We're in Mark chapter 1. It's all started because I wanted to let Dean know. We're starting a Sunday night series, Dean, The Journeys of Jesus, okay? So this one is Into the Wilderness. So we're in Mark chapter 1 and verse 9. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan and straightway coming up out of the water he saw the heavens opened and the spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from heaven saying, thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. Father, would you help us now as we Look into your word, I pray you give me clarity of thought and speech. You know the needs of each and every individual that's here tonight. And so I pray that you might take your truth and apply it as needed. And Father, sometimes we do forget about folks who are joining us via the stream because either illness or distance or whatever the reasons are, we're thankful for those. And I pray you might speak to those hearts as well. God indirect now, please we pray in Jesus name Amen Into the wilderness that that does not sound enjoyable to me Now the wilderness is beautiful or it can be Depending on what kind of wilderness you're looking at. You know, I suppose if you if rode a horse into the Bob Marshall, there'd be a lot of beautiful scenery to see. I have never done that, because I'm not much for riding horses. The last time I rode a horse, I was filled in the pulpit for a church in Illinois. And the deacon, they didn't have a pastor, and so I was there just filling the pulpit. And so we went and had lunch at the deacon's home, and he said, would you like to go for a ride on a horse? And being a dutiful guest, I accepted, even though I wasn't thrilled about it, but you know, okay. So we go out there and he's showing me his horses and he's got excuse the term but I think you'll understand he's got one old nag and then he has a thoroughbred racehorse he gets on the racehorse and he puts me on the nag and I'm like well that's good because that should be kind of slow and I can maybe handle that Except he took off. And the horse I was on was not gonna be undone. And when I got off it was like, hallelujah, I'm never getting on one of those again. My life was flashing before my eyes. Anyways. The wilderness is beautiful. I'm sure if you went into the ball marshal, it'd be beautiful. Photographs are gorgeous. Bridget and I were talking about something. I don't know, we got to talk about sleeping on the ground. I'm not sure why we were talking about that. I don't remember. But I said, no, I've been there, done that. I've had enough of that, no thanks. She was like, you did? I said, oh yeah. Thank you, Army Reserve, taking us out in the middle of no place, sleeping on the ground. I'm seeing a bear at the top of the mountain. I'm like, okay. I'm gonna give the barbecue sauce to the guy next to me. You know, I don't wanna be too tasty. Just not really my thing, you know? So when I really hear that Jesus is driven into the wilderness, that doesn't sound like an enjoyable thing. Now, maybe you're into the hiking and all of that kind of stuff. Years ago, we went to see Gwen and Danny. When they were down there in Elberger, you know, like, all right, Dad, we're gonna go to this National Park and we're gonna go hiking. I'm like, okay Required family fun. Let's go So I put a smile on my face She's sorry dad. You need to carry the water. Okay, sure So I get the backpack on, you know, I don't know in my mind it was like 400 pounds of water it probably wasn't that much but We're hiking all over this place. They didn't drink one of those waters. I was like, why am I carrying this? This is crazy. That's not my thing But you know when Jesus was driven into the wilderness he didn't get to take extra water He didn't have like a survival kit People today, oh, I'm gonna go, my friend Newt, he says to me when we were in college, hey, Walt, I'm going up to Glacier National Park, I'm gonna camp out this weekend. I'm thinking, okay, whatever. You have a tent? No, I'm just sleeping on the ground. I'm thinking, you're crazy. I said, do you have bear spray? No, I don't need no bear spray. I said, okay, whatever. But that's Newt. I mean, he would do that kind of stuff. But today, you know, you kind of go out and you got all this survival gear and you got your bear spray and you got the, you know, Bowie knife or whatever. You got all your stuff. Jesus didn't have any of that. He didn't have a kit. He didn't have a get up and go bag or whatever you call it. He didn't have one of those. And it's not a very nice place. Look at, look at verse 13. