Get Behind me Satan!

[0:00] Well, if we could, with the Lord's help this morning, turn back to the portion of Scripture that we read. Gospel according to Mark, chapter 8.

[0:13] And as we read again at verse 31. Mark, chapter 8, at verse 31. And he, that is Jesus, 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.

[0:36] 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 man.

[0:54] Get behind me, Satan. I'm sure that we've all heard or used from our own childhood the well-known statement, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

[1:19] Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. And of course, such a statement was often issued on the playground, when we as children would be maybe hurling insults at a friend or a foe, or we were those on the receiving end of all the abuse and all the name-calling.

[1:41] And regardless of what was said or how it was being said, in order to combat all our opposition and retaliate without showing any weakness on our part, only to emphasize that we wouldn't get involved in such childish behavior and be unmoved and unaffected, we would throw out the phrase, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

[2:06] But the truth is, I'm sure at the time, they did hurt. The name-calling and the abuse, it did hurt and it did cause a lot of upset. Sticks and stones may well have broken our bones, but names did hurt us.

[2:23] And I'm sure that to some extent they did affect us. But I don't suppose that whether we were on the playground in our youth, or amongst and amongst all our school friends, or we were in the workplace as adults, amongst our colleagues, I don't suppose that we have ever had the experience that Peter had, where we were referred to as Satan.

[2:47] I'm sure that those in the playground and those who we work with could come up with many names. Many names under the sun to call us, if they didn't like us.

[2:59] But I doubt that Satan would have been one of them. But what makes this name-calling incident all the more serious, is that Jesus is doing the name-calling. And although not in a sinful manner like we would, he's doing it in a literal manner.

[3:15] Because in this statement, Get behind me, Satan. Jesus is literally referring to Peter as the devil himself.

[3:26] And when we read these words, we might think that Jesus, well, he's been a little harsh. He's acting out of character. And Jesus, he's going a bit too far now by calling Peter Satan.

[3:41] Because inevitably what Jesus said would have hurt Peter. It would have hurt him. It would have caused him upset. It would have caused him shock. Anybody being called Satan by Jesus would have caused us shock.

[3:55] To be put on the same par as the sworn enemy of God. But what would have caused Peter greater upset was the fact that only a few verses earlier, Peter was finally revealing the true identity of Jesus.

[4:11] Which we have, Jesus, he is given his true title. He is given his proper name. Because everyone was discussing the identity of Jesus.

[4:21] And everyone was hazarding a guess as to who Jesus is. But when Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? It was at that moment that Peter stepped forward out of all the twelve disciples.

[4:35] And he points to Jesus and he says, You are the Christ. You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the saviour of sinners. You are God's chosen king. But now only a few verses later, Jesus is saying that, Peter, you are Satan.

[4:51] And with such a peak in Mark's gospel, And then with such a trough, Only a few verses later, Are you not left asking, Well, I am asking, What is happening here?

[5:05] What is changed? What is going on? Why is Jesus saying this to Peter? Why is Jesus referring to Peter as Satan? And that's what I'd like us to consider this morning, As we look at these verses together.

[5:20] I'd like us to see why Jesus called Peter Satan. And I'd like us to do so under three headings. Three headings.

[5:30] A revelation, A rejection, And a rebuke. A revelation, A rejection, And a rebuke. So we look firstly at a revelation.

[5:43] A revelation, Verse 31. It says, And Jesus 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.

[6:02] And so what we see here, Is that following Peter's confession, Jesus began to teach the disciples, About his role as the Christ. And this teaching, This revelation of the identity of Jesus as the Christ, It's a key moment in Mark's gospel.

[6:19] Because from the very outset of his gospel, Mark's desire has been to reveal the identity of Jesus as the Christ. Throughout the first eight chapters of his gospel, Mark's soul purpose has all, It has all been about identifying who Jesus is.

[6:39] In fact, From the very first verse of his gospel, Mark told us that that was his intention. He told us when he started writing his gospel, That his desire was to identify this person.

[6:52] He said, This is the beginning of the gospel. Mark 1 verse 1. This is the beginning of the gospel, About Jesus Christ, The Son of God. And then throughout his gospel, From chapter 1 onwards, Mark has been retelling all the events of Jesus' miracles, And all the parables, And he's been telling us what Jesus said when he was preaching, And where Jesus went, And what Jesus was doing.

