SPEAKER_00: Our scriptural reading this morning comes from Mark chapter 8, verse 27 through chapter 9, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new to APC this summer, excuse me, and many of you are in both services, many new people, we welcome you.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad that you have come to worship at APC and let you know we are in a summer worship series in the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it started earlier in the year, and this is a good time to come to catch up.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do a little bit of a review this morning, and you'll understand why later.
SPEAKER_00: But once again we see Jesus with his disciples in this very important teaching, reading God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
SPEAKER_00: And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And they told him, John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: And he asked them, But who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Peter answered, You are the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And after three days rise again.
SPEAKER_00: And he said this plainly.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever would save his life will lose it.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it.
SPEAKER_00: For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
SPEAKER_00: For what can a man give in return for his soul?
SPEAKER_00: For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reading of God's holy and fallible and errant and precious word that we sit under.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' teaching this morning, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, we pray, would you please unplug our ears?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, give us the eyesight that we need to see what you would have us to see.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, give us soft hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts can be hard.
SPEAKER_00: Would you soften our hearts so that we would not only understand the truth this morning, but desire the truth and love the truth.
SPEAKER_00: To love the truth giver.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: So a little bit of review, because almost all scholars agree that we're coming to the halfway point in the book of Mark thematically.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like any other book, there's a storyline that goes through from the beginning to the end.
SPEAKER_00: And Mark gives us this portrait of the two questions that we have been asking from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: What are those two fundamental questions Mark is concerned about?
SPEAKER_00: First question, who is this one who calls us?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Second question, what does it mean to follow him?
SPEAKER_00: And those answers are not as perhaps easily understood as we might think in the church today.
SPEAKER_00: The Gospel of Mark is one of the synoptic gospels.
SPEAKER_00: If that's a new term to you, it's a Greek word.
SPEAKER_00: Together they're looking through the same material of Jesus, the teachings, his miracles, but they're looking at it through a similar lens.
SPEAKER_00: And so we find many of the same miracles, many of the same teachings in all three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Not so much the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a synoptic gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see that Mark has his own style, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his style, he's very brief.
SPEAKER_00: Things are always moving in fast action, more than the other gospels.
SPEAKER_00: There are less sermons in Mark.
SPEAKER_00: There are less long teachings in Mark.
SPEAKER_00: It's more action-oriented, and yet Mark has the things that he's driving home to us.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember when Mark wrote this?
SPEAKER_00: He got most of his information from the Apostle Peter, probably around the mid-60s A.D.
SPEAKER_00: Think about 30 years after Jesus died and was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: So time had gone on, decades had gone on, and the church was now continuing to grow.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember to whom he wrote this letter?
SPEAKER_00: To Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: Rome, in particular, the Roman Empire, to people who didn't understand the Old Testament, to people that didn't have the Bible, the Old Testament scriptures, people that didn't know much about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that explains why he explains a lot of his terms, his uh Judaism words that he uses and phrases, he'll explain those to Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: While we're talking about that, Gentiles, let's just note too hell.
SPEAKER_00: What have we seen so far in people's responses to Jesus midway through the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Well, not a lot of faith by the people in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Not a lot of faith.
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of all these miracles, responses of faithfulness to Jesus have been few and sporadic.
SPEAKER_00: Where have we seen it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we saw it from the unclean Gentile woman in Mark 5.
SPEAKER_00: We saw it from the Syrophoenician woman unclean in Mark chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it from the deaf mute man in chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: We haven't seen much vibrant, robust faith among those within Israel in Mark's gospel to this point.
SPEAKER_00: Even in the midst of all the miracles that Jesus has performed, all of his teaching.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Mark, and let me give you another example.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you study a book closely, you begin to pick up on the layered nuances, like, for instance, the healings.
SPEAKER_00: If you were here last week, Pastor Josh preached on this healing of this blind man, but it was a two-stage healing.
SPEAKER_00: The only time in the scriptures, the only time in the Gospels, well, was Jesus just off his game that day?
SPEAKER_00: You know, he he laid hands on the blind man, and you remember what the blind man said?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, What do you see?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, I see people walking around like trees.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was clear he was not seeing clearly.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't completely healed of his vision.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: Would Jesus experience a power failure that day?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: We know that there was a purpose for this.
SPEAKER_00: What was that purpose?
SPEAKER_00: Remember the question after the first touch of the man's eyes?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, What do you see?
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: What do you see?
SPEAKER_00: The most helpful answer always is an honest answer.
