Gospel
- The King is Announced: EXALT Him. (Mk 1:1-8)
- The King is Affirmed: EMBRACE Him. (Mk 1:9-11)
- The King is Accomplished: JOIN Him. (Mk 1:12-13)
How to humble yourself:
Hebrews 4:15 - 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.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:06
Let's not waste any time, let's not waste any words, let's not waste any paper getting this down.
00:07-00:09
That's the gospel according to Mark.
00:12-00:13
Actually you see that right away.
00:13-00:13
Don't you?
00:13-00:15
Look at Mark chapter 1 verse 1.
00:17-00:18
Here's your on-ramp.
00:19-00:23
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
00:24-00:24
Boom.
00:24-00:25
That's His introduction.
00:26-00:27
Isn't that awesome?
00:28-00:29
Like, we're not wasting any words here.
00:30-00:32
Mark's like, "Let's just get right to it.
00:32-00:54
Let's talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Now the word "gospel" literally means "good news." But did you know, this is something I learned this week, did you know that the word "gospel" wasn't just a biblical word, but it was also a secular word?
00:54-00:58
Do you know they found in ancient inscriptions talking about Caesar?
00:59-01:04
They were talking about the gospel of Caesar, because here's literally what it meant.
01:05-01:10
It's good news that a king is coming to usher in a new era.
01:10-01:12
That's literally what it meant.
01:14-01:18
It was used in the secular world and in the biblical language.
01:18-01:24
A king is coming to usher in a whole new era for us, and that is good news.
01:24-01:26
That's what the word "gospel" means.
01:27-01:43
Okay, so Mark is like, "Here's the beginning of this new era, because the King of Kings has shown up." So first of all, in your outline, number one, how did Jesus prepare for this ministry?
01:44-01:45
Well, first of all, the King is announced.
01:46-01:47
Exalt Him.
01:48-01:49
The King is announced.
01:50-01:51
Exalt Him.
01:53-02:08
Mark continues, "As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way.'" The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord.
02:10-02:20
Make His paths straight." So Mark starts out with Scripture, quoting from Malachi and from Isaiah.
02:20-02:24
He only references Isaiah, but he's quoting from both of the prophets.
02:25-02:31
Not an uncommon practice when prophets are being quoted to go with the major prophet.
02:32-02:42
But notice it says, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness." Now, he's not talking about crying out like an infant, okay?
02:42-02:45
In a second here we're going to see he's talking about John the Baptist.
02:45-02:51
He doesn't mean that John the Baptist like went to the woods, or like went to the middle desert and just sat there and just started bawling.
02:52-03:01
It's crying out like the way you cry out when you see your kid standing in the middle of the road, okay?
03:01-03:02
That kind of crying out.
03:03-03:04
"Hey, hey, get off the road!
03:05-03:06
What are you doing?
03:06-03:07
You're in danger!
03:08-03:37
Get off there!" Like, "Pastor Jeff, you sound like you've done that before." Yeah, we have a little one that rides a scooter and he likes to just touch the tip of the alley behind our house where cars go through, and he knows, "Hey, get off the road!" You know, it's not, "Would you please consider thinking about getting yourself out of harm's way?" That's not crying out.
03:37-03:38
Crying out is urgency!
03:39-03:47
I'm lifting my voice and I'm saying this as seriously as I can because this is important." That was John the Baptist.
03:48-03:48
Alright?
03:50-03:54
God's sending someone, crying out, but he's preparing the way.
03:54-03:55
What does that mean?
03:56-04:15
Well, understand that kings didn't just roll into town and say, "Hey, everybody, the king is here." Actually, a forerunner always went ahead of the king to announce that he was coming and to prepare the way.
04:16-04:20
And typically, it was to physically prepare the way.
04:21-04:22
Okay, do you understand?
04:22-04:40
Like the king was coming, so typically somebody would go ahead of the king to make sure that the roads were cleared, to make sure if there were any bridges that needed built, to make sure there were no dangers along the way, it was that person's job to go ahead of the king to make sure that nothing impeded the king's progress to get where he was going.
04:41-04:49
Because when you're the king, you don't have time for potholes and bridges and all these other things that we deal with here in the Pittsburgh area.
