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[0:00] Please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 1. This morning we're beginning a new series in the Gospel of Mark.

[0:15] ! And the main reason for this series is that we want to answer the question, which many people do not know the answer to, though they think they do.

[0:30] And that question is, who is Jesus? I know it might sound rather odd to you, but it is true that even though the name Jesus is, without a doubt, the most well-known name around the world, Jesus, without a doubt, is the most misunderstood person in the world.

[0:57] People really don't know who Jesus is. And this includes people who sit in churches. Now some of you might think that this is really a modern issue.

[1:09] This is an issue that we have because we're so far removed from the time of Jesus. Some 2,000 years or so removed. But that's not entirely true.

[1:24] What is true is that during the lifetime of Jesus, from the time of his birth to the time of his death, he was misunderstood. The record of the Gospel accounts tell us this.

[1:38] During his ministry, people wondered, who is Jesus? They asked him, who are you? Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And he even asked them, after they'd been with him for so long, who do you say that I am?

[1:53] Who am I? As a matter of fact, Jesus' own family did not know who he was. His brothers and his sisters did not know who he was.

[2:08] And the record is that they did not believe early in Jesus during his ministry.

[2:19] And so today we wrestle with the same question that others wrestled with from the day of Jesus. And the question is, who is Jesus? Who is he? Not just from a historical point of view, but personally.

[2:34] Who is Jesus in his person? This is the question that Mark and the other Gospel writers sought to answer, even though they took different approaches to it.

[2:47] And so this morning we begin this new sermon series in the Gospel of Mark, which we've entitled, Who is this man? The Gospel of Mark.

[2:58] And for the remainder of the year and early into 2020, we will be considering how Mark answers this question. Who is Jesus?

[3:12] Who is this man? And I'm convinced that there will be some of us who will encounter the Jesus we never knew. And my prayer is for all of us that we will grow in our understanding of who Jesus really is.

[3:33] Jesus is no simple person. I encourage you as well, as we work our way through the Gospel of Mark, to invite friends and family.

[3:48] I think this is an excellent series for unbelievers, for those who would be believers in name only, to be a part of, because in it they will come face to face with Jesus and be able to answer this question, who is this man?

[4:09] And so this morning I'll be introducing the Gospel of Mark and we will be considering verses 1 through 13. Please follow along as I read. I will be allowing for questions at the end, so if any questions arise during the sermon, please make a note of them.

[4:27] We'll give an opportunity to have those questions answered. Mark 1, beginning in verse 1.

[4:37] The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, John appeared baptizing in the wilderness, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.

[5:05] Make his path straight. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.

[5:29] Now John was clothed with camels here and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

[5:49] I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

[6:02] And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved son.

[6:17] With you I am well pleased. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan.

[6:31] And he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him. Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful this morning that we can gather in this place.

[6:48] Thank you for our time of singing, our time of giving, coming to the Lord's table, memorizing Scripture together, and now Lord, sitting under the preaching of your word, we thank you for this.

[7:04] Would you open our hearts? Would you speak to our minds? Would you help us to answer in a personal way this big question, who is Jesus?

[7:17] Lord, I pray for your grace upon me this morning that I may faithfully serve these whom I love but who you love more.

[7:33] And Lord, help us to live in the light of what you say to us about the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

[7:45] this is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels and it has the distinction of being the first Gospel written.

[8:00] From church history, we are told that it was written by John Mark who was a close disciple of the Apostle Peter and he also served as Peter's personal writer.

[8:13] Now, those of you who are familiar with the other Gospel accounts would be aware that Mark's Gospel begins very differently in particular from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

[8:27] In the cases of Matthew and Luke, what they did is they took a somewhat lengthy introduction in their Gospels. They talked about the circumstances surrounding the birth of John, the birth of Jesus and the genealogy of Jesus.

[8:46] But not so with Mark. Mark begins his Gospel rather abruptly and differently and is perhaps somewhat similar to the Gospel of John where both of them, both John and Mark, they take this somewhat brief introduction to the person of Jesus before they begin to get into his life and into his ministry.

[9:15] When you consider Mark's Gospel, when you consider what Mark has written, we must remember that Mark is not just rambling and writing things down.

[9:27] Mark has a purpose in his writing. And when you study Mark's Gospel, you see that Mark's Gospel has the marks of what we would call well-written material.

[9:43] It's a well-put-together piece of writing. And they generally tell us that when you're writing, there are two very important things you need in writing.