[7:20] And Mark's desire all the time is that we would be convinced, That this Jesus is none other than the Christ, Who is the saviour of sinners. And that's what we've seen in our study of Mark's gospel so far.

[7:34] That throughout the first eight chapters of Mark's gospel, The storyline has been building and building and building, All the time to this great climax, Where we saw last time, In the few verses before, That Jesus finally asked his disciples, To make a decision about his identity.

[7:54] It's time to make up your mind, He was saying. He said, Who do you say that I am? You've followed me, You've heard me, You've seen me. Who do you say that I am?

[8:05] And then Peter, Having witnessed everything, Having heard everything, Having been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry, Peter, He doesn't fall in with public opinion, And what everybody else is saying.

[8:17] He doesn't say that Jesus is John the Baptist, He doesn't say that he's Elijah, Or one of the prophets. He just says, You are the Christ. You are the Christ.

[8:29] Peter finally understands who Jesus is, And he says, You are the Christ. And Peter's confession is this climactic moment in Mark's gospel, Because throughout the first eight chapters, Mark has wanted to reveal the identity of Jesus.

[8:48] Mark has wanted to convince us that Jesus is the Christ. But now into verse 31, There's a turning point in Mark's gospel.

[8:59] Because it's from this point onwards, That Mark is no longer trying to convince us, Who Jesus is, That Jesus is the Christ. Mark is going to try and convince us, Why Jesus came.

[9:13] It's from this point onwards, That Mark is going to convince us, That Jesus came to die. Which is why we see that following Peter's confession, Jesus began to teach the disciples, About his role as the Christ.

[9:30] Because as the Christ, Jesus was claiming that, He is the promised Messiah. He is claiming that he is the saviour of his people, Whom all the Jews were anticipating and waiting for.

[9:43] Jesus was claiming to them, That he is the one that they have been waiting so long for, And all these prophecies that they've heard about, From their youth. He is the fulfilment.

[9:55] But what's interesting here, Is that Mark tells us, That Jesus began to teach the disciples. Jesus began to teach the disciples. And that Jesus began to teach the disciples, About his humiliation, His crucifixion, And his resurrection.

[10:14] That's what he says in verse 31. He must, Jesus 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.

[10:31] And on reading this, Are we not left asking, Did the disciples not already know this? Did they not know what would happen to Jesus?

[10:42] Did they not know that Jesus, Would be crucified, On a cross? Did they not know that the way of the Christ, Must be the way of the cross? We know, Because we've read the narrative, Many times before.

[10:56] We know what happens, To Jesus, In the end. We all know about his humiliation, And his crucifixion, And his resurrection. But how come the disciples didn't know?

[11:09] Well, The reason the disciples didn't know, Is because Jesus, He knew that they weren't ready, To hear about it. Because when Mark tells us, That Jesus began, To teach the disciples, He not only indicates to us, That this was a new revelation, That the disciples, Had never heard before.

[11:30] But Mark, Also indicates to us, That what Jesus, Was going to teach them here, It wasn't going to be easily, Digested by them. They weren't going to like it.

[11:41] They weren't going to get it, First time, And they weren't going to understand, Fully what Jesus, Is teaching. And we can see this, Because if we go into chapter 9, And then into chapter 10, We read that Jesus, Is repeatedly telling the disciples, I must die.

[11:59] I must be crucified. I will rise again. He keeps telling the disciples, The way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross. The way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross.

[12:12] But every time Jesus, Would mention this, The disciples, They weren't understanding, What Jesus was saying. Just like they were slow, To understand the identity of Jesus, And who Jesus is.

[12:24] The disciples were going to be slow, To understand why Jesus came. But in contrast, To revealing who Jesus is, When it came to speaking, About why Jesus came, Mark tells us, That Jesus explained this, To his disciples, Openly, Or plainly.

[12:45] It says at the beginning, Of verse 32, He said this, Plainly. He said it, Openly. I say that there's a contrast, Because, I'm sure that you've noticed, While we've been studying, Mark's gospel, That Jesus repeatedly told, He told people, Not to say anything, About what he had done.

[13:09] The first occasion, Of this was, With the leperous man, Right back in chapter 1, Where, The leper came to Jesus, And he was pleading with Jesus, Lord, If you are willing, You can make me clean.

