Three Nevers We Must Never Forget, Part 1

The Bible is filled with counterintuitive truths. For instance, to gain life, one must first lose his life. And here's another, to rise to a level of greatness in God's kingdom, we must become a servant of all. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues our study through the first book of the New Testament. We're looking at Matthew chapter 16 beginning at verse 21.

Chuck titled today's message, Three Nevers We Must Never Forget. Live and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, able to pierce between the soul and the spirit, between the joints and the marrow, and it is a criticus. It is a discerner, it is a critic of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Think of it this way, when you open God's Word, you are opening yourself to open heart surgery.

But in this case, it's where no surgeon's scalpel could ever reach. It's right down into the very soul and spirit, where you form the habits of your life, where you make the decisions of your life, where you come to terms with what you really, really believe, and what you must live for, and on occasion you're willing to die for. It's that kind of penetrating message only in the Holy Scriptures. We're looking at verses 21 through 26 of the 16th of Matthew. If you have a Bible, please find the place. Matthew 16, beginning the reading in verse 21, down through 26. From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law.

He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Heaven forbid, Lord, this will never happen to you. Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan.

You're a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your own selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? This is Insight for Living.

To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scripture studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck about three nevers we must never forget. Living right begins with thinking straight. And in order for that to happen, we must learn how to think like God thinks. And as Shakespeare wrote, there's the rub, we just don't naturally think like God thinks. We weren't taught to do that. So we haven't learned to do that. And all of our thinking is, if we're not, if we're not different than the majority, it's all horizontal. It's all about stuff on this earth.

None of it is vertical. It even happened to Samuel when he was on a search for the new king for Israel. Saul had proven himself unqualified, and he found himself in Bethlehem in the home of Jesse, and he asked that his sons be brought, and when Eliab came before Samuel the prophet, Samuel's first thought is he looked at this handsome, tall, young Israeli, surely the Lord's anointed is before me. No, God interrupted that thinking. He said, no, no. He said, no, no. I do not look at the outward appearance.

You do that. You see, Samuel, I look at the heart. I'm looking for the one who has the right heart. Eliab is not the one. And one by one, he took one of those sons after another, and none of them had the heart until he found the one whose heart was like God's heart, David, who had already begun to think vertically, different from those around him. No one ever put it better than the prophet Isaiah, for my thoughts, says God, are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts and my ways above your ways. So if we are going to live as we should, then we must think as God thinks. That's why we need a Bible. This book is full of God thought. It's filled with God's counsel. It has truth to live by.

None of it is politically correct, because that's horizontal thinking. That's thinking about what will other people think. God cares little about what other people think. And the better you get to thinking like God thinks, God thinks the less you will care what others think. Now not only are we slow to learn it, so were those 12 who walked alongside Jesus.

Think about that. They literally lived with him for the better part of three years. They ate with him, they listened to him teach, they watched him do his miracles, they slept beside him, they were in his shadow standing in the wings, and all the while he is doing his best to change them from the horizontal to the vertical.

And it it was such a task. We've seen occasions where that statement, even in Mark's gospel, it says they they gained no insight from the from the loaves and the fishes because their heart was hardened. You see it's from the heart we begin to think like God thinks. That's why the heart must be right with God. So Jesus is now dealing with these 12 and what a task it is, especially when he reaches the crossroads literally in their training. You see they have seen him in a number of different lights but never would they hear words before this like these words.

They will penetrate right down to the depths of their being. It's interesting how the passage begins in Matthew 16 verse 21. My new living translation begins from then on, Jesus. Yours may begin another way in verse 21, but the connective is meant to remind you that there is a context and the context happens to be when Peter moved to the head of the class because he gave such a perfect answer as the teacher asked, who do you say that I am?

Peter spoke up and my did he have the answer. You are the Messiah. You are the son of God, the living one.

Not only did he understand who Jesus was, he realized he had come from the living father. Jesus told him, you need a new name. We call you Rocky. You're going to be solid. You're going to be my spokesman. You're going to represent me in places that I have not even known.

You're rock. And on this rock-like statement, I'm going to build my church. And you remember we worked through that in our study last time. From then on, now that they've got that answer straight and they understand his identity, Jesus believes it is time to move into, well, the absolute unexpected.

