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[0:00] Our verses tonight will be Mark chapter 8 verses 31 through 33.

[0:14] ! If you've looked at the handout and have noticed the lesson title without reading the verses,! you might think that Satan's spokesman would be Judas. However, in these verses, Satan's spokesman is Peter. Verses 31 through 33 continue a conversation between Jesus and his disciples.

[0:34] To remind ourselves of the context, let's back up to Mark chapter 8 verse 27 and we'll read Mark 8 27 through Mark 8 33. Starting in verse 27, it says, and Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, who do people say that I am?

[0:55] And they told him John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets. And he asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, you are the Christ. And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

[1:31] But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. In Mark chapter 8 verses 31 through 33, Jesus began teaching how he will fulfill Old Testament prophecy by giving his life as a ransom for many. And that's the main idea of the text. Jesus began teaching how he will fulfill Old Testament prophecy by giving his life as a ransom for many. Jesus repeatedly taught his disciples that he must suffer and die. But this is the first of three such teachings that is recorded in Mark. We'll see the second instance in Mark chapter 9 verse 31, and we'll see the third instance in Mark chapter 10 verses 32 through 34. Here's a preview of those two cases, starting with Mark chapter 9 verses 31 and 32.

[2:33] Mark 9 31 and 32 say, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of man, the Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days, he will rise. But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him. Now listen to Mark chapter 10 verses 32 through 34. Mark 10 32 through 34 say, and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him, and spit on him, and flog him, and kill him. And after three days, he will rise. With those teachings in relatively close proximity to each other, you probably have noticed that Mark's focus has changed. From the very first verse of the gospel all the way through

[3:46] Mark chapter 8 verse 30, Mark focused on making the case about Jesus' identity. Mark has emphasized that Jesus is the promised Messiah and the Son of God. The next several chapters will focus on the Messiah's mission, what Jesus came to earth to do. Jesus came to die as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all people who put their faith in him, as the only salvation from God's wrath. Jesus' statement in Mark 10 verse 45 forms the basis for tonight's main idea. Speaking about himself, Jesus said in Mark 10 verse 45, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus knew exactly what awaited him. He told his disciples in the plainest language what the order of events would be. He had come into the world to die, and while his death would be the demonstration of man's bitter hatred toward God, it was also to be the supreme expression of God's love toward man. Jesus' death was to be followed by the physical resurrection of the body of Jesus, and that would be the proof that redemption was accomplished so that the believer might be justified from all things. Romans chapter 5 verses 6 through 9 tell us, for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

[5:26] Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. With Peter's great confession in Mark chapter 8 verse 29 where he said, you are the Christ, the disciples finally grasped that Jesus was the long-awaited and promised Messiah.

[5:49] However, their understanding was still deficient in at least one key way. They understood that Jesus was the Messiah, but they had a very inaccurate understanding of what the word Messiah meant and what Jesus' messianic mission would entail. Jesus chose this moment to introduce a new subject into the disciples' training. We'll cover tonight's passage in two sections, starting with Mark 8 31 through the first sentence of Mark 8 verse 32. In this section, we'll learn about the predicted suffering. So the predicted suffering is your first set of blanks. Listen again to Mark 8 31 through the first sentence of Mark 8 32. And Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. Before we look at the prediction, let's spend some time looking at the title that Jesus used. Jesus again calls himself the Son of Man. That's a messianic reference that goes back to Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. Here are Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14.

[7:13] Daniel wrote, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. And he came to the man. And he came to the man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. In Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, the ancient of days is a reference to God.

[7:47] God gives one like the Son of Man an everlasting kingdom where that Son of Man will be served by all peoples, nations, and languages. The one like a Son of Man obviously is the Messiah. And Jesus applies that title to himself. So the reference to Jesus as the Son of Man was Jesus's favorite reference to himself. The title the Son of Man is a name that's used more than 80 times in all the Gospels combined.

[8:17] And it designated both Jesus's divine Messiahship and his humanity. But so far this expression has appeared only twice before in Mark. Both times Mark used it to show the significance of an event for his Christian readers. The first time Mark used the term in his Gospel was when Jesus used the expression in Mark 2 verse 10. And that was just before Jesus healed the paralytic. In Mark chapter 2 verse 10, Jesus is speaking to the crowd but primarily to the religious elite. Those religious elite had been thinking that Jesus was blaspheming God. Jesus told the paralytic that the paralytic sins had been forgiven.

[9:00] And those religious leaders knew that only God could forgive sin. Jesus said in Mark chapter 2 verses 10 and 11, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

[9:20] The other time that Mark had used the title the Son of Man so far was in Mark chapter 2 verse 28. The events that occurred just before Mark chapter 2 verse 28 happened on a Sabbath day.

