Great Texts of The Bible | Mark 8 | Pastor William Hixson

And I was thinking about I'm subbing for

Steve and I was thinking about what I

might bring this morning. Uh uh and so

I'd like you to turn with me to Mark

Mark 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8.

Mark chapter 8

Mark 8 · chapter mention

in wrestling with the whether to bring

the poem of time and Ecclesiastes

uh or something from the Gospel of Mark.

And I chose this

this morning. Maybe the get the poem of

time for

next week.

So, we'll see how that goes.

In Mark chapter 8, we got extremely

Mark 8 · chapter mention

familiar section this morning. And I

happen to really love the Gospel of

Mark. I did my master's thesis on the

first three verses of Mark. I uh I am in

love with this particular gospel in a

special way.

The things I'm going to talk about this

morning should be very familiar to all

of us. None of this should be new stuff.

Uh it should be stuff where you're

trying to hit the nail and drive it

deeper. Uh and we already know most of

this subject.

But turn with me to Mark chapter 8 and

Mark 8 · chapter mention

verse 27.

Mark 8 verse 27.

Mark 8:27

And Jesus went out and his disciples

into the towns of Cesaria Philippi. And

on the way he asked his disciples,

saying to them, "Who do men

say that I am?"

Now, if the Lord Jesus asked you that

question,

could you answer it?

He's not asking, "Who do you say that I

am?" He's asking, "Who do men

say that I am?" What are people saying

about me out there?

Now, that question presupposes some

things.

It pre presupposes that the disciples

are interacting with non-Christians.

It's presupposes that they're out there

talking to people and listening to

people, right?

And some things happen when we get

saved. we kind of get in a Christian

cocoon and our we don't talk to

non-believers a lot unless we're our job

or something and but that wasn't the

case with the the 12. They were out

there. They were interacting with

non-Christians.

And so this question pre presupposes

that they're out there talking and what

listening.

Sometimes we talk but we don't listen.

And one of the great deals of personal

work is to get people talking and you

listen to them. So so many times we want

to tell them but we're not listening to

them first. And so if you give them the

privilege of talking,

then you've earned the privilege of

talking. Are you with me?

And so it's good to ask questions to

non-Christians.

What do you think of the Bible? What do

you think about Jesus? Keep it on the

main stuff, right? Don't ask some

esoteric question on some little thing

and just let them talk. And that means

you have to listen.

And have you ever been with someone that

you're you're interacting with and

they're only listening so they can reply

to you? They're not really listening so

they can digest what you're saying.

People know, don't they? They they sense

this. This is a great section for

uh learning how to do personal work or

learning about just being able to be

open about our faith.

So, our Lord assumed that these men that

he was training were out there.

They weren't in the Christian huddle.

And

I never played football in high school

or college, but uh I I played a lot of

uh sandlot football. And a lot of times

we were playing full tackle with no

uniforms as well. Dumb stuff. And the

huddle was one safe place to be. You're

nobody's smashing you into the ground.

Nobody's running over you. You get a

break from that and you're just in the

huddle. And sometimes we just like a

Christian huddle and it feels safe and

it's good. I talk to Christians. They

talk to me. I'm with Christians. They're

with me. And we don't get out.

You can't score in the huddle. You can't

make progress in a football game just

huddled up. You got to break. You got to

get out there and do something. So Jesus

said went out and his disciples into the

towns of Cesaria Philippi. And on the

way he asked his disciples, saying to

them, "Who do men say that I am?" Now to

their credit,

they had a good answer.

In other words, there were multiple

opinions.

There were different ideas among the

crowd and nobody was saying, "Well,

who's that? We never heard of him."

Everybody heard of him and everybody was

coming up with different opinions about

it. That's how uh public he was. That's

how powerful his ministry was. They

answered John the Baptist. They think

you're John the Baptist.

Well, John the Baptist was dead.

Some people actually thought Jesus was

John the Baptist come back from the

dead.

And uh that wasn't the right answer.

Some say Elijah. Some said he's so

powerful. He's like the prophet Elijah.

He's a prophet. He he's Elijah prophet

like level prophet. He's way up there

and others one of the prophets.

Nobody said anything less than that.

So it was clear that Jesus was making a

very powerful impact on the people he

ministered to. Part of that was his

miracles. Part of it was the power of

his teaching. No man ever spoke like

this man.

He was the miracle.

Nobody ever spoke like him.

And so he was making an impact.

But all these answers were deficient,

weren't they?