SPEAKER_00: He asked the man and he gave him an honest answer.
SPEAKER_00: My vision is not 2020.
SPEAKER_00: I see fuzzy.
SPEAKER_00: It's fuzzy to me, it's unclear.
SPEAKER_00: People, but they look like trees walking around.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that's true for us.
SPEAKER_00: The best answer is always an honest answer.
SPEAKER_00: What do you think about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: You don't just don't just say what you're supposed to say.
SPEAKER_00: What do you really think about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: That's coming up today in this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus knows exactly what he's doing in this gospel of Mark as it is unraveling before us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lessons.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a lesson from this already, okay?
SPEAKER_00: What do you see?
SPEAKER_00: What do you not see about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Don't walk away from the more that Jesus wants to give you.
SPEAKER_00: That man needed more.
SPEAKER_00: He got more from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He stayed.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't walk off in a huff.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say, Well, Jesus, I thought you were going to heal me.
SPEAKER_00: And off he goes.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people do that.
SPEAKER_00: They come to Jesus and they have certain expectations of what Jesus is going to do.
SPEAKER_00: And if it seems like he's coming up short, they walk away.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you haven't come through for me like I expected.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's not done with you.
SPEAKER_00: He has more he wants to do for you.
SPEAKER_00: Other things, lessons learned, there aren't faith formulas that treat healing as a demand on demand right.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel teaches this heresy.
SPEAKER_00: Name it and claim it.
SPEAKER_00: Just say, and Jesus is supposed to come through for you immediately, whatever you ask for.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: But it also keeps us from a theology that has no expectations of the kingdom of God actually breaking in.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: I think many Christians struggle with this one.
SPEAKER_00: You get to a point in your spiritual life where you think, okay, I think I've learned pretty much all I can learn from the Bible about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there might be some more things I can learn, but essentially I have what I need.
SPEAKER_00: And get stuck.
SPEAKER_00: And don't expect and don't pray for deeper change, for more of the touch of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Don't walk away from the touch of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're learning.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be that person.
SPEAKER_00: The two stages, let's go back to we're doing a little bit of review from Mark.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 6, we saw verse 52, after Jesus fed the 5,000 and the 4,000, what did he say to the disciples in the boat?
SPEAKER_00: Do you still not understand?
SPEAKER_00: Do you still not perceive what this was all about, what I was doing?
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Do you not yet perceive or understand the feeding of the 5,000?
SPEAKER_00: Why did Jesus do the feeding of the 4,000 after the feeding of the 5,000?
SPEAKER_00: And see the way that Marcus sandwiched these miracles in in a very nuanced way.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you don't really get to know the book, you're going to miss that.
SPEAKER_00: If you just kind of skim over it, you're going to miss some of these deeper important truths that Jesus is teaching us.
SPEAKER_00: What he's really saying in a very clear way to his disciples, gentlemen, you too are still blind more than you know.
SPEAKER_00: You don't see what I want you to see about who I am.
SPEAKER_00: You're still blind.
SPEAKER_00: What about us?
SPEAKER_00: Are we more blind than we know?
SPEAKER_00: Even if we've been familiar with the Bible and the teachings of Jesus for many years, are is there still a blindness?
SPEAKER_00: Are there cataracts on our spiritual cataracts on our eyes?
SPEAKER_00: You know that's possible.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are like the blind men, so are we.
SPEAKER_00: So am I.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples needed a second touch.
SPEAKER_00: We all need more touches.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't understand that, if you don't believe that, you're going to get stuck.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to stay stuck in your spiritual journey.
SPEAKER_00: What were the two key questions?
SPEAKER_00: Again, I just mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: Who is this one who calls us?
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, what does it mean to follow him?
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 9, verse 27, one scholar says, this is the continental divide between the two halves of the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: That's quite a statement.
SPEAKER_00: This is the continental divide, right where we are today in this passage, in the two halves of the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: The second half we're going through now, it unites Christology and discipleship in a unique and symbiotic relationship.
SPEAKER_00: This sermon is about two things from this point on: the Messiahship and discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean that Jesus is the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: What are the responses that are in order because of that as a disciple?
SPEAKER_00: Christology, discipleship, excuse me, the Messiahship or Christology, okay, big words, let's define them.
SPEAKER_00: What is Christology?
SPEAKER_00: It's the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The person and the work of Christ we refer to as Christology.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this first point is about.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that conversation Jesus had with his disciples was about.