[9:35] The Pharisees were angry because Jesus's disciples had plucked some grain to eat. The disciples' actions were allowed under God's law, but remember that the Pharisees had developed their own man-made regulations that prohibited plucking grain on the Sabbath.

[9:51] Listen to what Jesus told those Pharisees in Mark chapter 2 verses 27 and 28. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

[10:03] So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. When Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man in Mark chapter 8 verse 31, the disciples would have known that Jesus was referring to himself.

[10:19] The prediction that Jesus gives in our passage tonight ties together two important Old Testament passages. Those are Daniel 7 verses 13 and 14 that we just read, and Isaiah chapter 53.

[10:33] We'll read Isaiah 53 shortly, but first though, let's look at Jesus' predicted suffering. In Mark chapter 8 verse 31, Jesus said 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.

[10:54] The word must is a key word in that section. Listen to what J.C. Ryle had to say. He said, Daniel Akin said, All of this must happen.

[11:53] It is necessary. It is what the scriptures promised. This is why Jesus came. This is what sin's payment demands and what we cannot provide. This is where the law of God and the love of God will meet.

[12:08] This is where judgment and grace kiss. Rob the word must of its meaning, and you empty the gospel and the cross of its glory. Then he says, R.C. Sproul reminds us that from the foundation of the world, the Father had determined that the Son would suffer, be rejected, and ultimately be killed to redeem his people from God's righteous wrath against their sin.

[12:37] The punishment for sin before Almighty God was death, and if Jesus was to save his people, it would be necessary for Jesus to make full payment for their sin. Jesus tells us in Mark 8.31 who will cause his suffering and death.

[12:54] Jesus said that his suffering and death will happen because the elders, chief priests, and scribes will reject him. The elders and chief priests who were former high priests and scribes made up the Jewish ruling council that we know as the Sanhedrin.

[13:09] These men would condemn Jesus to death and fulfill Jesus' prediction. We'll see that when we get to Mark chapter 14 and look at verses 53 through 64.

[13:21] We already have seen several clashes between Jesus and that religious elite. After Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, remember what Mark told us in Mark chapter 3, verse 6.

[13:33] Here is that verse again. Mark chapter 3, verse 6 says, The Pharisees went out and immediately held council with the Herodians against him. How to destroy him?

[13:46] Jesus' disciples were aware of the hostility that the religious leaders had for Jesus. However, the disciples probably were holding out hope that reconciliation might be possible.

[13:58] Here in Mark chapter 8, verse 31, Jesus says plainly that he will suffer and die because of those religious leaders. Jesus also says something in verse 31 that the disciples seemed to miss.

[14:12] Jesus says that after three days, he will rise again. Jeffrey Grogan noted, It seemed strange that as later events reveal, the disciples did not really take in the part about Jesus' resurrection.

[14:27] But then he adds, This is, however, psychologically authentic. A person who is told that somebody he or she loves is to be killed is in no fit state to take in anything else that is said, no matter how startling or how wonderful it may be.

[14:44] No doubt the glorious fact of Jesus' forthcoming resurrection was lost on them because the disclosure of it followed such terrible revelations. It could even be that they hardly heard the words at all because of a total preoccupation with the awful disclosure that Jesus had just made to them.

[15:02] We have touched on the beginning of Mark, chapter 8, verse 32 already. Jesus told them these things plainly. Unlike how he had been speaking to the crowds in parables, Jesus was very clear with the disciples.

[15:20] Jesus had previously spoken about his death, but he had done so in veiled ways. In Matthew, chapter 12, verse 40, he told the Pharisees, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

[15:40] Jesus similarly declared to the temple authorities, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. That is John, chapter 2, verse 19.

[15:51] Now Jesus was stating the matter plainly to his disciples, with a level of clarity that was unmistakable. Jesus' prediction stunned the disciples.

[16:03] If he indeed is the Christ of God, as they had confessed, then why would Jesus be rejected by the religious leaders? Why would these leaders crucify him? That made the disciples confused.

[16:18] We might think that the disciples should have understood what Jesus meant, but they first had to overcome their upbringing. As Jewish men, we would have expected that the disciples would have known about the Old Testament prophecies that said the Messiah would suffer and die.

[16:35] And let's look at just a few of those. Psalm 22, a psalm of David, reads like an eyewitness account of the crucifixion. David wrote it before crucifixion was even invented.

[16:49] The psalm says in verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?

[17:00] In verses 6 and 7, Psalm 22 says, But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads.

