I once knew a pastor who had experienced
glorious revival in his church where God not
only manifested himself in this man's congregation, but
also transformed the life of an entire community.
Then something happened in this man's personal life
that I can only surmise what occurred because
when I last saw this pastor and visited
his church, he turned his church into a
nightclub, and he no longer preached serious messages
on the gospel, but rather told dirty jokes
on the pulpit and used crude bathroom humor
before he prayed.
In fact, this man was so disgusting and
filthy from the pulpit I cannot repeat what
he said in mixed company.
This man and his ministry had become a
joke.
I believe God will allow us to follow
him as far as we want to follow
him and to go as deep with him
in an intimate walk as we desire, but
there is always a cost to following a
crucified Christ, and I have known many men
in my life who claimed the name of
Christ, but who were only willing to go
so far with Christ.
The title of my message today, friends, is
Only So Far, and my text can be
found in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter
16.
You can turn in your Bibles there now,
friends.
We will be in verses 21 through 25.
This is an interesting story which centers around
Peter, and if you read the preceding passage
about Peter, we see him make an astounding
confession of Christ, whereby Jesus had asked, Whom
do men say that I the Son of
Man am?
And Peter replies, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the Living God.
And Christ commenced Peter for his remark.
But interestingly and amazingly, in just a few
more sentences, we find Peter placing his foot
in his mouth and making a foolish statement
to Jesus.
Let me read you our text at this
time, and listen, friends, carefully to this amazing
passage of scripture.
From that time forth began Jesus to show
unto his disciples how that he must go
unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed and be raised again the third day.
Then Peter took him.
Let me pause here, friends.
This means that Peter actually grabbed Jesus by
the arm and stopped him in his tracks
from going further.
He yanked Jesus by the arm and stopped
him dead in his tracks and rebuked him.
I will now proceed with our passage.
And began to rebuke him, saying, Be it
far from thee, Lord, this shall not be
unto thee.
But he turned and said to Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense
unto me, for thou savest not the things
that be of God, but those that be
of men.
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.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it.
I will stop there.
This passage, friends, will teach us a lot
about ourselves if we are willing to listen
to what it has to say.
There are several aspects I'd like to draw
out from this striking passage of scripture, and
allow me first to list them, and then
I will elaborate upon each head as we
proceed.
1.
Peter's walk with Jesus was still at a
point where he spoke out of both sides
of his mouth.
2.
Peter's walk with Jesus was still at a
point where he was completely ignorant of himself.
3.
Peter's walk with Jesus was still at a
point where he was only willing to go
so far with Christ.
4.
Peter's walk with Jesus was still at a
point where he had to learn what was
inside his heart before he became willing to
take up his cross and follow a crucified
Christ.
Let's start with point number one, friends.
5.
Peter's walk with Jesus was still at a
point where he spoke out of both sides
of his mouth.
Our passage here in Matthew's gospel confirms this
fact, friends.
Here we see both Peter's glorious confession of
Christ, and then his foolish rebuking of Christ.
Have you known believers who speak out of
both sides of their mouths?
I will never forget a man who kept
taking the Lord's name in vain in his
conversation, and then when it was time for
me to leave, he said, God bless you.
Blessings and curses out of the same mouth.
Have you known people like that?
Have you known Christians who speak out of
both sides of their mouth?
Maybe at home they are one way, and
when they are with church friends they are
quite another.
I think that's called a hypocrite.
Perhaps you have a family member who behaves
one way at church, and then quite another
way once they are at home.
They talk out of both sides of their
mouth.
Peter did that here.
Next we see Peter's walk with Jesus was
still at a point where he was completely
ignorant of himself.
Peter was boastful and full of himself, all
the way up to the courtyard of denial,
where he boasted that he would die for
Christ rather than deny him, and he did
just that.
He cowered before a maid.
Peter had yet to learn what was inside
his deceitful heart.
I have known some of the most self
-righteous church folk who have yet to learn
what is in their hearts.
Usually someone like that is a legalist.
They want everybody to walk a straight line
according to their rules.
They are very self-righteous and like to
point out the faults in others, but they
are completely blind to their own faults.
Peter was like this at this point in
his life, and the heart of my message
today, friends, centers around point number three, which
states that Peter's walk with Jesus was still
at a point where he was only willing
to go so far with Christ.
He was quite willing to walk with the
miracle-making Christ who drew vast crowds to
him and great popularity.
Peter liked to hang out with Jesus and
relish in that attention.
But when Jesus began to speak to his
disciples and horde saints, and speak of his
approaching suffering and death, Peter did not want
to follow Jesus there.
