THE Most Important Question!-Mark 8:27-33

I’m thrilled to be back in the Gospel According to Mark this morning! While I loved delivering the Christmas message: The Sovereign God Breaks Through the Darkness. And then doing a 5 week series on Worship to begin this New Year, I truly missed spending time looking at the life of our Savior in the Gospel of Mark, written from the vantage point of Peter. After this 6 week break, we move into Mark 8:27-33. Go ahead and turn there, if you will, and we will read these verse shortly.

So far, in our journey through the Gospel According to Mark, we have witnessed Jesus unparalleled power and authority.

In 1:23-26 we see His authority over the demonic realm when he cast a demon out of a man.

In 1:30-31 we see His authority over sickness when He heals Simon Peter’s Mother-in-law.

In 1:40-45 we see a different type of authority in the Cleansing of a Leper. Different because with leprosy, the healing could not be complete without body parts-fingers, ears, the nose and other body parts that had fallen off, being restored. This meant that Jesus had the ability to create!

In 2:1-12 we not only see His authority to heal a paralyzed man, but also his authority to forgive sin. Remember that before He healed the man, He declared his sin’s forgiven. Then for the disbelieving and appalled Pharisees, He proved that authority by saying to the paralyzed man “‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’ 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all”.

In 3:1-6 we see His authority to heal a man with a Withered Hand.

In 4:35-41 we see a whole new authority, the authority over nature, over creation when He spoke “Peace be still!” and instantly the wind and the waves obeyed.

In 5:1-20, we saw His incredible authority over as many as 2,000 or more demons at one time, when He cast them out of the The Gerasene Demoniac.

In 5:21-43, Jesus heals the woman with the 12 year flow of blood and in the same verses he raises a 12 year old girl from the dead, once again proving He had authority over sickness, but even more significant, proving He had authority over death!

In 6:7-13 We see He has the authority to transfer some of His powers to the 12 when He sends them out on a short term missionary journey with the ability to perform miracles.

In 6:30-44 and 8:1-10, we see once again, His ability to create something out of nothing, in the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000 (not including women and children!). He was able to create fish and bread from nothing, enough in the 2 episodes combined to feed as many as 43,000 people.

In 6:45-52 He demonstrates a different type of power over nature when He was able to walk on the water, but right before that, He was miraculously able to see His disciples, through the darkness, through the storm from a distance of at least 6 miles!

Mark has gone to great lengths to provide proof after proof that Jesus is, indeed, the very Son of God, God in flesh.

Directly before this mornings passage, we see an interesting miracle from Jesus, when He gives sight to a blind man from Bethsaida. It is the only time we see a 2 fold healing take place. In phase one, Jesus spits on the the mans eye, lays His Hands on him, and the man is able to see, but rather dimly. Moments later, He lays hands on his eyes again, at which point the man’s vision is completely restored. This is a very good lead in to this morning’s passage, as we will see the disciples have their spiritual eyes opened, in a similar way to that of the blind man from Bethsaida, a two-fold spiritual eye opening. With that as an introduction, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word? Again, we will be reading from Mark 8:27-33: Next Slide

Mark 8:27–33 ESV

27 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?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 31 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. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 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.”

May the Lord as His blessing to the reading of His Word, Please be seated. Next Slide

Dead Idols Vs. The Living God. Mark 8:27-29; Luke 9:18-20; Matt. 16:136-16

Can anyone tell me what this is? (Hinge pin). That’s right, it is a hinge pin for a door. 3 of these connect a door to 3 hinges and gives the door the ability to pivot in a door way. Well, as we reach Mark 8:27 this morning, we have reached the hinge pin of the Gospel of Mark. The pivot point of his record of the life of Jesus. In fact many commentaries call this “The Continental Divide of the Gospels”. From this point forward, everything changes, especially His message. We will look at this more closely as we move forward this morning.

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Jesus and His Disciples had just left Bethsaida, on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. It was near there Jesus healed the blind man. From there they head north to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, about a 25 mile journey. The area surrounding Caesarea Philippi is said to be one of the most beautiful areas in Israel. It is that area where the Jordan river begins. In fact, early on one of the places that started to flow of the Jordan River was water flowing out of a cave on Mount Nebo, the same cave where legend said the god Pan was born(more on that in a couple minutes). Greek legend taught that water was living water, since they believed Pan was born there. The farther north they travel, the farther they move from the religious epicenter of Israel, Jerusalem. Additionally, as they move north they are also moving into regions inhabited predominantly by Gentiles. Moving into a Gentile region as well as farther away from the Jewish religious epicenter, meant a substantial increase in pagan idol worship. In fact the city Caesarea Philippi used to be called Panias, which was named after the Greek god Pan, a half goat/half man god, famed for his flute playing (ever heard of the “pan flute”?....Guess where it got it’s name!) So, the farther north they went, the more idols they saw. It is believed that there were at least 14 temples to false god’s in Caesarea Philippi, which would have included one to Baal, one to Pan and one Herod the Great built to Caesar Augustus-who had been declared to be a god.