[17:16] Now here are Psalm 22, verses 16 through 18. For dogs encompass me, a company of evildoers encircles me.

[17:27] They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them.

[17:37] And for my clothing, they cast lots. How about Psalm 69, verse 21? Here is Psalm 69, verse 21.

[17:49] It says, They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst, they gave me sour wine to drink. Now listen to Isaiah, chapter 50, verse 6.

[18:03] The Messiah is speaking here, and he says, I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheek to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

[18:17] Now here are Zechariah, chapter 12, verses 10 and 11. God says, And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one who mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him as one who weeps over a firstborn.

[18:44] On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-Rimen in the plain of Megiddo. The clearest Old Testament prediction for the Messiah's suffering, death, and resurrection comes in Isaiah, chapter 53.

[19:01] You may want to go ahead and turn there. We're going to read all 12 verses of Isaiah 53. Isaiah is speaking at the beginning of the chapter, so let's go ahead and read Isaiah 53, verses 1 through 12.

[19:19] It says, Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he, talking about the Messiah, grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

[19:34] He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

[19:47] And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

[20:04] But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

[20:16] All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[20:28] He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

[20:42] By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

[20:55] And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

[21:09] He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

[21:22] Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

[21:35] Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he has poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

[21:47] Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. We'd like the time to do a detailed review of Isaiah 53.

[22:00] If you want an in-depth look at Isaiah 53, the church website has a six-lesson study called The Suffering Servant, and you can find that there. For our study tonight, let's just call out a few things.

[22:13] Verse 12 says that the Messiah poured out his soul to death. Yet verse 10 talks about the Messiah seeing his offspring. Verse 12 talks about the Messiah receiving a portion with the many and dividing his spoil with the strong.

[22:29] And verse 12 also talks about the Messiah making intercession for the transgressors. The only way someone who has died can do those things is if that person has been resurrected from the dead.

[22:43] Isaiah 53 unequivocally shows that the Messiah will suffer and die, but it also shows that the Messiah will rise again. While teaching the disciples about his upcoming suffering and death, perhaps Jesus also explained the spiritual significance of the Passover and the Day of Atonement.

[23:03] Jesus also may have shown the disciples his suffering foreshadowed in all the sacrifices of the Levitical law. You might be asking, based upon such unambiguous Old Testament prophecies, how could the disciples have been surprised when Jesus told them that he, as the Messiah, would suffer, die, and then be resurrected?

[23:26] The most likely answer to that question is that the disciples were either never taught about those passages or that, if taught, those passages were applied incorrectly.

[23:39] John MacArthur said the disciples had no paradigm in which the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, who would bring salvation and blessing to Israel and the world, would be rejected and killed by the very people he came to save.

[23:54] Like most of their fellow Jews, they had inherited misinterpretations of familiar Old Testament passages that predicted that the Messiah must suffer. R.C. Sproul wrote, the rabbis of Israel understood that the concept of the Messiah was central to the Old Testament message.

[24:13] They were diligent to examine in close detail every dimension and aspect of the Messiah who was to come. There are many such dimensions. He would be a king. He would be a shepherd.

[24:26] He would be a redeemer. However, there was one element that the rabbis seemed to overlook, that the Messiah would suffer. Writing in the years after Jesus' earthly ministry when the cross and the resurrection had already been accomplished, the New Testament authors pointed their contemporaries to all the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah.

[24:50] They directed attention to Isaiah, particularly Isaiah 52 and 53. They also focused on Psalm 22. But in the centuries before Jesus came, the rabbis completely missed what these texts were saying.

[25:05] The rabbis did not conceive of applying Isaiah 52 and 53, Psalm 22, or other prophecies to the Messiah. They thought that these texts applied to the nation of Israel as it passed through affliction and suffering.

[25:19] And in fact, many rabbis refused to even read Isaiah 53. If you go on the internet, you can see some evangelistic groups in Israel reading Isaiah 53 to the Jews and then asking some of those Jews where that came from.

[25:36] And most of them think it came from the New Testament. When Jesus began to use these Old Testament prophecies to teach his disciples what it meant for him to be the Messiah, they were shocked.

[25:48] They'd never heard such ideas before. Furthermore, they understood that if the Messiah had to suffer, be rejected, and die, that probably meant suffering, rejection, and death for the Messiah's disciples.

[26:02] They received these words of Jesus not only as a death sentence on Jesus, but also as a death sentence on themselves, and that was the last thing that they wanted to hear. Now that we've seen the predicted suffering both from several Old Testament passages and from Jesus himself, let's move to the second half of our passage tonight.

