Mark chapter eight and verse
31. And he, that is the Lord Jesus,
began to teach them, his disciples, that the Son of Man must suffer
many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests
and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly,
and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. But when he had
turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter,
saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but the things that be of men. Amen, may the
Lord bless to us this reading from his word. There are several very important, and I think interesting,
statements in this short passage that we have before us today. And if the Lord will, I want
to draw to your attention, very briefly, five things which I
hope you will agree are worth noting as we begin to open up
this stage of the Lord's ministry and the Lord's dealings with
his disciples. The first thing that I want to
draw your attention to today is that the Lord Jesus Christ
was openly teaching his disciples. And Mark explicitly says this,
that he began to teach them openly. He spoke these sayings openly
in verse 31 and in verse 32. And let me just say that as we
begin to think about this, that is not to say that the Lord didn't
teach his disciples openly before this time. I mentioned last week
that I felt there was a change in the way in which the Lord
was now dealing with his disciples. Hitherto, we find that their
education had been very personal and dramatic and indeed powerful. They had learned by their own
experiences, they had learned by watching the Lord, they had
learned by participating in the events that were going on around
about the Lord. There had been countless healings
of the deaf and the blind and the possessed. The dead were
raised, men and women, boys and girls were blessed by the healing
hand of the Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples were privy
to all of that. They saw, they watched, they
observed and they participated in all that was going on. The
Lord Jesus Christ fed multitudes with a few loaves and fish. He held thousands enthralled
with the simplest of stories. And yet, lessons that veiled
the most glorious truths. And the disciples were party
to it all. He confounded and he refuted
the religionists, the legalists, the self-righteous bigots of
the day. And yet he touched the common
people with a gentleness and a tender care that they could
not but be attracted to and follow after. And the Lord's disciples
saw it all. And yet, for all the wonderful
qualities and evidences of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ
that the disciples had seen throughout this formative time of the Lord's
ministry, it still took a divine revelation from God to reveal
the true identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This revelation
also came from the Lord. The Lord gave, the Lord confirmed
the spiritual nature of that revelation. When, as we saw last
week, the Lord said to Peter upon his confession that Jesus
was the Messiah, Jesus was the Christ, the Lord said to him,
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee. but my Father which
is in heaven. And so we can see that the disciples
were both parted to an education by the Lord, but also a divine
revelation. And these two things combined
together to properly teach them the identity of Jesus of Nazareth,
the Son of God. Everything about the Lord Jesus
Christ as it were screamed that he was God, that he was the Christ. And yet it took that divine revelation
to give the faith which mattered and bring about that belief in
the true identity of the Saviour. And isn't that the experience
of all the Lord's people? We can know as much as there
is to know about the facts and the circumstances and the history
and the dealings of the Lord Jesus Christ with the men and
women of His age. And we can know those stories.
We can know those truths. We can have those facts. The
evidence, if you like, is all there. But it takes the revelation
of God. It takes that spiritual spark,
that work of grace, that calling forth, that quickening power. And many of us will testify that
we heard many, many sermons. We saw much of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The evidence was all there, set
before our eyes, but we couldn't see it. And then the Lord Jesus
Christ, by His Spirit, opened our eyes to see Him. And we wonder how it was that
we missed it before, and we wonder how we could possibly have been
so opposed to the things that now thrill our hearts. Education and revelation brought
to the disciples an understanding of who Jesus of Nazareth really
was. And it appears that having drawn
forth that testimony as to who Jesus really was, the united
testimony of the disciples, thou art the Christ, now the Lord
begins to teach why he has come. and what it is that is about
to happen to him. As if to say, all right, now
you know who I am, we're going to start talking about why I'm
here. And this we're told he did openly,
not with obscure hints or veiled suggestions. But again, as if
to say, let me tell you, in clear and unambiguous terms what is
about to happen. He taught them openly. And what was it that he taught
them? Here's the second point. He taught
them openly that the Son of Man must suffer. But the Son of Man
must be killed, and that the Son of Man must after three days
rise again. And I want you to notice the
necessity in the Lord's words. These things must be so. They must be so. That's what
he taught them openly. I must suffer. I must be killed
and I must rise again. There was an obligation, there
was a necessity in these statements from the Lord, involved in what
was to happen. And it's not simply that this
was the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. It
was certainly the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world in order
to suffer and in order to die. But that's not simply the reason
for the necessity. The Lord said, for this cause
came I unto this hour. That necessity was not imposed