04:49-04:51
You just need a clear path to get where you're going.
04:51-04:54
Well, the king would send somebody ahead, "Hey, I'm preparing the way.
04:55-04:55
The king's coming.
04:56-05:04
Get ready." Alright, well, John the Baptist wasn't filling potholes or building bridges.
05:04-05:09
He was actually… John the Baptist was making spiritual preparation.
05:10-05:10
Okay?
05:11-05:12
He was making spiritual preparation.
05:12-05:14
Look at verses 4 and 5.
05:15-05:28
It says, "John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance forgiveness of sins.
05:30-05:46
And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him, and the river Jordan confessing their sins." So John the Baptist was making spiritual preparation for Jesus by baptizing, and you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.
05:46-05:47
Hang on, Pastor Jeff.
05:47-05:50
I thought baptism was like a New Testament thing.
05:50-05:59
I thought baptism was like a after Jesus died, rose from the dead, great commission, go baptize early church book of Acts, Acts chapter 2.
05:59-06:01
I thought that was a New Testament thing, right?
06:02-06:12
Well, the Old Testament, Mosaic law had ceremonial washings, true, right?
06:12-06:25
All the ritualistic ceremonial washings, but did you know in the Old Testament times under the Old Testament law, under the Old Covenant way of doing things, they did have one baptism?
06:27-06:32
And that baptism was when a Gentile would want to convert to Judaism.
06:34-06:34
Okay?
06:34-06:46
So a Gentile comes and says, "Hey, I see that you're worshiping the living God, and I want to convert to Judaism." They would actually take that Gentile and full body immerse him.
06:46-06:51
It was a symbol of, "Dude, you don't just need sprinkled.
06:53-06:54
You don't just need a little washing.
06:55-07:05
You need full body cleansing because you're coming from pagan dog background to covenant family of God.
07:05-07:10
It was a big deal, but it was a picture of full body cleansing.
07:10-07:13
It was a picture of I'm completely worthless.
07:17-07:21
And that's what John the Baptist was doing for everyone that would come to him.
07:22-07:25
That was his way of preparing for the coming of the King.
07:28-07:31
John the Baptist's preparation was this, "The Messiah is coming.
07:31-07:32
The King is here.
07:33-07:34
Turn from your sin.
07:35-07:36
Get your act together.
07:37-07:39
You want to be messing around when the King shows up?
07:39-07:40
Is that what you want?
07:41-07:46
You want the King to roll into town and you're busy in sin and you're busy dishonoring His name?
07:47-07:53
Interact together and demonstrate that by this full body cleanse.
07:53-07:55
That's what John the Baptist was doing.
07:57-08:11
Look at verse 6, it says, "Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey." What's that all about?
08:14-08:16
First of all, John the Baptist, he was a manly man.
08:18-08:18
Okay?
08:19-08:21
And, what's up with these clothes?
08:21-08:24
Well, that's actually just what the prophets wore.
08:25-08:29
Second Kings chapter 1, verse 8, you see, that's what Elijah wore.
08:31-08:35
It was like standard dress garb for prophets.
08:37-08:45
Actually, John the Baptist even ministered near where Elijah ministered, and Jesus said that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah.
08:47-08:51
But he wasn't concerned with comfort and ease.
08:55-10:08
He was concerned with fulfilling God's will for his life, and that meant being in the wilderness and yeah, eating locusts and wild honey. What's for dinner? Like the other black meat, locusts, right? It says, "As he preached, and he preached rather saying, 'After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." Now this job of bending down and untying somebody's shoes and taking somebody's shoes off, that was the job of the lowest of the lowest slaves. Okay, if a household had several slaves, you knew you were at the bottom of the pecking order when you had shoe duty. When it was It's your job to take the shoes off and to be, you know, messing around with your master's feet." That meant pretty much you had nowhere to go but up, because that was the lowest.
10:09-10:18
And John the Baptist said, "I'm not even cool enough to be Jesus' lowest slave." That's how awesome Jesus is.
10:18-10:20
You know how awesome He is?
10:20-10:21
Like look at all of Jesus.
