All language subtitles for Amir Tsarfati_ Get Behind Me, Satan!.EN

Are you mindful of the things of God
or are you mindful of the things of men?

It's extremely important
that we understand

that the example that we have
from what Peter said to Jesus

brings us to the conclusion that even
a disciple, even a follower of Christ,

even a Christian without being careful can
become the mouthpiece of Satan himself.

Shalom from the region
of Caesarea Philippi.

We're 25 miles north
of the Sea of Galilee.

We are right on the
Lebanese border.

We're very close to what used to
be the Israeli Syrian border until 1967.

And we are in one of the
most toured sights in Israel.

We are in the foothills of Mount Hermon, the highest
mountain of Israel, that is nearly 10,000 foot high.

Mount Hermon is not only the highest mountain, but it's
also known as a sponge that has tons of holes in it.

It's a phenomena
called karst: k-a-r-s-t ...

This is when the oxygen that comes out of
the plans is basically melting the limestone

and creating some holes and
spaces and once rain and snow falls,

it's not just flowing above the mountain but
it is actually flowing through the mountain

and eventually the water will pop
out of the ground below the mountain

and this is exactly
where we are right now.

We are next to the Hermon
spring, known also as Banias.

Now probably a lot of people are asking
what Banias has to do with Hermon?

Well, you're right ... the name Banias is an Arabic
name that was driven from the Greek one - Paneas.

And Paneas is the worship place of Pan and that is
the thing that is taking me to the 3rd century BC.

This spring is one of the three
main headwaters of the Jordan River.

The Jordan River is comprised
mainly of three headwaters.

On the east is Hermon and in the
center is Dan and on the west is Hasbani

And the 3 of them eventually merge into one river that
flows down south and enters into the Sea of Galilee.

and then leaves the Sea of
Galilee in the southern part of it

and flows all the way to its
dead end at the Dead Sea.

It is right there where the river
Jordan almost entered the Dead Sea

that Jesus was baptized
by John the Baptist.

However, it is right here where the spring
comes out of the foothills of Mount Hermon

where Jesus according to Matthew
chapter 16, asked the famous question:

Who do men say that I am?

Now allow me also to
say that in the 3rd century,

the Greek occupation of this land
began with Alexander the Great

and when they arrived in this
majestic and beautiful place,

they were fascinated not only by the
spring and the massive rock behind us,

but with the cave that
you see right behind me

that was actually a natural one part of the
karst phenomena I just refer to earlier.

This natural cave at that time
was a little different than today

because the spring used
to flow from within the cave,

from the mouth of the cave came water and
they continued flowing all the way down south.

So in a beautiful lush and green area there is
a massive rock which is part of Mount Hermon.

There is a natural cave and there is a wonderful,
a very lively spring that flows right out of it.

And the Greeks decided that this is the proper place to
worship the god of the shepherds and the caves - Pan.

Pan was actually half
a man and half a goat.

And the goat motif in the
pagan worship is something

that went all the way back even to
the times of the Book of Leviticus.

People used to worship images or living
goats as if they are a form of deity.

And by the way, that is exactly why in
Leviticus chapter 17, verse 7, the Bible says:

" 7They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, "

And in the Hebrews -
"i·rim", which is goats.

after whom they have played the harlot.

This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations."

It's very interesting
that in Leviticus,

we see the connection between the
worship of goat, and sexual immorality.

And this is exactly what we also found
here, remains of temples of dancing goats.

Remains of the temple of nymphs,
virgins that used to be worshipped here

and the place of the worship
of the goddess of luck.

And all of that formed probably the largest
pagan worship complex in the land of Israel.

a place that Jewish people
often refrain from visit.

And this is exactly why I believe it's
important that we deal with Matthew 16

and with what Jesus was asking,
because in the context of the Jewish view,

of this place as a satanic place and of
the cave as a dwelling place of Satan ...

you know, Jewish people truly thought that
this cave leads you to the gates of hell.

And having said that,
now you may understand,

why is it that Jesus mentioned that
phrase in His answer to His disciple.

I would like to read from Matthew
16, from verse 13 to verse 23:

"13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi,

He asked His disciples, saying,
'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'

14So they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'

15He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'

16Simon Peter answered and said,

'You are the Christ,'"
- Christos, - Anointed One,

"'the Son of the living God.'"

