The Rebuking of Peter | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

I'm going to ask you to turn in a in a moment to the book of

Mark. But before I do that, I was

reflecting the past couple of days on a statement that the

Psalmist made in Psalm 73 ASAP, who was struggling in his heart

about the benefits of being righteous and serving God,

especially when he contrasted his life with the wicked who

seemed to get away with so much and inherit blessing.

On top of it, though, they have turned their backs on God.

And yet at the end of that song there's a there's a declaration

that ASAP makes that I present to you, he says.

But As for me, it is good to be near God.

But As for me it is good to be near God.

And I know usually when we preach sermons you tend to warm

up before you get to any applications or exhortations.

But I want to begin by simply asking you this afternoon, are

you near God? Are you near God?

Are you far from Him? You know, some would say it's

self-righteous. It would be arrogant to say that

I am near God. Well ASAP.

Didn't think so. ASAP Didn't think that it was

proud or dishonest to be able to acknowledge and self assess that

he was near God. And so it's good to ask that

question from time to time. Am I near God?

How do you know if you're near God?

This isn't going to sound deep. You know when you're near God,

your heart will testify. If you're near God, he is

constantly in your meditations. He has captured your affections.

He is unrivaled in your pursuits, in life, your desires,

your longings. He's not peripheral in your

priorities. And it's possible to be here

today, very near others, near the people of God, near the

singing of God's praises, near the proclamation of God's Word,

and yet at the same time to not be near God.

And so I hope that you are close and walking closely with them.

If you are not, I want to give you a little insight into

something. No matter what message is

proclaimed behind this pulpit, the aim is always the same.

And it is this that regardless of the subject at hand, no

matter what verses we are expounding on, it would end up

wooing you closer to the Lord always.

Or else what is this all about, right?

What do we just do the past 30 minutes?

Are we just singing into the air and trying to make this less

awkward as possible by participating?

Or are we singing to God? What's the purpose of this right

now? To hear from God.

For what purpose, though? To come closer to God.

And my prayer and preparation for this text is that you would

be, in the end, more enamored and drawn closer to your Lord

and to your Savior. And we're going to do that by

examining probably one of the most shocking incidences in the

Gospels, because Jesus is going to give one of his strongest

rebukes to one of the closest people to him while on the

earth. So turn with me to Mark chapter

Mark 8:31

8, verse 31. As we examine a couple of verses

today, Mark 831 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man

must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the

chief priest 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.

Father, we pray as a church today.

Members of this Church, visitors to this church, grateful that we

are yours. Would you do what you did to the

disciples and Luke 24 Open our minds that we may understand the

Scriptures, it may the delivery of this word be cloaked in the

power of the Holy Spirit, and that our hearts would also be by

the Holy Spirit, ready to receive your instruction.

For your glory, and yes, even for our good, we give you

maximum praise. And we pray these things in the

strong name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Here's how we're going to

understand these verses. Here's here's how we're going to

dissect this episode. Want us to look at three things

concerning the rebuking of Peter.

The 1st is Peter's presumption. The second thing is Peter's

problem. And the last thing is Peter's

posture. A lot of peas, right?

Peter's presumption, Peter's problem, Peter's posture.

The last thing that we see concerning Peter was that he

made an incredible statement, an incredible confession to Jesus

and the presence of the disciples.

You are the Christ. This was an accurate

identification of the person of Jesus and it was a response to

Jesus question concerning himself to his own.

Who do you say that I am? And Peter was the one here who

spoke up, as he often does, and he gave this clear, concise, but

profound understanding about who Jesus is.

You're the Messiah. You're the one we've been

waiting for. And that confession is

significant for many reasons. And one of the reasons is that

it would introduce it would trigger a new shift in the

teaching ministry of Jesus Christ.

What I mean by that is that from this point on in the Gospel of

Mark, Jesus is going to build upon that revelation that Peter

had and will now focus his attention not just but a lot on

a theme, a particular theme concerning his mission on the

earth as the Messiah. And what is that theme going to

be? It's going to be the determined

plan of his impending death and resurrection.

This is what Jesus is going to teach repeatedly, over and over

again. And it was absolutely crucial

for the disciples to grasp because these disciples like

many of the Jews where the under the impression that this rabbi,

at least some who who thought he was more than a rabbi.

But definitely the disciples were thinking this rabbi at any

moment is going to establish and occupy a real throne and fulfill

what we've been longing for as a people politically speaking.

And Jesus here, fully aware of that, understood that the idea

of him being mounted upon a Roman cross was 1,000,000 miles

away from their theological imagination.