Speaking of Caesar Augustus, Herod the Great increased the size of Paneas in honor of Caesar Augustus, and later, one of his son’s, Phillip the Tetrarch, changed the name of the growing city from Paneas to Caesarea Philippi, specifically to honor Caesar Augustus, who was now considered a god.

There is little doubt that pagan idol worship was a significant topic of discussion as they walked. Included in that discussion, my guess was statements about there only being one living God, all the rest came from the imaginations of men, and none of those gods had a heartbeat. Simply put, they were dead, but the God of Israel.... the God of Israel was the one true God and He was alive and actively at work in the lives of mankind.

After 2 1/2 years with Jesus, being taught by Him, the Disciples were now ready for a Final Exam.

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The Final Exam. Mark 8:27 & 29; Luke 9:18 & 20; Matt. 16:13 & 15

We learn in Luke 9:18 that at some point in time while they journeyed, Jesus did what was as natural to Him as breathing, He went off to a solitary place to pray. Upon returning from His time alone with the Father, a time where it appears certain He was seeking the face of the Father as to what to do next, He returns with a 2 question exam for the disciples. This was a final exam and they would receive no letter grade, it was pass or fail, and rest assured God doesn’t grade on a curve. A failure on this exam brought with it eternal consequences.

The first question:

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The Final Exam. Question 1: Who do people say that I am?

With the backdrop of idol worship, Jesus wants to get an indication of how much His disciples knew of the heartbeat of the people of Israel. What were they saying about His true identity? In the 3 Synoptic Gospels (Matt. Mark & Luke), the 12 identified 4 different prophets. Next Slide

John The Baptist.

Herod Antipas believed Jesus to be a reincarnated John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded based on a promise he made to his step daughter during a drunken party. Jesus was doing things in similar ways as to that of John the Baptist. People thought Jesus-the reincarnated John the Baptist-was there to announce the coming ministry of the Messiah. Of course they didn’t believe Jesus could be the Messiah, because in their eyes the Messiah would have to be a powerful political/military leader, who would lead a revolt to overthrow the Roman Empire. Next Slide

Elijah.

Other thought Him to be Elijah. Elijah was the last Old Testament prophet who was known to do incredible miraculous things, including the raising of the dead. Additionally, Malachi wrote in Malachi 4:5 that God would send Elijah before “the great and awesome day of the Lord.” They believed that to be the first coming of the Messiah, in other words, he would introduce the Messiah, whom again they thought would be a powerful political/military leader. Next Slide

Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was the last prophet before the Babylonian captivity, in fact he accurately predicted the captivity. Jewish legend said that directly before Babylon captured Jerusalem, Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant and the Altar of Incense and hid them on Mount Nebo, in order to preserve them from desecration and destruction by the Babylonians. Some Jews believed that before the Messiah came to establish His kingdom, Jeremiah would return and restore the Ark and the Altar to their proper places in the Temple. Again, like the others, he would come directly before the Messiah. However, Jeremiah would have never touched the Ark of the Covenant. He was from the Tribe of Benjamin, and the Law was very clear, only men from the Levite tribe could transport the Ark of the Covenant, and there were very specific guidelines as to how that was to be done. To touch the Ark mean instant death, just ask the Jewish soldier Uzzah, who attempted to steady the Ark when it was being hauled by Oxen....oh wait, you can’t ask him, he died on the spot. Jeremiah knew better than to touch the Ark! He also knew that God didn’t need his assistance in preserving anything God felt to be precious.

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One of the Prophets.

The rest of the people didn’t attempt to identify Jesus with any specific prophet, but recognized his uniqueness and figured Him to be one of the other prophets “risen again”.

The one thing all these characters had in common is that they were all precursors to the coming Messiah. In their minds, they were absolutely certain that Jesus could not be the Messiah. I spoke last week of the way Jews tended to use very selective lenses with which to view their history, well they did the same thing with what was taught by the prophets. Especially when it came to the coming Messiah. They completely ignored the prophecies, like that in Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22, which spoke of the Messiah first coming as the suffering Servant. They viewed prophecies through very selective lenses, lenses that blocked out the suffering Servant and magnified their own perceptions, their own desires, that which they wanted and expected if the coming Messiah. That He would be a military and political leader. He would lead a revolution against the Roman Empire as well as any other enemies they may have, and establish the Nation of Israel, once and for all time, as the most powerful Nation on the face of the Earth. Giving them wealth, prosperity, and world wide peace. That every other Nation would be under them. No, Jesus could not be the Messiah.

