Sermon for 2/21/21 16 Minutes

Mark 1:9-15

This morning I'll be reading Mark chapter 1 verses 9 through 15.

And I'll be reading from the King James Version Bible.

Mark 1:9-15

In this chapter,,, he starts out in the first verse talking about the reason for this writing,,, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ of course,,, then beginning in the second verse he gives information from the Old Testament,,, from Isaiah,,, and then he gives a little bit about John the Baptist,,, but then he quickly introduces Jesus,,, beginning in verse nine where we begin today.

Mark 1:9–15 (KJV 1900)

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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This past Wednesday,,, Ash Wednesday,,, was the beginning of the season of Lent.

Lent is a time for us to personally make an effort to show the Lord that we are serious about our relationship with Him by showing penitence for our sins.

It's a time to put forth a concentrated effort of spending some special time with God during the days of Lent leading up to Easter.

You can give something up,,, either through fasting,,, doing without certain foods,,, or single food items.

You can work to give up certain things that you might have trouble doing away with,,, like swearing,,, or work on not getting angry as much,,, patience while driving,,, praying for others while you are driving.

Or you can change the way that you spend your time,,, whether it's spending more time in prayer each day,,, reading the Bible more each day,,, whatever you can do to make your relationship more meaningful!

These are just a few of the things that you can do for the next 40 days of Lent.

The main thing,,, is to make it personal,,, and use this to bring you closer to God so that when we get to Easter,,, we are all ready for the celebration like we need to be.

With this being the first Sunday of Lent I hope these verses will help us in our walk with God this week.

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Verse 9 says: 9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

As Jesus is getting ready to start His ministry,,, He goes to John to be baptized.

Even though Jesus had not sinned.

It said in one of my commentaries that: The baptism of Jesus by John must have been a problem to the early church.

They must have wondered,,, Why did Jesus submit himself to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,,, when He had nothing to repent of?

In Matthew’s account,,, if you remember,,, John was reluctant to baptize Jesus: because in Matthew 3:14 John said,,, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”.

Jesus replied in verse 15,,, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness”.

“All righteousness” is a reference to God’s plan and purpose for Jesus.

Part of that plan was the complete identification of Jesus at the very outset of his ministry with man and his sin.

This he did by submitting to baptism.

He had no sins of his own to confess.

Instead,,, he was proclaiming his identity with human nature, weakness, and sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21).

By His baptism He connected with all of us,,, which allows Him to die for our sins.

And He connects with all of us because we are all sinners.

Which I want to remind you,,, and myself,,, that He died for our sins,,, even before we became Christians.

He loves us that much!

Another thing that I want to remind us,,, is that God loves the drug addict that you might know,,, the homeless person that you might know about,,, the neighbor that has been in prison,,, do you see where I'm going?

God loves each one of those that are in need,,, and all of us,,, but it's up to each of us that are Christians,,, to carry that message to those that need it!

Because they might never set foot in a church anywhere.

It's our responsibility as Christians,,, to do that!

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Verse 10 says: 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

I've told you before that this is one of the places in the Bible that they use as their reason for immersion in baptism.

And when I say they,,, that's usually Baptist that I know.

They say that when the scriptures say,,, 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, Their interpretation of it means that Jesus was immersed.

But if they would be totally honest,,, they would tell everyone that this is just an interpretation of what's written,,, and that's the way that they interpret it.

And I say that because it is divided on the meaning of the choice of words used here.

Some of the scholars say that Jesus was immersed and coming up out of the water and others say that this could mean that John and Jesus were walking up out of the water instead.

I tend to agree with those that say that Jesus was immersed,,, but,,, the main thing is,,, this disagreement is why,,, as United Methodist we always say that we believe in all three ways of baptism,,, sprinkling,,, pouring,,, and immersion.

We chose to use these because there are accounts of the early church using all three.

But no matter which method is used,,, the main thing to remember is your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Savior,,, and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work,,, and grow in your personal relationship with God.

I know that I've used this information before,,, but I thought that it might be helpful to hear it again.

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When it said he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:,,, this was the Holy Spirit anointing Jesus for the work that He had to do.

This doesn't mean that Jesus didn't have the Holy Spirit with Him before this,,, just that this was a special anointing to help Him fulfill His ministry,,, to complete the work that He was sent here to do..

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Verse 11 says: 11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The words Thou art my beloved Son,,, affirms Jesus’ unique sonship with the Father.

The significance of these words is found in Psalm 2:7 where God addressed the anointed King as His Son.

At His baptism Jesus began His official role as God’s Anointed One (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12–16; Ps. 89:26; Heb. 1:5).

In my Bible Knowledge Commentary it says my beloved, is literally, “the Beloved One” (ho agapētos).

And it's either a title (“the Beloved”) or a descriptive adjective (“beloved” Son).

As a title it stresses the intensity of love between God the Father and the Son without losing its descriptive force.

As an adjective, it can be understood in the Old Testament sense of an “only” Son (cf. Gen. 22:2, 12, 16; Jer. 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech. 12:10).

This more interpretive rendering,,, points to Jesus’ preexistent sonship.

The words,,, in whom I am well pleased,,, point to the kind of kingly Son Jesus was to be in His earthly mission.

The verb that is used here,,, eudokēsa,,, in the original writings,,, is in the past tense (“I was well pleased”).

And it says that,,, Timeless in force, it is rendered in English in the present tense to indicate that God is pleased with His Son at all times.

So,,, God’s delight never had a beginning and will never end.

These words can also come from Isaiah 42:1 in which God addressed His Servant whom He had chosen,,, the One in whom He delights,,, and on whom He had put His Spirit.

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Verses 12 and 13 say: 12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

My commentary says that Jesus was led into the wilderness,,, not to see if He would sin,,, but to prove that He could not sin.

We have this as an example to show us that Jesus will be faithful to do what He says that He will do,,, and assurance that He knows what we go through when we say that we have been tempted.

We can also have this problem when we are first baptized and,,, any time during our walk with the Lord,,, because satan is going to do everything that he can to turn us from the path that we need to stay on.

That's why that we need each other,,, that's why that we need to continue our study of the Bible,,, and all of the other things that we do to keep our relationship with God strong and vibrant.

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Verses 14 and 15 say: 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

This last part of the verse,,, repent ye, and believe the gospel,,, is why I began to use the words in our Ash Wednesday Service,,, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

I believe that it's important to remember our frailty,,, but I also believe that this time of Lent is a time to take stock of ourselves,,, or spend time reflecting on our relationship with God,,, and we must be sure that we are "repenting" and "believing" the Gospel!

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As this service comes to an end and we begin our week,,, hopefully we can remember these verses and the way that Jesus was led into temptation and this will help to make us aware that we can be led astray as well,,, if we aren't intentional about strengthening our relationship with God.

That's the main point in recognizing and participating in Lent,,, making our relationship stronger and better with God.

That should be our focus every day,,, but it's really brought out by the Lenten season.

So as we begin another week,,, we need to be focused on our relationship with the Lord,,, being sure that we put forth the effort needed to make our Easter celebration the best that it can be,,, whether we are able to worship in the church,,, or at home.

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