The Gospel of Mark #2 – “1st Impressions of the Servant”
Mark 1:2-15
Intro –
1. They say, “You never get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression!”
2. ILL – A convenience store manager in Allston, MA related the following story. “I’m in the store office. From the camera screens, I can see a young man shoplifting. I hit the record button, gathering evidence as he goes around the store. He is putting things into his pocket, jacket, etc…He next comes up to the back of the store, and knocks on the door to my office. I put the chain on the door before opening it. He then said, “Hi. I’m Jason. I’m here for the job interview.” What a first impression!
3. We learned last week that Mark presents Jesus as the Servant & in this passage we get our 1st glimpse or impression of who Jesus the Servant is & what He does.
4. Mark 1:2-15 (read)
5. Mark introduces his gospel with a section on the forerunner of Christ – John the Baptist. John’s story is told in all 4 gospels & his coming was predicted in Isa. 40:3 & Mal. 4:5.
6. It is important to understand what we mean when we call John the forerunner of Christ.
7. EXPLAIN – In ancient times, kings often sent people ahead of them to prepare the way for their coming. The forerunner had 2 primary duties. 1st, he was to make certain that the roads were passable. There were to be no delays when the king passed through. He was to have a clear, open route through the kingdom. 2nd, the forerunner was let the people know that the king was coming. He was to go along the route before the king came through and he was to tell the people to get ready for the king.
8. John the Baptist fulfilled both duties seen in the ancient forerunner. He prepared people to receive Christ by preaching repentance from sin & faith toward God & he pointed clearly to the fact that Jesus was in fact the Messiah.
9. John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
10. Application – Jesus is coming soon! Like John we are to be the forerunners who are preparing the way of the Lord & proclaiming the truth of His soon return!
11. After introducing us to John the Baptist, Mark then moves quickly into presenting Jesus as the Servant on the Move!
12. We see in these verses 3 snapshots of Jesus’ life up until the time that he began His public ministry in Galilee.
I. The Baptism of the Servant – Vs. 2-11
There is some confusion about baptism today. Baptism has always been closely associated with identifying with a religion or a person’s teachings, etc…
*Explain – During this time, baptism was practiced by many religious sects. In fact, when a Gentile converted to Judaism, one of his first acts of conversion was being baptized to identify the fact that he was now following the God of the Jews.
*Even in Christian baptism, we are identifying with the death, burial & resurrection of Christ & publicly stating that we want to be His disciple!
Who did Jesus identify with in His baptism?
A. He identified with John the Baptist – vs. 9 “was baptized by John”
1. John’s baptism identified the fact that people were repenting of their sins to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah.
2. Jesus had no need to repent, because He was sinless. **This is one of the reasons I do not believe that baptism is a means of salvation or forgiveness of sins.**
3. However, Jesus was willing to submit himself to John’s baptism because He wanted to identify & affirm the fact that John was indeed the promised forerunner of Isa. 40:3 & Mal. 3:1.
4. This was a necessary step in Jesus fulfilling his role as the Messiah (Matt. 3:13-15).
B. He identified with Sinful Humanity
1. When Jesus was baptized with sinners, He was identifying Himself with sinful Israel & in a greater sense the entire human race.
2. Jesus was going to bear the sins of every person so that His righteousness could be given to them.
3. 2 Cor. 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
4. ILL – A battalion of soldiers was ordered to the rifle range immediately following a severe rain storm. There, lying in the mud they shot round after round. One soldier particularly was angry about the situation, so he reached back in anger for shells from the soldier behind him. He stated that, “resentment rammed every shell into the chamber & hate squeezed the trigger.” Then, as he reached back for another round, he caught the face of the other soldier – it was his commander! Flat in the mud & passing shells, the commander was at one with his men. “From that time on,” the soldier said, “I was ready to follow that man, even to death.”
5. Mark’s case for Jesus the Servant begins with the evidence that He is on our level, beside us, sharing in our experience!
