Defeating Satan in the Wilderness

Pray Before Introduction

Introduction: Speaking on Charlie Kirk

As many of you know, this week has presented challenges to many with the assassination and sudden death of the Christian and political activist, Charlie Kirk. Some of you have heard about this news or read about it. Unfortunately for many, social media has also spread the video footage of the event, and some have learned of Charlie’s passing through that.

Before eulogizing Charlie, one of the things that needs to be teased out is the fact that Charlie was a convictional and vocal Christian who argued that his values dictated his politics. It is here that we should underscore that Christian belief is never fully represented by a political party and that the gospel of Jesus is not the election of this or that candidate. Living in a democratic republic necessitates that Christians think critically about the policies that they endorse and best align with the content of the Scriptures. All of this is to say that if we are not careful, we can warp Charlie’s testimony into something that was merely political; in addition, some might misinterpret our words as us worshipping a gospel of conservatism.

The case at hand is one in which a man who lived as a convictional and politically active Christian was murdered for his beliefs. It is in this vein that we can make some observations:

Evil is real and the powers of darkness actively seek to destroy what is good, beautiful, and true. The world and the devil are not neutral forces; rather, they hate Christians.

Believers in all times and places have been persecuted for their beliefs. The persecution and attack of Christians is a present day reality — even in the US.

Our time here on earth is sometimes shorter than we expect, so it is critical that we live with an eternal perspective that is centered on the Kingdom of God.

What is entailed in living with an eternal perspective that is centered on the Kingdom of God?

We want to live in a way that is missional. We desire to see lost sinners come to repentance and accept Jesus Christ as the one and only Lord of their life.

We want to see evil restrained and the Kingdom of God take up and redeem new spaces on this earth now. Our gospel is not a social gospel, but we as believers are called — especially in a democracy — to champion the things that are biblical and godly. When we stand firm on the values of the word of Scripture, our stances ought to be reflected in how we vote, speak into our government, and legislate policies.

More could be said on this, but my heart in beginning this message is weighed down by three things:

We should not waste Charlie Kirk’s death to point out that we live with real stakes. We should join others in this nation in praying for Kirk’s family — his wife and two children. Part of this prayer, though, is that Charlie’s children would know that their dad did not leave them or abandon them, but was killed nobly in battle. This is a battle that all of us are a part of in one way or another. I want you to be awakened to your need for action to reject evil and rejoice in good.

Some of you have seen things this week that we are not created to see. We as people were not made to see murder, death, and things of that sort. Yet, Christians know that God has numbered our days (Psalm 139:16). In fact, we should be praying like the Psalmist in Psalm 31:15. Charlie’s death did not catch God by surprise. Though his death is tragic, we as believers can rejoice that our brother is in heaven and we can respond to these images of death with 1 Corinthians 15:54-57. If you are a believer in Jesus, your death is not ultimate. God will raise you again in a glorified body that is free of sickness, death, and disease and you will spend eternity with Him in the New Heavens and New Earth. If this is not enough for you, I would encourage you to begin training your thought patterns towards thankfulness. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us that when we approach God in our prayer life with thankfulness, we are given God’s peace. Though I would encourage you to be thankful to God for God alone (Jesus our savior is enough), when you begin counting and recalling God’s provision for your life, your soul is reminded that God has always been in control.

Remember that our gospel is a Jesus Gospel. When waves assail us and winds toss us to and fro, our anchor is that Jesus has precured us a salvation in Himself that is secure and eternal.

Pray Again

Introduction (Again): Deliverance in Full and Not in Part

Last week I made a statement regarding salvation. This statement was that when you place your faith in Jesus, He delivers you in full and not in part.

We looked at baptism as the symbol of this complete deliverance and how John’s baptism was significant in TWO ways: (1) It showed that Jesus was willing to identify with Israel and be baptized into them — though he had no sin. (2) John’s baptism paired with his message, anticipated a greater baptism that was going to come through Jesus.

