February 26, 2025 • 7 mins
The two parts of this title stand out in sharpest contrast with each other, even though they were spoken to the same man by the same Speaker — the Lord Jesus Christ — and are found only six verses apart in Matthew 16.
This is a short commentary of these 2 interactions with Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Mark (00:05):
There is an interesting passage in Matthew 16 where our
Lord Jesus Christ addressesSimon Peter twice.
The first time he commends Peterafter expounding a wonderful
truth that the Father in Heavenhad given him.
A few verses later Peter isrebuked by the Lord Jesus
because he was now being used asa mouthpiece for Satan in
(00:25):
hindering God's plan forward.
The following message was givenby Paul Wilson many years ago
and is published on Bible TruthPublishers under the title,
"Blessed Art Thou, Simon” and“Get Thee Behind Me, Satan”.
Bernard (00:39):
The two parts of this title stand out in sharpest
contrast with each other, eventhough they were spoken to the
same man by the same Speaker theLord Jesus Christ and are found
only six verses apart in Matthew16.
Subtitle:“Blessed Art Thou,Simon” Simon Peter was
pronounced“blessed” after he hadgiven expression to the wondrous
(01:01):
truth concerning the Person ofthe Lord Jesus.
The world at large and even theprivileged Jewish people did not
understand who He was.
“He was in the world and theworld knew Him not.
He came unto His own, and Hisown received Him not.” But there
was a little band attached toHim attracted to His Person
(01:21):
although even to them it wasonly by revelation from the
Father that they could see whothe glorious One was.
The crowd had speculated as towho He was a Jeremiah, Elijah,
John the Baptist or one of theprophets.
When the Lord asked Hisdisciples who He was, Peter
answered,“Thou art the Christ,the Son of the living God,”
(01:42):
whereupon the Lord calls him“blessed,” for he was privileged
to receive that revelation fromthe Father.
Happy Peter! happy disciples! tobe able, by faith, to see in the
lowly Jesus, the Christ God’sAnointed the Son of the living
God(verse 16).
Oh that our hearts may take inmore of His beauty, His glory!
(02:03):
He will fill the range of ourenlarged vision in heaven; may
He become increasingly preciousto us here here where He is
still despised and where menrestrict His glory to that of a
mere man one of the prophets.
Subtitle:“Get Thee Behind Me,Satan” When we come to verse 21,
the Lord“began to show unto Hisdisciples that He must suffer
(02:25):
many things and be killed.” Thiswas indeed a blow to them; they
saw in Him God’s Son and God’sKing, but they were slow to take
in His sufferings and death.
They looked for Him to take thekingdom and reign, but instead
He must first suffer.
The sufferings must precede theglory; the cross must come
before the crown.
(02:45):
It was natural for them toshrink from rejection and
suffering for their Lord andMaster, for if He was to be
rejected and suffer in thisworld, they must receive the
same:“The disciple is not abovehis master, nor the servant
above his lord.” Such thoughtsprovoked Peter to dare to rebuke
the Lord and to say, as in onetranslation,“Be favorable to
(03:07):
Thee, Lord, this shall in nowise be unto Thee”(verse 22).
Blessed Lord! He knew the sourceof such thoughts; Satan had come
to Him before, in thewilderness, to turn Him out of
the pathway of dependence andobedience as a man; now he was
using a chief apostle to urgethe Lord to shun the path of
reproach and suffering.
(03:28):
The Lord instantly recognized inPeter’s words another effort of
Satan and promptly said toPeter:“Get thee behind Me,
Satan (03:36):
thou art an offense unto Me
things that be of God, but thosethat be of men”(verse 23).
Poor Peter only shortly beforehe was called“blessed”; now he
is rebuked as being theinstrument in the hands of
Satan.
Once the receiver of divinerevelation as to the Son, he now
is the mouthpiece of the enemy.
(03:57):
But such is man; he is not to betrusted.
It is natural to the human heartto shrink from reproach and
suffering, and also to seekhonor in and from this world.
How easily Peter’s mind was onthe things that are of men.
And we, who have greater lightthan Peter had at that time, are
so easily influenced by thethings that are of men that we
(04:19):
shrink from a little reproachfor Christ and seek some of this
world’s honor or favor.
