**Recommended Use**: Listen to the short sermon clip. Read through the provided passages and summaries. Think and talk through the provided questions. Ideally, do all that before, during, or after you meet up to with one or more followers of Jesus.

DISCUSS YOUR READING FROM DAY 3:

Q: What have you thought most about? What questions do you have?

READING:

Mark 8:29-10:45

KEY VERSES:

Mark 8:29-38; 9:7, 31-35; 47;

10:25-30, 36, 44-45

BIBLICAL THEME TO CONSIDER:

Summary:

1. God Rules

2. Humanity Rebels

3. Christ Redeems

4. Repent & Believe the Gospel

Christ Redeems: As planned and promised, God sent His eternal Son in Christ Jesus to perfectly live, sacrificially die, victoriously rise, sovereignly reign, justly judge, and faithfully save sinners from God’s good wrath.

BIBLICAL THEME AS SEEN IN MARK:

That’s a mouthful, but it sums up thousands of years of promises that God had made through dozens of authors in the Old Testament. And, it sums up what Jesus has done and is doing.

In this one passage of Mark's Gospel, Jesus covers most of that.

Mark 8:29–38

"And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men."

Q: Why did Peter rebuke Jesus? Do you remember from our discussion last week? Do you see how Jesus answers that question? How was Jesus’s rebuke an act of love when Peter’s rebuke wasn’t?

Even though Peter was trying to impose his wrong ideals onto Jesus, Jesus rebuked Peter in love. Instead of leaving Peter to his sinful thinking, Jesus corrected Peter. Jesus made clear that what He said was of God. It was God’s plan for Jesus to die and satisfy God’s just judgment for sinners. Jesus came to be the Servant of Isaiah 53 and the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12.

Along with that, Jesus instructed Peter and all His disciples of what it truly meant to follow Him. To follow Jesus meant that not only would the Messiah suffer, but so also would His followers.

Mark 8:29–38

"…Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Q: How does Jesus’s call to follow Him sound similar to His own mission? What is true of those who “lose their life” in Christ and His gospel? What is true of those who are ashamed of Jesus, His mission, and His gospel?

Jesus did not come to save a worthy people. He came to save sinners… from God’s own wrath that Jesus would carry out on the future day of judgment. Notice the warning in verse 38… whosoever is ashamed of Jesus and His words… of him Jesus will be ashamed… that person will lose his life. But, Jesus said in verse 35 that whosoever loses his life for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s… shall save it.

In other words, Jesus corrects Peter and us all by instructing us to cherish Jesus’s mission as the Messiah to die for our sins and to rise again as the King of all. Jesus instructs us to forsake everything that gets in the way of trusting and following the crucified and risen Messiah.

And then in the next passage, the Father speaks audibly to Peter, James, and John, telling them to hear and obey Him.

Mark 9:7

"…and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him."

Q: To what previous event in Mark is this similar? What did the voice instruct the disciples to do? Who was that? What had the disciples heard Jesus say?

After the Father tells these disciples to hear and obey Him, Jesus once again tells them of His mission to die and rise again—according to the Scriptures. And then Jesus teaches it once again…

Mark 9:31–32

"For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him."

Q: Did you know that Jesus repeatedly foretold of His death and resurrection? In chapter ten Jesus told them this again while leading them right into Jerusalem where it would take place. Why would Jesus go there if He knew this would happen? Why were the disciples afraid to ask Jesus about what He said?

Remember, Jesus said in chapter eight this was His mission. Mark’s Gospel is telling us how God saves sinners through Christ—not how sinners are worthy of being saved. We are not! The disciples still don’t get it, and instead of trusting Jesus enough to ask Him more about it, they are afraid to ask Him. They have fear not mixed with faith.

This is a repeated theme throughout all of Mark’s Gospel: people are perplexed by and afraid of Jesus without trusting Him. Sin breeds distrust of God. And the root of this is sinful pride, as seen in what is immediately on the disciples’s hearts after Jesus teaches about His death and resurrection…

Mark 9:34–35

"…they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all."

Q: How is what Jesus said backwards to the way we do things in the world? What does this tell us about Jesus? About God? About us?

