There are many points in theology and in doctrine that delve into the deep things of Scripture, but such matters, we must remember, are simply the continued development of what are the basics. It's not a great reveal of something new, but a deeper delve into what we refer to as the basics. So we hear, first of all, there is one God. And then we learn there is a Trinity. And then we learn more about the Trinity. And then we learn about Jesus Christ, our Savior. We learn that he is God-man. And gradually, we build up a deeper and a greater picture of these things. And we'll see something about the nature of this buildup in our text. growing in grace and our understanding that Jesus is the Christ, and then to live to Him in all parts of our lives. It's also worth remembering that as one put it, our Lord removes the blindness of our understanding, the raging fever of our passions, the palsy of our spiritual affections, the lameness of our halting obedience, and raises us up from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness." In short, The Lord changes our lives for the better. He makes the difference. We are saved by grace through faith, and we learn of Him, and through learning, we also learn to trust and obey. Our text is Mark chapter eight, verses 22 to 38. Our theme is trust and obey, and our three points, growing in grace, Jesus the Christ and live for Jesus Christ. So, first of all, growing in grace from verses 22 to 26. So, of course, first of all, it says there in verse 22, he came to Bethsaida. Now, that is in the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and it was also the home of Andrew, Peter, and Philip. Now, we're not When it comes to then this method of healing that took place, he took the blind man by the hand, he led him out, he spit in his eyes, he put his hand on him, and of course initially he only saw men walking his trees, and then he then healed him fully. But this method of spitting and putting his hands on his eyes, we're not actually told why he used it. It is unique in the methods of healing. It is also unique to be doing so by degrees. And of course, although there was the initial partial healing, our Lord immediately remedied that and turned the partial healing into full healing straight away. So anyone who uses this unique healing by degrees to claim that partial healing classed as healing is in shaky ground, to say the least. When God heals miraculously, he does so completely. And the time gap between him being healed completely to the partial healing was but moments. Now, this healing was done more privately than the others. He specifically sent most people away, most likely so that there'd be no superstitious methodology. In other words, you don't suddenly have a whole host of people going around spitting and touching people's eyes or something like that, because people will do that. They see, oh, this is a method that work, therefore we'll do it universally. This is a unique point for this particular occasion. does show that the Lord was also not tied to any particular method in His work during His earthly ministry. He would use what method He deemed appropriate, and in that sense today, the Lord will use different means. Yes, that they're grounded and bound in Scripture, so we go to do evangelism. There are different methods of doing evangelism, but the core of what we do should come from Scripture. But this healing is more than that. It is an emblem of spiritual things. We are saved in the instant we believe, but the work of grace takes time in our lives. Initially, we are blind, naturally blind to the things of God, for we're all dead and trespassing sin. And when we are converted, We don't see as clearly as we do as the years roll by and we learn the more. We grow in grace. We're converted very young and we can't pinpoint the date, but we're still growing in grace as we grow and learn of the Lord, as we physically grow up as well spiritually. For those of us who are converted later in life, or relatively later in life, than when we're converted, There are many things, no doubt, we'll have wrong. There are many things we'll lack in understanding, but we will grow in grace. In other words, we will initially be as those who will see men walking as trees, healing in our life, in our spiritual life, but our growing in grace will continue. This is therefore a picture, a practical illustration of spiritual matters. It's not an exact parallel, so don't take this and take it as an exact parallel. We have the principle, therefore, to help us in dealing with each other because we grow in race at different rates. The line of our understanding of ourselves is never exactly a straight line, as we ourselves learn and grow. Sometimes we'll go faster, sometimes slower, sometimes we might wander off into Bypass Meadow in our understanding, and we have to come back. But it warns us to be careful not to expect every believer to see what we may think as obvious and straightforward. because initially somebody hears the gospel, they are converted, and they may come from a background which is not a Christian background at all, and they may then have in place in their understanding of Scripture all sorts of weird and odd notions. They have the heart of the matter. but they need to learn. And as time goes by, as they listen to preaching, as hopefully they read good books, as they talk with fellow Christians, as they learn, many of these things, hopefully all of them, but none of us are perfect, so I'll say many of them, will be chipped away and the things which are odd and which maybe they think, well, that's not quite right, get smoothed out and moved away as we grow in grace. So this also tells us we need to have patience and understanding with each other. Sometimes the expectations by many Christians I've known over the decades of being a Christian, I think has been mistaken. Too quick to write somebody off because they're converted and you can see all the flaws in what they believe and you can see the issues in their life. But because of that, we