The Move of the Slave-Savior's Gospel Service (8)

0:00We praise the Lord for thy great plan, that we might well in place may be." Welcome to Life Study of the Bible, a presentation of Living Stream Ministry. Witnessly, a servant of the Lord for over seven decades, culminated his ministry with a 21-year book-by-book exposition of the entire Bible, which he called Life Study. This Life Study is the basis for our program today, and includes short portions of the spoken messages given by Witnessly. Now, let's join today's program. In Matthew, Luke, and John, the order or sequence of the stories does not necessarily follow the actual time sequence in which they took place. The gospel of Mark is unique among the four in this way. Not only so, but the sequence of the healings and the miracles in Mark's gospel

1:02are progressive. That means that each case signifies a step in our spiritual development and maturity, and we are brought onward and always higher. Chapter 8, beginning at verse 27 and chapter 9, may be considered the high peak of the disciple's experience in their contact with the Lord Jesus. After being healed by the Lord in a general way, that is, when they were saved, they then experienced his detailed and specific dealing until their heart had been dealt with, and then their spiritual ears were opened, and their tongues were filled with his word, and eventually, even their eyes were healed of their blindness, so that they could receive the high vision, portrait in this rich portion of God's word. With us today, a new voice in the studio, Brother James Lee is with us, and James, let me just point out, no relation to witness Lee, but welcome, and it's good to have you. I've been hoping to get you here for years, and now here you are, and so we're really happy you could join us and participate.

2:03Thank you. And you have a very good portion to begin. You're helping us in this life-study broadcast. We come to this high peak portion of the gospel of Mark, and once before us today, as we are brought now to Caesarea Philippi at the foot of Mount Herman is really an extraordinary vision, isn't it? Yes, this is what the life study of Mark is so precious in this way that he portrays the different stages of our Christian experience, what the Lord has done in our life since we got saved. Of course, we don't get all the benefits of the Lord's dealing all at once. He did it with a stage-by-stage, and what we saw from the book of Mark, that these stages from the Lord's healing, a general type of healing, and then a particular healing of our different organs, so it portrays the Lord's dealing with us as we go on with him in the path of our Christian life, such as our hearing of him, our seeing of him, even our opening of our mouth to speak for him,

3:05all these take place at different stages as we go on in our Christian life. So these are very precious how it is applied through the life studies, a revelation, how it is so practical in our Christian life. This is very precious. Well, we've come now on this journey, the Lord has taken the disciples north, both of Galilee, which was the place, he really began his work of ministry, but also far north of the religious capital of Jerusalem. I know you've been to Israel, I've been there, and this is a very unique place, it's very called Caesarea Philippi at the foot of Mount Herman. We're in the very northernmost portion of Israel, at today's border of Lebanon nearly, and it's a strikingly beautiful place I remember from being there. Yeah, it was an impressive sight. And at the foot is kind of a valley area, and this place that was called Caesarea Philippi, and the headwaters of the Jordan River are there. That's right. Comes out of the ground in springs and comes together, and eventually becomes the Jordan River.

4:06So a very significant place, and it was this place that the Lord had really been focusing on, to take the disciples to give them this high revelation that we're going to see. That's right. All right, I just read the first verse of several we have today, of the first part, really, of chapter 8 and mark, verse 27, and Jesus and his disciples went out into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Here's witnessed with our first portion. This portion may be considered as the highlight of the Lord's comeback with His disciples. To get here, of course, when you need to go through all the preceding steps, right, take Peter as an example. He was called by the Lord, and he began to follow him from chapter 1. Now Peter is at the end of chapter 8 and the beginning of chapter 9.

5:08He's here. He and John and James, all those faithful followers, got through all those steps, step after step, higher, getting hair, all the time, hair and hair. Now they all have been brought to this place, which was called Caesarea Philippi. And he was at the foot of Mount Herman. That was also the place where the fountain, the source of the river of Jordan is. My, at that fountain, you could sense the clear sky and the clear atmosphere. No honor. The Lord Jesus brought His disciples there. It is not clouded. It is foggy. No, it is a clear sky with a clear atmosphere.

