Well, open your Bibles, if you would, this morning to Mark chapter 1, verse 9. Mark 1, 9. That's on page 836. in your Pew Bible if you're using one of those. Now if you weren't here last week, as Pastor Joni mentioned this morning, we started a new series. So there was a little bit of introduction given that maybe you want to go and grab. They have paper copies of the message on the guest table or in Guest Central. You can also download them off the internet. You can get a little bit of that. But let me just remind you that the Gospel of Mark is basically the Gospel of Peter. It is associated with Peter. It has been since the very early church. It comes to us through the scribal work and translation of John Mark. Like you would expect from a book associated with Peter, it tends to be brief, blunt, and action-packed. Last week we read about John the Baptist and how people are prepared to meet Jesus. And now, this week, we do that very thing. This week, Mark introduces us to Jesus. And this is what he says. Hear now the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 9. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open. and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. and he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by satan and he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him this is the word of the lord thanks be to god i think i mentioned last week that a gospel is not a biography per se uh... we tend to think that they are and that actually causes us sometimes to be confused about what we read in the actual gospels But gospels are not a biography. I read a quote to you last week in the introduction section, which might be useful for you to see again. It's from the early church. It's from Papias in the year AD 130. He says this, Mark, John Mark, became Peter's interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not indeed in order, of the things said or done by the Lord, not indeed in order. Now, I simply point that out to show you that the main point of a gospel, the main focus, the main desire of a gospel is not the same as the main point of a biography. I love to read biographies. In fact, so much so that a couple of years ago I had to start keeping track of the books that i read in a given year so that i wouldn't over read biography because left to myself i will read too much of it but i i love biography now a biography will will by and large walk you through the events of a person's life more or less in order so as to do some analysis and reflection at the end but that's not what happens in a gospel think of all the biographical details that are skipped in, for example, the Gospel of Mark. We don't hear anything about Jesus' childhood. Wouldn't you want to know about that? I just finished Tolkien's biography. So get ready for some Tolkien quotes over the next couple of weeks. But I just finished Tolkien's biography. And you can't understand Tolkien. You can't understand Lord of the Rings unless you understand a couple things. Number one, Tolkien's father died when he was very young, just a baby. And number two, Tolkien fought in World War I as a teenager. i mean does not does not all the sudden help you get the lord of the rings for example doesn't help you understand why friendship and the fellowship of close associates is so important to token such an important thing the lord of the rings doesn't also help you understand the darkness in the brutality of mordor to the east sure it does right so biography is interesting to us we like that kind of stuff mark skips all of that why because mark's not a biographer He's an evangelist. And an evangelist has a slightly different desire. An evangelist isn't narrating events. An evangelist is soliciting faith. Mark's main concern is for you to understand who Jesus is and what Jesus has done to secure your salvation. And that's what Mark is concerned about. And that's what Mark is saying here in this introduction. Right? This is not where you would begin a biography. This is where Mark begins to talk about Jesus. He says, this is what you need to know. You need to know the identity. You need to know who Jesus is. You need to know the mission. You need to know what he has come to do for us. And that is what this introduction is all about. Mark says three things in particular. He says, first of all, that Jesus is the beloved Son of God. It's the first thing he wants you to know about Jesus. Look at the very first verse in the Gospel of Mark. We read it last week. Mark begins this Gospel by saying, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So he puts that right at the top. No ambiguity. Now, there's lots of confusion in Mark's gospel, right? As he narrates stories, you got the disciples thinking Jesus might be this, and then might be that, and lots of people confused. The demons seem to know who Jesus is right away. But there's lots of confusion in Mark's gospel, but there's no confusion in Mark. Right? You may have people who don't know who Jesus is, but Mark knows who Jesus is, and he tells you right off the top. Jesus is the Son of God. That's by far the most important thing Mark wants you to know about Jesus. It's how he begins his gospel, and it's also the climax of Mark's gospel. Mark's gospel is actually written, not like a biography, it's written like a well-written high school