Now, make no mistake,

Jewish people never ever taught in any of their schools
or synagogues

that the Messiah is the Son of God.

That explains what
""17Jesus answered and said to him,

'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,'"

No one taught you that - no rabbi, no teacher,
no one even understands what you just said.

This is the things of God, you just spoke
something that only God could reveal to you.

And that's why He said:

"'for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,
but My Father who is in heaven.'"

What an amazing compliment
Peter just got from Jesus.

You just spoke the words of
God, from God, about God.

And He also said this to Peter:

"'18And I also say to you that you are Peter,'"
- in the Greek Petrus - little pebble/little stone.

'"and on this rock...'"
and in the Greek - Petra.

And I'm thinking Petra, by the way, is a massive rock.

Obviously, he's not talking
about Peter who was a small rock.

He's referring to this massive rock behind
me, part of Mount Hermon, where the cave is.

And look what He says:

"'and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of
Hades ( the gates of hell) shall not prevail against it.

19And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,

and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,

and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'

20Then He commanded..." watch this -

"20Then He commanded His disciples
that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."

Now, do you understand
what I just said?

Jesus commanded His disciples,
since you know, I'm the Messiah,

and since you may understand
what Messiah is all about, tell no one.

Because Jesus understands, by the way, the
world is not expecting a suffering Messiah,

the world is expecting a
ruling and reigning one.

And if you tell them now that I'm the One,
they will actually get the wrong picture.

"21From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He
–watch this–

He must go to Jerusalem,

and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes,

and be killed, and be raised the third day."

From that point, Jesus began
to share with His disciples,

what must happen to Him - not may happen,
could happen, possibly, maybe could be ...

No-no, what must happen.

And you know that every time we hear about the term
'must' - it is related to - 'as it is written',

because it is written, I came to fulfill
that which is written and look what happened.

"22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him,"

This same Peter, who just
acknowledge that Jesus is (A) the Messiah,

and (B) not just a man who is
anointed, the Son of the living God ...

the same one who had a revelation
that could only come from God, the Father

is now taking the Son of God, the Messiah
and he's rebuking Him, saying to Him ...

"'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!'"

Peter, basically tell Jesus:

Don't tell us that You're going to Jerusalem
to be delivered to the hands of the priests

and to be crucified and to resurrect ...
don't tell us those things.

Far be it from You; this shall not happen to you.

Isn't that interesting?

The very reason Jesus came to the
world is now that which Peter is resisting.

And this is exactly
why at this point,

Jesus turned and said to Peter:

"'Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me,

for you are not mindful of the things of God,
but the things of men.'"

The same Jesus who gave praises and
compliments to Peter, just a minute earlier,

is now looking at the face of
Peter but He's not talking to Peter,

He's talking to the one who filled
Peter's head with all of these ideas.

With that notion that His suffering, His death
and His resurrection are not even needed.

The very fact that Peter rebuked Jesus for
saying that He is about to go to Jerusalem,

be delivered to the hands of
the priests and the Pharisees,

that He is going to be crucified, He is
going to be buried and then resurrect -

all of that made Peter very
angry, very uncomfortable.

In other words, I do not
want You to speak like that.

That's not the type of
things we need to hear,

and we want to hear and we
should hear from our Messiah.

You see, in that mindset of Peter, Jesus has
to come riding a horse entering into Jerusalem,

declares Himself as the King of kings and Lord
of lords and thus the Messianic Kingdom begins.

However, it's very convenient to
only look for that return of Jesus.

But what about the original
reason for which He came?

Jesus had to address the false
Jewish perception of the Messiah.

You must understand that the Messianic aspirations
are a very central thing in the Jewish faith.

It's not like they don't believe in the
Messiah, they don't believe in its coming.

No, they actually still
wait for the Messiah.

But the problem of the Jewish
religion and I'm saying religion

because this is obviously
something that is not scriptural.

The problem is that they miss the
connection between sin and the Messiah.

And this is precisely
the scheme of the devil.

The Jew wish people became
focused on the things of men -

in order to become righteous,
they became religious.

They looked at the law as a way
for them to become self-righteous.

And this is exactly why Isaiah the
prophet in chapter 1, verses 12 to 20 says:

"12'When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?

13Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.'"

Isaiah says God is actually
speaking to the nation of Israel:

All your religious activity, your religious ceremonies,
incense and prayers and lifting up your hands ...

This is an abomination
to Me, I don't want it.

Look what He says -
"'The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—

I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;'"

God, who commanded Israel to celebrate the Sabbath
and the festivals is telling the people of Israel:

I hate what you turn it into ... I am weary of bearing them, He said.

They are a trouble to Me.

I remember reading the 1st
chapter of Isaiah, I almost passed out!

I couldn't believe how much
God is against religion in general

and what the Jewish people
turned the commandment of God into.

And then He says:
"16'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.

Cease to do evil, 17Learn to do good;
Seek justice,

Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.'"

And then He says: "18'Come now, and let us reason together,

Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.'"

You see, God basically says:

As long as you have the problem of
sin and as long as you do not address it,

and as long as you
continue with your evil ways,

coming to the synagogue on
Saturday, keeping the Sabbath,

celebrating the holidays, all
of that means nothing to me.

Isaiah 59 says: "1Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.

2But your iniquities –your sins– have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear."

The sin is the problem of men and unless you address
that and unless you bring a solution for that,

there is no way you can continue sailing
in your imagination about the Messiah

that will come as a king that will reign
and rule and bring peace and prosperity.

No, sin has to
be dealt first with.

The first coming was not
about to reign and rule.

The first coming was about
to save us from our sins.

And for that there has to be
bloodshed, there has to be atoning death,

there has to be death
and indeed resurrection.

Even the death was not enough.

Israel were attempting to avoid sin by keeping
the law which only led to more hypocrisy.

Furthermore, the law was
designed to not deal with the sin

but to expose their sin and
their need for the Messiah.

Remember the woman
that was caught in adultery?

Remember how everybody
was ready to pick up the stone

and stone her to death,
according to the law.

But look what Jesus said (John 8):

"7So when they continued asking Him,

He raised Himself up and said to them,

'He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.'

He basically said
you're all hypocrites.

You want to kill her for her sin
without acknowledging of your own.

In Galatians 3:24 it says:

"24Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Messiah,
that we might be justified by faith."

Not by keeping any law,
not by religion - by faith.

"25But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."

A born-again spirit filled person whether
Jew or Gentile is no longer under the law.

The law was there to expose your sin
- Messiah came to take them away.

The Old Testament,
unlike the Jewish religion,

connected sin to the need for the
Messiah from the very beginning,

and this is exactly why
Isaiah was so frustrated.

Well, the Lord was frustrated through
the mouth of Isaiah when he said that -

They honor Me with their lives, but in
their hearts, they're actually far from Me,

because they teach man's
doctrines and not the Word of God.

Leviticus 17:11: "11For the life of the flesh is in the blood,"
without blood, there's no life.

"and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls;

for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."

If you committed sin, if your soul is the
stain, if you need atonement, guess what?

According to the Word of God it is the blood
that has to be shed for the atonement of sin,

because in that blood, there is life.

The Bible is very clear, you need
blood for the atonement of sin.

You need it to be of a perfect lamb but you
also know that there has to be suffering,

there has to be death,
there has to be resurrection.

All of that is not the idea of some
Christians, taken from New Testament only.

This is deeply embedded in the Old Testament and
the Jewish people of all should have known it.

This notion that there has to be a Messiah that
will suffer, that will die, and that will resurrect

is not a Christian idea born out of the
New Testament that is for the Gentiles.

Let me make it very clear the
New Testament was given to Israel.

And let me make it clear throughout the entire
Old Testament, we see Scriptures telling us

not only about the glorious
reigning of the Messiah,

but about His suffering, about His
death and about His resurrection.

Look, for example, about His
suffering - Psalm 22, verse 15 to 16:

"15My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.

16For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.

They pierced My hands and My feet;"

If that's not a description of the
crucifixion, that I don't know what it is.

And then it says in Psalm 38:

"12Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;

Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
And plan deception all the day long.

13But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.

14Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no response."

Even Isaiah chapter 53, that very
chapter that led me to the Lord says:

"4Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed."

Not only His suffering, not only His
bruises, not only His chastisement ....

even His death is prophesied
in the Old Testament.