The disciples think that the Messiah would demonstrate His greatness by demanding others to serve Him. Instead, Jesus teaches that in the Kingdom of God, true greatness serves the least of all. And if Jesus is the LORD—Yahweh, Jesus is the greatest. This means Jesus came to make God known by humble service.

This is the way of God… of the Messiah… of His followers… of all whom Jesus redeems back to God. This is the way and fruit of the Gospel.

True followers of Christ are made good by God’s Gospel bearing fruit in them. They are not good in it of themselves. The gospel makes the sinner forgiven…. the selfish selfless… the moralist repentant… and the idolator a true worshiper of God. God is the author and completer of the gospel. Through it, God does what is humanly impossible: He saves and transforms sinners into a kingdom of servants to the glory of God.

And we need this salvation! Just consider this hyperbolic language Jesus uses to communicate the urgency of entering the Kingdom of God and being saved from the eternal judgment of God.

Mark 9:47

"And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:"

Q: What is essential to having a kingdom? What would you think about the kingdom of God from what He has said so far? How might that differ from a place described as “hell fire”? Is Jesus exaggerating the urgency of the matter? How does this relate to where we began in the end of chapter eight?

The words I highlighted are the emphasis Jesus is making. You can’t really escape God’s judgment by plucking your eyes out. Jesus is making a point. You need to be urgent about entering the Kingdom of God. You need to be urgent about obeying God’s Gospel.

In chapter 10, Jesus says there is nothing we ourselves can do to enter the Kingdom of God and escape the good judgment of God. When a rich and very religious young ruler seeks to know how he can be good enough to earn eternal life—the Kingdom of God, Jesus answers him by exposing the idolatry of wealth that grips his heart.

And then Jesus declares the difficulty of such sinners entering the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:17-23). See how the disciples respond and what Jesus says is the solution.

Mark 10:25–27

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."

Q: What is Jesus saying is impossible for men? What is Jesus saying is possible for God? Why is this important after hearing how urgent we should be to enter the kingdom of God?

God comes to sinners and saves them into eternal citizens of His kingdom. God authored the gospel, sends the gospel message through His followers, and calls sinners by His Spirit. We’ll see this more at the end of this chapter when Jesus heals a blind man.

No one enters the kingdom of God by their own goodness. It is only by the grace and mercy of God in the gospel that sinners are saved and live forever with God.

Jesus then went on to teach His disciples that all who forsake their way, turning with faith and allegiance to Christ and the Gospel will graciously receive a community of believers now with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life—where there is no more persecution, sin, or evil.

Mark 10:29–30

"And Jesus answered and said… There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world [age] to come eternal life."

Q: What does someone who loses things for the sake of following Jesus and His gospel receive now? In the age to come? How should this shape our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus?

Such grace and mercy from God removes all ability for us to brag about our own goodness. The call of the gospel is to leave all that we otherwise would boast about, holding all our trust in Christ and the gospel.

Also, Jesus’s words prioritize the belonging His followers have in the people of God over all other things we naturally pursue. Jesus did not lure with either a “prosperity gospel” message or a “poverty gospel” message. Jesus prioritized the good of having eternal belonging in His kingdom even while enduring present persecutions because of it.

And, we naturally struggle with both of these. We like to receive the glory. We like to think that we can deserve and earn the eternal life of the kingdom of God. We also like to go after whatever immediately fills our desires and gives us comfort.

That is what Jesus exposes when he asks this question to James and John and then to blind Bartimaeus:

Mark 10:36

"And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?"

Disciples James and John answer by requesting to sit on Jesus’s right and left hand as He rules the kingdom. They seem entitled, and they think life is about them and their immediate desires. They wanted immediate power and pleasure from Jesus as their first priority.

And they still didn’t get that Jesus had come to save them from that very pride and sin that flowed from their hearts. Jesus came to save them from their greatest problem. A problem they did not understand enough yet.

Alternatively, blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and answers by requesting to receive sight so that he could see and follow Jesus in the way. Mark 10:46-52 is a beautiful account. I encourage you to slow down when you read it. You might even listen to that sermon in our app.

What the rich young ruler and the disciples didn’t understand, blind Bartimaeus seemed to get. He needed saved. He couldn’t do it. So, he cried out to the Lord for mercy.

