Into the Wilderness

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Marc Kline; Mark 1:1-13 Into the Wilderness

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. My name is
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Mark Klein. I've served and am serving on the Elder Board. Don is gone and enjoying some good times, hopefully.
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He's back, actually, I think. I do serve here as usually in the behind -the -scenes capacity.
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This is my first sermon ever delivered, and so whatever that will be, it will be.
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It's in the Lord's hands, and I've tried to be faithful on my end, and I'm trusting
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Him as He is faithful always. But I have one wife. Her name is Jackie, and I have a couple of daughters and a couple of sons,
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Leah and Hope, and you might know them. And I'm grateful to God that He gave me the family that He did.
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So today, we're going to look at the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the gospel of Mark.
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And it is not because my name is Mark, I chose that. You know, this actually, this sermon came out of a training in the summer.
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Don's working with a few people at a time, and if you're interested, you could seek that.
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And he talks about and teaches how he goes through this process, and that's why I chose
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Mark, because it is a gospel, and he wanted, he said, hey, if you're interested in a gospel, that would be good.
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And it's one of the, probably the first one written, and so there it is.
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So Jesus was crucified, and as we look at the text, I want to provide the context of that.
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He's about 30 to 33 AD, and Mark is written probably in the 60s to 70s
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AD. This is the time of the Roman Empire, and he was in Rome when he wrote this.
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And so he's writing to Roman Christians. If you know much about history and the history of the church,
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Christians were not very well received by Roman emperors.
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They didn't worship him. They didn't fit in culturally because they weren't worshiping as the pagans with the festivals and the pagan ceremonies and things like that.
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So they were martyred. And as we go through, that's going to be important to understand the context of Mark and why he's saying some of the things, why he's writing this book to begin with.
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But the time of Rome that we're talking about, Nero is emperor. Probably most people are going,
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Nero, yeah, I've heard of him. Not very good, right? Not a good guy. And no, he's famous for Colosseum exhibits where Christians are torn to pieces by wild animals.
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He's infamous for, I guess better said, burning Christians alive and lighting garden parties, right?
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So if you read these histories, it's like, wow, that was tough. And you chose to still believe in Christ to death.
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Speaks to their faith. It speaks to the faith of this new Christian faith.
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Well, Rome was destroyed in a fire in 64 AD. Like, think to the level of Katrina destroying
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New Orleans. And this sort of escalated some of the political venom that went out against the
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Christians in Rome at that time. And so as we consider the historical context,
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Mark is going to transport us right next to Jesus. The book is intended to proclaim the gospel.
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Proclaim Jesus as the Son of God. And Mark writes this in a very fast pace. And you will see that,
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I think, as I read it later or in a moment, you'll see that. You'll hear that.
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As such, it's not a biography like we would consider it a biography as gospels aren't.
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They're not true biographies. Because, I mean, listen, we get a biography today. We're looking for what is their motivation, right?
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What's the psychology behind it? There's always a sensationalism to biographies.
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They have to sell copy. You know, they have to sell a book. Mark isn't that. It is going to follow more that ancient tradition of a biography where we talk about the birth, the life and sayings of the people or person highlighted, and then the death.
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I think it's interesting that Mark will not start with the birth of Jesus or the birth of John.
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He's just going to start right in with these two people. And if you want that, you can find that in the gospel of Matthew and Luke.
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In fact, we just did that during the Christmas season. And we were introduced to John, John the
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Baptist, in this case. Don preached a sermon a few weeks ago on that. And so we know
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John and Jesus are cousins. We know that there is something unique.
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Okay, so that's the context. That's what the gospels do. Now I want to give you something to think about before I read the passage.
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What would you consider to be good news? I mean,
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I titled this sermon, Into the Wilderness, and part of that's because that's where it takes place. And that's going to be a theme kind of like at the bookends.
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But I could have come up with a lot of titles. I'm just not very creative, you know, to be honest. And it could have been the gospel or it could have been, hey,
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Jesus is baptized. I mean, there's a lot in there. But what would you consider to be good news?
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I mean, think about recently the $1 .35 billion jackpot, the mega millions, won by that person in Maine, I guess, right?