[9:54] You need, first of all, a strong introduction. You need a very good introduction. And what you do in your introduction is you state what the main idea is that you are going to be elaborating on in the body of the writing.

[10:12] So you state right up front what it is you're going to talk about. And the second rule is that you need a strong conclusion. That in your conclusion, what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to restate what you said in the introduction and what you elaborated on in the conclusion.

[10:32] And that's what we see that Mark does in his writing. And here's the point that Mark states in the introduction, elaborates on in the body of his Gospel, and then restates in the conclusion of his Gospel.

[10:53] Here's the point. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the promised fulfillment of God's redemptive plan.

[11:08] Mark states that right up front. He elaborates on that in the body of the Gospel. What he does is what he shares with us in the body of the Gospel is to underscore and put in bold this central point.

[11:26] And then, to the end of Mark's Gospel, we see him restating the very same thing. Notice how Mark begins his Gospel in verse 1.

[11:42] The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He tells us right up front what he is doing. He is giving us an account of the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whom he identifies as the Son of God.

[11:59] And this word that Mark uses for Gospel, although we hear it as a religious word, it wasn't a religious word in Mark's day. The word Gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion.

[12:15] And in Mark's day, euangelion was simply, it was more in the realm of history. It was the word that was used to make a public proclamation.

[12:27] It was called good news or news. It was the kind of title that they would give to news that announced the new emperor or announced that there had been a great victory in battle.

[12:40] This was not a religious word. It was a word for public proclamation of newsworthy news. And so, what Mark is really doing is he is saying right at the outset of his Gospel, this is newsworthy.

[13:00] This is the kind of stuff that changes the world. This is what you need to hear. Mark employs the very same word that the Greeks would have used when they announced a new emperor when they announced some significant military victory.

[13:20] Mark is saying the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is to be a public proclamation to the whole world, not just to those who believe.

[13:39] Mark is saying that this is world-changing news that he is going to share. And then, in the body of Mark's Gospel, he shows us why.

[13:51] He presents data to prove the point that Jesus is the Son of God. And then, in the conclusion of his letter, you'd find this in Mark 15, verse 39, Mark gives us this account of this Roman centurion who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus.

[14:12] And Mark says, when this centurion saw how Jesus died, he said, surely, this is the Son of God. And then Mark concludes with the resurrection of Jesus, and he stops right there, and essentially what he's saying is this, I have stated my case that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

[14:36] What do you say? Mark is making a case that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that it is good news, it is newsworthy news, it is essential news that the world needs to hear.

[14:54] And he lays this case out in such a way that he leaves it with his readers and his hearers to say, what do you believe?

[15:06] What do you say? Now before Mark delves into the body of this information, beginning in verse 14, where he starts to look at Jesus and his ministry, there are three scenes that Mark gives us that took place before the ministry of Jesus began.

[15:33] There are three scenes. things. The first is the ministry of John, in verses 2-8. The second is the baptism of Jesus, in verses 9-11.

[15:46] And the third is the temptation of Jesus, verses 12-13. These are the three scenes that Mark gives us before he gets into the life and ministry of Jesus.

[15:58] he gives us these three scenes to introduce us to this man, to introduce us to Jesus. In our remaining time, I want us to consider these three scenes that Mark gives us to see how they answer the question, who is this man?

[16:23] The first thing that Mark introduces us to is the ministry of John. And by recounting the ministry of John, Mark helps us to see that Jesus is the promised king.

[16:36] He is the promised king. Mark begins by quoting two Old Testament prophets, the prophets Isaiah and Malachi. Malachi, both of whom prophesied that God was going to send a messenger before a person called the Lord, who was going to prepare a way for the Lord's coming.

[17:06] Now, what we see in verse two is that Mark only refers to Isaiah, but he actually quotes from the prophet Malachi in verse two, he quotes Malachi three, verse one, and he quotes from the prophet Isaiah in verse three, he quotes Isaiah 40, verse three.

[17:27] And it's believed that although Mark quoted both of these prophets, the reason he didn't mention Malachi was that Isaiah was an earlier prophet and Isaiah was a major prophet, and so he just referred to the prophecy of Isaiah, and in some ways Malachi was reaffirming what Isaiah said.

[17:49] But here we see Mark begins in the Old Testament, and by doing so he makes a point, his point is clear, Jesus is not someone who just dropped on the scene and had a great following.

