Baptism And Temptation Of Jesus Series

GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION

BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION OF JESUS

A. Acts 2:38 (READ)

1. How many of you remember when you were BAPTIZED?

a. I believe that is a DAY in a Christian’s LIFE that most will never FORGET.

b. There is no greater FEELING than coming up out of that watery grave knowing that you are

FORGIVEN.

ILLUSTRATION:

Jay Utley, a retired preacher from Oklahoma, tells about the very first time he baptized someone. It was a young man in his YOUTH GROUP where he was serving as a Youth Minister many years ago. Jay, himself, was BAPTIZED as a young man, and he wondered how different it would feel to

be the one doing the BAPTISM rather than the one being BAPTIZED.

He nervously said the appropriate WORDS, and lowered the young man into the WATER. And when he took the young man at the deepest POINT, he felt the boy’s body JOLT and TIGHTEN. Jay thought to himself, “Wow, so that’s how it FEELS when the person’s sins are forgiven and they

receive the Holy Spirit.”

After he brought the young man up from the water Jay excitedly asked, “Did you feel the JOLT when the Spirit came into you?” “No,” the young man said, “but I did feel it when you HIT my head on the BAPTISTERY STEP!”

2. During my 37 years of MINISTRY, I have had the privilege of baptizing DOZENS of people.

a. In addition to BAPTIZING people in the church BAPTISTERY, I have BAPTIZED people in

SWIMMING POOLS, BATHTUBS, HORSE TANKS, and even in the CARIBBEAN SEA.

b. The most I BAPTIZED was one Sunday night while serving as a Prison Chaplain in Southeast Texas, when 23 INMATES responded to the invitation giving their LIVES to Christ in BAPTISM. (I taught these men every week in a Bible Class, and preached one Sunday night a month.)

3. However, nothing COMPARES to the NUMBERS of people that John the Baptist was BAPTIZING.

a. Mark said that “the whole Judean country side and all the people of Jerusalem went out to be

baptized by John”- Mark 1:6.

b. The Apostle John who was an early disciple of John the Baptist recorded that “…people were

constantly coming to be baptized by him”- John 3:23.

COMMENT:

It must have thrilled John to see so many people coming out to him to be BAPTIZED. “He was preaching REPENTANCE, telling people that they need to TURN AWAY from their sins and be BAPTIZED for the FORGIVENESS of their SINS”- Mark 1:4.

B. Then one day as John is baptizing in the Jordan River, a MAN who had been waiting in LINE along with

everybody else walks up to John to be BAPTIZED.

MESSAGE:

I. BAPTISM OF JESUS- Mark 1:9-11 (READ)

A. Much the same way that Mark abruptly introduced John the Baptizer, so does he introduce Jesus on the scene by simply writing, “Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan”- v. 9.

1. Mark is a MATTER-OF-FACT kind of guy who doesn’t WRITE with a lot of FLAIR.

a. He’s just trying to make the POINT that the man Jesus that John baptized is the Son of God.

b. That’s Mark’s FOCUS of this GOSPEL, and what he wants his READERS to understand.

2. We have to go to the others GOSPEL WRITERS to FILL in the BLANKS that Mark leaves out.

a. What we do know from Mark’s Gospel is that “Jesus traveled approximately 60 miles from

Nazareth in Galilee to be baptized by John.”

COMMENT:

Although we don’t know for sure how Jesus got there, we do know that His USUAL mode of TRAVEL was on FOOT. That would certainly make for a rather long and exhausting JOURNEY. (I don’t even like walking from the GROCERY side to the PHARMACY side at Wal-Mart.)

b. From Luke’s Gospel we learn that Jesus didn’t have a PRIVATE baptism, “He was BAPTIZED along with everyone else”- Luke 3:21. (He stood in the line with SINNERS just WAITING

His turn.)

c. John’s Gospel reveals that “although John the Baptist and Jesus were related, he didn’t know

who Jesus was until God pointed Him out”- John 1:33.

COMMENT:

Remember, John left home as a young man and lived in the WILDERNESS all this time. If he and Jesus did hangout as boys, it would have been 20 plus years since they saw each other.

d. Let’s turn to Matthew’s Gospel as we read his account of this event- Matthew 3:13-15 (READ)

COMMENT:

John’s message to the people was for them to “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness

of their sins”- Mark 1:4.

Then the next person in LINE to be BAPTIZED is Jesus, and immediately John deters Him from being BAPTIZED because he had come to PREPARE WAY for Him—the SINLESS Son of God. There was nothing from which Jesus needed to REPENT—to turn AWAY from. There were