SPEAKER_00: On the way, Caesarea Philippi, Jesus is with his disciples, his followers.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Gentlemen, I have a question.
SPEAKER_00: Who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: What's the crowd saying about me these days?
SPEAKER_00: And they speak up and they say, Well, some people think that you're Elijah back from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Others think that you're John the Baptist back from the dead because you're doing things that nobody else has seen.
SPEAKER_00: Other people think that you're a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: If we asked that question today in Alexandria, what responses would we get?
SPEAKER_00: Many, many people would say, well, Jesus, he was a great man.
SPEAKER_00: He was a prophet, a good teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Many people would say many things about him, but miss the mark.
SPEAKER_00: The target is, no, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, no, I'm more than that.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Messiah, the anointed one of God who came to save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_00: I am that one.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Messiah, the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus turns his focus on the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that thank you for the answers.
SPEAKER_00: Who do other people say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: But here's the question.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the most important question that you will ever be asked.
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants to know you, who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that every single human being is going to answer that question?
SPEAKER_00: One day, when you take your last breath on this earth, you're going to have to deal with that question.
SPEAKER_00: Who do you say that Jesus Christ is?
SPEAKER_00: Everything depends on that answer.
SPEAKER_00: One scholar put it like this there is a psychological astuteness in an intensifying way behind this question.
SPEAKER_00: For it is less daunting to venture the opinions of others than it is to risk declaring our own thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that true?
SPEAKER_00: We can sit back and discuss and nitpick and argue and all kinds of conversations and arguments about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But really that doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: What matters in the end is what do you think, what do you believe in your heart about this one.
SPEAKER_00: There's a difference between judgment and confession.
SPEAKER_00: We may be instructed by the judgment of other people, but the declaration that Jesus is the Christ depends on your own personal confession.
SPEAKER_00: At some point, the colleagues of Jesus and everyone who has heard his name must look deep within Jesus and must look deep within themselves and risk a decision that will entail either a commitment to Jesus or a severance from the identity of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that?
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody can be neutral.
SPEAKER_00: You're either going to be drawn closer to and deeper in your understanding and commitment to Him as your Messiah, or you're going to fall further away.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody stays neutral.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Peter has an answer to that question.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as Jesus says it, but who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, I got that, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You're the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Yes, I am.
SPEAKER_00: The Matthew account of this says that, and he said to Peter, and Peter, this has been revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that nobody comes to this personal conviction and commitment apart from the work of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody just kind of figures this out by a lot of study.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to ask the Holy Spirit, would you please reveal these truths to me?
SPEAKER_00: Would you please show me what I haven't seen?
SPEAKER_00: Would you please show me how fuzzy my sight is?
SPEAKER_00: You can do that.
SPEAKER_00: That's what worship is about.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus goes on in verse 31 and following.
SPEAKER_00: And he began to teach them what will happen to the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus' favorite way of referring to himself, this title, the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: It's used 81 times in the Gospels.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he use that title and like it so much?
SPEAKER_00: Because if he went around saying, hey, I'm the Son of God, that would have provoked more disturbance, that would have brought more opposition, that would have gotten in the way of the agenda, the timetable of his life.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he was not ducking anything from the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: If you go back and you read John, excuse me, Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14, it's a clear reference.
SPEAKER_00: Promising Daniel, centuries before Christ came, that the ancient of days, God the Father, one day will give to the Son of Man all the authority, all the glory, and all the power.
SPEAKER_00: And he will sit on his throne.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that happened 20 centuries ago, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where is Jesus now?
SPEAKER_00: He is on his throne in heaven with all the glory, with all the power.
SPEAKER_00: So don't say, well, he's a great prophet.
SPEAKER_00: He's a good man.
SPEAKER_00: Don't say that.
SPEAKER_00: He's the king of kings and the lord of lords.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to decide whether you believe that or not.
SPEAKER_00: We all do.
SPEAKER_00: He said the Son of Man must suffer many things.
SPEAKER_00: Not the Son of Man will suffer, but he must.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Father's plan from before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The Father had a plan from the beginning to rescue you.
SPEAKER_00: When everything went down, the tubes, through the original sin of Adam and Eve, when everything went down and everything was lost, the Father was not cut short.
SPEAKER_00: He had a plan to bring you back to himself.
SPEAKER_00: His plan involved sending his own son into this world.
SPEAKER_00: But his son must suffer.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the great differences between the gospels and the rest of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't come for power, Jesus came to give up his power.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus left a lot of power behind in heaven, the prerogatives of the glory of his deity.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians tells us in chapter 2, so that he might serve us.
