Mark 8:22-33

I have taken a couple week break from preaching and during that time had some opportunity to reflect upon the nature of preaching and what makes for good preaching.

Enough for me to be a good orator, I'm not even sure that I am, or to have clever illustrations which I very rarely do.

To speak with any level of eloquence, I often find when I try to search for an eloquent word to make a point, I come up blank and fill it in with something random or I invent a word even at times.

The true mark of what makes a good preacher is a person who takes the scriptures and exalts Jesus Christ in them.

And so we have a text before us today that gives us great opportunity for that.

But before I get there, I want to say that the same is true of fathers on Father's Day.

The measure of success for us as fathers is not necessarily just in the way that we provide or the way that we protect the home,

but the way in which we point our children to Jesus.

So dads, let that be the measure today as we celebrate being fathers.

Let us, in that process, point our kids to Christ.

We'll be reading together today from Mark chapter 8, beginning in verse 22 and reading down through verse 33.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

And they came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.

And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village.

And when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him,

Do you see anything?

And he looked up and said, I see men, but they look like trees walking.

Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes.

His sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

And he sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village.

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?

And they told him, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets.

And he asked them, But who do you say that I am?

Peter answered him, You are the Christ.

And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things,

and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed,

and after three days rise again.

And he said this plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan,

for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

This is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and for our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and to obey its commands.

Let's pray together.

Father, we do thank you this day for the blessing of your word.

The very pages we hold in front of us.

The English translation of the original language by which you inspired it.

And we thank you, Father, for your word incarnate.

That is Jesus, the Christ.

And I pray, Lord, by your spirit, as we study your word today,

you will use it to divide the very marrow of our souls.

That you will use it to drive out the dark places of our hearts.

That you will further conform us into the image of your Son.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

So it was fitting, not intentional, but fitting that we took a little break in the preaching through Mark

as we've been working through it, verse by verse, story by story, where we did.

And I didn't know that I was doing it, but we really took a break at the end of sort of an act one of Mark's gospel account.

And we now get into the beginning of what's very commonly understood to be the second act,

which is beginning in verse 22.

It starts this journey, this kind of this end as he's been transitioning out of his Galilean ministry,

where he spent the majority of his time thus far.

And he's beginning to work his way toward Jerusalem,

up to the passion, to the crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ.

And we see this kind of in-between time, which is primarily focused in on the apostles.

And we see interchangeably here, disciples and apostles.

He's really pouring into and connecting the gospel truths into their lives.

He's setting them up for what's going to happen and their ministry beyond that.

So he moves.

He's been in Galilee, southwest of the Sea of Galilee, functioning there.

And we see some movement.

He heads north for a little while.

We see in our story here, he goes from Bethsaida, which is on the west coast,

to up to Caesarea Philippi, which is located about 23 miles north of there,

north of the Sea of Galilee, for a bit of a retreat.

He's getting away from the Jewish population, from those people who had a misunderstanding of who he is

and who he was claiming to be in order to spend time teaching the apostles.

Healings now in these next couple of chapters have almost ceased.

We see a couple of them as this focus shifts.

We see another exorcism in chapter 9.

And we see two accounts of the healing of blind men.

And this second act is framed by that.

First, we see this healing of a man at Bethsaida.

And then we see the healing of Bartimaeus at the end of chapter 10.

So that kind of sets this up for us and where we are.

After we see this proclamation by Peter as a spokesman of the apostles that Jesus is the Christ,

he also begins to teach them what his ministry will finally and fully accomplish.

And that is his crucifixion and resurrection.

And we see three different passion predictions here in this next act.

In chapter 8, verse 31.

In chapter 9, verse 31.

And in chapter 10, verses 33 and 34.

And we'll, of course, address one of those incidents today.

Because we see in all of the cases that he makes these predictions,

the apostles' immediate response as a misunderstanding of the kingdom of God.

In fact, it would seem that all of this passage,

these three and a half, two and a half chapters,

kind of hang on these passion predictions.

And so we'll be looking at those in detail in the coming weeks.

But here we see, as the central part of our text today,

verse 22 through verse 33,

we see this incredible proclamation on Peter's part.

It seems that the scales are being lifted,

that their eyes are being opened as he responds,

but who do you say that I am?

And Peter responds,

you are the Christ.