In last week’s message we also described how we ought to be effected by the symbol of baptism: namely, that baptism is an “all or nothing” symbol. To use Romans 6:4 as an example, Paul describes how, through faith, we are buried with Jesus in his death and raised to new life in Him. On the practical edge of this, we began to play with this about how all-in living leads us to crucify and revile sin, see a new life blossoming, etc.

Nevertheless, there is a critical question which some of you might have grappled with — I certainly did in thinking about this text for today. When we see Jesus get baptized just like Israel in the OT, we notice that God does not drive Israel into the Promised Land immediately. Same thing with Jesus. Specifically, God delivers his people from something into the wilderness. Look at how this plays in Mark 1:1-13.

Jesus is called God’s Son

Jesus is impelled or driven into the wilderness

Jesus is tempted by Satan for 40 days and the angels minister to Jesus

The question that last sermon invites and that we need to deal with is simple:

Jamie, I do not feel delivered. How can I know that my deliverance in Jesus is legitimate?

OR How should I process it when God delivers me into a difficult place?

The GOAL of today’s message is to work through the logic of this text today, but in doing so, I think that we will come up with an answer to this critical question.

God Saves Us to Save Us to Save Us

Base Texts for the Message:

Mark 1:11-13 (Jesus Tempted: What Kind of Deliverance?)

Matthew 4:1-11 (Matthew Specifies)

Exodus 16:2-3, 17:2, 32 (Identification with Israel in Tempt)

1 Co. 10:1-11 (Written for our instruction)

Prov. 3:11-12 (God disciplines those whom he loves)

Heb. 12:5-14 (Discipline is hard but yields righteousness; no one will see the Lord without sanctification)

God saves us to save us to save us.

How does this theology chart out in Paul?

Paul

Romans 4:16-5:11, 6:19, 6:22 (justification and sanctification)

Romans 6:1-4 (baptism language)

Romans 8:29-30 (three forms of salvation)

Help Me Map This Theology Into My Life

Roller Coaster Example

Are you letting the truth of God’s word dictate your life or your emotions?

Wise people get good at waiting on the Lord (Ps. 27:14)

If the job isn’t coming, it doesn’t mean that you give up or stop looking, but you use that season to attend to other needs in your house.

What are the personal characteristics in you that are being elevated by this season that you’re in?

Anxiety higher?

Anger?

Impatience?

Unforgiveness?

Remember, Christian: God saves us to save us to save us!

Transcript Writing Below

My argument (general) is:

A person is justified and delivered from sin and condemnation when they place their faith in Jesus. The reason we baptize a person is because this is the mode of confession set forth in the New Testament and because it gives us a vision into the deliverance that a person is offered when they place their faith in Jesus.

When a person “walks though the waters” and experiences that deliverance, that believer faces a new call to holiness wherein he/she experiences a new and special kind of deliverance. The first two movements of God in justification and sanctification prepare a person for the final deliverance of glorification when they are brought into the promised land.

My argument exegetically is as follows:

When you place your faith in Jesus, you are Justified by faith and secure an eternal inheritance. Your salvation is complete and full. The evidence of this justification in your own life is the death to sin which has been symbolized by baptism (which is what we just discussed). The key passage which I will use for this connection is Romans 5:16-6:23.

Key Exegetical Points

The words “justify” (verb), “justification” (state), “righteous” (adjective), and “righteousness” (noun) are all built off of the same Greek Word: dikaoo — that is, when you read Romans 5-6 and see these terms floating around, you need to connect them. We have some words in English that obviously show the verb and resulting state as being connected. For example, we could use the word “bless.”

A blessing is conferred on the blessed when a person blesses another.

Look at 5:16-17 and how our English translations wobble between the words “justification” and “righteousness.” Unless you know that those two words are semantically connected, it can be difficult (though not impossible) to see that there is tremendous continuity in what Paul is saying.

Verse 18 hammers home a critical point though. The justification which is afforded to those who are in Christ results in life.

