Mark 1:1-15 - Jesus is the Son of God
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
There are many ideas people have about who Jesus is.
Jesus is the most popular, most cited, most admired, more controversial figure in all of history.
Cultures have tried to customize Jesus to fit their agenda’s and traditions
Even the church has put our own gloss on Him.
White, blonde hair guy that walks around without his upper body moving.
In the 70’s, we had Hippie Jesus emerge.
He was a groovy dude, who didn’t want to kill our vibe
Papaw Jesus, who wants you to be happy and sees you as awesome and can do no wrong.
There’s Grammy Jesus
Tune into the next movie/music industry patting itself on the back and you’ll see an artist who win for their work that celebrates promiscuous sex or some other sort of obscenity, then walk up to the microphone and thank his/her “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
These are just a tip of the iceberg of how many Jesus’s are running around.
But who is Jesus?
The gospel of Mark seeks to answer that question.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The word “gospel” is a word that means good news.
Translated from the Greek Word, “euangelion”—Gospel, good news, good tidings.
It’s where we get our word “evangelism.”
The word gospel was used in that time to talk about the conquest of Caesars, or the greatness of a political figure.
They would celebrate with their good news!
The writers of the first few books of the Bible took the word and said, “No, this summarizes Jesus’s whole life.”
So they took the whole word over.
Now the word “gospel” is most associated with Christianity because Jesus is the best news!
What Mark is going to communicate all the way through his book is good news!
One consistent theme you’re going to see in Mark’s gospel: “Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is the Son of God
If we take one thing away from the book of Mark, it has to be that Jesus is the Son of God!
Though Jesus was a man, He was the eternal Son of God.
God the Son is the divine person who is the perfect image of the Father.
He is the second person of the Trinity
He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in perfect unity and love!
They are the same in nature and essence.
John’s gospel begins with John 1:1-3 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
He was the Word spoken by God the Father!
He was in the beginning with God
God’s plan of redemption focuses on the work of God the Son.
God the Son would humble Himself to take the punishment for sinful humans, like you and like me, so that we could be reconciled to a right relationship God by faith.
Enter Jesus.
God the Son, took off the glory and honor of being God and took to Himself a human flesh.
Now, God is in a body.
100% truly God/100% truly man.
He came as a man because man sinned
He came as God because only God can forgive our sin
We’ll talk more about this Sept. 10.
Long before Jesus was born, God had prophesied of His coming.
Generations waited for the coming of the Savior.
Mark immediately jumps into a prophecy
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”
This is a combination of Old Testament writings from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3.
These prophesies come from dark days, when God’s people were disobedient and cast out into exile because of their sin.
God is communicating to His people the promise of the coming Savior and a messenger who would go before Him.
Enter John the Baptist.
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 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. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 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. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What a character.
This was the right guy at the right time.
Clothed in camel’s hair, eating wild honey and locust.
Consider what it took to eat wild honey in John’s day.
Wild honey presupposes there’s wild bees in the general vicinity.
They probably didn’t have the cool white space suits that we have today to make the extraction safe.
If you think you’re tough, John is tougher.
John was an outdoorsman, a man of the woods.
This dude makes the Crocodile Hunter look like Mr. Rogers.
John was created for this.
Hundreds of years before he was born, Isaiah writes about John.
John is the forerunner of Jesus!
He was the herald declaring, “The King is coming! The King is coming!”
John did not accept a celebrity preacher status—His life was characterized by making much of Jesus (v. 7)
John existed to point people to Jesus.
When Jesus’s ministry started growing and John’s followers began leaving him to follow Jesus, he says, John 3:30 “30 He must increase, but I must decrease.””
If someone leaves a church for another, many preacher would lose their minds. Not John.
“I’m not even worthy to untie his messy shoes… Jesus must be made much of and glorified, I must fade out of the light.”
Jesus comes to John in the Jordan where John was baptizing people: (vv. 9-11)
John’s baptism in essence, is re-creating the exodus
In the exodus, God led the people of Israel out of slavery to Egypt through the Red Sea
The symbolic picture John is painting is crossing the water to freedom.
He’s communicating: “God is about to do a new thing! God is about to bring His deliverance to us! Turn away from every other way you are seeking God’s Kingdom, because God is coming right now!”
Then Jesus comes to John and is baptized, Mark shows us this interaction with the Trinity.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit descending like a dove.
Jesus was the Son of God who come down from heaven
Matthews account says, “the heavens were open to Him” (3:16).
After His baptism, He gets a glimpse into the glory that was for Him!
Mark gives us this sign of approval from God the Father (v. 11)
God the Father charges into the space like a father running onto a field to celebrate their child!
There’s a false picture of the Father being a stoic, distant, ethereal God that is unapproachable.
