A. First century confusion: John, Elijah, one of the prophets
B. Twenty-first century confusion: a good man, a prophet, but not the Messiah
II. “But who do you say that I am?” (8:29-30)
A. Peter’s answer: “You are the Christ!”
B. They were warned to tell no one at the time, but were later commanded to tell everyone (Mark 16:15; Acts 2:36; 4:8-12)
III. The suffering of the Son of Man (8:31-33)
A. Jesus predicts His death and resurrection
B. Peter rebuked the Lord – do we ever disagree with Jesus about His identity? His nature? His love for us?
C. Jesus rebuked Peter: “For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Isaiah 55:8-9; Philippians 2:5; Ephesians 4:31-32)
(outline based on Gene C. Finley’s hymn of the same name)
I. Giving in to temptation
A. God does not tempt man to sin (Matthew 6:13; James 1:13)
B. God provides an escape from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13)
C. When we give in to temptation, it is because “we let the tempter lead us astray” (James 1:14)
II. Weariness of faith
A. Don’t ever give up (Galatians 6:9)
B. Don’t complain (Philippians 2:14-15)
C. Focus on the big picture, the final destination, not the temporary obstacles of this life (Philippians 3:12-14)
III. Verbal sins
A. We should guard our words carefully (Matthew 12:36; Ephesians 4:29)
B. Let us be patient in our speech (James 1:19-20)
IV. Sinful thoughts
A. “We let them stay” (Mark 7:21-23; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
B. Godly thoughts and worldly thoughts are incompatible with each other (Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17)
A. Such a sign had already been given! (Matthew 3:13-17)
B. Jesus refused to give a sign on their terms
II. The Pharisees’ and Herod’s leaven (8:13-21)
A. Sadducees included in Matthew’s account (Matthew 16:1-12)
B. The apostles were hardened by their opponents’ doctrine, doubting, and deceit
C. There is danger in tolerance of falsehood (Ephesians 5:11; Revelation 2:14-15, 20) – even “just a little” (1 Corinthians 5:6-7)
III. The blind man at Bethsaida (8:22-26)
A. The problem with Bethsaida (Matthew 11:21-22)
B. The healing done in stages for the building up of faith
C. “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town” – the citizens in Bethsaida had already shown their unbelief (Matthew 7:6)
A. “We were…by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3)
B. Sin has corrupted the world (2 Peter 1:4)
C. This is an individual choice (John 8:44)
II. “Divine nature”
A. Available to all who are called (2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9)
B. Through His exceedingly great and precious promises
1. The promise of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 2:33)
2. The promise of remission of sins (Acts 2:38-39)
3. The promise of eternal life (Titus 1:2; James 1:12)
III. What are the characteristics of the “divine nature”?
A. Righteousness (1:1; Matthew 5:6, 10; 1 Peter 3:14)
B. Grace (1:2; John 1:14, 17; Romans 3:24)
C. Peace (1:2; Romans 15:33; 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Romans 14:19)
D. Glory (1:3; Matthew 25:31; 2 Thessalonians 2:14)
E. Virtue (1:3; 1 Peter 2:9; Philippians 4:8)
I. The individual woman and her daughter (7:24-30)
A. A Syro-Phoenician Gentile woman
B. Jesus’ initial mission was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles (cf. Mt. 10:5-6)
C. She was persistent, begging for the crumbs from the Master’s table
II. The individual man with physical limitations (7:31-37)
A. A deaf, mute man
B. Jesus took him away from the crowd and healed him (cf. Isaiah 35:5-6)
C. “He has done all things well” (cf. Acts 10:38)
III. The multitude in their hunger (8:1-10)
A. A group of 4000 Gentiles so devoted to following Jesus because of what He provided – healing “the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others” (cf. Matthew 15:29-31)
B. Why didn’t the apostles ask Jesus to do what they knew He could do after witnessing feeding the 5000 (Mark 6:30-44)?
C. Don’t ever try to limit the power of God to transform someone’s life because of who they are! (Romans 1:16)
A. The church was “puffed up” (1 Corinthians 5:2)
B. Persistent, willful, rebellious sin must not be tolerated (Rom. 6:1-7)
II. A little leaven
A. The sin of Achan led to the defeat at Ai (Joshua 7:1, 11-13)
B. The sin of Saul caused his family to lose the kingdom (1 Sam. 13:8-14)
C. The principle in prophecy (Haggai 2:11-14)
III. What shall we do?
A. Purge out the old leaven—remove the influence of sin! (Eph. 5:11)
B. You are a new creation in Christ, which means the old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17)
C. Acknowledge sin, confess it to God, beg for His forgiveness (Psalm 51:1-4)
A. The tradition—which may have started as a good reminder to the Jews—had been reduced to mere ritual
B. Accusing Jesus and His disciples was becoming common practice for the Pharisees (Mark 2:16, 18, 24)
II. The admonition (Mark 7:6-13)
A. Man’s tradition must not trump God’s truth! (Isaiah 29:13)
B. Acceptable worship and godly service requires both attitude and action – spirit and truth (John 4:24)
C. The example cited by Jesus: “Corban”
III. The source of defilement (Mark 7:14-23)
A. Defilement doesn’t come from one’s outward circumstance, but from his heart (Proverbs 4:23)
B. Sin is connected to the character and integrity and purity of one’s heart (Matthew 5:21ff; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8)
C. We have the choice (2 Timothy 2:22)
A. The relationship between Saul and David started well (1 Samuel 16:21-23)
B. Jealousy took hold of Saul quickly as David became popular (1 Samuel 18:5-9)
C. Saul developed murderous hatred (1 Samuel 18:10-11; 19:1; 1 John 3:15)
II. Saul claimed to be the victim (1 Samuel 22:8)
A. One of man’s worst enemies is all-too-often self
B. Imagined conspiracies against him (Isaiah 8:12-13)
C. Pitied himself because no one felt sorry for him (1 Corinthians 10:24-33)
III. Saul had an unquenchable appetite for vengeance (1 Samuel 22:9-19)
A. Doeg told Saul what he wanted to hear (Isaiah 30:9-11; 2 Timothy 4:3-4)
B. Doeg executed Saul’s ungodly wrath (James 1:19-20)
A. The need for rest (Mark 6:30-32)
B. The need for compassion (Mark 6:33-34; Matthew 9:35-38)
C. The need for physical sustenance (Mark 6:35-44)
II. Walking on water (Mark 6:45-52)
A. The prayer of Jesus (Mark 6:45-46; 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
B. The peace of Jesus (Mark 6:47-52; Philippians 4:6-7)
III. Healing all who touched Him (Mark 6:53-56)
A. Jesus was recognized (Mark 6:53-54; 1 Corinthians 11:1)
B. Jesus was sought (Mark 6:55-56)
IV. Application
A. His power is beyond our comprehension (Ephesians 3:20; Romans 8:31-39)
B. Our limitations are proof of His supremacy (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
C. Be the person your friends turn to when they need spiritual guidance (2 Corinthians 2:17)
(outline based on L.O. Sanderson’s hymn of the same name)
I. Verse 1
A. He left heaven and came to earth (Philippians 2:5-7)
B. He did this knowing He would be rejected (John 1:5, 10-11)
II. Verse 2
A. He faced temptation (Hebrews 4:15)
B. He spent much time teaching (Matthew 7:28-29) and praying (Luke 5:16)
III. Verse 3
A. He faced intense emotional strain, followed by physical pain (Luke 22:41-44; Matthew 27:21-31)
B. He suffered death upon the cross (Philippians 2:8; Romans 5:8)
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. (Acts 8:12)
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