[13:22] And Jesus, Made him clean. But after such, A wonderful miracle, Performed by Jesus, Jesus says to this leper, See to it, That you say nothing, To anyone, About this.

[13:36] But that wasn't just, A confined event. Because time and time again, Jesus was healing people, And he was telling them, Don't say anything. Keep this hidden.

[13:47] Keep my identity hidden. Even when Jesus healed them, A man who was demon possessed, He addressed the demons, And said to them, That they're not to speak, To anyone about this.

[14:00] Because even the demons, Knew who he was. And then, Only a few verses earlier, We see that in verse 30. It says, He strictly charged them, To tell no one, About him.

[14:14] And, We have to ask, Why? Why didn't Jesus, Want others to know, Who he was? Why did Jesus want to keep, His identity a secret?

[14:24] Is this not, Good news? Is it, Why would he want to do that? And this is one of the most, The interesting concepts, That we find in Mark's gospel, Because, Throughout Mark's gospel, We've seen Jesus, Travel everywhere, He's gone everywhere, He's constantly crossing, The sea of Galilee, In his boat, He's going to the Decapolis, And he's going to Bethsaida, And Tyre, And Sidon, And the Gennasaret, And he's in Capernaum, He's everywhere, We've seen Jesus, Preaching in all these places, And he's been performing, All these great miracles, And with each one, His fame has been spreading, Further and further, All the time, And everyone is left asking, Who is this Jesus?

[15:08] Who is this Jesus? And they all want to know, The identity of Jesus, But what seems to be, In some sense, A contradiction, Is that at the same time, Of preaching everywhere, Jesus is telling everyone, Stay silent, Keep this to yourself, Don't tell anyone, Who I am, And when we read these statements, Are we not left wondering, Why is Jesus doing this?

[15:36] Was the whole, Was it not the whole purpose, Of Jesus' ministry, To reveal his identity, As the Messiah, Rather than to conceal it? This is not the good news, Is it not meant to be shared, With everyone?

[15:49] Are we as believers, And followers of Jesus, Are we not meant, To tell everyone about Jesus, And how amazing he is, And how wonderful he is, And how much he does, For his people?

[16:00] So why does Jesus, Keep telling them, To stay quiet, And keep his identity, Silent? Well the reason is this, Jesus tried to silence, Anyone revealing, That he was the Messiah, All because the promise, Of the Messiah, Carried with it, This, This, Concept of a military figure, The promised Messiah, In the understanding, Of the Jews, He was to be a descendant, Of King David, He would sit, Upon the throne of David, And he would defeat, All of Israel's enemies, And with the powers of Rome, Overruling Israel, At the time, In the first century, The Romans, The Romans, Could have viewed Jesus, As a threat, And one who was going, To cause this revolution, And he was going to overthrow, All the powers of Rome, So the reason, For all the silence, Was strategic, But the identity, Of the Messiah, Was only to remain,

[17:01] Hidden for a time, In order for Jesus, To establish, The kingdom, By preaching, Throughout the region, Of Israel, But all the secrecy, It was also due to the fact, That people never understood, The reason he came, They never understood, That Jesus, Came to die, And that's why, Jesus is revealing, To his disciples, All this, Openly, That the promised Messiah, Has appeared, Not to overrule, The Roman world, As this powerful monarch, Who will sit upon his throne, But the promised Messiah, Was in fact, A suffering saviour, Who came, To give us life, As a ransom, For many, All because of his, Love and compassion, Towards sinners, And I find, This is the glory, Of our gospel, That God has revealed, Himself, To us, And he's, Revealed himself, To us, In order that we can be saved,

[18:04] And we can only be saved, As Jesus says himself, By trusting, In the finished work, Of Jesus Christ, But what's amazing, To our ears, Is that as Jesus, As Jesus spoke, As he spoke this word, Openly to his disciples, And as Jesus made this, Revelation about his death, And resurrection, It was met, By a firm, Rejection, And it's often met, By a firm rejection, But that's what I'd like us, To see secondly, That it was met, By a firm rejection, We've seen a revelation, But secondly, A rejection, A rejection, We read again, At verse 31, 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,

