Hey man, and amen, you guys done so well. Together, you saved me five minutes. Awesome, amen. I'll encourage you to do your own research, go and look into the history of the councils of Nicene and Constantinople and how the Church had to come together and defend its precious truths. So I'll encourage you to download the Nicene Creed. You can do that from your phone. And just before I forget, SIA. SIA is, I think it's being, is in a conversational competition. An award. So I don't know if Dean, I've just seen it on the communications group. I'll encourage you just to vote for him. I think it's Turand, not 200 and SMS, I encourage you just while you're in the service, just vote for SIA, please. And let's just show him some love and support as well. So Dean and Sonoma, we'll just send that through to the communications group. So if you do get a WhatsApp message, now you're allowed to peep at your phone. Amen. And while we're doing that, can we turn to the Gospel of Mark? I've literally put my time for 30 minutes max. I'm hoping to end before that. And while we are voting and while we are turning to Mark, chapter 1, verses 12 to 13, we're just going to be two verses this morning. And we are on the subject of the temptation of Jesus. The temptation of Christ. When you take him in, amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time in your presence. Thank you for the two young men that gave us a peep and sneak preview into history this morning. Help us to appreciate the beautiful truth of who you are as a triune being, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Thank you that we can participate in the fellowship of the Spirit this morning who will communicate his word to our hearts and ask that our hearts will be fertile soil for the incorruptible seed of your word. We pray, Lord, that even as we hear your word, that Lord will help us to be doers of your word. Doers of your word and help us to see a reflection of who you are through the murder of your word. And ask, Lord, that we leave here contemplating on what you've spoken to us, minister to each one according to each need in Jesus' name and everybody says. Amen, amen. I'm reading from the ESV translation, English standard version, Jesus follows. The Spirit immediately drove Jesus, drove him out into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. That term, Satan is an anglicized Greek transliteration, literally means adversity, Satan is an adversity, he's an opponent, he comes against you. And so he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan and he was with the wild animals. Was it, is this real? And you know, this little clip that goes around, I don't know if you've seen it on TikTok, when he's standing, when he's standing. And the dogs or sharks are coming off the folk. Have you ever had an attack, when you had love? And it's so funny every time I see a clip like it, I just burst out tearing because I know what it's like to be chased by a wild dog. Growing up, man, I was actually, I was hospitalized for a week, hospitalized for a week, Alsatian police dog, actually, tore up my leg muscle, tore up my arm, so I got like 26 punches on my right leg. And so I know the risks associated with wild beasts. And so Jesus was amongst the wild beasts, wild animals in the wilderness for 40 days. And so this is no insignificant detail. And then Mark continues to tell us that the angels were ministering to him. That's Mark, chapter 1, verses 12 to 13. And what's interesting about Mark's account of the temptation of Christ is that it is distinct and different from Matthew's account and Luke's account. Matthew and Luke's accounts provide us with more detail. Mark's account is very brief, just two verses, only two verses. Mark doesn't provide us with any specific temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke do. They tell us about the three significant temptations that Jesus faced by Satan himself. And the reason why Mark does not go into detail about these three specific temptations Jesus faced is because he's really trying to underscore the truth that Jesus endured temptation that entire period. The entire period of 40 days he was being tempted by Satan and at his weakest moment he was encountered with those three specific temptations. And so what the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness do for us is that it actually provides us with the biblical contrast between the first Adam and the last Adam. And this is very important because we have the first Adam tempted in Eden in a luscious, perfect, fruitful, garden full of abundance and fruit. He was in a garden where there was comfort, convenience and here Jesus was being tempted in a wilderness, a dry, grueling condition, a barren forest, harsh environment and it is marked by his isolation. Adam faces temptation with a full stomach. Any perfect communion with God. Jesus faces temptation during 40 days of no eating. He is physically weak. 40 days. Adam disobeyed God bringing death upon an entire human race. Adam was a murderer. Don't look at that fruit picking in any light sense or context. He was a murderer. He murdered his posterity and all the generations to come. He gave into temptation