What Say You (Part B)

What a warning to us to not become puffed up with knowledge. I know the Bible. I can quote two verses from it. You know me if you can quote it all.

It's not enough by itself. If I give my body to be burned and I have not love, what say you? You say Christ is the Lord?

Well, I love everybody except those in my family. What kind of nonsense is that? You need a spiritual slapping. When the Spirit comes at Pentecost, the gates swing open. They'll be able to tell everybody. But it will be war, full out war.

It will not be easy. One of the logical reasons, or natural reasons, is because many of the Jews expected Messiah to be a political figure from God. And matters would have worsened. They tried, you know, they already tried once to make him king, and that brought problems. They were not ready for the revelation. Manel, verse 31. It's going to heat up now. 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 scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.

How many prepositions are there? And he began and be rejected and the elders and the scribes and the chief priests and killed and after three days rise again. In other words, there's a lot more coming, men. There's a lot more that's going to happen. Okay, you have the revelation that I am the Christ. Well, that's not enough. We don't stop there.

There's so much more that's going to take place. Of course, the title where he says and began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, the Son of Man, it links him to Daniel's revelation, the wisdom of the ages, the ancient one. This is him, Christ. In his mission as a suffering and dying Messiah, it clashed with the expectations of those who read their Bibles, studied their Bibles, their Old Testament Bibles, and still missed the point. What a warning to us.

What a warning to us to not become puffed up with knowledge. I know the Bible. I can quote two verses from it. Maybe if you can quote it all.

It's not enough by itself. If I give my body to be burned and I have not love, what say you? You say Christ is the Lord?

I love everybody except those in my family. What kind of nonsense is that? You need a spiritual slapping.

I don't mean a physical one. We wouldn't endorse that. Well, there are some people that maybe we need to adjust that. Peter's going to object to this. After having this great confession of the Father, he's going to object. The suffering Messiah clashed with the heroic Messiah, and that could not be accepted.

It was more to it with Peter. Most of the Jews had this opinion. The Messiah would come.

He would vanquish Rome, and he is going to do that in the second coming. The Jews even thought there were two different Messiahs, one to suffer and one not to suffer. We understand they're wrapped into the phases of the same ministry. And he, continuing in verse 31, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes. In Jesus' day, the Sanhedrin was the Jewish Supreme Court. They played an essential role mediating between Rome and the people of Israel. And so on a civil level, they were very important. On a spiritual level, they were very corrupt. Not every single one of them, as the Scripture will name at least two of them that were very noble, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, but it took them time too. They did not just see Jesus and his miracles and hear his teachings and snap right into line with him.

It took a little work. The scribes were like court clerks, or you could say those lawyers had researched the material and bring it to the Sanhedrin and said, We have grounds to do this to Christ. All of this was under the authority of the Father. Acts chapter 2, Peter made this clear. He said, I don't want you guys to think for one moment that you just stepped out and murdered Christ.

There's a lot more to the story. Acts chapter 2 verse 23, speaking of Jesus, Peter says, Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and crucified and put to death. God let you do what you was going to do, but it was part of God's plan. No victory for you.

It was a defeat for you. And many of them became saved at Peter's preaching, but they still had to work through so much and Paul spent his life trying to help him get through it. May we not be Christians like that. May we not be self-righteous and judgmental and caught up on legalism and good works, but let us do good works. Let us have grace.

Let's have an attractive faith. The church is supposed to be the bride of Christ. I've done enough weddings to notice that I'm, and I mean this, it's a good opportunity here to make a joke, but I don't have the ammo. I've not seen an ugly bride. Why is the church sometimes ugly even to Christians? Why is she not attractive?

Because of the people. Okay, I can say that very easily, but then I have to then ask the question to myself. Am I uglier not the bride? I hope not. We have a lot of servants in this church that work hard to keep the bride looking as attractive as she can as far as the structure of the building goes.

And then we have a lot of servants who try not to break into clicks and gossip and bad mouth and bicker behind the scenes to keep the bride beautiful. It says that he will be killed. Jesus said, they're going to kill me.