But before we look at that in a little more detail,

let's back up just a bit to briefly look through the first act,

so to speak, of this book.

Many commentators, in a rather over-reductionary kind of way,

have said that Mark's gospel account is ultimately a passion account,

a story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,

with a long introduction.

Almost the first half of the book,

seven and a half chapters,

seems to be just this long introduction.

And there's some truth in that,

because he really speeds us along through this process.

He's really pushing very quickly.

Some people have said that Mark is kind of the comic book version

of the synoptic gospels as he's pressing us along,

but we're going to find that he suddenly slows everything down.

We get greater detail,

greater account,

as Jesus is teaching the apostles,

and therefore, teaching us.

So we see in these first eight chapters,

words often used like immediately,

immediately, now, and.

If you ever have an English professor,

college students,

that tells you that you cannot start a sentence with and,

show them Mark's gospel.

They're everywhere in Mark's gospel.

It is totally appropriate to do so.

Right?

And he starts his gospel account

with a one-sentence introduction.

Mark 1.1.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

the Son of God.

And then in verses 2 and 3,

he legitimizes John the Baptist's ministry,

who he's just about to talk about,

as the forebearer of Jesus,

with a quotation from Isaiah.

And then we are off and running.

Right?

We don't get the account of Jesus' birth.

We're right here at the very,

very front of his ministry,

as we see him then,

later on in chapter 1,

coming and being baptized by John.

And then we have the record

in verse 14 of chapter 1.

Jesus came into Galilee,

begins his Galilean ministry,

proclaiming the gospel of God

and saying,

the time is fulfilled

and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

And he spends the majority of his time,

we see him venture outside of Galilee a bit.

He goes to the Decapolis,

a largely Gentile region.

He goes off to Tyre and Sidon for a while,

kind of as a retreat from the ministry

he has been doing.

He's gathering large crowds.

He's teaching far and wide.

He's healing.

But the great theme that we see

as far as mankind's response

to the teaching of Jesus Christ

is a general rejection.

We see some positive response.

We see people believing that he can heal.

But we see very little discipleship.

We see very little of people

leaving everything and following him.

We see the example of the apostles doing that,

leaving behind nets and following him.

But they just don't get it.

Again and again and again,

we can see that they've been given faith to follow,

but they don't really fully comprehend

who it is that they're following.

We see in chapter 3, verse 21,

Jesus' family thinks he's a lunatic.

In verse 22,

the religious elite of the day

accused him of operating under Satan's power.

This was all by design.

In chapter 4,

the apostles asked Jesus

why it is that he speaks in parables.

Verse 11 and 12,

he says to them,

to you has been given

the secret of the kingdom of God,

but for those outside,

everything is in parables.

And then he quotes Isaiah 6, 9, and 10.

They may indeed see, but not perceive.

It may indeed hear, but not understand.

Lest they should turn and be forgiven.

And there's this theme

running through these first

eight and a half chapters

of spiritual blindness.

People can't see and can't understand,

even though he's demonstrating

in so many miraculous ways

and legitimizing his ministry

and his message in so many ways,

people cannot see who he is.

In fact, up until our text today,

the beings who get Jesus most rightly

are the demons.

They're the ones that Jesus comes

and casts out,

puts them in pigs,

drowns them.

Chapter 1, verse 24,

we see demons say,

call him Jesus of Nazareth,

the Holy One of God.

Later in chapter 1, verse 34,

the account is,

and he healed many who were sick

with various diseases

and cast out many demons,

and he would not permit the demons

to speak because they knew him.

They knew who he was.

Chapter 5, verse 7,

the great proclamation

that Jesus is the Son

of the Most High God.

It's not made by man.

It's made by something spiritual,

a demon,

an angel of darkness.

And so we get this shift here

in chapter 8, verse 22,

as a teaching time,

as a pulling away,

as a stepping away time,

and it's been introduced to us

by these questions

that Jesus asks

in chapter 8, verse 17,

18, and 21.

So look at those with me.

After some confusion about bread,

Jesus has provided abundantly.

He's fed huge crowds,

5,000 and 4,000,

likely more like 25,000 people,

16,000 to 20,000 people

that are worried about provision.

They forgot to bring more than

one loaf of bread on a boat.

And he says in verse 17,

Why are you discussing

the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive

or understand?

Are your hearts hardened?

Having eyes do you not see?

And having ears do you not hear?