essay. Right? You remember in high school, your teachers would always tell you, put your thesis statement at the very beginning of the essay. then present lots of evidence that would support that thesis, and then at the end restate your thesis in the concluding paragraph as the climax of the essay. That is exactly how Mark's gospel is laid out. Mark stays right off the top. Here's my thesis. Jesus is the Son of God. Tons of evidence and stories and narratives to support that. And then that thesis is restated. Interestingly enough, given the original audience for Mark's gospel, which was people living in Rome, that thesis is restated at the end through the mouth of a Roman soldier. A Roman soldier looks at Jesus on the cross and says, truly, this man was the son of God. That's the climax of Mark's gospel. That's the most important thing he wants you to know. So Mark says it. The centurion says it. Then, of course, most importantly of all in this story, God himself says it. At Jesus' baptism, at the moment He comes up out of the water, a voice came from the heavens and said to Jesus, you are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased. So what in the world does it mean to call someone the Son of God? What do we mean by that? Now, that's actually very important for us to figure out and to state clearly, because actually, when you try and speak about Christianity to your Muslim friends and neighbors, this is where they get the most offended. I don't know whether you know this, but actually, Islamic theology developed in part as a reaction to a heretical version of Christianity. Scholars are quite certain that Muhammad had contact with some group of heretical Christians. Which, by the way, is a reminder that actually having good doctrine really matters. Sometimes you think it doesn't really matter, right? As long as we've got the gist of it, as long as we love Jesus, it doesn't really matter. Well, actually, it does matter. It does matter because the truth has a certain gravitas. The truth has the weight of God's spirit behind it to help convict people and convert people. But error doesn't have any of that. Error actually produces aggressive counter-reactions. And so Islam reacted in large part to an erroneous understanding of Christianity that had at its heart flaws with respect to how the trinity was articulated and how the incarnation was understood. Don't take my word for it. That is actually recorded in the Quran. In the Quran. Listen to what the Quran says from Surah... By the way, I think this might be the first time the Quran has been quoted in this church. It's not being quoted favorably, just so you know. But they say... Who's they? You. They say, or in this case, heretical Christians say, Allah, most gracious, has begotten a son. Indeed, ye have put forth a thing most monstrous. At it the skies are ready to burst, and the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin, that they should invoke a sun for Allah most gracious. For it is not worthy of the majesty of Allah most gracious that He should beget a sun." Now, of course, part of the problem is that Muhammad thought that when Christians said that God the Father beget a son, that what they meant was that God the Father had marital relations with the Virgin Mary and produced Jesus. By the way, that too is in the Quran. Surah 5, in blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Do you know that most Muslims, this actually isn't in the Quran, but most Muslims think that when Christians talk about Trinity, they mean God the Father, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus. By the way, another reminder that bad teaching has consequences. Don't you sometimes shake your head at what the Pope says about the Virgin Mary? You know, for this year, did you catch the Pope's New Year's wish for Christians in 2017? It was that we would all entrust the year to the blessed Virgin Mary. Is that helpful? Right? Bad teaching has consequences. Do you want to know something? I think a decent reading of the last 15 years of history, okay? A decent reading of history might come to the conclusion, if we were reading history from a Christian perspective, with a strong belief in the sovereignty of God, I think a decent reading of the last 15 years of history might interpret Islam as God's scourge against Christian heresy. Why were they so angry at Christians way back in the 7th century? Why were they killing Christians? Well, because they thought that you were saying that God the Father had sex with the Virgin Mary. Do you know another interesting thought? Do you know why ISIS hates America? And don't, I mean, you ask them. You know, don't ask the politicians in North America why ISIS hates America. Ask ISIS. They have websites explaining why they hate North America, but America in particular. Read those websites. Interesting stuff. You know what they think? See, they think that this is a Christian culture. They think America is a Christian culture. But guess what they know about America? Reruns of Friends, which they watch on Netflix. And so they say, if that's Christianity, right? And by the way, when they listen to Christian preaching, it doesn't sound a lot different than Friends. Because Christians say, you know, God wants you to be happy, He wants you to be rich, and He's not concerned about sin. That's