Psalm 31, verse 5:

"5Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth."

I commit my spirit, I'm
about to die, I'm dying.

Psalm 69:21:

"21They also gave me gall for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

Daniel 9:26, the book of Daniel in
that amazing 70 Weeks Prophecy:

"26And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;"

Messiah will be killed and not
for anything that He did wrong.

Even Daniel said that,

"And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary."

In other words, the death of the Messiah for our
sins, not for His ... for our guilt, not for His.

... will happen before Jerusalem will fall and the temple
will be destroyed by a great nation, the Roman Empire.

And if you think that the suffering and the death
are where the Old Testament stops, you're wrong.

Even the very resurrection of the Messiah
was prophesied in the Old Testament.

Job chapter 19:23 to 27:

"23Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

24That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!

25For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;

26And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,

27Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!"

Psalm 16, verses 9 to 11:

"9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.
10For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."

He is not going to stay dead,
He will not see corruption.

You will not allow Your Holy One,

–Kadosh Israel, the Holy One of Israel,–

1You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Psalm 118, verses 17 to 18:

"17I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord.

18The Lord has chastened me severely,
But He has not given me over to death."

Death will not keep you
there, life has to come.

Isaiah 25, 7 to 8:

"7And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,

And the veil that is spread over all nations.

8He will swallow up death forever,

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;

The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken."

He will swallow up death forever,
His death is death,

but the resurrection is when death
was no longer having any effect.

It was swallowed up forever.

That is exactly after we have seen in the Old Testament
and mostly in the books of the prophets.

This is exactly why Jesus
appeared before the two disciples.

His own disciples who
followed Him for three years.

Right after His death and
resurrection, on Sunday morning,

they left Jerusalem, they heard
that He's no longer in the grave.

They heard that the women
found the grave empty.

They heard that the
angel said that He is alive.

Do you think that they rejoice?

Do you think that they stayed
in Jerusalem to celebrate?

Absolutely not.

They actually left Jerusalem
on the way out to Emmaus.

They walked and they
talked and they were angry,

very confused, embarrassed
and of all things, they were sad.

Can you imagine? They were sad.

And this is exactly why Jesus appeared.

And then He heard, He asked: What
are those things that you talk about?

"What kind of conversation is this - from Luke 24 -
that you have with one another

as you walk and are sad?'" Jesus asked them.

"18Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered
and said to Him,

'Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem,

and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?'

19And He said to them, 'What things?'

So they said to Him, 'The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth,'"

And look, they are now using past tense ...

"'who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him
to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.'"

Look, they're so sad, they're angry,
they're confused, they're embarrassed.

Their Messiah, their king was actually delivered as the
greatest criminal to the hands of the priests and the rulers.

And He was condemned to
death and He was crucified.

Crucifixion was left to
the worst of the worst.

"'21But we were hoping (... we were hoping)
that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.'"

They gave up.

They could not even comprehend the fact that

their Messiah, the One whom they followed
for the last 3 years, is going to resurrect.

"'Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

22Yes, and certain women of our company,
who arrived at the tomb early,

astonished us. 23When they did not find His body,

they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.

24And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb
and found it just as the women had said;

but Him they did not see.'
25Then He said to them,"

Jesus... looked at them,
they just confessed.

The angel said He's
alive, the tomb is empty.

We verified it.

And instead of understanding that is the
most amazing thing ever, they were sad.

And that is why Jesus said: "'O foolish ones,'"

He's not saying
that to the priest.

He's not saying
that to the Pharisees.

He's not saying
that to the rabbi.

He's not saying
that to the Romans.

He's saying that to
His own disciples,

"'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe
in all that the prophets have spoken!'"

You know it, but you don't believe it!

And then He said:

"'26Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things
and to enter into His glory?'"

Haven't you read the book of
Psalms and the books of the prophets?

Haven't you read
Isaiah chapter 53?

"27And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets,
He expounded to them in all the Scriptures..."

All the Scriptures in that time
was just the Old Testament,

the New Testament was not written yet.

"He expounded to them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself."

The gap between the Jewish
religion, the Jewish concept of Messiah

and the Bible, the Word of
God, the Scripture was so big,

that even His own disciples, who
followed Him for the last 3 years,

who've seen unbelievable amount
of miracles performed by Him,

Who know, they been here,
they heard Peter saying:

You are the Messiah,
the Son of the living God.

