The Gospel of Mark | Do I Perceive? (July 1st, 2018) - Mike Armstrong

Alright, Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

If you would get uh yourself turned over there.

And uh as you are, I remember years ago when I still lived at home before I was married.

Um I remember my my car broke down uh one day, and it happened only about 30 seconds from my house.

I could pretty much see my house uh from where my car uh just bit the biscuit.

I was uh I was sitting at this this this red light and I was trying to turn right when the car uh just kind of decided to discontinue operating.

And and so I was sitting there and it was a morning and it wasn't there wasn't a lot of traffic uh by any means, but um I remember I was sitting there trying to figure out what do I do here?

You know, do I try and push the car home?

Do I call a tow truck?

Do I call my dad?

Dads always know what to do, right?

So I'm sitting there and I see in the rear view mirror this this driver pull up behind me, like and he gets into the right lane.

Obviously, he wants to turn right.

And so I put my four-ways on, and and so I kind of sit there and I'm just again thinking of what to do.

And all of a sudden I hear like a like a honk.

Like, you know, one of those, like, come on, buddy, it's like time to get moving, honks.

And so I kind of look like kind of bewildered, like the four, the four-ways are on, right?

And so I kind of do want to like kind of look at him and kind of like go around me.

And instead of that, he gives me like another like longer honk.

Okay, and I'm thinking, what like what's going on?

Like, what's up with this guy?

And so I'm I'm looking again, and and and find like I'm telling you, like, it was 30 seconds of him just like laying on the horn, like furious, like doing this, and what's going on?

I mean, there's room for him to go around.

It's not like there was a traffic jam, and I was like two seconds, like I was hand on the handle, ready to like open the door and be like, buddy, go around me.

When he finally just like burns around me doing this and probably worse, uh signals to me.

All right.

This guy, he was completely unable to read the situation, right?

Like completely unable to perceive what was really happening.

I don't know how, because I drove a big station wagon, big lights flashing, okay?

Like, how do you miss that?

My car was completely dead, but uh in his mind, I was just so inept at driving.

Well, in Mark chapter 8, um, we are shown that the the disciples are a little bit like this guy, right?

Mark 8 · chapter mention

They were they they are.

They too were unable to perceive something.

They were unable to a clue into what was actually happening, only, of course, it wasn't something as relatively unimportant as a car breaking down and four ways and a guy yelling obscenities.

It wasn't about that kind of thing.

Um, no, rather they they they couldn't perceive who Jesus was.

Okay, they they they didn't get it.

Now, in the end, okay, we again we kind of know the end of the story, right?

We know that eventually they do get it.

They do understand and they see him clearly and it transforms them.

Right?

Their lives are they're they're different.

They go on and they start the church, and we have the book of Acts, where all these amazing things happen through these, through these 12.

But but at this point in the story, okay, we're gonna see that the reality of Christ's messiahship, okay, it's just like over their heads, right?

Missing it despite all of the signs, despite all the flashing four ways.

Okay, so maybe, or I guess the question for us today is this do I perceive who Jesus really is?

Do I get it?

Now, listen, just because you're a Christian or you profess Christ, don't be too quick here to assume, yes, I I totally get it.

I I fully see him as he is.

Okay, because the truth is we're we're slow to perceive it as well, right?

We really are to truly understand who he is, the fact that he is God Almighty, he is Lord, He is He is Creator, He is King.

That's something that even as Christ followers, we're still we're still growing in, right?

We're still being we're still being sanctified.

Uh uh a correct perception of who Jesus is is something that is still kind of coming into focus uh even for us.

And that happens, of course, more and more as we you know bring ourselves before God's word.

And so we're gonna do uh just that uh here this morning.

We're gonna read it, but before we do, why don't you join me as we pray?

Lord, thank you again for this time together.

God, we again just submit ourselves before you as we do each week as people who uh are totally clueless at times, it feels like.

Like we have these moments where we kind of get it, and then it seems like just moments later we're doing something that is so contrary to uh what you would have for us.

And so, Lord, we are uh very much like these disciples.

And Lord, forgive us for the times where we've been like the Pharisees.

And so, God, I pray that as we uh look into uh Mark chapter 8 here, you would open our eyes.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

You would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, Lord.

I pray that we would perceive who you are, Lord, we would understand who you are and what you're trying to teach us here.

Uh even just today, Lord.

