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Mark 8:31-33 READ

• Whats going on
• Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ. Then Jesus tells his disciples openly that he is going to go to the cross and then 3 days later rise from the dead. He speaks it openly. Then peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Jesus. Then Jesus calls Peter a tool of Satan.

What does it mean

1. Jesus plan is the plan

• Jesus is preparing his disciples of what is going to happen to Jesus
• He’s going to suffer, He’s going to be rejected, He’s going to be killed, and then He’s going to rise again
• This is a prophecy! This is exactly how the plan laid out- This is exactly what happened to Jesus
• You can read later in the scriptures that this is what happened to Jesus
• Psalm 22 was a prophecy that outlined much of what was going to happen to Jesus
• Isaiah 53: 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

• Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
• When God declares a prophecy- it always comes true- its what he does
• There are over 350 prophecies of the Old Testament that Jesus Christ fulfilled
• After examining only eight different prophecies (Idem, 106), they conservatively estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies was one in 10^17. To illustrate how large the number 10^17 IS (a figure with 17 zeros), Stoner gave this illustration : If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10^17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They’ll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would’ve had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom (Idem, 106-107).

• Prophecy is a big deal!
• What does it mean to you?
• Any prophecy that is in the Bible that you’re wondering is going to come true or not- it WILL come true!
• Revelation 16 READ-
• Did you catch that? First Bowl: Loathsome Sores, Second Bowl: The Sea Turns to Blood, Third Bowl: The Waters Turn to Blood, Fourth Bowl: Men Are Scorched, Fifth Bowl: Darkness and Pain, Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up, Seventh Bowl: The Earth Utterly Shaken
• All of that is going to happen. Make sure you are on Team Jesus! Make sure you’re living for him!
• That could happen in your lifetime!
• See- the biggest problem with people is that they don’t actually believe that Jesus is coming back and that the wrath of God is actually going to be poured out upon the earth
• That’s why they live the way that they live- they have no immediate expectation of Christ actually fulfilling what He said that he was going to do
• Story- Prophecy of the Desert- It wasn’t a euphemism, it was the actually desert
• Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
• God is in the business of bringing to pass what he said he was going to have happen
• You may not agree with it, you may not want to believe it, but if God speaks it over you, it is going to come into your life when he wants it to

• How can you miss the plan of Jesus in your life?
• One- Not read your Bible and pray
• Two- Not be obedient to what you know to be true- God is not going to do big things in your life if you can’t be obedient in the little things- Little obedience passes big tests for the future
• Three- Choose to be disobedient in the face of scriptures
• Four- Live in fear and not in Faith- Always be looking for a reason why the plans of Jesus wont work
• Five Never step out in faith- Always take the safe route. Take no risks.
• Remember this- God is really good at saying no

1. Don’t question the plan of Jesus

• V32”Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.”
• Did ya catch that? Peter took Jesus aside- and started to Tell Jesus what he thought about what he just said
• re·buke 1. express sharp disapproval or criticism of (someone) because of their behavior or actions.
• Peter heard what Jesus had said, and what the plans of Jesus were and Peter didn’t agree with it, so he pulled Jesus aside and tells him off
• Whatever Peter says apparently is either so pointless or so inappropriate that it isn’t even recorded in Mark

• Mathew 16:22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
• Where was Peter coming from? Was he worried about his status among the disciples? Was he concerned about what was going to happen to Jesus?
• Here’s what I think- Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ- but when Jesus immediately tells him what the plan is- and it doesn’t match up with what Peters preconceived ideas are about who Jesus should be!
• Peter wanted Jesus to be the King! The Messiah! He wanted him to reign! He didn’t want him to die!
• What was the greatest sin of Peter here? Jesus tells us!
• Peter was thinking with the mind of man and not the mind of God!
• He was thinking about everything through the lens of carnality and flesh
• Questions like- “how will this affect me” and “what will be the earthly ramifications” and “How can what you have just said actually be part of the plan that I didn’t forsee”
• He didn’t have the things of God in mind, just the things of himself and how what Jesus said affected HIM
• Peter’s problem was Peter. Upon following Jesus, what should have happened is that he should have trusted Jesus and his plan knowing that the savior knew what he was doing
• What does it mean to you?
• How often do you try and pull Jesus aside and rebuke him?
• Sure, its easy for us to be on this side of the resurrection and think, sure, he died and came back. Awesome
• But here’s a bunch of disciples that gave up everything to follow Jesus and now they are faced with the prospect of Jesus leaving them and clearly they aren’t understanding the process