SPEAKER_00: That he might become our servant.
SPEAKER_00: Because he came for the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And because he was raised from the dead on the third day, he now is on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: But he wasn't a power-monger like so many today.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man must suffer.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, the Son of Man is going to be killed.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples hear this, and it's electrifying.
SPEAKER_00: They had never in their life considered that this would be the path for the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Because they didn't fully understand who the Messiah was.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter, being an honest man, spokesman, Peter says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Passage tells us Peter takes him aside.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, you know how gracious of him.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't want to embarrass Jesus in front of his friends.
SPEAKER_00: May I have a word with you, Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: You know, when everybody says to you, May I have a word with you?
SPEAKER_00: You know how that usually goes, right?
SPEAKER_00: If somebody says, May I have a word with you?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, brace yourself.
SPEAKER_00: They've got something, you know, hard to say.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, Jesus, may I have a word with you?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, Jesus, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Where's this talk coming from?
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to die on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's what Peter believed.
SPEAKER_00: He saw trees walking around, people walking around like trees.
SPEAKER_00: Like we do sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, look, enough of this talk.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's vision is very blurry.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is now going to unpack in a deeper way what his messiahship is all about.
SPEAKER_00: Two things in particular.
SPEAKER_00: It's a growing understanding of the Messiah, which they all needed.
SPEAKER_00: And it's also a growing understanding of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: If those two things are not happening in your life, you've lost your way.
SPEAKER_00: Two things.
SPEAKER_00: Always.
SPEAKER_00: A growing understanding of who Jesus actually is.
SPEAKER_00: Is your vision of Jesus actually growing?
SPEAKER_00: Are you becoming more informed from the scriptures?
SPEAKER_00: Are you learning more and more about his true identity identity?
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, is there a growing understanding of your own heart?
SPEAKER_00: Are you beginning to see yourself in a more clarifying way what keeps you from seeing this, from following him?
SPEAKER_00: At APC, we call this like the cross chart.
SPEAKER_00: Once you come to Christ for salvation, it should get bigger, and the cross should get bigger and bigger as you see more of your sin, but you see more of the grace of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: The cross ought to be getting bigger, not smaller.
SPEAKER_00: You know when the cross gets smaller is when you're not really seeing a good side of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And when you're not seeing a growing sight of Jesus and His mercy and His grace and His love.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, I must go to the cross for you to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: And it's true of all the other disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And it's true for us.
SPEAKER_00: I must go.
SPEAKER_00: That's the only way that sin can be forgiven by a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: God's holiness is no less pure than a judge in our nation.
SPEAKER_00: What would you think of a judge that just didn't care and just made his decision, her decision, regardless of the facts?
SPEAKER_00: You would think, well, that's not just.
SPEAKER_00: Would we expect the God who created the heavens and the earth to be less just than our own justices?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He can't just wave it off.
SPEAKER_00: He had to pay it off.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is the one who paid the debt of our sin by going to the cross and dying the death that we should have died.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: No, Peter, you don't understand yet.
SPEAKER_00: Your eyes are still very blurry.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, but where else did we hear in the Bible about someone trying to keep Jesus from going to the cross?
SPEAKER_00: Think hard.
SPEAKER_00: Where was that?
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't it at the beginning of Jesus' ministry?
SPEAKER_00: After he was anointed by the Holy Spirit, he went into the desert for how many days?
SPEAKER_00: Forty.
SPEAKER_00: Who was there?
SPEAKER_00: Satan trying to tempt him, trying to do everything he could to keep Jesus from going to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the beauty of the gospel book?
SPEAKER_00: All these themes that are coming together and emerging?
SPEAKER_00: It's so well thought out.
SPEAKER_00: It's so well laid out.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to miss it, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're not really paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told Satan, get out of here in the desert.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not going to jump off the temple.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not going to make bread out of stones.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to do this for you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to prove my identity.
SPEAKER_00: I know who I am.
SPEAKER_00: And I also know my mission.
SPEAKER_00: My mission is to go to a cross, to save my people.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew it.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus now is the rebuker.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the Greek word that he uses here is the same word that he rebuked the demonic spirits.
SPEAKER_00: The same kind of rebuke now.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Peter, while we're here, while we're having this conversation, by the way, get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Mark's taking us back to the 40 days in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, when the way that you're thinking right now, you're thinking in contrary to my purposes.
