We are looking this morning at Mark chapter one, verses nine through 13. Listen to God’s word. 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. Let’s pray together.

Oh Lord, as your words read, give us reverence and holy attention. Teach us to hear the father’s testimony to the son and to trust you in every temptation and trial. And by your spirit, illuminate our minds and convict our hearts and strengthen our faith in Christ. Grant that we would not be hearers only. the doers of your word through Jesus, our Lord, we ask it. And God’s people say, amen.

Please be seated. The congregation, as we have said the past couple of Lord’s Day, says we’ve been going through the gospel of Mark. If you open this gospel, you notice it’s not like the other gospels. Mark doesn’t waste any time. There’s no Bethlehem, no shepherds, no wise men, no manger, no genealogy, no childhood stories, no long preface. He rushes us straight to the banks of the Jordan River.

Why? Why is it? Well, because Mark wants us to see at the very beginning, the two things that define the entire mission of Jesus. First, his identification with sinners, and second, his conflict with Satan. His identification with sinners and his conflict with Satan. Before he preaches a sermon, Jesus, and before he heals a single disease, before he calls a disciple to follow him, He steps into the water where sinners stand. And then he walks into the wilderness where sinners fall.

So at the Jordan, we will see the beloved son publicly anointed by the spirit and declared pleasing to the father. And then in the wilderness, we’ll see the obedient son driven by that same spirit into direct conflict with the devil. So these two scenes, his baptism and his temptation, together they reveal who he is of what he has come to do and how he accomplishes our redemption. And then they will show us what it means to follow him.

Because the path of sonship leads through water and wilderness, through assurance and triumph, through comfort and conflict, through the father’s voice and the enemy’s whisper. So Mark puts this passage at the head of his gospel so that we will understand this truth from the onset. The mission of Jesus begins with substitution and victory. He stands where we stand. He succeeds where we fail.

So we will consider this passage under three headings. First, the baptism of the beloved son. And second, we’ll see the temptation of the obedient son. And then third, the victory of the faithful son. So let’s look in verses nine through 11 here at the baptism of the beloved son.

God’s word says in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John of 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. Well, As we see, first off, as we mentioned that the Son identifies with sinners. He comes from Nazareth of Galilee, a place of obscurity and low reputation. Can anything good come out of Nazareth was the response of those hearing that Christ has come from there. Mark wants us to feel this contrast here. The one whom the prophets promised doesn’t step onto the stage of history with royal fanfare, as it were, but from a forgotten village. Heaven’s King arrives in humility. And he does something more surprising.

He submits to John’s baptism, a baptism meant for those confessing their sins. But Jesus has no sin to confess. So why then does he enter these waters? He enters them for us. Just as we confess when we confess the Nicene Creed, who for us and for our salvation came down and was made man. He did this for us. From the very onset of his ministry, Jesus stands where sinners stand. This is the beginning of his representative obedience, his willingness to obey in our place, to take up the role of a second Adam and the true Israel. The father’s gonna lay our sins upon him at the cross, but here he already steps into our story and he identifies himself with the guilty. Because as we will see, As we go through this, he is the new Adam entering the water as a new beginning for humanity. He’s the true Israel standing where Israel once passed through the Jordan as God’s son. Here is a suffering servant taking his place among the repentant people. He came to redeem.

If you don’t know Christ. Look, if Christ is going to stand in the center’s place, you must stand in his place by faith. You cannot remain outside him and hope to survive the judgment. For us as believers, we look to this. This is our assurance that Christ is identified with us. He’s identified with you, believer, before you ever identified with him. Your salvation rests not on your grip of him, but of his gracious grip on you. Now notice here, he comes, he presents himself before John and the other passages, other gospel accounts go into greater detail about the exchange between Jesus and John. But Mark wants us to see, here he is baptized by John in the Jordan.

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open. They’re being ripped open. The other gospel accounts say the heavens were open. Here, Mark emphasizes the violence of this word, the severity of this. They are ripped apart. It’s the same verb that will be used at the end of Mark’s gospel when the temple veil is torn from top to bottom. It is ripped in both moments. At Jesus’ baptism and at his death, God’s declaring the same truth.

