Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Beginning of the Good News about Jesus



Scripture: Mark 1.1-13
Translation: 1The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son: 2Just like it stands written in Isaiah the prophet: “Look, I’m sending My messenger ahead of Your face, who will prepare Your way! 3A voice of someone shouting is in the desert: ‘Get the Lord’s road ready! Make His paths straight!’” 4John, the one who was baptizing in the desert and preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, came. 5And the whole Judean region and all the people from Jerusalem were traveling out to him. And they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River [and] confessing their sins. 6And John was clothing himself with camel hair and leather belt around his waist and eating locusts and wild honey. 7And He preached by saying, “The One Who is stronger than me is after me, Who I’m not worth of for bending down to untie the straps of His sandals! 8I baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”
9And it happened in those days. Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized into the Jordan River by John. 10And immediately while coming up out of the water He saw the heavens being torn apart and the Spirit like a dove coming down into Him! 11And a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My Loved Son! I’m really happy with You!” 12And immediately the Spirit drove Him out into the desert! 13And He was in the desert for forty days being tested by Satan. And He was with the wild animals. And the angels were serving Him.

Descriptive Summary: God made a promise and kept the promise by sending John to prep Jesus’ way, which he did, even to the point of baptizing Jesus with water, but then God the Father baptized Jesus with the Holy Spirit, which may double as His Anointing. The baptism/anointing of the Spirit is proven by the driving to the desert, the temptation success, and the angels service.
The Points I’m Stressing: God keeps all His Promises, so you can trust Him; Jesus is so awesome that God sends someone to get the way ready for Him; Jesus is God’s Son, and His Chosen Servant, which the Baptism shows us! Jesus also obeyed the Spirit and wanted to glorify God more than anything else, but He was also stronger than anyone else by the Holy Spirit, and so He endured testing and angels served Him. We have the same Holy Spirit in us if we believe in Jesus, so that means we can endure testing too and do what God wants us to do.
The Text and Its Truths
1.      Key Themes
a.       God fulfills His Word/keeps His Promises
b.      John the Baptist is the fulfillment of God’s Word/Promises
                                                              i.      He fulfills because he prepares the way by baptizing (vv.4, 5, 8, 9)
                                                            ii.      He fulfills because he prepares by preaching forgiveness of sins (vv.4, 5)
                                                          iii.      He fulfills because he really is in the desert (vv.4, 5, 6, 9)
                                                          iv.      He fulfills because he proclaims Jesus’ Value, Power, and Holiness (vv.7-8)
                                                            v.      He fulfills because he foretells of Jesus’ kind of ministry of Spirit Baptism (v.8)
                                                          vi.      He fulfills because he baptized Jesus (v.9)
c.       Jesus is Worthy of Honor
                                                              i.      John honors Jesus (vv.4-9, esp. 7-8)
1.      By prepping His Way for his ministry with people (v.4-6)
2.      By prepping the people for the difference and preeminence of His ministry (vv.7-8)
                                                            ii.      God the Father honors Jesus
1.      By sending the prophecy (vv.2-3)
2.      By sending the prophecy’s fulfillment in John (vv.4-9)
3.      By splitting the heavens open (v.10)
4.      By sending the Spirit into Him (v.10)
5.      By publically proclaiming Him as His loved Son (v.11)
6.      By publically proclaiming He was happy with Jesus (v.11)
7.      By the driving to the desert, testing by Satan, and the service of angels to show Jesus’ Endurance, Power, and Holiness (vv.12-13)
                                                          iii.      Jesus obeys the Spirit (vv.12-13)
                                                          iv.      Jesus passes the testing from Satan (v.13)
                                                            v.      Jesus has angels serving Him (v.13)
d.      Jesus is Powerful
                                                              i.      He is filled with the Holy Spirit (v.8, 10)
                                                            ii.      He is God’s Son (vv.1, 11)
                                                          iii.      He is Anointed (vv. 1, 10, 12-13)
                                                          iv.      He is Filled with the Spirit (vv.8, 10, 12-13)
                                                            v.      He passed the testing in the desert with the wild animals and the devil (vv.12-13)
1.      He can handle nature
2.      He can handle the devil
3.      He can handle wild animals
                                                          vi.      Angels serve Jesus (the lesser serves the greater) (v.13)
e.       Jesus is God’s Son (vv.1, 10-11)
f.       Jesus is Holy (vv.8-9, 9-11, 12-13)
2.      Key Doctrines
a.       The Faithfulness of God to ALL of His Promises
b.      Divine Sonship of Christ
c.       Infinite Worthiness of Christ
d.      The Necessity of Baptism
e.       Anointing of the Anointed One by the Spirit
f.       The Sinlessness of Christ
                                                              i.      Obedience to the Spirit
                                                            ii.      Resistance to Satan/Sin
g.      The Power of Christ over Satan and Angels (Authority, foreshadowing the following verses)
Applications (Look)
1.      Trust All of God’s Promises
2.      Give Christ the Honor He Deserves
3.      Get Baptized
4.      If saved and thus filled with the Spirit, obey Him and resist the temptations of the devil/sin
5.      Rely on Christ when dealing with demonic warfare
6.      Believe in Christ as God’s Son, and thus King over All
7.      Get the way ready for Christ’s second coming by sharing the Gospel
8.      Be impressed by Jesus’ success in obedience, fasting, and testing
9.      Be thankful that God kept His promises
10.  Be thankful John got Jesus’ way ready, and let that message prep your own heart for Christ
11.  Be thankful Jesus surpasses even what John said in awesomeness and goodness
12.  And whatever else the Spirit works into your soul from the Word, and be like Jesus in listening to His moving, even if its hard or crazy

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