Jesus called Bartimaeus to himself, heals him, and leads him in the way. Right before that, Jesus had corrected James and John by restating what He had already told them in chapter 9, saying:

Mark 10:44–45

"And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Q: Why does Jesus say He would give His life? How does this relate to everything we have gone through today? To Jesus’s mission? To the Father’s instruction? To the urgency of entering the kingdom of God? To the impossibility of entering the kingdom of God? To the blessings of the kingdom of God? To the need for mercy from the Lord? To the “Chiefest” doing the greatest act of service for all?

Jesus came to be the substitute for all who repent and believe the gospel. He died to satisfy God’s good wrath against sinners.

This was the prophesied mission of Jesus—the Son (Psalm 2) and Servant (Isaiah 53) of the LORD. The Father said to obey the words of His Son. It is a matter of entering the eternal kingdom of God or being cast into eternal hell fire. Only God can save you into His kingdom where there are eternal blessings and people. Cry out for mercy from the Lord. The greatest has served us by being made the ransom for the sins of sinners.

What is impossible for men is possible for God: sinners being redeemed into the Kingdom of God and transformed by the grace of God. It is impossible for sinners to save themselves from their sin and from God’s just judgment. Sinners like me and you—and blind Bartimaeus—can only be saved by God coming to us in the crucified and risen Christ—according to the Gospel.

God—the King—came to save sinners. And He came in humble service. He came according to the very gospel He authored. Jesus came to give His life a ransom for sinners. God saves through the gospel. This truly is good news!

As we read in chapter 8, Jesus would and did die and rise again. Jesus now reigns at the right hand of the Father. Jesus will return in the glory of the Father to judge the living and the dead… the just and the unjust… the ransomed and the lost.

Those who have been ransomed into God’s Kingdom by this gospel will enjoy and reflect God’s glory in all the earth—forever. Jesus’s death will have paid for their sins, and Jesus’s resurrection will be their eternity. Those who have rejected the gospel will be eternally judged for their sin.

1. God Rules: The one true God created us to enjoy and reflect His glory in all His creation.

2. Humanity Rebels: We have rebelliously sought our own glory, earning shame and God’s just judgment for our sin.

3. Christ Redeems: As planned and promised, God sent His eternal Son in Christ Jesus to perfectly live, sacrificially die, victoriously rise, sovereignly reign, justly judge, and faithfully save sinners from God’s good wrath.

So,

4) Repent & Believe the Gospel: God is reconciling back to Himself a beloved people born of His Spirit who repent from sin and lovingly follow the Lord Jesus by faith at the hearing of this good news and for all eternity in the new creation to the glory of God.

We will pick up here next week, but you don’t have to wait.

Q: How are you responding to this good news so far?

QUESTIONS TO ASK AS YOU READ MARK 8:29-10:45 BETWEEN MEETUPS:

Q: In Mark 8:27-38, what about Jesus’s mission did not make sense to Peter after confessing Jesus’s identity? How does Jesus’s mission relate to the call He gives to His followers? Why might some be ashamed of both? What does Jesus say is true of those who are ashamed of Jesus’s mission and the call He gives to His followers?

Q: In Mark 9:1-29, Who announces Jesus’s identity, and what does He command the disciples to do in response? After that, what did Jesus say was written in Scripture of the Son of man in verses 9-12? (Hint: Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 13:7)

Q: In Mark 9:30-35 and 10:13-16, what error does Jesus seem to be exposing in the hearts of His disciples? What is Jesus describing to be true of all who enter the kingdom of God?

Q: In Mark 10:17-31, who is the one Jesus says saves sinners when it otherwise would be impossible? What does Jesus expose is controlling the heart of the rich young ruler? What does Jesus promise in the present and the future for all who leave things for His sake and the gospel’s?

Q: In Mark 10:32-52, what is the difference between James and John’s request verses blind Bartimaeus’s request? What does this have to do with Jesus’s mission and call, as made clear in Mark 10:42-45? How is Bartimaeus’s life changed?

Q: What do you currently believe about Jesus's identity and mission?

Q: What does it mean to be "redeemed"?

Q: What do you think about the Bible saying that you are a sinner who needs to be redeemed?