We hear this declaration from the father, this is my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased. There, at the end of this gospel account, with the veil torn in two, the Roman centurion says, this truly was the Son of God. That declaration is not placed there by any willy-nilly chance. This is something here Mark is doing to impress this truth And just as the Roman centurion confessed Christ, it is the hope, I believe of Mark, because he’s writing primarily to an audience in Rome, that they too confess Jesus as the son of God, not Caesar. You would see on the coins that the Caesar was declared as a son of God. Only Jesus is the true son of God.

Well, God’s declaring this truth. In Jesus Christ, heaven has been opened to sinners. The separation that was brought about by Adam’s fall is being undone. In the tabernacle, The commands that were given to Moses and to Israel were that they were to be woven into the veil between at the entrance of the tabernacle to cherubim, these magnificent angels. And there was also a sword that would turn whichever way we read in Genesis. As God blocked Adam and Eve after expulsion from the garden from coming back in, Now we see that veil being torn in two and the way opened up again for us. What was closed by sin is being opened by the Son.

Are you doubting? Are you discouraged? Know this, your access to God doesn’t rise and fall with your performance this week. It rests on Christ. the one in whom heaven has been torn open.” Maybe you’re kind of so-so about the faith and, you know, rocking along, just whatever.

Look, don’t let this truth pass you by. Don’t take this access to God lightly. If heaven has been opened by Christ, then enter. Seek Him in prayer, in His Word, in repentance. in worship. Notice another detail here. We see the Spirit descending upon Christ. The Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.

And it rests upon Jesus, not because He lacks holiness, but because He’s being publicly anointed for His mediatorial work. The prophets, priests, and kings of Israel would be anointed with oil here and that that oil would symbolize the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but here is no symbol. Here it is the Holy Spirit himself who has come to be poured out upon Jesus. He is empowered as Israel’s promised king, the true prophet and consecrated as the eternal priest. And just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters at creation, we read in Genesis, now he descends as a sign of a new creation. Israel’s kings were anointed with oil. Jesus is anointed with the spirit himself. Isaiah foretold a servant on whom the spirit would rest. Here we see the fulfillment of that promise.

Are you trying to live the Christian life in your own strength? Jesus ministered in the power of the Spirit. How much more do you need the Spirit’s help? Don’t attempt a Spirit-given life with flesh-driven effort. Maybe you’re discouraged. You’re trying to live for the glory of God, and you’re discouraged by weakness. Look, the same Spirit who empowered Jesus now dwells in you. Lean on Him. out for his help.

Notice also another detail Mark gives us, a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. This voice combines the great strands of Old Testament expectation from Psalm 2 and You are my son, the royal Messiah, Isaiah 42, my chosen one in whom my soul delights as our suffering servant. And Jesus is both the sovereign king and the sin bearing servant. And the father’s pleasure rests upon him, not because of what he has yet done, but because of who he is and the obedience he will joyfully offer.

Do you feel insecure in your walk as a believer? Well, I hope you do. I hope we do feel that insecurity from time to time, because it should drive us to look at Christ, to find our hope in Him. And in union with Him, the Father says of you what He says of the Son. You are my beloved. Not because you’re worthy. because Christ is, and your life is bound up in Him.

Hear Him, what He says to you. The world may despise you. Your family shun you. Everybody at work considers you to be a kook. But listen, not to those voices, but to the voice from heaven that says, you are my beloved child, because you are joined to my Son.

And so as we speak, as we minister, as we serve, let the Father’s voice shape our voices to speak blessing, truth, encouragement, not accusation, not anger. Well, this baptism then reveals Christ’s identity, the beloved, the anointed, the approved, but identity in itself is not the whole story.

The spirit who descends in gentleness now drives him, impels him into the conflict as if we’re kind of dragging him, pushing him into the desert. So from the waters of blessing, he passes into the wilderness to do battle. Let’s think about this a minute here. The second movement of our text, this temptation of the obedient son, Look here in verse 12, the spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him. Now the spirit drives him, he impels him into the wilderness. That same spirit who descended as a dove now thrusts him into battle.