And do you not remember?

And then verse 21,

Do you not yet understand?

They still had yet

to fully wrap their minds

and therefore their hearts

around who it is

that Jesus is.

And so he steps away

as he's beginning his journey

towards Jerusalem

to begin to teach them more

about who he is,

to have them come to realize it

and therefore serve him

with their lives.

He states this rather emphatically

in chapter 9, verse 30,

in the first half of 31.

They went on from there

and passed through Galilee.

And he did not want anyone to know

for he was teaching his disciples.

They made a secret journey

through Galilee

towards their destination

because this was the task

of this second part

of the Gospel of Mark.

As previously stated,

apart from the healing

of two blind men

and an exorcism in nine,

Jesus focuses entirely

on the teaching of the apostles.

In fact,

even these three miracles

in this section

seem to be aimed

at the fact that Jesus

is the Lord

of physical blindness

and therefore spiritual blindness.

They seem to be set up

in such a way

both carried out in reality

and recorded for us to observe

because we're being taught something

as the apostles

were being taught something

about who Jesus is.

So we come to our test.

Now I'm going to take it

a little bit out of order

because I want you to see

and fully realize

why it is that Jesus responds

in the way he does

and why it is that Mark

was inspired to record it

in the way that he did.

So let's start very first

with Peter's confession

beginning in verse 27.

Jesus asks the question.

He says,

Who do people say that I am?

And there's much debate

about Jesus' humanity

and his deity

and how those things coexisted,

the exact nature of that.

Some people presume

that Jesus,

because he was human

but still God,

knew things that were going to happen.

He could predict things.

We see some evidence of this.

He can perceive in men's hearts

what's going on.

So sometimes he answers a question

that they haven't even vocalized yet.

Maybe this is true.

Maybe it's not.

Maybe in his humanity

he really didn't know

and all he did is

he submitted himself to the Father.

We see accounts of this.

We know that all Jesus did

was do the things

that God told him to do,

God the Father,

and say the things

that God the Father

told him to do or to say.

Not incredibly important.

So Jesus either asks the question

knowing what their answer will be

or he's just not really sure

in his humanity

but they're on the edges of the crowd

and they're walking around

and he wants to know,

Who are people saying that I am?

But either way,

the people had an opinion of him.

John the Baptist.

Others say Elijah,

a great prophet of old,

reincarnate.

And some say one of the prophets.

And these would have been

flattering terms.

Any of us,

if you were to think me,

John the Baptist,

or Elijah,

or one of the prophets

risen from the dead,

that'd be very flattering to me.

But these were mere forerunners

of who Jesus is.

To think Jesus is one of these things

would actually be an insult

to who he is.

Not a compliment to it.

But this was common.

Jesus is doing miraculous things.

You can't deny that.

Something's going on

with this man.

Right?

Not just a couple people

here and here,

but far and wide.

He's doing amazing,

amazing things.

He's calming storms.

He's walking on water.

He's feeding multitudes.

He's casting out demons.

He's proclaiming the forgiveness

of sin.

Doing incredible things.

There must be something special

about this man.

And many people had many,

many opinions

about who he was.

In fact,

it's important for us to know

that the name itself,

Jesus,

was not a particularly special name

in this time.

Often pronounced in the Hebrew,

Yeshua.

Sounds a lot like Joshua.

Doesn't it?

Right?

This was a fairly common name

in the time.

It'd be like,

if there was a period of time

here at the church

where we had four or five Johns.

It was really confusing.

Who are we talking about

when we talk about John?

This was Jesus of Nazareth.

There's always these qualifiers

put on who he is.

He was a Galilean.

We had to know where it was

that this Josh came from.

Rightly,

we've given him from the Greek

a more specific name.

Not too many people

use the name Jesus.

Some cultures do.

We've got Jesus's out there.

But typically,

we've reserved this Jesus name

now for him.

So,

people had a,

had just,

Josh was going around

and he was doing stuff.

He was doing miraculous things

and they didn't understand.

They didn't have

the spiritual sight

to get that he was

the Savior.

He was the Messiah.

The one that was promised

from days of old.

In fact,

the name Yeshua,

Joshua,

means Savior

or Deliverer.

But they come to this,

this idea of Messiah,

this idea of the Christ.

Christ.

