We will begin our scripture reading at verse 1 for some context here. Mark chapter 1. At the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached saying, after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Now we come to verse nine. 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. Amen. You may be seated. A few moments ago, Brother Duncan was praying that we would see the marvelous glories of God as Trinity, one being, one essence in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And in short, I think that is a marvelous goal for us to see here in this passage. Let me also say that this passage here is so rich. I don't expect to do it justice. I don't expect to say everything about these few verses that can be said. Perhaps if you've studied great historical literature like Shakespeare or Dante or some author like that, you get to see how there are some passages in their writings that are so rich. There are so many different things that are going on here. So many different strands that are being woven together. I think that this text here is like that and of course to a greater extent because this is the very word of God. I'm certain a whole series of sermons could be preached on a passage such as this one. Nevertheless, I think that there is a very important theme that is happening here, something that is tying both Jesus' baptism and his temptation together. I think that the main point, or I should say a main point, a focus here that we should look at is this. The Father is preparing the Son for ministry in His baptism and in His temptation. The Father here is preparing Jesus, is preparing the Son in His baptism and in His temptation. I think that the Gospels are rightly positioned as the center of the Bible and they should be rightly understood as central to Scripture as they concern the history of Jesus' earthly life and ministry. However, despite this monumental place that I believe that they have in scripture as the culmination of what the Old Testament has been leading to and what the rest of the New Testament is reflecting upon, it appears like the gospel's true value is often underappreciated and today's age. If you're looking for historical narratives, perhaps you might find the Old Testament to be more interesting, to be more exciting. You might find more action there. If you're looking for teaching of doctrine, you might find Paul to have a more detailed exposition. So unfortunately it is, at least in my own perspective, the Gospels which have lost a lot of their perceived value. I think if we truly look at the Gospels for what they are, We will treasure them just as the early church did, seeing these as the center of scripture, perhaps the most important part, what is recording the stories of Jesus' life and ministry. Mark is one of those gospels. Mark begins that way with verse 14. Jesus comes preaching the gospel and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. repent, and believe the gospel. Which leaves verses 1 through 13 here more or less as an introduction. And that's why I've read these verses together. Verses 1 through 8, we largely see John the Baptist who's preaching. And he is the one, of course, he is the herald. He is the one who is sent to introduce Jesus for his ministry. And then verses 9 to 13, as I just read, we have Jesus himself, and John introduces him. And so here, at these verses 9 to 13, we have at least what I perceive to be this critical juncture in this part of the gospel. And even as the herald must give way to his Lord, we're going to see that the introduction will give way to the main act. Today here, we are still focusing on this introduction and seeing how it does give way to the main act. And as I said, I believe this here is teaching us the Father is preparing the Son for His ministry in His baptism and in His temptation. So those are the two things, the two main ideas we're going to look at here. So let's look first of all at how the father prepares the son for ministry in his baptism. I believe that He does this through providing power. The Father prepares Jesus in His baptism by providing power. And I believe that there are two items here in the text through which the Father, or I should say, two items here that show us the Father's provision of power to Jesus. And I'm looking here at verses 9 to 11. The first item is water. The second item is the spirit. We can see that water is a symbol of this power in verse 9. And that the spirit is the substance of this power in verses 10 through 11. So, just to summarize what I just said, two items here. We have water, which is the symbol of power, and then we have the Holy Spirit, which is the substance of the power that Christ himself is actually receiving. Let's look again at verse 9, which says this, In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Now we say here that baptism's power is represented in the symbol of water. Now, why here do I say that? I believe this is because the baptism with water is representative of the baptism of the Holy Spirit here in Jesus' case. Why do I say that baptism with water represents Christ's baptism with the Holy Spirit? I'll give you five observations here if you're taking notes. The first of these is simply and most directly what is apparent in this text. You have Christ being baptized with water. You have Christ receiving of the Holy Spirit. And if I'm not mistaken, this connection, this putting these two things together is present in all four Gospels. And I don't think that we should miss that. Secondly, note that water in the Old Testament is a common image for the Holy Spirit. Let me give you a few examples. Ezekiel 36 is a fantastic example, which speaks of the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the passage does so in terms of water. says this Ezekiel 36 starting at verse 25. