A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: Jesus came to this earth to die for the sins of the world, but His disciples did not get that because it was lost in translation. In real time, it was a surprising message to comprehend. Today on A New Beginning, I give my perspective on God's plan and the Lord's sacrifice. One day He will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But before Christ would wear a crown, He would first have to bear a cross.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie calls his series in the book of Mark, The Gospel for Busy People. It is God's full plan of salvation explained and applied to our lives today. On this edition of A New Beginning, we hear Jesus explain that full plan of salvation to disciples who were hearing it unfold for the first time. It is a fascinating discussion where Jesus polls the disciples on perhaps the most significant question of the ages, a question that carries eternal consequences.

Greg Laurie: In this message, I want to talk to you from the Gospel of Mark. We are in a series there, and the title of my message is "Lost in Translation." I heard about an older couple who were celebrating 50 years of marriage together. The problem was the wife was getting a little hard of hearing. The husband announced in front of family and friends to his wife, "My dear wife, after 50 years, I have found you tried and true." She could not hear very well and said, "What?" He said, "My dear wife, after 50 years, I have found you tried and true." She shouted back, "Well, after 50 years, I am tired of you too."

There was a little communication breakdown there. You know, there are a lot of American companies that have tried to offer their products overseas, but sometimes there is a language barrier that has to be overcome. It is called something getting lost in translation. As an example, the Parker Pen Company was expanding its ballpoint line to Mexico. Their slogan was, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The problem was they did not fully understand how it would come out in Spanish. Instead, it was translated to say on billboards, "This pen will not leak in your pocket and impregnate you." That was a little different than intended.

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated into "Schweppes Toilet Water." Needless to say, not a lot of people wanted to drink toilet water. Jolly Green Giant, you remember them, "Ho, ho, ho," and their slogan, the Jolly Green Giant. They tried to market in the Arabic market, and instead, it came out to "Intimidating Green Ogre." Have you tried some of those beans from the intimidating green ogre?

In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan, "Come alive with the Pepsi generation," instead came out to say, "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead." Depending on what ancestors those were, maybe that is a promising thing or maybe not so much. Clairol tried to market its Mist Stick curling iron in Germany, and instead of it saying Mist Stick, it said "Manure Stick." Not a lot of German ladies were all that excited about using a manure stick.

In China, Kentucky Fried Chicken took their slogan, "finger-lickin' good," and instead it came out in Chinese as, "eat your fingers off." It gives a whole new meaning to chicken fingers, doesn't it? Finally, Scandinavian vacuum cleaner manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux." Something is lost in translation.

Well, guess what? Jesus seemed to have this issue with His own disciples. They did not understand why He had come to this earth in the first place. Jesus came to this earth to die for the sins of the world, but His disciples did not get that because it was lost in translation. Their hope and their belief was He was going to establish an earthly kingdom then and there. Their hope and belief was He was going to drive the Romans out who were occupying the land.

In fact, you remember after He fed the 5,000, that was His most popular miracle to date, the people wanted to make Jesus king by force. What is that all about? That means that they wanted to make Him the king so He would drive out Rome. They did not understand that that is not why He had primarily come. Now look, one day Christ will come back and establish His kingdom. One day He will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But before Christ would wear a crown, He would first have to bear a cross.

As we come to our text in Mark chapter 8, His ministry in Galilee is coming to a close. This is a transitional moment in His ministry, and for the first time, He is going to speak very clearly and in great detail about why He has come. He also asks a powerful question that we still need to answer today. Let's look at our text, Mark chapter 8, starting in verse 27.

Jesus and His disciples of Galilee went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, He asked them, "Who do people say that I am?" Well, they replied, "Some say you are John the Baptist, some say you are Elijah, and some say you are one of the other prophets." Then Jesus asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter replies, "You are the Messiah." And Jesus warned them to not tell anyone about Him.