I pray that you would use that to transform us as you did with these 12 men that you rallied to yourself all these centuries ago.

God, please do this in your church.

Raise us up, make us strong in you, not in ourselves, but in you, Lord, we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

So here's the question again: do I perceive who Jesus really is?

Because even when the answer is right in front of me, I can miss it.

Right?

And that's really the first thing here.

And we see this here starting in verse one.

So take a look at that.

Uh, in your copy of the Bible, it says this, in those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, so this was kind of becoming the norm for Jesus, right?

Lots of crowds gathering and flocking to him.

It says, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

And if I send them away hungry and uh to their homes, they will faint on the way.

And some of them have come from far away.

Now, as you read just those three verses there, do you kind of have like deja vu setting in a little bit?

Like, didn't like didn't this just happen?

Right?

Like, didn't, you know, is it we like we just read about the the feeding of the 5,000 back in Mark chapter 6?

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Like, what's what's happening here?

Is this a retelling of that story?

Some people have believed that that's what this is.

You're just kind of going back to it and continuing to teach them things in that.

There's a lot of similarities, but the reality is this is a different group of people.

The 5,000 were they were Jews.

Now, this group of 4,000 were Gentiles.

And the idea here being that that Jesus is just as much for the Gentiles as he was for the Jews.

Okay, so these are two very different stories.

But here, just look at this, verse 4, take a look at the disciples' reaction.

The disciples answered him, how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?

Like, are they are they serious?

Like it wasn't, it wasn't that long ago that that Jesus just fed an even larger crowd than this.

Right?

Let's let's even say that that was 25 years ago.

It wasn't.

It was more like weeks or or months before this.

Like, that's that's a fairly significant miracle.

Right?

And and and I mean it's a miracle that you and I, we've learned.

If you've grown up in the church, you've been learning that, you've been reading about this miracle since since you were a little one.

And and yet they're like, how can we possibly feed this crowd?

Like, there's a lot of people here.

And and we don't have a lot of food, Jesus.

It's like, right?

It's completely going over their heads.

So they've completely forgotten.

Well, verse 5, take a look at this.

And notice how Jesus doesn't, he doesn't belittle them, he doesn't shame them about all this.

He just asks them here, he's like, How many loaves do you have?

They said, Seven.

And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people.

And they set them before the crowd.

And they had a few small fish, and having blessed them, he said that these should also be set before them.

And they ate and were satisfied.

Yeah, this all sounds familiar.

And when they had took and they took up the broken pieces left over seven baskets full.

It was twelve the first time.

And there were about four thousand people.

And he sent them away, and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Now we're gonna come back to all of this, don't worry, but keep going here.

Verse 11.

The Pharisees, here we go.

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, surprise, surprise, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

And he sighed deeply in his spirit.

He said, Why does this generation seek a sign?

Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.

And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

Now, at first glance, when when you read this and you look at the the uh the Pharisees and their response here, it might not seem like such an outrageous request uh to ask for a sign.

Right?

They're just looking for some help here.

Well, listen, I understand that they they weren't looking for some evidence to suggest that Jesus might be God, so that they could gladly, you know, welcome him as their savior, roll out the red carpet, and and all of that.

That's not what they were coming uh from.

That's that wasn't their heart.

They were they were rather demanding concrete proof.

They're like, why don't you, why don't you like write it in the sky for us, this super obvious sign, so that we know that you are from God.

They were hard-heartedly testing him, it says in verse 11.

Right?

Despite the fact that there was evidence.

There was evidence all around them, right?

There were all the miracles that that Jesus had performed, they'd heard of.

The fact that Jesus, you know, he was such an amazing teacher and he had the greatest grasp of God's word, of anyone that they had had ever seen.

There's so much evidence and and and signs really already there that they should have kind of understood.

Evidence that Jesus was, in fact, the Christ.

He was the Messiah.

And so Jesus, what's his reaction there?

Well, it says that he sighed deeply.

And that sighed deeply means that he was he was grieved.

He was dismayed at Israel's hardness of heart.

He's like, are you are you are you kidding me?

You're you're asking for concrete proof?

You've got so much evidence here.

You've got, you know, the the scriptures, the, you know, it's been telling us for centuries that a messiah, you know, is coming.

And I think it's pretty clear that I am him, and yet you are missing it.

You're unable to perceive.

And so he he leaves that place and he gets into a boat and he goes across to the other side.

Now, verse 14, take a look.