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. Then in verse 7 it explicitly says I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Be careful to obey my rules. At least in one place in the Old Testament there, we see that the work of the Spirit is being illustrated through the imagery of water. Another example I'll give comes from Isaiah chapter 44. Starting in verse three, we read this. For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing upon your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, I am the Lord's. Another will call the name of Jacob. And another will write on his hand, the Lord's, and name himself by the name of. Israel. So water is a common image in the Old Testament for the work of the Holy Spirit that is going to be prophesied, excuse me, the prophesied work of the Holy Spirit. We also see that more specifically in the Old Testament that physical washing is symbolic of spiritual cleansing. I'm not going to read these texts to you, but I will just give them. You can look at Numbers 8, verse 7, and Zechariah 13, verses 1 and 2, to see physical washing being a symbol of spiritual cleansing. Of course, cleansing with the Holy Spirit. And this is a theme I believe that the New Testament picks up on. I'm sure you're familiar with Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus' children. You might remember in John chapter 3 how there's a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, who comes to Jesus by night. One of the famous things that Jesus says to this man is this. unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God." So it looks like Jesus, as the great prophet, is simply continuing this Old Testament theme of water being illustrative of the Spirit's work. We also see this, I believe, in Hebrews 10, verse 22, which speaks of cleansing as if it represents, excuse me, uses the language of physical water cleansing to represent spiritual cleansing. And of course, in Titus chapter three, which is a very famous passage, we read this. that God has saved us, not by works that we have done in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. So there is plenty of material in Scripture, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, that demonstrates to us that washing with water is a symbol, it's a sign of the washing of the Holy Spirit. So that's a second reason here, a second thing to note as to why we can say that baptism's power here is represented in the symbol of the water. Thirdly, the book of Acts has water baptism paralleled to spirit baptism. For example, in Acts 1 verse 5, Jesus says to his disciples that John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Acts chapter 11 verse 16 says something very similar. So we have here something stated very explicitly. Water with baptism is a parallel to, excuse me, baptism with water is parallel to baptism with the Holy Spirit. We can also just note here, fourthly, that both water baptism and spirit baptism are an anointing. the doctrinal beliefs of every person here, but I will just assume most people here are Reformed, and as Reformed Presbyterians, we believe that baptism is to be done by anointing or by sprinkling, so if that is true, if that is your belief, I'll just state here, not try to prove, but at least just state and observe that both water baptism and spirit baptism are top-down. They are an anointing. Fifthly, let me note this, and this might be something that you haven't heard before. If you've heard the first four things, that's wonderful, but this fifth thing might be new. As priests would be anointed in the Old Testament, which by the way, anointing in the Old Testament I take to be a type, a symbol of baptism, a type of baptism itself. These priests would be anointed for their ministry at 30 years of age. Look, let me ask you this question. How old is Jesus at this time of his baptism? Don't we believe that Jesus is around 30 years old and that he continued his ministry for three years and he died at the age of 33? So we have Jesus here at 30 years of age who is being consecrated, I believe, as a priest. Now, who here is consecrating him as a priest, at least in the earthly sense? In the heavenly sense, his anointing by the Spirit is by his Father. In the earthly sense, it's John the Baptist. Now, is there any good reason for us to think why John the Baptist might be the one that God is using to anoint Jesus as a priest at 30 years of age? When you think of John the Baptist, do you think of priestly ministry, of these fancy garments and these things he has to wear? Of course not. Do you think of him as a ragtag preacher out in the wilderness? But think a little bit more deeply about John's origin. What does Luke tell us about the way that John was born? John's father himself was a priest, not only a Levite, but he was a priest. And he was performing his priestly duties at the time that John's birth was announced. So it seems to me that God has orchestrated all of this. The fact that John comes from a priestly heritage, that he is anointing Jesus at 30 years of age, at least partly to show that Jesus anointing here, Jesus baptism, is a consecration of him for his work, for his office, and for his work as a priest. So these here are just five things I want to set out for you why I believe that here that we see baptism's power being represented in water here as a symbol. And we