This should tell us something about the Christian life. You see, our assurance that we receive from the Lord is often followed by testing. Think about that. Think about those times where the Lord is giving you a sense of assurance and see, was there not a time of trial and temptation that soon came afterward? That often is a pattern we see in our lives. Divine pleasure does not prevent divine proving.

See, the wilderness is a place of Israel’s failures. Remember the children of Israel wandering about in the Sinai those 40 years, that entire generation until they died off except for two. Complaint, idolatry, unbelief. It’s also the place where God’s servants often meet him.

The wilderness is Moses at the burning bush, Elijah in the cave, David. fleeing Saul, is both a place of danger and encounter, both of testing and of training. Jesus doesn’t wander into the wilderness by misfortune. He is sent there on divine assignment as the true Israel, as the second Adam, and this is not Satan choosing his moment, this is God choosing the battlefield. or you’ve been following Christ for a short while, or perhaps a long while, we should not be surprised when spiritual conflict follows spiritual assurance, because if baptism is our entrance into Christ’s family, expect wilderness as a part of Christ’s school of discipleship. Maybe you’ve been wandering from the faith, maybe you find yourself here or there, Look, the issue may not be your circumstances.

But your heart. Israel failed not because the desert was dry, but because our hearts were unbelieving. Christ obeyed in harsher conditions because his heart was fixed on his father. Which path are you walking? Think on this. If Christ himself was not spared the wilderness, do you think Your sanctification will come through comfort alone. You will not be born to heaven on beds of flowery ease, to quote an old hymn. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will what? Will suffer persecution.

This is part of our lot. Why? Because we are in this world, but we are not of this world. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus. Think of it in a sense that we are like a splinter. You get a splinter in your hand. The body is going to work to expel that splinter one way or another. Now, we kind of help it along at times, but the body is going to reject it. Why? Because it’s a foreign body. Well, in that sense, the world rejects us because we belong to the new creation. The new heavens, the new earth, where righteousness dwells. That’s where we’re headed.

If we are in Him. but it’s gonna come with some struggle. It’s gonna come with some trial. But we consider our Lord Jesus who saw the cross, who saw the pain and the shame that is there, but look beyond it, who for the glory that was set before him, who for the joy that was set before him. And that’s the perspective that we’re to have, but we have to understand that we must go through at times as wilderness go through these times of battle, of struggle.

Now notice here, Jesus confronts Satan directly. Mark doesn’t go into the specific temptations itself. You’re gonna have to look to Matthew, to Luke, elsewhere in that. There’s no stones to bread, no pinnacle of the temple and so forth. His focus is stark and simple. Jesus is tempted by Satan. And this is a direct confrontation.

Genesis 3.15 spoke of the battle, the ongoing struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And here we see this head to head. Here begins the open war that will define Christ’s ministry. And Adam, and as he faced temptation in a lush garden and failed, Jesus faces temptation in a barren wasteland. and triumphs. As Israel faced 40 years and grumbled, Jesus faces testing for 40 days and obeys.

And his obedience is a representative obedience. He resists not for his own sake, but for ours. Your Savior knows what temptation is. He faces not occasional enticements. but sustained assault. He’s not ashamed, then, of your battle. He is compassionate. He comes alongside. He equips. He enables. He protects and defends.

But beware of self-confidence. Look, if the Son of God faced the enemy armed with the Spirit and the Word, what makes you think you can resist temptation with self-discipline alone? You must humble yourself and cling to Christ. He alone has that power and that grace. We must also not mistake spiritual habits for spiritual strength. Satan was not troubled by church attendance. He’s troubled only when Christ rules the heart. We have this detail in the other Gospels don’t add here with regards to temptation.

We see Jesus was with the wild animals. Well, we must not think of mutual of Omaha’s wild kingdom. You’re old enough to remember that, I would hope, or you younger folks of Steve Irwin and his tangling with this or that venomous animal and so forth. For the first century Jews, wild animals symbolized danger, curse, abandonment.

And because Mark is writing to a primarily Roman audience, it’s believed here. Is he putting this here in the Gospel and the account here that he’s facing wild beasts? Because some of these Roman Christians will be facing literal beasts in the arenas. And so this detail speaks directly to their fears.

