Purkey’s
B i b l
e S t u d y
Outlines
H O M E
P A G E
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Rev. Ronald C. Purkey claims no originality for this Bible study
outline.
However, every outline posted on this website
has been taught by Rev. Purkey.
To see more Bible study outlines go to page two: More Bible Study Outlines.
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TAKE UP YOUR
CROSS
SCRIPTURE:
INTRODUCTION: The Apostle Peter's confession of Jesus as the
Christ appears in Mark and Luke, but Matthew is the one who fully develops the
Lord’s teaching about His eventual atoning death. The importance of Jesus
Christ making it clear, beyond His disciples' first level of "messianic
understanding," that He would be the Suffering Servant cannot be
underestimated. If Jesus had not done this, the apostles may have assumed He
was God's appointed political deliverer and started preparing themselves for
military leadership.
Even Peter the Apostle did
not let go of this idea when he asked Jesus how many swords they should be
carrying.
Another significant theme
in this passage is the high level of authority given to believers in the Lord’s
Kingdom. Believers have been given the keys of the Kingdom. What is bound on
earth will be bound in heaven. The church's toughest task in this area seems to
be how to use this authority in power only in such a way that is honoring to
the Lord God.
I. WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I
AM? (Matthew 16:13-20)
13When Jesus
came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said,
Some say that thou art John
the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto
them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is
in heaven. (Matthew 16:13-17)
How confused the multitudes
were about Jesus! They held Him in high esteem, ranking Him with the great
prophets, but they lacked the perception to see Jesus Christ as the Son of the
living God. They even compared Jesus with John the Baptist, yet these two were
dissimilar in their ministries. But no man can confess Christ apart from the
revelation of the Father and the witness of the Holy Spirit. A right confession
about Jesus Christ is important to salvation.
18And 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. 19And 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 whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.
(Matthew 16:18-19)
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.
(Matthew 16:18)
1. On what rock did Jesus
build His church?
There are those who say that it was built on Simon Peter.
Well, obviously it was not, because there is a play upon words here. In the
original Greek it is, “Thou art Petros [a little piece of rock],
and upon this
2. Who is the Rock?
a. The Rock is Christ.
The church is built upon Christ. We have Simon
Peter’s own explanation of this. In
The church is built upon Christ; He is the
foundation. “For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians
b. The “gates of hell”
refers to death.
The word used for hell is the Greek word hades, the sheol of the Old Testament,
which refers to the unseen world and means “death.” The gates of death
shall not prevail against Christ’s church. One of these days the Lord Himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout. That shout will be like the voice of an
archangel and like a trumpet because the dead in Christ are to be
raised. The gates of death shall not prevail against His church.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
...
(Matthew 16:19a)
The keys mentioned here refer
to Peter’s stewardship in the kingdom. These are not the keys to the church,
but the keys of the kingdom. They are not the keys to death or eternity, for
Christ holds those. In the Bible, “keys” stand for authority and stewardship.
Peter used these keys when he “opened the door of faith” to the Jews (Acts 2),
the Samaritans (Acts 8), and the Gentiles (Acts 10). This is stewardship, not
lordship.
… and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19b)
1. This implies applying God’s Word to people.
In
2. This may be translated more accurately.
The more accurate translation
is in the Williams translation of the New Testament: “Whatsoever you forbid on earth must be what is already forbidden in
heaven, and whatsoever you permit on earth must be what is already permitted in
heaven” (Matthew
Some Important Biblical
Teachings
Ø
Peter never claimed to be a
Pope.
Notice that Peter never
claimed to be a Pope (see
Ø Salvation does not come by just “knowing” who Jesus is.
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was
Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16:20) The Lord made this request because the mere
“knowledge” of who Jesus is will not save you. To find salvation you
must (1) know who He is, (2) what He did, and (3) accept Him by faith.
II. PETER
REBUKES JESUS (Matthew
For the first time the Lord
Jesus announces to His disciples His death and resurrection. The time was
approximately six months before He was actually crucified. Why did He wait so
long to make such an important announcement? Obviously, His disciples were not
prepared for it, even at this time, judging from their reaction. He repeated
five times the fact that He was going to
A. God’s Plan
Of Salvation.