[18:03] He's saying to us, Jesus is not an overnight wonder, but Jesus was prophesied from of old, centuries ago, by Isaiah and by Malachi.

[18:18] This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It began centuries before. It didn't just begin because Jesus was charismatic and could draw a crowd. No, it began because God had prophesied that he was going to send one who was called the Lord, and he was going to send a messenger before him to prepare the way.

[18:40] that he should walk in. Notice that the prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah are very similar.

[18:52] In verse two, Malachi, who's being quoted by Mark, refers to my messenger going before your face, and in verse three, Isaiah is referring to a voice of one in the wilderness.

[19:08] Both messengers, if you would notice it, have been sent to do a preparatory work. They were to prepare the Lord's way. That's why both of them were, in both cases, they're talking about the same messenger, but each of them is saying he is going to do a preparing work.

[19:27] He is going to prepare the Lord's way. He is going to go before the Lord's face. this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[19:41] Mark is saying, Jesus is the Lord whom Isaiah and Malachi prophesied would come and before whose face a messenger would go to prepare his way.

[19:57] Now, what was this preparing all about? why was it necessary? Well, in the heirs of the heres, they understood immediately what Mark was talking about because there was only one kind of person who had this emissary, this messenger to go before him to prepare before he would come, and that was kings.

[20:26] Kings and very, very, very, high-ranking dignitaries. When they were going to visit, they would send a messenger before them, and that messenger literally was supposed to ensure that the road that they were going to ride on, all the potholes were filled in, it was smoothed off, and they had a very comfortable journey to the place of where they were going.

[20:54] And they were supposed to make sure that the people who were going to receive them were also prepared to receive them, that there were no surprises. And the people understood this.

[21:05] They understood this from the prophecy, and so even among faithful Jews, they expected that God would fulfill this prophecy. Now, even for us, though, this isn't far-fetched.

[21:18] I think a lot of us in the room are old enough to remember when Queen Elizabeth visited. Remember what the government did? They paved the road from the airport straight to Elizabeth Estates. That's right.

[21:31] Paved it. The whole thing. Wherever she was supposed to go, they paved it. And that's because a dignitary was coming.

[21:43] And you can rest assured that for that visit, Queen Elizabeth had emissaries to come to make sure that where she was going to stay and who was going to receive her.

[21:54] And that people were told, when you come into the Queen's presence, you are to bow and you are to do all these things. She had her emissaries to go before her. It's the same idea here. Malachi and Isaiah are saying that the king is coming and God is going to send someone before him to prepare the king's way.

[22:22] part of Malachi's prophecy was that before the great day of the Lord would come, that God is going to send Elijah. He's going to send one like Elijah.

[22:35] And Mark is trying to help us to see that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of this prophecy of Elijah who would come. And so if you look in verse 6, he goes to the extent of describing John's appearance and his attire, he says, now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore leather belt around his waist, ate locusts and wild honey.

[23:01] He was identifying him with the prophets of old and Elijah in particular to say, this is the one who comes to prepare, this is the one who comes before the Lord.

[23:16] Now when we look at verses 4 through 8, in which Mark briefly describes the preparation that John does, what we see is John is not busy repairing roads.

[23:29] He's not busy filling in potholes. Instead, what we see John doing is he's preparing a people. John is in the wilderness preaching.

[23:41] He's in the wilderness because he's distinguishing himself and separating himself from the backslidden religious rulers who controlled religious life in Jerusalem.

[23:53] And in the wilderness he's preaching and he's telling people they need to be baptized. He's saying to them, the Lord is coming and you need to be ready to meet him.

[24:07] You need to be prepared to meet him. And so John, Mark tells us in verse 4, was proclaiming a baptism of repentance toward forgiveness.

[24:18] For forgiveness. They weren't getting the forgiveness because think about it, if they got the forgiveness the Lord did not have to come. But it was preparing them for the forgiveness that would come through the Lord and John is telling the people, the Lord is coming, you need to prepare to meet him.

[24:38] And the way they prepared was by repenting. And Mark tells us that they were repenting and they were confessing their sins as they were being baptized.

[24:50] As they were being baptized, they were giving evidence of their repentance. Evidence that they were turning from sin and they were going to turn to God shown by their willingness to be baptized.

[25:07] Now here again, to us, this seems like not so great a task to do. This was a huge task for Jews to do. Because the only people who got baptized were Gentiles.

