So look across the page and you’ll see the Scripture for today. Mark 8, verses 27-38. This is God’s Holy Word. 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? And they told him, John the Baptist. And others say, Elijah. And others, one of the prophets. And he asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, you are the Christ.
And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 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. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
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 men. And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Thus far the reading of God’s holy, inspired, and infallible Word. Thanks be to God. Father in heaven, this is a wonderful word. It’s a word of grace and salvation. We pray for all those who may never have heard it, those who’ve heard it often and yet have not really taken seriously. We pray that we who are here today may indeed learn and grow and become more acquainted with and enamored of our blessed Savior. We ask that your Holy Spirit would be our teacher today, and we ask this all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
At the end of Mark chapter 8, which is where we are in our study of Mark, we see that Jesus continues to be on the move. He again heads north to Caesarea Philippi in the Gentile region. Here he asks the disciples what the people of Galilee and Judea call him. They give various answers. But how do his followers identify him?
Peter says, you are the Christ. Now, in other gospel accounts, it’s a little more elaborate in what has to be said there. Jesus says, this is something that the Father has revealed to you, Peter, not by your own concoction or studies and so forth, something that the Father has given you.
But we continue on. Then, when Peter hears that Jesus must suffer, He rebukes Jesus, and in turn, Jesus rebukes him, because he says, your thinking is the thinking of this world, of this earth. You’re not thinking as God thinks. And you know, that’s a responsibility that we have, to think God’s thoughts after him. Well, Peter would learn, as others would learn as well. Finally, Jesus warns that his true followers will have to suffer themselves for the sake of God’s kingdom.
So we’re going to double back to the beginning of the passage today. and to learn anew all the times in this section where the Lord helps us to see who and what he actually is. And I’ve put everything in the first person, not everything in the text is in the first person, but it’s going to read like this, I am this, I am that, I am the other thing. That’s how we’ll kind of take it all in today. You better hold on to your seats, because we’re going to have to really jet through, because there’s a lot of things here. We’ll get through them, Lord willing, in the time that we have available to us. Now, first of all, Jesus says, I am Jesus. You say, where does he say that? Well, it says it in the passage, and Jesus went on with his disciples and so forth there.
This was the name by which he had been known since his birth, even from before his birth. It’s the Hebrew word, Yeshua. And that’s the same name, interestingly, as Moses’ successor, Joshua. And there’s even, in the King James Bible anyway, a place where the name Jesus is given to somebody else besides Jesus of Nazareth, because it’s not that uncommon, a name, but when you and control it down to the areas that we’re dealing with today, then it becomes very important both for Joshua the general and for Jesus the Savior. It’s the name that was given by the Father to Mary and to Joseph through the angel Gabriel.
The angel came and said, you’ll call his name Jesus, or Yeshua, if you will. When the Apostle Paul was on his way to Damascus, he had in mind to do terrible things to the Christians there. The Lord struck him down on the road, and poor Saul, as he was called at that time, said, Who are you, Lord? And the answer was, I am Jesus, Jesus whom you are persecuting.
But he was gladly identified By that name, he took that name as one who would succeed Joshua, just as Joshua succeeded Moses. And the one who succeeds may not always be true, but certainly in this case it’s true that the one who succeeds the previous leader is greater than he in many respects. Moses maybe was the greatest of all the Old Testament figures, certainly was one of the greatest, but Moses didn’t get to go into the promised land, it was Joshua who was given the authority and the gifts of Moses to lead the people on. What we want to see and think about is that the Lord Jesus Christ was given all authority. In fact, he said, all authority in heaven and in earth is given unto me.
He said that right at the end of Matthew. What we want also to understand is the meaning of that name. Joshua of Moses day, of course, it would mean something like Jehovah is salvation. That meant the same thing with the child of Mary. It meant that this one was to be a leader in the power of Jehovah, but the great difference was that he was Jehovah. or Yahweh.