[19:06] And began, To rebuke him, And so what we see, In these verses, In verse 32 especially, It's a contrast, Of responses, Because as Jesus, Responded to Peter's confession, By teaching the disciples, About his death, And resurrection, Peter responded, To Jesus, By rejecting it, And that's what we see here, Because Mark tells us, That Jesus began to preach, And Peter began, To rebuke, Jesus began to teach, And Peter began, To rebuke, And it's hard to believe, That Peter would stand, In front of Jesus, And reject his teaching, Because, He had accepted it, Thus far, He'd been with him, All this time, He had, Followed Jesus, The moment, Jesus said, Come, I will make you fishers of men, Come and follow me, He had been with Jesus, All the time, But, Without coming down,

[20:06] Too heavy on Peter, We have to, Think, Well there must be a reason, For Peter, To take Jesus aside, From all the other disciples, And rebuke him, And we have to try, And understand, Where Peter was coming from, And the world view, Which he had, Because, For Peter, And for every Jew, The Messiah, Or the Christ, They were anticipating, That the Christ, Was going to be the saviour, Of God's people, The Christ, He had been promised, In the Old Testament, But the role of the Christ, Was not only to be, This military figure, Who would descend, From the lineage of David, And he would sit, Upon his throne, And overrule, All the Jewish people, The Jews also emphasise, That when the Christ comes, He will reinstitute, The law of Moses, Which had been, Sidestepped by them, But now that the disciples, Know the identity of Jesus, As the Christ, They all know, Because of Peter's, Confession, They all know,

[21:07] That the rabbi, They've been with, And they've been, Following him, For the past year or so, They all know, He's the Messiah, And they know, That there would, Inevitably be, This, Element of shock, To know that Jesus, Was the saviour, Of God's people, There would have been a shock, To work out, That Jesus is the Messiah, That Jesus, Was the Christ, That they're longing for, But the greater shock, Was when Jesus, Began to teach, The disciples, What his true role was, Because, As we said, In the mind of the Jews, And also the disciples, The Christ was going to be, This royal figure, He was going to descend, From King David, He was going to overthrow, The Roman oppression, He was going to reinstate, All the laws of Moses, But when the Christ, Did come, Jesus didn't fit in, With that messianic, Stereotype, Because rather than, Reinstating, The laws of Moses, Jesus spoke in parables,

[22:10] Parables that people, Couldn't understand, Rather than speaking about, Being the king of Israel, And over the kingdom of Israel, Jesus spoke about, Being the king, Over the kingdom of God, Rather than emphasizing, Israel's isolation, And separation, From a Gentile world, Jesus teaches, That the inbreaking, Of the kingdom of God, It's a display of God's love, And God's forgiveness, To sinners, And it's not just for Israel, He says, It's for the whole world, It's for whosoever, And rather than emphasizing, That the Christ, Is going to overthrow, The Romans, Who were ruling, The nation of Israel, At the time, Jesus teaches, That it is the religious authorities, Of the day, That are going to reject, The Messiah, And have him killed, Jesus is teaching, The disciples, That the way of the Christ, Must be the way of the cross, Or as one commentator,

[23:11] Summed it up perfectly, The meaning of Jesus, Is life and mission, It's not about victory, And success, But about rejection, Suffering, And death, But to the ears of a Jew, When a Jew heard this, There was never a moment, In Israel's history, That they thought, That the Messiah, Would suffer, They never thought, That the Christ, Would suffer, Yes, The Jews had, Isaiah 53, And they had all the prophecies, About the suffering servant, But, To equate the Christ, With the suffering servant, This was blasphemy, To say about the Christ, That the Son of Man, Must suffer many things, This was blasphemy, Now this title, The Son of Man, That Jesus uses here, In verse 31, It's not the first time, That Jesus has used it, Because when Jesus, Healed the paralytic,

[24:13] Back in chapter 2, Jesus, Said that the reason, For healing the paralytic, Was that we may know, That the Son of Man, Has power on earth, To forgive sins, And it's not only that, Jesus declared, At the end of chapter 2, That the Son of Man, Is also Lord, Of the Sabbath, And then later, In Mark's gospel, In Mark chapter 10, Jesus says, That the Son of Man, Did not come to be served, But to serve, And give his life, As a ransom, For many, And Jesus used this title, This title, The Son of Man, It's a divine title, In order to emphasize, That he is both God, And man, But as a Jew, Peter would have recognized, This title, And he would have recognized it, Because, It's spoken of, In the prophecy of Daniel, In Daniel chapter 7, Where the prophet Daniel, He's given this, Vision during the night, And Daniel says,

