There are people who say, I'm going to give Jesus a try, in hopes

that somehow that will make their life easier or happier, but that's not what Jesus taught.

Today on Truth For Life we'll find out why the Messiah had to suffer and die on the cross,

and what His ministry means for every Christian.

Alistair Begg is teaching today from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 8.

Let's think about it from Peter's side of the fence for just a moment.

Think about from where Peter was standing. We have the benefit of seeing the end of the story.

Peter didn't. So it always be too hard on Peter. He's clueless, having been given a clue,

but he's no more clueless than we would have been. The idea of a rejected Messiah didn't fit the

picture. You see, Peter, like the rest of the disciples, was struggling with these concepts.

He and his colleagues, if you like, in the reading of the end of Isaiah 52, were clearly reading

all of the plus side words. In other words, they had a kind of selective listening,

which in part they could be forgiven for, because their expectation of triumph and of victory and

of the overthrow of oppression beat within their hearts, far down through the centuries of their

Jewish thinking. But for Jesus to stop in the middle of the proceedings and say, so far so good,

but the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, die, and be raised again. They didn't have categories

with which to process this information, for example, the concept of the resurrection itself.

If your Bible is open at chapter 9, you can look without turning to anything, but in verse 9,

after the transfiguration, as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell

anyone what they had seen. See, here we go again, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead,

and they kept the matter to themselves, discussing what quotes rising from the dead meant.

It's so good, isn't it? Mark has it here, warts and all. This gospel was an invention even if

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