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I got a notification. That's life -changing money. For good or ill,
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I don't know, but that's life -changing money. That would be good news, wouldn't it, if you received that news?
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Just think how many friends you'd have after that too. Personally, you probably have received good news through your life.
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You got the job. You are expecting a baby.
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You're in remission. They found a cure. There's good news all around us.
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What would you imagine to be the best news? Think about that.
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Today, as Mark introduces us to two people, John the Baptist and Jesus, we're going to see the best news ever, right?
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Literally the good news of Jesus Christ. And it opens that. So take your device, take your
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Bible, open to Mark chapter 1, verses 1 through 13 will be the text today. And I do think,
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I agree with Don. I mean, he says this often, I guess. This might be the best thing. The most important thing we do is hear from God's Word directly.
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Mark 1, verse 1. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
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And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river
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Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
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And he preached saying, after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals
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I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the
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Holy Spirit. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the
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Jordan. And he came up out of the water. Immediately he saw the heavens torn open and the
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Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you
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I am well pleased. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness and he was with the, and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan.
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And he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him. Let's pray.
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Lord, I thank you for your word and the good news that is in your word, that we can learn about salvation, that we can learn about who we truly are and that need for your grace, your work on the cross.
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I pray that as we worship you now in song and then as we sit later around your text that you've written to us,
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Lord, I pray that we would be lifted up, that you would build us up.
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As we honor you and as we give you all due praise, may you receive glory forever and ever.
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Thank you again for this time of fellowship. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you,
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Dan. Dave, Ban, thank you so much for leading us in worship. And I always,
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I don't know, I love the theology and the words of the songs we sing. It's very intentional and so I appreciate
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Dave's work and, like I said, the band. Well, if you remember, before I, I guess before, disclaimer, right?
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If you've had too much coffee, okay, go through the barn doors. To the left, there's a bathroom. If you haven't had enough coffee, feel free to take advantage of it.
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Get up, go get some and you won't bother me. If you need more sugar too, if there's donuts left,
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I don't know. I don't know the status of that. But gospels proclaim. So as we look at Mark and we look at, if you were to look at any of the gospels, that's what it needs to be.
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And there are, there's some biographical features in it and that's true, but they mainly proclaim.
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And hopefully you caught it when I was reading the text. And, and this, and that, and then immediately, right?
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That's a feature of Mark. When he is writing, that's going to be something that's going to be a characteristic that he will put into.
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So the outline is pretty simple. I took the text and broke it up into four parts and the first part is the introduction.
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You could call it a prologue or whatever, but it's verses one through three. And then the second, this is going to be
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John the Baptist's ministry in verses four through eight. Then we look at Jesus being baptized in verses nine, 10, and 11.
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And then finally, Jesus is tempted, verses 12 and 13. I'll be honest,
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I really struggled with where to end this, okay? And as I was thinking about, well, what if, what if I do sermon number two?
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I think it makes sense to end here, thinking about that. So, anyways, that's the outline.
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So part one, the introduction. In verses one through three, Mark, he just begins like this.
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In the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that's it.
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Now, you read, like I said, Matthew or Luke, they're going to talk about some genealogy.
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They're going to talk about the birth of Christ. Mark goes straight to it. Now, remember the purpose. Purpose is to comfort.
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The purpose is to help those in Rome deal with the persecution, right? So you got to start with what's important.
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Not that, I don't, not that that other part isn't important, right? But that's what he's being led to do, right?
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That's what is unique about it. And so he starts with that. Jesus Christ means anointed one.
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This is that person, the anointed one or the Messiah, that's going to make everything right in all ways.
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Now, at that time, the Jews were expecting a military leader.
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Politically, we're going to get rid of, yeah, that makes sense. Jesus is that guy. And there are many that believe that. He is the one that's going to overthrow the occupier.
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And we have the benefit of history looking back and we can see from our vantage point that that wasn't the tyranny that he was sent to take care of.
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Jesus was going to get rid of tyranny. He was not going to get rid of the tyranny of the
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Roman Empire or any other political leader. He was going to get rid of the true enemy that we brought on ourselves of sin.
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He's going to get rid of that tyranny. And so, how awesome that is. Now, I asked earlier, think about what you would think to be good news, you know, winning the lottery or a lot of other things.