And so he's going to educate them by bringing this up more

than once. And you're going to see that as

we go through the Gospel of Mark to try to clarify the Messiah's

complete redemptive purpose as the time of his betrayal was

drawing closer and closer. And that's why you read in verse

31. And he began to teach them.

He began to teach them this because now Peter's mind is open

as well as the disciples, and now he's able to work with them

and expounding upon what it means for him to be the Christ.

And notice this year says he began to teach them that the Son

of Man must suffer, must suffer many things.

The sufferings of Jesus, the the torment that he endured was not

optional, nor was it accidental. It was precisely the

predetermined will of God. The foreknowledge of God was at

work here concerning Christ and what he would undergo.

He must suffer because apart from his suffering, there would

be no atoning for sin. Apart from his suffering, there

would be no possibility for reconciliation with God.

Apart from his suffering, there would be no eternal life that

could be granted. Jesus Christ had to suffer, He

had to, and he entered into this world with that soul and

ultimate purpose post resurrection.

He appears to these disciples, these two that are walking

toward Emmaus and he rebukes them because they also didn't

understand how this Messiah could suffer and he says they're

in Luke 24. Was it not necessary that the

Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?

It was necessary. Now you can imagine how these

twelve who have given up everything to follow this

Messiah, demonstrating great power, giving so much hope that

at any second, by the snap of the finger, he can overthrow

Rome and he can bring in a golden age that would make

Solomon's reign look pale in comparison.

You can imagine how they receive this news that Jesus must suffer

and take it too lightly, especially Peter.

And so Peter now is about to do something that I would say is

unthinkable. Peter now is going to do

something that, if you really think about it, is crazy for

anybody to even entertain the thought to do.

And this is where we look at his presumption.

Jesus explains what he's going to undergo, what he's going to

experience, and Peter has the audacity, the boldness, the

courage to get up, take Jesus aside, and rebuke him.

Think about how shocking is rebuking the Son of God,

assuming superiority over Jesus, and attempting to claim that he

is misunderstood concerning his destiny.

I was meditating on this earlier, and I thought to

myself, what gave Peter this sense of courage and boldness

and right to come to Jesus and attempt to correct him?

Was it love? Was it fear?

Was it a mixture of both? You could say that.

But I believe that if you just look at the immediate context,

there's a suggestion. There's something else that is

important to take note of that might have added to Peter's

willingness to do this. What happens right before this

Again he confesses You are the Christ.

And Matthew adds in Matthew 16 that Jesus praises He praises

Peter. He says, Simon, this is

something that was not given to you by flesh.

This is not something that was given to you by flesh and blood.

This was given to you by God himself.

This is something that the Father himself revealed to you.

And he praises Peter and he tells Peter on top of it, you're

blessed. You're blessed to have this kind

of revelation to come to this understanding of who I am.

Now we don't have commentary on Peter's heart at the moment, but

I wonder if it did something to him to hear that.

Imagine hearing that from Jesus that out of all the people of

Israel and then you zone it out of all the disciples, you were

the 1 to rightly identify who Jesus is.

Wow, I am blessed. Again, we don't know his

thoughts, but could it be that what had just happened after

being told and informed that you received divine guidance to come

to this conclusion? Something happened to his

confidence. Something happened to his

confidence to the degree that he felt like it was appropriate to

even try to bring correction to the message of the Son of God

because it didn't align with His own understanding?

This is for our instruction, because if we're not careful

what God does in you and in me, what God chooses to do you, to

do in you and to do in me can create in us an attitude that

would warrant divine rebuke instead of blessed praise.

You know, our hearts are so corrupt, so creative in

inventing sins and making things that should be pure and holy to

something dwarfed and horrible that even our excelling maturity

and even our blessed labors can spoil us and can even bring

harm. And if we don't understand that,

then we will not be on guard against spiritual pride.

Usually from the puppet you hear warnings to those who are, you

know, drifting away spiritually, falling asleep, being allured by

the love of the world. But Peter's example here is a

charge to those who stand out among other believers, like

Peter did. Who stand out?

You know what I mean by stand out something unique about you,

about your gifting, about your inside, about how God uses you.

People tell you. People acknowledge, and I'm sure

pride is always lurking on the other side of genuine, unusual

experiences and every fruitful endeavor in the name of God's

glory. It's right there.

Waiting. Right there waiting.

The apostle Paul himself, I mean, think about Paul.

He championed the message of grace.

Paul confessed that he was the chief of sinners, that he was

the least deserving of God's mercy.

And that same Paul who wrote about grace, who rejoiced in

grace, who sang about grace. This Paul also said to himself

in Second Corinthians 12/7 that in order to be kept from

becoming conceited because of the surpassing revelations, a

thorn was given to him. Paul.