the plot line of every Friends episode. And so, they watch that and they think, that's Christianity. You think, God just wants you to be rich, and He doesn't care about how you live. And you know what they come to the conclusion? Those people need to be wiped off the face of the earth. I think you can make a decent argument that ISIS is God's scourge against Christian heresy. That's not the point of the sermon. That's free, and you might not think it's worth anything. But the point is this. Don't for a second think that your Christology, that your Trinitarian theology doesn't matter. Boy, it really, really does. It really, really does. But is that what we're talking about? Is that what we mean? Is that what we mean when we talk about Jesus? Is that what we mean when we call Jesus the Son of God? Is that what Mark means? Well, Mohammed should have read the rest of the New Testament, because the New Testament is incredibly clear about what we mean. The apostles were very careful to explain that term. They understood. right? They understood how that term could be misunderstood. The whole book of Hebrews exists to explain the exalted nature of Jesus and the various titles and offices that are conferred upon him in the New Testament. Let me show you just a little bit about what Hebrews says about this title of son. Hebrews 1 says this. Listen to this. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. Okay. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, the Greek actually just says, in Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. Listen to some of this terminology. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son? Today I have begotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. So here, this is incredibly important. Here, the apostle says that son is the name that Jesus inherited. Right? It's a name. Now, to call the second Person of the Trinity, Son, is to communicate something about His identity and calling. Just imagine for a second. Let me help you get into this headspace. Imagine for a second if the second Person of the Trinity were called Don, D-A-W-N, or Rex, R-E-X, or the Avenger, or the Destroyer, right? Those names mean something we can immediately connect with, right? Rex means king. Don means start of a new age. We've all seen the Avenger movies, so we know what those are about. None of those are actually the name of Jesus, so don't be confused. Don't start a new heresy, right? But at least we know those names and we know what they mean. And so does the word Son, that name. So does the name Son mean something? Commenting on this passage in Hebrews, Philip Hughes says, The name which distinguishes Christ from the angels and elevates Him above them, in the comparison introduced by the fourth verse in Hebrews, is that of Son. For as our author goes on to show, the Son inherits the position of privilege and authority. Right? So in Hebrews 1, the Apostle explains that when we call Jesus Son of God, we are not saying anything about the manner of His conception. That's not how we're using that. What we're talking about there is the fact that he is of the Father, yet distinct from the Father, and that he has all of the authority of the Father, and that he has inherited all that belongs to the Father. That's what we mean by giving the second person of the Trinity that title. It certainly doesn't mean that we believe that the second person of the trinity had a beginning no john one one says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god now couple things to know about that john calls the second person of the trinity the word now i don't know if you know this but actually in our statement of faith as a church When we have our section on the Trinity, we refer to the second person as the Trinity as either the Son, and it'll say, or the Word. It is appropriate to say, to describe the Trinity as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is equally appropriate to refer to the Trinity as God the Father, God the Word, and God the Holy Spirit. That's right in our statement of faith. Now, to call Jesus the Word is also obviously a symbolic title. But look at John 1 there. It says that the Word was with God and the Word was God. It's the exact same emphasis as in Hebrews 1. So to call Jesus the Word and to say that He was with God and was God is to say that He is the same as God and yet distinct from the Father. So let's put all that together. To call Jesus the Son of God, as Mark does and as God Himself does in this passage that we're looking at in Mark 1, is to say four things, okay? Let me walk you through them. It is to say, first of all, that Jesus is of the Father. He is of the same substance as the father, like how I am of the same substance as my father, right? That's the metaphor. Don't press that too far, but it's a metaphor, right? I am of my father. Every once in a while I'll do something and I'll blame it on my Jim Jean, right? Because my wife will say, Oh, you're so like your father when you do that. Or because I laugh. If you know my dad, you know I laugh exactly like my dad. And I have the same inflections and tones of, well, I'm clearly of my father. I am dominated by the Jim Jean. Right? So if there's anything you find particularly annoying about me, take it right to the source. Right? He's in the fourth row from the back on the right. Don't come to me with your problems, right? Take it right to the horse's mouth, as they say. So, you know what I'm saying? It's clear that I am of. Jesus is of the same substance. Look at Hebrews 1. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. The Greek word there means substance or essence. It's a way of indicating sameness. but also distinctness. That's the second thing I want you to see. To call Jesus the Son of God means to indicate a distinction from the Father. Right? Jesus is of the Father, but to call Him Son is to make a rather obvious distinction. I am like my Father and of my Father, but I am not my Father. John says the same thing when he says that the Word was with God and the Word was God. God and with God. Same, equal, yet distinct. Thirdly, to call Jesus the Son of God is to say that Jesus does the Father's will. That's what a son did in those days. Sons were required to obey the Father. Not so much anymore, right? Not that it should be that way, but I don't think that's the first thing that comes to our mind anymore, is it? But it used to be. In those days, the son had to obey the Father. And a son almost always followed in the Father's footsteps in terms of work. Right? So if dad was a baker, then you were a baker. If dad was a farmer, then you were a farmer. Right? In the New Testament, Joseph is called a carpenter, but Jesus is also called a carpenter. Right? Human beings in those days, sons, followed their dads, followed in the Father's work. And Jesus says many times in His flesh that He has come to do His Father's will. In John 12, for example, He says, For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment what to say and what to speak. Isn't that amazing? Did you know that? Jesus didn't just say whatever came to His mind. Jesus didn't come and ride all his hobby horses. Jesus says that I limited myself to things the Father told me to say. By the way, doesn't that once and for all obliterate the distinction between the red and black letters? What does a red letter even mean? Jesus says all the red letters are black letters. He will not allow you to make a distinction between things that He says and things the Father says. He says, everything I said is just more of what the Father has to say. Jesus also only did what it was the Father's will to do. In Mark 14, Jesus prays and says, Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me. Yet, not what I will, but what You will. So to call Jesus the Son of God is to draw attention to the fact that He obeys the Father perfectly in all things and perfectly. Fourthly, it is to say that Jesus inherits the Father's property. Hebrews 1 makes that point as well. The apostle says, Jesus is the heir of all things. So that's what it means to say that Jesus is the Son of God. It is to say that He is God. And yet he is distinct from God. It is to speak in Trinitarian terms. It is to say that Jesus is perfectly obedient, and it is to draw attention to the fact that Jesus inherits the world. Now, here's another clue that these titles, these names, are intended to be metaphorical and that we mustn't push them too far. When you push metaphors too far, you create heresies. To say that Jesus inherits the Father's property is not to suggest that at some point the Father will die. Right? Because that's what it means. That's technically what it means, if you push it all the way. When does the Son inherit the Father's property? When the Father dies. We're not saying that. In fact, in a twist of irony, Jesus is named the inheritor of all the Father's things when the Son dies. That's a little twist of irony, right? We can't press these metaphors too far. So just make sure you've got a bit of a handle on that when next you speak to a Muslim and refer to Jesus as the Son of God. Just make sure you have a handle on that as we work our way through Mark's Gospel because that is the main point that he is trying to prove. But it's not the only thing he says about Jesus in this passage. He says two more things. He says, second of all, that Jesus is uniquely filled with the Holy Spirit. Look again at Jesus' baptism there. Mark says, and when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. There are at least two indicators in that verse that this is an unusual event. The first one is the use of a Greek word translated in the ESV there, has torn open. That word is incredibly important in the Greek Old Testament. It's the same word that's used when Moses split the Red Sea. It's the same word that's used when Moses splits the rock and gives water to God's people in the desert. And then it's the same word Mark comes back to in his climax statement in Mark's gospel at the very moment Jesus dies on the cross. Mark says, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. It's an important word. It's a gospel word. That's a word that indicates that the barrier between heaven and earth is being ripped open so that the power of God can come down to save his people. Very important. The other indicator we find in the text that lets us know something very important is happening here comes to us in this particular phrase that Mark uses to describe the Spirit's descent. Listen to that again, Mark 1 10. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Descending on him like a dove. That's an odd expression. Doesn't translate easily into English. James Edward, for example, suggests that the Greek intensifies the union of Jesus and the Spirit. The Spirit was descending into him, indicating Jesus' complete filling and equipping for ministry by the Spirit. Now, however, we should translate that point is it's certainly different than what we see in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, in many, many, many places, the Holy Spirit falls on a person for a particular task or season, right? So, for example, we think of King Saul. King Saul before he went crazy in his younger days, right? King Saul was, you know, a mighty man. He was a good king who defeated God's enemies, fought for God's people, was filled with zeal. One time, a Jewish town had been defeated by their enemies, and that enemy was going to mutilate and humiliate all the men of the city. He was going to gouge out their eyes. The news of the disaster got back to young King Saul. And the Bible says, And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. And then filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, Saul went out, did battle with the enemies of God's people, defeated them, and set God's people free. In another story, the Spirit came upon Saul to make him prophesy in 1 Samuel 10. The Spirit of God rushed upon him. See that again? And he prophesied among them. So the Spirit of God in the Old Testament would fall upon people to help them do things related to revelation and redemption. But what we read in the New Testament about Jesus doesn't sound like that. Sounds different. Sounds unique. Sounds significant. John the Baptist certainly understood that it was different, unique, and significant. In the Gospel of John, he's recorded as saying, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. It didn't rush on Him, pop away to do other work. It remained on Him. And I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He said, watch for this, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain. This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. That's different. Right? The Holy Spirit didn't rush on Jesus for a specific task or season. It descended upon Him. It descended into Him, like a dove, and it remained on Him. This was new. This was bigger. And this would change the world. Third thing that Mark says about Jesus in this introduction is that Jesus is our substitute and representative. This is one of those things where once you know to look for it, you will see it everywhere. Everywhere. Now you probably noticed that in the first point there, I said that Jesus is the beloved son of God, and I put beloved in brackets, and I didn't say anything about that. Let me say something about that now. God used that phrase with that particular adjective at Jesus' baptism, right? Mark 111, he said, you are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. Now what does that remind you of? So one of the tricks we have, one of the reasons I said to Pastor Jody, we gotta do our homework, right? It would be easy to just preach on the Gospels. We could do the Gospel of Matthew, and then as soon as we finish it, do the Gospel of Mark, and then as soon as we finish that, do Gospel of Luke, then Gospel of John, then we'll go back and do Gospel of Matthew again, right? Everybody be happy! But can I promise you, you would be confused, and you would be robbed of benefit. Because the New Testament assumes a knowledge of the Old Testament. It assumes that you've read those stories of redemption and salvation in the Old Testament, so that you can connect the dots. Now what redemptive story in the Old Testament does that sound like? Imagine you were saturated in the Bible, in the stories of the Old Testament. What comes to mind when you hear, my son, my beloved son? It's the story of Abraham and Isaac, isn't it? One of the most significant stories in the Jewish religion. They refer to it as the binding of Isaac. Festivals around that, like it's a big deal. Binding of Isaac. Remember at the start of that story, God says to Abraham, take your son, your only son, whom you love, your beloved, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains on which I shall tell you. Now actually, in Mark 1 11, in the NIV version, they preserve that word order so you don't miss the connection. Whom I love. They have God saying, you are my beloved son, whom I love, using the exact same word order. Remember that story? So Abraham went, now he didn't know, he didn't know why God was asking him to do this thing, but he went trusting that God would provide. And when Isaac, his beloved son, asked father Abraham why it was they were going to a mountain to make an offering, but they didn't have any lambs. Right, he's probably starting to get a little nervous. So we're gonna go up on the mountain and have a big offering, are we dad? I've got the wood, have I? And you've got that super sharp knife, have you? No sheep, though. That's concerning. Right? But like a good son, he obeyed dad. Went with him. Asked Abraham, though, what was going on. Listen to what Abraham said. By the way, this is the heart and substance of Old Testament faith. Here it is. God will provide. You understand that, right? Old Testament faith is exactly the same as New Testament faith. The only difference is, in the Old Testament, they looked forward to the Lamb. In the Old