It says, now they had forgotten to bring bread.

Okay, so we're not done with the whole bread thing yet.

Right?

And they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

Now, if you're kind of thinking ahead here and you don't know the whole story, you're like, oh my goodness, are they gonna like again ask, how are we gonna be fed?

Right?

It wouldn't be so crazy to kind of think that maybe they're gonna go that direction.

Are they that blind to it?

But that's not the direction uh that it goes there.

Instead, Jesus cuts them off, maybe mercifully, but he cautions them, saying, Watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

Okay, referring to both the the Pharisees and Herod's misunderstanding of who Jesus is, okay, which leads to first hard-heartedness, right?

We're starting to see that absolutely, okay, in the life of the of the Pharisees here, but ultimately that misunderstanding that leads to hard-heartedness leads ultimately to what?

Rejection.

It leads to rejection.

And Jesus is saying, be careful here, be careful here, because this is the path that you guys are on.

If you continue to miss this, if you don't wake up and clue in as to what's really going on here.

He's like, this misunderstanding, this not getting it, it's like leaven, it's like yeast through bread.

It's gonna work itself through the entire loaf.

And so it's a strong word, it's a caution.

Now, verse 16.

And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

Okay, so are they getting it?

Yeah, no, no, no, they're not getting it at all.

Right?

They're still completely missing the point here.

And Jesus, it says, aware of this, because he's God, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?

Right?

Do you not, what's the word?

Perceive.

Do you not 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 he goes back to the previous feeding of the 5,000.

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets uh full of broken pieces did you take up?

And they said to him, uh, twelve.

Right?

And then then the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?

And they were like, Seven?

He said to them, Do you do you still not understand?

Do you still not get it?

Right?

If it weren't so sad, right, it would be like amazing just how unperceptive these guys were, right?

The answer is right there in front of them.

It's staring them in the face.

It's been there the entire time.

They, of all people, should have got it.

They were with Jesus, they were his inner circle.

He he pulls them in, he draws him in close to teach them the meaning of the parables and instruct them in special ways.

If they'd grasped the fact that Jesus was God, they wouldn't have wondered, you know, how on earth are we gonna feed this crowd?

And then it feels like moments later, how on earth are we gonna feed this crowd?

Right?

They wouldn't have done that.

They, you know, because they would have seen him do it before.

And like, wow, this guy is amazing and he is God, and he he's a provider.

Not to mention they've seen him heal, like how many people at this point?

He's seen them heal people who are sick and blind and paralytics and cast out demons and and you know raise people from the dead.

They've seen some incredible, amazing things.

And yet they keep missing that that Jesus is the Messiah that they've been waiting for.

They do not yet perceive, they do not yet understand.

Alison, I want to be really careful about this.

The whole point of talking about these things is not to just kind of torture the disciples.

That's not the point of all of this.

It's to realize that we're just like them.

We're just like them.

Or worse, we're like the Pharisees who rejected Jesus entirely.

And maybe that's you.

Maybe for you, you've you know heard the gospel proclaimed countless times.

You've heard me, or you've heard some person, or it's a family member, or it's somebody that you know share with you the good news that Jesus saves, the good news that your sin can be forgiven, the good news that that Jesus doesn't want you to spend your life pursuing things that are ultimately empty and that will ultimately not fulfill, but he gives you himself.

He is that fulfilling thing.

He saves you from sin, he saves you from punishment, he saves you from condemnation, he saves you from an eternity in hell.

But listen, you've heard that message over and over and over again, and you've heard people plead with you to turn your life over to Jesus Christ, yet there's this, there's still remaining this hardness of heart towards the God who desires to save you.

You're you're empty and and you're lost and you're broken, and in certain kind of quiet moments, you you you understand that, but yet you you still kind of can't quite perceive that that Jesus is the thing that your heart longs for most.

You're just trying to find it in other things.

You're trying to find that satisfaction in him or or in what the world has to offer.

So listen, see today that Jesus is that thing that you are that you are longing for.

And he offers you salvation today.

Turn to him.

Repent of sin, invite him to be your Lord, invite him to be your savior.

Perceive that he is your God.

Do it today, do it now.

But hey, listen, like we've kind of been saying all along here, even Christ's followers can miss a lot of this.

Yeah, maybe we've trusted Jesus as Lord, and that happened at some point in our life.