From that time forth began Jesus to shew 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.
(Matthew 16:21)
This is what the Lord Jesus did for you and me.
This is the gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
was buried and raised again. You must know who He is. You must know what He did
for you. If you know these two things, and by faith believe and receive them,
you are saved. This had never been revealed before except to Nicodemus at the
beginning of our Lord’s ministry in
B. Peter’s
Rebuke Of Christ.
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from
thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. (Matthew 16:22)
In essence Peter said, “You are the Messiah; You
are the Son of God. You must not, You cannot go to the cross!” The cross
was not in the thinking of the apostles at all, as you can see.
C. Satan’s
Plan Of Deception.
But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art
an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men. (Matthew 16:23)
1. Satan redefines
salvation.
It is satanic for anyone to deny the facts of the
gospel which are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and
rose again from the dead. It is satanic when a man in the pulpit will deny
these truths. The substitutionary death of Christ is the only thing that can
save us. Later on Peter wrote this: “Who
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1
Peter 2:24). My, what a transformation had taken place in the mind of Peter!
2. Satan is a deceiver.
Our Lord said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Imagine this: Here is Peter by whom
the Holy Spirit of God could say that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet he
could in the next moment let Satan deceive him!
Day by day, to fight the battle,
Day by day, Thy will to do,
Day by day, the cross to carry,
Seeking only to be true. -- Fisher
A. Put Christ First.
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.
(Matthew 16:24
Many people interpret this verse, “Let him deny
himself ice cream” or “Let him deny himself some luxury down here.” What this
verse says is “Let him deny himself!” You already know that the hardest
person in the world to deny is yourself. To deny myself dessert is hard enough,
but to deny myself is difficult indeed. To deny myself is to put self
out of the picture and to put Christ in the place of self.
“And take up
his cross, and follow me.” We are not to take up Christ’s cross but our own cross. There
is a cross for you and a cross for me -- that is, if we are going to follow
Him.
B. Receive
Your Reward.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his
angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
(Matthew 16:25-17)
The person who will not assume the risks involved
in becoming a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ will, in the long run, lose his
life eternally. The opposite is also true. At Christ’s second coming all
accounts will be settled and everyone will receive his proper reward.
Dying To Live
The cross in Roman times was designed for death. It had no
other use. So what did Jesus mean when He said that anyone who wants to follow
Him must "take up his cross daily"? (Luke 9:23). He wasn't saying
that we must all be crucified. The "cross" to which He was referring
is the act of putting to death our own heart's desires and quietly submitting
to God's will.
Such dying is denying our need for larger homes, more compliant
children, more accommodating mates. It's putting up with misunderstanding,
embarrassment, and loss of esteem. It's accepting our unchangeable
circumstances. Missionary and poet Amy Carmichael, who knew much about pain and
suffering, wrote, "In acceptance lieth
peace."
Jesus said we must take up our cross daily. We are to
rise each morning and cheerfully, bravely shoulder our load, because there is
something else that is "daily." It is the continuous, sufficient
grace of the One whose strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians
12:9), and who will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He promises
that through our dying He will make us more alive than ever before (1
Corinthians
Are you dying
to live? –
David H. Roper, Our Daily Bread,
CONCLUSION: Jesus Christ rebuked the
Apostle Peter and then taught the disciples the importance of the Cross in the
life of the believer. “Bearing the cross”
means dying to self, bearing Christ’s reproach, and crucifying the world and
the flesh as we follow Him in obedience. Simon Peter was to learn that
suffering and glory always go together (I Peter
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: “In acceptance we find peace.”
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REFERENCES: References used in this
Bible study are the Scofield Reference Bible, the Believer’s Bible Commentary, David C. Cook Publishers Bible-in-Life,
Dr. Cliff Robinson Bible Outlines, Dr. Lee Roberson’s Sermons, KJV Bible
Commentary, Our Daily Bread, The Bible Reader’s Companion Ed. 3, The Nelson
Study Bible: New King James Version, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee,
(Warren) Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the New Testament Ed. 4, (Warren)
Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the Old Testament, With the Word Bible
Commentary, Warren Wiersbe’s “Be” Series: Old & New Testaments, and selected illustrations.
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