Who is Jesus? (Mark 1:12-20)

Introduction

Growing up in the sports world, it was always neat to watch the teams who got what it meant to be a team. All the players would buy into the program and be willing to help bring the new guys under their wings. During my time as a student manager at The University of Tennessee, Go VOLS, I worked with the defensive linemen. For those of you without a football knowledge, these are the big boys on the side without the ball. This group was special, because year in and year out the guys quickly took the newcomers under their wings to show them the ropes, to help push them along and encourage them. They called them to follow them as they set an example for them. The young guys grew and then passed on what had been taught and modeled for them.

And while our text today is far from taking new players under your wing and showing them the ropes of what it means to be a defensive linemen, there is a call to follow, a call to discipleship. But even before we get there, we need to be reminded of what we have seen already in Mark’s gospel account.

Mark Recap

Last week we looked at John the Baptist preparing the way through a baptism of repentance. That there is a need for repentance to happen for all who would come to Christ. Even in this, we saw Jesus come to the waters of the Jordan River to be baptized himself in order to identify with us who he had come to save. In this event, Jesus is recognized as the Beloved Son of God Almighty. And that is where we pick up this morning in Mark 1:12-20. (READ)

Main Point

Jesus calls us to come and follow him. For he paved the way and even sympathizes with us, having endured temptation himself.

Points

Point #1: Jesus is tempted in the wilderness (v.12-13)

Point #2: Jesus begins his public ministry (v.14-15)

Point#3: Jesus calls his first disciples (v.16-20)

Point #1: Jesus is tempted in the wilderness

I am not sure about you, but following my baptism in 1999, there was a celebration with church members afterward. Following the baptism of Jesus though, he is driven out into the wilderness. And to make it even stranger, he is driven there by the Spirit, the same Spirit that just descended on him as the heavens were split open.

Jesus being the beloved Son doesn’t cause him to escape trials, temptation, and suffering. In fact, Jesus being the beloved Son means he has to endure all of these all the more, but he does so without sinning. For it is through Jesus being tempted that he will identify with us and rescue us from our own sin.

Hence, why Jesus is driven immediately into the wilderness. Jesus didn’t come to be served, but to serve. And as he comes to serve, he comes to identify with God’s creation, facing all that they faced. For even in the garden of Eden, prior to the fall, Satan came and tempted Adam and Eve, but where they failed, Jesus would not. For in the garden, Adam and Eve were tempted and lured by the fruit of one tree. And they fell into Satan’s trap. They ate of the fruit and fell into sin and death. But here, a new Adam has come in the Beloved Son. And where the first Adam failed, the second Adam in the person of Jesus would not.

For forty days Jesus was tempted in the wilderness in the midst of fasting. And yet, he resisted Satan and all of his schemes. Jesus did not falter to any of the attacks. From Matthew’s account, we know that there were three temptations in Satan trying to get Jesus to stumble and fall. Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones to bread to satisfy his desire for food. Then Satan tried to get Jesus to test God by throwing himself down off the pinnacle and the angels would catch him. And the third test being Jesus could have everything if all he would do was bow down and worship Satan. Of course, Jesus came through victorious.

But, the language in Mark suggests that Jesus was being tempted for all of the forty days in the wilderness. For the same amount of time Moses was on Mount Sinai meeting with God, Jesus was in the wilderness facing Satan hissing in his ear and trying to get him to sin. Satan would have loved to have seen God’s beloved Son be lured into sin and forsaking the Father. Satan wanted to stop Jesus from completing God’s mission and establishing God’s kingdom as we will look at later in the sermon. In his book, Tempted and Tried, Russell Moore writes, “Temptation is an assault by the demonic powers on the rival empire of the Messiah.”

Satan cannot stand God’s creation being restored to him and is going to wage war and try and destroy all that he can through his same ole tricks of temptation. Therefore, if Satan waged war on the Messiah King, how much more will he come after those of us who identify with him? Satan will come after us in tempting us just as he did Jesus. Russell Moore also states in Tempted and Tried, “You will be tempted exactly as Jesus was, because Jesus was being tempted exactly as we are. You will be tempted with consumption, security, and status. You will be tempted to provide for yourself, to protect yourself, and to exalt yourself. And at the core of these three is a common impulse—to cast off the fatherhood of God.”