Paul himself, that man who swam in the grace of God the mercy of

God, was fully aware that he himself was capable of falling

into that trap, of thinking more of yourself than you should.

And so if, Peter, if Paul, these giants can actually be tempted

to have a certain attitude that would demean, that would even

attempt to challenge the word and will of God.

How much more we, How much more we?

How much more do you and I need to be careful.

So be careful my brother. Be careful, my sister, when

people praise you because of your godliness.

Be careful when your ministry grows in number.

Be careful when people begin to seek you for counsel, for

prayer, and you feel as though more people are coming to you

than the next person. Be careful.

What can happen to your heart can be very ugly very quickly,

and so we must be on guard. And God will help us as we are

at least aware of that possibility.

And more can be said about that. But there's something else to

consider about this this Peter and his attitude here.

Peter's rejection, right when he, when he refuses to accept

what Jesus says, clarifies what we didn't touch on the last time

we were talking about Peter's confession 3 weeks ago.

Look what we what we didn't touch on in verse 29.

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, Huh.

OK, so this is a right answer. You are the Christ, the most

important answer you can have concerning who Jesus is.

They got it. And your response to the right

answers? These guys that you're training

up to be messengers, apostles, the foundation of the church,

you're asking them not to tell anybody about it.

Does it make sense to anybody? At least from immediate reading,

you can confess it's not a sin. It challenges you, Right, Lord?

Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you say you're

right. Now go tell it on the mountains.

I am the Christ. Prepare the people of Israel

that the Messiah has indeed come.

He is here. The wait is over.

And This is why you got to continue reading your Bible.

A verse a day on the app doesn't help you get to these

conclusions. You read verse 30 and you say

okay. He's strictly charged him not to

tell anybody about him, and the answer comes to our text today.

The answer is brought when you continue to read, because right

after he says don't tell anybody about this, he goes on to now

teach them, yes, you know, I'm the Messiah, but do you know

what the Messiah is supposed to do?

They thought they did, but they prove Peter proves that they

really didn't. They understood the Messiah is

Jesus, but they didn't understand what Jesus was to do

in his first Advent. And so listen, if the disciples

were given the opportunity or disobeyed Christ and went about

telling everybody this is the Messiah, what would he have

said? Well, they had the same level of

understanding as most of the Jews.

Then he must be the one that's going to come and overthrow our

oppressors. Then he must be the one who's

going to establish the earthly rain.

Then he's going to come and and ransack the enemy and we're

going to know prosperity politically, economically.

They would have fueled false hope.

They would have misguided the people.

And Jesus was aware of that. So he says pause.

Yes, I am the Christ, but you need to understand that I must

suffer. You don't get that part yet, you

know. When I looked at this, I thought

to myself, evidently they were permitted not to share Jesus

being the Christ, because they themselves did not comprehend

the complete assignment of the Christ.

They had a skewed, limited, elementary view, and that needed

to be changed before they can go out and teach you.

Look at that. You said that's true of the

disciples, but you realize the principle behind it.

Here it is. Some believers, in their great

zeal and desire to serve the Lord at certain capacities, feel

frustrated. They feel frustrated because

they're not doing what they believe they should be doing for

the Lord. They feel like they are in one

place. They feel like there should be

more opportunity. They feel like there should be

more. More audience, more influence.

And though that might be a noble cause, the reasons why certain

opportunities and certain doors are not open, they can vary.

But consider this one. I know this one might hurt, but

it's true our own unpreparedness.

I know we always feel like we're ready.

We always feel like we're prepared, but as we see with the

disciples here, often times before, the Lord will use us in

a certain way. He will cause delay for the sake

of development. He would cause delay for the

sake of development. And whether that be your

character and mine, whether that be your knowledge or mine.

Christ in His love, not just for you but for other people as

well, takes His time with us. And He has a way in providential

power and wisdom to train and mold us so that in the long run

we would be more effective, so that we cause less damage and

more blessing instead. So let your heart not be so

discouraged. Don't be so anxious.

Believe that the Lord leads you perfectly even in your zeal to

serve Him. He knows when and how and where.

Every step of the way. You know you see that throughout

the Bible from beginning. And this is how God works.

This is how the school of God works.

Even when Israel came out of Egypt, there was this verse that

came to mind. When I was meditating on this

truth with the disciples, there was a shorter way to get to the

promised land, and God chose rather to go the longer way.

More days in the wilderness, more temptation and trials.

He chooses to go the longer route instead of going the

shorter. And we're told why he did that.

Why did God not make it quicker for the Israelites to get where

they needed to go? Can I read it to you?

