Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. Matthew

But he [Jesus] turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men . Matthew

Jesus addresses Peter as Satan! Satan had completely taken over Peter. Peter did not want Jesus to be beaten and crucified because he loved His lord. And yet, Satan completely took over Peter. The words coming out of his mouth were no longer Peters – but Satan’s. The motive was wonderful – the method was wrong.

Remember, just six verses earlier God the Father was speaking to Peter – and six verses later Satan is speaking through Peter. And in both cases, the motive is love .

Remember what the Lord said to Satan in verse 23, “thou savourest not the things that be of God , but those that be of men . Peter wanted to do the “will of man” by not allowing Jesus to be crucified. His motives were wonderful, but his method was completely wrong.

Oh, how easy it is for us to try to serve God in the “will of man”. We want to do it our way. We want to “see” it. We want to “feel” it. We want this “flesh” to experience it. So many times we try to serve the Lord with our flesh. And every time we do – like Peter, we fail .

In order to love and know God it must be in the spiritual realm

Just like Peter, the millions of Christians flooding the theaters are trying to draw close to the Lord with their “flesh”. If I can just “see” the Lord beaten, tortured and crucified – I could love Him so much more. If I could “see” those nails actually driven in those precious hands – I just know I could love Him more! I know I could. . .

Just as Peter quickly discovered, we can not serve God with our “flesh. We can not draw closer to God with our flesh. God is a Spirit – not flesh.

The Christian life is a spiritual life. If we draw closer to the Lord it MUST be spiritual. If we love the Lord more it MUST spiritual . If we really grasp what the Lord Jesus did for us – it MUST be spiritual.

• We are born-again spiritually. John 3:6
• We walk in the Spirit – Galatians 5:16
• We fight in the Spirit – 2 Corinthians 10:3
• We live in the Spirit – Galatians 5:25

In fact, the Bible says in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: . .”

We can not love the Lord Jesus Christ more with our flesh

The Bible says in Romans 8:7, the “carnal mind is enmity against God”. The flesh is the enemy of God. Genesis 6:3, says, “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh . . .” The flesh and God do not fellowship.

Are you getting the picture? Going to a picture show, any picture will not help us understand more what the Lord Jesus did for us. Why? It is flesh. It is the carnal mind. There are no exceptions.

The Passion appeals and touches the flesh. The Passion shows in very graphic detail with all the graphic enhancements possible a man tortured and beaten to death. For 45 non-stop minutes a man is beaten bloody with torn flesh flying in slow motion, groans of pain and agony searing through the sound system – of course it will touch you . Of course, it will bring tears to any sane person’s eyes. It could be any human being beaten like that for 45 minutes and it would touch your emotions.