10:21-10:32
If Jesus had all these servants, and you take the lowest servant that handled the shoes, John the Baptist said, "I'm not even worthy of that." That's how awesome Jesus Christ is.
10:32-10:34
That's how awesome this King is.
10:36-11:03
Then in verse 8 he says, "I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." John was saying, "All I can do is assist you." And the outward symbol, "He is the only one who can do the work on your heart." So the King is announced, and just like John the Baptist, He must be met by us with humility.
11:05-11:58
And church, I'd like to remind you that everything God wants to do in your life, everything God wants to do in your life begins and ends with humility. You can't come to Jesus Christ in the first place unless you humble yourself, right? If you think there's any spiritual worth in yourself, you can't even take the first step in coming to Jesus. You can't live the Christian life in your own power. It takes humility to learn to walk in the Spirit, to learn to rely on the Holy Spirit. It takes humility to say, "You know what? I'm going to get myself out of the way. I'm going to humble myself and let Christ be exalted in me and through me." And that takes humility.
12:02-12:04
Pride is such a killer.
12:07-12:08
And you just hear it so often.
12:09-12:17
We're at a point now where pride is exalted as the virtuous attitude that nobody tells me what to do.
12:18-12:19
I can take care of myself.
12:19-12:20
I'm so important.
12:20-12:23
This church would close its doors if it wasn't for me.
12:25-12:28
I'd just like to remind you that you have two choices when it comes to humility.
12:29-12:30
You have two choices.
12:31-12:40
You can either humble yourself, as the Bible commands you to do, or you can allow God to humble you.
12:46-12:47
Which of those do you think is easier?
12:50-12:52
Well, I think it's easier if God does it.
12:52-12:53
We'll just let Him do all the work.
12:55-12:56
It's not.
12:57-13:01
The Bible says God opposes the proud.
13:02-13:02
Did you know that?
13:02-13:04
God opposes the proud.
13:04-13:20
You exalt yourself up, you start thinking you're something, God says, "Okay, I oppose the proud." God says, "I'm against you." God's after the destruction of your pride.
13:24-13:30
Because everything in a Christian life begins and ends with humility, total dependence upon God.
13:32-13:33
So, how to humble yourself.
13:33-13:34
Jot these things down.
13:34-13:35
Now, how do you humble yourself?
13:36-13:38
I want you to jot these down.
13:38-13:45
This could be a whole other sermon, and we're going to be talking about these things in our small groups this week.
13:46-13:46
How do you humble yourself?
13:47-13:48
First of all, get serious about sin.
13:51-13:52
Get serious about sin.
13:53-13:56
And I mean before God, first of all, obviously.
13:57-13:59
In Christ, your sins have been forgiven.
14:02-14:05
But, Christians, you are still dependent on God for those daily struggles.
14:07-14:08
Are you struggling with something?
14:08-14:09
Get serious with God about that.
14:09-14:10
He knows.
14:10-14:11
Bring it to God.
14:11-14:18
"God, I'm struggling in this area." I'd also encourage you to get serious about your sin with others.
14:21-14:23
That's what I love about our small group.
14:23-14:31
We're able to admit our weaknesses without condemnation, without judgment, but just met with encouragement.
14:31-14:33
We can come and we can admit our weaknesses.
14:37-14:38
I'd rather not, though.
14:40-14:43
I'd rather everybody think I have my act together.
14:44-14:47
I'd rather everybody think, "Well, he's just super pastor.
14:47-14:52
He doesn't struggle with anything." That's pride, okay?
14:52-14:59
That's pride that wants to exalt myself, that wants you to think better of me than I am.
14:59-15:05
But listen, don't think great things about me at all, because it took the death of the Son of God to pay for my sin.
15:05-15:06
That's how bad my sin is.
15:07-15:08
How about your sin?
15:10-15:12
Okay, so get serious about sin, first of all.
15:12-15:17
Secondly, submit to authority.
15:19-15:20
Submit to authority.
15:26-15:31
You find the guy that says, and I think this is especially true with guys, I think it's true with ladies, especially in the home.
15:33-15:36
You're like, "Well, that's a whole other sermon." But I think this is especially true with guys.
15:38-15:39
tells me what to do.