think, oh, they're probably not a Christian. rather than seeing, yes, you know what, they are a Christian, but there are certain things that they need to change. And of course, we start that with the one in the mirror, because when we look to our own doctrine, we look to our own life, which one of us here, if we look honestly at our lives and doctrine, can say, oh, I have nothing to change. Surely we all say, no, I have things I need to change too. And I use the word I not metaphorically, I mean it literally of myself. So there were lessons from this healing that took place here. It wasn't just done so, or there's something odd happening. There was a spiritual lessons to be drawn. And then, of course, he sent him away to his housing, neither going to the town nor tell anyone in the town. Mark doesn't record what he did or didn't do. But the lessons to be learned from this was not to be learned necessarily at that point there. It is something that was going to be learned later on. Also, The Lord often told people that he healed, don't tell anybody, off you go. Because, of course, what he did not want was for people to then turn around and try to think, oh, well, this great one will turn him into an earthly king or something like that. Here we see the picture of His growing in grace and our learning, and we are learning to trust and obey. Stage by stage, bit by bit, we learn to trust Him the more, and we simultaneously, as we learn to trust Him the more, we learn to obey Him all the more. We do so because we grow in grace, and that's because we trust in Jesus the Christ. Which leads us on to our second point, Jesus the Christ, verses 27 to 33. Now, if we could have the map, hopefully. So, he moved, then went to Mount Hern and then Caesarea Philippi, which are the north of the Sea of Galilee, Mount Hermon being in Syria, and the town of Caesarea Philippi, which is, oh, that's the wrong thing. Try that one. There's Mount Hermon just inside Syria, and there's Caesarea Philippi in the Tetraarch of Phillip. Thanks, Andy. So, Just a little bit of geography there, but a wee bit of history to go with it. Caesar of Ayia Fallapai was also close to the source of the Jordan River. Herod the Great built a temple there dedicated to Caesar of Augustus, the one who had all the children massacred because he was trying to kill Jesus Christ. As a young child, he built a temple dedicated to Caesar of Augustus. and his son, that is, Heve's son, changed its name from Panaeus to Caesarea Philippi. I'm sure Heve's son, Philip, had no ego in him when he changed the name to Philippi. Obviously, that's what these people are like. They're so caught up in themselves. And they were a pretty rotten bunch, to say the least. So history aside, that's where the Lord has traveled to. And he asked the question, who do men say that I am? Heaven said John the Baptist, resurrected, that's in Mark 6 verse 16. But when Herod heard of it, that is, heard of Jesus and his miracles and so on, he said, this is John, whom I beheaded. He's been risen from the dead. Probably thinking that because he's got a guilty conscience. Some said Elijah, who of course was expected before the coming of the Messiah. That's Malachi 4 and 5 says that. We'll be looking at that next week. So we'll deal with that in its proper place. And the Lord made it clear that Elijah had already come. Mark 9 verse 13, Again, that's next week's sermon. We'll deal with that in its proper place. Now, of course, John the Baptist didn't come by resurrection, but by John coming in the spirit of Elijah. But Elijah did also literally come at the Mount of Transfiguration. Again, next week. And some of them said, one of the prophets, which is really the catch-all cop-out, just, oh, one of the prophets. In other words, I don't really want to say However, while all these thoughts spoke honorably of him, because they're speaking about him being a prophet and so on, they all missed the mark. And to be honest, we have that problem today, do we not? Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs will all speak honorably of Jesus Christ. They'll all speak of him being a prophet. They'll all speak about him being a great man. But then they promptly blaspheme him by not acknowledging him as God, or very God. And they reject him by not accepting him as the only savior and the only way to God. So for all their honorable speaking, They're actually rejecting Jesus and proving they're actually haters of who he really is. And many so-called spiritual people in the land will similarly speak well of Jesus. Oh yes, he was a great man. They'll say, oh yes, he said some great things as they take the Sermon on the Mount, mingle its theology, and come out with what Jesus never actually said. but it's a Jesus of their own making, rather than the one we're told about in the Bible. But then he said to them, but who do you see that I am? Our Lord actually just completely ignores what everybody else says, because quite frankly, the tittle-tattle of people who don't believe in him are not what he's interesting and truly hearing. But he wants to know the disciples think and Peter answered and said to him you are the Christ that is the anointed one that is the Messiah. Then he strictly warned them they should tell no one about him because of course things had to be done in an order it wasn't at that time yet for Jesus to be crucified and therefore there was a certain amount of what was knowledge that we have recorded that wasn't actually fully broadcast. There's a small number of people who actually are told precisely who he is. For example, it's said clearly to the woman at the well. In fact, he often tells people, we notice who are the people who you think, the least expected people to hear. Then, of course, Peter displays his example of seeing men like trees. You know, Peter being Peter. You've got to love Peter, surely. He's such a hothead. He immediately decides to take the Savior of our side and have a quiet word with him. There's a part of you that thinks, well, who do you think you are doing that? And