in one moment in time. Yeah, Jesus is. He obeys the Father bringing redemption to the church after a grueling 40 days of constant temptation. Mark really draws us into this parallel and contrast because of his reference to Jesus being amongst the wild beasts. So as you will understand, the first Adam lived in harmony with nature. He named the animals and as a result of the fall, the earth was cursed and man and animal and the animal kingdom and the kingdom of nature fell out of harmony. And so here Jesus is in a wilderness for 40 days amongst the wild beasts and not one of them attacking. Showing that they themselves recognize the image of the Son of God. And that he was in perfect harmony with nature. And so Guzik tells us that these creatures saw in Christ the perfect image of God and therefore even referenced him as the Lord as they did with Adam before his fall. And so that is a significant piece of detail for us. And now we get into verse 12. But 12 tells us that the Spirit immediately, get your prayer now, highlight out and make a note of that term, the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. There is a reason why Mark uses this term immediately, it's usually to reference a change of sin. But Blight asserts that Mark's use of the term or adverb indicates a point of time immediately subsequent to a previous point in time. In other words, Mark is actually referencing and referring us also to what took place in the previous point of time which was the baptism of Jesus. The baptism of Jesus. And so we are not aware of the exact interval of time between the baptism of Jesus and the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness because Mark tells us that this happened immediately after the baptism. But it is clear according to Blight that Mark is closely tying the two sins together when he uses the term immediately. Mark further ties and joins these two sins together by showing us firstly that it is the same Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus and his baptism experience that now leads him into the wilderness. The same Spirit. The same Spirit that was poured out upon Jesus in his baptism experience now inwardly compels Jesus and leads him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. We see that the Spirit is poured out in his baptism in a very affirming way. It is a very high point in the experience of Jesus. The Father opens up the heavens. The heavens turn. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon Jesus in the form of a dove and the Spirit and the Father affirms his love for the Son and the Father affirms the sonship of Jesus. The eternal divine sonship of Jesus and says, "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He expresses his delight in the Son." And subsequent to that, the same Spirit, the same Spirit now leads him into a not so affirming situation, leads him into a wilderness. His highs and his lows, even in the life and ministry of Christ. And what we see here is the Holy Spirit pervade and saturate the entire life of Christ with the time moments or long moments. The Holy Spirit is worthy. And this is very important to note because the Holy Spirit first pays or mocks his presence on the life of Jesus in particular when it is time for his conception. Mark and Matthew chapter 1. I was wondering what I would be like to cope with this being there in my dangerous stuff. So at Matthew chapter 1 verse 20, Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit. The angel comes to me and says, "The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you and you shall conceive the child which is going to be called the Son of God." And the angel describes the overshadowing and conception of Jesus in a similar, comparative way that the Holy Spirit rooted upon the dark, primeval waters of creation in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. And so the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary and by the life giving power of the Holy Spirit, he would take the eternal Son of God and unite him with humanity in what is theologically known as the hypostatic union of Christ. And so in the incarnation of the Son of God, the Holy Spirit would apply human nature to the birth of Mary and to the incarnation. And it was a Russian theologian Boris Pabronsky who writes and says that there was an exceptional convergence between the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the incarnation of Christ. And he goes on further to describe the output spread as the spirit of incarnation, the one in whom and through whom the word of God breaks into history. So it was by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that the Son of God is able to break into the history of civilization. And so the Holy Spirit is first introduced in the life of Christ when he comes upon Mary. Now he makes another appearance on the life of Christ and his baptismal sin. And he is poured out upon Christ and anoints him for his messianic work and inaugurates his public ministry. And this is a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11 which says that they shall come forth a shoot from the stump of JC and the branch from his roots that shall bear fruit. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. This is speaking of Jesus, the spirit of wisdom and understanding and the spirit of counsel and might and the spirit of wisdom and understanding and the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And his delight will be in the fear of the Lord. Jesus speaking of his experience of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 3 tells us that he received the Spirit without measure. What did Jesus mean when he said he received the Spirit of God without measure? Means that when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon him, the Holy Spirit found no restrictions. The Holy Spirit found no limitations. The Holy Spirit could find full authority and expression on the life of Christ because he was the one who knew no sin and took total pleasure and delight in the Father. As every miracle you see, every demon that's expelled, every blind eye that's opened, every dead body raised from the grave is an expression of the power of the Holy Spirit who found no limitations or restrictions on the life of Christ. And so the ministry of Jesus now is marked by the authority and power of the Holy Spirit and was Calvin who said that the Spirit's decent upon Jesus is a public declaration of his divine sonship. The Holy Spirit pervaded and saturated every scene of the life of Jesus. From the time of his birth, his baptism, his wilderness experience, his earthly ministry to his teaching, his preaching, his healing, even to his resurrection, the Holy Spirit was the giver of life. And so Luke 4 tells us that even in the wilderness the Holy Spirit was worth him. So the Holy Spirit came upon him at his baptism but the Holy Spirit didn't leave him when he led him into the wilderness because Luke's gospel tells us that when Jesus came out of the wilderness into Galilee, he returned in the power and demonstration of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was always alongside of him. Reeves makes a very striking comment and point that may be difficult for some of us to comprehend here, maybe a shifting hour in our minds on how we perceive the Trinity and the work of the Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit was poured out on Christ, this was an expression of the Father's love for the eternal Son. As the Holy Spirit was poured out at Jesus at his baptism experience, that was the moment when the Father declared his love for the Son. So the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon Christ was an expression of the Father's love for Christ. The Father's declaration of love for his eternal Son was accompanied by the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit. So the Father expresses his love for the Son by pouring out his Spirit. And in response to the Father's love, the Son offers his life and his ministry to the Father through the work of the Spirit. He was nine tells us that the Christ through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to the Father. So here we have the Father expressing his love to the Son through the Holy Spirit. And here we have according to Hebrews 9 and the Gospels, the Son expressing his love and devotion to the Father through the Holy Spirit. And here's the point I want to make that the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son that has existed before all of creation. So the Holy Spirit actively communicates the love of the Father to the Son and reciprocates the love of the Son to the Father. The Father communicates his love to the Son by pouring out and by sending his Spirit and the Son communicates his love for the Father through the eternal Spirit. The Father and the Son further communicate their love for us by pouring out their Spirit, the Holy Spirit to us. How do we know this? Romans 5 and 5. God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. The Holy Spirit in return communicates his love for the Son by drawing everyone to the Son. John Owen states that the Spirit's presence is the means by which divine love between the Father and the Son is expressed and shared amongst everyone. The presence of the Holy Spirit communicates the love of Christ to us in every season. In times of testing and challenging times is the presence of the Holy Spirit that expresses the love of the Father and the love of the Son. And the Holy Spirit communicates now his love to us by dwelling amongst us, making us his temple, sanctifying us and shaping us even through trials and testing. The Holy Spirit also communicates his love to us through his love letter, the B.I.B.L.E. Holy Spirit expresses his love for us and that is patient with us. We want to talk about patience. We talk about the patience of the Holy Spirit because he should have vacated this home long time ago, but he's striving with you. He's patient with you. You keep on making the same mistakes, but he hasn't packed up and left. Some of you may have had a previous marriage. I don't know. You made one mistake, one boo-boo, and your wife said, "I'm done. I'm done, boy. I'm begging of the bags. I'm going." Just look at it wrong. Some of you may have had a relationship that came under strength, but can you imagine for a moment how we have