[25:21] Gentiles were baptized when they became a part of the Jewish community, when they became proselytes and they ceased to be into paganism and they joined the household of Israel.

[25:33] What they did was they had to be baptized to signify that they were outsiders, to signify that they were unclean. And so it was detestable and humiliating to a Jew to say you need to be baptized.

[25:45] baptized. John says to them, you, not just Gentiles, you are unclean and you need to be baptized.

[26:00] And the small miracle is scores of Jews were coming. So much so that John says that Mark tells us in verse 5, all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem.

[26:13] We know not everybody, literally, but it was so widespread he's able to say that. They were coming. And they were acknowledging I'm unclean.

[26:25] They were acknowledging, yes, the Lord is coming and I want to be prepared. I want to be ready. And they were indicating that they were repenting. brothers and sisters, if we know halfway anything of God's word, we know that God had to be at work in their hearts to humble them, to cause them to want to openly submit to baptism, something that was only for Gentiles who were known to be away from God.

[26:57] Again, it's important to see that receiving John's baptism was not enough. John's baptism was towards repentance because the people who were being baptized, they were acknowledging their need for forgiveness.

[27:17] They were confessing their sins, but John could do nothing more for them. But some of them, looking at how powerful John's ministry was and how he was confronting the religious leaders of his day with great authority, they thought John was the one.

[27:35] They thought John was the one who was supposed to come. He was the Lord. And John says to them, like what he says in verses 7 and 8, he says, after me comes one who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

[27:54] I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. John says, I'm not the one. He says, all I can do is I can put you under water, I can put water on you, but you need more than that.

[28:08] He says, the one who's going to come and give you what you really need, this baptism of the Holy Spirit, that one, he says, the distance between me and him is so great that for me to stoop in the dirt and loose his sandals, he says, I'm not worthy to do that.

[28:30] That's the distance between me and the Lord, me and the one whose way I am preparing. Now, when we hear the words, baptism with the Holy Spirit, for a lot of us, immediately we think tongues, we think speaking in tongues.

[28:53] But that's not what John was talking about. baptism with the Holy Spirit in the scriptures, Old Testament, when you talk about the coming of the Spirit, and in the New Testament where the Spirit comes, is it primarily communicates salvation.

[29:16] It's a salvation term. That's baptism in the Holy Spirit, that's baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is the gateway to spiritual gifts, but it is not exclusively spiritual gifts, it is primarily and fundamentally salvation.

[29:34] And that's what John is saying to them. John is saying, I can only baptize you with water, but the one who's coming after me, he is going to bring salvation. He is going to bring the Holy Spirit who is going to be on the inside of you.

[29:47] The water I put you in can only deal with the outside of you and deal with literal dirt. He cannot deal with spiritual dirt. He says, the one who is coming after me, that one is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

[30:01] He is going to deal with this issue of sin, the confessing of your sins. He is going to come and the evidence of your forgiveness will be the giving of the Holy Spirit to you, to live on the inside of all of those who repent.

[30:22] And so through this scene that Mark shows us of the ministry of John, what Mark is doing is Mark is helping us to see Jesus is the promised Lord.

[30:35] He is the promised King who the prophets of old said would come. I am the one who is prophesied as the messenger to go before him to prepare his way.

[30:48] king. But he is the promised king. I want to ask you this morning as you consider this, as you consider this first picture where Mark tells us that the gospel of Jesus Christ goes way back to these prophecies that we find in the Old Testament and God, the first introduction we get to Jesus in this first scene is as a king.

[31:16] He's the Lord King. who's coming so great that John the Baptist, as mighty as he was, says I can't even bend in the dirt to loose his sandals.

[31:31] I'm going to ask you do you see Jesus as king? Do you see him as God's promised king? And do you relate to him as one to whom you bow your heart and your knees and to whom you submit your life?

[31:50] Do you see him as John saw him? Brothers and sisters, the evidence that we have seen Jesus as the Lord and king that he is, is obedience in our lives.

[32:04] It's the only worthy response to one who is king, to one who is Lord, that we submit our lives to him. king. And so if our lives are not marked by obedience to the Lord Jesus, we don't see him as king.

[32:20] We see him as, I don't know, all the different things people call him. He understands, he knows, gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

[32:32] But no, our first picture of him that John presents is he is the Lord king. He is the king. king. First and foremost, Jesus is the promised king.