This is the most important question of all. Jesus asks this question, "Who do men say that I am?" and this is a question we all must ultimately answer. I am going to tell you the answer now. Ultimately, everyone will say Jesus Christ is the Lord. Every Christian will say it, every non-Christian will say it, every atheist will say it, every agnostic will say it. Every person will ultimately say Jesus is Lord. You will say I am wrong about that, not everybody believes. I did not say they would necessarily say it during their lives on Earth, but one day when they stand before God Almighty, they will acknowledge Jesus Christ is Lord.

Philippians 2:10 says, "at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father." Now here is a big thing we do not want to miss. Where did Jesus ask this question? This question, "Who do men say that I am?" Where did He ask it? He asked it at a place called Caesarea Philippi.

We could breeze by that and miss its significance altogether. Caesarea Philippi was named after the Greek god Pan. So basically, in a place of paganism and false belief, Jesus Christ asks His disciples to make a stand. It is one thing to say, "Oh, Jesus is Lord," when we are with our Christian friends. It is one thing to say, "Oh, Jesus is Lord," when we are at church and singing praise to Him.

But will you say "Jesus is Lord" when you are gathered together with family from out of town? Will you say "Jesus is Lord" when you are at work? Will you say "Jesus is Lord" when you are out and about in life? See, it is one thing to make a stand with fellow believers. It is another thing to make a stand in our culture. Jesus said this: "If a person is ashamed of Me and My message, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in My glory and in the glory of My Father with the holy angels." Do not be ashamed of Christ. Speak up for Him.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody, you can watch our Sunday services on a special broadcast that we call Harvest at Home. It is streaming on the Harvest Plus platform. So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday. Well, Pastor Greg is presenting a message today called "Lost in Translation." Jesus is addressing His disciples in Caesarea Philippi, as recorded in Mark chapter 8.

Greg Laurie: So Jesus asked them, "Who do men say that I am?" Basically, the Lord saying, "Hey guys, what's the word on the street? What are people actually saying about Me right now?" Here is the question. Did Jesus know what the word on the street was? Did He know what people thought about Him and what they said about Him? Absolutely. In fact, He would call people out for their thoughts while He was engaging them. "Why do you think this in your heart?" He would say to someone.

He was aware. But the reason He asked this question of His disciples is He is giving them a test. Why does a teacher give a test? Answer: to see if the class is learning the material. They had seen Jesus perform His miracles. They had seen Jesus walk on the water. They had seen Jesus heal leprosy and drive out demons from people and even raise the dead. Did they really understand who He was yet? Apparently not.

Because they replied, "Well, some say you are John the Baptist, others say you are Elijah, still others say you are one of the prophets." That was not the right answer. But Simon Peter, known for his outspokenness, got it. Peter says in verse 30, "You are the Messiah." In Matthew's version of this story, he has Peter say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." You are not Elijah, you are not John the Baptist, you are not even a mere prophet. You are the very Son of God.

See, Jesus was not a mere man. He was not just one of the prophets. He was God coming to us in human flesh. God had a face. It was God with skin on, walking among us as the Lord entered our world. The birth of Jesus Christ was the most momentous event that has ever occurred in the history of the planet. It was the eternal God confining Himself to a single cell and being born of a woman in order to be the Savior of the world.

God literally became a fetus. And then in this earth-shaking event, Simon Peter got it. "You," he says to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And in Matthew's version of the story, Matthew 16, Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church." Can you imagine how Peter felt? Singled out by Jesus.

"Hey Peter, guess what? You didn't just come up with that on your own. My Father gave that thought to you. That's where the inspiration for those words came." Man, Peter was just thinking this is so awesome. "I'm being singled out and complimented by Jesus." But now the Lord continues on and He drops what could best be described as a bombshell. Look at Mark chapter 8 verse 31.

Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and three days later rise again. Notice the detail in those words. He laid it out. "Guys, here's who's going to betray Me. It's going to be the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. And I will be killed and I will rise again in three days." He spoke plainly about this. Now look at this.