As a Jewish culture

that was very religious

in nature,

the teaching was far and wide

that there would someday

be a man that would come

and he would take away

the sorrows of Israel,

that he would reign

as a perfect king,

that he'd be in the lineage

of David,

David the greatest king

who ever lived,

who restored peace

and power to Israel,

that he would be in that line

and he would come

and he would do it

once again.

There was a massive

cultural misunderstanding,

a lens by which

they understood

who the Messiah

was meant to be.

And so when a humble

carpenter boy

shows up,

they couldn't see him

for who he really

was

and is

now.

In fact,

the wide acceptance,

and it still is true

of many people

of Jewish descent,

think of the Messiah

as someone who's going

to come

and is going to reign

militarily

and politically.

You remember Roman rule

reigned across this region

in this day

and the Jews were

oppressed.

They didn't have

the same

national fervor

that they once had,

the same status

that they had enjoyed

in the centuries past.

They were oppressed

by Roman rule

and so they were looking

for someone to come

and to take over

and to rule

in the way

they wanted him

to rule,

which is in fact

likely the reason

that Jesus is

constantly pressing

secrecy.

That he's constantly

doing something

and then commanding

somebody to not

talk about it.

We see two different

occasions of that.

The man he heals,

the blind man,

he tells them

not to even enter

the village.

Don't even go around

people because people

are going to see you

walking around,

not blind,

and they're going to

know that something

miraculous happened.

And he tells the

opposite thing we would

think he would tell

the apostles.

When Jesus says

you are the Christ,

he goes,

shut it.

We'll talk about that

right now.

It's not the time

for these things

to be revealed.

The likely danger

was that people

would have taken

him by force

and made him king.

And that is not

the way he came

to serve.

He came to die

rather than to rule

over them

in the earthly

sense.

So there's this

massive misunderstanding

as they come

to this idea

of who

the Messiah

is.

So you see

a breakthrough,

this incredible

proclamation

on Peter's

behalf.

Likely it was

something that

the apostles

agreed upon

together.

He was often

the spokesman,

the first one

to rush in

and make

the comment.

Verse 30,

Jesus says,

or Mark records,

and he strictly

charged them

to tell no one

about him.

They were all

coming to this

realization that

he is the

Christ,

the anointed

one of God.

But isn't it

fascinating that we

see that even

the apostles,

as they make

this proclamation,

still don't

quite get it.

They get it,

but they don't

get it.

They're not all

the way there yet.

They haven't

fully come to

comprehend who

it is that

Jesus is.

That he has

come as a

suffering servant

who will be

a reigning

king.

So Jesus goes

on to teach

them.

They make this

proclamation,

and he makes

a passion

prediction.

Verse 31,

32,

and 33,

he begins to

teach them

that the

son of

man,

that he

himself,

must suffer

many things

and be

rejected by

the elders,

the chief

priests,

the scribes,

and be

killed,

and after

three days

rise again.

And I love

this little

phrase at the

beginning of

verse 32,

and he said

this plainly.

Right?

No parables at

this point.

He just said

to them

straightforward,

this is

what's going

to happen

to me.

And then the

audacity of

Peter,

who takes him

aside,

away from the

other apostles,

and rebukes

him.

So you have

Peter making

this proclamation,

you are the

Christ,

you are the

Messiah,

you are the

anointed one

of God.

We'll get into

what that means

further in just

a moment.

And then he

tells him in

the next moment,

but you don't

get the way

you were meant

to come and

serve.

That's what he

says to him.

And Jesus'

response to him

is a rebuke

in return.

But turning and

seeing his

disciples,

he rebuked

Peter and said,

get behind me,

Satan.

Now is he

literally calling

Peter Satan

in this case?

No,

but Peter's

being a

mouthpiece for

Satan.

Satan's work

in this day

was to thwart

at every turn,

to do everything

he possibly

could do to

prevent the

crucifixion of

Christ.

He knew that

his death

sentence was

made final

when Jesus

Christ was

crucified and

resurrected.

And so Peter's

serving Satan's

purposes at

this point,

and he

elaborates on

that by saying,

for you are not

setting your mind

on the things

of God,

but on the

things of man.

You have a

wrong perspective,

a culturally

defined perspective

of who the

Christ is.

Are we that

way?

Do we often

have a culturally

defined perspective

of who Jesus

is?

I believe that

those of us

who are in

the faith,

who have

recognized Jesus

as the Christ,

still are

tainted in

this way so

often.