Next, Jesus moved to question 2 of the Final Exam:

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The Final Exam. Question 2: But Who Do You say that I am? Mk. 8:29; Mt. 16:15 & 16, Lk. 9:20

This was the only question that really mattered on this final exam, to get the incorrect answer on this question brought with it terrible eternal consequences, then and now. Jesus moves from what the people believed to what His closest followers believed.

Peter was now the spokesman for the 12. In Mark, we only see part of his answer, but Matthew 16:16 gives Peter’s full answer. Next Slide

Matthew 16:16 ESV

16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Based on how quickly he answered, we get the idea that this was something that was frequently discussed among the 12. They had come close to this full declaration in the past, they had concluded Him to be “the Holy One of God” in John 6:68-69. At the very beginning, Andrew told Peter that he had found the Messiah, later when Jesus calmed the Sea by speaking “Peace be still” they said “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey?” But they had never fully put the 2 together, until now.

Even here, while they got the full title right, they still lacked a full understanding of what all that meant, which we will see as we move forward this morning. But Peter got it right. Peter said; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Emphasis on the word living, because they were currently in a region filled with dead gods, gods who came from the imagination of men, gods who had been made by human hands, gods made from wood hay and stubble. But Jesus, Jesus was the One true God, the God of the Universe, the God of creation, He was the true and living God. Peter answered the question correctly.

From there Jesus does something rather strange, of course we have seen Him tell those He had healed to not identify Him, but now....now when the 12 finally got to the point where they understood more fully who He was, we read in Mark 8:30; “And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him.” What gives? They finally realized that He was both the Son of God and the long awaited Messiah, and He wants them to remain silent…why? There are several potential reasons why, but based on what takes place in verses 31-33, I believe the best reason is....well before I get to the answer, let me ask you all a question. Who all here remembers Paul Harvey?

Paul Harvey had a daily commentary on ABC radio from 1951-2008. His broadcast was carried on 1200 radio stations nationwide. His broadcast was hugely popular, so popular that people wanted more, so in 1976 he started an additional broadcast that gave the back stories to a lot of popular people and events. Anyone here remember the name of his second popular broadcast? (The Rest of the Story).

Now let’s get to what I believe to be the reason why Jesus wanted them to keep silent on His identity. The story they had was not complete. The were still waiting for “The Rest of the Story”. Next Slide

The Rest of the Story. Mark 8:31

They now understood Who Jesus was as a Person, He was “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”, but they completely missed the Plan. Their knowledge of the coming Messiah was closer to that of the rest of the Nation of Israel, than it was to the full truth. We have seen that in the past and will continue to see it moving forward all the way up to the night of the Last Supper. They were also expecting a king, a ruler who would lead a revolution, this becomes evident in verse 32, which we will look at shortly.

Something else to consider, even John the Baptist struggled with The Plan. In Matthew 11 we read that John the Baptist was in prison, and as you might expect, being in prison affected the lenses John was looking through. Keep in mind, from day one he had been taught Who Jesus was, from day one he had been taught that he was the forerunner to The Messiah. I would imagine he had been told multiple times of how he, still in his mother womb, leapt when Mary walked into the room, with Jesus in her womb. After he baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, he watched as a dove descended from heaven and landed on Jesus and heard God declare from heaven “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Yet with all of that having taken place, here in prison, the doubts crept in, he was wearing lenses of doubt and despair. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One, or should he look for another. Jesus responded by saying “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

Then, here in Mark 8:31 Jesus begins to tell them “The Rest of the Story”. By the way, notice the word “began” in verse 31? From this point forward, when it came to teaching the 12, His mode of teaching changed. He also began to put more emphasis on His death and resurrection in instructing the 12. He was giving them “The Rest of the Story”. The reason He didn’t want them to start proclaiming His Messiahship was, they still didn’t understand Him to be the suffering Servant, they still saw Him as the conquering King, their knowledge was incomplete, and would remain incomplete until the time of the Great Commission, when finally, He told them to “Go into all the world and make disciples.” But for now, 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.” This was a shocking revelation to all of them, one they were not remotely interested in believing, in fact, it appears they didn’t even hear the last phrase of Jesus statement. Have you ever been in the middle of telling a story of something you did, only for the listeners ignore the end of the story because of something you said during the story? They heard nothing beyond Him being killed. Which is why in verse 32 we see Peter move from:

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The Penthouse To The Outhouse.