by anything in time, but it was a necessity imposed according
to the eternal purpose of God. The eternal covenant, the eternal
plan of redemption required and obligated that the Lord Jesus
Christ must suffer, must be killed, and must rise again. This was
the fulfilling of Christ's covenant obligations. And it was because
holiness, the holiness of God demanded retribution for sin
and satisfaction for the debts of sin that had been incurred
by the elect of God. And so we need to notice that
when the Lord spoke these things openly, it was not merely that
the Son of Man should die, but that he must suffer death. He must suffer. That was the
point that he made. The Lord Jesus Christ could have
died a very peaceful death. He could have died a very easy
death if it was simply to do with the dying. But it wasn't. It was to do with the suffering. The Lord Jesus Christ must suffer
and he must be killed. He must be killed violently. because the wages of sin is death. Punishment had to be inflicted
and violence had to be done. And just as all those Old Testament
sacrifices prefigured the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, so blood
must be spilled. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And so Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many. There's something else too here
in this open teaching of the Lord. The Lord says as well,
that there was a necessity for his resurrection. And this is
delightful to see because here the Lord Jesus was carefully
nurturing the understanding of his disciples to say that there
was this obligation, this necessity, that he must suffer because that
was the price of redemption, that he must be killed. but also that he must rise again. The Son of Man must, after three
days, rise again." What a statement that is. What a revelation to
be made to any man, those disciples, the men and women of the family
of God. What a statement to come from
the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. Victory! was as necessary as
the death of the Saviour. It was as essential as the suffering
of the Lamb of God. No mere man could suffer the
weight of wrath against sin. No mere man could resist the
power of death. And no mere man could rise again
at his own volition from the grave. but the Son of Man must,
and he told us so. So that just as Jesus began to
teach those things openly, and teach those things to his disciples. The disciples were able to hear
the things that he was saying and the things that he was anticipating
in his own life for the days that lay ahead. Now, in our little
passage, we see Peter's reaction to that. A wiser disciple might
ponder what the Lord Jesus Christ had said in his mind. He might hide these words of
the Saviour in his heart. He might bow humbly before the
things that the Lord Jesus Christ was saying, having identified
him just moments earlier as being the Christ, the God-man. He might
humbly bow before the divine purpose. A wiser disciple might,
but not Peter. And here's the third point. Peter
rebuked Jesus. Mark tells us that Peter took
the Lord aside. And Matthew tells us what he
said to the Lord when he took him aside. He said, be it far
from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Be it far from
thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Now, we want to say
that Peter's motives were understandable. We want to say that there was
no mercenary element to his opposition. We hope that this is just Peter's
impulsive character, his rashness coming to the surface once again. And yet we remember how contrary
the flesh is against the spirit. We remember how frequently men
and women acted all through the history of the church to oppose
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this moment in time. And we can only surmise that
this was the flesh speaking in Peter's experience, and this
was that same fleshy, natural rebellion rising up against the
death of the Lamb of God as the substitute for the elect. How
vain we are to think that we can do things better than God. We couldn't do things better
than God as far as our salvation is concerned and we can't do
things better than God in anything that relates to us. And yet so
often we find that the flesh rises up against the way that
the Lord deals with us in his providences. we are all guilty,
like Peter, of saying, these things shall not be. Well might
we say, with the apostle Paul, I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Peter said two things. Peter
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Peter
said, what you've just said must happen, isn't going to happen. All fallen creatures that we
are. Here's the fourth lesson that
we have to learn from this little passage today. The response of
the Lord was swift and public. The Lord rebuked Peter. Just as Peter had rebuked the
Lord, the Lord rebuked Peter. He said, get thee behind me,
Satan. How those words from Jesus must
have stung Peter, but how needful it was that Peter be shown how
awful his opposition to the Lord was, and how quickly that disciple
had to be put in his place. If vanity stirred in Peter's
heart at all, at the prospect of his importance in the kingdom
of God, what was it the Lord had said to him that he would
be given the keys of the kingdom? and that upon this rock I will
build my church, that the disciples were to be formative in the establishment
of that New Testament church. If there was any vanity had stirred
in Peter's heart with respect to those things, surely the Lord's
words here were designed to puncture his pride. and Peter was benefited
for the Lord's quick retort and rebuke. It must have stung. And yet, are not the Lord's corrections
a blessing to his people always? Hebrews chapter 12 verse 11 says,
You know, the chastening hand of the Lord is always going to smart, it
is always going to sting and yet there will be peace flows
from it. There will be righteousness grasped
and understood as we see the why and the wherefore and we