He shared with them right
here, what His end is going to be.

His own disciples were so captured in
that concept of there is only one Messiah,

He is going to come and rule and reign
and is going to bring peace and prosperity.

And we will be once again a
nation not under any occupation,

but they skipped the point that Messiah first
had to come to deal with the sin of men.

And their eyes were open only when
they realized as He broke the bread,

they probably; He was actually pierced.

See, Satan was seeking to prevent the
resurrection, let me make it very clear.

From the very beginning,
Satan was on the defense.

From the book of Genesis, we
can see that from the 3rd chapter we see that.

We should not be surprised because
Satan has been determined to destroy the seed,

the seed of the woman, remember, which
is the Messiah, since the Garden of Eden.

In Genesis 3:15, the first ever prophecy given in the
entire Bible was actually to Satan, to the serpent.

And He said,

"15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;"

By the way, women don't
have seed, last time I heard,

unless it's a seed in a woman
that was not coming from a man.

No, now the seed of the woman, "He shall bruise your head,"

He's going to crush you,
you shall just bruise His heel.

You see, Satan understands
there has to be a seed of a woman

that is going to eventually crush my head.

And so what is he doing?

He's looking all around to see how can I
somehow prevent that from happening?

And this is exactly the
next chapter - in Genesis 4.

"8Now Cain talked with Abel his brother;

and it came to pass, when they were in the field,
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him."

The first murder in the Bible was a chapter later,
Satan already started with his tactics.

Let's kill, destroy, accuse ...

I have to kill the one that he's the good
guy here, because he might be the one.

This might be the one
that he's going to kill me.

Of course, he never thought that there's going
to be a third son of Adam and Eve - and it's Seth.

He did not take that
one into account.

Exodus 1:15 to 16 ... Remember
Pharaoh and the Hebrew babies?

When Satan realized, okay, he probably has to come
from the nation of Israel, let's kill all the babies.

"15Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives,

of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah;

16and he said, 'When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women,

and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son,
- remember he knows it's the seed -

when it's a son, then you shall kill him;
but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.'"

There has to be a male that will bring
forth not only salvation to the world,

but also end of sin
and end of Satan.

And it's interesting because in
Esther chapter 3, verses 5 and 6,

you can see another
attempt to kill all the Jews –Haman.

"5When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage,
Haman was filled with wrath.

6But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone,
for they had told him of the people of Mordecai.

Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews

who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai."

It wasn't only Haman,
what about Herod?

In the New Testament
in Matthew chapter 2:

"16Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived
by the wise men, was exceedingly angry;

and he sent forth and put to death all the male children
who were in Bethlehem

and in all its districts, from two years old and under,

according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. "

He heard Messiah was born.

He heard it's a male, he
heard it's around Bethlehem.

So what are we going to do?

Kill all the babies from
two years and under!

Satan didn't want
Jesus to even be born.

And when Jesus was born,
he didn't want Him to live.

As Jesus began His ministry, right when John baptizing
Him, the next thing, he tried to recruit him.

I will give you all these things,
if you will be on my side and worship me.

Matthew 26, verse 31:

"31Then Jesus said to them,
'All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night,

for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'"

If I'm going to bring an end to this ministry, the sheep will be scattered

and this will be the end of this
newborn faith called Christianity.

If it's only about this life and if there is
nothing about the resurrection, then what happen?

I want to tell you that the atoning death of Jesus
will not come into effect without the resurrection,

if He only stayed dead, and did not
resurrect, we're still dead in our sins.

The resurrection is the key to the concept of
the death, the goat or lamb never resurrected.

Throughout the Old Testament when
they killed the goat or they killed the lamb,

or they killed any animal for
atonement - it never resurrected.

The resurrection took away our
sins forever - animals could not do that.

This is why in Hebrews
chapter 10, verses 1 to 4 it says:

"1For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come,
and not the very image of the things,

can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually
year by year, make those who approach perfect.

2For then would they not have ceased to be offered?

For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

3But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins."

"2But this Man, Jesus, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down at the right hand of God,

13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

14For by one offering He has perfected forever
those who are being sanctified."

You can run away from this
truth as much as you want.