grieved and frustrated the Holy Spirit and he has not left your life. Had he left your life, you would have known it. Trust me, you would have known how lonely and desolate it is for the Holy Spirit to not strive with you anymore, but he's patient. He's loving. He's enduring. He strives with us. So what further ties these two scenes between the baptism of Jesus and the wilderness of Jesus is not only the pervading presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ and between two scenes, but it is also the humility and obedience of Christ in both scenes. Because here we see Christ in his baptism, I identify with sinners. John was baptizing men for repentance. Jesus had no business being baptized. In fact, when John saw Jesus, he said, "I should be baptized by you." I'm not even worthy to do what a Gentile slave is required to do by entrapping your laces. You are greater than I am, and Jesus had suffered to be so to fulfill righteousness. And so he identifies with sinners in his baptism, and now he identifies with sinners in the attemptation. It submits himself to be tempted by Satan for 40 days. He identifies with humanity in his humility and his obedience to the Father, and his obedience and submission to the compelling of the Holy Spirit. And so the Father at the Jordan River affirmed and disclosed the sonship of Jesus, and in both scenes at his baptism and temptation, we see the link in Christ's humble subjection to human conditions. So the Father declares him the divine son who was willing to subject himself to human limitations and frailty. He humbled himself. But notice, the Father's expression of love to the Father was linked to a humble son, a son who was humble and obedient to obey his Father. And what stands out most about these two passages and the wilderness experience in particular is that Jesus is remarkably willing and determined to identify with us in our struggles and in our pain. He's willing to subject himself to be scrutinized and blasted by Satan for 40 days because he identifies with our struggle and he's determined to achieve redemption for us. So even in this moment, we see his love. We see his love for us. And we're given a kind of preview to the kind of determination he has to save us, that kind of determination that will then take him to the cross, where he will not only confront Satan again, but where he will now absorb the wrath of the Father for you. We're given a preview into this kind of determination, this kind of humility, this kind of love that Christ holds for us. You will find this kind of love in no one else. And so in order for Christ to redeem both you and I and to be our mediator and to be our high priest, he needs to not only be a perfect representation of God, which he knew. He needed to be a perfect representation for man. He needed to assume bodily form. He needed to assume human nature so that he could fully embrace the human experience, human frailty, and the human struggle. In his human nature, in his humanity, he would then offer to the Father perfect obedience, something we rejected to offer the Father. Something that he would offer the Father on our behalf, because he would be the new representative of the human race. He would be the new founder and leader of the new creation. The first Adam failed, but the new Adam would succeed. And he would offer the obedience to the Father that we rejected and refused, because of our sinful, fallen natures. He would share in our experience, and he would reflect what it truly means to be human. And I shared this, I think it was last week and a couple of weeks ago, Aaron's going to hear this for the second time. We had a men's group and I asked the question, what does it mean to be human? What does it truly mean to be human? We've associated humanity with weakness and frailty for so long that we come up with these saints, we say, "Ah!" to "Ah!" is human. Then whenever we stumble and fall, we say, "I'm only human." We even sing in some "I'm only human after all. I'm only human after all." Don't put a blame on me. We've been fallen creatures for so long in our sin that we identify humanity with weakness, but this is not how God fundamentally created us. If being human means being frail, then what do you do with Jesus, who was a true reflection of humanity? Where do you place Jesus in your category of humanness? If we want to understand what a fundamentally means to be human, we must go back to the beginning. Genesis 1, 26, and God created them in His image and in His likeness to be human means to be and reflect the image of God. That's what it means to be human. Jesus perfectly bore the image of God, perfectly reflected the revelation of who God is. In order for Him to be the perfect, high priest for us, He had to be one with us, identify with us. The author of Hebrews in chapter two states that Christ had to be made in every respect like His brethren so that He could become the merciful and faithful high priest in service to the Father. The author of Hebrews further states in chapter four, "For we now do not have a high priest who was unable to sympathize with us in our weakness." But He was one who in every respect was hinted as we were, yet