He wanted a conquering Messiah Jesus, not a
suffering, crucified Christ.
You see, friends, Peter knew that as a
disciple of Christ, he would have to follow
him where he went.
And if Jesus went to the cross, then
Peter would have to go there, too.
And at this point in his walk with
Jesus, he was into self-preservation, very much
like most of us.
We want to protect our skins.
We are willing to only go so far
with Jesus as long as we don't have
to suffer too much or lose too much.
Self-preservation and self-elevation are satanic in
origin.
This is why Jesus rebukes Peter and actually
calls him Satan.
Jesus says that Peter is now an offense
unto him because he savors the things of
men and not of God.
For the past twenty years, I have discipled
men in my home.
I have spent years pouring my life into
others.
And during this time, I have come across
many men, I'm afraid to say most of
them, who were willing to only go so
far with Jesus.
They wanted the success of Jesus.
They wanted prosperity Jesus.
They wanted healing Jesus.
They wanted popular Jesus.
But when the rubber met the road in
their walk with God, they backed off.
They walked away, just like the rich young
ruler did, because they learned that if they
wanted to go deeper with God, it was
going to cost them something, and they backed
away.
Much like that pastor I knew who became
a clown in the pulpit.
He'd obviously backed away from God at some
point in his life, and God had left
him alone in a state of apostasy, to
where if you went to hear this man
preach what he said damned you rather than
blessed you, he became a curse to his
hearers.
I live in a city that is near
the ocean, and I often go for walks
along the seashore, and I often come across
a piece of driftwood floating on the water
or washed up upon the sand.
That driftwood is entirely useless.
It is good for nothing, if I may
so speak.
If you are not continually going forward in
your walk with Christ, then you will soon
drift backward, and if you continue in that
state for a length of time, you too
will risk becoming like that piece of driftwood,
entirely useless to God and his gospel.
I have seen men, I have discipled in
past times, who went only so far with
Jesus and at the time they were pillars
in their church and much respected as Christians,
but soon they quit going forward with Jesus
and began to drift back, to drift away,
and their personal lives ended in adultery and
divorce and shame and a ruined testimony for
Christ and his kingdom.
Their families were ruined as well.
Driftwood, good for nothing.
How about you, friend?
Are you willing to only go so far
with Jesus, so long as it doesn't cost
you much, so long as you get to
keep your reputation, keep your skin, so to
speak?
You see, Peter was not willing to go
to the cross with Christ at this juncture,
but God and his mercy allowed Peter to
see a perfect view of his imperfect and
deceitful heart as he denied his Lord and
Savior not only once but three times and
with swearing.
And that leads us to our last point,
friends, and that is Peter's walk with Jesus
was still at a point where he had
to learn what was inside his heart before
he became willing to take up his cross
and follow a crucified Christ.
There came a time in Peter's life where
Jesus told him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself,
and walkest whither thou wouldst.
But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
strip forth thy hands, and another shall gird
thee, and carry thee, whither thou wouldst not.
But this spake he, signifying by what death
he should glorify God.
So the apostle John records in his Gospel
concerning Peter's own crucifixion and martyrdom for Christ,
a tradition has it that when it came
time for Peter to die, and he saw
the cross awaiting him, he turned to his
Roman guards and said, Turn it upside down.
I don't deserve to die like my master,
and they crucified Peter upside down.
You see, friends, in Matthew's Gospel Jesus spoke
very plainly to his followers then, and to
his followers now, If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow me.
But still, in our churches to-day, across
this land, and across the ocean, and other
churches and other lands, there are still followers
of Jesus who will only go so far
with him, so long as it doesn't cost
them too much, only so far.
But Jesus says, There's only one condition to
following him, only one condition which describes a
true follower of him, if any man, that
means you friend, if any man, any woman
will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me.
Let me ask you friend, have you come
to the point in your walk with Jesus
where you have had a revelation of your
own wicked heart, and have you become willing
to take up your cross, and follow a
crucified Christ, no matter the cost?
Have you counted the cost to follow a
crucified Savior?
If you have not, go to God now,
and seek his face, and ask him for
the grace to be given, given to you
to follow Christ in the way that Christ
wants you to follow him, only so far,
only so far.
When it came time for Jesus to go
to the cross, he did not stop ten
feet away, and tell God no further, I
will stop here.
No sir, he willingly went all the way
to Calvary, and suffered and bled, and died
there for my filthy rotten sins, he held
nothing back from me, how can I hold
back anything from him?
Let us pray.