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And those are good, but for a time and they end. Even if you get a great report because of illness and you're healed, eventually, you and I are going to die.
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Okay, so good news is there and good news can happen in our life, but let's feast on what really is going to be good news here as we look through this passage.
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So, when we have the forgiveness of sin, we receive
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Christ and we have the power over sin in our life through the Holy Spirit, I believe that is better news, that truly is good news.
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And if you are a believer, you have that. In verses 2 and 3, so Markey begins, all right, the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the
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Son of God, there's two people mentioned in the Trinity there, Jesus and God.
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We're going to see the third, like Trinity or Triune is not in Scripture, that word, but it is here.
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This is a deep theological passage, but so we see two persons of the
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Trinity there, just wanted to point that out. In verses 2 and 3, Mark will write, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold,
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I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
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Lord, make his paths straight. Mark is going to introduce us to John the
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Baptist by quoting Isaiah and Malachi, and he's going to mash those two together.
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They would get that. The Christians in Rome would understand that. When they talk about Scriptures, it's the
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Torah, you know, in the Old Testament, the prophets, the minor prophets, the history, they would get it.
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So when he's quoting this, they go, oh, yeah, you're right. A lot like us saying, oh, you remember that quote on such and such a show?
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Or, hey, did you see that trend on TikTok? Right? Culturally, we would get these sorts of things.
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That's what they got. They understood that. So when Mark is quoting from Isaiah, they go, I understand.
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I get it. And so, behold, I send my messenger before your face.
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I prepare the way of the Lord. The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
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Lord. So this is happening in the wilderness. When John is introduced in part two here in a minute, it's going to be in the wilderness.
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I think that's a very interesting motif to think about. And so as he, as John is being introduced here, think about how the way has been prepared, okay?
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Valleys are lifted up, mountains are laid low. I would liken that just before this time,
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Alexander the Great, before Jesus came, he conquered basically the world.
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In doing so, he brought language that was common. He brought culture that was common and law.
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Alexander the Great dies young. His generals take over real quick, run through. Rome will supplant, will overtake that empire.
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Rome brings, so now you have the culture, you have the language that's common. Once again, we're making the path straight.
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God is using history. God is working and he's making the, raising valleys, lowering mountains, preparing for Jesus' coming.
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Rome is established and there's a general peace. I'm not talking about, you know, peace like shalom and if you're familiar with that, like there's like rest there.
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I'm talking about absence of war. There were regional conflicts, there were regional wars that the
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Romans were dealing with, but there was general peace. You could travel from one end of the empire to the other relatively safely and quickly at that time.
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The Romans also brought water to places that had it, to cities that needed it, through the aqueducts.
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So the Roman roads and the aqueducts and all the structure that they built really helped the gospel spread.
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So it's like the first advent was perfect timing, perfect timing.
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We shouldn't be surprised and so when you read history, like we can be, I think, faith -filled and I'm glad like we see that in history and that's kind of, that's really cool, but the first advent is here.
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This would allow the gospel to spread quickly. Now we're waiting for that second advent and in some ways we're preparing the way for that second advent as you fulfill the
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Great Commission, as we fulfill the Great Commission. Okay, so that's the introduction. You know, Mark introduces, hey, here's what's going on, kind of like heralding and here's the next part.
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So think about these things. Part two, John's ministry, verses four through eight.
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In verse four, John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
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Now Mark narrows the subject down to John the Baptist and you can read Luke and you can read Matthew to find out who
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John is and that they were cousins, as I mentioned in the intro. John in the womb leapt, right, when he was near Jesus.
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That's kind of, these are really faith - building stories as well to think about. You know, once again,
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I thank God for bringing all that to us so we can thousands of years later be encouraged. But we see
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John baptizing in the wilderness. This is a unique feature of his ministry, baptism, and this is the most significant salvation history development in hundreds of years, okay, or redemptive history, okay.
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Oh, did I tell you that I teach history? Sorry. Yeah, so, I mean,
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I, sorry, sorry about that. So I do, and usually I have a captive audience, so if they leave,
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I get to write them up. It's not good, but anyways, anyways, but you please, please feel free to.