And as we

look around at

the culture

around us,

they are

constantly at

the work of

making Jesus

into their

image,

that they

might worship

him rather

than lifting

him and

exalting him

as the

risen and

reigning

king,

the Christ,

and conforming

themselves to

him's image.

And so here

we see this

story back up

at the beginning

of our text,

verse 22

through 26,

this rather

odd healing.

Did it strike

you as strange

when we read

through it

together?

You see

Jesus doing

amazing miracles.

People are

touching him

and being

healed.

It's said

that as he

traveled through

the land

that he was

eradicating

sickness in

the areas

that he

traveled in.

And here

he has a

man who

was blind

that he

just doesn't

seem to

have enough

power to

get it on

the first

go around.

Did he

not meter

the power

right?

He gave

him power

to heal?

Not quite

enough.

And he

gave him

more power

to heal?

Or did

he do it

in this

way

specifically

to teach

us

something?

Of course

that's the

answer to

my rhetorical

question.

Now note

in verse

23 we

see again

Jesus leads

outside of

the village.

He's again

going to do

something physical

so this blind

man can

understand where

the very power

for his healing

has come from.

He does

something physical

with him and

he doesn't want

anybody to be

confused back

in the village

about what it

is that healed

this man.

He doesn't want

people to think

that spitting on

eyes is what

heals people but

that is the power

of God that

heals people.

We talked about

this at length

earlier when we

looked at the

healing of the

deaf and mute

man.

So he does

this.

He goes through

this action

to say to

this man

I am Lord

over sickness

and asks him

do you see

anything?

His response

is I see

people but

they look like

trees walking

and there's some

debate out there

if we actually

saw trees or

if we actually

saw people.

It doesn't

really matter.

He just

didn't quite

see clearly

enough.

He saw some

version of

reality but

not quite

the full

reality.

And then Jesus

lays his hands

on his eyes

again and

he opens

his eyes

and his

sight was

restored.

And the

Greek here

means literally

put back

to new

and he saw

everything

clearly.

So what is

Jesus trying to

teach us as he

begins this

teaching as he's

going through a

process of a

number of

chapters of

teaching the

apostles something

and that thing

is that he is

the Lord of

physical and

he's also the

Lord of

spiritual blindness.

That he is

unfolding who

he is to the

apostles in the

exact way that

he intends to.

That these people

are coming into a

fuller more

clear picture of

who Jesus is.

Isn't that cool?

The healing we see

at the end of the

second act is a

full final healing.

There's no stages in

it at all.

So these stories are

very cleverly placed

in this order

under inspiration

and I believe acted

out in this way

to be a teaching

tool for the

apostles and

therefore for us

spiritual clarity

of sight is a

work of the

Lord.

And as such

those who are

outside the faith

and those who are

in should pray

that God would

give us clear

eyes.

That we should

see properly

who Jesus is.

We should start

our mornings in

that way.

Lord don't let

any cultural

misunderstanding

work into my

mind and my

heart about who

you are.

I want to be a

disciple of Jesus

Christ.

I want to follow

him in purity.

I want to follow

the true Jesus

not some different

version of him.

We have so many

different versions

of who Jesus is.

These are my own

titles.

These aren't

official so please

don't think that.

We have hippie

Jesus.

Right?

Peace, love,

happiness.

Everybody get along.

Tolerance Jesus.

This is not the

Jesus of the Bible

and it's certainly

not the Jesus

who reigns on

high now.

We have slot

machine Jesus.

If you just hang

out with him long

enough it's going

to pay off big

for you.

Right?

He's going to put

the money in your

pockets.

Heresy.

We have the

puzzle Jesus.

If you get the

equation just right

salvation is yours.

Do it this way.

Walk this way.

Pray this way.

Do this thing.

Then salvation or

whatever promise

people want to

attach to that is

yours.

We need to be so

careful that we

don't make Jesus

in our image.

That we don't

bring him down

on our level.

This is why I

think it's really

important that we

speak properly

about who Jesus

is.

Luke 6.45 says

the good person

out of the good

treasure of his

heart produces

good and the evil

person out of his

evil treasure produces

evil.

For out of the

abundance of the

heart his mouth

speaks.

The things we

say give evidence

to what we think.

And so have you

noticed I have

in the past couple

of decades the use

of the word Christ

is declining.