Okay, but over a time over a period of time, maybe a you know, a lack of fervency in your walk, and maybe it's been too many years of kind of low-quality discipleship in your life, or it's the cares and the priorities of this world, you know, occupying the foreground of uh of your life, and it's all kind of a you know added up to, you know, you're just kind of used to life being like this, and and for you, you get you kind of just assume that that you really do kind of get it, and this is just what the Christian life is, but if you kind of take a second and and sort of think about it and really kind of assess some things, you know, you kind of know deep down that that the passion for Christ, it's just not there.

Right?

I I see other people and they seem to be genuinely excited about this, but honestly, I don't, and I'm kind of tired of pretending that I that I'm excited about it.

The passion's not there.

I'm I'm kind of bored of the Lord and it's becoming a problem.

I don't have the joy that I should have.

I know that my life is not one of total surrender where Christ is truly calling the shots for me.

Truthfully, for me, maybe you're see, maybe you would you would say that everything about you know your life, your Christian walk, you know, it just kind of feels like this bolt-on accessory to what you're really all about.

Right?

You've heard that Jesus is king so often, but instead of that, like inspiring you and and and encouraging you and motivating you to live for him and continue to surrender and continue to give uh your all to him so that he can, by his spirit, transform you and and and use you know powerfully and all of that.

Instead of all of that, you've actually kind of grown numb to it.

You know, yeah, it's kind of one ear and out the other, and yeah, I've heard this all before.

If any of that sounds familiar, listen, you're missing it too.

And the evidence that this might be true in your life are seen in things like just a flat prayer life.

Like I pray because I know I kind of should, but not like there's no like oomph behind it.

There's no urgency in prayer, there's no heart for the lost in those things, and maybe it's a boredom with the scriptures.

I haven't I haven't read this book in weeks or months or years.

Maybe you would say that.

And I don't care about it.

It seems so cold and dead to me, and I'm still sort of going through the motions in all of this.

I don't have a heart for the lost.

It's actually quite a coward when it comes to my evangelism and my witness.

Is that true for you?

Maybe it's increased cynicism.

Right?

You look online and you see pastors falling and you see churches falling apart and and you see Christians treating each other horribly, and maybe you've experienced some of that, and it's just create you've become a cynic.

And like, what a joke.

Maybe for you it's a critical spirit.

You're like, I don't really like the pastor's tone here, and I don't like the style of this, and you know, why can't the church be more about that?

And you know, this person, they're not getting it, and you've Become this critical spirit guy, and you think you're being such a blessing and helping people be better, but you're really sucking the air out of everything.

Maybe for you it's seen in just the this overall pursuit of a life of ease.

Everything that I'm doing is driving towards the vacation.

Everything I'm doing is driving towards pleasure and entertainment and relaxation instead of like, no, I'm giving that up for the Lord, or at least I'm surrendering that to the Lord, and I want it to be about bold, gutsy faith.

Because he has captured uh captivated me.

Because I really get who he is.

I'm not missing it.

Maybe for you it's just like the correct answers about who Jesus really is.

It's you know, it's right there, it's it's off the tip of your tongue.

You could answer all that, you could say all of that if someone were to ask you about it, but the life that you're living overall suggests that you're still missing a big part of what he's all about.

So then how do we change this?

What I'm describing, this is Canadian Christianity.

Do we know that?

Do we realize that?

This is this is the church in North America.

We care about other things more than the Lord.

Suggests that we're probably missing the point on who Christ is, right?

So what do we do?

What do we do if this is us?

How do I truly perceive?

How do I understand?

How do I ensure that starting today I don't miss this, miss out on who Christ is and what he would have for me in my life, in my heart?

Well, certainly it begins with repentance.

Right?

If you're sensing that this is you, lay this before the Lord, confess this to him.

Lord, this is wrong.

Lord, I don't even care as much as I should.

Help me to care.

Lord, I confess my laxadaisical attitude about all of this.

Lord, would you forgive me?

Would you help me to see you clearly?

Certainly, it begins with that.

Right?

That is the starting point.

But then also it's about this.

Here's the second thing.

The only way I can is if he opens my eyes to see clearly.

Do we get that?

We need the Lord to do this.

We need the Lord to open our spiritual eyes to see it and get it.

That's what verse 22 and onwards suggest.

Take a look.

It says, and they came to Beth Seda, and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.

And so 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 hands on him, he asked him, Do you see anything?