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Anyways, so for hundreds of years, there was silence, there was nothing, and John, like, there's something going on here, as we'll see in a minute here, but there's something different, like the
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Holy Spirit is moving, and it is amazing to look.
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So God works through history. It is full of his examples, full of him working his purpose out in history, and, you know, think about how impatient
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I get with what I want God to do. It's convicting, but God is faithful.
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God works through history, and so as John baptizes in the wilderness, let's not lose focus on the wilderness, and this baptism is significant.
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Think Exodus, right, and the prophets. The wilderness was where God judged.
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God corrected his people, but also remember he didn't leave them.
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If you're drawn into the wilderness, he doesn't leave you. If that's part of what you're going through, he didn't leave you, and I just think it's interesting just reading, you know, in Exodus, and that's amazing.
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He waited for a generation to reteach, and they entered into the promised land.
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He fulfilled his promise. Baptism is, as I said, a unique feature of John's ministry, and it acknowledges
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God's judgment. When you go, you're judged. Baptism, and you come up to life.
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I mean, I am so grateful that God uses simple illustrations for me to understand, and at the same time, he's way complex, way more interesting than what
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I can imagine, and so, think about that.
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John's saying, repent, confess your sins, you're being baptized.
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Like, that message, I don't think is very popular today. In fact,
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I think that, in contrast, the word sin is really controversial, and so, when
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I say repent, it would be like what John, and when we baptize, it's like, here at Recast, it's like what
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John's doing, and it's a visible symbol of your repentance, and your acknowledgment of what
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Christ has done in your life. So, think about Jesus when he's taken up into the clouds, right, and he commissions, go and make disciples of all nations.
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So, this is at the end of Matthew, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
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Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, we continue to do that, much like what
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John starts here. In verse 5, So, once again,
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I mean, all of Judea and all of Jerusalem came to see him.
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Listen, they're waiting for, and they think, since it's been hundreds of years before there's been anything as far as salvation history is going on, like, there's an excitement there.
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This is different. The people recognize that. The Holy Spirit is moving, and imagine,
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I think in, you know, what comes to my mind is like that guy sitting on the corner with a sandwich board, you know, like repent or die or, you know,
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I mean, like preaching the gospel in that way, but that's really what John is doing here.
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He's saying repent. Judgment is near. God is judging you, us.
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And so, John calls people to confess and be baptized. He's fulfilling his call to make the way straight for the Lord, and this is done in the
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Jordan River, probably near Bethsaida, and I think how beautiful that is, right, this imagery.
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Israel crossed through the Red Sea. Israel crossed through the
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Jordan River on dry ground. In judgment, you know, God is still providing the way for his people.
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Israel's history, and I'm, you know, reading through the Bible in a year, and man,
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I'm going through kings and judges and kings and chronicles, like, dang, like this king, he comes to power, he does what is right before the
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Lord. Okay, cool. Except he didn't do these things, usually, and then this next one doesn't do it.
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Like, next one doesn't do it. I mean, like, wow. If you read their history, Israel rebelled often and regularly, but I mean, if I look at my history, it's like, well, okay, maybe we're made of the same stuff.
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It should be. It's not surprising. I am so grateful that there was a desire for a new beginning, and for those that name the name of Jesus, trust in Jesus, there is a new beginning.
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There is a new birth. John 1, 1 John, excuse me, 1
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John 9 says, That is good news.
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I keep coming back to that. If you trust in Jesus' work on the cross, the judgment that he took from God, you can have salvation.
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So this is the baptism that that he brings. In verse 6, John says, or Mark says,
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Really, that's just a picture of Elijah in 2 Kings. He was wearing a hair shirt and leather belt.
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I'm thankful that you and I don't have to adopt that lifestyle. We don't have to, you know, get rid of our wardrobe and wear a hair shirt and leather and then eat locust and honey.
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But this is, it describes him, and so Mark is describing John, and at the end of the transfiguration in Mark 9,
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Jesus would say this, because, so if you go back to Elijah, Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind.
