If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 16.  As we have already seen, Matthew 15, 16, and 17, the central chapters in the gospel of Matthew, record a turning point in the ministry of Christ.  The crowds continue to follow Him.  But now even the crowds openly reject His message and His claims to be Messiah.  They continue wanting to be healed by Him; they continue to want to see the miracles that He performs; but they turn their backs on His teaching.  Now the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders of Israel, are now more than ever openly opposed to Christ, and clearly plotting to embarrass Him, to marginalize Him, and worse.  We see these things in these passages before us.  Last week we saw the end of the great Galilean ministry…