T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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21-23 "Get thee behind me, Sa ta n .” P eter again comes to th e fron t when our Lord begins to tell of His coming sacrifice, bu t th is tim e to his own con fusion. P ride over th e Lord’s com mendation of his confession spoiled him, as praise has spoiled many an o th er man. “ P ity yourself, Lord” he said, in effect; and now, th e flavor of th e F ath e r is not there, bu t instead the smell of Satan. It was the old tem pta tion— a crown w ithout a cross (Luke 4:6, 7). This revelation of th e h ea rt of P eter should impress upon us all th e tru th th a t th e h eart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wick ed. We should fight every tendency which would divert us from the path of th e cross. The way is now open for th e Lord to emphasize th e foundation tru th of discipleship, “ If any man will come a fte r me, let him deny him self and take up his cross and follow me.” There are no crosses spoken of in th e Bible, — hut one cross, and th a t means death to self. If you are th ink ing of little self-denials as crosses, forget it, or you can never know th e life of joy. "Christ, for th e joy th a t was set before Him, endured th e cross.” (Heb. 12 :2 ) "H e pleased not H imself” (Rom. 1 5 :3 ). Follow ing Jesus involves,— faith in H im ; likeness to Him; obedience to His w ill; su rrender Of self. (4 ) THE FOLLOWER’S REWARD, vs. 25, 26 “He shall rew ard every man according to his works.” The Lord never makes a request .w ithout giving a promise of rew ard for compliance w ith it. Salvation is a gift, but for service th ere are rewards. (1 Cor. 3:13 ) F o r a tru e follower th ere is a life of joy and peace here, and a real rew ard hereafter. Ju s t as no one can have salvation w ithout th e yielding of th e will and the confession of Christ as Saviour and
(2) THE FOUNDATION ROCK, vs. 18-20. “Upon th is rock I will build my church.” There is blessing in testimony. If we confess Him, He will confess us. (Matt. 10:32) Blessed P eter! He had already been given th a t title (Mark 3 :1 6 ), “Thou a rt P eter (Petros, a frag ment of stone) and upon th is rock (P e tra ) I will found my church.” W hether Christ m eant upon H imself as th e Rock (1 Cor. 1 0 :4 ), or whether upon the confession of Peter, it ddes not m atter for either is true. We are sure Hfe did not mean th a t He would build His church upon a papacy, w ith P eter as the first Pope, for P eter had a wife and a mother-in-law , and th a t would never do for a Pope. Then, too, P eter rejected personal worship (Acts 10:25, 26). He never offered his great toe to be kissed by hum an lips. Hero worship of any kind is obnoxious to the Lord. Jesus Christ is th e Founder, the Foundation and the F in isher of th e church. “O ther foundation can no man lay” (1 Cor. 3 :1 1 ). He is also th e Corner-stone (Eph. 2:20) “ A n d a r e b u ilt u p o n th e fo u n d a t io n o f t h e a p o s tle s a n d p r o p h e ts , J e s u s C h r is t h im s e lf b e in g th e c h ie f c o r n e r s to n e .” Whoever makes th e confession w ich P eter made is built upon th e Rock and into th e stru ctu re of th e temple of the living God. F a ith puts us upon the foundation and hell itself cannot p re vail against us. Floods may come, but we cannot be moved. We are , settled and stead fast upon the Rock Christ Jesus. P eter did have th e keys to open the door of th e kingdom of heaven and he used them to open th e door to th e Jews a t Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21) and afterw ards, in th e house of Cornelius, to th e Gentiles (Acts 1 0 :3 4 ). A fter wards, Jesu s conferred th e power to bind and loose upon every disciple (Matt. 18 :18 ). (3) THE FAITHFUL REBUKE, vs.
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