could also note theologically here, just kind of taking here a step back, that baptism is, baptism represents a top-down act of God. God here is coming down to man and making a relationship with him. There is an identification of the individual here with God. Perhaps if you're familiar with the theology of the Baptists, you have heard this, that baptism is a public identification of the individual with God. I believe that's true. Where I would disagree, and where I would imagine most Presbyterian ministers would disagree, is to the way in which that happens. Which direction does the identification go? Is it the individual making a profession upward to God, claiming God as his own? Or is baptism a symbol of God, looking down on the individual and saying and claiming him as his own. I believe here it is the latter. And I certainly don't mean this portion of the sermon to be an exhaustive proof of this doctrine. However, I do think that all of these things kind of come together in light of the doctrine of baptism being this top-down act. of God coming down to man. And even as the Holy Spirit here is descending upon Jesus, as he descended upon the apostles, which Jesus says was a baptism, the water which symbolizes the Holy Spirit must descend on the individual as well. Let's move on to our second item here, which is the Spirit. So we have water, which is the first item, symbolizes the substance. We have Jesus receives the Spirit, which is the substance. And we see this, I believe, in verses 10 through 11. I'll go ahead and I'll read them again. 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. I believe here that God shows us how this spirit power is received and he shows us why this spirit power is received. I want you to look at the way that heaven opens. Scripture here says that Jesus sees the heavens being torn open. Maybe you've watched one of these more modern superhero movies, if I can even be so bold to use an illustration such as that here in a sermon, in which there's a portal made between this world into another one through which individuals can pass through. What is happening here, this public image of heaven being torn open is something like that, but I still think it's far more dramatic. I don't think that we can really actually picture what was seen here. It's almost as if the curtain between heaven and earth is torn apart. Mark here actually is using a rather dramatic Greek word. It's not the typical word for open. It's actually the same word that's used later for the curtain of the temple which is being rent and torn asunder. It's this dramatic word. And so we have this dramatic, almost as it were, entry being prepared for God to descend, as we're going to see in a moment with the Holy Spirit. There's a little bit of precedent for this in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah 64 says something which is very similar to this. It says, oh that you would rent the heavens and come down. I want to note here, something that really dovetails with what I was saying about baptism. So some of the notes I was saying about baptism pertain to this imagery, this top-down imagery of God coming down to man. What we have here is a literal picture of that, with heavens being split open and then God coming down to man. It can't happen the other way, can it? Perhaps you've heard religion pictured this way, that you have God here up on a mountain, and people are taking their different paths, as it were, up to God, and that there are these different paths that anyone can take to get to this one destination. Now, that illustration is flawed for several reasons, one of which, of course, is the fact that there is only one way to God. It's the Christian way. It's the way of Christ. Another reason that illustration is flawed is because it assumes man actually can go up to God. And friends, that is absolutely wrong. God first must come down to us. We cannot assume ourselves to ascend to heaven unless Christ Jesus himself first descends to earth. And what we see here in this text is the Holy Spirit literally descending to earth. God the Father first sent Jesus from heaven to earth and now he sends his spirit from heaven to earth and he places him upon Jesus. How many of you here are familiar with the Nicene Creed? There is a certain phrase there that says that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. In this text here we see the Spirit proceeding from the Father. God the Father sending the Holy Spirit down upon His Son. And there's much language in the Old Testament that speaks of this. Just one text that comes to mind, and I think is very obvious here, is Isaiah 42, the first of the so-called Servant Songs, which introduce the suffering servant of Jehovah. How does it begin? Psalm 42 says this, I have put my spirit on him, talking about his beloved servant whom he upholds. Upon his chosen one he has put his spirit. And of course, as I mentioned, this is a picture of the gospel. Man cannot ascend to God unless God first condescends to man. Now, let's take a quick look here at the Trinity. As Mr. Duncan has prayed this morning, I hope all of us have, will come away marveling at the fact that we have one God, one essence, who is three in person. The Father is God of none, the Spirit, excuse me, the Son is God, begotten of the Father. and the Spirit is God who proceeds from the Father and the Son. God here is coming to man through sending the Son and sending the Spirit in order that the Spirit would bring us through the Son, our mediator, to the Father. Let me say that again. God the Father is coming to man. He is creating a