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. And when Jesus turned and looked at the disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan, for you do not have in mind the concerns of God but merely human concerns." Stop there. By the way, this is the first time Jesus ever talked specifically, clearly, and I might even add graphically, about the fact that He was going to die. I don't even think they heard the "He'll be raised on the third day" part. They just heard He was going to die.

I don't think I am overstating it when this was really shocking to them. He was effectively saying, "I, Jesus, who you've given up everything to follow, I'm going to be murdered in cold blood. I'm going to be taken from you." And they are thinking, "How could that be part of any plan? You're the Messiah. You're supposed to establish Your kingdom here and now. How is this going to be part of something good for You to be taken and murdered? And in fact, we've given up everything to follow You, Jesus, and we've made these great sacrifices."

So Peter thought, since he's the guy who got an inspired thought from the Father, that he would sort of set Jesus straight. And we read in verse 32, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. And by the way, in the original language, that implies it was done over and over again. I am trying to imagine this. Peter says, "Jesus, come here for a second. Buddy, listen, come on, man. What are you doing? I rebuke you, Jesus. You cannot do this." He is rebuking God Almighty. I mean, this is insane.

And Jesus listens to him and then Jesus turns and rebukes Peter. Now we say, "Boy, I can't believe Peter did that." Oh, excuse me. Have you ever given God advice before? You know, the Bible asks the questions in Romans 11:34, "Who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been His counselor?" Well, I would say the answer to that question is, I have. You have. And we will say to the Lord, "Now Lord, I've got this all figured out. I met this girl, this is the one I'm supposed to marry, so You need to reveal this to her. And Lord, here's my business plan and You need to bless it. And here's the way I'm going to do my ministry and here's what You need to do next."

I am not asking God for wisdom. I am not praying about direction. I am making my plan and asking God to bless it. And the question is, who is in charge here and who is leading who? Jesus was in charge. Peter says, "No, bad plan. I veto it. I reject it." Jesus says, "I rebuke you, Peter. The devil gave you that thought to deter Me from this course." Listen, it was always God's plan for Christ to die. I already mentioned that.

We read in Revelation 13:8, "Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world." What does that mean? That means before there was a planet called Earth, before there was a garden called Eden, before there was a couple known as Adam and Eve who ate of the forbidden fruit, God knew man would blow it. The sin of Adam and Eve did not come as a surprise or shock to the Lord. He knew it would happen. It was just the Lord knowing the future.

And so He said, "I already have a plan and it's not a backup plan. It is the main plan. My Son is going to come to this earth and be born in a manger, live a perfect life, and He's going to die on the cross for the sin of the world because of the sin that will be committed there in the Garden of Eden and the result is sin spread through the human race."

And this reminds us that the devil was trying to stop Jesus from reaching His objective. Again, what was that objective? It was to die on the cross. Don't forget when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and he said, "All of this is mine and I can give it to whomever I choose. And if you will worship me, all of this will be yours."

The devil tried to stop Jesus from reaching His objective way back at the beginning of our Lord's ministry. Remember that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The Father spoke from heaven and said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." The Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. And we read immediately Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And among those temptations, the devil said to Jesus, "Here's all the kingdoms of the world. They all belong to me and I can give them to you if you will simply worship me." Jesus replied, "It is written, you shall worship the Lord God and Him only shall you serve." What was that all about? The devil is saying, allow me to loosely paraphrase, "Jesus, we both know why you're here. We both know you're going to go die on a cross for the sin of the world. And I'm going to make you an offer now. I'm going to give you what you've come for. I know you've come to purchase back that which was lost in the Garden of Eden. I'll give it to you on a silver platter if you'll give me the momentary pleasure of worshipping me."

And Jesus rejected that. Jesus knew He had to go to the cross. And this is a reminder that the devil often hits us as Christians in the beginning and at the end of our lives. In the middle, too, but you remember when you were a brand new believer, some of the first attacks that came your way were the devil challenging what had happened. You had that little thought in your mind, "Am I really a Christian? Did Christ really forgive me?" He challenges us to doubt our salvation. Now fast forward, we're coming toward the end of our journey as a follower of Jesus. The devil wants to trip us up because if he can, he can discredit all the good we did for all of those years. That's why Paul said, "I want to finish this race with joy." So it's a good thing to know that God will be with us and give us the strength we need to finish the race we need to run. So Jesus is saying, "Look, I'm going to die on the cross and there's no getting around this."