Lots of Jesus.

Not a lot of Jesus

Christ.

How we speak of

him matters.

I think the effort

has been to make

him more relatable

to talk about our

buddy Josh.

And there is a

relatable, personal,

we are co-heirs,

we are siblings with

Jesus, he cares

about us, he's a

near friend, all

these things are

wonderful and true,

but he is the

king.

He is Jesus

Christ, the

anointed one,

prophet, priest,

and king.

The Old

Testament almost

always refers to

him as Jesus

Christ or Christ

Jesus, it rarely

refers to him

simply as Jesus.

Now I'm not

saying we can't.

I think I've done

it a bunch of

times just here in

this sermon.

But we need to be

careful about how

it is we speak

of our Lord.

Jesus is the

Christ.

We need to get a

very clear picture

of who he is.

Paul prays for the

believers at Ephesus.

Believers, right?

Believers.

People who have

believed that Jesus

is the Christ.

This is his

prayer for them

in Ephesians 1,

15-18.

He says,

For this reason,

because I have

heard of your

faith in the

Lord Jesus,

and your love

to all the

saints.

These people are

regenerate.

As far as we

can tell,

they have placed

faith in Jesus

Christ.

Verse 16,

I do not cease

to give thanks

for you,

remembering you

in my prayers,

that the God

of our Lord

Jesus Christ,

the Father of

glory,

may give you

the spirit of

wisdom and

of revelation

in the knowledge

of him,

having the eyes

of your hearts

enlightened,

that you may

know what is

the hope to

you,

what are the

riches of his

glorious inheritance

in the saints?

And he elaborates

on what that

means.

I would encourage

you to continue

reading that for

the sake of time.

I stopped it

there.

But his prayer,

Paul's prayer for

the church at

Ephesus,

is that having

placed faith in

Christ,

they will have

their eyes and

their hearts

enlightened.

That they will

continually see

in a more clear

way the hope

to which we

have been called,

what are the

riches of his

glorious inheritance

in the saints?

The psalmist,

Psalm 119,

18,

says,

open my eyes

that I may

behold wondrous

things out of

your law.

Charles Spurgeon

in a sermon

on the parallel

passage found in

Matthew,

I believe,

chapter 16,

said,

if you know

more of Christ,

if you know

no more of

Christ than

the world

knows,

than the

learned know,

than the

philosophical know,

you have not

found the

blessing.

If you know

no more of

Christ than

you have

found out

for yourselves,

even by

reading the

word of God,

unaided by

the Father,

you are not

blessed.

If you know

no more of

Jesus than

flesh and

blood has

revealed to

you,

it has brought

you no more

blessing than

the conjectures

of their age

brought to the

Pharisees and

Sadducees,

who remained

an adulterous

and unbelieving

generation.

we must have

a clear vision

of who Jesus

is.

I hope I'm

setting you up

to spend time

in the rest of

the gospel of

Mark.

Nonetheless,

even though we

see Peter here

says to Jesus,

you are the

Christ,

and then seems

to foul it all

up in his

very next

response,

it is still

an emphatic

and beautiful

and important

confession.

It seems that

they're beginning

to see and

beginning to

understand.

He is saying

to Jesus that

you are the

anointed one.

That's what this

word literally

means.

And there were

three Old

Testament offices

that were

inaugurated,

that were brought

into being by

an anointing.

This culture

would have

totally understood

that title,

what it meant

to be the

Christ, right?

The article is

there, not a

Christ, but the

Christ, the

anointed ones.

And those three

offices were the

office of prophet,

of priest,

and of king.

In fact, we

see Jesus

anointed in

Mark 1,

9-11,

a cleansing

in the

baptism of

John, and

then the

descending of

the Spirit of

God, not as

a dove, but

like a dove,

and God

speaking out of

heaven,

this is my

Son with

whom I am

well pleased.

This was

Jesus'

anointing to

fulfill and to

perfectly fulfill

these offices

forever, those

offices of

prophet, of

priest, and

of king.

So I don't

think that the

apostles totally

understood the

proclamation that

they were making.

I don't think they

were quite there

yet when they

said, you are

the Christ.

But we are now

on this side of

revelation.

We now have the

scriptures.

We can see a

more clear picture

than they could

at the time, and

so we should.

I hope you're

with me on that.

Right?