Your Savior knows where you are, where you’re going. He knows real danger. He knows isolation. He knows vulnerability. But notice here, this last Adam, Christ, stands unafraid amidst the wild animals, the wild creatures. This is an echo of Isaiah 11, where harmony returns and the curse is undone. The king has entered the wilderness and begun to reverse the ruin of Eden.

Are you fearful? Do you feel alone? Christ’s presence in danger is your assurance in danger. You’re never alone in the wilderness. Have you undergone affliction, perhaps persecution for the sake of the name of Jesus? know that Jesus has gone before you into the harshest places. He doesn’t simply sympathize. He understands from personal experience. As the old spiritual says, nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows, say it, but Jesus. He alone knows.

Now, we also see and angels ministered to him. Angels were ministering to him. He was attended by the angel of the Lord. Just as angels attended, the angel of the Lord attended Israel in the wilderness, now Jesus receives the ministering of angels. He is truly man, pressed, weary, hungry, and yet he is truly king. And the angels are his servants coming to strengthen him.

Hebrews 1.4. It says that the angels are spiritual servants sent by God to serve those who will inherit salvation, fulfilling His purposes in the lives of believers. Well, here’s a pattern for us.

The Christian life is not triumph without suffering. It is suffering sustained by God. And even in the wilderness, God attends to His children. He will minister to us at times in his providence and his wisdom, even by means of angels, even those we’re not aware of unseen.

What a comfort that would be to be reminded of this if you were a Roman Christian and hearing of these things. God knows how to sustain his people. Not just in general. But in particular. Individually, he knows you and how best to sustain you in your life for his glory and for your good. And just as God ministered to his son, he will minister to you through his word, his spirit, his church, his providence, even by means of angels.

So the wilderness is not the end of the story. You finding yourself in the wilderness these days? No, that’s not the end of the story, because beyond testing lies triumph. Beyond battle lies victory, as you see Jesus. So in this baptism, we see who Jesus is, beloved, approved, anointed. In the temptation, we see what he does. He obeys, he resists, he triumphs. But Mark wants us to see one more vital truth here, that Jesus does all of this for his people, that his obedience is our righteousness, his victory is our hope, his strength is our enabling. So look at this final movement here, the victory of the faithful son. And these are implications drawing from what we have seen in verses nine through 13. In these five verses, We see the deepest currents of redemptive history, of salvation history. We see them flowing through here.

Jesus goes into the wilderness, not simply as an example for us, but as a champion before us. He stands, he obeys, he resists and triumphs as our representative, accomplishing what Adam failed to do and what Israel refused to do. And Mark wants us to see Jesus’ victory clearly because everything that follows in this gospel demands it. Notice first that Christ fulfills all righteousness for us. Although Mark isn’t giving any detail, much detail with regards to the temptation, the outcome is unmistakable. Jesus endured, Jesus obeyed, Jesus triumphed. Where Adam fell, Jesus stood. Where Israel grumbled, Jesus believed. Where we stumble daily, Christ remains steadfast.

And he does this not simply to show a better way to live, but to provide a better righteousness for sinners. His obedience to the wilderness is part of his active obedience, the righteousness God credits to all who trust in him. Jesus doesn’t merely resist temptation. He wins righteousness. And that righteousness is then given to his people by grace alone.

We dare not trust in our morality or our supposed consistency. Our righteousness is too thin to stand before God. We need the righteousness of the one who conquered, who took on the devil and won. We must look away from our failings and look to Christ’s obedience alone.

The father is pleased with his son. And you are in his son. If by faith you’re looking to him alone for salvation. Another thing, too, Mark wants us to understand is that Christ breaks the power of Satan for us. This wilderness time was not a private struggle. It’s the opening battle of the last days. We’ve been living in the last days since this moment, as it were, since the coming of Christ and His first coming. But particularly, we see this event here. We look to it. See, Jesus doesn’t endure temptation merely to show us He’s strong. He endures it to show the enemy is defeated. And that’s something to see. From this point on in Mark’s Gospel, the demons cry out in terror. because they know that their conqueror has arrived.