[25:13] As I saw in the night visions, And behold, With the clouds of heaven, There came one like a Son of Man, And he came to be the Ancient of Days, And was presented before him, And to him was given dominion, And glory, And a kingdom, That all peoples, Nations, And languages should serve him, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed, And so when Peter confesses Jesus, As the Christ, And then he hears this title from Jesus, The Son of Man, Peter inevitably, He expected the arrival of a king, With an everlasting kingdom, But in the person of Jesus, As Peter looked at Jesus, All he could see, Was this miracle worker from Galilee, He was the son of a carpenter, And he looked nothing like a king, Nothing like a descendant,

[26:15] Of King David, And so when Peter, Heard the teaching of Jesus, His entire world view, Was falling apart, Everything he had hoped for, Everything he believed in, It was all falling down around him, And he rejects Jesus' teaching, And he rebukes him, Because he thinks, Jesus, You must be wrong, You have to be wrong, Peter thinks that there is, No way that the Messiah must suffer, The Messiah, He must be king, Peter saying, He must be king, Jesus, You must have it all wrong, But Jesus is clear, The Son of Man, Must suffer, Many things, As if hearing about the Christ, And as if hearing about it, Wasn't enough, What alarms Peter even further, Is that the death of the Messiah, It's not going to be an accident,

[27:17] Because Jesus claims, That there will be, Those who reject the Christ, And they put him to death, And those who murder the Messiah, Those who kill the Messiah, Are the very ones, Waiting for his appearing, And here's the great irony, We would expect Jesus, To tell us, That the Son of Man, Will be put to death, At the hands of godless, And wicked people, You would expect Jesus, To say that it's going to be, The atheists, And all the agnostics, Of the day, That will put Jesus to death, But Jesus says, That the way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross, And those who put him to death, Will be the theists, All the clergymen, All the church leaders, Of the day, He will be rejected, By the elders, The chief priests, And the scribes, And be killed, He'll be rejected, By the Sanhedrin, The highest religious court, In Israel, And Peter,

[28:17] He's hearing all this, And he's wondering, How can this be? How is this possible? This can't be true, Jesus must have all of this, Wrong, But Jesus is clearly, Telling the disciples, The way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross, The way of the Christ, Is going to be the way of the cross, But before we go on, To consider Jesus' rebuke to Peter, I just want to highlight, The emphasis which Jesus, Places upon his own death, And resurrection, In fact it was, J.C. Ryle, My favourite commentator, He asked the question, Why did our Lord say, Must?

[29:05] Why did our Lord say, Must? That the Son of Man, Must suffer, Many things, And be killed, And J.C. Ryle, He asks, Did Jesus mean, That he was, Unable to escape, Suffering, And that he must die, Because death is stronger than it, Ryle says, Impossible, He laid down his life, And he takes it up again, Did Jesus mean, That he must give, An example to the world, Of self-sacrifice, And self-denial, In order to make, His death, His death, Necessary, Ryle says, This is impossible, There is a far deeper meaning, In the word, Must, Because when Jesus said, That he must suffer, And be killed, He meant, That his death, Was necessary, In order to make, Atonement for sins, In order to, Forgive sins, Because without, Without the shedding of blood, There is no forgiveness, Of sins, Without the sacrifice, Of his body,

[30:06] Upon the cross, There could be no satisfaction, For God's, Holy law, Therefore, He must, Suffer, In order to make, Reconciliation, He must, Die, Because without his death, We could never have life, He must be delivered, Because of our offences, And be raised again, For our justification, He must, Suffer, And here is the central truth, Of the Bible, Says Ryle, This is what the Bible, Is all about, This is what it's all, Pointing to, That the way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross, And he says, Let us never forget, That all other truths, Compared to this, They are secondary, They are of secondary, Importance, And let this truth, Be the foundational truth, In our Christianity, That in life, And in death, In health,