relationship with man by sending the Son and then sending the Spirit so that through the Spirit we would be brought through the Son back to the Father. This is the way that it must work. These are the ways that the persons of the Trinity operate. Scripture repeatedly and throughout speaks of the Father as the originator, as the planner, the architect of salvation and what God, the Trinity, does. The Son as the one who accomplishes it and the Spirit as the one who perfects it and who brings it to pass. So the Father is the one who has orchestrated and has planned our redemption. Scripture says the Father has elected us. The Son is the one who has come to earth, who has lived a life of righteousness and died for our sins in order for that to be able to happen. then the Father and the Son has sent us the Spirit who gives us our new life from within so that through that new life the Spirit would bring us to the Son and the Son would bring us to the Father. Brothers and sisters, this is not a glorious doctrine. What we see here with Christ and the Spirit is what God does with us as well. God says that we are united with Christ when we have faith, when we are saved. The things that God is doing here with Christ, God does to all of us who are Christians, all of us who have been united to him. What does Peter say in the Sermon of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2? That Christ, now who is ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father, having received the gift of the Holy Spirit, has poured out that which you have received and heard. So Christ has been glorified and has received the Spirit And now He pours out that same Spirit on us as we are in Christ. We can simply meditate and can't we just erupt in praise as we think about how our salvation has been accomplished by the persons of the Triune God. How marvelous is it? to think that God has included us in his family, simply through faith, not by works of his own, uniting us to his son, Jesus Christ, so that we would have the marvelous and rich blessings of God. the Holy Spirit. There is so much that we could speak about. There's so much that we could learn if we were to go through Scripture, if we were to look for the Trinity, for God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost on every page. God has promised us the Spirit through the Son, and Him we have. God comes to man through sending the Son and the Spirit so that the Spirit would bring us through the Son back to the Father. We have seen in verses 10 through 11 so far the rending of the heavens and the great and marvelous descent of the Spirit like a dove. This is how Jesus Christ himself as God's Son is receiving his power in preparation for his earthly ministry. Now let's look at these same verses, verses 10 and 11, to see why this power is received. And I'm going to be looking specifically at the Father's declaration. I'm just going to say here forthrightly, I believe that the Father's declaration here is confirming what's happening here, that Christ's anointing with water and with spirit is a priestly anointing. It is certainly true, I believe, that different things are happening here in this text. I think, as I said before at the very beginning, there's a lot going on in the text of Jesus' baptism and many themes that are being woven together and probably many different ways you could preach this text and still be preaching an accurate and faithful sermon. Nonetheless, I think it's still true, and I think it's a central truth, that this anointing of Christ is a priestly one. One that consecrates Him as God's High Priest. And I'm going to show you this. What does the Father say? Let's look again. The Father says this, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Let's look at the first phrase, you are my beloved son. This is a phrase, of course, which declares the Father's love. It's a very simple one. It's one that any child here, any child who can understand plain English can see that God is loving Jesus. But there's also more to it. There, as I have mentioned with other portions of the text is some Old Testament language underlying this. There's a famous psalm, Psalm 2, in which God says this to the son, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. I think this is in mind. What's in context there in Psalm 2? This is a messianic psalm. We're talking about God's great king. We're talking about God's messiah. And by the way, the Hebrew word messiah is translated in Greek as Christ. And for us, it's anointed one. Talking about God's anointed messiah, his Christ, his king. And of course, this is here speaking about Jesus. So we have this idea of this great Messiah who is anointed. But I also think that there is language referred to of Abraham's sacrifice. Do you remember how that story begins in Genesis 22 when God calls Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? He uses very poignant image. God says to Abraham, take up your son, your only son, whom you love. It is as if, humanly speaking, God could not have made this demand any harder. He has his only son, the one that he loves, and he asks him, in fact he commands him now, to offer him as a sacrifice. And in doing so, he's explicitly reminding him that he is his only son and that he loves him. I think that the language here in Mark chapter one is very strikingly reminiscent of that. As a matter of fact, The Greek that's underlying our English text here identifies Jesus as God's only son. There is a definite article there. There's no way you could read that text and conjecture if God happened to have another son. No, this