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

And you're like, Huh.

Right, that's kind of interesting.

Well, didn't didn't really see that coming, right?

So what's that say?

It says his vision is it's a little foggy, right?

It's it's it's blurry.

Okay, keep going.

It says, Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again.

And he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything.

What's the word?

Clearly.

Okay, so what we see here is this slower progression this time to this man's healing that we actually don't see anywhere else in Scripture.

Because what usually happens when Christ heals somebody?

It's immediate.

It happens right away.

You know, the person, we saw the woman at the flow of blood, she just like touches his garment and she's immediately healed.

We have some people, just their faith, just like to be with him.

I believe, Lord.

You don't even have to come to my house.

I believe that you can heal my daughter, and it happens immediately.

So what's with this?

It's kind of interesting, right?

Well, keep going here.

Verse 26, we'll see it.

It says, and he sent him home, uh 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.

I thought you were gonna explain it.

Hold on, we're getting to it.

And on the way, he asked his disciples a huge question.

Huge question.

Who do people say that I am?

And they told him, uh, John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say, you know, just one of the prophets, maybe.

And then he asked them this even bigger question.

But who do you say that I am?

Who do you say I am?

And so Peter answered him, and he answers on behalf of the disciples.

He was kind of their leader, right?

He says, You are the Christ.

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

See, starting to put this together a little bit as we look at this story and you look at the at the blind man and that that progression in his healing, right?

His his gradual healing of his sight parallels the disciples' gradual understanding.

Okay, their perception of who Jesus really is.

Okay, we've we've seen all along here through Mark's gospel already how Christ's true identity is one of those things that eludes the disciples' understanding.

They don't quite, they haven't grabbed hold of it.

It's like a wet bar of soap for them, right?

They kind of get it at uh at certain moments, and you know, the next they're kind of like woefully blind again, and it's this sort of process.

But now, okay, now how is it that they are all of a sudden to hear in this moment perceive that Jesus is the Christ?

How are they able to do that?

What makes this moment so different uh than some of the others?

Well, listen, it's the exact same way that this blind man receives his physical sight.

God gives it to him.

Do you see that?

Dot down Matthew chapter 16, verse 17.

Matthew 16:17

In Matthew's gospel, he gives a little bit more full account of this story.

Remember, Mark's gospel is kind of like the reader's digest version, but in Matthew chapter 16, verse 17, right after uh Peter says uh you are the Christ, Jesus answered him and says, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, meaning you didn't figure this out, a man didn't tell you this, but what?

Matthew 16:17

But who?

But my Father, right, who is in heaven.

He revealed this to you.

Okay, so just as Jesus opens this man's physical eyes, he is the same one who gives gives Peter, okay, the the disciples, and of course, us, spiritual eyes, to see him clearly as well.

That he is the restorer of sight.

And what that means is that in order for you and I to see Christ clearly, and to have that really transform us, right?

That flat prayer life, the I'm bored with the scriptures, and you know, I have no courage about witnessing, and you know, that cynicism and that critical spirit and that life of ease that I'm trying to create here instead of that bold go-anywhere faith, right?

For us, for the Lord to be able to transform all of that, for us to perceive Christ as these disciples are starting to, listen, it is God Himself who does it.

He's the one that does it.

So what?

Find encouragement in that today.

Right?

Find hope in this.

Right?

It's not up to you to try and like slap yourself awake.

I gotta get this.

It's not up to you to like read another book and get smarter about it.

It's not it's not you that ultimately changes your heart.

You can't create a better you.

Your own strength is futile.

Instead, what do we need to do?

Throw ourselves at the mercy and the kindness of God and his grace and cry out to him to give us sight where it has been blurry.

It's Christ and Christ alone, right?

We just sang about that, who opens our eyes to see him truly.

And when that happens, it's like a light bulb moment.

Everything else starts to change.

Everything else becomes new.

If you haven't changed much, if you haven't grown much, if your life is not radically different than what it was before you got saved, guess what?

You don't perceive Jesus.

You don't you don't really get it.

You haven't really clued into all of that.

Cry out to him.

Because when he changes you, you're not gonna want to live for yourself anymore.

What a what a what a short-sighted, misguided way of living this life.

I see it now, right?

I I get it.

Jesus is who he says he is, and who he is is awesome.

So I am all in for him now, putting all my chips forward for Jesus Christ.

I'm going for it.