And Exodus 1317 is your answer. When Pharaoh let the people go,

God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines,

although that was near. It was nearer to go through the

way of the Philistines. And he said, we're not doing

that. We're we're going to take a

detour for God said less. The people change their minds

when they see war and return to Egypt.

They had gone the shorter way. Sure, it would be less time in

the wilderness, but they would have been confronted with

military force in opposition. And guess what?

These freshly delivered Israelites were not trained

militarily. They were not equipped for that.

Here's the understanding. If the Lord had taken Israel to

go through this route, it would have been more dangerous for the

nation of Israel than anything else.

They would have been put in a compromising situation.

They would have been tempted to give up and turn back.

The Lord knew that the people didn't, necessarily.

And that's the kind of thinking we must have as we look out into

this world, as we walk with the Lord and perhaps don't

understand how His timetable works for our own lives, even in

the lane of serving him and the desires that you have, the

dreams and the hopes and the prayers.

Understand this, that He knows what's ahead.

He knows what you and I can handle.

He knows what and when can harm you or bless you.

And so he sometimes oftentimes will prolong something will keep

you waiting, because he knows what you can endure.

I look at these disciples, and I see the same thing.

He charged him not to tell anyone about him, that's He's

counterintuitive, but he understands something about the

disciples and their need before they should go.

What about Israel and their monarchs?

We're studying David. We just finished Second Samuel.

But I always come back to this thought when I think about how

the Lord delays or how the Lord does things with his men and

women before He uses them in a certain way.

You have Saul, you have David. You have Solomon, the 1st 3

kings. Each of their reigns were how

long? 40 years, 40 years, 40 years, 40

years. They all messed up in their own

way, royally. No pun intended.

But let's be honest, Saul and Solomon ended in apostasy.

You have Saul, who seeks a witch for guidance.

You have Solomon who does what he worships false gods after

marrying 1000 women. David made many mistakes.

But David didn't end up being an idol worshipper.

And I've always wondered how is it that these men had the same

opportunity, the same length of time.

But why did David stand out? Why was David different?

And you can make many arguments for why David was different.

He was a man after God's heart. But I also see something else,

and this isn't dogmatic. This is just an observation for

you and I to consider. When you look at David's arrival

to the throne, when you look at the process, it was very

different than Saul and Solomon's, was it not?

That man went through trials, That man went through the

grinder, That man was stuffed in caves and and he was running for

his life. That man was gradually brought

from one place of authority to the next.

That wasn't true of Saul and Solomon.

And so if that has any contribution to David's

longevity and devotion to the Lord, then what a wonderful

truth concerning how God works. He takes his time, He lets you

suffer, He brings you through trials.

He brings. It's a dangerous thing for

somebody to receive something so great, so, so responsible, so

large, without having the adequate preparation from God's

school. So dangerous and so be patient,

trust, wait, pray, seek the Lord.

This is Peter's presumption. But then we come to Peter's

problem. Look here in verse 33 says here,

but turning in mark 833 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. Look, the Lord has given many

rebukes in his ministry, very hard rebukes.

I mean he's given rebukes to the extent where if you heard

somebody rebuking the way Jesus said you would, you would said

it's not Christ. Like I wonder if some Christians

would have said that to Christ if they heard him rebuke the way

he rebuked whitewashed tombs. You serpents, Imagine going to

church and hearing that. You serpents, you brew the

Vipers, you hypocrites. Now that was primarily to the

Pharisees, the religious leaders of his time.

But he said that in some of his meetings, particularly to them.

What about Herod and Luke 13? Go tell that fox.

Wow, I don't think he was calling him cute.

Go tell that fox. But at all the things that the

Lord said in his righteous indignation, he's never called

anybody Satan. People argue, did he say to

Satan or did he say to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.

The closest thing that Jesus has ever said anything like this was

when he spoke to Satan himself and the wilderness in Matthew 4.

What does he say? Be gone, Satan.

And I think that connection is important.

You know why? Because in Luke's account of the

wilderness temptation after Satan failed to tempt Jesus to

avoid the shame of the cross and to have the throne by worshiping

him. It says there, and the devil

left him until another opportune time.

That was in the end of Satan's attempt to try to persuade Jesus

away from the cross. I believe he found it here with

Peter. What do I mean by that?

But when Satan learned that by tempting Jesus directly, that

failing, well, let me try it indirectly and try to tempt the

Lord through one of the closest people to him.