None of them were even close to right.

And guess what? You go out with

non-Christians, most of them don't give

the right answer either.

They don't give the right answer. They

have a a a low view of Jesus. They don't

have a high view of Jesus. They may have

a higher view of Jesus than a atheist,

but they're, you know, they don't have

the right view. These were

comparatively speaking with other

people. They were making Jesus a pretty

high view compared to other people out

there or other prophets, but uh it

wasn't high enough.

And so Jesus said to them, "But who say

you that I am?"

Other people are saying this, this, and

this. What do you say?

And

Peter, to his credit,

went to the head of the class, got an

A+.

Peter answered and said to him, "You're

the Christ.

You're the Messiah. You're not You're

not John the Baptist. Uh you're not

Elijah. You're not one of the prophets.

You are the Christ.

I know who you are. I spent two years

with you at this point. Two years. I

spent almost two years more plus with

you already. I know who you are. You're

the Christ.

And he charged them that they should

tell no man of him.

So Peter got the right answer. But Jesus

said,

"Don't talk about that yet.

You know what they're saying

now? I know that you know. And he

charged them that they should tell no

man. And he began to teach them that the

son of man must suffer many things and

be rejected by the elders and by the

chief priests and the scribes and be

killed after three days and rise again.

This was the beginning of an open

open revelation that he was going to

die. Now Jesus was given hints on this

way back in John the beginning of his

ministry. You destroy this temple in

three days I'll rise it up.

This was there was nothing there was

nothing um opaque about this. He gave

all the particulars

and it upset Peter.

It upset him. He knew he knew who Jesus

was and so he thought this can't happen

to him. That's kind of like what the

Muslims say. A prophet can't die.

You know that that's what they believe.

You can't kill a prophet.

And so

Jesus Peter said to and began to rebuke

him. And when he turned about, he looked

on his disciples and rebuked Peter. Get

behind me, Satan, for you savor not the

things that are of God, but the things

that are of man.

So Peter uh A+ in who Jesus was, F minus

on what he came to do.

Everybody thought he was a A student. He

was a C student. Just average it out.

And so that's the subject before us. The

person and work of Jesus Christ.

Say I already know that. Well, I hope

you do and I hope I do. But the person

and work are very much intertwined.

You can't legitimately separate them.

There's a Dutch theologian GC Burkhau.

He's tremendous theologian. He's not not

premill or anything like that, but he's

a uh he's a tremendous theologian

in Europe. And he said it is impossible

to separate Jesus's person from his work

because of who he is. He could do what

he did.

Nobody else was good enough. The him

writer says because of who he is, he

could do what he was. And so verse 27

to30 talk about his person, who he is.

Verses 31 to35, his work, what he came

to do. And those are two legs that

Christianity stands on.

If he was a mere man and not God

incarnate,

cut off one of those legs.

If you have a merit theology and think

we can earn our way to heaven, cut off

the other line. Cut off the other leg.

The person and work of Jesus are the two

legs that everything stands on.

Now, liberalism makes Jesus a double

amputee.

They don't believe he's God and they

don't believe that his crosswork saves

us.

And that's why there's no vigor or power

in in liberalism.

They've got legs, but they're

prostthesis legs. They're not real legs.

And you can't walk without properly

without real legs. I know they got robot

stuff and everything else, but uh real

legs are kind of important.

Why would you give up real legs for

false legs?

My first Bible class, I had a Vietnam

vet came that had one leg off. He was in

a rock band and he came to my class. I

didn't know he had long long pants on. I

didn't know he had to take he'd be

healed up pretty good.

But obviously no one would say, "I don't

need my real legs. I'll take the false

ones." They that would be work just as

good or better.

So

if you really want to live the Christian

life, you need to have the legs to walk

the Christian life.

Ephesians has five walks of the

Christian. Well, you got to have legs to

walk.

And these are there's doctrinal tests,

there's practical tests. the person and

work of Christ. If you're wrong on that,

you're not a Christian. That's 2 John 7.

That's 1 John 4:1.

1 John 4:1

If you're wrong on who Jesus is, you

you're not a real Christian. Now, I I

want to qualify that statement. There's

some heresies where you could be a real

Christian and be wrong on some little

things about who Jesus is.

And that there's some If you're wrong on

that, it's obvious you're not saved.

You're wrong on the deity of Christ and

the humanity of Christ, you you're not a

Christian.

you you're you're not yet a Christian.

