My Beloved Son - Sermon On Mark 1:10-20

Mark 1:9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!"

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Introduction

What Is It Like to Be Loved by God?

If you’re like most Christians, you probably struggle with really believing that God loves you. You know it intellectually, but you really don’t feel loved by God. You look at your life, and you see so much sin and failure that you just have this nagging sense that God is irritated with you, or at most, he just kind of tolerates you, but he doesn’t really enjoy you? You feel like God doesn’t enjoy your prayers, he doesn’t smile when he looks at you.

Why does it seem like that? I can understand a wife who doesn’t feel loved, because even though her husband loves her, he’s not very good at expressing it. But God is perfect at expressing love. So if God loves us so much, and he expresses it perfectly, why do we so often not feel loved by him?

It’s usually one of two reasons. And in today’s passage, Mark is going to show us both those reasons and how to blow them out of the water so we can not only be confident in God’s love for us, but really feel it and enjoy it in a way that pleases God and draws you closer to him. And more than that, we’re going to see some amazing truths about the love God the Father has for God the Son, and what the implications are for our daily lives.

Review

We left off last time with heaven being ripped apart at Jesus’ baptism. God the Father opened up heaven in order to give Jesus three things he would need for his mission. Remember, his mission is to bring salvation to the world – to turn the desert of God’s judgment into a flourishing forest of God’s blessing by ushering in God’s kingdom.

And according to Acts 10:38, what God did here at Jesus’ baptism was the anointing of Jesus as the King of that kingdom. It was his coronation. So now what? Now that he’s just been gloriously crowned, will God send his Christ into Rome to lay down the law to Caesar and let him know there’s a new king in town? Or send him throughout Judea to gather his army? Send him into the Temple in Jerusalem to take his place at the head of Jewish religion? This is going to be an explosion of power unlike anything we’ve ever seen, right? After that coronation, you expect to see the most spectacular display of military conquest ever. Let’s look at what happens next.

Humbling Test

12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals

Bummer. That’s not very glorious. They were already in the desert where John was baptizing, but Jesus gets sent out into the really remote wilderness, known as the devastation. Temperatures there routinely go over 100 in the daytime, and it gets cold at night. The wind is miserable. And Mark adds …with the wild animals.

Testing By Satan

13 he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.

In Matthew 12:43 Jesus said that when a demon is cast out of a person, it goes into the desert, so the desert was a haunt for demons. This is Satan’s home turf, and right after his glorious coronation, Jesus is thrown right into the middle of it. In v.10 heaven opened, now in v.12 hell opens.