And Jesus discerned that. You know what this teaches me,

teaches me how the enemy works. The enemy is able to use people,

even the people who are very close to us, to persuade us away

from the will of God. You won't hear Amens about this

point, and I'm not trying to bring this point to you, to make

you cynical, or to justify your isolation, or to live with

relational anxiety. But it is a call to be very

discerning about the Council, and the encouragement that you

and I received from others especially highlight that,

especially from those who are spiritually weak and immature.

The reality is some people will speak into your life and they

will speak into your life even with great sincerity, like

Peter, but out of human wisdom, genuine affection, but misguided

affection, fear, sometimes jealousy, and often shallow

spirituality. Instead of relying on the mind

and will of God by saturating and submitting to what God had

revealed in his word, be very careful how you allow others in

your life to shape your way of thinking.

Be very careful. Peter was one of those kind of

people who had a certain personality.

He had a leadership kind of personality where he just could

easily persuade people. He was able to to get them to go

somewhere to agree with him. That was the kind of charisma

that Peter had. Can I prove that to you?

Actually, if you want to turn there, you can.

I can just read it to you in John 21/3.

This is after Jesus resurrected and the disciples were kind of

at a standstill. They didn't know.

Well, they did know, but they were very impatient concerning

the next instructions that they were to receive from Christ.

And so Peter decides to do something.

In John 21. Three it says Simon.

Peter said to them, he's speaking to his disciples, his

friends, Simon Peters said to them, I am going fishing.

I'm going fishing now People debate, is this Peter just, you

know, doing something recreational, just trying to

find something to kill the time? Or is this Peter going back to

what Jesus called him out of? I agree with that.

This is Peter going back to what Jesus called him out of and he

says I'm going fishing. Did he say you're going fishing

with me? No, he just said I'm going

fishing. What happens?

They set him. We will go with you.

We'll go with you. They went out and got into the

boat, but that night they caught nothing.

There are people like that in Christians lives, and they're

professing believers as well. But because they don't go to the

meetings, you won't go to the meetings because they won't

serve the Lord in a certain way, or serve the Lord at all.

You won't serve the Lord when they begin to gossip and speak

against the Church. It influences you.

It influences the way you think, because there are certain people

who have been gifted in a certain way to be very

persuasive in their speech and their actions.

So I want to say to you through this example, be very careful

who speaks into your life. Do they walk with God?

Do they fear God? Do they honor the word of God?

Do they have a genuine relationship with the Lord?

Peter was a follower of Christ to an extent, but Peter here, at

a moment of weakness convinced others to join them where they

should not have gone. Christ met them in His mercy,

and that's what we rejoice in. But I've seen throughout the

years people, wonderful followers of Christ, wonderful

lovers of God. But when they get around even

just one person, and that person does not have the maturity or

the bandwidth to understand how their decisions and words can

influence others, they change. They, they become different

people. When that person is not in their

lives, they're better. It's crazy.

Satan understands that, that that's a strategy.

And so he uses Peter here with all the things that he had in

terms of gifting and ability and personality, and he tries to do

that with Jesus foolishly. Now how does that happen?

Is Jesus suggesting here that Satan was indwelt by Satan?

You have some people on social media who would say yes, those

who propose that you can be a follower of Jesus Christ and be

possessed with the devil. If that is true, may I suggest

one simple, one simple question that can dismiss that without

any debate. If Peter was possessed with

Satan himself, why didn't Jesus cast Satan out of him?

I'm very concerned with this teaching that's going around

because it's going to torment a lot of millennials.

In Gen. Z especially, we're being told

that they have a devil living inside of them, though they

profess Christ and they use this as a proof text.

No indication whatsoever that Satan was indwelling Peter, but

he was influenced by Satan, and that is possible for Christians.

It is possible for genuine followers of Christ to be

unwittingly used by the evil 1, unknowingly being used by the

enemy to hinder the work of God, while they're actually thinking

that they're helping the work of God.

Peter's doing this with right ambition, but right ambition

isn't enough. Right motive isn't enough.

It's whether it's true or not. And the enemy saw an open door

and he utilized this to try to bring obstacles.

You know what? It's not entirely wrong with

hearing that I would be careful throwing around Satan's name and

accusing people of Satanic activity.

But at the same time, you've probably been through

disappointing things in church life long enough and wondered,

is is this the enemy doing this even among believers?

It's very possible, yes, even among believers for there to be

demonic infiltration. Very possible.

And if that is true, then I got to ask the question, how is it?

How is it that church members and professing believers open

themselves up to this horrible possibility?

And Jesus gives us the answer. In this very same rebuke, He

gives us the answer he says, for you are not setting your mind on

the things of God, but on the things of man.

That's how Satan gets into the thinking of believers.

The entryway for the enemy's influence in the lives of those

who are followers of Christ is by how they think.