And that's that's pretty clear in the

Bible. Not that we have to know all the

details. There's six different uh ways

you can be wrong on who Jesus is. I

never even heard of some of those. Well,

that's a whole other sermon.

But not everyone not everyone's totally

wrong. Not everybody's totally right.

And but we have to be right on the

basics. He has a genuine humanity and

he's God. He's a God incarnate. That's

what First Timothy 3 says, isn't it? The

church is the guardian of the tr the

truth.

We're in the we're in the business of

Jesus. God was manifest in the flesh.

And so that's the picture. So bare

minimum. But three point three points

this morning uh as we think through

this. Um

Jesus was dissatisfied with the false

answers long ago and he hadn't changed

his mind about that. He wants all of us

to be crystal clear as to who he is.

And so we see the dissatisfaction of the

Lord Jesus Christ with deficient views

as to his person and work. He wasn't

satisfied being called a prophet. He

wasn't satisfied be called John the

Baptist come back from the dead or one

of the prophets. That wasn't high

enough.

When we think of ourselves, we usually

don't go low enough. When we think of

Jesus, we don't go high enough.

That's a humbling thought, isn't it? I'm

I'm quoting AW Pink from something I

read from him years ago. We think of

God, we don't go high enough. We think

of ourselves, we don't go low. We have a

higher view of oursel than we should.

and we have a lower view of Jesus than

we should.

And so, um, most of the people answered

honored Jesus by saying, "Yeah, he's a

prophet. He's he's like John the

Baptist. Come back." But that wasn't

good enough. There was a gulf the size

of a Grand Canyon between Jesus and the

crowd as to who he was. And the true

church of Jesus Christ is built on

people who know who Jesus is.

Matthew's recition of this is Peter

said, "You're the Christ, the son of the

living God." And Jesus said, "Blessed

are you, Simon Bar Jonah. Flesh and

blood showed this to you, but my father

who's in heaven and on this rock I will

what? Build my church." The church is

built on people who know G who Jesus is.

It is.

So that excludes the JWs. They're not

legitimate, are they? They don't know

who Jesus is.

Many of them are really nice people, but

they don't know who Jesus is.

In fact, they have a totally wrong view

of Jesus.

And that and by the way, it's a very

most people don't know what JWs teach or

Mormons

or other kind cults.

Well, we need to make it our business to

know.

We need to care about people enough to

know what the wrong views are. That's a

boring study. There's nothing I I

dislike more than studying the cults.

Just drives me nuts to know and don't

get overoccupied with it, but y'all know

something about it.

And when you're dealing with a JW or a

Mormon or somebody else in some other

crazy cult, I don't try to deal with

everything. I don't try to answer every

question. I don't try to answer all the

questions they ask me about everything.

I narrow it down to two things.

I said, I'm going to talk to you about

two things. Who is Jesus? And how does a

person get saved?

It's all I want to talk about. You pick

one of them and we'll talk.

So, I'm not going to get off on all the

issues that we're different on. You pick

one of those. Who is Jesus and how do

you get saved?

and I let them pick

because you know you can talk till

you're blue in the face for hours with

those people.

Even one time I did that I had some some

of you know this I this was years ago as

a young pastor and right down the road I

knocked on someone's door and and uh

they were Jehovah Witness and they said

well I can't answer all your questions

but my I'll bring my leaders to you if

you'll come to the house. I said, "I'll

come." And so I showed up and there was

about 10 J Jehovah Witnesses there.

But I told the guy before he invited

anybody, I said, "Yeah, invite anybody

you want." I said, "We're not going to

talk about a hundred different things,

you pick the subject. Who is Jesus or

how do you save? You pick the subject.

We'll talk about that one subject."

So I showed up and there's about 11 or

12 of them. There's one of me.

And then they want to talk about this

and that. I said, "Nope. We had agreed

on this. We agreed before this started.

We're going to talk about who Jesus is.

That's it. Nothing else."

We started at 7:00. It ended at 4 in the

morning.

And they said, "You're not going to

interrupt me. I'm not going to interrupt

you. You're giving me 20 minutes. I'll

give you 20 minutes."

And that's the way we did it.

It went back and forth all night.

I had a great time.

I don't think anybody was saved from

that. But you so many decades later,

people still remember that evening that

are Jehovah Witnesses.

So I want I want them to to emphasize

that. And if you get in a discussion,

you get on these side streets,

that's not going to help anybody

because they need to know. They need to

know they're wrong about who Jesus is

and they're wrong about how you get

saved.