Jesus fills the

role of prophet,

the perfect prophet.

It was the job of

a prophet in the

Old Testament to

speak on behalf of

God, to warn the

people of God of

God's coming

judgment for their

sin if they would

not repent.

Brought the words of

God to the people

of God to tell them

of the danger of

their sins.

Stop what you're

doing and turn back

to God.

The Old Testament

is riddled with

this.

So much of it is

about calling God's

people back together.

The writer of

Hebrews 1,

Hebrews 1:1

verse 1,

first half of

verse 2 says,

long ago,

at many times

and in many ways,

God spoke to our

fathers by the

prophets.

But in these last

days, He has

spoken to us by

His Son.

Jesus is the

prophet of God.

John's account,

gospel account,

John chapter 1,

John 1:1

verse 1,

and the beginning

was the Word,

and the Word was

with God,

and the Word was

God.

Jesus Himself is the

very incarnate Word

of God.

And then down in

verse 14,

and the Word became

flesh and dwelt

among us,

and we have seen

His glory,

glory as of the

only Son from the

Father,

full of grace and

truth.

Jesus lived and

died and rose

again and reigns

now to speak to

us the words of

God, to call us

back to God.

Jesus fills the

office of priest.

It was the job of

the Old Testament

priest to make

sacrifice on behalf

of the people of

God, to make

atonement for

their sins, to

stand in the gap

between them and

God.

Hebrews chapter 7,

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

so much of Hebrews

is thematically about

Jesus being the

perfect priest.

Hebrews chapter 7

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

beginning in verse

23, the former

priests were many

in number because

they were prevented

by death from

continuing in office.

They died.

They couldn't do it

forever and ever.

But he, being

Jesus, holds his

priesthood permanently

because he continues

forever.

Consequently, he's

able to save to

the uttermost those

who draw near to

God through him

since he always

lives to make

intercession for

them, to stand

between them and

God.

The wonderful truth

that when God

sees us, he sees

Jesus.

Our righteousness

righteousness is

now given to us

because God

granted it to us

in Christ.

For it was indeed

fitting that we

should have such a

high priest, holy,

innocent, unstained,

separated from sinners,

and exalted above the

heavens.

He has no need like

those high priests to

offer sacrifices daily,

first for his own

sins and then for

those of the people,

since he did this

once for all when

he offered up

himself.

So Jesus fulfills

this office, the

priest, the perfect

priest.

He's also the

sacrifice that was

made on our behalf.

Jesus fills the

office of king.

I hope that these

are programming into

your mind.

You say, what offices

did Jesus fill?

Prophet, priest, and

king.

It was the job of

the king to reign

over the people of

God, but not the way

most of us think.

I think most of us

growing up and

living in a democracy

think of kings as

dictators.

We see lots of

unhealthy dictatorships

around the world.

Someone who comes

and lords unjustly

over the people.

That is not the way

God established kings

in the Old Testament.

That was not their

task.

They were to reign

over the people,

but they were to be

the people's protector.

They were to protect

them physically,

fortify cities,

have armies,

protect them from

the enemy outside,

but they were also

meant to protect

them spiritually.

It was his major

task to lead the

people of God

in the ways of God.

There are tale

after tale after tale

in the Old Testament

of kings who failed

rather miserably

at this task

given to them,

but Jesus is the

perfect king who

reigns forever.

In an interaction

found in John 1,

John 1:49

verse 49,

a man named

Nathaniel answers

to Jesus,

Rabbi, you are the

son of God.

You are the king

of Israel.

So Jesus is the

anointed one,

the prophet,

the priest,

and the king.

He is the one

that the Old Testament

has talked about.

He is the one

that the New Testament

continues to unfold

the realities of.

He is the very

central theme

of all that we

understand.

He is the central

theme of the

universe.

All things were

created in him

and through him

and for him.

It's an incredible

reality that Jesus

is the Christ.

And at this point,

I think rightly,

if you're a good

listener,

you should say,

okay,

I'm with you.

Jesus is the Christ.

What does it mean

for me?

What does it mean

for me today?

Does it have any real,

does it have a reality?

Is there an implication,

an explicit implication?

How should I live

in response to that

reality?

Well, let me say to you,

as Christians,

our image-bearing

capacity has been

restored.

Our hearts have been

made new.