[26:25] In the last half of Mark 8, 32 through verse 33, we see the pointed scoldings. So the pointed scoldings is your last set of blanks.

[26:37] Peter first scolds Jesus, then Jesus scolds Peter. Listen to the last sentence of verse 32. And Peter took him, that's Jesus, aside, and began to rebuke him.

[26:55] The word translated rebuke here is a harsh word. It's the same Greek word that described how Jesus rebuked the demons in Mark chapter 1, verse 25, and also Mark chapter 3, verse 12.

[27:09] Mark omits what Peter said, but Matthew tells us what Peter said. Here is Matthew chapter 16, verse 22. Matthew chapter 16, verse 22 says, And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.

[27:33] Think about the significance here. The words never and Lord actually are a contradiction in terms. to say Lord is to rule out the freedom to say that what he says will never happen.

[27:46] And to say something will never happen is to overrule Jesus' position as Lord. This is where we see that Peter seems to approach every situation with an open mouth.

[28:00] And just when we think that Peter is starting to understand things, he puts his foot into that open mouth. Peter's intentions may appear noble on the surface.

[28:14] He naturally reacted to the thought that the Lord and Messiah whom he loved would be rejected and murdered. He and the other apostles had sacrificed a great deal to follow Jesus.

[28:25] In addition to their hopes for kingdom glory in the future, they had come to depend on Jesus completely in the present. It seemed impossible to them that Jesus could be taken from them.

[28:37] But by rebuking Jesus, Peter, beyond forgetting his place, put his own selfish desires above the plans and purposes of God. The short-sighted apostle needed to be reminded that God's plans transcend human reasoning.

[28:53] As God himself explains, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[29:11] That's Isaiah chapter 55, verses 8 and 9. The disciples did not yet understand God's plan, but Jesus was operating in accordance with the Father's will.

[29:25] It's one thing to disagree with your teacher. I'm sure you teachers in here might have had a case where a student raises his hand and says, I'm not sure I buy that. But it's another thing entirely for the student to rebuke the teacher for that teaching.

[29:41] But that's precisely what Peter did here. Keep in mind, too, that this was not just any teacher, but it was the incarnate word of God, God himself, the one who embodies all truth and who speaks nothing except by divine authority.

[29:58] Think about the gall that Peter had to confront Jesus and to chastise him for the things that he was teaching right after Peter had said that Jesus was the Messiah.

[30:10] J.C. Ryle said, We have here a humbling proof that the best of saints is a poor, fallible creature. Here was ignorance in Simon Peter.

[30:22] He did not understand the necessity of our Lord's death and would have actually prevented his sacrifice on the cross. Here was self-conceit in Simon Peter.

[30:33] He thought he knew what was right and fitting for his master better than his master himself, and he actually undertook to show the Messiah a more excellent way. And last but not least, Simon Peter did it all with the best intentions.

[30:48] He meant well, his motives were pure, but zeal and earnestness are no excuse for error. We may mean well and yet fall into tremendous mistakes.

[31:03] When we understand those things, we can understand why Jesus responded with such a harsh rebuke of Peter. Going back to our Mark text, Mark 8.33 records Jesus' reaction.

[31:17] It says, But turning and seeing his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

[31:35] When Mark described Jesus' rebuke of Peter, Mark used the same word for rebuke that he used when he described Peter's rebuke of Jesus. So Jesus answered Peter's harsh rebuke with a harsh rebuke of his own.

[31:49] Peter's thoughts born of fear and concern did not consider God's eternal purposes and plan. If Peter had his way, Jesus' mission would not have been accomplished.

[32:04] Peter presented the same temptation that the devil brought to Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Listen to how Luke recorded the second temptation of Jesus.

[32:16] Jesus, these verses are Luke chapter 4 verses 5 through 7. Luke chapter 4 verses 5 through 7 say, And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.

[32:39] If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. Satan asked Jesus to bow down before him simply to genuflect for a moment.

[32:51] Nobody will see it, he suggested. If you do it, I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world. You won't have to walk the difficult path. There will be no cross.

[33:01] There will be no cup of wrath. There will be no suffering. There will be no rejection. And there will be no death. The heart of this temptation was the acquisition of a throne without the experience of pain and suffering.

[33:18] We sometimes can fall into the trap of thinking that the temptations recorded early in Jesus' ministry were the only times that Satan tempted Jesus. However, Satan continued to tempt Jesus at every opportunity.

[33:33] Listen to Luke chapter 4, verse 13. Luke chapter 4, verse 13 says, And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

[33:48] Our text tonight presented Satan with another opportune time to tempt Jesus, and Satan used Peter's good intentions to do it. Peter failed to look at the Messiah from God's point of view.