Sometimes we sing:“Farewell,farewell, poor
faithlessworld,With all thyboasted store;We’d not have joy
where He hadwoe—Be rich where Hewas poor.” And how easily we
drop back from the expressionsof our lips! Sometimes we may be
(04:41):
like Peter, when he enjoyeddivine revelation, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus our Lord, and atother times we may be engrossed
with the things“that be of men.”Subtitle:Bad Advice Sadder yet!
We may speak of the glories ofthe Son of God and encourage
others at one time, and atanother, if not in the current
of God’s thoughts, give adviceto fellow followers of a
(05:03):
rejected Christ that will be theadvice of Satan himself.
How easily we are influenced bythe“things that be of men” and
may be, by act or word, theinstrument of evil persuading
some young Christian(or olderone) to seek worldly gain,
position, honor or some of theapplause of the very world that
Christ died to, and died todeliver us from.
(05:27):
May we be more careful in ourthinking, that it may not be of
this world’s philosophy“thethings that be of men” and may
we be on our guard againstgiving the advice of Satan to a
follower of a rejected Christ.
On the other side of this point,may we be careful about
receiving such advice.
May“the things that be of God”so influence our thinking that
(05:49):
when we receive advice to seekthe world’s advancement,
popularity, wealth, station, orsuch like, we may discern the
voice of the enemy.
This should not be construed tomean that an employee may not
accept a better position in hiswork, but even in doing that he
should first seek the Lord’sguidance and weigh the
consequences.
(06:09):
One may well ask himself if hecan carry out the duties of the
better position heartily as tothe Lord whether there would be
certain demands which he couldnot meet with a good conscience.
The higher we get in the world,the closer we get to the prince
of it.
Many who went on happily withthe Lord when in humbler
stations have been caught in theworld’s vortex when in higher
(06:32):
places, to the Lord’s dishonorand their loss.
We are responsible for ourconduct and must watch against
the influence of the world, eventhough it may come from the lips
of one who at another time mayhave thrilled our hearts as he
spoke of heavenly things and theglories of the Son of God.
(06:52):
The Lord follows His word toPeter with a word to all the
disciples:“Then said Jesus untoHis disciples, If any man will
come after Me, let him denyhimself, and take up his cross,
and follow Me.
For whosoever will save his lifeshall lose it: and whosoever
will lose his life for My sakeshall find it”(verses 24-25).
There is an interesting passage in Matthew 16 where our
Lord Jesus Christ addressesSimon Peter twice.
The first time he commends Peterafter expounding a wonderful
truth that the Father in Heavenhad given him.
A few verses later Peter isrebuked by the Lord Jesus
because he was now being used asa mouthpiece for Satan in
(00:25):
hindering God's plan forward.
The following message was givenby Paul Wilson many years ago
and is published on Bible TruthPublishers under the title,
"Blessed Art Thou, Simon” and“Get Thee Behind Me, Satan”.
Bernard (00:39):
The two parts of this title stand out in sharpest
contrast with each other, eventhough they were spoken to the
same man by the same Speaker theLord Jesus Christ and are found
only six verses apart in Matthew16.
Subtitle:“Blessed Art Thou,Simon” Simon Peter was
pronounced“blessed” after he hadgiven expression to the wondrous
(01:01):
truth concerning the Person ofthe Lord Jesus.
The world at large and even theprivileged Jewish people did not
understand who He was.
“He was in the world and theworld knew Him not.
He came unto His own, and Hisown received Him not.” But there
was a little band attached toHim attracted to His Person
(01:21):
although even to them it wasonly by revelation from the
Father that they could see whothe glorious One was.
The crowd had speculated as towho He was a Jeremiah, Elijah,
John the Baptist or one of theprophets.
When the Lord asked Hisdisciples who He was, Peter
answered,“Thou art the Christ,the Son of the living God,”
(01:42):
whereupon the Lord calls him“blessed,” for he was privileged
to receive that revelation fromthe Father.
Happy Peter! happy disciples! tobe able, by faith, to see in the
lowly Jesus, the Christ God’sAnointed the Son of the living
God(verse 16).
Oh that our hearts may take inmore of His beauty, His glory!
(02:03):
He will fill the range of ourenlarged vision in heaven; may
He become increasingly preciousto us here here where He is
still despised and where menrestrict His glory to that of a
mere man one of the prophets.