When our convictions and our outlooks are not conformed and

submitted to the Word of God, it leaves room for Satanic

influence. But the more you and I allow

God's Word to and His wisdom and His will to govern our thinking,

our outlook, our convictions, our attitude, our decisions, our

reactions, the more the word of God Shields us, the less room we

give the enemy to direct our paths.

And in Peter's case, his thoughts about the Messiah did

not align with the word of God. It was selected by personal

interpretation and preference. He did not like the idea of a

suffering Messiah. He had already given up so much

to follow Jesus. And now Jesus.

You're talking about going to die.

Not on my watch. Now you're going to conquer and

we're going to, we're going to reign with you.

Didn't they always talk about who was going to be the

greatest? Didn't that reach a feverish

pitch where you had James and John say, even using their

mother, hey, who can we sit closest to you on your throne?

This is what they were thinking about.

And we see here that, yeah, Peter was right and identifying

that Jesus was the Messiah, but he was wrong in applying and

understanding how that played out.

And the enemy loves to work with those who mix personal

preference with truth, who will quote this verse but not that

one, who love the parts of the Bible that justify what they

want, but dismiss the others that might even condemn them for

doing something that they're trying to justify.

The enemy doesn't need us to totally deny the word of God.

All he needs is you and I to misapply, and that would

suffice. And if that's true, then we have

to ask ourselves very carefully. Here's the question that we have

to ask ourselves in light of this revelation.

Do my thoughts not just about the Messiah.

Do my thoughts about everything? Money, money, ministry helps to

divide things. Marriage.

Relationships. When you look at these things

separately, ask yourself this question.

Do these different compartments of my existence, my ideas about

them, my hopes, my dreams, my convictions?

Do they echo God's thoughts or do they sound different?

How do I know we have God's thoughts?

And that's what renewing your mind looks like.

It's submitting your thoughts to the will of God and allowing the

will of God to transform your mind so that you would not be

conformed to this world, but you would know what the will of God

is. And one of the glories and the

benefits of that is Satan has very little to work with to get

in there so that he can do more damage.

He made Peter a spokesperson for himself because his thinking was

not right. That's the open door.

So this is Peter's foundational problem, and it can be the

problem for us if we are not careful to allow God's word to

be our ultimate authority and to live under that, and to allow it

to shape your life. Not just quoted, not just teach

it, not just preach it, but to allow it to actually influence

you. That's when you are bulletproof

from being a foothold to the evil one and being his

ambassador unwittingly. That is Peter's problem.

But notice something with his posture.

What I mean by his posture is his attitude, his heart,

disposition. At least here in response to

this but turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and

said, get behind me, Satan, for you're not setting your mind on

the things of God, but on the things of man.

Imagine receiving that kind of correction from Jesus publicly.

Would it offend you? I mean Lord, you just told me I

was blessed by the Father and now you're telling me Satan talk

about spiritual high, spiritual low, but there's no such

reaction from Peter. You get clear indication in the

Bible that when Jesus said certain things, some people

receive that correction and other people were outright

offended. Who was often offended by the

words of Jesus? The Pharisees often offended.

When you look at Matthew 1512, that's one place where it's

explicitly said that they were offended.

The disciples knew the Pharisees were offended.

Jesus just finished correcting their view about human

tradition. And the disciples came to the

Lord. And I said, Lord, do you not

know that the Pharisees were offended by this?

You know what Jesus does? Oh, no, really?

OK, let me find because I'll let them be offended.

They're blind guides. You know what that shows me?

If I live in a fence, if I allow offense to take over, I will be

limited in my spiritual transformation and growth.

The Pharisees stayed the same for many reasons, But instead of

receiving and hearing what Jesus had to say, no matter how strong

the charge was, they chose to be offended rather than to be

convicted and to humble themselves and to examine their

hearts more carefully. Offense has a way of keeping you

in the same place and leading you in the wrong place.

Ultimately, Peter made a couple big blunders in his life as as a

servant and follower of Jesus Christ.

But Peter knew how to acknowledge his wrong and to

repent, and the Lord used him teach abilities absolutely

massive for the Lord's hand to be on our lives and for us to

reflect and honor him the way he designed us to.

There's so many examples of that in the Bible.

One of my favorite examples about it, having a teachable

spirit, is a man that we often don't talk about, and there's

legitimacy for that. But Apollo's.

I like this guy. Apollo's, you know who I'm

talking about. Maybe you don't.

So you have to see it because we have a biography about him and

Acts 18. Look at Apollos in Acts 1824.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to

Ephesus. Now look at this description of

this man. He was an eloquent man,

competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the

way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and

taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew

only the baptism of John. So think about this.