understand the kindness and the goodness and the gentleness of
the Lord in dealing with us in such ways in order to bring us
back to to properly understand the significance of what he is
saying and doing and teaching us in our lives. Jesus rebuked
Peter, but never imagine that that rebuke was in anger or that
there was any cruelty in the Lord's motives towards his disciple,
his friend, his little one. This was for the disciples' good. The Lord would never indulge
the wrong thinking of his disciples, and he would not have Peter retain
for a moment longer these false notions and these disruptive
thoughts. Death was no hardship to the
Lord. He had come to die. He was looking
forward to his death. There was an eagerness in the
Lord's approach to this time, hard as it would be, grievous
as it would be to his own soul. He longed for it. It was his
wish and desire to do his father's will, to lay down his life for
his friends. and there was no reluctance on
the part of the Lord to follow this path to Calvary, to the
cross, and to the grave. Rather there was a will to embrace
the prize of His pain. We're told, who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
now is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Our last point. takes the Lord's
words to Peter and just opens them up a little bit. But I hope
that as we think about the way in which the Lord spoke to Peter
in this way, we will also apply some of these lessons to our
own hearts and that the Holy Spirit will apply them also effectually
to us. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
Peter about savouring the things that be of God. The Lord's words
were, Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the
things that be of men. What do we savour? Brothers and sisters in Christ,
let us be honest. Let us be frank. Let us examine
our own hearts. What is it that we savour? Usually, savour is connected
to taste. Where are our tastes? If something is savoury, it usually
means that it tastes good. You remember we've been thinking
with some of the younger folks about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You remember Isaac spoke about
savoury meat such as I love. Do you savour the things that
be of God? Do I? Or do we savour the things that
be of men? You see, we're back here to this
difference between the flesh and the spirit. We're back to
the battle and the fight. Peter was the Lord's, but he
had too much of a taste for the things of the world. The things of men got in his
way. when he heard the words of the
Lord. And this battle, this fight,
will be your portion and mine throughout our Christian walk. How are we going to win that
battle? How are we going to overcome
in this fight? How will we accomplish what Peter
couldn't do? How do we succeed in savouring
the things of God when we are still in the flesh and cannot
help continuing to savour the things of men? Well, not by returning to the
law. Not by going back to thinking
about the things that we do and the things that we don't do.
You see, that's the big risk. That's the big temptation. When people think about honouring
the Lord, when people think about doing the things that God wants,
they always want to think about the things that they do themselves
in the flesh. But it's not by returning to
our deeds. Do this, don't do that. That's
the law. Not by law righteousness, not
by the works of righteousness that we do, not by trying to
be better Christians, better men and women and boys and girls,
not by redoubling our efforts or trying to chop away the things
of the world. like a nun that goes to a nunnery
or a monk that goes to a monastery. Not by the things that we eat
or the things that we drink or the things that we wear or the
things that we watch, but simply by doing what Peter
did not do. We said earlier, A wiser disciple
might hide these words of the Lord in his heart. And that is
what it is to savour the things of God. It is to lay up the Gospel
in our heart. It is to hear the words of Christ
and believe them. It is to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. That is what it
is, to savour the things that be of God. Our Saviour savoured
the things that be of God. He was perfect in all his ways. He did not savour the things
that be of men. He savoured the things that be
of God. He savoured the saving of his
flock. because that was what the Lord
God, the triune God, in the covenant of grace had called the God-man
to accomplish. He savoured the things of God. In Psalm 40 verse 7 and 8 we're
told, Then said I, Lo, I come In the volume of the book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now we can never do the will
of God wholly, successively, and heartily, but we can by grace
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. Brothers and sisters,
do you relish hearing the gospel? Do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness? Listen to what John tells us
in the book of Revelation. He says, That's what it is to
savour the Lord, to be fed by Christ and to be brought to the
fountains of living water. Do you feast at the table that
is spread for you? Do you feast at the table of
the gospel? Of the good news of what Jesus
Christ has done? What Jesus has accomplished?
Of the significance and the implications of the shedding of his blood?
Of the meaning of his sacrifice and his substitutionary atonement? Do those things satisfy our cravings
and our appetites? Do you eat His flesh? Do you
drink His blood? Do you rejoice in your heart
to have such a Saviour as this? Then you savour the things of
God. Our joy will never be full in
looking to ourselves, but our cups will be full in running
over when we feast on him that was laid upon the altar for us. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. and ye shall eat fat till ye
be full and drink blood till ye be drunken of my sacrifice
which I have sacrificed for you. Ezekiel 39 and verse 19. May we taste and see that the
Lord is good and savour the things that be of God. Amen.