Testament, we look back. Or in the New Testament, we look back, I should say. But we're all looking to Jesus. It's exactly the same faith. God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they both of them went together. Abraham knew that God would provide the lamb. So he said that and the two went. When they got to the top of the mountain, you remember Abraham began to do what God had said to do. He bound Isaac. That's why the story is called in the Jewish religion, the binding of Isaac. And then just before Abraham could do what he did not want to do, God did what Abraham had hoped and prayed and believed that he would. God showed up and said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God. Seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Instead of his son. Instead of his son. It's the heart and center of Jewish religion. On that spot, they built the temple to remind them that they served a God who would send a lamb. Now, the point of the story, obviously, is not that God expects us to give up Our beloved sons. No, that's not the point. The point this story teaches us to believe in a God who will do that for us. That's why Jesus is called. The beloved Son of God and John the Baptist understood that very well, which is why when he introduced Jesus to his disciples, he said what behold the Lamb of God. who takes away the sin of the world. John saw Jesus and he said, this is that. He connected the dots, right? This is the lamb of God that God has provided for us. He is our substitute. We don't have to die for our sins because God has provided a lamb just like Father Abraham believed. So Jesus is the beloved son of God. He comes as our substitute. He also comes as our representative, right? He immediately begins to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. So understand this. This is the heart of the gospel right here. Jesus is our substitute in death. Jesus is our representative in life. You get both of these in the introduction, right? You get Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You also get Jesus as perfect man, man for us, doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. You can see that because as soon as Jesus is identified as the Son of God, uniquely filled with the Holy Spirit, what has He done? What happens to Him? It says the Spirit drives Him out into the desert. Isn't that interesting? That's not what you expect. If Jesus has been identified as the Son of God, if He's been filled with the Holy Spirit, we expect Him to march right to Jerusalem and sit down on the throne. and begin to reign. And by the way, isn't that why the crowds, when they started putting this together, they wanted to take and make Him king by force. I mean, if you are Jesus, if you are the Christ, if you are the Spirit-filled Son of God, then you should be king now. But Jesus had work to do. He had a battle to fight. He had our work to do. He had our battle to fight. And so immediately, He goes right to the beginning of the human story and he begins to redo it. Isn't that interesting? You know the beginning of the human story, right? We were in the garden. God tested our faith. By the way, just from the stories we've read this morning, you got something you can take home about God. God tests our faith. Doesn't he? Wasn't that the climax of the Abraham story? For now I know. By the way, go back and read that in Genesis 22, and you'll see how it begins. It said, for God desired to test Abraham. Why didn't God just leave Adam and Eve alone? Why did He create a serpent in the first place? Why did the Spirit drive Jesus into the desert? Because faith is in faith until it's tested, my friends. Love is in love until there are other options. So Jesus begins to redo our probation. That's what this is. So he goes into the desert. You remember right at the beginning, right? God told the devil this day would come. The devil had been warned. After the man and woman fell, do you remember God said to the devil, he said to our enemy, I will put enmity, that's constant warfare. I will put enmity between you, devil, and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God said to our enemy, a war is coming. You hate my people and they hate you. You will make war on them and you will many times appear to have defeated them. But I'm telling you right now, you will not win. A child will come, born of a woman, and he will defeat you at some cost to himself. But he will win. And so right after Jesus is revealed as God's beloved Son, where does He go? Mark says, the Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. Not to the cross, not to the throne. Work to do first, right? Our work. Battles to be fought first. Our battles. That's what the desert is all about. The desert is about Jesus going out to fight our enemies. The desert is round one. It is Jesus ringing the bell, slapping the devil in the face, and saying, I'm here. It's on. You're done. Adam and Eve couldn't do it. Right? Think of Adam and Eve. They lost their battle to the devil in the garden, surrounded by all the goodness of God. So what does Jesus do? He goes out into the desert. He fasts for 40 days. And he defeats the devil. on our behalf. Right? Adam and Eve couldn't do it. Israel couldn't do it. Israel had been in the wilderness on their honeymoon with God for 20 minutes before they were fantasizing