C. He identified himself as part of the Trinity - vs. 10-11
1. The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God is 3 persons & yet one in essence. In Jesus baptism we see one of the clearest pictures of the Trinity in the Scripture.
2. In fact, in His baptism, all 3 persons of the Trinity are present & active.
3. God the Father speaks; God the Son is baptized; God the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus as a dove.
4. So, in His baptism, Mark introduces Jesus as not only Israel’s promised Messiah but also as the 2nd person of the God-head, the very “Son of God” (vs. 1).
II. The Temptation of the Servant – Vs. 12-13
When dealing with the temptation of Christ, some questions need to be answered 1st.
*Theologically – Could Jesus have sinned? Was His temptation real?
The Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus was sinless (Isa. 53:9). As God, it would be impossible for Jesus to sin (James 1:13); as Man, Jesus would have known the allurement of sin, so as to sympathize with us, but never gave in to sin in any way, whether speech, action, thought, or feeling. This is why He is now an approachable High Priest who understands us & invites us to be close to Him (Heb. 4:15-16).
*Practically – What can we learn from Jesus’ temptation?
A. Temptation is a part of God’s plan (He allows it to test us) – vs. 12
1. The first thing we notice in this text is that the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan. In reality, God was allowing Jesus to be confronted by Satan to take the 1st step toward overthrowing His kingdom.
2. 1 John 3:8 “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”
3. God tempts no one (James 1:13); but He sometimes sovereignly allows Satan to tempt His children (Job, *Peter – Luke 22:31-32).
4. Rest assured, God always has a bigger plan when He allows Satan to tempt you!
B. Temptation doesn’t have to end in failure – vs. 13
1. Watching Jesus in His trial can help us through ours. 2 things to take note of –
a. He was filled with the Spirit – vs. 10.
b. He was filled with the Word of God (Matt. 3).
2. While Mark doesn’t give us the whole picture of Jesus temptation, we know that 3 times Jesus was tempted & 3 times He quoted the book of Deuteronomy for just the word He needed.
3. The Spirit of God gave Him the ability to stand against the attacks of the devil. The Word of God gave Him ammunition to defend Himself while He attacked back.
4. If we want to be successful in temptation we need to be sure that we are living lives that are controlled by the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:16 “walk in the Spirit…”), & filled with the Word of God (Psa. 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart…”).
III. The Preaching of the Servant – Vs. 14-15
*God had only one Son & He made Him a preacher! 2 elements to His preaching –
A. “Repent” – speaks of a change of mind
1. Unfortunately, repentance is a lost word in much of modern day evangelicalism & needs to be brought back for a proper understanding of the gospel message.
2. The word “repent” comes from which literally means “to turn in one’s mind, to think differently, to reconsider, to change one’s mind.”
3. It is the idea of turning from sin & self to the person of Christ.
4. In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior." He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance."
5. ILL – Running down roads in college (Rottweiler’s)…
6. Repentance happens when we are confronted with our sin & we turn from it.
B. “Believe” – speaks of a change of heart
1. Believe – This word has the idea of “accepting something as being true”. Here, Jesus uses it in regard to the Gospel message.
2. When this gospel message is received as the truth & believed on with sincerity from the heart, salvation is the result.
3. Rom. 10:9-10 “9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
C. Both together = a changed life –
1. Repentance alone does not save you, but true repentance leads to faith.
2. This was the message of John the Baptist (vs. 4), Jesus (vs. 14-15), the disciples (6:12), Peter (Acts 2), & Paul!
3. Acts 20:21 “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”
4. The message Jesus preached is a simple message. It is a message that is life changing for everyone who hears it and believes it. But, for His message to be effective in your life, you must have both parts. There must be repentance and there must be faith.
Conc. –
1. Question - Have you turned from sin & self to Jesus alone?
2. Have you repented of your sins? Has there been a conscious desire to make a break with you sinful past? Do you trust Jesus and His finished work at Calvary for your soul’s salvation?