I'm not going to die natural causes. The religious authorities of our beloved Israel are going to kill me flat out. He says it. John chapter 3, he'd been saying it all along, going over their heads, but he's going not all the way into their heads even now. But in John 3, and Moses, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. He's saying, I'm going to be crucified, and then I will draw everyone to me.

Those, of course, who want to come. How could Messiah act as Messiah in restoring the kingdom of God to Israel's authority and be rejected and killed at the same time? So they didn't understand this because they had been taught for so long, this is how it's going to happen. But Christ comes along and says, no, this is how it's going to happen. I have a quote I'm going to get to by one saint in a little bit concerning this very thing of having a problem with how God does something.

It's not a little thing. I've had many problems with how God does a thing, but at the end I'm submitted. After three days, Christ then says he will rise again.

The two go together. But the disciples had blacked out at this point. They didn't hear him or did not register. All they heard is their beloved Lord was going to be killed.

How could that be? He had dominated every situation that confronted them. He dominated without even breaking a sweat. How could he be killed by the Sanhedrin? He even put them in their place.

There was nothing they could do about it. He healed people in their face on the Sabbath and there was nothing they could do about it. No one else could do these things but him. But they did not trust his word because they did not listen to all of what he is saying. How guilty of that can we Christians be? Well, we take a part of the scripture but we forget the other parts. That's why Paul said the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. You're just taking the letter, you just become a clod with the word of God in your hand.

But if you have the Spirit of God with the letter, not without it, then you become a tool in the hand of God. So Peter's blunder was his partial attention to what Jesus said. He wasn't listening. He didn't hear the promise. And Satan, of course, is going to take advantage of this. The promise, had he held to the promise, and he will rise in three days, he would have been able to shove back Satan.

But he wasn't. Verse 32, he spoke this word openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

This is laughable almost, right? Christ says right out, they're going to kill me. And then Peter says, Lord, let me just talk to you about this. Peter thought he was shielding the Lord from embarrassment. I don't want the other guys to hear me set you straight, because you've been, you know, that whole walking on the water scene.

Okay, you got that one, but I got this one. It's so dumb of us to think that we could, that he's somehow not as much Lord on some things. He is Lord over all, or he's not Lord at all. So Peter takes him aside from the others, and he says, don't even think such a thing as this. Peter is filled with human love.

That's the problem. It's just, it's not agape, working, functioning, dominating the moment of his heart. He should have just shut his mouth and said, Lord, your will be done.

What do you want us to do? He does not. He seeks to advise him to avoid the cross. Well, what would have happened if Christ avoided the cross? Well, we would have all gone to hell. There'd be no Savior, there'd be no salvation. But Peter is not that far advanced, and we only are because he asks dumb questions like this.

We get to look at it and avoid asking them ourselves, because if we were there, we would probably say the same. The others probably would have said it, but Peter was just faster on the draw. Verse 33, but when he turned around and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. The Lord turns his back to Peter, but not on Peter. Big distinction there. He deliberately turns away from Peter and faces the disciples.

It looks awkward on the surface. He turned his back to the one who was under the influence of Satan. But he also did not want for one moment to have Peter suppose that he was really calling Peter Satan. He was moving beyond Peter to the influence behind this foolish suggestion. The disciples had no idea Satan was even there, that Jesus could see into the dark.

He could see into the spiritual realm. They had even less of an idea that Peter was being used as a tool for Satan. After such a glorious confection, you are the Christ. Flesh and blood didn't tell you that, Peter. Your father in heaven tell you that. Well, this time, flesh and blood is not telling you this, Peter. Satan in hell is telling you this. So he turns his back to Peter, and he looks at his disciples, and he said, this is not getting a pass.

This will be dealt with right here, and it will be thoroughly dealt with. The moment is intensified. The Lord has introduced the S-word, Satan, the enemy of God, the opposition to God. Our Lord knew exactly where he was. He could see him moving behind the scenes. No one else could see that. And so he exposes him, and in so doing, he silences him, saying, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.