Listen, no matter what, no matter what challenges, no matter what trials, no matter what problems and roadblocks come before me.

Now remember, okay, this was still a kind of a gradual process for these disciples.

Right?

They were still kind of slowly getting it.

We have to understand that the same thing goes for us.

Right?

The disciples, you just fast forward a little bit, what are they doing when Jesus is being led away?

Right?

When he is being led to the cross, they're selling them out.

Right?

They're bailing, they're they're running away.

Jesus denies them three times, right?

Like they have they have some dark moments there.

But here, in this moment, they've discovered something truly remarkable.

At least some aspect of it.

They confess for the very first time that Jesus is the Christ.

He is the Messiah.

Sure, their understanding of who the Messiah is and what his purpose was, that still needs some ironing out for sure.

Okay, but from this moment on in Mark, there is a transition, there is a shift.

Things get real.

Okay, it changes.

Jesus takes his his teaching with these guys, his his discipleship with these guys to to another level.

Because they they get it now, they understand who he is.

It's exactly where he takes us as well.

So again, do I perceive who Jesus really is?

Because once I do, I'm confronted with the radical call placed on me.

Okay, that's the last thing here today.

Take a look at verse 31.

It says, 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.

Okay, and he said this plainly.

Plainly, right?

He's not trying to hide it anymore, right?

It's just boldly.

He's stating this to them confidently.

He's like, this is who I am, this is what I'm uh I'm going for, no more veiling it.

Now that they've confessed personally Jesus as the Messiah, he lets them in on his plan really for the first time.

Now remember though, the Jews were not at all expecting this to be the Messiah's purpose.

Right?

We thing is, we've heard this so many times.

Right?

We've read the Gospels, we've heard it being taught, we've been involved in countless Easter services, and so for us, we've heard it, we know where this is going.

Put yourself in these guys' shoes when you are when you're in the scriptures, put yourself there.

Imagine how this would have sounded.

Because they were expecting a Messiah who would come and what?

Who would come and bring them like military dominance.

Like, you know, God is gonna raise up the Jewish nation to finally, you know, crush the Roman Empire.

He's gonna come and and and and make us the greatest nation ever, and and everyone will bow to us.

And we're gonna see as as Mark's gospel continues to go on, we're gonna get back into it later in the fall.

We're gonna see that they still don't quite get it again, right?

It's this it's this process here.

But they were expecting that kind of messiah.

They were expecting like the suffering, humble servant who dies.

Rise again, what's that all about?

Right?

They didn't get any of that at all.

Okay, so maybe we could kind of understand their reaction here.

This is hitting them out of left field.

And so look at verse 33 here.

This is Peter's response to all of that.

Okay, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing his disciples, okay, so he's not just saying this to Peter, but turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter.

Okay, Peter's comments reflected the common thought of the other eleven guys.

So he rebuked Peter and he said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

It's a rejection of his way of thinking and his mentality and the thing that it was gripping his heart and and and man's ways, and ultimately it was it was Satan's ways because it was not God's plan here.

Okay?

Jesus isn't playing around, he's done with all of that.

You've confessed me as Messiah, guess what?

We're taking it to the next level, right?

In verse 34, take a look, it says, and calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels.

And then the first verse of chapter 9 there.

And he said to them, Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.

The kingdom of God in this case, and according to this context, referring to the resurrection.

You know, there's a lot in there, right?

There's a lot in there.

But if I could kind of sum it up for us.

Okay, Jesus, he lets us in here.

He lets the disciples and us in on the on the reality that to be his follower, to be a Christian, means that we must deny ourselves.

We must deny ourselves of what our flesh wants deep down, right?

Deny ourselves of building our own kind of mini-kingdoms, which is what are the natural propensity of our heart is to do.

I want it to be about me, and I want, I want to be the king of my own domain and the king of my universe and all of that.

No, being a Christian means denying all of that, denying ourselves of that way of life.

And it says, take up our crosses and follow him, being willing at the drop of a hat to follow Jesus down whatever path he decides for us.

It's sacrificing our desires.

It's sacrificing our our dreams at times, our our plans, our wants, the vision that we have for our life.

Even the ones that aren't that aren't wrong, they're not bad.

Sacrificing potentially maybe even our lives.

That's what take up your cross suggests.

Why?

For who?

Well, for the sake of the Messiah.

For the sake of the gospel, for the kingdom, for the for the mission, right?