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So that's pretty cool. You don't die. That's cool. They expected
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Elijah to come back, and Jesus is going to address that here. So Mark, chapter 9, verses 9 to 13,
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Jesus says, So John was
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Elijah. Jesus is clearly saying in that, John was Elijah. He came, he did his work, his ministry, and spoiler alert,
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I mean, later in Mark, John would lose his head. At the whim of someone else,
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John would be killed and lose his head. Verse 7 continues, once again, in John the
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Baptist's ministry. He says, So the stage has been set, and John announces this big news.
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He is a super popular preacher, and he is saying, there is someone coming that I don't,
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I can't even really untie his shoes. I'm not worthy to do that. This is a task that servants at that time, the untying of shoes and taking off of shoes, they were exempt from.
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They were exempt from that. Now contrast that with what Jesus will do. So as John the
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Baptizer announces this in all humility, I mean, there's great humility in that. Jesus would later, as recorded in the
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Gospel of John, do something also very radical. He would, now remember, he's the king.
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He created all things. He sustains all things. He is the one that opened up the scroll that we sang about.
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He is the one that is worthy of everything. He will stoop down and wash his disciples' feet.
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I think you know that. If you don't, it's a great story to read. So the person that absolutely deserves any credit or glory or applause, worship served in that way.
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John correctly recognizes the importance of Jesus, and Jesus deserves all honor. He's the one that created the world and all life in it.
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He's the one that sustained the life that we have right now. He's the only one worthy of praise. John the
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Baptist is pointing this out. In verse 8, John says, I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the
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Holy Spirit. Guys, this is good. This is also good news. When Jesus said,
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I have to leave so that the comforter can come, it's better. This is better.
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I'll be honest. I think I agree with people at that time that saw Jesus leave. It's like, no, don't leave.
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I mean, I don't know that they were thinking that. Okay, so my interpretation there. But my guess is that they're like, no,
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I don't want you to leave. But I'm going to trust him when he says it's better that I go and then send the comforter.
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So he baptizes with, John baptizes with water. Jesus will baptize with the
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Holy Spirit, he says. This is a better baptism. This is a baptism that empowers us.
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It empowers us to actually not sin so we can understand
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Scripture. It enlightens. The Holy Spirit gives us knowledge.
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Guys, this is good news. The fact that regeneration happens and the Holy Spirit is within every believer is a fantastic gift.
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As we await the Lord coming or we go to him, let's make the path straight.
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Let's prepare the way of the Lord for that second advent. All right, so John's ministry, there's his baptism, the way he does it.
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It's, this next part, like, I'll be honest. Like, why,
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Jesus, why do you need to do this? Okay, so part three, Jesus is baptized in verses 9 through 11.
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In verse 9, it says, in those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the
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Jordan. Okay, so Jesus, he comes from Nazareth. Nazareth is not, this is not the place where holiness, where the religion of the day would be established.
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This was sort of like that backwater place, okay? And so Jesus comes down from Nazareth and he is going to go to the
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Jordan where all of Judea and all of Jerusalem were there, and he would be baptized, okay?
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In verse 9, in those days he came and Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. So Jesus was baptized by all, and here's where I'm like, why did you have to do this?
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He was baptized like all the other sinners. This is a baptism of repentance. Jesus didn't need to repent.
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Like, there's nothing he needed to repent of, but so what is the significance of it?
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You know, I think William Lane is a biblical scholar.
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He said it best when he wrote, in submitting to John's baptism,
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Jesus acknowledges the judgment of God upon Israel. At the same time, his baptism signifies that his mission will be to endure the judgment of God.
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That's the good news. Because it either Jesus is enduring that judgment, or you are.
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If you don't trust in him, that's it. In verse 10,
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Jesus is baptized by all, Verse 10, and when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the
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Spirit descending on him like a dove. So when Jesus came up, he saw something amazing. The people, they saw the
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Spirit descend on him like a dove. This is a cosmic event, okay?
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What I mean by that is like, well, I mean, think about when God spoke at the beginning of time and things came into existence, right?
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I mean, I don't know if you've ever tried that. It probably doesn't work. I like to think when
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I spoke to my family, like it was done, but okay, anyways. So we're talking about this type of power, right?
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We're talking about, this is a cosmic event. This is something that is very significant, okay?