That’s not what we see in the baptism of Jesus.
This isn’t a simple acknowledgement. This isn’t even an “atta boy!”
This is a celebration!
“This is my beloved Son! With you I am well pleased!” (v. 11).
The plan of salvation is in full swing!
The Son of God humbled Himself
The Spirit is descending, the Father is applauding
2nd century Christian, Justin Martyr said, “When Christ was baptized, a fire was kindled in the Jordan.”
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
Notice that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.
This is the fulfillment of the promise of Exodus.
Jesus’s forty days corresponds with the forty years that the Israel wandered in the desert.
During their wandering, the children of Israel complained and succumbed to temptations. They compromised the covenant and were unfaithful to God.
Jesus was presented with the same temptations, but in order to redeems a history of unfaithfulness, the Son of God remained faithful to God’s will!
He was tempted in every way you and I are, yet He remained steadfast in His devotion to the Father!
Now why was Jesus baptized and tempted? Why is that significant to write about?
He was absolutely perfect? He Himself was purity? Why was he baptized as if He were polluted with sin like we are?
Jesus identifies with us
Jesus identifies with us
Jesus is the Son of God, who took on flesh, became a man and lived like we do.
We don’t realize the weight of this when we feel like no one understands us.
No one knows what I’m going through. No one understands the pain.
Jesus spent 40 days in intense temptation, yet He never sinned.
He understands the harsh temptations you face.
He understands the enemies you’re up against.
He understands the temptations for addictions, abuse, sadness, pain, suffering.
He understands what it means to be a person like you and me!
Jesus was numbered with sinners, and though He Himself was not a sinner, He sat with us as if He were one of us.
Jesus identifies with sinners and sufferers.
“These are my people!”
Jesus’s temptations give Him report with us.
He can look at you and say, “I understand what you’re going through. It won’t always be this way.”
And you can trust Him.
The Son of God came to live with us to give us this hope: A Kingdom is coming.
This was the theme of His life and preaching.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Fast forward some time, John was arrested and Jesus begins speaking.
This shows us that regardless of what happens to ministers of the gospel, someone else will be raised up and carry on the same work
Sometimes in an even mightier way.
Jesus begins preaching.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand”
This refers to the Old Testament, where the Kingdom of the Messiah was promised.
They thought He’d come with a sword and an army to overthrow the Roman government and restore the Kingdom of Israel.
Talk about a confusing sight.
Imagine you’re an adult Jew in Jesus’s day, praying daily for the Messiah to come and wipe out the pagan sinners who basically own you and the land you think is yours.
Your religious leaders are corrupt, your political leaders are in cahoots with the Romans.
You believe in God, try to stay faithful to the Law, and wonder, “Lord, are you listening?”
Then Jesus and John come up out of the woods.
John’s wearing camel hair HeyDudes and has crickets in his teeth, and dunks his cousin in some water and says, “Great news! The Kingdom of God is coming!”
“Bro, where’s your sword? Where the army?!”
Jesus didn’t come in a way people anticipated, just like He doesn’t save us in ways we think He will.
Truth of the matter is that all we ever need is in Jesus Christ!
The Son of God is the promise of salvation!
Both in His death and His resurrection, He brings us the Kingdom!
In His death, we avoid the penalty for our sin because Jesus took it for us!
Death proved Jesus was a man
Death proved Jesus was a man
Resurrection proved Jesus was God.
Resurrection proved Jesus was God.
In His resurrection, we will one day see a glorious redemption from the pains of this world to the wonders of the next!
The resurrection the the real Jesus will raise us to a real life in a new world where there is no pain, trouble, grieving, addiction, abuse, adultery, carsickness, or morning breath! (Amen?!)
Jesus came to bring us a Kingdom of life, joy, and peace with God!
In God’s Kingdom, the spiritually empty are filled in Christ.
In God’s Kingdom, those who mourn will be comforted seeing that Christ has conquered death!
In God’s Kingdom, all of our hopes for redemption and real life are here now in the Son of God!
Here’s our reality:
The Kingdom has come, because the King has come.
The Kingdom has come, because the King has come.
What does this passage call us to do?
The next step for you if you’re not a Christian, discover the real Jesus.
He is the Son of God come to bring the Kingdom of God.
He can forgive your sin and heal your wounds.
He can give you new life in His Kingdom
He concludes His sermon with, “Repent and believe the in gospel” (v. 15)
This is what it takes to become a Christian and be saved from your sin.
Leave your sin behind, and follow Jesus. Become a member of God’s family!
I’d love to have that conversation with you.
If you’re a Christian, your next step is perhaps to walk in obedience to Jesus and be baptized or join our fellowship!
Whatever your next step may be, Jesus welcomes you to follow Him into His Kingdom because Jesus is the Son of God.