To go to go and save.

So listen, if you're a if you're a professing Christian here today, but but when you kind of stop and think and you kind of strip it right down to the studs, you're really living for yourself.

You might actually be in danger of what this text says, forfeiting your soul.

Meaning that the people who profess Christ, but whose lives don't reflect this radical call to discipleship as Jesus calls us to, right, right here, right?

Because we're far too preoccupied with self.

We're obsessed with ourselves.

Then they they show that maybe they they've never perceived Jesus and salvation properly in the first place.

Right?

They're not saved.

Okay, so no wonder discipleship doesn't reflect what the what the Bible lays out for us here.

Because we don't know Christ.

Is this you?

It requires some soul searching about this, right?

It requires a deep dive into, you know, what is my what is my chief aim here in life?

What am I really all about?

Not what do I say I'm all about, but what does my life actually suggest?

What am I communicating to my spouse?

How am I leading my kids in all of this?

Right?

This is a a heavy but but necessary thing that we gotta look at.

Maybe you, you know, you've come here today and you're like, man, like happy Canada Day, and I thought that's what it was all about, and you know, like Jonathan Tavera signing with the leaves, hopefully, and you know, I thought it was gonna be you know about these things, and wow, you're really challenging me here.

Listen, being being a Christian, it's not a joke, it's not a game.

It's a radical calling for everyone who professes Christ.

Okay, these verses, sometimes in deep in our hearts, like these verses, we look at those and we're like, oh, like this radical call to lay down my life and pick up my cross, that's that's for pastors.

That's what missionaries gotta do.

Yeah, the guy you know in our church who's involved in you know full-time vocational parachurch ministry, it it's it's for that guy.

No, it's not.

It's for you.

It's for us, it's for every single person who professes to know Jesus Christ.

These verses describe Christians, period.

So again, as you as you think through all this and you assess your walk and you kind of think about your discipleship here and the trajectory of all of it.

And if you sense that it's a far cry from what Jesus describes here, maybe it's beginning to dawn on you that you know what, I I don't know.

I thought I did.

I prayed some prayer back when I was a kid or at school or whatever it was.

But maybe I maybe I didn't really get it.

Maybe I didn't really understand.

Maybe that didn't come from the heart.

Maybe it was a bunch of magic words that I thought I was saying at that point.

If that's you, listen.

Turn to him.

Turn to him.

Receive him as Christ uh as Lord.

I mean, I'll I'll say it again.

We'll say that all day.

Return to Jesus, turn to him, confess your sin, receive him as Lord.

Okay, or maybe you're looking at your your life, your discipleship, your walk with him, your priorities, the trajectory of all of it again.

And you're kind of thinking, no, you know what, I I know him.

I I've seen fruit develop in my life, I've I've seen some growth.

But you know what?

Further growth is necessary in this.

I need to get this in more deeper ways.

And so today, right now, see him as he is.

See him as the God who went.

To the cross for you.

The God who purchased your redemption.

And because of all of that, you're free.

Right?

Sin's not held against you anymore.

You don't have to go find your identity in a bunch of garbage that the world says you should find your identity in.

That's brokenness.

That's empty.

You can find it in Jesus Christ.

You got no more punishment coming at you.

How awesome is that?

Right?

More awesome than I'm even like describing right now.

Right?

On top of that, you don't have eternity separated from God.

You've got heaven.

As we perceive these things properly through eyes that have been opened by the Lord, what will the result be?

Courageous followership.

We will go for it, man.

Like I'm willing to take up my cross.

Listen, that will be hard.

I'm not going to stand here and say, just because you see Jesus clearly that everything that the Lord might call you to do will be simple and easy and not require any wrestling matches and any surrender.

It's going to be hard.

It probably always will be hard.

But listen, it'll be worth it.

Why?

Because we have Christ and we have his Holy Spirit working in us.

Proper perception leads to the right kind of discipleship.

So, hey, as we think about these things today, and we kind of count the cost involved with all of this.

I mean, this text totally drives us to that.

Maybe you're sensing that nudge from the Holy Spirit, or it's a full-on, like kick you off the cliff kind of a nudge.

Right?

The response is it's humility, it's repentance, it's it's gratitude.

So again, I'm gonna pray here.

And if your heart is kind of in line and sort of beating with you know what we've been saying here today and what the Lord has for you, just join me in your own spirit as we pray.

Pray this for yourself.