6:13For the Lord to bring His followers, you see from river Jordan, even from the sieve gallery, to this place, it took him at least more than two years. And he took his followers through all these steps. These followers here, especially the three Peter, John, and James, they are fully qualified to see something, to see what, to see a person, to see a wonderful person. A person who is a secret to this universe, who is a mystery to all the mankind. And apparently, he was a man, even in the form of a slave. Yet, he is too excellent, he is too wonderful, he is too mysterious, he is a very secret

7:21and mystery of the entire universe, even of God, eternal economy. And James, this is kind of a general opening word. A couple of things jumped out at me here. You know, he's got the disciples in this very unique place. Two years to get him there. Of course, Israel is a small country, but traveling by foot as they would have been, they spent two years to get to this place. And it's far, far away from the religious center. And it's far, far away from any of the commercial center. So, it seems to be uniquely or specifically a place that is away from religion and the traffic of the world. And many times, the Lord has to get us to such a place, doesn't he, to unveil something of himself? That's really true. I remember when I was in Jerusalem, the religious atmosphere, there was so thick. It was somewhat asickening and different religions were there. So, I believe the Lord intentionally brought his disciples away from religious

8:21influence and the political influence. And to this place, says the referee LePai, where he would have a chance under a clear sky to reveal something so crucial, something so central in God's purpose that is concerning himself. I was also touched, it took a lot two years to prepare his disciples to this stage. I don't think Peter, John and James, were ready. When they first met the Lord the first few months, to come to this stage. They took the Lord's dealing with them, touching their eyes, touching their ears, their mouth, and so forth, and healing different parts of their being, in order to ready them to see this wonderful scene, to come to this greatest mystery of the universe, this wonderful person, Christ. So, I appreciate that even the Lord took the time, two years to prepare his disciples, and touching them in different ways, and then to prepare them and bring them to this high point. This is a really good lesson for us. We are always so anxious, so short of patience, we want things to happen quickly, especially in our service to the Lord, we want big things,

9:25and we want them now. The Lord's earthly ministry was only a little over three and a half years, right? A little over three years. And more than half of that time, he is spending just getting the disciples to the point where they could really see something. Exactly. So, his measurement of time and what's important is quite different than our natural thought, isn't it? That's right. I mean, the Lord was not looking for some quick fix, some miraculous thing to have an overnight. He took the time to prepare his disciples, and I think in our experience with the Lord is very much this way. The Lord took the time to train us, to deal with us. Sometimes we like to see things happen sooner, quicker, right? But I think in God's purpose, He would rather take the time, and work on our being part after part until we are ready to really see this high peak of the vision, this wonderful Christ himself. All right, that brings us to the vision. Let's get to it in Mark chapter 8 again in verse 27. And on the way, he questioned his disciples, saying to them,

10:26who do men say that I am? And they told him, saying, John the Baptist and others, Elijah, but others, one of the prophets, and he questioned them, but you, who do you say that I am? Peter answered, and said to him, you are the Christ, and he charged them not to tell anyone concerning 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. Well, Peter steps forward, and not in the old way, really something has changed in Peter by this time. Here's witness with our next portion. Now is the time the Lord turned to them and asked them about Himself. It came out that at least one who took the lead, that was Peter, to declare that this one is, you see, he was a term,

11:32the Christ, not only Christ, the Christ. And today, to all years, this term is not so striking, but at Peter's time, this term was very striking, the Christ. He knew that this one is not a common one, right? This one is particular. This one is the anointed one. God anointed one. Messiah, the very Christ. Now, the Lord opened up the mysteries of God's economy concerning His Christ. The anointed one of God, the Messiah. Number one, had to be a man. Peter said, you are the Messiah, you are the Christ. Yet, he said, the Son of Man should suffer. This is really an unveiling, a revelation. Peter didn't know. Nobody knew. But since Peter

12:42saw the vision concerning Jesus, the Nazareth, being the Christ, you see, so the Lord Jesus, took away the veil, unveiling. He was a Son of Man. It's not a small thing. The Messiah was a Son of Man. Number two, he unveiled that this Messiah should be despised, not honored, not respected, not exalted, but despised, and then should suffer, suffered a lot of persecutions, markings, and also should be killed. This thought, this view, shocked Peter to death. You know, Peter promised his use. I do believe, among the Jews, he heard a lot of talk about Messiah. Messiah will be exalted. Messiah will be engulfed. The neighbor heard that Messiah would be