[34:02] Peter was still thinking of the Messiah as a political leader who would deliver the Jews from their Roman subjugation. Peter believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but it was still inconceivable for him that the Messiah should suffer, even though the Old Testament said that he would.

[34:21] Jesus showed Peter that there are basically two ways of looking at things, God's way and man's way. This is the great divide between godliness and godlessness.

[34:32] The godly person is deeply concerned about the things of God, but the godless person has no concern for the things of God. Instead, the godless person is preoccupied with this world.

[34:45] We all need to evaluate ourselves on these criteria from time to time, and we need to ask ourselves questions like these. Where is my heart? What is my chief concern?

[34:57] Am I preoccupied with the things of this world, or does my heart beat for the things of God? Am I seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and letting everything else come as it will?

[35:10] Or is there some other priority that drives me, some ambition that compels me, some goal to which all my energy in this world is devoted? Peter's thinking here is human, and because this is a fallen world, it could be used by Satan for his purposes.

[35:29] Jesus knows that he will not fit earthly expectations. The disciples will have to let go of worldly thinking to embrace the things of God, and that means they'll have to embrace Jesus' death and resurrection.

[35:45] Peter opposed the cross, but a crossless theology is a great peril for the soul of man. If you leave out the cross, you have no salvation for sinners. A crossless creed leads to eternity in hell.

[36:00] Most churches, however, preach a crossless creed. That is, they do not believe the cross is essential. They portray Christ as a martyr on the cross, but do not speak of his death on the cross as necessary for salvation, and that makes it a crossless creed.

[36:17] Some churches today make the same mistakes as the religious leaders in Jesus' day. Those churches like to teach the parts of the Bible that talk about God being a God of love.

[36:28] God is a God of love. But God is more than that. God also is a God of wrath because every person has sinned against God. Romans 3.23 tells us that when it says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[36:46] And Romans 6.23 reminds us that the wages of sin is death. Some churches today avoid talking about God's wrath. Those churches also avoid talking about the eternal punishment that every person will face unless that person repents and trusts Christ as the only salvation from sin.

[37:06] When churches avoid talking about sin or other unpleasant topics, or when churches attempt to redefine what the Bible plainly calls sin, those churches, like Peter in our text tonight, become agents of Satan.

[37:20] And worse yet, those churches give their congregations a false sense of salvation. Here's another quote from J.C. Ryle. He said, Here is the central truth of the Bible.

[37:34] The Messiah must suffer and die. Let us never forget that. All other truths compared to this are of secondary importance. Whatever views we hold of religious truth, let us see that we have a firm grasp upon the atoning efficacy of Christ's death.

[37:52] Let the truth so often proclaimed by our Lord to his disciples and so diligently taught by the disciples to the world be the foundation truth in our Christianity. In life and in death, in health and in sickness, let us lean all our weight on this mighty fact that though we have sinned, Christ has died for sinners, and that though we deserve nothing, Christ has suffered on the cross for us, and by that suffering purchased heaven for all who believe in him.

[38:26] Our Lord could make atonement for sin only by his sacrificial death. There was no other way. A king who dies is not what the disciples expected or even what the disciples wanted, but it is what they desperately needed.

[38:44] We've seen in our text tonight that Peter's spiritual sight was only partial, very much like the partial physical sight that the blind man had at one stage in his experience with Jesus.

[38:55] We saw that when we looked at Mark chapter 8, verse 24. Peter rejected the unfolding idea of a suffering destiny for Jesus and became an unwitting agent of Satan.

[39:08] That's why he is Satan's spokesman in this passage. But Peter learned. After the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, listen to part of the sermon that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost.

[39:22] These verses are Acts chapter 2, verses 22 through 36. And here are Acts chapter 2, verses 22 through 36. Peter said, Men of Israel, hear these words.

[39:37] Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

[39:57] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be helped by it. For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is in my right hand that I may not be shaken.

[40:13] Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One seek corruption.

[40:25] You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

[40:42] Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption.

[40:58] This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

[41:16] For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

[41:27] Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. In those verses, Peter expounded on the truth of Mark chapter 8, verse 31, and that is where Mark told us how Jesus summarized his mission.

[41:48] And that's where Jesus said, 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.

[42:01] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this reminder of why you sent the Messiah. Let us never take for granted that Jesus came to earth primarily to suffer and die for the sins of all who believe in him.

[42:20] Instead, let that truth fill us with more wonder and awe of Jesus and what he has done and wonder and awe of you for allowing your son to undergo this.

[42:32]  Please be with us as we go out into the world. Help us make this truth known. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.