Get Behind Me Satan!
Notes
Transcript
Today there is a faulty perspective of Jesus that is extremely dangerous and very seductive. This is exposed by David Platt in his book Radical. In a blog David wrote,
We American Christians have a way of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus that we are more comfortable with. A nice middle-class American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who for that matter wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings comfort and prosperity to us as we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream. (Platt, “My Take”)
Satan is all in, and about that type of thinking. Contrary to popular belief then and even now, Jesus did not come to set up an earthly kingdom at that time to make the Jews or anybody else happy. Jesus came to make men “holy”.
Let’s look tonight at “Get Behind Me Satan!”
Text; Mark 8:30-33
30 Then He strictly warned them that they should 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 chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
1. Tell no one about Me; 30
1. Tell no one about Me; 30
Jesus has told others before not to tell about who He was. Those times were to keep the crowd down and to make sure people were not just following for the miracles. This time its different.
Peter has just made the confession of salvation that “You are the Christ”, the Messiah, the Anointed One from God! Things are now beginning to change. From this point forward Jesus mainly focuses upon the cross/resurrection and the disciples understanding of the role of their Messiah.
Confession is just the beginning of our spiritual journey. Afterwards we must study and learn about Christ to be able to share Him with others.
(1)We must be accurate in what we study. We must make sure we learn the truth and not error.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(2)We must be accurate in what we share, making certain that we share the truth.
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Jesus commands us to tell others about Him but we must know Him and His plan for man before we can become an effective witness for Christ!
We have such an easy believeism today in our culture that many think they are saved when actually Jesus will say to them one day “Depart from Me you workers of iniquity for I never knew you!”
2. He Taught them Truth; 31
2. He Taught them Truth; 31
Jesus has told His disciples in the past about His death and resurrection, but now He does it “openly”.
Openly- plain, direct, frank, unmistaken fashion to have proper understanding
Jesus tells his disciples what being the Messiah involved. He must suffer and be rejected—not merely by the Gentile rulers—but by the Jewish elders, chief priests, and scribes. Then he would be killed—but would rise again after three days.
Must- necessary, obligated, bound
Jesus had been using symbolism from scripture in the OT and in His present teachings to help the disciples understand the reality of the truth of the gospel!
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
Jesus was teaching and instilling in their hearts and minds the truth of scripture and how the gospel must be shared with others when He was ascended to heaven in glory!
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
3. Peter’s rebuke of Jesus; 32
3. Peter’s rebuke of Jesus; 32
Rebuke- criticize or reprimand sharply, to express strong disapproval of someone
Peter took hold and grabbed Jesus. Peter bodily took Jesus aside for a conference.
Peter forcibly attempted to stop the idea of Jesus suffering at the hands of these religious leaders. Peter was urging Jesus to follow His on human thoughts and desires instead of God’s will.
Peter was tempting Jesus with the very same compromises that Satan used to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.
You see how easy it is to get off track when we allow our emotions to get in the way of the truth of the scriptures!
Rejection and death were not what the disciples were expecting for the Messiah. They were looking for victory, not defeat. They were looking for an earthly kingdom to be set up, not all their hopes and dreams destroyed!
Men today are looking for that same victory but not at the cost of the cross!
12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
I believe Peter did this out of love for Jesus and concern for his well being. Even in Gethsemane, after knowing fully the way things were to happen, Peter still pulled out a dagger and cut the ear off of the high priests servant.
Emotions should never take the place of TRUTH, distort it nor get in its way!!!
4. Jesus’ rebuke of Peter; 33
4. Jesus’ rebuke of Peter; 33
Jesus rebuked Peter openly and harshly I believe for two reasons;
[1] Peter was opposing the plan of salvation for the world through the death of God’s Son. Peter was saying he was smarter than God or had an alternate plan.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
[2] Peter had adopted Satan’s way of thinking. Rejecting God’s truth with human logic.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Jesus reminds Peter and the rest of the disciples openly, that He is the Lord God and His thoughts and ways are higher than theirs. And Peter needed to adjust his thinking to that of God, and so do we!
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
Close;
Peter wanted Jesus to fit his agenda. He thought he knew more of the way that Jesus should deal with being the Messiah so he begin to reshape and redefine who Jesus was supposed to be and how He should deal with the issue of sin.
Too often, that’s what Christianity in America does! We try to fit Jesus in our mold. “Give me a Jesus I can control, one I make up in my image and likeness and I’ll be just fine!”
“GET BEHIND ME SATAN!”