Guest (Male): Such important revelation in this discussion between Jesus and His disciples. Pastor Greg Laurie is presenting a message called "Lost in Translation" today here on A New Beginning, and there is more to come. Pastor Greg pointed out that it was always God's plan for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. He paid for your sins and mine. But we need to come to Him for that forgiveness of sin. Have you ever done that? Pastor Greg, if someone wants to make that decision, they can do that today, can't they?

Greg Laurie: They can, and it's so simple. And I think because it's so simple, people think, "Oh, it can't be that easy." Well, look, Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that He carried. This isn't about what you do, it's about what He's done. But here's what the Bible says: "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." So let's just say that you're caught in a rip tide out in the ocean and you need help and there's a lifeguard at the stand and they see you. You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving.

And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you. Will you call out to Him? You say, "Well, okay, how do I do that?" You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God. So listen, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me, I believe God will hear it and answer it, and Christ will come to live inside of you. Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast and have seen their life changed. There's no power or magic in a prayer. It's all about your commitment to Christ, but this is a way to call on the name of the Lord in this prayer.

So if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to feel that big hole in your heart, just pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like, pray it in the quietness of your heart, but pray these words if you would.

Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I am sorry for my sin and I turn from it now. And I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Be my Savior and my Lord, be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that God has heard you and has answered it. The Bible says, "These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." That you may know it's yours now. God has given it to you because it's the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Guest (Male): Amen. And listen, would you let us help you get started living this new life? Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's in an easy-to-understand translation with so many helps specifically for those who are new to the faith. We'll send it free of charge. So get in touch for your copy of the New Believer's Bible. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org and click the words "Know God."

You know, Pastor Greg, I've heard someone say that our checkbooks are diaries of the things that are most important to us. Where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. And I wonder, I wonder how many of us would be willing to take a yellow highlighter and highlight each of the entries in our checkbook that was for kingdom purposes? And having just said that, I'm feeling very convicted. Yes. But we have a great opportunity for people to make one of those highlighted entries right now, don't we?

Greg Laurie: Yes. You know, Paul wrote to the church and said, "I don't want you to give out of pressure or out of guilt." The last thing I want to do is ever make someone feel guilty if they don't give. We need to understand the privilege of giving and the blessing of giving. It is a responsibility. I do believe that every Christian should give of their finances for the work of the kingdom of God.

But having said that, the Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver. And Jesus said it's more blessed, or I could translate it "happy making," to give than it is to receive. And I think a lot of believers have not discovered the joy and the happiness of giving. Did you know that there is something a person can experience when they give that has been described as the "helper's high"?

There's literally a release of endorphins when people give of their money, give of their time, volunteer to help somebody else or just something as simple as doing a kind deed for somebody else. There's this joy that comes from that. So it seems like medical science is catching up with what the Bible has been saying all along: the blessedness, the happiness, the joy of giving. I want you to discover that.

And if you feel inclined by the Lord to invest in our ministry, we will use it to reach more people. You have our commitment to that. So if you can be generous in supporting Harvest Ministries, we would really appreciate it. And there's a great opportunity to invest in our ministry and it's called becoming a Harvest Partner. Dave, why don't you tell them a little bit more about that?

Guest (Male): Yeah, our Harvest Partners are such an important part of this ministry. They pray for us and they support us each month. They have a passion for evangelism and discipleship just like we do, and we so much appreciate that partnership. If you'd like to be part of this inner circle, get in touch today at 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24/7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org.

What is the cross we have to bear in following Christ? Pastor Greg says it may not be what you think it is. Good clarification coming next time as our study called "Lost in Translation" continues. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.