How intense is this? Can you imagine the faces on the other disciples and Peter? Peter's looking at the back of the Lord. He's not seeing his face. He already got a glimpse of that right before he turned away. And so he's shutting his mouth.

There's no objection coming. It was a thought right out of hell, straight out of hell. It happens. It happens to us. Sometimes you know it.

You know that was out of hell. It's an impure thought, perhaps. Other times, you're not so quick to catch it until it's done some damage. Satan is pinpointed as the sneak influence in our thinking against God, under the guise of love. How many times have we seen, You're so unloving.

If I was unloving, I'd be slapping you upside your head right now. But I'm not. Satan, the sneak influence against the truth of God. So we say, well, how do we know when it's Satan? Because it disagrees with what the scriptures taught.

That's how. That's how you're going to know Antichrist world that is left behind, not the church. We won't be here. The apostate church will be. They will know Antichrist because he will not be agreeing with Jesus Christ.

And they'll have the scriptures and my recorded sermons to reference. And everybody else that has preached the word. Satan used love to do it, to go around prophecy. Satan used human love to go around scripture.

He still does this because it works. He exploits man's methods before God. That's why the Lord is going to say, said to him, You're not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. You're mindful of man things because you hate men anyway. And if you can keep them contrary to God, you get what you want.

Their destruction. Peter loved Jesus so much. The thought of him being murdered was just unacceptable. But the thought of him disagreeing with Christ was more unacceptable. And he didn't catch it yet, but he catches it now because the Lord throws it at him. He loved Jesus, but not his methods. G. Campbell Morgan writing on this verse said, The man who loves Jesus, but who shuns God's methods, is a stumbling block to him.

Those British guys could just articulate thought so well. It's so true. If you don't like how God is doing something, you become part of the problem. If you act upon that.

If you don't get past it. If you have to submit, that's the whole story of Ananias. You know, go baptize Paul. You know, well, he's killing people. What did God, Ananias, does God need you to tell him that really? But it's human, and God lets him be human.

It's a natural thing to do. He said, God, this guy. And then when he said, go, because he's a chosen vessel of mine. And he's gone, and he goes and does what he has to do. And he so gets into it, he says, Paul, what are you waiting for?

Get baptized. Here's what Peter missed from his own scripture. Isaiah 53, verse 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

We don't have time to go into more meaning of that. But the chastisement for our peace, Romans 5, the peace with God. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. So after hearing the voice of the Father, then came the voice of the devil. How many preached the gospel and then in the next breath attacked people as though Satan was their Lord? Happens even to churchgoers. What's going to happen if you sit here through this sermon and the Holy Spirit says, I'm talking to you on this one? If it's a correction, let's just say, what's going to happen when you get up out of the pew and you head to the parking lot? You get in your car.

Is there going to be any difference? Are you going to think about it? Are you going to pray about it? Are you going to come up to the passage and say, I am not loving. I am unloving. I am bitter, I am self-righteous, I am self-willed, I am defiant in Jesus' name and I want it to stop. He said, well, I did this five years ago.

Well, do it again and don't stop doing it. How quick, even in the church, the one who loves Jesus can be used by Satan. That's the lesson here. Verse 34, when he had called the people to himself with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Now, he's moved past the Peter thing. However, it seems to have given him an outline for his next sermon, which is not uncommon.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so he is, Peter, of course, was not denying himself. He was asserting himself in the presence of God.

Not being too hard on Peter because how can you not love this man? Evidently, the multitude followed the 12 and Christ, and he has now called them to him, and he is speaking to them about leaving the natural life and things in a second position in this life. He says, whoever desires to come after me. Well, following Christ demands desire. He's not going to drag you with him.

He's not going to force you. Revelation 22 verse 17, and the spirit and the bride. That would be the message of the church.

Say, come, and let him who hears say, come, and let him who thirsts, come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. He will not force anyone to love him. There are no benefits to the one that rejects Jesus.