Subtitle:“Get Thee Behind Me,Satan” When we come to verse 21,
the Lord“began to show unto Hisdisciples that He must suffer
(02:25):
many things and be killed.” Thiswas indeed a blow to them; they
saw in Him God’s Son and God’sKing, but they were slow to take
in His sufferings and death.
They looked for Him to take thekingdom and reign, but instead
He must first suffer.
The sufferings must precede theglory; the cross must come
before the crown.
(02:45):
It was natural for them toshrink from rejection and
suffering for their Lord andMaster, for if He was to be
rejected and suffer in thisworld, they must receive the
same:“The disciple is not abovehis master, nor the servant
above his lord.” Such thoughtsprovoked Peter to dare to rebuke
the Lord and to say, as in onetranslation,“Be favorable to
(03:07):
Thee, Lord, this shall in nowise be unto Thee”(verse 22).
Blessed Lord! He knew the sourceof such thoughts; Satan had come
to Him before, in thewilderness, to turn Him out of
the pathway of dependence andobedience as a man; now he was
using a chief apostle to urgethe Lord to shun the path of
reproach and suffering.
(03:28):
The Lord instantly recognized inPeter’s words another effort of
Satan and promptly said toPeter:“Get thee behind Me,
Satan (03:36):
thou art an offense unto Me
things that be of God, but thosethat be of men”(verse 23).
Poor Peter only shortly beforehe was called“blessed”; now he
is rebuked as being theinstrument in the hands of
Satan.
Once the receiver of divinerevelation as to the Son, he now
is the mouthpiece of the enemy.
(03:57):
But such is man; he is not to betrusted.
It is natural to the human heartto shrink from reproach and
suffering, and also to seekhonor in and from this world.
How easily Peter’s mind was onthe things that are of men.
And we, who have greater lightthan Peter had at that time, are
so easily influenced by thethings that are of men that we
(04:19):
shrink from a little reproachfor Christ and seek some of this
world’s honor or favor.
Sometimes we sing:“Farewell,farewell, poor
faithlessworld,With all thyboasted store;We’d not have joy
where He hadwoe—Be rich where Hewas poor.” And how easily we
drop back from the expressionsof our lips! Sometimes we may be
(04:41):
like Peter, when he enjoyeddivine revelation, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus our Lord, and atother times we may be engrossed
with the things“that be of men.”Subtitle:Bad Advice Sadder yet!
We may speak of the glories ofthe Son of God and encourage
others at one time, and atanother, if not in the current
of God’s thoughts, give adviceto fellow followers of a
(05:03):
rejected Christ that will be theadvice of Satan himself.
How easily we are influenced bythe“things that be of men” and
may be, by act or word, theinstrument of evil persuading
some young Christian(or olderone) to seek worldly gain,
position, honor or some of theapplause of the very world that
Christ died to, and died todeliver us from.
(05:27):
May we be more careful in ourthinking, that it may not be of
this world’s philosophy“thethings that be of men” and may
we be on our guard againstgiving the advice of Satan to a
follower of a rejected Christ.
On the other side of this point,may we be careful about
receiving such advice.
May“the things that be of God”so influence our thinking that
(05:49):
when we receive advice to seekthe world’s advancement,
popularity, wealth, station, orsuch like, we may discern the
voice of the enemy.
This should not be construed tomean that an employee may not
accept a better position in hiswork, but even in doing that he
should first seek the Lord’sguidance and weigh the
consequences.
(06:09):
One may well ask himself if hecan carry out the duties of the
better position heartily as tothe Lord whether there would be
certain demands which he couldnot meet with a good conscience.
The higher we get in the world,the closer we get to the prince
of it.
Many who went on happily withthe Lord when in humbler
stations have been caught in theworld’s vortex when in higher
(06:32):
places, to the Lord’s dishonorand their loss.
We are responsible for ourconduct and must watch against
the influence of the world, eventhough it may come from the lips
of one who at another time mayhave thrilled our hearts as he
spoke of heavenly things and theglories of the Son of God.
(06:52):
The Lord follows His word toPeter with a word to all the
disciples:“Then said Jesus untoHis disciples, If any man will
come after Me, let him denyhimself, and take up his cross,
and follow Me.
For whosoever will save his lifeshall lose it: and whosoever
will lose his life for My sakeshall find it”(verses 24-25).
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