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BBC doesn't do that. You know what all those have in common? I'll tell you what they mostly have in common, and there might be some exceptions.

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Mike doesn't do this. Steve doesn't do that. Pradeep doesn't do that. Harry doesn't do that.

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And Scott doesn't do that. You are the church.

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We want to try to equip you for the work of ministry. And if you say BBC isn't loving, you're saying

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I'm not loving. So I say to you, then love more people. I need your help. And the last thing, you know the message now.

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Jesus is the Son of God. And you have the awesome privilege of proclaiming the truth to other people.

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If I wanted to go for conviction, I know God has kind of geared me in that way, but I'll just do it just for a second.

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When was the last time you preached the gospel to someone, and you talked about sin and the Savior and their need to believe?

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When was the last time? Yesterday? A week ago?

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Six months ago? You know this treasure, and you've been equipped.

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And if it was yesterday, praise the Lord. And if it was six months ago, today's the day. Lord, help me find someone to teach the gospel to and preach it.

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And help me not to fear man. In Jesus' name, amen. He is the only living

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God. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m., and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

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We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.