He's eloquent, he's competent. One translation says that he

mastered in a sense mighty in the scriptures and he was

fervent in spirit. He wasn't a dull theologian.

He wasn't a ice cold academic. No, He had some fire in him and

so he was engaging. He was captivating, but it was

also educational. He just had the whole package as

a public speaker and he utilized it for the glory of God.

He was limited and his understanding though, and that's

being told for a reason. So this man is an Ephesus and he

spoke right. Verse 26.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, boldly.

But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside

and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

So in attendance on that synagogue service, there is this

couple, Priscilla and Aquilla. They were friends of Paul.

And this this couple here, something happens.

They're they're hearing what this awesome speaker has to say.

But they were perceiving that he didn't understand fully the

mission and the purpose of Jesus Christ.

I don't know who's doing that, but if the ushers or one of the

deacons can help, Thank you. And so we see here that they're

in attendance and they hear and and they look at each other

perhaps saying, this guy's good, but I don't think he really gets

at all. And So what do they do after the

service? The pulse is there shaking

people's hands. And Priscilla and the Quila say

we were so, so, so encouraged by what you had to say.

But are you willing to come over?

We we want to. We want to share some things

with you. Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.

Here's Apollo's preacher, traveling minister Eloquent.

He already has a reputation. You know what?

These people were this couple. They were tent makers.

They weren't priests. They weren't theologians.

They were tent makers. And Apollo's was willing to give

him an ear and sit in their house and hear what they had to

say. And he received their

instruction. Do you know the result of

Apollo's humility here? It's found in verse 27.

Look what happens. And when he wished to cross to

Akeya, that's in Corinth, the brothers encouraged him and

wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

So Paulos had this desire to see his ministry expand.

He wanted to go to this region and to preach Christ.

And because he's here in Ephesus, you make the connection

that he developed a relationship with these brethren.

And he was able to receive a recommendation letter from these

brethren to say, receive this man.

Receive this man. He's a sincere brother.

He's a dear brother. And he will be a blessing to you

as a result of a policy. Humility.

His ministry broadened. Humility will do that.

It will open more doors. It will cause others to want to

work with you. That's what teachability does.

It makes you more attractive. It helps others.

See, this is a team player. This is somebody who's not all

about themselves. This is somebody who wants to

work with others. And so teachability is necessary

if there's going to be any possibility of expansion of your

Ministry and mine. But not just that.

Look what else happens here. When he arrived, he greatly

helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully

refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that

the Christ was Jesus. He greatly helped those who were

there. Why?

Because he well, how did he greatly help?

We'll follow the context. He was.

He was further enlightened, he received greater understanding

about Jesus, and he was able to take that to the next level.

And others were blessed by it. So because Paulus was willing to

grow, God could say now go. And because he was willing to

submit to even these people who who had no credentials, they

weren't fellow ministers, tent makers, he was able to

powerfully refute the Jews because he was taught more

accurately the ways of Jesus. This is so important to

understand. This is so crucial to grasp.

How do you and I respond when somebody reproaches you about

something that you believe you have mastered?

I've been doing this for 20 years.

Are you defensive? Do you recoil?

Do you turn tune out the person and just nod your head?

Just wanted to get the conversation over with.

Do you attack the person back in a veiled manner?

By what? Offering them correction?

They didn't come to ask for your correction.

They came to offer you some suggestions.

How did this turn around and become about them?

But we do that. Oh, thanks for the correction.

But you know what, brother? This and this and that about

you. This is about you, sister.

I noticed that as well. There's no need for that.

Do I pretend to have accountability by surrounding

myself with yes men who will always agree with what I have to

say, but at the same time, I can justify with a false humility

that I do have people that speak into my life.

There's designated Yes man. That's not the same.

Apollos was a man who was able to listen no matter who was the

person giving the correction. He was a man who was willing to

pause and give time and learn something.

Also from Priscilla and Aquila. They didn't stand but stand up

in the middle of the server and say, hey preacher, you did a

good job, but you missed this, this and that.

No. What are we told here?

That they took him aside? I added there that just for the

sake of presentation, that they took him aside privately to

their home. Perhaps that was the case, but

they took him aside and explained to him the way of God.

More accurately, they made it a private matter.

They didn't embarrass Apollo's, they didn't shame him.

They're very wise in how they offered this kind of correction

so we can learn both sides here. I love.

I was looking at this and I thought, I want to know more

about Apollo's. I want to know so much more

about him. There's an interesting place

about Apollo's at the end of First Corinthian 16, and I'll

end it here in First Corinthian 16 and verse 12.