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts. He wasn't eating the wild beasts, he was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered unto him. That was after the forty days, by the way, not throughout the forty days. Read the other accounts, you'll find out the angels come to him after. He's fasted for forty days. Then he's tempted of the devil, and then the angels come. This does not sound like an enjoyable thing. Jesus driven into the wilderness. Well, first off, identification. It says in verse one, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Okay, who are we talking about? We're talking about the Lord Jesus. We're talking about God in the flesh. In John 10 30 Jesus says I and my father are One okay, this is God in the flesh. That's who this is But not only is is this God in the flesh. He identifies with his people. He's just come through his baptism. And the dove comes out, descends on him, the voice from heaven, verse 13, Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus gets baptized by John the Baptist. John the Baptist is preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, what does Jesus have to repent of? Nothing. Nothing. Which is probably why John says, I should be baptized by you, not the other way around. And Jesus says, let it be so, to fulfill all righteousness. Hmm, that's interesting. Because baptism is identification, that's what it is. And Jesus was identifying with his people, the Jews. The kingdom is wherever the king is, he's the king. And so he gets baptized, not because he's a sinner, but because he's identifying with his people. It's illustrated in Matthew 2, when we read about Jesus, and we just came from Christmas, he goes off to Egypt, right? Fulfilling the words of the prophet, I have called my son out of Egypt, which comes out of Hosea 11 in verse one. But in Hosea 11 one, it's talking about Israel, not the Messiah. But the fulfillment is the Messiah, not Israel. So he's identifying with Israel. So we recognize the person of the Lord. We recognize his people. We also recognize his purpose. Verse eight, John the Baptist says, I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Jesus came to be the Savior, didn't he? That's right, he did. And the Lord, the Heavenly Father, is pleased with him. And so he's baptized to identify with his people, lives a perfect life, and eventually goes to the cross. Identification. But then I want you to notice his temptation. Because his temptation was private. Now that doesn't mean all his trials were private. We all have trials that are public trials. Things everybody sees, we're going through a problem, whatever that may be. But the temptation was private. He's gone into the wilderness and who is he with? The wild beasts. He's alone. He's by himself. He's all by himself. It was private. It was pointed. And that I mean, when he comes to the end of those 40 days of fasting, that's the devil comes and tests him three times. Or at least that's what's recorded. Some debate whether there was other temptations going on in the midst of that but we have a record of three specific temptations that Jesus went through and It's it's interesting or I should say instructive that it's at the end of the 40 days How hungry would you be after fasting for 40 days? I? Would be like Starving I Probably wouldn't make it I mean, to be honest, I just, in fact, apart from the Lord enabling you, you probably wouldn't make it either. So, at the end of those 40 days, in the other passages there in Matthew and in Luke, it says, and he hungered. Yeah, no doubt. And then the devil shows up and says, oh, you're hungry. Why don't you turn these stones into bread? Could Jesus have done that? Sure, he could have done that. He took five loaves and two fishes and multiplied that and fed thousands and thousands of people, didn't he? In fact, he did that two times. There's this great feeding that he did. He could have done that and satisfied his physical need. In fact, he could have stayed in the wilderness for 40 days and because he was God, not hungered at all. The fact that he hungered shows that he submitted himself to his humanity. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been hungry. But he was hungry. And that's important for us. But Jesus doesn't succumb to that. So we have the making the stones into bread. Then we have, well, here, let me take you to the top of the pinnacle of the temple and throw yourself down because God's promised, the Father's promised that you won't be hurt. The angels will come and grab you beforehand. Well, Jesus could have just zipped up there by himself like Superman and floated down if he wanted to. He was God, right? That's right, he was God. Again, he submits to his humanity and resists the devil. And the third one is, you know, takes him to the top of this mountain and shows him, it's interesting, he uses the term, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and says, these could all be yours if you'll just worship me. I'm not sure how the devil does that, but he did. And Jesus reads this. It's pointed in that, you know, in the book of Hebrews, flip over there if you would. Hebrews, let's look at two passages in Hebrews. And look at chapter two, verse 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." All of that simply means he came as a man. He didn't