He was the true leader of God’s people, the true king. Just like Nathanael said when he went with some of the other disciples to visit with Jesus, he says, you are the king of Israel. And Jesus said, that’s what my name means. My name is salvation. My name is one who is the true leader of God’s people. All right, so I am Jesus, and then He is the Christ. And so, again, we use the first person, I am the Christ.
He is the promised Savior and King. He is promised to all believers as well as to the nation of Israel. He is a Savior to all who call upon Him. It shall come to pass said the Old Testament prophet, it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
I am the Christ, I am the Savior, I am the King. Now the Greek word for Lord is Christos. That’s the way you would read it in the Greek. It really is a translation or a carrying across of languages from the word Mashiach, the Messiah. And Jesus is the Messiah. And what does Messiah mean? It means the Anointed One. It means the Chosen One. I am the Christ, the Chosen One.
So when Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well in Samaria, John chapter 4, she said, well, I know when Messiah comes, he will lead us into the truth about everything. And Jesus was so bold as to say, I who speak to you am he. So I am Jesus, I am the Christ, and then he might well have said, I am the prophet, with the emphasis on the definite article there, I am the prophet. Well, what is he talking about there?
He’s talking about the fact that God had said through Moses to the Israelites, God will raise up someone like Moses. In Moses’ own terms, someone like me, he said. And you better listen to him. Anyone who doesn’t listen to him will be cut off from his people, will have no part in the things of God. But I want to read from John 6, verse 14.
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. Now, why is that important? Wasn’t Jesus more than just a prophet? Well, we say he was prophet, priest, and king, actually, all these things, but the prophet is important here. Out of many biblical prophets, and you know, you can start way back and go all the way through, you know, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and so forth, of all the prophets, there’s just one who is like unto Moses, And the people had been waiting for that prophet, the prophet, to arise. And this, the greatest prophet, would have a tremendous responsibility, because in Psalm I’m sorry, in 1 Peter, I’m having to look up all these verses here.
In 1 Peter 3.18 it says, He will bring us to God. He will bring us to God. All the other prophets contributed to that.
There’s only one that could really bring you to God. That is, present you to God. In the great benediction in the letter of Jude, it says, “…now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. The only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever.” And so Jesus is that prophet that was promised, the one who would really bring us to God. And you’re never going to get to God unless he brings you, unless he takes you there.
So we’ve had, I am Jesus. Jehovah is salvation. I am Jesus. The Christ, the promised one, the one that God has specifically pointed us to. I am the prophet, the one that God said could bring us to him without fault and acceptable in his sight. Then we come to a title, if you will, that is seen throughout the passage here.
It’s the title, Son of Man. We say, well, Jesus was the Son of God. Of course He was. But His favorite title was that of the Son of Man. Now, what does that title mean? Well, it means three things, essentially. It means, first of all, humanity. Son of Man. God came into the world, but He became a man. He didn’t give up being God, but He became the God-Man among us. I am the Son of Man.
It also means humility. I am the Son of Man, meaning I am a contributor to the well-being of mankind, and I will do whatever is required of me To bring them out of sin, out of backwardness, out of ignorance, out of not knowing how to get to God. Indeed, to bring them to God, as we said before. So, I am human. I am humble. And then finally, I am the servant of the Lord.
And if you read the book of Ezekiel, God keeps saying to Ezekiel, son of man, do this, son of man, what about that? Son of man, this and that and the other thing. And Jesus could have said, well, that’s already been taken. I’ll use another title. But He said, no, that’s My title, really.
I am the prophetic servant. I’m the one who comes to help you. In the upper room, He said to His disciples, I am among you as one who serves. So if I’ve washed your feet, you should wash one another’s feet also. And so that’s essentially what it means that He calls Himself the Son of Man. Humanity, humility, and servanthood. Then we come to, I am the suffering servant.
I’m going to read just from Luke chapter 24 right at the end of Luke’s gospel. It was necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory. And then a bit later in that same passage, verse 46, it says, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Which means more than just a temporary suffering and then He gets better, but it means He died because you can’t rise from the dead unless you’re dead first.