He had to be crucified.
He had to be resurrected.

It's not just the coming of a king to reign and rule
- that will happen in His Second Coming.

Messiah had to be crucified
- in fact, that's the key to my salvation and yours.

Paul said: I could have come and
given you excellent speeches, high words,

I could have given you false hopes
that you're wonderful, that you're great,

that all you need is to wait
for the reigning Messiah - No!

The one thing I know that I have
to come and tell you and preach

- is Him crucified
- the Crucifixion is necessity.

It is super important, if there's one thing
I want to deliver today in this message is this:

The suffering, the crucifixion, the death and the resurrection
- are scriptural, are biblical, are super Jewish,

and they're super
essential for the salvation.

And if you think that Jesus can
come and reign as a Messiah

and reign as a king, and bring an
end to the Roman rule, and that's it,

if you shove aside
the whole aspect of sin,

if you ignore the whole idea
that sin separates us from God,

there's no way anyone can come and
reign and bring peace and prosperity

and usher in a Messianic era, without
having the sin issue first dealt with.

This is the biblical
perception of the Messiah,

that He had to come,
that He had to suffer,

that He had to die, that He
had perfect life without sin.

But then He was killed for something He never did.

And then of course,
He resurrected.

We are responsible to know who Jesus is
because of what the Word of God says about Him.

Not men, the word of God, not books, not the world,
not scholars, not some beautiful lectures,

not theologians, what
the Word of God says.

The resurrection declares
our victory over death.

And it's important
in 1st Corinthians 15:

"55'O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?'

56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

The last point I want
to mention is that

the resurrection initiate our departure
from this world to our heavenly home.

1st Peter, chapter 2, verse 9:

"9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,

His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him

who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"

So the journey out of here
begins with our life here.

We're called out of darkness.

And then, until that departure
physically, we have a job

2nd Corinthians 5:

"18Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself

through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

20Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us:

we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God."

What is an ambassador?

Someone who is a resident
and a citizen of a different country,

and he's being sent on behalf of his country to
another country, but to represent his own country.

Now, as we are here, we
are the ambassadors of Christ,

which means we belong to Him, we
have heavenly citizenship, the Bible says.

And we are now here in this world,
on His behalf, representing Him,

His ambassadors for one, and one only
reason - to implore people to be reconciled.

This is the ministry of the believer.

This is the mission of the believer.

This is the purpose of the believer.

It's to live his life now until
God is taking him out of here

with one goal to plead people to be reconciled
to God through Christ Himself, the way we were.

But the Bible also says in Romans 8:

"23Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,

even we ourselves groan within ourselves,

eagerly waiting for the adoption,
the redemption of our body."

While we are here, imploring
people to be reconciled to God,

we also have to have that heart that is eagerly
waiting for the redemption of this body.

What is the redemption of this body?

The Redemption of this body, as in
1st Corinthians 15 is

when the body will change and we will leave this
place to be with the Lord.

It has to be very, very, very clear ...

that the purpose of the believer is all driven out of the fact

that Christ suffered, was crucified, died and resurrected.

And that resurrection enact His death

and gives us the atonement,
that forgiveness, the new life.

His departure is the wait for the
Holy Spirit to come and be in us

and enable us to be the ambassadors of Christ ...

for one, and one only reason is
to implore people to be reconciled.

Now, I want to tell you something.

And I want to conclude
this message with this.

When Jesus looked at Peter,
after Peter rebuked Him,

not to talk about suffering,
about death and about resurrection.

Jesus looked at him, and He could
clearly see that Satan is speaking.

And what did He say?

Get behind me! Go away!

These are not the things of God.

These are the things of men.

Get behind Me, because
I'm here for a reason.

Jesus said, it's My choice.

It's not circumstances.
It's not an accident.

If you don't understand that Messiah came
for you, to suffer for you, instead of you,

to die for you instead of you and
to be the First Fruit of the resurrection,

that will mark your future resurrection
in the rapture when it comes.

Then you missed out the
whole message of God.

If any other message is
being preached to you,

is a message of the doctrines of
men and not the doctrines of God.

God loves you. God sent His Son to die for you.

"16For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son," (John 3:16)

God turned His head,
turned His face away

so He who knew no
sin ... will become sin.

So we will become the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

God bless you.