Couple Mormons knocked on my door uh one

time and they they gave their spiel and

I I love the Mormons. They're nice

people. Really nice people.

And they said something about God's

grace. I said, "You don't believe in

God's grace?" And they said, "Yes, we

do. We believe in God's grace." I said,

"No, you don't."

And so I started talking to them. They I

said, "What? What's God's grace?" And

they said to give their spiel. And I

said, "That's not talk. You don't know

about God's grace. I told you you didn't

know." And so I told them about God's

grace that we're saved by the unmmerited

favor of Christ, not our own works. They

said, "We don't believe that." I said,

"I told you you didn't.

So, you know, they're under a pe people

that redefine things and they buy that

definition and they're locked into it.

So, our job is not to be to answer every

question people ask that they can figure

out to throw at us and have hours of

discussion on 100 different things. Keep

it simple.

Keep it simple.

So, that's the picture here.

And so we see the uh we we see here

number one the dissatisfaction of the

Lord Jesus with deficient views as to

his person and work. This doesn't pass.

This doesn't this isn't even close.

I in seminary one time I I know I was a

terrible student in high school and

college. I goofed off. I was more

interested in my social life than

education. And um I did not get good

grades

until my last year of college. I I

finally began to figure out what I

needed to do to get good grades. And in

seminary, I got very good grades.

But one time in seminary, one time I I

messed up. I was very busy. I was

teaching on the weekends and doing

different things. And I just didn't get

a paper done properly. And don't start

papers the night before they're due. You

know, that's a terrible thing. And so,

but that's what I did and I knocked out

something and my professor Ian French

wrote in red, Bill, you can do better

than this and I knew he was right.

But that was very humbling.

And we owe Jesus, we owe Jesus better

than we often give him, right?

So that means

much time in the word,

much time with people.

Who do people say that I am?

Who do you say that?

So, we can only answer the first

question if we have spent a lot of time

with people that are not Christians. We

can only answer the second question if

we spend a lot of time in the Bible

and we really know and our convictions

are clear. And the church is built on

those who know Jesus, who Jesus is.

You're Peter. On this rock, I'll build.

You gave the right answer to who I am.

On this rock, I'll build my church.

simple stuff, important stuff. May God

grant us grace to hear it and to believe

it and to promote it.

Um, there's a writer on the Gospel of

Mark, his name is Jones. It's not Martin

Lloyd Jones, it's another Jones, JD

Jones. He's a Welsh, but he is Welsh

like Martin Lloyd Jones was.

And he has something written on this

that's very, very important. He said uh

the answers of the people. It says it

put him on a level with the most

inspired and gifted men. It ranked him

with Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist.

But Jesus declined to be so classed.

He claimed a higher place. He was not

Elijah or John or Jeremiah's equal. He

was their Lord.

This has its special pertency in our own

day. The person of Christ has once again

become the subject of debate.

And I do not think I'm doing the new

theology movement any injustice when I

say it's the view of the populace. It

gives as to the person of Christ and not

the belief of Peter and not the belief

of Peter. It's numbering Jesus Christ

once more among the prophets. It's

whittling away the difference between

Jesus and the rest of humanity and

assuring us that we are all potential

Christ. All I have to say about this is

that Christ repudiates this

classification.

He's not satisfied to be greeted as

teacher or prophet or even the greatest

of teachers and the greatest of

prophets. He's in a class by himself.

Muslims believe he's a prophet. Do they

believe what he says? No.

They believe he's a prophet.

But Jones says he's in a class by

himself. He's unapproached,

unapproachable. Jesus is the fine flower

of the race. He's the gift of God. And

no view of his person satisfies him

until like Peter, we're ready to say one

of the prophets, not not one of the

prophets, but you're the Christ, the son

of the living God.

So that's very very important.

So we see the dissatisfaction of Christ

with low views of him.

Next we see the discretion of Jesus

Christ into revealing to the apostles

about his coming death.

This was the first time

Jesus openly said

I'm go down the cross.

Now he said it in veiled ways. Destroy

this temple and three days I'll raise it

up. The beginning of his ministry. And

John the Baptist said it. He is the lamb

of God takes away the sin of the world.

But this was the first time that Jesus

really let

it be known clearly to the 12.

They're going to kill me.

I'm going to die on the cross and on the

third day I'm going to rise again.

They that was too much for them. They

all choked on it.

They couldn't take it. They couldn't

take it in. It's hard for us to grasp.