I am the suffering servant. I’m the suffering one who was prophesied in Isaiah as God’s man and as the one who would save His people. The Lord has laid on Him what? The iniquity of us all. The Lord has caused Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That was the prophecy concerning the Lord. He’s the suffering one. I am the suffering servant.
And he takes time then, if you refer back to the passage that we just read, to say, now the son of man must suffer. All kinds of terrible things are going to happen to him. That’s when Peter got into trouble, saying, wait a minute, I can’t think that that’s going to be the case. Now I am the suffering servant. and I will save you through my suffering.” And so it was by suffering all manner of indignities, yes, and then primarily he suffered on the cross in our place. He took the punishment that was due for us.
He says, I have to suffer. And all of the disciples said, huh? And Peter said, no, no, it can’t be. But Jesus says, if I don’t suffer, then you have to suffer. Your punishment will fall upon you. The wrath of God will fall upon you. I am the suffering servant.
And notice how much time he spent. It’s just a short few verses here in the passage, but he took the time to really explain to them, I have to suffer a lot. And as often happens, he says, now you keep it quiet for a while. And why did he do that? Well, we’ve explained that many times, that he wanted to keep the crowds under control and so forth.
But people have to come to that place where they say, I need a substitute. I need someone to take my place. Remember Barabbas? He was due to be crucified. And Pilate said, well, which one would you like me to crucify? And they said, Jesus, crucify Him. And Barabbas could say, he could say, I should have been crucified, but He was crucified in my place. Now, I don’t know whether Barabbas was truly converted and saved, but I can tell you that we can say, I should have been on that cross and suffering, but Jesus took my place.
Well, we must move on. We’re rushing on through this today. And he says, then, I am the object of Satan’s temptations. I’m the object of Satan’s. Now, he’s not the only one, of course, but it’s particularly important that he underwent that trial. From Matthew chapter 4, we read, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry, and the tempter came.” Jesus says, I am the object, the primary object, if you will, of Satan’s temptations. You see, in this passage that we read, Jesus was trying to explain the meaning of his coming death and resurrection.
And that’s another reason that he said try to keep this quiet for a while because it really takes some explanation. Why did he suffer as he did? Why was he tempted as he was? So that he could come out as one sinless and able to be a substitute and save his people, save you and me who believe in him. I’m the object of Satan’s temptations. And you see, unwittingly here, Peter became the voice of Satan, saying, oh, you don’t need to suffer.
You’re the king, right? You’re the Messiah. You are God’s personal representative. We believe all those things. You don’t need to suffer. And what did Jesus say to poor old Peter? Get behind me, Satan. It was the voice of Satan really trying to get at Jesus again. You don’t have to suffer. But if people are going to be saved, Jesus has to suffer. The object of Satan’s temptations. Well, now, we’ve done six things. We’ve got four more to go.
I am the custodian of the things of God. What did Jesus say to Peter? He said, your mind, Peter, is on the things of man and not on the things of God. But he said, my concern has to do with the things of God. I am the custodian, the keeper, the overseer, the superintendent of the things of God.
I’m glad it’s he and not we who are trying to guard the things of God. But you know the Lord is able to guard the things of God. To keep them from being polluted and distorted if we’ll just listen to Him. If you don’t listen to Him, they can be twisted all different kind of ways. But the things of God are that which Jesus was concerned with. I’m the custodian of the things of God.
Not of objects, but the things that God wants you to know. The things that God wants you to be clear about. I came to clarify those things for you. All that God is doing, all that He has promised, all that will come ahead of me, I’m here to explain all those things to you. I’m the custodian of the things of God. Human beings generally want to save themselves. I’ll be good enough. I’ll do all the right things. I’ll turn over a new leaf.” And the Lord says, you’ve got it all wrong. You’ve got it all wrong. These are the things of men. But listen to Jesus, and He’ll give you the things of God to pursue, to understand, to apply. Jesus is the custodian of the things of God. That’s who I am, He said. Well, I am the captain of the Lord’s host.