15:42-15:48
Yeah, and that carries over into society and into the workplace and into the church.
15:51-15:51
Bad plan.
15:54-15:54
Submit to authority.
15:56-15:57
That's how to humble yourself.
15:59-16:08
Pride says, "I am the authority." Humility says, "God has placed people in authority over me." We are all people under authority.
16:10-16:12
How to humble yourself thirdly, serve others.
16:13-16:16
Having others ahead of yourself mentality, serve others.
16:18-16:19
Serve others.
16:26-16:32
Oh, I see you have this mission trip coming up to, or this mission event coming up with World Vision.
16:33-16:34
That's kind of beneath me.
16:34-16:36
I don't really do that kind of thing.
16:36-16:37
Do it.
16:39-16:41
Yeah, that seems a little low for me.
16:42-16:43
Humble yourself.
16:47-16:47
Serve others.
16:49-16:53
Fourthly, seek assistance and forgiveness from others.
16:54-16:58
Seek assistance, first of all, seek assistance from others.
17:01-17:04
Don't be too proud to admit to people that you need help.
17:06-17:07
Don't be too proud.
17:07-17:07
You need help.
17:09-17:24
Turn to the person next to you and say, "I need you sometimes." And all the prideful people said, "I don't need that guy." But I saw a lot of very humble people say, "I need you.
17:24-17:25
I need you sometimes.
17:25-17:28
I do." So seek assistance.
17:28-17:30
Also seek forgiveness from others.
17:31-17:36
I would say that you need others, and you need to value others.
17:41-17:48
Certainly, active humility, you should constantly be engaged in this prayer, constantly acknowledging your dependence on God.
17:49-17:50
Prayer.
17:53-17:55
Like, "Pastor Jeff, how do I know if I'm humble?
17:55-18:05
How do I know if I'm humble?" I would just say, "Well, what's your prayer life like?" If you can walk through life thinking you don't need to pray, you don't need God, that's a sign of pride.
18:06-18:08
If you're like, "Man, I've got to be on my face before God.
18:08-18:12
I need Him." That's a sign of humility.
18:15-18:23
Like John the Baptist, you know, just to put a bow on all of these things, how to humble yourself like John the Baptist, I would say focus on the greatness of Jesus.
18:23-18:37
The more you're in His Word, the more you're worshiping Him and focusing on the majesty the awesomeness of Jesus Christ, kind of puts you in your place, like it did to John the Baptist.
18:38-18:40
So, "The king is announced, exalt him.
18:40-18:46
Secondly, the king is affirmed, embrace him." The king is affirmed, embrace him.
18:50-19:00
Okay, Mark continues, Mr. Economy of Words says, "In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
19:03-19:04
Like Jesus just showed up.
19:06-19:21
Like, "Well, what about the, what about the, you know, there was no room for them in the inn, and what about the cattle were lowing and the angels showed up and the shepherds and the magi?" And Mark's like, "Yeah, somebody else can tell that story." Mark, where are you going to start your story about Jesus?
19:22-19:23
How about he just showed up?
19:23-19:24
How about that?
19:26-19:28
How about this, he came from Nazareth of Galilee to get baptized.
19:28-19:30
That's where I'm starting my story.
19:30-19:33
I'm starting my account with Jesus at his baptism.
19:36-19:39
Alright, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit like the others.
19:41-19:44
Actually I've come to really appreciate people that get straight to the point.
19:45-19:51
So 30 year old Jesus just shows up, no birth story, no background, boom.
19:53-19:57
It says, "And was baptized by John in the Jordan." Now why was Jesus baptized?
19:58-20:09
Now, okay, so like the Old Testament Gentile to embracing Judaism, full body, like immersion, cleansing, baptism, I get that.
20:11-20:14
And Jesus in the Great Commission told us to go make disciples baptized.
20:16-20:26
That is a picture of identifying with the death of Jesus and coming out of the water to identify with being raised in the newness of life.
20:27-20:34
Okay, I get that, but why was Jesus baptized?
20:35-20:38
It wasn't like He was a sinner and He needed to repent.
20:40-20:42
It wasn't like He was a Gentile converting to Judaism.