• Let me explain something to you- Signing up to follow Jesus means HIS plans and HIS instructions.- First day at basic in the St. Louis Airport- BK You will not have it your way
• People love Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
• Usually they love the translation that says “Plans” but what they REALLY mean is that they love the plans that they can come up with that usually involve their own comfort and peace and notoriety.
• Jer 29:11 is great!
• Context- the Israelites in exile, it was a punishment from God because of disobedience
• Jeremiah confronts a false prophet, Hananiah, who had boldly proclaimed that God was going to free Israel from Babylon in two years except God DIDN’T DO THAT

• Jeremiah calls out Hananiah’s lie, and then says the promise in 29:11.
• God does have a plan for the Israelites, and it is a plan that will give them hope and a future
• BUT, before he shares this promise, he gives them this directive from God: “seek the peace and the prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (29:7)
• This is not what the Israelites wanted to hear! They wanted to be told that they were going to go home. They wanted to be told that their suffering was going to end.
• Instead, God’s plan was for them to stay right where they were, and to help prosper the nation that enslaved them!
• And then came the biggest blow of all. In verse 10, God says that he would fulfill this “after seventy years are completed in Babylon.”
• This meant that none in the current generation of Israelites would ever return to their home. What a crushing thing to be told!
• 1 Corinthians 2:16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

• So what do we do?

1. Be mindful of the things of God not the things of Men

• 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.”
• The rebuke that Jesus has for Peter in this moment is that he calls him Satan for what he is doing
• Because Peter was speaking against Jesus and the plans of God- He is called Satan
• I can’t think of a worse thing to be called, can you? If Jesus is calling you Satan you got problems
• Satan is a destroyer of God’s plans John 10:10 Satan comes to Steal, Kill, Destroy
• What are the things of God? In this instance- the things of God are the plan of Salvation and the resurrection of Jesus and Peter is speaking against it!
• Peters mind was twisted and he became a tool of Satan!
• Its reminiscent of Satan tempting Jesus in the Wilderness-
• Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
• Jesus had already told parable of what happens when you give yourself over to satan-
• Mark 4:15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
• And in this moment- its PETER

• What does it mean to you?
• Keep your mind on the things of God and you wont be rebuked by Jesus and called Satan
• How do you keep your mind on the things of God?
• One- Be aware that Satan is trying to destroy you- You are in a SPIRITUAL BATTLE
• 2 Corinthians 2:11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
• Two- GET CLOSE TO JESUS- If you are not a spiritual person you will not receive the things of God- The deep things of Jesus are not impossible to attain, but you must go swimming!
• 1 cor 2: ¹⁴ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he knowthem, because they are spiritually discerned.
• Three- Get your mind renewed– If you never get your mind renewed you’ll never see things with a spiritual mind- you’ll always see them with a carnal mind

• A carnal mind is one that is set on the things of this world
• Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
• A renewed mind, sees the world through the lens of scripture and not through the lens of how it affects the individual.
• A renewed mind treats people differently, acts differently, speaks differently, lives differently
• Four- Reject ideologies that do not line up with the word of God
• So many Christians I know refuse to stand on the word of God for their identity and their stance and position for what they will support and defend
• They bow down to the world- they refuse to stand against immorality and take on the ethos of the world instead of the standards of the scripture-
• 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.