Now we have to go way back to Joshua again. And Joshua saw somebody standing off to the side. The children of Israel were about to marshal their troops and to head across the Jordan. And he saw this fellow over here and he said, I wonder if he’s a spy or I wonder if he’s come in to assassinate or something like that. So he goes over to him and he says, who are you?
And he says, I am the commander, I am the captain of the Lord’s host. Your armies look impressive, but they’re nothing compared to the host of the Lord. And that’s who’s going ahead of you, and that’s who’s going to win the battle for you, the host of the Lord. And the commander of that host, the captain of our salvation, is the Lord Jesus Christ and no one else. Jesus stresses that he is assembling a huge number of followers, not just from Israel, but from all nations. In the book of Revelation, it says there’s myriad upon myriad of people that are being saved. Does that mean everybody’s saved?
No, but you have to believe, you have to trust Him, you have to have Him as your captain. And Jesus says, I’m the captain of the Lord’s host, and I’m leading us to victory, He says. If you lay down your lives for Me, if you try to hold on to your life, you’ll lose it. But if you’ll just give your life to Me, I’ll save it. Jesus is leading us to victory if we lay down our lives to Him. Jesus, I, my cross have taken all to leave and follow Thee. That’s where we stand before Him. He’s the Captain. You know the story, there’s a poem, O Captain, My Captain. Well, Jesus is the captain. Jesus is the one to follow.
Then, I am the rescuer of souls. In 1 Kings 1 29, the writer says, there you have rescued or redeemed my soul. Boy, do we need that. Our souls are black with sin. Tainted and stained and awful before God. But this is the rescuer of souls. This is the one who gives a clean heart. This is the one who takes away sins. I am the rescuer of souls.
Without Christ, our souls belong to the devil. We don’t like to admit that, but it’s true. There’s no neutrality here. Your soul either belongs to the Lord or it belongs to the devil. Those who trust Jesus will not perish, but have everlasting life. Our souls belong to Him. All souls are mine, the Lord said. But He said, the soul that rests on Me will not be disappointed, will not be left unclean, will not be struggling, For I am the Redeemer of souls. And if you follow me, you’ll not perish, but have everlasting life, and everlasting achievements for that matter.
Guess what? We’re at the last one. I am the Lord of glory. In 1 Corinthians 2.8, Opponents of Jesus are castigated for having put to death the Lord of glory. Jesus says, I am the Lord of glory.
Verse 38 in our passage here. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words and this adulterous and sinful generation of him, the Son of Man, will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. What awaits believers is glory. The glory of the Father and the glory of the holy angels. We get to enter into that. I’m the Lord of glory.
You want to be glorious? I can make you glorious. I was sitting in sort of a student lounge in college one time and this fellow came up and he threw a wax drink carton into the fire. And of course the wax blazed up And he looked at me and he said, I would like my life, I would like my life to blaze up like that. He wasn’t a Christian, I don’t think, at that point. I hope he became one eventually. But this is what Jesus says, you want to have a blaze of glory? And may I say, it’s not going out with a blaze of glory, it’s coming in with a blaze of glory.
Jesus says, if you want glory, look to me. For I’ll include you in the glory of the Father and the glory of the holy angels. God’s eternal purpose has always been, always been, the glorification of His chosen people. I hope you have that to look forward to today. Jesus says, I don’t want to keep all this glory for myself, but I want to share it with you. I want to include you in it. I want you to blaze up for God’s glory and for the glory of all God’s people and to do it forever and ever.
That’s a nice way to end, I think, today. Who am I? Jesus said. I’m Jesus. I’m the Christ. I am the prophet. I am the son of man. I am the suffering servant. I am the object of Satan’s temptations. I am the custodian of the things of God. I am the captain of the Lord’s host. I am the rescuer of souls. I am the Lord of glory.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we ask to be the beneficiaries and recipients of all these things that Jesus is. None of it for ourselves, except to have a part in that glory. But Lord, to have this our savior with us always, and to be blessed of him, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s close with the hymn that’s on the back of your bulletin. in a moment. It’s just a long introduction.