I do not have time to explain here why I do not think that verse 18 is a universalist verse. For the time being, we will only note that the context of the passage and the rest of Paul’s writing hedges against such a view.

Being justified however, is only one of three ways that believers experience salvation. The next way that believers experience salvation is through Sanctification which is the process of becoming more holy, more like God, and learning to trust Him as your source of life in everything (not just your death). Another way to state this is that justification is wrapped up in being saved through the death that all people experience at the end of their life. Sanctification is wrapped up in realizing that you need to die to yourself now and trust in the Lord as your salvation now. That is, becoming holy is a beautiful blessing of experiencing God’s salvation in your life in the present. We could go to texts such as 2 Thess. 2:13 for this. Understanding the “wilderness” of your life requires you to grapple with this sanctification part here.

Eventually, we also understand through texts such as Romans 8:29-30 that God will work in such a way as to bring about our glorification. In the age to come we will be raised with new bodies and will perfectly reflect the beauty and awesomeness of God.

The way that this charts is that a person can rightly say:

God saved me.

God is saving me.

God will save me.

If you feel like you are in the thick of battle right now, you can take heart. The moment that you believed that Jesus was raised from the dead and accepted him as your Lord, your deliverance was fully accomplished. Yet, even now, God is working in your life to bring about a special and peculiar weight of glory and holiness that can only be done in the wilderness and waiting.

How does this information and argument translate or transfer to what we are reading in Mark or Exodus?

Step 1: The Role of the Wilderness

In order for us to tackle this question head on, what we need to do is recognize the specific role that the wilderness plays in Scripture.

Testing — Verifies present realities by shining a light on what is false and approving what is true.

If you were to read through the Exodus, God delivers Israel from the Pharaoh. This occurs in chapters 13-14. Within the span of only a short time however, Israel is called to live in a trusting relationship with their deliverer. What is more, God being the deliverer is Holy and demands Holiness (Lev. 19:2, 1 Pet. 2:9)

What is revealed about Israel however, is that they do not trust God in the capacity in which they ought.

Chapter 16 shows that Israel struggles to trust God for food.

Chapter 17 (see verse 2) shows that Israel wants to put God to the test

Chapter 32 shows that Israel was willing to offer worship to idols and not love the Lord their God with all of their heart.

Interestingly,

These three things are the bases of Satan’s temptation of Jesus that are described in Matthew.

Mark’s description of Jesus’s temptation is extremely staccato, because Mark basically wants to communicate in simple sentences:

Jesus is the Son of God

Jesus identified with Israel who was in Exile via baptism

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (just like Israel was)

Jesus overcame Satan where Israel failed.

Matthew, in his gospel explains that as indicative proof of Jesus’s identification with Israel and conquering of Satan and temptation in the wilderness, he succeeded in overcoming the very temptations which Israel had failed to overcome. All of these things Jesus did by leaning into the word and promises of His Father.

So, the wilderness revealed Israel’s need for God to sanctify them and purify them; the wilderness authenticated Jesus’s character.

A good starting place for us to go to in answering this question to help us situate what is happening in this passage

To unpack today’s message, you will first need to understand the critical parallels between Jesus and Israel. The reason for this is that Jesus, in his baptism, fully identified with Israel. This was critical because Jesus was sent to bear Israel’s sins.

As we discussed in the first message of this series, one of the things that helps understand what is happening in Mark 1:11-13 is the fact that Jesus is called the Son of God.

Remember that this title was also assigned by God to Israel in Exodus 4:22. The “deliverance” that Jesus is connecting to is the deliverance of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh.

When Israel walked through the Red Sea, Scripture tells us that Israel had been baptized into Moses. Jesus is baptized into Israel.

My hope was never in my health or circumstance but always in Jesus.

My joy is not rooted in personal performance or the behavior of others, but only in Jesus.

I sleep at night, not because of the strength of my house but because of the strength of my Lord.