then he tells him, that, oh, no, no, no, you can't be saying you're going to be rejected. You can't be saying that you've got to die. We can't be having any of that. But you see, for Jesus, the Christ, to be the Christ, he had to die on the cross. He could not be the Messiah. He could not be the anointed one if he was not anointed to go to the cross. Because no cross equals no salvation. And of course our Lord rebukes him, get behind me Satan. He rebukes by partly showing that Peter's following Satan. at this point, and partly by making it clear who is behind such an evil design to take Jesus Christ away from the cross. For you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man. Because Peter at that point, no doubt, is thinking about, well, how are you going to rule? How are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel if you're going to be dead? Missing the whole point. that the kingdom of God is within us. It's when we're repenting and trusting in Christ and when we're following him. That's why the kingdom of God is spread throughout this entire world. Everywhere where there is believers, there is the kingdom of God. But where are we in all of this? Do you see Jesus in the correct way? Do you accept Him as Savior? Do you accept that He had to die for our sins so that we can be saved? Do you prefer to just believe whatever you want about Jesus? which is only one acceptable way to think about Jesus, that He is God-man, that He died for our sins, risen for our justification. Our only response to that is to repent of our sins, to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. That is to say, when we see here who it is that we're dealing with, that this is the Christ, our reaction surely is to trust and obey. For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey while living for Jesus Christ. Which leads us on to our third and final point. Live for Jesus Christ, verses 34 to 38. Now there are sections of those who take the name of Christ who mangle these words of Jesus by rejecting them. That is the words that we have to carry our cross, the words that the road will not necessarily be a bed of roses, but will be difficult. At the extreme end, there are the health, wealth, and prosperity, so-called churches like Hillsong and Bethel and Elevation and so on, who preach a false gospel that's no gospel at all. who they say, you come to Jesus and your life will be perfect upon earth, you'll have all these riches, everything will be wonderful, it's a bed of roses. You'll get all the power and everything that you want. How does that work? For whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Doubt they'll ever quote these words from such pulpits, or if they do, I'm sure they'll find some way around it to what it actually says. But if we come away from the extreme end, and obviously another part of the extreme end would be the liberal church who would take away the bits of the Bible that are uncomfortable. But there were those who do go partially down the road. They hold to the gospel, but they shrink back from passages like this. One of the benefits of expository preaching, preaching through books of the Bible, is you get to the parts that you might not naturally choose. Now, I would confess I wouldn't really have a problem in picking this bit, but there were other parts that I preached on in different epistles and so on that I wouldn't shrink from doing, but I wouldn't naturally go there straight away. It wouldn't be my first choice. So whether this is our first choice or not, we have to take heed. There is a cross to be carried when we're trusting in Christ. And this cross is that the believers bear, of course, is not for our salvation. Christ bore the cross for our salvation. We don't bear it for that. Nor is this cross talking about the general troubles of life. In fact, many talk about non-Christians having a cross to bear, but that's actually not biblical. So you see somebody going through a hard time, so that's a hard cross to bear. That's not a biblical way of speaking. And we might be going through hard troubles that aren't gospel related, they're just part of the generalities of life. That's not actually the cross that we have to bear. They are troubles, real troubles and they're real hardships and not to be diminished or taken not to be serious, but the cross is directly related to coming after Jesus and denying ourselves. Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, and the Gospels will save it. In other words, the cross is putting your entire life at the foot of our Lord, and whatever hardship comes to us, because we are trusting in Jesus, that's the cross we have to bear. J.C. Ryle put it, and I made slight alterations to this just to aid in reading it out loud. We must be content to take up the cross of doctrine, the cross of practice, the cross of holding a faith which the world despises, and the cross of living a life which the world ridicules as too strict and righteous over much. We must be willing to crucify the flesh to mortify the deeds of the body, to fight daily with the devil, to come out from the world and to lose our lives, if needful, for Christ's sake and for the gospel. That's the cross that's been spoken of here. Only Christians can do these things because only Christians are following Jesus and can take up that cross. that comes with our walk with the Lord. It is, of course, a walk with the Lord that he is always with us with. My yoke is easy. He will not break the brewers' reed, as I often quote. He will not put out the smoking flax candle. Sorry, that's the authorized version, smoking flax habit. Too many years of reading the A.V. And this isn't, when it talks about whoever desires to save his life will lose it, it's not telling us to avoid using lawful means to stay alive. It's not saying that we're careless with our lives. It's not even saying we can't defend ourselves in self-defense when there are certain occasions we do. Someone tries to mug us and we defend ourselves. It's not saying we can't do that. But it's telling us that our life does not come before Christ. So if we are given the choice, as martyrs are, you either deny the Lord or lose your life, well, we as Christians are to lose our lives and never to deny the Lord. Remember, our Lord said, if you're persecuted in one town, move on to the next. So we're not actually obliged to stay under persecution if there's a means of avoiding it. But the means of avoiding it is you might move on to another town. You might change job. The means is not to deny Christ. The means is not to say, well, I'll avoid the persecution by just saying, oh, no, no, I don't believe that anymore, so I'm just one of you. That is what we're not to do. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Well, if you're going to deny Christ, then the answer is, you're just going to lose your soul. If, on the other hand, you're willing to not deny Christ, then the answer is, I am willing to give up everything, even my life, to not lose my soul. And then there was the warning for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, and 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 his holy angels. Those who take the name of Christ and deny what he says and teaches will be rejected by Christ. And sadly, as it stands at the moment, much of the church in the UK will suffer that fate. for they deny a vast array of the vital elements of not only what Jesus says, but who he is. And note, whoever is ashamed of me, so if they're ashamed of saying, no, no, he is God, man. He is the only way of salvation. There is no way to the Father except through him. If they're ashamed of that, then they're ashamed of him. And my words, his teaching, his doctrine, where do we find his words? Well, we find his words in the sense of these passages in what he says in the Gospels. And he says a few words in the book of Acts. And he says words in the book of Revelation. But he is the Word that was made flesh. What are the words of Jesus? The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. There's no safe way to deny any part of the Bible as if it's not the words of Jesus, as if they're not given by Him. Red Letter of Editions of the Bible, which as it happens, this is one. But Red Letter of Editions of the Bible, in some senses, can be handy, although I'm not a great fan of them. Particularly handy when you're preaching in the Gospels, simply because it makes it easy to find your place. But actually, they're a misnomer. Because while I can see and understand why they do it, but actually, the whole Bible is the words of Jesus, because he is the word. Whoever's ashamed of me and my words, it's a dangerous thing to deny what the Bible teaches. There's no safe way to do it. And note my wording, deny what it teaches, not misunderstand what it teaches, not not understand what it teaches. There are many places in the Bible where I look at and I have to immediately go to commentaries because I have no understanding what it's talking about. I have to go and learn. And there are many places I still haven't quite made up my mind exactly what it's speaking of because there are hard parts of the Bible that is hard to understand. But that's not denying it. Struggling to understand is not the same as denying. Struggling to understand, say, well, I don't get what this is saying, which is vastly different from saying, well, it's just not true. So people say, God didn't create the world in six actual days. And then we say, well, is that a vital part of our salvation? I'll leave that debate hanging in the air, but I will point out this. If we do not accept the six days of creation, what do we do with Adam and Eve? What do we do with the fall? What do we do with the imposition of death after the fall if there is millennia and so on of death before it? What do we do with Jesus Christ being the last Adam if the first Adam becomes debatable or just a myth? Because then how can he be called the last Adam if there wasn't a first Adam? So I'm leaving it hanging in the air whether you can or cannot be a Christian while denying such things. because there are Christians who do, but I'll leave that hanging as I said. But what I will not leave hanging is that we have no right to disbelieve any part of the Bible. We have no right to not take God at his word. And we need to take very seriously, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of man also will be ashamed when he comes into the glory of his father with the holy angels. That is not to be taken lightly. Doctrine is important. Not the depth of our understanding, but whether we're actually willing to believe. As I said, this is definitely not about having a perfect understanding. Remember the first point, growing in grace. So we might not understand, we might be struggling to understand, we might be seeing often, as it were, men walking as trees. But we still believe what Jesus says, even though we struggle to understand it. We need to believe the correct things to live for Jesus Christ and to be able to trust and obey. In conclusion, then, this passage has some things that we would call hard sayings, particularly, I think, in the last point, that if we deny Jesus, he will deny us. We are to deny ourselves and put God first. with a cross to bear in this world. And yet we can see how gracious our Lord is through the practical illustration is that we will grow in grace, in degrees, whereby we learn more about our Lord and we learn to trust Him more. And we can see that the apostle Peter was going through that process of seeing men like trees as they both understood Jesus as the Christ, while at the same time denying what our Lord had to do. Thankfully, we have a long-suffering God with us, and we can always rely upon Him to aid and guide us in all that we do. Therefore, when we trust And Jesus Christ for salvation, which we all must do, we will not know all things clearly, which is part of the reason why I leave it hanging in the air regarding to Genesis. Into all that we learn to trust God, and the more we learn to rely upon him, the more we learn to trust and obey.