Uh this was too hard a thing. They loved

him. They followed him. They gave up

everything for him. And now he says

they're going to execute me.

They didn't hear rise from the dead. All

they heard was you're going to die.

But he said it. And he timed it in such

a way it was a good teacher. He timed it

because it was time for them to hear it.

So we see his dissatisfaction with low

views of himself, but we see his

discretion in revealing to the apostles

about his coming death. This is the

first time he said it openly. Two years

he did he he he he said he didn't say it

openly until this point. It took two

years for them to learn exactly who he

is. Now once you know who he is, he's

God incarnate. He's the Messiah. Then

you can ought to be believe what he says

about the bad stuff.

I hope that's how you take your life.

You know, being a Christian's got a lot

of benefits. We get a lot of good

things. A lot of Boy, thank you, Lord,

for all the good things that come my way

just because I'm in Christ. If any man's

been in Christ, he's a new creation. Old

things are passed away. New things, all

things have become new. And thank you,

Father, for uh what you uh delivered me

from. And thank you what you occupied me

with. I'm thankful I got the Holy

Spirit. I'm thankful I'm saved.

But there's hard things that come with

Christianity, too, right? Persecution,

rejection, man's foes will be of his own

household.

That's pain.

So what he This was a hard thing to

them. Very harder than we grasp. Our

Lord was dissatisfied with low views of

himself, but he was also discreet in

revealing to them, "Now that you know,

and I know that you know who I am, I'm

going to tell you. Now you're ready to

hear it.

Now you're ready to hear what I really

came to do.

I came to die. I came to be rejected. I

came to be crucified. I came to endure

worse than hell." Because that's what

the cross is. It's worse than hell.

My roommate in seminary said, "Bill,

what's the worst place in the Bible?" I

said, "Well, probably the lake of fire."

He said, "No, it was across the

Calvary." And he was right.

Because the people people in the lake of

fire only pay for their own sins. They

don't pay for other people's sins.

Just think about that a minute. And

they're never done paying it.

that Jesus paid

for your sins and my sins. He paid for

the sins of the world.

That's a load.

No other was good enough. As the

himmwriter says, nobody else was

qualified to do that. Holes and lambs

couldn't get it away. They could cover

sin. They couldn't take it away. But no

other person in the whole history could

do that. And but he he said, "Now you

know who I am. You are now ready to hear

what I really came to do." And so this

is it. I'm telling you before it

happens.

Get ready.

And so that's that's the picture.

You know, when you buy a used car, and

I've never bought anything but a used

car. I pride myself on that.

I like new cars. I like fancy cars. I

mean, I' I like antique cars. I'd love

to have a GTO in the 60s. There stuff

There's stuff that, you know, or even a

61 Chevy like I had when I was a kid,

but I don't do that.

I buy old beers, something that runs

good. And if you get new cars, good good

for you. Good. That's good for you. And

uh I'm not objecting to that. I'm just

saying for me, I just buy

it good that runs well.

And uh if you buy a used car, if you're

checking out a used car, you want to

check out the engine, the transmission,

the front end. There's things you want

to know before you buy it so you don't

get jipped.

And so you check those things. Those are

major things. And I'm not that much of a

mechanic, so I'd always take a mechanic

with me when I'm shopping for cars. Even

if I'm going to Columbus, I'd pay for

them to go with me

because you want to get a good deal. You

don't want to get stuck.

And so, if you're buying a new car, you

check it out. If you're following a

religion, you better check it out.

What am I getting myself into here? If

you're following a church, you better

check it out. and so uh and uh not make

some rash decisions. If you're buying a

house, that's even more important to get

it checked out by somebody that knows.

And if if you that person can help you.

And so Jesus here is the one he's he's

telling them now what being the Messiah

is. It's going to there's going to be

some hard parts to this. I want you to

be prepared for what you're getting

into.

And you get the one truth before you get

the other truth. You get who Jesus is

before you get what he came to do.

And when when the multitude didn't know

who he was after two years of ministry,

that showed they weren't getting it.

That showed

a lot of hard ground out there. A lot of

thorny ground. A lot of stony ground.

people weren't hearing what he was

saying

about himself,

about salvation.

So, our Lord, remember John the Baptist

was beheaded and Elijah was persecuted

and Jesus says, "Uh, I I'm not I'm not

them. I'm going to get something

harder." So, first the dissatisfaction

of Jesus with a a view of himself that's

less than biblical and less than what

he's revealed. Second, the disat uh the

discretion of the Lord Jesus in saving

it about the facts about his death until

they could really knew who he was and

then could begin to trust him when he

said it.

