All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to the book of Mark, Mark chapter 8. I'd like to pick up just the
next few verses. And Lord willing, next time or
next week, take the last few verses out of this particular
chapter, but for right now, Let's look back to Mark chapter 8.
I'd like to just pick up where we left off in verse 27. We just
considered the Lord's healing of a blind man in a way that
would seem strange. To men he spit on his eyes, put
his hands on him, asked him what he saw, heard the man's admittance.
of not being able to see clearly, put his hands back on him again,
made him look up, and the man saw clearly. And he told the
man not to tell anybody in the town, just go back to your house,
don't say anything. Let me ask you this, do we question
the Lord's works or His words? Do we question the way He's pleased? Someone would say, well, couldn't
He have Yeah, he could have. He could have done whatever he
wanted to do, but he chose to do exactly what he did. Well, scripture says in verse
27 of Mark 8, and Jesus went out. I thought, here again, does
the Lord have the right to come into a place, save one, and then
leave? How about when he came through
Jericho? Came into Jericho, Scripture says, and as he came out, there was a man named Zacchaeus.
Stopped, looked up, there he was in the sycamore tree. He
said, Zacchaeus, come down. for I must come to your house
today. What a blessing. What a blessing. Lord, come to my house. Lord,
come to me. Help me. Well, the Lord went
out, verse 27, and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And by the way, he asked his
disciples, saying unto them, whom do men say that I am? And they answered John the Baptist,
some say Elias or Elijah, and others, one of the prophets. Now, the question that our Lord
asked concerning what others thought about him, again, like
that question that he asked a man a while ago when he said, do
you see anything? He wasn't asking for information. It wasn't that
the Lord didn't know. but rather that the apostles
might realize the gross ignorance of man by nature. Who do men
say that I am? He's saying this for their sake. You know, think of the blessing
of having sat under the gospel and heard the scriptures preached
and what the Lord has taught us concerning man by nature. How would we know? There are
so many denominations. Have you ever thought about how
many different denominations there are? Everybody can't be
right. Not everybody's right. Somebody's
wrong. Somebody ain't right here. Everybody's
saying, well, this way you come to Christ, this way you come
to Christ, this, this, this, this. Well, somebody ain't right. Who do men say that I am? And
the disciples, they answered him. Well, some say John the
Baptist, some say Elijah, some other prophet. You know, most
people have a respectable, humanly speaking, a respectable opinion
concerning the Lord. But every man's opinion, apart
from these scriptures, falls indescribably short of His glory. Who do you think He is? Well,
I think He's one of the prophets. Look what the Lord asked Him,
verse 29. And he said unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? Now here's a question for all
of us. Who do we say that the Lord Jesus
is? Who do we say he is? And Peter
answereth and saith unto him, thou art the Christ. By divine revelation, The Lord had taught some of these
men, Peter answering, that he was the Christ. All right. Now, who is that? Who is he?
When he said, you're the Christ, you are the promise. You're the promised, anointed
Messiah. That's who you are. You're God in human flesh. You are the Redeemer. You're the Lamb of God. That's
who you are. You are the glorious union of
divinity and human flesh. You are the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. You're the very image of the
invisible God. That's who you are. You alone as God can atone, can
cover, can pay the debt of sin because you knew no sin. and
bore the sin of God's people in your own body. You're God
to atone and you're man who can die. You are the everlasting
one who has been set up as the covenant head of the church. You're the one in whom all of
the sheep, the elect of God, were chosen You bear in your
body the totality of those to whom
God has shown mercy. You have them all in you. They're
all in you. You're the one. who shall lay
down his life. You're the one who in the fullness
of time will be seen, but you're the one who is the lamb that
was slain from before the foundation of the world. You're worthy to sit on the throne of God.