From then on, he began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem. Now pause right there. We have the habit of reading on and on and on and not letting the words sink in. So far so good, huh? He ought to go to Jerusalem. They must have thought horizontally. He belongs in Jerusalem. That's where the authorities are. That's where that's where history's made. That's where information really in many ways begins in that country. Go to Jerusalem.

He goes further. Look at what he says. And that I will suffer many terrible things at the hands of elders and leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Right? Horizontal thinking. We've seen that before. We've watched them argue with you. We've seen them criticize you. You've stood toe to toe as they've assaulted you verbally. We've watched it all. Of course, when you're in Jerusalem, you'll run into those people again. We've seen it.

We can only imagine how tough it will be there. And then he goes one step further and you could hear the brakes screech. Look at what it says. And then I will be killed. You know what I believe? I believe that is so revolutionary, so unexpected, that the rest was a blur. Just my thinking, for whatever it's worth, I'm not even sure they heard I'll be raised the third day from the dead.

He says it, but they're stuck. Ever had that happen to you? Of course you had. Something happens and all of a sudden the world stops and you're sort of real as you get your balance and equilibrium and try to stay on your feet because you're having to deal with something you never ever dreamed would have been said or done. It's necessary that I be killed. I feel so deeply about this message today that I've decided to keep it in simple terms and give it to you in a way that I hope at least these three nevers will never be forgotten. I want you to look at what we just read.

Act as though you don't know the story and you're hearing it like they did for the first time. I'm going to go to Jerusalem, I'm going to suffer at the hands of these religious authorities, and I'm going to be killed. In your horizontal thinking, Messiah doesn't die, Messiah conquers. Messiah conquers.

Messiah doesn't submit, Messiah rules. And since you're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, thinks Peter, you missed it on this one, Jesus. Now let me say, let's not be too hard on Peter. Let's just be grateful that God has stopped writing his word and your name isn't in the Bible where you said something dumb and you hope everybody around will forget it as you try your best to get past it. But in Peter's case, every preacher down through the centuries has just raked him over the coals for saying what he said. Now it wasn't the right thing to say.

As a matter of fact, it was the ultimate wrong thing to say. But before this, I want you to observe that Peter took him aside and began to, I can hardly let those words out of my mouth, reprimand him. Oh, Peter, I love you, man. But I got to tell you, you see, when you're at the head of the class, you begin to think you're the chair of the Bible department. And so he now needs to counsel the master and get him back thinking, I can't even finish it.

The master never did anything but think straight. So Peter's way out of line when, oh, Rocky steps on the scene, took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying what he said. I don't know how you were raised, but I was raised never to sass my mother. Remember the word sass? I don't want to hear it much anymore, but don't you ever sass your mother. I'm cleaning it up from the way my father said it to me. In fact, he even said it, you drive nails in her coffin when you sass her.

Oh, I'm just killing my mother because I'm running off at the mouth. Peter, don't ever reprimand Jesus. Peter, don't ever do that. And yet he's already done it, huh? Brings us to the first never. And I don't want you to forget it, so I even suggest that you write it down somewhere, maybe in the margin, maybe on the outline. Write it down.

You're going to need it. We must never think that just because something is unexpected, it's unacceptable. You see, it's unexpected because we operate from the human viewpoint, as we're going to read in just a moment. These things happen, and when the human viewpoint kicks in, we resist him. I think about a marriage that looks like it will go on for another 35 years, and suddenly the unexpected.

He walks out. Or she doesn't love you anymore, and the marriage fractures. Or you walk away from the MRI and you're in the doctor's office waiting for the results, and he brings in the oncologist, and you hear the totally unexpected results. Or you have now finally built your dream home. You're settled. Everything is great.

You know those around you. You're a perfect fit for where you're living. Everything is going well in the company, and wouldn't you know it, you're told that you're going to be transferred. Totally unexpected. Take it from me, who was transferred from the United States to an island in the middle of the South Pacific and fought it with everything within me, only to realize after the fact, had I not gone there, I doubt that my life would ever have been turned as it was. Thanks to a man who mentored me during those 16 months of lonely service and the Marine Corps, the unexpected, which I did not in any way, shape, or form accept, I would have to go without my wife. I would have to be there all those months.