[32:45] That's the first answer that Mark gives us to this question, who is Jesus? The second scene that Mark uses to introduce us to Jesus is found in verses 9 through 11.

[32:58] It's the baptism of Jesus. And in this scene, Mark tells us that Jesus is the divine son. First he tells us Jesus is the promised king.

[33:11] Now he tells us Jesus is the divine son. Let's take it verses 9 through 11 again. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

[33:25] And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven you are my beloved son.

[33:40] With you I am well pleased. This is quite an interesting scene that Mark puts before us. On the face of it as Jesus was being baptized, he looked no different from anybody else who was being baptized.

[34:00] baptized. He did not look like the divine son of God. For starters, he was from the wrong city. He was from the city of Nazareth in the region of Galilee.

[34:15] And Nazareth had such a bad reputation that when one of Jesus' disciples, by the name of Nathaniel, before he became a disciple, read this in John chapter 1, when he was introduced to Jesus and told about Jesus from Nazareth, remember what his response was?

[34:35] Can anything good come out of Nazareth? And the region of Galilee, Galilee was an area that people, proper Jews looked down upon because there was an area where you had mixed Jews who intermarried and they were not pure Jews and so they were looked down upon.

[34:57] Galilee was not a place that you want to put on your resume to say, I hail from Galilee. But that's where the sovereign Lord ordained that Jesus would be from.

[35:12] He ordained that Jesus would hail from a place of no reputation in Nazareth, not in Jerusalem. And see, brothers and sisters, we shouldn't pass over this lightly.

[35:24] We should understand God is not interested in impressing the world. He doesn't go to great lengths to impress the world. And neither should we. Neither should we.

[35:37] Whatever our circumstances may be, whatever our seeming impediment should be, whatever the circumstances of our birth or our life, we should never be ashamed of them because they were determined by a sovereign Lord, a sovereign God who caused it to be as it was.

[35:59] But when Jesus showed up to John's baptism, he looked like any ordinary Jew. As a matter of fact, by going to John's baptism, what he was communicating to all the other people is, I need to confess my sins and I need to be forgiven of my sins.

[36:18] That's what Jesus was openly submitting to when he went to John's baptism. baptism. And he wasn't ashamed to do so. He didn't say, I'm doing this, but I just want you to know I'm the son of God and I'm not like the rest of you.

[36:35] No, he goes there and they would have seen him as just an ordinary Jew who recognizes that he is a sinner and who needs to be baptized.

[36:51] But the big difference between Jesus and everybody else who was being baptized is he had no sins to confess. And so when he would have gone in the water unlike the others who were confessing their sins as they were being baptized, he had no sins to confess.

[37:11] But there's this cloud over him that he's no different to see anybody else. God said to God but Mark tells us in verse 10 that immediately, look at verse 10, immediately when he came up out of the water, when he came up out of the muddy Jordan river, something happened to him that didn't happen to any of the other people who were being baptized.

[37:39] Mark tells us that immediately Jesus saw the heavens torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven and said, you are my son, with you I am well pleased.

[37:54] It's almost as if the Holy Spirit and the Father couldn't wait to affirm the son. It's almost as if they could not wait to affirm the son to say he's different from the rest of you.

[38:08] The spirit descends on him as a dove and the father speaks this is my son, this is my beloved son with you I am well pleased.

[38:22] He has no need for baptism except to identify with sinners whom he came to save. In his humanity he's the son of man but in his divinity he is the son of God.

[38:39] And here what we see is we see the picture of the triune God at the baptism of Jesus we see the spirit descending on the son. God the son is in the water God the spirit descends upon him and God the father speaks from heaven this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased.

[39:02] this is the difference between Jesus and everybody else who is being baptized. Heaven affirms him. Heaven affirms that he is different.

[39:19] And brothers and sisters there is only one whom God has been pleased with and will be pleased with. this verdict will never change.

[39:34] God will never have another son with whom he is well pleased. He is pleased with one. This is his son with whom he is well pleased. He is the promised king and he is also the divine son of God who is obedient to come to the earth to fulfill the father's plan of redemption.

[39:53] salvation. But Jesus not only came as God's son he also came as God's servant as a suffering servant who came to redeem sinners by taking their place and paying the price for their sin which is death.

[40:11] And here at his baptism we see the picture of Jesus identifying with sinners and their sin. And we hear the father's approval you're my son. My son whom I love.