For us in this world, it is not a question of if temptation will come, but when. Temptation doesn’t suddenly come upon us, but slowly works its way into our hearts. Satan loves to question our identities just as he did Jesus in the wilderness. He said to Jesus in Matthew 4:3, “if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Friends, Satan loves to cause us to doubt our identity. But, if we have come to faith in Jesus, our identity is in Christ. For we have been united to him. He is ours and we are his. Yet, Satan will try and cause us to doubt this identity. He will hiss in our ears saying you are a sinner, you cannot belong to God. He will cause us to doubt that we are in Christ. And yet, in that moment we should look at Satan and say, “What of it Satan? So, I am a great sinner, but I have a great savior. For Christ came to save sinners, such as me. And it is there where my hope rests.” Rest assured Satan will come after us in tempting us to doubt who we are in Christ, but we must know that if we have placed our faith in Jesus, we are secure. Therefore let us ignore the hiss of Satan.

The next way in which temptation will come upon us is through our desires. Whether it is a desire for food, attention, admiration, adventure, fame, security, power, or other desires, the moment these desires are moved from their created purpose, they have become our new master. These desires become twisted by the lure of finding comfort, achievement, and peace within these desires. They become what drives us and motivates us. These desires become what defines us instead of us being defined as children of God, we are defined by the idols that our desires have created within us. Again, this is why our minds must be renewed, re-shaping our desires based on what God has called us to desire which is given through his word.

Satan would also have us to doubt God’s word and promises. Just as Satan attempted to do with Christ on the pinnacle in trying to lure him into jumping so the angels could catch him. Satan tempted Jesus by saying that God would never allow harm to come to him from Psalm 91. However, Jesus corrects Satan in saying that he shall not put the Lord to the test. Ultimately in this scene, Satan tempts with that harm will not come to God’s people, and that is far from the case. Trouble will come for us all, for we live in a world that is still partially broken. The promise of Psalm 91 is not that trouble will never come, but that God would be with us in the midst of that trouble, to carry us through. The lure for our hearts is that we often are tempted by Satan to put God to the test in looking for affirmations of things God has already clearly told us to do in the pages of the Bible. How often are we like Gideon in asking but one more time Lord show me this sign from Judges 6. Or we doubt like Ahaz in Isaiah 7. Satan loves to see this, he loves for us to doubt God’s given word and put the LORD to the test, for it shows our lack of trust in him.

And along those lines is the last way in which temptation comes. And that is to be exalted rather than crucified. You see with the final temptation in Matthew 4, Satan is showing Jesus all that he will already be given, but Jesus can have them and skip the cross. Only one condition, Jesus must bow to Satan and worship him. The lure for Jesus in this temptation is to be exalted apart from the cross. Again, of course Jesus resists Satan here. But this same tacting is used against those of us who follow Jesus. Satan wants to lure us away from taking up our crosses and following Jesus, giving worship to him alone. Satan doesn’t mind when we get caught up with the external moral laws if it causes us to miss the gospel. Satan doesn’t mind us focusing on family values if we miss the cross. Satan was willing to give everything over to Jesus to keep him from the cross. Christian, we can sit here in church week in and week out focusing on moral values, family values, freedom, pro-life values and Satan could care a less. Satan is fine with us if the focus is on anything but the cross of Christ.

In fact, I wonder how many churches even the singing or preaching doesn’t bother Satan? Those songs that are sung or the sermon that is preached that focuses on I rather than points to the cross where Jesus was hung, bleed, and died to win our freedom from sin. The cross and resurrection are central for our Christian faith, and it is our hope in these that must be more prominent if we are to not fall into the temptation of Satan in us attempting to exalt ourselves over taking up our crosses and following King Jesus.

But, brothers and sisters in Christ, as temptation comes, hissing its way into our midst we will surely fall into it time to time. And as we do, we must remember that we have a brother who has gone before us and endured for our sake. We need to see that Jesus became like us in every way, so that he could sympathize with us as his brothers and sisters. Hebrews 4:14-16 says:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus felt the hiss of Satan on his neck in being tempted those forty days in the wilderness, yet he was without sin. In enduring the temptations of Satan, Jesus comes out victorious, delivering us who have fallen to temptation in giving into the sin of it. However, not only does Jesus deliver us, he sympathizes with us in our weakness.

As we are weak and struggling in the midst of temptation, we don’t have to think we are alone in the midst of it. We need to turn and set our eyes on Christ. For it is he who has overcome the world as he stated in John 16:33. And it is he who sympathizes with us in our weakness and will not look down on us in the midst of that weakness. In fact, if we will turn to him in the midst of our weakness, it is he who will strengthen us and sustain us. It is he who will both help us overcome and press through the temptation. And even when we struggle and fall into temptation, it is Jesus who will pick us back up if we will confess that sin and confess our ongoing need for him.