13:44suffering a lot of things, and he would even be killed. Yet, just at the end of the unveiling, the Lord uttered this word, and after three days, Christ. James, this is just one of the outstanding passages in all the New Testament. Yes, it is. Up until this time, he was just Jesus to the disciples. Now, this is a pivot point in the whole of God's economy, something in a whole new scale. Whole another plane takes place when Peter has this vision, this realization, he is the Christ, so much meaning in these short words. Oh, absolutely. This is the center of God's economy, is all together about this person. The Lord took all this time to prepare his disciples to come to this stage, to know, to see this wonderful person who he is. Before that time, there was never such a readiness to see him and

14:44to recognize him. But here, finally, asked this question, who do men they say, I am? And Peter, you know, spoke that you are the Christ. That was a very, very particular recognition of this person. And the Christ, he actually means is the Messiah. Isn't our Christian life all about knowing Christ? It's not just a matter of behavior, how to do better, and so forth. Our Christian life, the focus of it is all to get about this person. And so it's from God's purpose viewpoint, from his economies viewpoint, he is also concerned that we would know this person, rather than that we are more improved, we are more well-behaved, he is more concerned that we would know him, we would gain him, we would be filled with him. And he is the center, he is actually the focus, he is everything in God's purpose. This is what is on God's heart, just like Paul would say, it is God's pleasure to reveal his Son in us. This is the central point of God's economy. And this is being shown here. James, and as we get to know him, this one, who is the center of

15:48God's economy, he's not what we think. He points out a couple of things here that Peter just had this marvelous revelation, but the Lord kind of comes at him in a surprising way to point out at least two things. Number one, the Messiah, the Christ, he is, but he's the son of man. And number two, the fate that awaited him was not at all what Peter was expecting, was it? Exactly. People had a certain concept of this Messiah, who is maybe some kind of a spiritual superman, came from the heaven to rescue Israel, but actually in this revelation, we see that this Messiah is a son of man. That means in every way, he is a full-blown blood and flesh man, human being just like us. And he has to go through the process of being persecuted, being despised, and being rejected, and eventually being killed. That altogether is opposite to the concept that we most of us have concerning what a Messiah should deserve. And I believe this sets the stage of our learning to follow the Lord, not to expect welcome, not to expect glory from man,

16:54because our Savior, our Christ did not take that path. Although he was such an honorable, wonderful person, yet the destiny God designed for him was not one to be welcome, to be received, and respected in such a way, rather he had to go through the stages of rejection, and this being despised, and even being killed. And so that really becomes a checking point, even to our own spiritual experience. So when we are rejected by man, we are despised by others, it is not something unusual. This is not something abnormal, isn't it? We are just like what the Lord says, the slave cannot be higher than a master. Our master had to go through this, surely that we have to follow the same path. And the way of being welcome, of being glorified by man actually is not God's way. The God's way is as shown here, as with this son of man, the Messiah, is the way of being rejected, being despised, and eventually being killed. But of course, we know that is not the end

17:54of it. There's some better story behind that, but that is a necessary step that we have to go through. Yeah, that brings us to this final portion today. As we heard, and as we've been talking, Peter and the other disciples had gone through many steps by now to get to the point where they could see what they've seen. But the fact that he does present himself against their natural concept reveals that Peter is not through yet all the way, and he stumbles here as we pick up in these coming verses. And he spoke this word openly, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning around and looking at 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 he called the crowd to him and with his disciples and said to them, if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And this is the next step he had planned for his disciples and James. It's the next step he has planned for us. That's right.