SPEAKER_00: You're thinking along the lines of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: The devil?
SPEAKER_00: And Peter's like shocked.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what you're saying is the same kind of thing that the devil would said to me.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is being rebuked now by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you know, we need rebukes too, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Are you humble enough to receive a rebuke from Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it always just good stuff?
SPEAKER_00: Is it always just positive?
SPEAKER_00: Are you, am I, am I humble enough to receive a rebuke from Jesus when my thinking is out of line?
SPEAKER_00: When my behavior is out of line.
SPEAKER_00: If not, that's a dangerous place to be, if our hearts are that hard.
SPEAKER_00: This is all about messiahship so far.
SPEAKER_00: But remember there's a second thing related to this, discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: And that explains the verses that we read in calling to himself.
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it.
SPEAKER_00: For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?
SPEAKER_00: Hear this very clearly, please.
SPEAKER_00: A wrong view of messiahship will always lead to a wrong view of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: They are together.
SPEAKER_00: They go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_00: What we don't understand about who Jesus is as the Messiah will have everything to do with our discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Let me get very practical here.
SPEAKER_00: I think most Christians, I'm convinced of this, most Christians don't understand what I just said.
SPEAKER_00: Most Christians think that the biggest problem about their discipleship life is I'm just not, I don't care, I don't try hard enough.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not motivated enough.
SPEAKER_00: My biggest problem as a disciple of Jesus Christ is I just need to get more serious.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Can you relate to this?
SPEAKER_00: I know you can't.
SPEAKER_00: I just, if I could just get my game up.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: You're missing it completely.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a matter of willpower.
SPEAKER_00: This is a matter of spiritual sight.
SPEAKER_00: Who we see Jesus to actually be.
SPEAKER_00: The more you see him for who he actually is, motivation will not be a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Laziness is not an issue.
SPEAKER_00: To see him as he is is to worship him as we ought.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that?
SPEAKER_00: This is the big takeaway.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of beating yourself up, oh Jesus, I'm just like a, you know, I'm a slacker.
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I'm not really taking this seriously.
SPEAKER_00: How about this prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, would you please forgive me for what I think about what I think I know about you?
SPEAKER_00: That I don't?
SPEAKER_00: Would you please forgive me for being so content thinking that I know all about you?
SPEAKER_00: And my biggest problem is I just can't get myself motivated to really serve you and follow you and worship you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go back to the eye doctor.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go back to the gospels.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go back to the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see what you're not seeing.
SPEAKER_00: Because once you see, once you see what you have not been seeing, nobody has to motivate you.
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody has to hold you by the hand.
SPEAKER_00: Once you see Jesus for who he is, the Holy Spirit supplies the power and the motivation and the want to.
SPEAKER_00: That's what disciples do.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, anyone, I'm pretty sure that includes you.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone?
SPEAKER_00: Why not you?
SPEAKER_00: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to do just a little Greek grammar here.
SPEAKER_00: These are all heirist imperatives, meaning past commands.
SPEAKER_00: The point of an aorist imperative is decisiveness.
SPEAKER_00: You take action.
SPEAKER_00: You do something.
SPEAKER_00: That's what worship services are all about.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This is not a lecture.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't come today for a lecture.
SPEAKER_00: You came to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And the power of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus wants to teach you today, you either take in or you don't.
SPEAKER_00: You either pass up or you drink in.
SPEAKER_00: Drink in.
SPEAKER_00: Who he is.
SPEAKER_00: How lovely he is.
SPEAKER_00: How forgiving he is.
SPEAKER_00: How merciful he is.
SPEAKER_00: Where else are you going to go?
SPEAKER_00: There's no place to go.
SPEAKER_00: Decisively, you have to put it on the line.
SPEAKER_00: You have to put on the line what you believe about Jesus or what you don't believe about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There's no neutral ground.
SPEAKER_00: Come after me.
SPEAKER_00: Deny yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, when he says deny yourself, he's not talking about giving up ice cream.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He's just not.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about those kinds of things.
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to give up?
SPEAKER_00: What is so important to you?
SPEAKER_00: What is so important to you that it's getting in the way of following me?
SPEAKER_00: Is it your need for reputation?
SPEAKER_00: Is it your need for money?
SPEAKER_00: Is it your need for power?
SPEAKER_00: Is it your need to be right?
SPEAKER_00: What is it in your life that gets between Jesus' command and obedience in your life and following him?
SPEAKER_00: Take up your cross.