The binding of the strong man that Mark 3.27 talks about has already begun. The kingdom of darkness is trembling because the king has come. The victory in the wilderness anticipates the victory at the cross.

There Satan bruised Christ’s heel. Here Christ begins to crush Satan’s head. Christian, you are not fighting a defeated battle. Maybe you are struggling with sin, struggling to overcome this sin to to live, and yet it has been so frustrating for you. The decisive blow has already been struck. Christ has broken the power of the enemy and you fight from a place of victory and not for victory. Do you see the difference? You already have the victory in Christ to live for Him. Now let’s work out those details. You’re not working to achieve victory. Although there’s that sense of accomplishment in that, that sense of satisfaction. But know this, you’re already on the winning side. It’s already been written.

Maybe you’re fearful. in living your life. The dangers around the world and the devil are fearsome enemies, as is the flesh. And Satan is a roaring lion prowling about, seeking whom he may devour. But he is a chained lion whose teeth have been kicked in and whose claws have been ripped out of his paws.

Because Christ is overcoming. And we take refuge in conquering one by Lord Jesus himself. A third thing Mark wants us to see is that Christ enables us by his spirit to walk in obedience. So Jesus in this movement from baptism to battle and the power of the spirit, that same spirit who descended upon him now indwells every believer.

He doesn’t call you to fight alone. He equips you with the very power by which he overcame So the Christian life is impossible in our own strength, but it’s entirely possible in the strength of Christ by his spirit. I can do all things, and people kind of stop there. No, I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengtheneth me. The power is always in and from him for his own glory and our good.

He gives power to resist temptation. Courage to stand in trials. Endurance in suffering. Perseverance in obedience. Comfort in fear. Where your strength ends, that’s where His begins. So are you weary in your struggle? Know this, that the Spirit who upheld Jesus will uphold you. Cry out to Him for His help. We cannot walk in faithfulness without the spirit. We must ask daily for his grace. To my fellow elders, public ministry flows from spirit filled obedience. We cannot work in the flesh, but only the spirit can accomplish.

And another thing Mark would have us know is that Christ goes before us in every wilderness we face. His final details are tender reminders for suffering saints. Jesus is with the wild animals. He knows danger, loneliness, and fear. He was ministered to by angels. He knows the Father sustaining care. and so it is with all who belong to Him. See, Christ is never absent from the wilderness He leads us into.

He’s present in trials, present in temptations, present in sorrows, present in fears, present in afflictions. Wherever the Spirit drives you, Christ has been there first. So if you’re suffering, If you’re persecuted, know that you walk a path your Savior’s already walked, and He will not abandon you in the dark. It could be, too, that you’re entering new trials.

Well, the wilderness is not a sign of God’s displeasure, but often the stage for His deepest work. So as Mark began his gospel, not with crowds or miracles, but with the beloved son in the wilderness, because he wants us to know that from the outset, our salvation rests not in our strength, but in Christ’s obedience, Christ’s victory, and Christ’s sustaining grace. He stood in the water for us. He stood in the wilderness for us. And he stands with us now, beloved, victorious and faithful. So let us now trust him, to love him, and to follow him.

So Mark begins his gospel by showing us Jesus, not in a palace, not in a temple, not surrounded by a claim, but in the water with sinners and in the wilderness with Satan. And that’s the whole gospel in miniature. Let’s pray together. Lord Jesus, how we praise you that you stand where we stand, that you go where we fear to go, that you triumph where we always fail.

In your baptism, you identified with us. In your temptation, you fought for us. In your obedience, you supply what we lack. And in your victory, you secure our hope. And by your spirit, you now empower us to walk in faithfulness, even through our own wildernesses.

O Lord, help us to see the Father’s pleasure resting upon your Son, and in Him that it rests upon all who believe. That heaven is opened, the serpent is defeated, the Son is faithful, and all who are united to Him. The wilderness is no longer a place of despair, but the field in which God displays His sustaining grace. Let us behold him, trust him, follow him, our beloved, our champion, our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. And it is in his name, the name of our beloved savior and our triumphant king, we pray. And God’s people say, amen.