20:44-20:46
Actually, Matthew chapter 3 gives the answer.
20:47-20:54
Jesus just simply said this, "It was to fulfill all righteousness." John the Baptist totally didn't want to baptize him.
20:54-21:00
Jesus is like, "Baptize me." John's like, "I'm not worthy of that at all.
21:00-21:02
I'm not even worthy to take your shoes off.
21:02-21:21
I'm certainly not worthy to baptize you." Jesus said, "You have to baptize me." John's like, "No, I'm really not wanting to do that." Jesus said, "This is to fulfill all righteousness." like, "Well, what does that mean?" What that means is just simply this, Jesus was just doing what His heavenly Father required.
21:22-21:22
That's all that means.
21:24-21:34
Jesus said, "I'm doing this because the Father said to." Now while you're doing your thing through the week, I'm doing my thing, and I'm studying God's Word, and I've seen all these reasons.
21:34-21:44
People are, "Well, he had to be baptized by this, and here's the reason this, and here's the reason that." I'm just going to go with the reason that Jesus himself gave, like all in favor of that.
21:44-21:46
How about the reason Jesus gave?
21:46-21:50
And the reason Jesus gave was this, I'm doing it because the Father told me to do it.
21:52-21:56
And I would ask you church, is that enough?
21:57-21:58
Is that enough?
22:01-22:08
Is it enough for you to do things in your life just because God told you to do it?
22:08-22:09
Is that enough for you?
22:10-22:16
Is it enough for you to say, "You know, I don't really feel like doing this, but the Bible says I should do it, so I'm just going to do it." Is that enough for you?
22:19-22:19
Well, it was for Jesus.
22:21-22:24
Jesus didn't have any sin He had to deal with.
22:25-22:29
He's like, "I'm doing this because the Father said to." It's to fulfill all righteousness.
22:33-22:54
Verse 10 says, "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." Pause here for a second.
22:54-22:58
The Holy Spirit is not a dove, okay?
22:58-23:04
Because it says that the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, right?
23:04-23:06
Do you understand that picture?
23:08-23:18
Mark isn't saying the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a hawk, like you know, Jesus comes out of the water, it's like, "Ahhhh!" Like boom!
23:18-23:19
And like the Holy Spirit's like, "Pull him!
23:20-23:31
On him!" like a hawk. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. How does a dove descend?
23:33-23:42
Lightly, delicately, gently. That's the picture, okay? So I know we've all seen the paintings where like Jesus is coming out of the water and you see the giant white bird in the sky.
23:43-24:01
The Holy Spirit is not a dove, okay? He is God. He descended, he somehow physically manifested himself and descended upon Jesus lightly and rested upon him like a dove.
24:03-24:06
And this inaugurated Jesus' ministry.
24:08-24:15
You know, it's October now, and you know what that means.
24:20-24:24
That means it's Peyton Manning commercial season.
24:26-24:26
Right?
24:29-24:31
Is there anything that Peyton Manning doesn't endorse?
24:32-24:34
Seriously, he's got--what does Peyton Manning endorse?
24:37-24:38
Papa John's, right?
24:38-24:40
And he's got a thing with the cameras, right?
24:41-24:42
And what's that?
24:43-24:44
Oreos?
24:45-24:46
Okay, what else?
24:48-24:49
Yeah, that's right.
24:49-25:08
Buick. Yeah, Peyton Manning drives a Buick. Shocked me too. I didn't know. It's good enough for Shaq, I suppose. Okay, what else? I'm sure like, like birdseed, pudding, you know, wheelbarrows. I'm sure there are a lot of... Well, I'll tell you what, let's just...
25:08-25:22
We don't got a lot of time. Let's just shout out the things that he doesn't endorse, right? Go ahead. Yeah, I couldn't think of any either. Well, why did they get Peyton Manning to do these endorsements? You know, I was thinking about this this week.
25:22-26:07
You know, you get Peyton Manning to endorse everything. I'm like, "Okay, so he's a really good football player, but what does he know about Buicks, really? Or what does he know about Papa John's? Do you think he really eats Papa John's, Justin? I don't think he eats a lot of Papa John's, okay, especially this time of year. Why do they get him? Because His celebrity somehow put some kind of a special stamp of authenticity on whatever he's trying to endorse. And he's not the only one. You know, you can listen to celebrity endorsements and political rants from celebrities, and all of a sudden the whole world cares what Matt Damon and Madonna think about politics.