[40:23] With you I'm well pleased. You know for a lot of us we acknowledge that Jesus is our substitute on the cross.

[40:36] We acknowledge that Jesus took our place but you know that Jesus was also our substitute in his baptism. And you know the father's approval that came to him can only come to us through him.

[40:50] God will only be pleased with us in Christ. We will hear the well done we will hear the voice of the father's approval only as we are in union with Jesus Christ.

[41:10] Jesus is the only one that God will be pleased with. God will be pleased with you and me and anybody else through his son.

[41:27] The only one who has pleased the father is the only one who can please the father. And that's the second answer to this question who is Jesus. Mark helps us to see that Jesus is the divine son.

[41:42] with the third and final scene that John shows us as he introduces Jesus is the temptation of Jesus.

[41:55] And his point in giving us this scene giving us this window into who Jesus is his point is that Jesus is the last Adam and the true Israel.

[42:10] He is the last Adam and the true Israel. Not only the promised king, not only the divine son, but he's also the last Adam and he is the true Israel.

[42:27] Notice in verse 12 how Jesus got into the wilderness. The devil did not lure him there. The devil didn't trick him there. Scripture says the spirit drove him there.

[42:39] The spirit compelled him to go there. And Mark tells us in verse 13 that when Jesus was in the wilderness he was being tempted by Satan.

[42:50] And we tend to think that the temptation of Jesus was a very personal thing. It was just like a little spar between him and the devil. Satan bothering him and tempting him and trying to trip him up.

[43:03] But brothers and sisters there was so much more than that. the scene of Jesus in a desolate wilderness being tempted by Satan being surrounded by wild animals and being ministered to by angels is a picture of the world as a result of the fall.

[43:21] It is a picture of a world that is in rebellion under the effects of the fall. And by the fall I'm referring to the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the garden.

[43:33] In the beginning and creation God created everything perfect in perfect harmony. God and man were in perfect harmony. Man and the rest of creation was in perfect harmony.

[43:45] The land and the animals were in perfect harmony. Everything was in perfect harmony. And then Satan tempted Adam and Eve to believe that God was holding out on them. That God wasn't really good.

[43:58] That God was withholding something good from them. And as a result they rebelled and they disobeyed God. And as a result we have what we refer to as the fall.

[44:15] The lush garden becomes a bare wilderness. The tame animals whom Adam could call and name. They all became hostile to him and hostile to one another.

[44:31] You're probably wondering what does this account of the temptation of Jesus have to do with Jesus being the last Adam and the true Israel.

[44:45] So let me try to explain. There's a very interesting, very small, almost unnoticeable title, given to Adam in Luke 3.38.

[45:04] In Luke 3.38 Adam is given this title, the Son of God. So when you read the genealogy of Jesus, it starts with Jesus and it ends with Adam and the last words are the Son of God.

[45:21] Adam is the Son of God. But here's what we're able to understand about Adam.

[45:37] Adam failed. Adam rebelled. He was not a son with whom God was pleased. The Apostle Paul gives us further insight into the identity of Jesus in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 45 when he writes, thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being and the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

[46:07] and just as the first Adam, the one created in the garden, was tempted by Satan in the garden, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

[46:23] But unlike the first Adam, who failed, the last Adam succeeded. He overcame all of Satan's temptations. And when you consider the three named temptations that we see that Jesus faced in the wilderness, when you go back and you study the temptation that Adam and Eve faced in the garden, the same elements are involved in their temptation, which was multiple parts of what was enticing them and what was driving them to rebel against God.

[46:57] And Satan comes to the last Adam and he uses the same sensual temptations to try to get him to also rebel. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, succeeded in the wilderness while the first Adam failed in the garden.

[47:19] But Jesus is not only the last Adam who pleased God in the wilderness, he is also the true son, the true Israel, who pleased God in the wilderness. In the Old Testament, God saw and called the nation of Israel his son.

[47:35] collectively he saw the nation of Israel as his firstborn son. So for example, in Exodus chapter 4, 22 through 23, we read, this is the Lord speaking to Moses, then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn and I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me.

[48:03] But if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. And we know the story, most of us, I believe, that eventually Pharaoh allowed the children of Israel to leave.

[48:18] They went through the Red Sea, which was typical or symbolic of baptism. Then they went into the wilderness for 40 years where they were tempted.

[48:31] And they failed every single temptation. You may remember this if you read through the account of Jesus and his birth in Matthew's gospel recently as we came through Christmas.