Jesus will minister to us in the midst of our temptations and struggles as the angels ministered to him in the wilderness, as he was surrounded by the wild animals. He will care for us, comfort us, nourish us, mend us in the midst of our weakness and brokenness. For it was for this purpose that Jesus was driven out by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. If Jesus had not been tempted by Satan, he would not be able to sympathize with us as brothers and sisters. Thank God that he is able to identify with us in knowing what it was like to be tempted and tried.

And it is this Jesus that sympathizes with us who follow both his identifying with us in his baptism and his temptation who comes to the forefront in beginning his public ministry. And that is where we come in our second point this morning: Jesus begins his public ministry.

Point #2: Jesus begins his public ministry

Following his baptism and temptations, Jesus is about ready to begin his public ministry. And now for one last event to take place, prior to Jesus beginning his public ministry, and that is John the Baptist being arrested. John’s public ministry has now come to an end, and it is now time for Jesus to enter into the spotlight. Charles Spurgeon said, “The loss of John was the means of bringing out Jesus. When one servant of God is laid aside, it is a call to the rest to be the more earnest.”

Jesus begins his public ministry as he enters Galilee, the region of his hometown of Nazareth. A small city on the northern tip of Israel. And as he comes, he proclaims the gospel of God. It is this gospel that as we saw last week in Mark 1:1 that is the focus of the entire book of Mark.

So let’s be clear this morning what the gospel of God is all about. The gospel of God is best summed up by what has come to us in Jesus. To understand what has come to us in Jesus, let's look at what Jesus said in this there in verse 15 (READ).

The time is fulfilled

In saying the time is fulfilled, we are being told that the time has finally come for God’s promises to be fulfilled. God had not forgotten his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God has not forgotten his promises to David. Nor has he forgotten his promises that were made through the Prophets. All the yeses and amens are coming to be fulfilled through God’s beloved Son. For he has come to earth and brought about the forgiveness of sins. The time is fulfilled to bring God’s kingdom on earth, even though it is not all revealed in that moment. The kingdom of God coming through Jesus was the plan from the very start, but the time had to wait until all was ready and everything was set in place. For in God’s sovereignty, everything in history was leading to the beloved Son coming to be the passover lamb for the sins of the world. Everything in redemptive history had been alluding and leading to this moment and time. And now, the time had come at last, the time was fulfilled for God’s plan to be revealed in his beloved Son, Jesus.

The kingdom of God is at hand

Next in his saying, Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is God’s rule and reign that are now coming to the earth. Of course, in creation, God created all, and is over all. But, because sin entered the world, all of creation has since been affected by that sin. The rule of our hearts, creation itself was tainted by sin. Yet, as Jesus comes and brings about the kingdom of God, God’s rule and reign are about to advance through the power of the gospel. For as this gospel goes out, it goes out with power in transforming hearts and bringing them to God.

Now, this doesn’t happen quickly by any means. Jesus uses a parable in Matthew 13:31-32 which says:

He put another parable before them, crying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

The kingdom of God is slow to come about. For in understanding the kingdom of God, we need to understand that it is both already and not yet. In part, the kingdom of God has already come in Christ. As John Frame puts it, “The Kingdom of God, long awaited, has come in Christ. The gospel is the gospel of the kingdom; the Sermon on the Mount, the ethic of the kingdom; the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer of the kingdom; the parables, the mysteries of the kingdom. The church has the keys of the kingdom. The kingdom of God has come. Christ the King has been raised to God’s right hand, where he has authority over all things.”

On the other hand, the kingdom of God has not come. Frame once more adds, “Yet some biblical expectations for the last days and the kingdom are still unfulfilled. The bodily resurrection of the just and unjust has not taken place. The return of Christ and the final judgment remain future. The saints pray, “The kingdom come”. That prayer assumes that the coming of the kingdom is future to some extent, though the prayer contains petitions for the near future, not only for the ultimate consummation.”

Therefore, the kingdom of God is both already and not yet. And yet, we know that the kingdom of God will come in fullness when Christ returns and we enter the new heavens and the new earth. Even now, we can be sure though that the kingdom of God is advancing as the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. The local church is God’s embassy that he uses in this world to advance the gospel. It is our duty as the local church to represent the kingdom of God here on earth, even in the midst of foreign territory. It is our duty as the embassy of God to ensure that we are advancing the mission of our homeland, that is of the kingdom of God in the world we currently live. That means we are called to advance the kingdom of God by following Christ and helping teach others what it means to follow him. And that starts with calling people to repent and believe in the gospel of King Jesus.

Repent and believe in the gospel

For as the kingdom of God has come in Jesus, we are reminded here at the end of verse 15, that there is a decision to be made to enter the kingdom of God. There is the call once more to repent and believe.