Peter,

not so, Lord. This will not be to you. I

know who you are. You're not going to

die.

And uh

as much as the Lord tried to prepare

them for this statement, Peter wasn't

ready.

He wasn't ready to hear it.

You know, I really believe in total

depravity. I hope you do.

Until people see how bad they are, they

can't see how good Jesus is.

And when we look at ourselves, we don't

go low enough. We look at him, we don't

go high enough. And you, you have to

build on some things. Once we see how

bad we really are, we're ready to move

the next step.

You don't go right into calculus, right?

You move you move you get grade school,

you get adding and subtracting and and

uh division and multiplication and then

you move up to maybe uh something a

little more a little algebra or

geometry.

You don't start off with calculus. I

never did get up to calculus

but you don't start with calculus. You

work up.

And so that brings us third point, the

discernment of the Lord Jesus in

spiritual matters.

When Peter needed to rebuke, Jesus give

it gave it to him. And Jesus was very

clear. He uses the term things of God,

things of man, things of Satan.

Very interesting how he dressed Peter

down here. Uh he says in verse 31 33

when he turned he about excuse me he

says in verse 32 and he spoke that as he

spoke that saying Peter took him and

began to rebuke him and when he turned

and about and looked on his disciples he

rebuked Peter saying get behind me Satan

for thou care savorest not the things

that are of God but the things that are

of man.

There's the things of God. There's the

things of man. And there's the things of

Satan.

And you you got to know some of this.

The things of God is that Jesus knew who

he was and he knew he must die. He knew

those two things about himself. I don't

believe there was ever a time Jesus

didn't know who he was

on the earth. The Bible says he

increased in wisdom and stature and

favor with God and man.

And I but I can't bring myself to ever

we talked about this in seminary. When

did Jesus find out he was God? And I

think the right answer is he always

knew.

Now he did increase in knowledge and

wisdom and favor of God and men. But

even at 12 he said I'm

what are you looking for me for? How is

it you don't know I must be about my

father's business. He wasn't talking

about Joseph.

So that's the earliest statement we have

of Jesus concerning himself. At 12 he

knew.

At 12 he knew.

And

uh I believe he knew all along on one

level or not. There's a famous painting

about Jesus as a boy in the carpenter

shop and he's working with his dad and

he's stretching out his arms after being

bent over the bench and his arms are

like this and the sun's shining behind

him and it goes and then the shadow of

Jesus is on the wall

with his arms stretched out. I love that

painting

because it's indicating even as a child,

even as a very young person, he knew

when the cross was before him all the

time.

And now it was time for him to say what

he wanted to say for a long time to

these men.

And he said it and he said it clearly in

verse 31. He began he began at that

point he began to teach them. Now they

know who he is. He began to teach them

that the son of man must be suffer many

things, be rejected by the elders and by

the chief priests and by the scribes and

be killed and again after three days

rise again.

And as he spoke that saying, Peter

choked.

He choked and uh

he just couldn't take it.

He couldn't swallow that.

He gagged on it.

And Jesus said, "You're get behind me,

Satan.

For you savor not the things are of God,

but the things of men. You have no

appetite for the things of God. Yet,

Satan's controlling your mind." So, he

knew he must die, and he knew why he

must die. And that's a awesome thought.

JC Riyle said, and I've got to be

careful. My time's pretty much up here.

JC Riyle said, "Why?" He said, "He must

suffer. He must be killed. He must rise

again. Why did our Lord say must?"

Did he mean he was unable to escape

suffering? That he must die by

compulsion of a stronger power than his

own? Impossible. This could not have

been his meeting. Did he mean that he

must needs die to give a great example

to the world of sacrifice and

self-denial and that this and this alone

made his death necessary? Once more it

may be replied impossible. There's a far

deeper meaning to the word must suffer

and be killed. He meant that his death

and passion were necessary in order to

make atonement for man's sin.

It's impossible that the blood of bulls

and goats should take away sin. They can

cover it as a credit card covers it.

They can't pay the bill.

Without shedding of his blood, there

could be no remission. Without the

sacrifice of his body on the cross,

there could be no satisfaction of God's

holy law. He must suffer to make

reconciliation for iniquity. He must die

because without death as a propitiary

offering, sinners could never be saved.

He must suffer because without his

vicarious suffering, our sins could

never be taken away.