[31:07] And in sickness, We lean, All our weight, Upon this mighty fact, That though we have sinned, Christ died, For sinners, And that though we deserve, Nothing but, Hell and judgment, This Christ, Suffered, On the cross for us, And that by suffering, He purchased, Heaven for us, Purchased heaven, For all those, Who believe on him, My friend, Why did Jesus say, He must suffer, So that we would know, That there is a heaven, To be gained, And a hell, To be shunned, He must suffer, Because the way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross, But when Peter rejected, The revelation of Jesus, He did so, Because he didn't want Jesus,

[32:09] To go the way of the cross, Which is why, Jesus rebuked Peter, That's what I'd like us, To see thirdly, We've considered, A revelation, By Jesus, A rejection, By Peter, But thirdly, We see a rebuke, That Jesus gives, We look at verse 32, And he said this plainly, That's Jesus, 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 man, As we said earlier, We might be tempted, To think that, Jesus is being a little harsh, And maybe even, Out of character, When he's, Saying to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, But, Now that we know, That Jesus, Was revealing to the disciples,

[33:09] That he must suffer, And that, Peter and the disciples, Couldn't fully understand, What Jesus was saying, It makes sense, As to why Jesus, Made such a statement, Because to try and direct, The Christ, Any other way, Apart from the way, Of the cross, Was and still is, The work of Satan, Which is why, Jesus says to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, But Jesus knows, He knows deep down, That Peter's true desire, Is not to be like Satan, Quite the opposite, Because, All of the disciples, They were motivated, By their love, And their admiration, For Jesus, They loved Jesus, They wanted, To follow him, But as we would expect, Satan's motives, Were for evil, His desire, Was to have Jesus, Go, Every other way, Apart from the way, Of the cross, And in this situation, With Peter, Satan had,

[34:11] Tempted Peter, To stand, In Jesus' way, And seek to try, And direct the Christ, Away, From the cross, And that's why, Jesus addresses, Satan directly, Get behind me, Satan, But what's interesting, Is that, The rebuke, Which Jesus gives here, It's the same rebuke, Which Jesus gave, To Satan, When he was being tempted, In the wilderness, And that's, You can read that, For yourself, In Matthew chapter 4, Where Jesus, Has been tempted, Satan comes, And tempts, And tempts, Jesus, On three occasions, To submit, To his authority, And move away, From the direction, Of the cross, But every time, Jesus was tempted, By Satan, He quoted, Scripture, He quoted, Scripture, He quoted, The only rule, To direct him, And the same, Is true for us, That when we are, Tempted by Satan, To turn aside, From the way, Of the cross,

[35:11] When we are tempted, By Satan, To do, What is against, The word, When we are tempted, By Satan, To go away, From following Jesus, And following, Our own desires, And our own, Inclinations, And our own thoughts, And our own wants, We need to go back, To the word of God, Which is the only, Rule to direct us, And say, Get behind me, Satan, And see that the word, Has every promise, And every direction, For us, And that's why, Jesus goes on to say, In the next verse, And God willing, We'll look at it, Next week, Now when Satan, Tempts us, To go every other way, Apart from the way, Of the cross, And the way of following Jesus, That's why Jesus says, In the next verse, Whosoever desires, To come after me, Whosoever is able to say, Get behind me, Satan, Let him deny himself, Let him take up his cross, And let him follow me, And you know,

[36:12] I must make you aware, My role as, Your minister, Is to make you aware, That Satan's, Earnest desire, Is that you will go, Any other way, Apart from the way, Of the cross, Is that you will go, Any other way, Apart from following, Jesus Christ, That's Satan's longing, That is his longing, He is the adversary, Of God, He is the devil, He is the divider, He is the father of lies, He is the evil one, He is our enemy, And he goes, As the Bible says, To and fro upon the earth, And up and down upon it, And he goes around, Like a roaring lion, Seeking, Whom he may, Devour, Trying to tempt us, Away, From following, The way, Of the Christ, My friends, Satan is the God,

[37:13] Of this world, Who blinds our minds, Into unbelief, Unbelief, And just like in the parable, Of the sower, That when the seed is sown, Before it has even landed, The devil has come, And he's tried to snatch it away, He's been doing it, Since I started preaching, And he'll do it every week, He's trying to stop the seed, Penetrating your heart, There's one thing about Satan, He never misses church, You might miss church, But he's always here, He's never absent from a servant, A service, Because he's either in the pew with you, Or he's in the pulpit with me, He's always here,

