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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
December, 1938
is one of the seven sayings given just be fore His death in which He warned His fol lowers of the coming event. But they evi dently forgot His words. Because of his love for Jesus, Peter began to rebuke Him for the saying. In so doing, Peter revealed that he had no true idea of the first duty of man. He believed that that primal requirement was self-preservation, rather than the preservation of the purpose of God. And he had no true idea of the value of service. He thought that such a sacrifice as the Lord proposed would be the P R O P H E C Y An accurate Sc r i p t u r a l study. Tracing the Messiah through the Old and New Testaments. Should he in the hands of every Bible loving Christian. S E N T F R E E Christian Witness to Israel, Inc.
said, "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mk. 1:17). Immediately they left their nets and follow ed Him. They were never sorry that they had stopped serving self and had begun serving others. While this pencil looks very pretty in this beautiful cellophane, I think we had better take it out, where it can be held in the hand and used to write. If Peter had refused to follow Christ, he would, doubtless, have been an unheard-of man. Just as this pencil can be used to write a message when held in my hand, so Peter in the hands of Christ has been used to bless countless thousands of people. Lord asked the disciples what they thought, and Peter replied, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). The knowl edge of who Jesus was came to Peter as a revelation from the Father, and this confes sion relating to the person of our Lord is the heart of the creed of the church (cf. Acts 8:37; 1 Cor. 12:3; 1 John 4:15). Jesus said to Peter, “I say also unto thee . . . ” (v. 18). In other words, in verses 17 and 18, the Lord Jesus was saying, in effect, “The Father has given one revela tion; now 1 give thee another.” This second unfolding of divine truth related to the church, the body of all born-again ones of which the Lord Jesus Christ would be the living Head. It was not the man Peter, but the message through the man, in regard to Christ, that would become the foundation of the church. This passage is one of three in which the word '"this" stands for the Person of Christ (cf. John 2:19, "this tem ple"; John 6:58, "this is that bread”). The security of the, church was an nounced in the words, " . . . the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (v. 18); the perfection of the church was assured in the Lord’s expression, "I will build” it—• for He makes, all things perfect; and the then futurity of the church was revealed when He said, “I w ill build” it. The church was not in existence at that time, except in the mind and will of God, and did not actu ally begin until the day of Pentecost, re corded in Acts 2. To Peter was given, not the keys to heaven, or to the church, but to the profes sing group now known as Christendom. The authority given to Peter did not touch eternal conditions. An illustration of its use is found in Acts 5:1-10. The reason the disciples were told that they should not speak of Him as the Christ was, that that testimony already had been given to the nation and had been rejected, and in their persistent rebellion nothing re mained for the people of the nation to do but ultimately to crucify Jesus, as the prophets had declared would be done. II. T he I nstruction for P eter (21-23) Jesus plainly declared that He must “suf fer many things . . . and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” This utterance
There was a time in the life of Peter when he thought much about himself. He was a businessman, in the fishing business, and wanted to make money. One day Christ came along where Peter and An drew, Peter’s brother, were fishing, and
JANUARY 8, 1939 PETER COMMENDED AND REBUKED M atthew 16:13-25
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Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others, Jere- mias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what soever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jeru salem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. ,22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be-it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. G olden Text: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). D evotional R eading: Col. 1:9-18. Outline and Exposition I. T he C onfession by P eter (Matt. 16:13-20) W HOM do men say that I the Son of man am?” the Lord Jesus asked the disciples. The reply indicated that all men were agreed He was a great personage, but merely a man. Then the BLACKBOARD LESSON THOU ART THE CHRIST, 9 THE 50n OF THE LlUinû GOD” j \M/_ ° "3i£S5f/> ■ m AAT TMOC/, ZT X 0 / w otf •— I fl £S// awo ^ // X s' SLOOP//ATMffOT V // A£Y£A¿£Ú/T / \ UNTO TH £f,Ô Vr M i ---- A m«TT.i6:i7
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