is the only son who is here and he is talked about as God's beloved son. So taking these things together we have this messiah and we have this son who is to be killed. So the very fact I think that we see here that the father says you are my beloved son is a precursor should tip us off to the fact that this beloved son is one who truly will be sacrificed. We also see the Father say these words, with you I am well pleased. So we see in the first statement a declaration of the Father's love, and in the second statement we see a declaration of the Father's pleasure. With you I am well pleased. I alluded to Isaiah 42 earlier, this servant Psalm. excuse me, the servant song. Again here, at the beginning of this song, it calls Jesus this servant in which God is pleased. And don't forget the context of Isaiah here. It's called the servant songs because Isaiah is going to develop this servant into one who, as we will see in Isaiah 53, is a suffering servant. And that's what Mark here is picking up on, I believe. Jesus here as this suffering servant. So putting these things together, as we look at the Father's declaration of love, the Father's declaration of pleasure when he says, you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. I believe that we see this son, who is also a servant, who is being anointed and consecrated here, of course, which is what it means to be a Messiah. This son and servant who's anointed here as God's Messiah, ultimately to be sacrificed. We have God the Father who is setting apart, who is consecrating God the Son with water and with spirit as his priest who will offer as a sacrifice, not an animal whose blood in the final scheme of things is meaningless, but he will offer up his own blood. He will be not only the priest. He will be the sacrifice. He is priest and sacrifice because he is performing the act of worship before God and he is also the object that is slain in order for this worship, for this priestly service to take place. I think that is marvelously plain in Scripture and abundantly obvious. If we look at what Mark is doing, if we look at what Mark is saying that we have God the Son who is receiving the power of the Holy Spirit in preparation for his ministry which is going to climax in his death. But not only does scripture teach that Jesus was prepared for his priestly ministry, that he was prepared in his baptism, our Presbyterian confessional standards echo this as well. Just let me here read a brief excerpt from the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter eight, paragraph three. It says this. The Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure to the end that he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator and a surety. So far, in this first main idea, that in Jesus' baptism, He is being prepared for ministry, we have seen Him receive the sign of power in water and the substance of power in the Holy Spirit. And we have seen that here, there is a public declaration of Jesus of Deity, the fact that He is the very God of very God, and a public declaration of His mission. Everything here that we are seeing in this scene is implying, is looking forward to the fact that He is going to give Himself to the Father through this very Spirit as a sacrifice. And this is a public demonstration. John is baptizing Christ out here in public and John was no obscure figure. John was famous at this time. Crowds had been going out to him. So the people who were there were accountable. Any scribes and any Pharisees, any person who witnessed Jesus' baptism was accountable either for believing in Him or for refusing to believe in Him. There would absolutely be no excuse for someone to witness the heavens being torn open to witness the person of the Spirit of God, which is never happened before as far as I can see in scripture, descending as a dove and resting upon Christ. And then to see the Father, hear this voice from heaven declaring that Jesus is his beloved Son. No one who witnesses that has any excuse ever. Of course, we as people never have any excuse at all, ever, in any situation for refusing to believe in Christ. But these people here had even less excuse. They had even greater accountability for their rejection of him. But what about us? That was a long time ago, wasn't it? And we don't see that today. Perhaps you might be thinking that. But friend, you do see that today. That which these ancient people saw with their eyes is now presented to you through the word of God. So if you are sitting here today and you have your Bible open, if you are hearing the preaching of the word and hearing God accurately conveying to you that these things happened, Jesus Christ was here. He truly is God. He truly came to bear our sins as our sacrifice. And if you reject him, that there is no excuse for you either. So as John the Baptist, All I can do is to preach repentance. You must repent for the kingdom of God is here. If you do not repent, then this one who has been anointed with the Holy Spirit will come again and he will come to bring salvation to those who are united to him and to bring condemnation upon those who have rejected him. All of human history will be divided in two. You will either be found to be in Christ or you will be found to be outside of him. If you have been united to Christ and have received his spirit, then you are a Christian. You are on his side. You are on God's winning team. This is a marvelous and beautiful truth. It should fill you with assurance as you see the fruits of the Spirit within your own life. If you do not see the fruits of the Spirit within your own