SPEAKER_00: In the Roman world at that time, by the way, it was 64 A.D.
SPEAKER_00: when Nero blamed the Christians for the fires in Rome and started persecuting many, many Christians, putting them to death.
SPEAKER_00: And for many of them, they were put to death on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: When he says in this language, I don't know if you've ever seen this before, because a lot of people haven't, from what I understand, my conversations, take up your cross means literally what he's saying is take that beam of wood, put it on your back, your shoulder, and you're going to carry that beam of wood, which is going to be the cross you're going to be crucified on.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of Christians were.
SPEAKER_00: And you're going to carry that to the place of your execution.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying there.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't Jesus do that?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus carried the cross until he could not carry it anymore from the severe beatings.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying to every one of us here, Tom, take up your cross and follow me and don't be naive that you're not supposed to suffer in this world.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of Christians today are very naive.
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of Christians today have been, through bad teaching in the church, believe that you really shouldn't have to suffer in this world.
SPEAKER_00: That it really shouldn't be hard in this life.
SPEAKER_00: I think our culture drinks that up today.
SPEAKER_00: I think our culture drinks that up far more than our grandparents did.
SPEAKER_00: Our grandparents knew it was supposed to be hard.
SPEAKER_00: We don't.
SPEAKER_00: We're soft by comparison.
SPEAKER_00: When something happens and something goes awry in our life, it's like, well, this shouldn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're a follower of Christ, everything is supposed to go easy?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never promised that.
SPEAKER_00: But he did promise, I will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: I will be with you whatever you face.
SPEAKER_00: And that'll be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Take up your cross.
SPEAKER_00: Follow me.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, the word follow me is in the present tense.
SPEAKER_00: You've taken decisive action.
SPEAKER_00: Now keep following me.
SPEAKER_00: Keep on.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up because he's disappointed you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up because he's not the Messiah you thought he was.
SPEAKER_00: He will make no apologies to you or me.
SPEAKER_00: He will make no apologies to any of us for what we have experienced in this world.
SPEAKER_00: He won't have to.
SPEAKER_00: He'll say, I know, I know what you went through.
SPEAKER_00: And I know how hard it was.
SPEAKER_00: But I was with you.
SPEAKER_00: And I gave my life to have you with me forever.
SPEAKER_00: Eternity.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be with me.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I did for you.
SPEAKER_00: He said, what does it mean for a man to what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
SPEAKER_00: We love profit, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We all love profit.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see profit in the market.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see profit in our income.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see profit.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, what does it profit a man, a woman, if you gain everything that you thought you wanted to get in this world, but you don't have me in the end?
SPEAKER_00: You've not only lost your life, you've lost your soul.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word that he uses is a psyche.
SPEAKER_00: You know, psychology, your truest self, your soul.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose your soul.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose your soul by capitulating to all the other things in this world that get in the way.
SPEAKER_00: That take your eye off of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Messiahship and discipleship go together.
SPEAKER_00: We may wonder why discipleship feels so hard.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't we put more effort into following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we think our biggest problem is just we don't get motivated enough.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: It always comes back to our eyesight.
SPEAKER_00: We don't see clearly.
SPEAKER_00: But we have a spiritual optician, ophthalmologist, who knows how to fix our sight.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible calls it repentance, faith.
SPEAKER_00: Seeing clearly how beautiful Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: How worthy he is of your worship and mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's a vision problem more than a motivation discipline problem.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like marriage.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get married unless you're willing to give some things up.
SPEAKER_00: Am I right or am I right?
SPEAKER_00: There's some things you gotta give up.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you give them up?
SPEAKER_00: Because what you're gonna get is so much better.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like that.
SPEAKER_00: This is your spiritual marriage.
SPEAKER_00: When you see Jesus as he really is, you'll drop it.
SPEAKER_00: You'll put it down.
SPEAKER_00: You'll say, no, this is not gonna get in the way of me following him.
SPEAKER_00: That's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's a beautiful savior.
SPEAKER_00: And he came to get a bride.
SPEAKER_00: And we are his bride.
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: We are his bride.
SPEAKER_00: It's worth it.
SPEAKER_00: Father, would you please help us to believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, teach us.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, open our blind eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Remove our fuzzy sight.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Holy Spirit, would you give us faith to see, to believe, to see the Messiah for who he is, to see discipleship for what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, may we lay down our crowns at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Not only one day in glory, but now in here.
SPEAKER_00: For Jesus' name and glory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.