without sin. Christ shared in our experience. Christ relates to us in our struggles and devastated that Jesus does not only now know about your struggles, He knows our struggles. And we have an eternal friend in heaven that we pray to now that knows our weaknesses and struggle by first hand experience. And that qualifies Him now to be our true and faithful high priest. That qualifies Him to be our mediator between God and man because He was fully God. He knew in eternity process always known what it is to be God. But now He knows what it means to be human. God knows your struggles personally. What does it do for your prayer life? God's not watching us from a distance. We serve a God who came near and assumed our weakness and limitations. So now when we pray to Him we have someone who feels what we feel, who knows exactly what it is to go through temptation and trials. And so we pray to a Savior who is not disconnected from your struggles. We are praying and serving a Savior that was an experienced temptation like you would never know. You would never know the kind of temptation you experience. Verse 12 the Spirit immediately drove Him into the wilderness. Now this is an interesting term, an interesting verb because Mark uses this verb drove 11 times, each time in relation to the expulsion of demons. And now it appears that Jesus has been forced out into the wilderness. But light, low, bow, and numerous other Greek scholars point out that in the context in which the term is used, it's used without the connotation of force and compulsion. But it means to simply lead out. In Nixon and France state, however, that this term brings to our attention not that Jesus had to be compelled and forced by the Holy Spirit, but this verb is used to highlight and accentuate the seriousness and gravity of the coming battle that He would face in the wilderness. Jesus was about to enter into a period of time and season of time in the wilderness where He would have hell throw everything at Him. He was about to face a level of temptation that is not common to any man. No man would be able to endure this kind of temptation. And He would face this all alone in isolation in the wilderness area for 40 days away from human interaction, away from human contact. And a man is never more prone to temptation when he's alone. Some of you just need to be left alone for a season and you'll be surprised at the kind of stuff you will get up to. Nothing worse in this life than to be left alone. In fact, when they want to really get down to punishing you, when they incarcerate you, just incarceration alone is a kind of punishment because you are being removed from civilization. But even in those confinements of prison, you are detained to what they call solitary confinements. You're left alone and most times you'll find people and men who are left alone, they start to lose their mind. Have you seen figures on the streets? After a while, they start hallucinating because a man in isolation slips into mental despair. And so for 40 days, Jesus is socially isolated and he is prone to feeling anxiety and depression. You are never more prone to anxiety and depression than when you are alone. Being alone and isolated can exacerbate the feelings of loneliness and abandonment and it can distort your judgments and your perception. That's why man, child of God hear me and that's why I encourage you to come to church. Try serving God alone. That will not end well. Everyone I know, that does not love to associate with other Christians, starts to develop their own ideologies about who God is, just thoughts and views. So watching YouTube videos of the YouTube videos become conspiracy theorists and they have nothing positive to say about the church. Nothing positive because they are now isolated from the church and they are now prone to feelings of negativity towards the church. How can you have God as your father and the church not as your mother? When you come into the kingdom, whether you like or not, you are part of a community of faith. We serve God in the community of, and brothers will tell me, hey, no, but you are the church. That is the most absurd thing I have. How can you be the church? The church is never used to in singular form to refer to anybody. It's like saying, I just like the steering wheel saying, I'm the car. You are part of a community. Our fellowship, a bigger body. They can come to you and say, hey brother, there's stuff you're teaching. Doesn't say that yet, but now when you're alone, nobody's there to correct you. Nobody's there to be brother. That's not how you, that's not how you pray. That's not what you believe about God. Jesus is God, Philippians chapter 2, John 1, nobody's there to correct you, I'm shopping, I'm. And we also come together to encourage one another, to build up one another in our faith. So Jesus is in a desolate place, he's lonely, he has no friends or disciples to encourage him. And Charles Spurgeon tells us that Jesus temptations were as severe as if he was surrounded by hell itself. His temptation would be so concentrated and severe that Satan himself, not anyone less in the ranks of hell, Satan himself would attend to the temptations. Satan