26:08-26:57
and well, Jesus had two endorsements. He had John the Baptist and he had God the Father. Look at verse 11. Here's Jesus' endorsement, "And a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased." Notice that God endorsed Jesus Christ, God the Father endorsed God the Son. It seems that endorsement was really aimed at an audience of one, wasn't it? That seems to me to be directed just simply at Jesus himself, right?
27:00-27:06
And I would say to you, what you think about Jesus Christ is the most important thing about you.
27:07-27:17
And if you're driving in your car singing, "Jesus is just alright with me," let me lovingly tell you that that opinion needs an overhaul.
27:19-27:21
Because Jesus isn't just some religious figure.
27:22-27:24
He's God Almighty who deserves total allegiance.
27:26-27:33
And biblically, allegiance to Jesus Christ is demonstrated in Christian baptism.
27:37-27:44
And every time we mention baptism, there are always a couple people, not just here but anywhere, there's always a couple people sitting there saying, "You know what?
27:44-27:48
I haven't been baptized yet, but I don't really need to get baptized.
27:48-27:49
I mean, I've been a Christian for a while.
27:49-28:02
I don't really need to get baptized." Well, God the Father said that when you receive Jesus Christ -- actually Jesus Himself said this too -- that when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you should get baptized.
28:04-28:14
And if Jesus did it just because the Father said to do it, even though He never sinned, then what's your excuse?
28:17-28:23
We're planning another baptism service with Northway, and that should be coming up this November.
28:24-28:38
And if you haven't taken that step of obedience, if you haven't made the public profession of faith of identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, if you have not done that, then you need to get a hold of me.
28:39-28:41
See me after service today or email me.
28:42-28:45
My email is right there in the bulletin, but we need to talk about that.
28:48-28:55
So the King has affirmed, "Embrace Him." And when you embrace Jesus Christ, that doesn't just mean you have cozy feelings about Him.
28:55-28:58
That means Jesus Christ is my Lord.
28:59-29:00
Jesus Christ is my life.
29:00-29:02
Jesus Christ is my light.
29:03-29:06
Jesus Christ is everything to me.
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He's affirmed by God the Father.
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Embrace Him as your Lord.
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And thirdly, finally, the King is accomplished.
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Join Him.
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Okay, do you have this scene in your mind?
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Jesus comes to get baptized, He's immersed, He comes out, the heavens are torn open, and the Spirit of God comes upon Him, and a voice from heaven saying, "You are my Son, you are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Do you have that scene?
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Well, look at verse 12, "The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness." The Spirit did what?
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But God, but Father, I thought you loved him.
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Father, I don't get this.
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Father, you just said that you love him, and the first thing that you do after professing your love for him is driving him out into the wilderness?
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Why would you do that?
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Well, God's love is not a pampering love.
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God's love is a perfecting love.
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Please hear this, because there are people sitting here right now that need this.
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God's purposes will rarely take you down easy streets.
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God's purposes will rarely take you down easy street.
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And when I say rarely, I mean maybe once out of a billion times it will.
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By far the majority.
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When God is doing something in your life, many times it doesn't look pleasant from our perspective.
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It just doesn't look pleasant.
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His purposes rarely take you down easy streets.
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You're like, "But I thought God loved me." God had a love relationship with His Son, the likes of which nothing else exists, right?
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But as soon as He was baptized, He was driven out into the wilderness for what purpose?
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Well, look at verse 13, it says, "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.
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He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan.
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When you're being tempted, how long do you normally last?
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There are some of us that think if we resist temptation for a day, we feel like the king of the universe, right?
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If we resist temptation for two or three days, we feel like, "I got this." Jesus Christ resisted temptation directly from the devil himself for forty days.
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Why did he have to go down this path?
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Well, so far in our account, you have John the Baptist announcing Him, you've got the Father affirming Him, and it's all well and good.
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But as Jesus prepared for ministry, here's the question that really needs answered.