In Matthew account of this event, he points out that Jesus publically praised Peter for his declaration. Matthew wrote that Jesus said to Peter; “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.” I can imagine that had I been Peter, my head would have greatly increased in size. Based on what we read in Mark 8:32, Peter’s did as well! We read in the last half of verse 32; “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Let’s think about this for a moment. Who was it Peter had just proclaimed Jesus to be? “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yet here Peter is, rebuking “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Let that sink in for a moment, and as it is sinking in, let me add to that thought. The word for rebuke here in verse 32, is the exact same Greek word that Jesus used in rebuking demons. Do you get a picture of the magnitude of what Peter is doing here? And please don’t miss the fact that he is rebuking the God of creation, the God of the Universe, the All Powerful God. Yeah, I think Peter’s head may have swelled a bit here! He was living in the Penthouse, but it didn’t last long, in fact it looks like he didn’t even finish his statement, because we read that Peter “began to rebuke him.” In other words, Jesus didn’t let him finish, stopped him dead in his tracks....before he would literally end up dead in his tracks! In verse 33 we read; Next Slide

Mark 8:33 ESV

33 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.”

Notice He doesn’t pull Peter to the side, His rebuke, which by the way is the same word used of what Peter had just attempted to do to Him, His rebuke of Peter was public, in front of all the disciples. There is probably a couple reasons for this, the first is, Jesus was making it clear so that each and every one of the 12 understood the severity of what had just taken place. Less than a year from this time, He would be sending them all out to proclaim the Gospel. He wanted all of them to understand that they were going to be spokesmen for the Almighty, but if they operated in their own flesh, they could easily be spokesmen for Satan....their minds could easily be “on the things of man.” His warning wasn’t just for Peter, it was for all of them. But there is a second reason why this rebuke was public. Peter had become the spokesman for the 12, we get the impression here that Peter wasn’t just speaking for himself, he was speaking for all of them. As a result, Jesus made His rebuke of Peter public. Delivering to all of them this powerful rebuke.

So, what does all of this mean for us this morning? What is the application. Well to begin with, for those of us that have fully embraced Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. We have now been commissioned to be spokespersons for Him and we have to be very careful with our words. With how we speak, with what we write, what we post. In one breath Peter was making a proclamation that brought about the praise of the God of the universe. In the next breath he was a spokesmen for Satan himself. His mind, and as a result his words, were not set on “the things of God, but on the things of man.” And Peter, no doubt, felt he was doing the right thing. We need to be bathing our words in prayer. Starting each day surrendering our lives, our thoughts, our actions, our mouthes to Him that we might in turn be His mouth piece. That our minds would be constantly focused on the things of God. One wrong statement can do such great damage. When Jesus turned and spoke to the disciples in His public rebuke of Peter, it was as if He was speaking to us as well. Our words count, they are powerful, and if they are not surrendered to the Lord, great damage can take place.

The next lesson for us to consider this morning is found in the second question on the Disciples Final Exam. It is a question we will all have to answer one day. That is why I entitled this morning’s message “THE Most Important Question!” Our eternity hangs in the balance based on our response to this question. And I believe Scripture is very clear, our verbal response means nothing, if it’s not backed by a transformed life. Need proof of this? Look at James 2:19;

James 2:19 ESV

19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Not only do the demons have a full knowledge of Who Jesus is, they shudder in His presence. But they don’t live transformed lives.

Our eternity is based, not just on our verbal response the the question of “Who do you say that I am?” But also on our living response too that question. I place no confidence what people say in regards to who Jesus is, if their verbal response isn’t followed by a transformed life.

You want to know what my greatest fear is as the pastor of Liberty Chapel? Many times this fear has woken me up in the middle of the night. It’s not that the church won’t grow. Don’t get me wrong, I want this church to grow. I want us to be busting at the seems to the point we have multiple services or have to build a bigger sanctuary to hold everyone. My greatest fear is that people I have fallen in love with, people that are regulars here, that are here Sunday after Sunday, that sit under the teaching and preaching of God’s Word, that know exactly what to say, even have a good knowledge of God’s Word, have prayed the sinners prayer, the prayer of salvation. That their head knowledge never penetrates into their heart, never results in a transformed life. The hardest thing I do as a pastor, is to do the funeral of someone I knew well, someone that verbally claimed to know Jesus, but whose life didn’t back up that claim. You have no idea how hard that is, because I realize that if they didn’t truly surrender their life to the Lord. It’s too late.

Perhaps some of you are a little uncomfortable right now, maybe thinking; “Wait a second Jim, your laying it on a little thick here.” Guess what, I’m with you! I’m uncomfortable too! But I don’t one anyone listening this morning, to go into a Christ-less eternity, without doing everything in my power to change the course of their eternity! If I am too afraid to speak up, am I not setting my mind on the things of man, and as a result becoming a spokesman for Satan? I would rather be uncomfortable, among the uncomfortable, to plead with you if that’s what it takes, that everyone listening would take the truth’s of this God’s Word and be transformed by them, that our words and our actions would boldly proclaim; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Closing prayer