To enter the kingdom of God, to enter his rule, one must turn from their allegiance to sin and turn and submit to Christ as King. And they must believe in the gospel as defined, namely that our only hope in life and death is Christ. That only through faith in Jesus can one be saved from their sins.

Friends, if you are here this morning and have not come to repent and believe in the gospel of God, make today the day you do. You will not enter God’s kingdom apart from repentance and believing in the gospel, no matter how good you think you are. Salvation is not a work of us as mankind, it is a work of Christ on the cross as he is put to death for our sins. And the fact that he arose from the grave three days later, defeating death. This is what we are called to believe in the gospel at its basic level. Friend, I invite you to come and believe this today.

Also, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may we continue to cling to this gospel with all our might. For it is this gospel that Jesus came proclaiming and in which we have heard. It is in clinging to this gospel, along with our repentance from sin that is our entry ticket to the kingdom of God. Our entrance is not marked by being good, having it all together, having prayed a prayer. Our salvation and entry into the kingdom of God is marked by our repentance and our believing in the gospel of Jesus. May we rest in this gospel today and every day forward!

Point#3: Jesus calls his first disciples

This brings us to our final point this morning, Jesus calls his first disciples. As Jesus begins proclaiming the gospel of God, he not only tells the kingdom of God is at hand, he calls others to follow him.

As Jesus passed by the Sea there at Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew. The two are fishermen and Jesus calls them to Follow him. Here is Jesus, the beloved Son and he is calling two fishermen to come and follow after himself. And as he calls them, Jesus says, come, and I will make you fishers of men.

As these two brothers, and ten others join them, Jesus is calling them to go and fish for men. In other words, they are being called to go and collect disciples, they are to go and call others to come and follow Christ.

While Jesus spent the majority of his ministry as we will see in Mark, with 12 men, it was his expectation for them to be about the business of sharing the good news of the gospel with others. They are to go and cast the net of the gospel out and bring them into the boat with Christ to paraphrase Charles Spurgeon. The call to follow Christ is a call to make disciples. We cannot follow Christ and be unhinged from this task.

We are to invest our lives in others as has been invested in us. As we are going to see throughout Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of Mark, Jesus spent the majority of it with twelve men, and he taught them and equipped them to send them out to make known the gospel. Think about that person who invested in you Christian, in making sure you heard and understood the gospel. With the kingdom of heaven at hand, how can we sit idly by while people are perishing and heading towards an eternity in hell?

If we are truly following Christ, we are called to go and make disciples of all nations. If you are one who struggles with evangelism, start by grabbing a who is your one card on the welcome table as you leave this morning. Take that and be thinking this week about one person you can spend the remainder of this year focusing on, praying for, and laboring to share the gospel with. It can be a neighbor, a co-worker, a family member, the grocery clerk, a waiter at your favorite restaurant, the person who cuts your grass this summer, or the random stranger you are in the long line at Walmart with. Go and fish for men by sharing the gospel of Jesus boldly and often. Be fishers of men in Central City, Centralia, and to the ends of the earth.

The other part that we should note with both Simon and Andrew, along with James and John is that when they heard the authoritative call of Jesus to follow him, they left all behind to follow him. The call to follow Jesus is a call to radical abandonment and radical obedience. In the end, to be a follower of Jesus means following him from this world into the kingdom of God. It is a turning from sin, it is a turning from the comforts of this world to set our eyes on the kingdom that is to come. It is taking up our cross to follow Jesus in which we die to self and are made new in him. These first four disciples of Jesus are a great example of this. They left their boats to follow Jesus. James and John even left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants to go after Jesus. And these four would follow Jesus all throughout his ministry and even after he was gone.

Brothers and sisters if we are to come and follow Jesus, are we willing to leave everything behind to follow him? Are we willing to follow him by taking up our crosses?

We are going to continue to see the call of Discipleship has a cost. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer states, “Discipleship means adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ which is the law of the cross.” For us to come and follow Jesus will cost us, but it will be worth it. For to come and follow Jesus is to taste the gift of love in the cross. To follow Jesus is worth it in beholding our God in all the splendor of his beauty and his merciful love to us in Jesus. Therefore, let us take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Conclusion

The call of discipleship is not a call to a life of ease. And yet, Jesus came modeling this for us. His ministry modeled for us what it means to be about proclaiming the gospel, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Therefore, as we leave here this morning, let us be a people who eagerly labor to follow Christ. As temptations come our way, let us remember we have one who sympathizes with us, as he faced all the temptations that we face. We also have one who has paved the way for us to follow him. He too took up his cross for our sake as he was nailed to the tree. May we follow him with joy.

Let’s pray...