come as an angel. He's not, I know we use this term, the God-man, but if he's the God-man, he's not God and he's not man. He's somewhere in the middle. He's all man and he's all God. You say, well that doesn't work. I don't know how that works. That's the mystery of godliness. But he couldn't be something that we're not in his humanity or he couldn't have been our substitute. He had to be fully human. So he had to be made like his brethren. and not only made like us and that he had a physical body and hungered and thirsted and you know all the normal things like that they got tired okay verse 18 for in that he himself hath what's the next word suffered he went through trials and difficulties being tempted Now, certainly that's a reference to his temptation in the wilderness, and maybe a reference to other temptations that came to him, because the devil didn't just give up, but certainly a reference to that which is mentioned in the Gospel. But because he's suffered being tempted, yet didn't succumb to the temptation, he's able to succor them that are tempted. He's able to come to my aid and help me when I'm in a difficult time, when I'm being tempted. Now, chapter four. Chapter four, verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. We were just talking about his identity. He is the son of God. Just that fact alone, that we have a living savior, Christianity is the only religion, if I could use it in that way, where the God we worship is the one who came and died for us. In all other religions, the worshippers have to do something to earn. They have to suffer, they have to climb the mountain on shards of glass, or they gotta cross a river, or they gotta do something, okay? They gotta spin prayer wheels, or count beads, or they have to do some kind of thing to earn their way. But in Christianity, we don't earn our way. And God knew we couldn't earn our way. He earned our way for us. But He could only do that as a man. So, we have a great high priest. Verse 15, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He's not ignorant about the struggles you have. whether it's the trials of life, but more importantly, what he's highlighting here, the feeling of our infirmities, Jesus Christ understands the weaknesses that we deal with. And not just the weaknesses within, but he understands then the temptations that come at us because of those weaknesses. but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. How are you tempted? We could probably have an unlimited list of ways in which we are tempted. Okay. Of specific temptation. And what may be a temptation for you is not a temptation for me. And what maybe is a temptation for me is not a temptation for you. Is there anybody in here that does not like Twinkies? You'd say, oh, yeah, my own wife. And I'm like, how could you not like Twinkies? They are an American institution. She even got me Twinkie socks for Christmas. It is nice, isn't it? Someday I'll have to wear those socks for church. Twinkie socks. Twinkies are survival food. Really, you could put them in the glove box of your truck and eat them a year later. And they're still okay. Now you might say, that doesn't sound okay. I don't know if the Twinkie can survive. A fire starter, look at that, it's a multi-use tool. But he understands. Now, so how could it be in all points? Because maybe you're thinking, Pastor, you don't know what I'm tempted to do or think or say. And I can't imagine Jesus being tempted in that thing. And I understand that, how does that work? Well, I point you to 1 John, in chapter two, and John helps us. Starting in verse 15, there's a passage that's well known, okay? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, here we go, the lust of the flesh turned these stones into bread. The flesh of Christ was hungry. And there was a desire for food. That's all the word lust means, is desire. It's not necessarily an inappropriate or incorrect desire. It becomes inappropriate or incorrect when you desire more than you should, or you desire what's not qualified for you to have, et cetera. But it just means desire. Jesus had a desire for food. It says, and he hungered. And the angels came and satisfied that need. But he was tempted to satisfy that need in an incorrect way. Lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. What we see, our eyes see something and we desire that thing, whatever that may be. And if we give in to that, that draw of our eye, Jeremiah says, my eye has affected my heart. That's why we have to be careful with the kinds of things we allow to come through the eye gate. Every one of us, nobody here is exempt. If we spend too much time consuming things that are inappropriate, it's going to affect us inside. And we all perhaps could give a testimony, though we wouldn't want to give a testimony, on how that negatively affected us in some fashion. The devil says to Jesus, look at all these kingdoms and they'll be yours. He was tempted in the category