[38:14] Trying to distract us, And tempt us away, From focusing our worship, Upon Jesus, He's always here, Filling our minds with, What we have to do today, What are we going to do, After the service, What are we going to do this week, What plans do we have, He's always here, Attempting to direct us, Away from the cross, And the things of Christ, And you know my friend, Let me tell you this, Let me tell you this, Lend me your ear, For one minute, If you're asleep, Wake up, Lend me your ear, For one minute, The greatest lie, Satan will tell you today, As you sit here, Apart from the fact, He will tell you, That the Bible isn't true, God isn't real, And it's not worth believing, The greatest lie, That almost everyone, Falls for, The greatest lie,

[39:16] Satan will tell you, Is that you have, Plenty of time, You have plenty of time, You will have, A later opportunity, To become a Christian, You'll have another chance, To make Jesus, Your saviour, You'll have a, A later opportunity, To profess, The name of Christ, The greatest lie, Satan will tell you today, Is that you have, Plenty of time, But God says to us, The very thing we know, And we know it, From our own experience, We all know it, As a community, And we all know it, To be true, We are not promised, Tomorrow, We are not promised, Tomorrow, And so if we are not, Promised tomorrow, Then the time,

[40:17] To come to this Christ, Is now, The time to seek the Lord, Is now, The time to take up your cross, Follow Jesus, Is now, Don't listen to him, Don't be drawn in by him, Don't, Fall for all his lies, Because he's only pointing you, To the things of men, Not to the things of God, So what are you going to do my friend?

[40:54] Because here you are in church, Another Sunday morning service, But what are you going to do, With all that you hear? We've been presented, With a revelation, The way of the Christ, Is the way of the cross, Jesus needed to die, In order that we could have a life, That abundant life, Eternal life, We not only saw a revelation, But we've also witnessed a rejection, Peter rejected the way of the Christ, Being the way of the cross, But he did it in ignorance, He didn't know the truth, So don't be like Peter, Because you know the truth, You know, The truth, Don't reject the way of the cross, But we've also seen a rebuke, Jesus, Rebuked, Satan for standing in the way of the cross, And Satan is doing the very same thing,

[41:58] To many of you this morning, He's standing in the way, Of the cross, So what do you need to do? Say, Get behind me, Satan, And when he is moved out of the way, You take up your cross, And you follow Jesus, You follow Jesus, You follow Jesus, May the Lord bless these thoughts, Let us pray, O Lord, O gracious God, We bless thee for, This glorious gospel, We thank thee Lord, That, O thou art one, Who is altogether lovely, We ask that thou wouldst keep the evil one from us, Keep him Lord from, Hindering our worship, Or standing in the way between us and Jesus, That we might look to Jesus, That we might say,

[43:00] Get behind me, Satan, That we may run to Jesus, Oh, And keep walking on with him, From this day forward, Throughout all our days, Knowing that he is the author, And he is the finisher of our faith, Bless us Lord, We pray thee, Keep us, For we ask thee, That we know that thou art the only one, Who can keep us, Bless us then, We pray, Go before us, And do us good, For we ask it in Jesus name, And for his sake, Amen.

[43:36] We shall conclude by singing in Psalm 27, Psalm 27, It's in the Scottish Psalter, Page 236, Psalm 27, Singing from the beginning down to the verse marked 3, The Lord's my light, And saving health, Who shall make me dismayed, My life strength is the Lord of whom, Then shall I be afraid, When as mine enemies and foes, Most wicked persons all, To eat my flesh against me rose, They stumbled, And did fall, Against me though unhostent camp, My heart yet fearless is, Though war against me rise, I will be confident in this, These verses of Psalm 27, To God's praise.

[44:35] The Lord's my light, Unsaving health, Who shall make me dismayed, My life strength is the Lord of whom, Then shall I be afraid, When us my enemies unfold, Most wicked persons all, To eat my flesh against me, To eat my flesh against me, Against me though unhostent camp,

[45:46] My heart yet fearless is, Though war against me rise, Thy grace of the Lord of whom, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, The love of God the Father, And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Be with you all, Now and forevermore.

[46:17] Amen.