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Does the man match the hype?
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Does Jesus Christ deliver as advertised?
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I mean, He certainly has the endorsements, but in reality, can He live up to them?
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What about the practical results?
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What about the heart of the matter?
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Can He defeat Satan?
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And before Jesus went out to preach a single word, which we'll get to next week, He had to go through this critical trial.
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Why?
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Well, way back in Genesis chapter 3, the first Adam faced Satan, and he failed.
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showed up with some line of bologna that, "Yeah, if you eat that fruit, you'll be like God.
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God's holding out on you.
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Oh, you know what?
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You know why God doesn't want you to eat off that tree?
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Because God knows you'll be like Him, and God's a bit of a glory hog.
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God knows." That's what Satan was saying.
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He was in the face of the first Adam.
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You know what the result of that was?
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Adam's failure, Adam's sin brought sin and death into the world.
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That's why life is hard sometimes.
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You know that, right?
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We are fallen people living in a fallen and cursed world, and every one of us are dying and decaying, because the first Adam, the devil brought his temptation and he failed.
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But do you know the Bible calls Jesus Christ the second Adam?
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Did you know that?
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The second Adam also had to face Satan's temptation.
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Well what happened?
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But did you notice Mark doesn't explicitly say what happens, but we know for a fact that Jesus overcame.
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You're like, "Yeah, you can read about it in the other Gospels, right?
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Like Luke 3, Matthew 4, you can read about it even aside from those." You know that Jesus overcame Satan's temptation because otherwise the gospel story would have ended there, right?
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I mean what kind of king would Jesus be if He couldn't defeat the enemy?
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But instead, you know the kind of king we have?
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Hebrews 4.15 says, "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.
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Jesus Christ, not just here but throughout His life and ministry, was tempted in every single way that you and I are, but He was without sin.
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And we can't underscore the significance of that enough.
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You see, you inherited sin from the first Adam's failure.
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You can inherit victory from the second Adam's victory.
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You inherited death from the first Adam's failure.
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You inherit eternal life through the second Adam's victory.
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Jesus had to go through this trial.
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he was going to prove that he wasn't just hype, he wasn't just some detached deity in the form of a man who can't identify, who can't be a part of this human race really because he's untouched by the things that touch us.
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No, He immersed Himself into this world to the point that He was tempted at every point, even directly face-to-face by Satan himself.
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But this Adam was victorious.
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Do you know what that reminds me of?
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That reminds me of one of my favorite stories, one of my favorite sports stories.
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actually a basketball story. How many people remember Stacey King? Do you remember Stacey King, famous NBA player? How many people have heard of Stacey King?
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Okay, one. Is that it? One? Stacey King played for the Chicago Bulls. Back in the day that there was a another player on the Bulls that was a little more famous.
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How many of you have ever heard of Michael Jordan? I love this story. One game, they put Stacey King in. He made one free throw. That was his contribution. One free throw, racking up how many points? One. In that game, Michael Michael Jordan himself racked up 69 points by himself.
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Well, after the final buzzer, a reporter went to King for his post-game wrap-up, and King said, "I'll always remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I combined for 70 points." story, because that's like the gospel.
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Don't walk around like Satan won the battle, because he's defeated.
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Jesus Christ is victorious over sin, and Jesus' victory can be your victory if you've humbled yourself and received Him.
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So this is the gospel.
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This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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The King has arrived, and He's arrived to bring you into a new era.
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So exalt Him, embrace Him, and join Him.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 1:1-13
Mark 1:7 shows John the Baptist’s humility. Rate yourself in these categories 1 to 10.
1 = “I am so prideful in this area. I haven’t humbled myself at all!”
10 = “I am so humble in this area, I have zero pride issues here. I am a regular Moses.” (I don’t imagine many 10s on a humility test, but if it’s true, it’s true!)
I am serious about my sin. I regularly deal with it with God and confess it to others. I admit my weaknesses.
I submit to authority. I know who my authority is, and I joyfully submit at work, at church, in my home.”
I serve others, putting their needs ahead of my own.
I seek assistance and forgiveness from others.
Breakout Questions:
Pray for each other in the areas you struggle in humility.