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The heavens were torn open. They're not open like a door or a window is open and closed. They're torn open, and this does signify, or it's significant because it's judgment -type language.
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In Isaiah 64, one, it says, oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down. Now, we don't use the word like rend, but that's what it just means, to tear open and come down and judge.
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Like I said, we don't use that in everyday language. It's appropriate here. The heavens are torn open, and the
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Spirit is gonna be descending on Jesus like a dove, preparing to stand under God's judgment for Israel, for all humanity.
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The Holy Spirit is symbolized by the dove, so now we have the third person in the Trinity. It's there.
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That's why, I mean, think about how unique that event is, how unique it is.
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Jesus identifies with the people of Israel in this baptism. He's doing it like them, the three persons of the Trinity are there.
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In obedience, he went to John, and he was baptized. I wanna repeat,
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Jesus did not go there to repent, even though this was a baptism of repentance. He did not need to repent of anything.
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And then we see, in the next verse here, something pretty amazing as well. There's a voice that's gonna come.
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Notice the pace, right? It says, and, like this, and and, and then this, and then and, like immediately, once again, the pace.
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There's no new specific, or special, or unique power that's granted to Jesus here.
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Nothing new, okay? It's more of a declaration for us to see.
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And you can go through the Gospels and see many more examples of where Jesus is gonna actually get his hands and feet dirty.
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He's gonna get into it. He's gonna do work. We're talking about the God of the universe who deserves to be, you know, not here, humbling himself, and then we hear this.
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In verse 11, and a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved
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Son, with you I am well pleased. That's God the
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Father saying that to Jesus. Jesus solves real problems, and it's amazing to ponder, think about this, at creation, as I mentioned before, the
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Godhead is there, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they're creating galaxies, and they're creating the earth, the land.
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You can go through the Genesis account, all of the living creatures and the plants, and it's good or very good.
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Like, it is amazing. The creation is something we can't even conceive of, and they watch as the creation is corrupted by sin.
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Right, they're there. Well, they know what's gonna happen. So when we look back on that, we say, wow, that happened in history, and they see all of history, and they know what's coming, and they begin to work, they begin to continue their creation, and making all things new.
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And then Jesus hears this from the Father. Hey, with you I am well pleased. That's a powerful statement.
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It's not a flippant compliment. It's a genuine, heartfelt love that the
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Godhead has for each other. Okay, so this is where I was tempted to stop.
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You know, I was like, ah! But if I, in verse, in part four, where Jesus is tempted, like, that's not where the text stops.
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Like, it says, and then immediately. Right, so it's like, so I didn't.
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I continued. And Jesus is tempted in verses 12 and 13.
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And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan.
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And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
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In verse 12, we see the fast pace. We got the King of Kings, we got the
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Creator of the universe, we have the God in flesh. He's come back to earth, the first Advent is here. And then we see he's already in the wilderness, but he's driven further into the wilderness, and he is tempted.
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Now, Mark does not include the specific temptations that is in Matthew and Luke.
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He's tempted to turn stone into bread. He's tempted to take all of the kingdoms of the world.
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He's tempted to basically throw yourself down. The angels will protect you.
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And in all of these cases, if you go back and look at the temptations specifically there, Jesus replies with Scripture.
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Jesus replies with, so that's another sermon, that's another thing, but, because I know you guys want to get out before two, so that's,
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Mark doesn't do that, right? But he does, look at what he does include. He says, listen, remember the context.
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Remember the Christians in Rome, what's happening to them as they're being martyred, they're being killed. And he was with the wild animals.
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Hey, Jesus is with the wild animals. I know some of our friends are being torn to bits by wild animals, right?
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Jesus is with you. He will be with you in the wilderness. And so,
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I think it's interesting, continuing in verse 13, that the angels were ministering to him.
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I just, I don't know. How long did he know these angels? I mean, it could be for, by our terms, thousands and thousands of years, right?
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I mean, hey, buddy, how you doing? I don't, I have no idea. All that's, listen, that's completely my imagination going there, but I believe he knew them for a long time and they're ministering to them.
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God ministered, God sent his angels to minister to Jesus. And so, it's very encouraging that God will not leave you.