of the lust of the eyes. And, and the pride of life. That actually I think is when he takes him to the top of the temple. Because Jesus could say, I'm not worried about nothing, because the Father will protect me. I wonder how many times somebody is, you know, they commit a crime or they're pulled over, they were speeding or whatever, and they just think they should get away with it. It just is, you know, or whatever. You're like, really? You think that's okay? But some people are like that. They're so arrogant. They think they can do whatever they want. To whoever they want to, whenever they want to. And Jesus was tempted in that regard. See, so your temptation, whatever that may be, you say, well, it isn't Twinkies. Okay, okay, maybe it's ding-dongs. Whatever, okay. You say, well that's not my problem. No, but you have temptations too. The sin which doth so easily beset us. Everybody has one of those. We're not excusing it, we're identifying it does exist. That's why I need the Lord to help me. And whatever that thing is, it falls in one of these categories. Either it's something desired because you're a human being and you have a desire in that category or it's something that you see and now you want it. That's in the Old Testament we might call that covetousness. I see and I want. or it might be the pride of life. Proud, arrogant, and that goes right into the category of discrimination and bias and all those kinds of fancy words that are popular today. But all of that's rooted in pride, that somehow I'm better than another person. Every temptation falls in one of those three categories. And Jesus was tempted in all three categories, but didn't succumb. his temptation. Which brings me, so it was private, it was pointed, but it was preparatory. Because he's been tempted, but victorious, he's prepared to help me in my temptation. And he's prepared to help you. Not just because he's God, But because he has an actual empathy. Because he's been through it himself. His temptation. So, back now to Mark. And immediately the spirit drives him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness 40 days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered unto him. What's the application? Well, there's an application in my identity, and your identity, if you claim to be the Lord's. And nothing new, 2 Timothy 2.19, let everyone that name it the name of Christ depart from iniquity. What is my identity? Joe, are the Lions still on track? JD, are the Lions on track? I have never been so much more a Lions fan than this year. You say, well, that's a fair weather fan. Well, I wasn't anybody's fan before that, so. I love sort of gigging Caden in school because he is a Packers fan. Yeah, thank you for telling me that as I will use that tomorrow Okay, he is he's like he's a cheesehead that's what he is, okay But when you're a fan of something when you identify as something that affects you Okay that affects you Well, I claim to be a Christian three times we find the term Christian in the New Testament twice in Acts, once in 1st Peter. In 1126, they were first called Christians in Antioch, which simply means they have the character of Christ. So if you say that you're a Christian, what you're saying is you have the character of Christ. I don't know about you, but I hesitate to say I have the character of Christ. It's easy for me to claim that I am a Christian as some kind of a title, but then when I analyze that a little closer, do I really have the character of Christ? Ooh, that could be a little more convicting. Later on, 2628, Agrippa says to Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." You have to choose Christ. You don't get born into being a Christian. It's not because of your citizenship, your genealogy. You have to make a personal decision, don't you? That's right. 1 Peter 4, 16, he talks about suffering as a Christian. There is a cost. Not to claim the name. All kinds of people claim to be Christians. And it just exasperates me. I mean, Glenn Beck claims to be a Christian. Glenn Beck's a Mormon. He's not a Christian. Sean Hannity claims to be a Christian. He's a Catholic. That doesn't mean Catholics can't be Christians. But the way he talks and what he says, you know, it's not like a Christian to me. Sylvester Stallone claims to be a Christian. Really? Rambo's a Christian? Okay. I'm not so sure about that. A whole bunch of other those Hollywood people, they all claim to be Christians. But you look at the kind of movies they make, you're like, I don't think Christians would be doing that. They wouldn't be doing that in their personal lives they wouldn't be illustrating that in fake lives that doesn't make it's easy to take the title and the name. But. In reality there is a cost. There is a cost when you say you're your Christ you belong to him you're his slave that's the Bible is pretty clear we are his servants. He owns us. And so there's things I can't do, not because I can't physically do