life, but rather the works of the flesh, this should be a terrifying indication that you do not have the Spirit, that you are not united to Christ. that you have not repented, you haven't heeded the message that John was proclaiming and that Jesus would proclaim as well, that you must repent for the kingdom of God is here. I certainly cannot know the heart and soul condition of each person who is in this room. And so I certainly cannot assume that everyone here is a converted person. So if you are sitting here and are unconverted, this is God's message to you. You must repent of your sin. You must look to Christ, this gracious one who is loving and who gives his spirit to all who approach him in humility and faith. Cast your sin. behind you, accept the righteousness of Christ, for He alone is the only Savior, this which He can do, because He offered Himself as a loving sacrifice for your sin. And this we see in this text as Jesus is prepared for his ministry and his baptism. And now, hastening on, we have two more verses and there is not as much to cover here. I'm very conscious of our time. In verses 12 through 13, we see more briefly, the Father preparing Jesus in his temptation by the practice of that power. So, whereas in Jesus' baptism, we see the Father preparing Jesus by providing him with this power, this power of the Holy Spirit, We see this theme continuing and sort of brought to its logical end in Jesus' temptation, in which this power is now demonstrated. It's proven. It's put in practice. And Mark is recording for his readers in the first century, and for us today, that that which God provided the Son was powerful. It was efficacious. for the son's mission, what he needed to do. Both at this time in his temptation, which is going to prove to us and demonstrate to us ultimately for his great sacrifice of his own body. Just again, a couple of items here to note, one in verse 12 and one in verse 13. The first is that the power of the Spirit that the Father gives him sends him into the temptation. The verb here that Mark uses for sent is actually stronger than what he typically uses. This is a word that's often used in Mark for the casting out of demons. It's a rather not quite violent, but just this very intense word of being perhaps thrust out or being cast out. So perhaps terms like drive even, being drived or impelled out, aren't even strong enough. So that's being indicated here, this powerful force that Jesus is now possessed with, this third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And so what we're going to see is this contest, or this contrast and this contest between the spirits. We're going to see the Holy Spirit versus Satan, an evil spirit in the wilderness. That's going to lead us to verse 13. So verse 12, the power of the Spirit now sends Christ to the temptation. Verse 13, the power of the Spirit sustains Christ through the temptation. Mark does not tell us this explicitly, but we certainly know simply by continuing through reading through the rest of the book that Christ was victorious through this temptation. And of course the other gospel accounts tell us this as well, that the devil comes to Christ and he presents him with these temptations which any normal fleshly person would simply be tempted to take up and would be desirous to have. Christ does not do that. Christ is victorious over the devil. Let me also say here that even though Satan is here tempting the devil, this is not ultimately Satan's plan. It's God's plan. God is the one who has designed this temptation to take place. He has designed the Holy Spirit to drive Jesus out here into the wilderness. Dare I even say, and indeed I believe I certainly can say, that God has designed Satan to be here to be testing Jesus. And what God is doing is providing a proof, a test to us. that Christ and His authority, Christ and His ministry is legitimate and Christ's power through His Holy Spirit is one that will certainly overcome the devil. What does this mean for us? Well, as I said before, even as the Father gave the Holy Spirit to Christ, so as we are united to Christ, God the Father will give the Holy Spirit to us. And you, my friend, will also face temptations. I'm sure most of you have faced temptations already and have faced great temptations and have gone through great trials in your life. Scripture does not promise the Christian an easy life, one that's free of trials, and certainly one that's not free of temptation from sin. However, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10 that no temptation comes upon the Christian which is too hard for us. But God will give us the ability, He gives us the strength to overcome each temptation, each trial that is presented to the Christian. This is a marvelous truth. The very fact that we will have trials and temptations in our lives should not necessarily discourage us. It should remind us of God's fatherly care. God is doing this to grow us. Let me use an illustration from athletics. If you were to become stronger or to become faster, if you were to become in better shape, that's going to have to require you going through some amount of pain. It always happens. That pain is temporary and it's there simply for the purpose of making you stronger, of making you faster. That's sort of analogous, at least the way that I see it, to what God does to us with our trials. God gives them to us so that we can endure through them and become stronger, more Christ-like Christians than we were before. I've heard it said that there was an old Puritan writer who wrote that sometimes when you see a dying saint, And just imagine the trials that are going on in this person's mind and body. That what God is doing in this person, so to speak, is putting the finishing touches on them in their sanctification. As God is molding them and conforming them to the image of Christ. Just imagine this sculpture, image of Christ, and God is molding it to its most perfect state that it's going to be on this earth through the final trial. of death. It is through these trials that God intends us to endure through the Holy Spirit. And trials and temptations we certainly are going to face, but through the Holy Spirit we can prevail. And we can also look to Christ who has been through these temptations himself. As a matter of fact, this is exactly the point that Hebrews makes Let me read to you Hebrews 4 15 through 16. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. It is because Christ has been tempted and did not fail the test but has passed the test that we as sinners, though we often do and will fail our tests and our trials that are put before us, can look to Christ and come to Him as our aid through that. The fact that Christ was victorious and sinless through his temptation actually makes him more able to relate to us, not less. A preacher that I enjoy listening to has given this illustration. Again, looking back to athletics. If you were looking to be able to lift, to bench press perhaps a certain amount of weight, let's say it's 200 pounds, would you want to have your advice and help from someone who's in a similar state as you who has not been able to do that? Or would you want someone who has been where you are and who's gone through that and has done it successfully? Of course, you would want to learn from the person who has endured through that, who's done it well. That's the person that can help you. So sinner, friend, Christ is the one who can help you through your trials and temptations. Where you fail, he has not. And he has given you the same Holy Spirit that he has received. And through this Spirit, you yourself can endure through these temptations and trials. Even when you don't, He is merciful and loving to save and to forgive. So we have seen that through Christ's baptism and through His temptation, God the Father has prepared the Son for His ministry. God has furnished Him. He has provided Him with the Spirit, the Spirit of power. And God has demonstrated that this is a legitimate. This is a very powerful spirits, so to speak. One who is efficacious and who, through working with Christ, will bring about God's holy will. As said earlier, Jesus' baptism was a priestly baptism anointing him to serve as God's high priest. And of course, Christ's great act of service, his greatest act of service as his high priest, was to offer up himself. And so his baptism with water was in preparation for his priestly death, as was his baptism with the Holy Spirit, as Hebrews 9.13 says, that Christ, through the Spirit, offered himself up to God. Of all the works that Jesus would do in his ministry through the Spirit's power, was not his consecration and his death the greatest? And also his temptation, this too points to his death as Hebrews 2, 17 and 18 say that Jesus suffered while he was tempted in order to prepare him to make a propitiation for the sins of the people as a priest who is offering up himself as a sacrifice. So here in this text, I think that we see clearly now a preview of Calvary itself. Christ, being provided the Spirit, undergoes the pressures, the torments, and will undergo the cross. He will eventually, at the cross, not only be deprived of food and be tempted of the devil, but he'll be deprived in his humanity of the favor of God, and he'll be facing only his wrath. So this is a priestly work of Christ that the Father has prepared the Son to perform. This is what Mark is preparing us for right at the beginning of the gospel. He's a short gospel, so much is packed in his fewer words. But even here we see at the beginning of the road, what the destination is. So sinner, as John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And let me say as well, sinner, receive the Lamb of God that he may take away your sin. Amen. Heavenly Father, we praise you Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, this is the glorious Trinity. This is the God of the Bible, the God who has covenanted to be in relationship with us and to save us. Thank you, Father, for sending your Son, for sending your Spirit, so that the Spirit would bring us to the Son, would bring us to the Father, How glorious you are, triune God. Let us marvel in our salvation the fact that you have loved such worms, such sinners as us. Lord, there is so much that we can learn from your word. There are so many truths that we have seen just today in this time, through this message. In these simple five verses, so much to teach us. Lord, we pray that every single aspect, each detail, as we see the glories of the Trinity would not only stop in our heads, they would filter down into our hearts and cause us to erupt in praise and thanksgiving and in gratitude for what you have done for us, that we have a great high priest who is qualified who you love, whom you have said, this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased and who has offered himself up for our sins. Almighty Father, you are so great. Words cannot describe it. We pray that you would help us to remember these truths. May we meditate upon them. May they sink deeply into our hearts. cause us to live them out in our day-to-day lives. We pray this in the name of our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.