Paul's writing to this church in Corinth and he he mentions

Apollo's by name Now concerning in First Corinthians 1612.

Now concerning our brother Apollo's, I strongly urged him

to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all

his will to come. Now He will come when he has

opportunity. Why is Paul bringing up Apollos?

Because Apollos had a great role in playing and watering the seed

of these Corinthian Christians, and so they had a strong

relationship with Apollos. Apollos had discipleship

relationship with many of these believers.

And so he wants to comfort this church and let him know, hey, I

asked Apollos if he's willing to come by the church, but he said

not now, maybe at another time. And there's a lot of debate.

Why didn't Apollos want to go? It's not explicitly said.

You know what many people believe, though, Apollos was not

too happy what was happening in the Corinthian church.

There are many issues, but one of the primary issues was what

you see in the introduction of this book.

There were divisions in the church.

You know what people were saying, hey, hey, we're the Paul

guys. We follow Paul and this group

over here saying no, we follow Cephas and another group over

there saying we follow Apollos. What many believe is that

Apollos and knowing about the factions that were caused with

his name in it, was disgusted and he didn't want to fuel that.

He didn't want to be captured by that.

He didn't want to entertain that further, and perhaps even by his

refusal to come at first is trying to communicate that he

does not approve of what's happening.

If that is true, because it's not explicit, then that just

solidifies to us again the kind of heart posture This man, he

was a man who didn't take advantage of the praise that he

received. He wasn't a man who was all

about himself. He wasn't a man who got caught

up and what people were saying about him.

He didn't want to set up a personality called.

He shunned that. If that is the case, why he did

not go? And that might be debated.

But you know what's not debated? I love Paul in this verse.

Do you see what Paul is saying here?

Hey, I urge. I strongly urge him to visit you

with the other brothers. But it was not at all his will

to come now. He will come when he has

opportunity. Paul as a leader in the church

never dictated or determined what other people should do

forcefully. What a leader, what a leader.

He understood that there in some areas are personal, subjective

convictions and that the spirit leads us in different ways.

So he didn't force himself. He didn't threaten the Apollo's.

But even more than that, Paul was a man who was humble

himself. In what sense?

Think about it. He knew that the Corinthians

really, really loved the Apollo's and he knew that there

were even people in the church comparing him to Apollos and

Cephas. There was kind of this

competition going on and their names were involved.

And yet this Paul was not intimidated by Apollos.

He wasn't threatened by Apollos. Pauls was a very gifted man and

Paul knew that Apollos would be a greater benefit to the church.

As Apollos go go, they will benefit.

Who knows how we strongly urge him.

But if Paul was insecure, he wouldn't have made such a

suggestion. I'll take care of this and

Paul's. Thanks.

Okay. I'll just do this myself.

All right. Hopefully they'll like me, know

more now if I come in here and fix some of these issues.

So now we thought, you know, ministers think like that.

People think like that in the church.

They see their brother and sister as a threat to their

gift, to their reputation. I've played this instrument my

whole life. I've preached my whole life.

I hold on to this pulpit. This is my pulpit.

This is my ministry. I've been in the Sunday School

for this long. I've done this for the that's

not Christian, that's not, that's not what we see with

these leaders. So you have Peter who is able to

be called with a strong rebuke and receive it.

You have Apollo's who is willing to listen to Priscilla and

Aquila. You have Paul who understood

that there are some people comparing him with other

preachers and he still champion and advocated the other

preachers because he saw their gifting and their ability says

go, they will benefit from you. May God help us, May God help

us, May God help us. Peter's presumption, Peter's

problem, Peter's posture. Lord, we thank you for the word

of God. It can encourage and it can cut.

But even when it cuts, even when it cuts, you want to heal us,

You want to remove things from us.

Thank you that your word says in Revelation 3 that those whom you

love you rebuke. You loved Peter.

Lord, you love Peter not only when you restored him at the

beach. And John 21 you loved him even

when you said, get behind me, Satan.

Lord, give us wisdom to know how to relate to one another.

Protect our hearts from pride when you use us in a certain

way. Help us, O Lord, limit more than

just limit completely. Be shielded by Satan's

suggestions, by having every aspect of our lives submitted to

the word of God, and teach us to serve you with each other, to

love each other, to champion and praise you for one another.

Help us see one another as members of the same body.

You are our head. And so, Lord, today we say thank

you again for this. Not just your blessings, not

just your grace and mercy. We say as we've studied Peter's

rebuke. Thank you for even your rebukes

in our lives because you rebuke those whom you love.

Now we worship you in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen.

Why don't we stand and worship the Lord together?