[48:51] But shortly after Jesus was born, his parents had to flee into Egypt to protect him from Herod's murderous intent. Here's how Matthew records it in Matthew 2, 13-15.

[49:07] Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you.

[49:20] For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.

[49:33] Matthew says, here's why. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt I've called my son.

[49:48] Now here's what we see. We see the same picture with the true Israel, the Lord Jesus, as with the failed Israel, the false Israel.

[50:05] Jesus came out of Egypt and in the process of time he was baptized in the Jordan and immediately taken into the wilderness just as the way national Israel was.

[50:19] But the difference is in the wilderness he overcame every temptation. In the wilderness he succeeded where the nation of Israel failed.

[50:31] He succeeded at every single point. And there he was in the desert being tempted 40 days, one day for every year that Israel was tempted in the wilderness.

[50:45] Brothers and sisters, these are not accidental things we're finding in our Bibles. this is the God of history, this is the God who's teaching his people, who is laying this out that we might see it, giving us the patterns, giving us the types that we can see it.

[51:02] And this is what Mark is doing, Mark is laying this before people. He's saying this is who this is. He is the last Adam, he is the true Israel.

[51:15] He is the one who succeeded where Adam failed, he is the one who succeeded where Israel has failed. He is our hope. There's another window that we get into the temptation of Jesus.

[51:40] The temptation of Jesus is recorded in verses 12 and 13, gives us an insight into the spiritual warfare into which Jesus had come. Here in the wilderness we see Satan and the wild animals on one side and we see Jesus and the ministering angels on the other side.

[51:59] And the truth is it wasn't intended to be that way. God in his gospel God God God God God God God helps us to see that Jesus was the creator of all things.

[52:16] Listen to what it says in John 1 verses 1 through 3. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

[52:29] Notice God He created the land that is now a wilderness as a lush productive ground.

[53:07] The animals that are now wild they were tame. Satan was Lucifer who was created to worship God but it's all changed.

[53:21] and they are in hostile rebellion to the plans and to the purposes of God. Jesus comes into that world and it's not lost on him that this is not the world I created.

[53:45] It's in our world in hostile rebellion against God. Jesus has come into the belly of spiritual warfare.

[54:01] Here's how the writer to the Hebrews puts it when he puts in perspective what Jesus came to do that Jesus came to live and to die and to defeat death and to defeat Satan.

[54:13] Here's how the writer to the Hebrews puts it Hebrews 2. 14 through 15 since therefore the children share in flesh and blood he likewise himself partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death was subject to lifelong slavery.

[54:40] That's his mission. after he leaves the wilderness he sets out on his mission where he is going to call disciples and cast out demons and heal the sick and raise the dead and teach on the kingdom and then die on the cross and then rise again and ascend to heaven until the appointed time when he will return finally to the earth to make all things new and to put all things right destroying his enemies and saving his people and he will usher in a new heaven and a new earth but that's in the future we live in the here and now in this hostile world that's affected by sin and spiritual warfare the world in which Jesus came and Mark wants us to see he wants us to see Jesus not as the world portrays him but he wants us to see Jesus as he truly is that

[55:42] Jesus is the long promised king that Jesus is the divine son and Jesus is the last Adam and the true Israel he is God's king he is God's son and he is our savior he is our champion he is our only hope John's introduction and initial answer to the question is exactly that he's the promised king he's the divine son he's the last Adam and he is the true Israel that's who this man is that's who John wants that's who Mark wants us to see right up front before we can get lost in miracles and lost in teaching as we begin to consider the miracles as we begin to consider the teachings let us not forget who he is he's no ordinary person he's no little better than

[56:58] John the Baptist he is the promised king he is the divine son he's the last Adam in the true Israel let's pray and then I'll take any questions that you may have oh Lord we are so grateful this morning for your word would you help us Lord to grow in our understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and may we relate to him and respond to him as we should help us to see him and thereby relate to him as the promised king help us to see him as the divine son the one who pleased you the only one who has and will ever please you and all who will please you will only please you when they're found in him help us to remember that he is the last

[58:04]  Adam who succeeded where the first one failed he is indeed the true Israel of God would you continue to open our eyes as we walk our way through this amazing gospel this good news that is to be proclaimed to all people because it is newsworthy we ask and pray in Jesus name amen are there any questions I know that was a lot of information this morning any questions no