18:58Here's what we're going to see with our last portion today. Peter took the Lord Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. To rebuke means I just, to correct. After Peter's rebuke, the Lord Jesus rebuke also and said, go away behind me, Satan. Yeah, no more Peter. You are just a devil. You know, in the entire Bible, no other words, so strong, so negative out of God's mouth. Satan, you are just Satan. Then the Lord kept saying, because you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. There's a verse in Romans 8, to set a man on the flesh it's dead. To set a man on the spirit, it's live and peace. No doubt Peter, at this juncture,

20:07said his mind on the flesh. He said, how come Messiah will be disposed? Messiah will suffer. Messiah will be killed now. Well, this is the sighting of his mind upon his flesh. Then the Lord said to them, if anyone wants to come after me, that means to have me. That means to experience me. That means to enjoy me. That means to particle me, let him deny himself. If you are here, the Lord is gone. If you would have the Lord, then you have to go. You know, I did mention at the end of chapter 7, there's no conclusion. The Lord only exposed the evil situation of the inward heart of the fallen man. There was no solution, right? I tell you, here is the solution.

21:14As a fallen man with an evil heart, you must have this Christ. You must have him. You must follow him. You must take him. You must come after him and partick of him and enjoy him and experience him. He will be the antidote. He is the solution. James, can you imagine what must have been going through Peter? I mean, just moments before, he has this marvelous revelation. And then, of course, in Matthew, we have more details. The Lord really gives him a strong commendation and then turns around and speaks this strongest word uttered by the Lord Jesus in the whole Bible. You are Satan. Get behind me. How do we explain this? Well, this portion really shows something very wonderful, seeing a contrast. On the one hand, you have the revelation of the Christ, a Messiah, just a few verses before. And then on the other

22:17you see the revelation of Satan. When we set our mind on our flesh, we become one with Satan. You know, Satan, today, still resides in our fallen flesh, even though we could be saved, but our flesh, nothing good dwells in us. So when we don't set our mind on the Spirit, on the things of God, and we just take care of the things of man, we stand with our flesh. Right away, we become one with Satan. And the Lord's Word, even more direct, you are Satan, which is a strong word. But this also shows us we have to be very exercised not to be content with a revelation we may have received temporarily concerning this wonderful person. Although Peter saw this revelation about the Christ, that revelation still has not quite burned into his being. He still need to be brought by the Lord through a little bit more process. And so eventually through that experience, the Lord used that to reveal the pathway we need to take to experience, to possess this wonderful

23:18Christ. Satan is still in our flesh, until the Lord Jesus comes back to transfigure our body. So each moment we have to be very exercised to live a life in the Spirit, to set our mind on the Spirit, to reject our flesh, just like the Lord says, we have to deny ourselves, to lose our soul life, so that we can gain Christ and who will be the solution to all our sicknesses, to all our diseases. And that's where Peter was, even though he was healed by the Lord to a great extent, but still he was still Peter, he was his self was still with him. And the only solution, the only healing is by just rejecting ourselves and then to take him, to enjoy him, to experience him, to let him be our center and our possession. That is such a marvelous realization and revelation. It's the solution. As he said, we saw in chapter 7 how evil man's heart is, and even our own, and if we think that it's not, then we are of most men deceived. Oh, absolutely. But this is the

24:18cure. That's right. This is the healing. And I made note of one little phrase, James, that he uttered in that portion. It struck me. If you were here, the Lord is gone. If you would have the Lord, then you have to go. That's really true. It's no longer I, but Christ. Paul says almost the same thing. Amen. Wow. Great portion to begin, James. Now you're going to surely want to come back after this program. Well, I surely enjoy this time. And I look forward to more times with you. Well, we look forward to it as well. We hope that you got much out of this portion. This is a rich portion. It's certainly a high point in the life study of the gospel of Mark. If you'd like to get the printed messages, we invite you to contact us. We can tell you how to do that. Our toll free number is one eight eight eight life study. That's eight eight eight five four three three seven eight eight. We'll continue as we've now come to a high place. And there are more high places before us as we finish off this life study of Mark. But for now, we have many more to go. And for James Lee, I'm Chris Wilde. Thank you very much for listening today. Dear Lord, we give ourselves to thee. Receive us into thy mightest.

25:33You've been listening to Life Study of the Bible with Witnessly, brought to you by Living Stream Ministry. To discover more of what Living Stream has to offer, please visit ministrybooks.org. From there, you'll be able to read over 600 titles by Witnessly and Watchmanee online and free of charge. Again, the website ministrybooks.org. Thanks for listening today.