The old heart,

the one that was

spoiled by sin,

had been replaced,

metaphorically,

with a new heart.

We have the Spirit

of God that

now lives within us.

We have the ability,

once again,

to be human.

To live as the

creation of God

was meant to live.

To worship Him

and to honor Him

with all that we do.

And in that way,

we also,

in service to Jesus,

play out these types

of roles in our living.

Jesus,

prophet,

priest,

king.

We are Christians.

We are little Christ.

We do this

in a lesser way

than our Lord,

but we are His ambassadors

and so we carry out

His will and His work

in this world.

So as Christians,

we have a prophetic role

to play.

We proclaim the Gospel

of truth.

It's our major job

as believers

is to propagate

the truth of God

far and wide,

to call men and women

back to God.

To tell them

of the danger

of sin.

To say to them,

there is an eternal

state for you.

It will be heaven

or it will be hell.

It will be punishment

or it will be reward.

And there is a way

and that way

is Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5,

17-18,

Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

New.

We're now citizens

of God's kingdom.

The old has passed away.

Behold,

the new has come.

All this is from God

who through Christ

reconciled us to Himself

and gave us

the ministry

of reconciliation,

bringing about peace.

This enmity

that exists

between mankind

and God.

It is our job.

It is our ministry

to bring about peace.

We bear the message

of Jesus.

As His ambassadors,

we find in Mark 1, 15,

this is our message.

This is our message.

The very message

that Jesus preached.

The time is fulfilled

and the kingdom of God

is at hand.

Repent and believe

in the gospel.

As Christians,

we have a priestly role

to play.

Peter,

in 1 Peter,

calls us a royal priesthood.

Chapter 2, verse 9.

The author of Hebrews

views us as priests

as Hebrews 10, 19-22 states,

Therefore, brothers,

since we have confidence

to enter the holy places

by the blood of Jesus,

this would have been

the place that the priest

would have gone into

in the temple

to make sacrifice

on behalf of the people of God,

we now have confidence

to enter the holy places

by the perfect sacrifice

of Jesus,

by the new and living way

that He opened for us

through the curtain,

that is,

through His flesh.

And since we have

a great priest

over the house of God,

let us draw near

with a true heart

and full assurance of faith,

with our hearts sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience,

and our bodies washed

with pure water.

These were priestly activities

that took place,

a purifying

to enter into the presence of God.

We now have been granted

that in Jesus.

And later in Hebrews,

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13,

15 and 16,

through Him then

let us continually offer up

a sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of lips

that acknowledge His name.

Do not neglect to do good

and to share what you have

for such sacrifices

are pleasing to God.

So we make sacrifice now

in the way in which

we praise God.

Right?

Lips that acknowledge His name

and the doing of good

and the sharing of what we have

for those around us.

The Apostle Paul

had a priestly duty in mind.

In Romans 12, verse 1,

Romans 12:1

he says,

I appeal to you, therefore,

brothers,

by the mercies of God

to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice.

Present yourself

as a sacrifice,

holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

We're to be priests.

We're to offer sacrifice to God.

And we have, as Christians,

a kingly role to play.

Jesus has risen

and He is reigning.

Paul states in Ephesians 2,

4-7,

that we have been raised with Him.

Verse 4,

But God, being rich in mercy,

because of the great love

with which He loved us,

even when we were dead

in our trespasses,

made us alive together with Christ.

By grace,

you have been saved.

And raised us up with Him.

This is a present reality.

And raised us up with Him

and seated us with Him

in the heavenly places

in Christ Jesus.

So that in the coming ages

He might show the immeasurable riches

of His grace and kindness

toward us in Christ Jesus.

For His glory,

He raised us up

and He has seated us with Him

in the heavenly places.

We reign in a sense

along with Jesus.

This reality has an abounding

future implication for us.

A massive, massive,

forever future implication for us.

But it's also pertinent to today.

We have been given power over sin.

It does not reign over us,

but we reign over it.

And the same way the kings of old

were meant to protect the people of God,

we are to do the same thing.

To reign over and purge out sin

in the lives of others.

Romans 6, chapter 12,

excuse me,

chapter 6, verses 12-14.

Let not sin therefore

reign in your mortal body

to make you obey its passions.

Do not let it reign in you

who has the power in that situation.

We do.

Do not present your members to sin

as instruments for unrighteousness,

but present yourselves to God

as those who have been brought