has only made three appearances in Scripture. The first appearance changes to chapter 3. The second appearance is in Job chapter 1. His last appearance, notable, explicit appearance is at the temptation of Jesus. Satan only comes out of a serious business, comes out and he tempts Jesus and he delivers the blows himself because Satan understands who has strike potential. He understands who's a threat to his kingdom. And so at this moment when with the appearance of Satan, we are given a preview into the key players in the coming cosmic conflict where Christ would fulfill the proto-evangelium of the gospel in Genesis chapter 3 verse 16 where he would finally crush the head of the serpents. And in conclusion, I think this is like the shortest message of ever, please. In conclusion, both the both scenes at Jordan and at the wilderness allow us a peek behind the veil of the ordinary into the supernatural dimension that surrounds the mission of Jesus. At the Jordan, we had the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a devotee's a visible manifestation of a spiritual dimension and in that at the wilderness, we have Satan make a grand appearance and we are introduced to the supernatural dimension that accompanies the ministry of Jesus. And this serves as a reminder to each and every single one of us. Every single one of us, yesterday, this morning, this is your reminder. There's a supernatural dimension that surrounds your life, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Baving said that the supernatural is woven into the fabric of our daily lives. The spiritual world and natural material world always intersect. Some of the battles you're facing are not really against flesh and blood, its powers and rulers of darkness in every place. Some of the battles you are facing this morning is part of a spiritual battle. And we're trying to fight it with carnal weapons. The battle you are facing is really a spiritual battle. It requires your appearance to God. It requires your submission to the Holy Spirit. It requires wisdom from above because the wisdom of this world will not suffice. It requires that you wage this war with prayer and fasting. It requires that you wage this war with the prophecies that concern you. It requires that you wage this war spiritually. If you don't acknowledge the supernatural and spiritual dimension to to your life, then really you are coming with a toothpick toward gunfights. Some of the relationships that have come into your life were assigned by Satan. Whether you recognize or not, there were demonic assignments over your life. Some of the greatest blessings that God has brought over your life were the relationships that he's seen to you. For some of you might mean the church that he connected you with. But this serves as a notice that we need to be discerning. We talk about brother, don't be so heavenly-minded and have no earthly good. But imagine being so earthly-minded that you have no heavenly good. The battery of faith is spiritual. And what we see between the baptism of Jesus and the testing of Jesus is a sequence that follows every single time. The sequence that follows Job's life. The father affirms Job. Seriously Satan, have you considered myself a Job? I'm proud of this boy. Have you seen how he serves me? How he worships me? What follows that affirmation was the testing. The same sequence in the life of Jesus. This is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. What follows immediately after that is his temptation. You will have high moments in your work with God. And the very next sequence of events to follow is your testing. Satan will throw everything at you. You'll have tremendous times with God. Things will go well for your life. You'll get a promotion. Things will start to fall in place and you'll never feel so blessed and favored by God. Immediately after that, you will go to a period of testing. And that period of testing is really to show what your faith is made of. Because if in the day of testing your faith, that's what the problem is. Then your faith is weak. Most of us, we come from these high moments and the moment we tested, we drop tools, we lose faith. And God allowed that for a reason so that you can actually see for yourself how strong your faith really was. But it's also a beautiful truth in that. God first approves Jesus. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And then he proves Jesus. The world will first prove you first before they give you the approval. But because God, God in his foreknowledge knows what he called you to be. He'll come up to you and say, "This is what I call you to be." He expresses approval over your life first and then will come the proving. Often after immediate words from God that word is tested. That word will be tested. For some of you, God has spoken great things over your life. And there's been moments in your life where you've had a glimpse of what he plans to do with your life. And in those moments, you will be tested. You will be proven. And you will be tested and proven so that you have the fortitude. You have the carry to carry the promises of God and to fulfill your purpose here. Amen. Can we stand this morning?