In a word, he must be delivered for our

offenses and raised again for our

justification.

That's good stuff. Thank you, JC Riyle.

Appreciate him.

So, you don't want to savor the things

of man. You want to savor the things of

God. So that's the picture here as we

get it.

Um

when my kids, my older kids were little,

we used to watch the Ernest P. Whirl

videos, movies,

kind of the Jerry Lewis of the 1990s.

Ernest goes to jail. Ernest goes to

camp. Ernest goes to school. And he was

genuinely funny. genuinely funny.

But uh he's playing a man who has an IQ

about five watts.

He doesn't know two play he thinks 2

plus 4 is seven.

And somehow he gets in this smart

machine high voltage Eggheheaded made

and he becomes a mathematical genius.

And uh uh and so

uh it's it's interesting thing. So uh it

lasts 35 minutes and then he this

Einstein becomes the duller duncap guy

he was before.

Um

Peter couldn't grasp

what needed to happen to make us

spiritual dunce. Einsteins spiritual

Einsteins. He couldn't grasp what the

illumination of God and the influence of

that was going to give us an A+ on who

God is and who Jesus is and what

happened at the cross. The whole key to

everything that God had been revealing

since Genesis 3.

Nobody was kidding because of the

influence of Satan.

Satan does not want us to know two

things. who Jesus is

and what he came to do.

He'll let you know all kinds of other

stuff.

And the cults are wrong and the liberal

Christianity is wrong on both those

things.

Do you get what I'm saying? Cults are

wrong in a lot of stuff, but they that's

that's small potatoes. That's not

something we need to wet and mess with.

This is this is the two things. Who

Jesus is and what he came to do. Who he

is and what he came to do.

And if we get mixed up on that, Satan's

controlling us and everybody that is is

under satanic domination. Even Peter was

there for a moment.

So we need to not just reject false

notions of others, but false notions

that may come into our mind

that are not correct. That's real

learning is when we begin to change,

right? we begin to see, I've not been

right on this or that or something else.

So, the the best of believers can be

under the power of Satan. The person and

work of Christ go together. That's a

second lesson. If you're deficient on

who Jesus is, you'll be deficient on

what he came to do. They go together.

And um

may God help us to see that.

And people need to know who he is and

what he came to do. That's our job as

Christians. Focus on that. Focus on

that. It's a package deal.

And the followers of Jesus need to know

what people are saying. Let's go back to

that.

What are people or non-Christians? What

are they saying about Jesus?

And we need to know what churchgoers are

saying about Jesus.

My uncle was going to a church. I won't

name it, but he he he he was a man of

tremendous discernment and spiritual

things. And uh but they they one church

we ran the music got terrible and he

they left and rightly so. But he went to

this another church was at least had the

gospel but they were weak.

And I was talking to my uncle and I was

talking making sure that he was clear on

the gospel and clarity on who Jesus was

and he he got all that. and he was

sitting down in a table in a church

social and uh he just mentioned uh that

Jesus is God and this other man that was

raised in that church had been raised

from a kid in that church.

What did you say?

You just said Jesus is God.

He didn't know that he was raised in a

church. Went to Sunday school. heard

sermons in that church and even had a

weak gospel, but he didn't get it.

Now, that's shocking, isn't it?

That's shocking. But I want to tell you,

even in strong churches, sometimes

people don't get it because it's a

spiritual thing. You can sit under the

best preacher on the in your time and if

you don't get it, if God doesn't show it

to you.

And so, all of this is very, very

important. All of this is very very

basic and I'm glad that I could share it

with you today.

AB Bruce has a wonderful book, The

Training of the 12. Everybody ought to

read that that's in any kind of

ministry. He goes through the he goes

through the Gospels and shows how Jesus

was training these men for ministry.

Very practical book. He was a first rate

scholar of modern times. He's with the

Lord now.

He said Jesus was now entering the

valley of the shadow of death and so

speaking he was but adapting his talk to

the situation.

Plain speaking regarding his death was

now not only natural on Christ's part

but at once necessary and safe in

reference to his disciples. It was

necessary in order that they might be

prepared for the approaching event. As

far as that was possible in the case of

men who to the last persisted in hoping

the issue would be different from what

their master anticipated. It was safe

for now the subject might be spoken

plainly without serious risk to their

faith. Before the disciples were

established in the doctrine of Christ's

person, the doctrine of the cross might

have scared them away altogether.

premature preaching of Christ to be

crucified might have made them

unbelievers in the fundamental truth

that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ.