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He will provide for you. He'll provide for us, as he provided for his son. Jesus' ministry and his eventual victory over sin and death, we'll see that on the cross.
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We have hope and a bodily resurrection because he rose from the dead. The older I get, the more real that becomes.
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And the hope of a resurrection, the more real and faith -giving that comes.
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I think about when I was in my 20s and 30s, that was the furthest thing from my mind. So, this is the good news.
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We do not have to fear death. We don't have to fear the pain of death.
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Unlike Israel, Jesus was faithful. He was obedient in the wilderness. Jesus was the one that God was pleased with.
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Jesus was announced by John the Baptist. As I think about how the
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Holy Spirit might move in your life, might move in ways that would maybe give you encouragement this week,
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I don't know. I have a, my prayer is that you would gaze into and enjoy the majesty of Jesus, as he's introduced here.
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And there are a few applications that I've heard that I would think might be helpful. The first is repent.
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If you know Christ, you're probably repenting regularly, okay?
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And if you don't, you have no idea. But I would encourage you to repent. If you don't know you're a sinner,
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I would encourage you, you are. I would wanna let you know that, okay? You are going to receive your just reward.
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And that's separation and eternal judgment. But the gospel offers eternal life. And so, come to Jesus, the
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Savior, like you would trust a parachute, as Ray Comfort would say, I think it's a great analogy. If I'm gonna jump out of an airplane,
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I'm gonna trust that parachute to save me. That's what Jesus will do. On judgment day, when you stand before God, that's all
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I got, I just got Jesus. The second thing is prepare the way.
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No, we're not John the Baptist. You know, you don't need to go back to the locusts and honey and things like that.
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But we are called to make disciples of all nations. We are called to share the gospel. And I would encourage all of us to help prepare the way of the second coming, the second advent.
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Between you and I, I'm glad he waited for a couple thousand years. But it's part of our task, it's part of our commission now.
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The third, obey. As Christians, walk in obedience as Jesus did. As Dave was talking about earlier,
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I pray that we would obey, not to earn any favor or get some brownie points, but because we love you,
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Lord. We love you, Jesus, we love you. We want to obey you. I mean, you've probably, if you're a parent, you've had your kids obey you, and you know the difference.
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They do it because they're gonna get, like when they're trying to get something versus they love you. You know the difference.
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And you can testify which one feels better, which one feels honoring. All right, so obey, as a
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Christian, obey out of love for Christ. And then lastly, as Jesus resisted temptation, resist temptation, lean on the word of God.
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If you're not regularly reading God's word, you're gonna struggle, you are.
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You're gonna struggle even when you're in it. I'll be honest, I mean, because we're really good at, I don't know, giving in to sin.
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We're really good at these sorts of things. It's just difficult, but at least now you can have a, you can wage a war with the
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Holy Spirit. You can actually have victory, and you can be encouraged by what
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Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 13. He wrote, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
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God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
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God promises that you will be able to endure the temptation. He provides the way of escape.
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That's good news. That's hope -giving. So as we end today with communion,
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I pray that you just reflect on what Jesus did on the cross, that he took the penalty for your sin so you don't have to pay it, so I don't have to pay it.
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He took the penalty for my sin. He was beaten, he was bruised, his blood was spilled to cover your sin.
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He who knew no sin, he was sinless. He willingly submitted to the cross for you and I.
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That is good news. And so as you take the elements, there are a couple tables up front, there are a couple in the back, remember that.
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The cracker is his body that was broken for him. The juice represents his blood that was shed for us.
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And if you have questions, or if you want prayer, about anything, see me, see the
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Elder on Duty, see Dave, see, honestly, there are a ton of you. As I look out, that would be great to talk to.
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All right, let's pray. Lord, thank you for this passage, and we can look at what you did in history, and we can see you move, we can see you love.
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Perfectly, thank you for the glimpse that we can see your love for each other, the love for the
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Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Father. Lord, I pray that as we consider our own life, our own lives, and the sin that easily entangles, and if anybody doesn't know you,
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I pray that they would trust in you. I pray that this would be a day of salvation.
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This would be a day of repentance for people. As we take communion, I pray that you would be glorified, that this body would bring glory to you.
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Thank you again for this time, and once again, just thank you for your love.