That's who you are. That's who you are. Who do you
say? You're the Christ, the anointed God. And verse 30 says, and he
charged them, verse 30, charged them that they should tell no
man of Him. Now, very soon, when He's ready
to ascend back to His Father, the Lord is going to commission
His apostles to go into all the world and preached the gospel
to every creature, Gentile, Jew, preached to all of them. But
the time at this moment was not yet. It wasn't the time. He told them, he said, I'm telling
you right now, don't tell anybody what I've revealed to you, what
my spirit, by my spirit, don't tell them, don't tell them. And then in verse 31, the Lord
gives explanation of why He said that. And He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of
the elders and of the chief priests and scribes, be killed, and after
three days rise again. Don't tell anybody because My father has not proven me before
men to be who I am. I'll show you that. Hold your
place, turn over to Acts 2. Who do men say I am? You're the
Christ. Don't tell anybody that. Don't tell them. There will be
a time when you will tell them. Look at Acts 2, 22-24. You men
of Israel, here's Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. Hear
these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know him, being delivered by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God has raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
He should be holding of it. Who do men say that I am? You're
the Christ, don't tell anybody. Not yet, not yet. Why? Because
He's got to be proven, got to be manifest by wonders and signs,
proving. This is what happens. These things
that have been ordained of God for the foundation of the world,
This work that I must do, the work that the Father has given
me to do and finish. Those things that were written
in the scriptures that I must fulfill to prove. God was going
to prove Him before man according to Peter's explanation under
the inspiration of God's Spirit by miracles, signs, wonders. Him. Him. They're the one. They took him. Crucified him.
Don't tell anybody. The scripture says in verse 32
and 33, he spake that saying openly. Now listen to this. Peter took him. Took him. I looked it up. Took him. Kind
of took him off his side. Took him. Began to rebuke him. When he had turned about and
looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, get thee behind
me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God,
but the things that be of men. Now, who had just said, you're the
Christ? Who said that? Peter. Peter just
told him that. Who do men say that I am? Well,
John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, some of the prophet,
who do you say? Your God in human flesh. Don't tell anybody. Explain to
them. He said, I'm going to have to
suffer, be rejected of the elders, chief priest. They're going to
kill me. They're going to kill me. Three
days later, I'm going to rise again. took him off and said,
Lord, uh-uh, uh-uh. Now I don't doubt for one second
that Peter acted out of great zeal. But let me ask you something.
Again, do we not see that old flesh, that old infirmity and
weakness in our unbelief? Peter loved the Lord. Peter was
a believer. God had taught him, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he was an apostle. He learned the gospel from the
mouth of the Lord. And God Almighty had saved him
by grace. And here, in his mind, he's going
to stand fast for the Lord's defense and protection. I don't doubt that, but his passion
was misguided. His reasoning, carnal, thought he knew better. The Lord
said, listen to this. He spake these things openly.
Peter took him and began to rebuke him, but when he turned about
he looked on his disciples and rebuked Peter. He said, get thee
behind me, Satan. The Lord knew where that fiery
dark came from. The Lord knew that. Get thee
behind Me, Satan! Thou savorest not the things
that be of God, but the things that be of men. Here, Peter, zealously, please
don't let me say it any other way. Peter loved Him. He loved the Lord. But he just
told Him, he said, You're the Christ. You can't die. You're the Christ. Oh, how much
we need to be taught over and over and over again. And the Lord rebuked him. He told Peter, he said, you're not
savoring the things of God. I must die. I must be rejected. I must bear the sins of my people. I must bear them all in my body.
I must be made sin and make myself answerable before my own law
on your behalf that you might live, that all my people might. I have to die. God is just and the justifier of them that
believe. You don't savor the things of God, Peter. What you
doing? You're savoring things that be
a man. No. Oh, Peter. He rested. He rested in the Lord. He was
one taught of God. Loved God. But still, brethren,
remember. were fallible creatures of the
dust. And we still struggle with the
old man. And you know how long we're going
to do this? Until the day we die. We're going to struggle
as long as we're in this world. We war against the flesh. Our
ignorance still remains. We say things that are less than honorable unto the
Lord. And we do it in ignorance. Oh, may God help us, keep us,
bowing to the goodwill and pleasure of God, ask the Lord to guide
us and direct us, that we might be honorable unto Him, and help
the God's people. And please, remember this, when
we see one of our brethren, and they slip, they flounder, fall,
stumble, in the very presence of the Lord
himself, saying some things. Let's be mindful. We're all creatures
of the dust. Be patient, be patient, be merciful. As God, for Christ's sake, has
forgiven us, forgive each other. Amen. All right, Gary.