First things first, second things

second, third things third.

And AB Bruce said, "Therefore, in

consideration of their weakness, Jesus

maintained a certain reserve respecting

his sufferings till their faith in him

as Christ should become sufficiently

rooted to stand a strain of the storm

soon to be raised by a most unexpected

welcome and incomprehensible

announcement." Only after hearing

Peter's confession was he satisfied that

the strength necessary for enduring the

trial had been obtained.

Um, do you know your shepherd?

David said, "The Lord's my sheep. He's

the Lord is my shepherd." Do we know our

shepherd?

Do we know the good shepherd?

And Jesus followers need to hear what he

says. And Jesus followers need to hear

what other people say that are different

and are not right.

We can't hear what they're saying if

we're not with them. And we can't hear

what he's saying if we're not with him.

We got to spend time with Jesus every

day. We got to spend time. The best of

us, let me just say this in closing. The

best of us need correction in our

thinking, in our theology, even in our

understanding of who Jesus is and what

he came to do. It's a lifetime of

refinement. It's a lifetime of growing.

And that's why we can't afford

to play church.

Harlon Ob started our church

used to have a saying it came from the

commercials of the 1950 on brill cream a

little dab will do you and he said a lot

of churches that's a little dab will do

you

real cream a little dab will do you put

it on your hair and so you know that's

how people think about the Bible a

little dab will do me I don't need you

don't need really serious teaching of

the word of God I don't need to be

serious this is the there's Nothing more

serious than this.

Nothing.

You know, I'm old enough that uh I got

different physical problems and stuff

and one of the doctor says this and says

that they want to treat this and that.

Then I start researching it. I don't

just say, "Well, the doctor said it so I

got to do it." Well, I not that I want

to be my own physician or I want some

YouTuber to be my physician. I just want

to understand what's what I'm getting

into.

Well, more important than that is what

are you getting into for eternity? What

are you getting into when you stick your

neck out and tell people about Jesus?

They're not going to forget you ever did

that. Once you do that, you're marked.

And that's a good thing, but it's a hard

thing.

Most important thing is to be open about

your faith from the very beginning with

anybody and everybody you meet. That

doesn't mean you got to talk to them

about Jesus right away or that you got

to wear your faith like a badge or put a

sign on. But you can do little things.

Having a Bible in your car, little New

Testament on your desk,

that tells them something, doesn't it?

And so we don't we don't always have to

be open about everything with everybody,

but as

as we get opportunity, we need to share

our faith. We need to know what and but

we need to share it by just not saying

what we believe but asking people what

they believe.

And once you do that and you listen to

them and what they're saying about

Jesus,

you've earned the right to tell them

what you believe about Jesus.

That's the best way. We get to we jump

the gun. We want to talk and we get we

in personal work. Best thing is ask

questions and listen.

I was on the plane coming back and

as as I was sitting with a guy and I

kind of sized him up a little bit and I

talked to him for a long time.

It was just an hour and 15 minute flight

back from Myrtle Beach where we were.

Talked to him for a long time before I

pulled the track out.

Tried to let him talk.

right to let him say this and that and

everything else.

And

once people you let them talk, then

you've got a right to say something.

It's pretty hard for them to, well, I've

been talking to you, but you can't talk

about it. Now, sometimes you still don't

get that, but it's a little easier. So,

who do men say that I am? They could

only answer that if they've been

listening unbelievers and not just

speaking to them.

Hope that sticks with you today and a

model for Christian work. Father, we

thank you for the privilege of being

here today and we ask your blessing on

this class. Help us to be better at

personal work. None of us are as good as

we want to be or as good as we ought to

be, but help us to be better than we

are. And uh uh we know it's a battle, a

spiritual battle. Satan's there. and

we're not wrestling with flesh and

blood, but principalities and powers and

spiritual wickedness in high places. So,

give us grace to do it and give us grace

to be about your business. Not be

discouraged when uh things don't go the

way we hoped, people aren't interested

or people

polite sometimes and uh but then uh shut

it down. But if we get the seed in, if

we can get one verse in, one Bible

truth, it can germinate

and maybe years later come to be the

opportunity to bring them to faith. Help

us to love people into the arm of Jesus.

Help us to love people enough to speak

up and forgive us when we fail because

we fail all the time.

>> Give us understanding of you and who you

are and what you're doing in Jesus name.

Amen.

Next service starts in 15 minutes.

>> You more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world. As we go from this place,