The benefits of the cross and resurrection of Christ, they do not benefit those who will not come. He says, let him deny himself. That is refused self-will, and that means, or let me put it this way, it is to refuse self-rule.

Had Peter not submitted, we would have had an example of self-rule. We have to wait to see it in Judas Iscariot. Go out and betray the Lord because Satan filled his heart. There is really no true self-will. You're either going to be under the authority of Christ or you're going to be under the authority of Satan.

You've got to serve somebody. So if you find what God wants from your life, you are submitting the Jesus-centered life. Looks to the Lord to know how to behave, to know how to think and believe, not allowing the comfort of self-rule, false comfort. He says, and take up your cross, and take up his cross and follow me. The disciples will take up their cross.

Paul put it this way. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me in a life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who gave himself for me. He denied himself, and he endured the hardships that Ananias had told him he was going to suffer because Paul knew it was worth it.

And so you filter everything through. When you deny yourself, you filter everything through Christ. What does the Lord think? I have discovered in my Christian life that on this cross that I struggle to get off of, every chance I can get off of it, I have discovered, just like the cross of Christ, I have my Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabachthani moments. I have my moments when I say, God, why are you forsaking me?

Where are you? Why aren't you doing more? They're not as intense, or certainly not on the level of Christ. There's much more to his statement of his word in that regard, but still there is the connection that to be stuck in the flesh is to have to have the Spirit force it down. Christianity is a force. It's not just an arrival at salvation. It is a full-blown struggle. Otherwise, there'd be no required to submit and surrender.

These things take effort. Verse 35, For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it. Paul said to Timothy, You know, you were trained in the gospel since a little child by your mom and your grandmother. You know the gospel. And you know that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. In the next words out of Paul's mouth of Timothy, Therefore, because you claim this sound mind, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings of the gospel according to the power of God. He says, Timothy, you've got the knowledge. You have the calling.

You have the faith. Now let's use it, and it's going to bring shame, but don't worry about that. It's the world's shame. That's not shame before God, because he will not be ashamed of you for this.

Well, we've got to move forward. There's so much more to say about this verse, but it speaks for itself. You read it once. You never forget it. You may lose sight of it, but you can quickly come back into the place where it wants you to be, the truths of it. Verse 36, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

Okay, question. What's worth going to hell for? That's a very simple question, and he says, Well, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? He's quoting Psalm 49, verses 7 through 9 here, but yeah, what fun will you have to go to hell for?

It is a question that should be put on the portal of every university in the world. Verse 38, Whoever is ashamed of me and my words and this adulterous and sinful generation of him, the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. You see, this belongs to Christ. Now he's coming as victor.

Now he is coming to establish rule, but not just yet, and it still has not happened yet, but it will happen. So he's warning them not to be ashamed of the faith. I'm going to open this up just a little bit. Paul said it this way. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God, the salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. I have no shame when it comes to preaching the gospel.

I am shameless. The world wants to be shameless with sin. They want to take the shame out of sin. They want to make it acceptable, give it a different name, but not the gospel. The gospel becomes profane to the world, or it is profane to the world.

This adulterous that's unfaithful to God, not fully involved with God, but with themselves. So what our faith forbids, the world demands we do, and if we don't do it, we are to suffer shame. Being angry towards us, they move forward. They are angry at us because we will not celebrate sin with them. We are fighting sin. We're not saying we're sinless. We say we hate our sin. You love your sin, and this is a distinction, and the two cannot be reconciled. They are angry with us because we like God more than them, and they hate it. The world philosophy is you are not allowed to go outside the box and love up.

You can only love over. We love God. We hate sin. We serve people, and we use things.

That's how we do business. We love God. We hate sin. We serve people, and we use things. The cross of Christ interferes, and it interrupts the world and their Tower of Babel and their plans.

We're not supposed to hate them for it. We're supposed to reach them. Jesus is not ashamed of the sinner. He's not ashamed to stand up and say, I side with Christ over anything else. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, just like here on Cross Reference Radio.