them, but because I ought not to be doing them. There's things I ought not to be saying. And, you know, the things I do and the things I say, I can kind of exercise a little self-discipline. But there's things I ought not to be thinking. Oh, now that's a little harder. Because you don't know what's going on in my head. We can put up a good front. Or what I'm feeling, how my emotions, maybe I can keep my emotions kind of under wraps while my external sort of looks like it's supposed to. Is that how Jesus was? See, this is a big thing when I take his identity. Say, well, then I'm, man, I'm all washed up. I'm down the creek without a paddle or, you know, however you want to describe that. Where's the victory? Well, that's right in this event right here. Because Jesus, if you went, I mean, Hebrews 12, two, looking unto, okay, so we know we're supposed to look at Jesus, right? 1 Peter 2, 21, we're supposed to follow in his steps, right? Okay, wonderful. One's an illustration, the other one's an example, but that doesn't help me because I still have to live it. So what's the provision? Not just what is the picture, what is the provision? Well, when you read all the accounts of Jesus' journey into the wilderness, He's led by the Spirit, He's filled by the Spirit, He's driven by the Spirit. You know what it is you need, and what I need? The Spirit of God. That's what we need. And if you're saved, He's already given you that. If any man hath not the Spirit of God, he is not of His. We learned that in our Wednesday night studies on the Spirit, didn't we? So if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, you have God dwelling within you. Wow, that's pretty amazing. Colossians 2 9 said about Christ that in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Well, if it dwelt in him and he's dwelling in me, then it's dwelling in me too, isn't it? If A equals B and B equals C, A equals C, okay. So you have the power of God, all the fullness of the Godhead in you. I don't have to say yes to my temptation. Now that's not a guarantee that I won't say yes to my temptation, but I have available to me the power to say no. What else did Jesus have? He had the Word of God. Every time the devil said, Do this, do this, you know, whatever. What was it Jesus said every time? It is written, it is written, it is written. He quoted scripture. He could have just went, right? And just blew them into smithereens and just vaporized the devil. But he didn't do that. He didn't say, as the son of God, the second member of the Trinity, I command you to be banished. But he didn't do that, did he? He didn't exercise divine authority or divine power, except in the quoting of scripture. The quoting of scripture is divine power and divine authority. And we have it. You and I have everything Jesus had to resist the temptations that he went through in all three of the categories. It doesn't matter what you're tempted or how. It's either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. It's in one of those categories, or maybe, sadly, in some of our cases, all three of those categories. And I can be victorious in all three categories, because the Spirit of God dwells within me, and I have the Word of God. Which, at the very least, I ought to be reading it. At the very least, right? But what did David say? Thy word have I read on my shelf. No. That's right. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. See how important the memorization program is? It's not just the church sort of addendum. It's actually a spiritual discipline that I need. And that you need. We need to be hiding God's word in our heart. Jesus didn't tell the devil, wait up a minute, let me open the scroll up and find the place I need to read to you. He didn't say that, did he? He just quoted it. Boom. And that's what I need to be able to do. Oh, it'd be phenomenal if we could memorize the whole Bible and know exactly chapter and verse. That'd be pretty amazing. But if I can just put some in, if I could put some in. That gives ammunition to the Holy Spirit to bring to my mind the shield that I need when I'm attacked by the fiery darts. This is what God's Word says. This is what my name is. This is who I belong to. This is who my Savior is. And I don't have to say yes. I can say no. to the temptation. I might just need, and I don't even want to say it, but I might just need to have to go to the wilderness myself. His public ministry didn't start till after the wilderness. Preparation time. May the Lord help us. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love and grace, and I ask you might help us now as we bring this service to a close. We all understand we have struggles, we have strengths and weaknesses, and our great adversary knows both. and He'll attack us on all sides. And we desperately need to be looking to our Savior. We need to be dependent upon the indwelling Holy Spirit and the living Word of God to help us. Guide and direct, please, I pray.