about those meat pots back in Egypt. You remember that? They couldn't do it. So what does Jesus do? He begins to do for us what we never did for ourselves. On our behalf, Jesus defied and defeated the devil. He was tested and tried in every way, the Bible says, just as we were, finish that for me, yet without sin. That's the gospel right there. Again and again in Mark's gospel, we will see Jesus doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. As one commentator put it, and I love this line, Jesus is Israel reduced to one. Do you see that? That's the gospel right there. Jesus is God doing for God's people what they could never do for themselves. That's the gospel. And paying for what they have done in His body on the cross. That's the beginning. That's the very heart and substance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now, in the time we have left, I know we just have a few minutes, so I just want to give you a few words, just a few words of response. How should you respond to a message like that? That's good news, the Bible says, so what should you do with it? Give me four words. Repent, trust, worship, serve. That is the full trajectory of Christian response, right? When people asked Peter what they should do in response to this incredible message, Peter says in Acts 2, he says, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So Peter says, do you want in on this? I mean, this is incredible news. It's incredible news. But for it to be incredible for you, you gotta do something, right? You understand that it says there, Jesus is Israel reduced to one. Israel means the people of God. It doesn't say that Jesus, because Jesus went out and kicked the devil's butt and because Jesus did this, all people are good. It doesn't say that. And so these people understood. What do we do? How do we get in on this victory? How do we share the spoils? Do you see how Jesus is like David? Remember David came? Remember Jesus called Son of David all the time? What does that title mean? We'll get into that. But who is David, right? You know this if you've ever been to Sunday school. David was that young guy who went out, fought the enemy of God's people, Goliath, and won a great victory. And who got to share the spoils? All those who took the field. And so that's what Jesus does. He defeats our enemies. He plunders. the enemy's camp, and now that's all there for you. But how do you get in on that? How do you share in the spoils? Peter says you gotta repent. You gotta repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Let me ask a pretty obvious question. If you're here and you're an unbeliever, have you done that? And don't tell me about the pieces of that that you've done, because I don't see Peter offering options. I don't see an installment plan. Well, begin today by repenting. Twenty years from now, if it suits you, get baptized. Now, I see that together. Let go of whatever else you're trusting in. Let go of those other allegiances. Let go of all your self-righteous works. and cling to Jesus. Go all in. Identify with Jesus Christ. Put all your chips on the table and go all in with Jesus and He'll go all in with you. Die to yourself. Cling to Christ. Do that. Trust in His life and death. Your sins will be forgiven and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now to the believer, hearing this again, feeling refreshed in your salvation graces, Apostle Paul has a word for you. He says, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, right? Did you catch a fresh vision of God's mercy today? Okay, here's what you do. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God as your reasonable service of worship, your true and proper worship. Paul says, when you see that afresh, isn't that why you keep coming to church? Right? You don't ever have the Gospel nailed down, do you? Every time you come, don't you see something new? Every time we open God's Word together, don't you see something new about the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? What do you do when you see that? Paul says, you put your whole life on the altar. You serve Him. You worship him with all that you have and all that you are. This is your true and proper worship. That's how you respond to God's mercy. And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for what you have done in Christ to secure our salvation. Thank you for sending your son to do for us what we could never do for ourselves and to pay for what we have done in his body on the cross. Oh, God, when I look at Jesus Christ and I consider all that That he did. I am so glad that the substance of my faith is not repeating what Jesus did. It is receiving what Jesus did. And responding. To what Jesus did. By giving him all of who I am and all of what I have in response. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would move in our midst today. That if there are eyes that have been closed to these great truths that you would open them today. If there are ears that have been stopped to this gospel, that you would carve them open. Dig ears for us. If there are hearts that are hard, I pray you'd soften them. Help us to receive and believe the implanted and saving word. Fall fresh in our day. strengthen us to believe, to be saved, to worship, and to serve, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.