What good can come out of Okinawa? My call to the ministry came out of it, and I look back and I realize, God, you actually knew what you were doing. I didn't have a clue. Man, have I learned in these 82 years the value of keeping my mouth shut and never even coming close to reprimanding God for surprising me. Peter hasn't learned that.

He's in the process but look at how he puts it. You see, Peter's not angry. He's flabbergasted.

One of those great English words, huh? He is a little put out. He's surprised, and as a result, he, I can just see him as he puts his arm around Jesus' shoulder, and I can see him as he puts his and as a result, he, I can just see him as he puts his arm around Jesus' shoulder, heaven forbid, Lord. Oh, by the way, he took him aside. That's nice.

Pulled him aside. Lord, get a life, a real life. Don't talk like that. This will never happen to you. You know what that is? That's saying, this is what I never want to happen to you.

Horizontal thinking. In fact, Jesus doesn't mince words, does he? He turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan. Back off. Look at what he called him.

It's a far cry from Rock, huh? Oh, Pope Petros has suddenly become Simple Simon again. The guy with all the answers has now moved to the back of the class. Put on that hat that says D. Not for dunce, but for devil. How dare you speak to me like this? You sound just like the one who tempted me in the wilderness before my ministry even began offering me all these things that the world would offer if I would simply bow down before him.

Get away from me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's. That is what gave me the idea for my opening line.

Thinking straight is the result of God's working in our hearts so that as a result of that, we begin to live like we should. Peter is a far cry from it, and he's now either in the back of the class or standing in the corner. He doesn't say anything else.

He is just terribly embarrassed, I'm sure. Brings me to the second never. I hope you will never forget. We must never think that the Lord should alter his plan to fit our preference.

Get that really clear in your thinking because our world is full of our preferences. It's what I want. It's the place I want to sit. It's the car I want to drive. It's the place I want to work. It's the position I want to hold. I prefer this over that. I want help, not suffering. I want power, not weakness.

I want to be known, not to be obscure. But you see, all of those things are horizontal. Get that. Get it straight.

When you do, you'll find you'll turn toward the vertical without even having to work at it. Regardless of how long we have walked with the Lord, it's important, it's important that we acknowledge he has every right to call every shot, to move us wherever he pleases at whatever time is in his plan. One response is not to reprimand him, it's to obey. It's to follow. And now Jesus moves into that. Notice Peter is silent, so he turns and says to the other disciples in verse 24, Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you wants to be my follower, I do.

I think if I ask you to raise your hands, most hands would go up. You're not here because it's convenient. You're not here because you didn't have anything else you could have been doing.

You're here because you want to learn what it means to be a follower. Okay? Here it is.

Straight talk. Plainly said. You want to be a follower of mine? You must take up your own cross. You're listening to the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll. He titled today's message, Three Nevers We Must Never Forget. The grace and mercy of Jesus shine brightly in Matthew chapter 16. In many respects, these virtues are the cornerstones of this daily program. Insight for Living is a beacon of compassion and grace to millions around the world and now for more than 42 years.

And to see what resources we have available for today's topic, please visit us online at insightworld.org. Among the dozens of books Chuck has written, there's one that heralds this message a little louder than the rest. It's his classic book called The Grace Awakening. Thousands of readers point to this book as the turning point in their spiritual walk as they truly understood, and many for the very first time, the depth and reality of God's compassion and grace. And if you're prepared to shed the legalism that was first imposed by the Pharisees in Matthew's gospel, then we highly recommend this book from Chuck. In The Grace Awakening, he clearly describes what it means to embrace our freedom and liberty in Christ. So to purchase a copy of The Grace Awakening, go to insight.org slash offer or call this number. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888.

Recently, we received a note from someone who listens in Edmonds, Washington. He said, you don't know me, but you've been my pastor for more than a decade now. Your dedication and passion have drawn me into the Word. I understand your humility requires that you rebuff all direct praise.

Rightly so. Praise be to Him. Just wanted to say thank you. Well, these special moments are made possible by those who support Insight for Living. And if you're among our monthly companions, we hope this brief story encourages you to keep up the good work. To give a donation today, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Or give online at insight.org. Join us again Monday when Chuck Swindoll continues our study through the book of Matthew, right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Three Nevers We Must Never Forget, was copyrighted in 2016 and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.