Amen. - Amen. - Let me just read Mark chapter one, and let's move. But swiftly, Mark chapter one, and we're reading the prologue of Mark when you're there, please give me an amen. - Amen. - Awesome. Jesus follows from verse one, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, "the Son of God, as it is written, "in a zire the prophet, behold, I will send my messenger "before your face, who will prepare your way. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "prepared the way of the Lord, make his part straight." Verse four, "John appeared baptizing in the wilderness "and proclaiming a baptism of repentance "for the forgiveness of sins. "And all the country of Judea and Jerusalem "were going out to him and were being baptized "by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. "Now John was clothed with camels here, "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. "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 the voice came from heaven, "saying you are my beloved son, "with whom I am well pleased. "Amen." God bless us, the reading of his word. And for a moment, let's talk about the author, let's talk about Mark. If Mark were from elders, he would have been called Marcus. Ironically, the Romans would have called him Marcus. Marcus. This is the same Marcus who accompanied his uncle Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey, which is recorded in Acts 12, that failed to complete the mission and caused a great split and contention between Paul and Barnabas. And obviously, Mark was Barnabas' nephew, so he sided with Mark and he said, "No, let's give this youngster a chance." But Paul was like, "No, no, no, no. "We are not serious business here. "There's no time for playing. "The last trip we were on, "he fled like a cut foul and I don't want him back." But Barnabas, his uncle, was like, "Let's give the young lady a chance." Paul looked at Marcus and said, "What can Marcus do for the church?" Barnabas looked at Marcus and said, "What can the church do for Marcus?" Different approaches, nobody wrong. But the relationship between Paul and Mark later picks up. As we see in 2nd Timothy, 4 verse 11, Paul writes to Timothy and he says, "Please, I have need of Mark to join me on my mission." Revealing to us that God can restore anyone who has failed back to ministry. Even those who have straddled in their commitment, he's a god of another chance. Nobody's really written off. And so Mark restores his relationship with Paul and becomes a dominant force in the proclamation of the gospel, and split up the gospel in Asia Minor. What's interesting to note about Mark is that his mother was more of a prominent figure in the church when he was young. In the early church, you'll see it recorded in Acts chapter 12 that Mark's mother used to hold church gatherings in her home. And so obviously Mark had an exposure to the gospel in his home at an early age. And this had a seismic ripple effect on the life of the body of Christ. How a mother's devotion can shape a disciple's life. And I'll let that sit with you for a moment. Lastly, we also come to discover when we read you the New Testament that Mark became a close travel companion of the Apostle Peter. Became a close associate to Peter, more like a spiritual son to Peter, as you'll see in Peter's Epistle in chapter five. And together they ministered the gospel throughout the region of Asia Minor and the Roman world. And it was Mark's relationship with the Apostle Peter that became the foundation for the gospel we read now. Mark would take the personal account and experiences of Peter and record them so that we could experience what Peter experienced. That kind of reminds me of a quote by John Maxwell who said, "Legacy is not what you leave behind, it's who you leave behind." And Peter paused that torch of faith on to Mark. Partly the reason why I'm kind of, I kind of don't like youth leading youth, you know? It's a common thing in how thing that I've observed, you know. Let the youth lead the youth. But the way we come from, my youth leader was in his 60s. The youth leader was in his 60s and for some reason, the youth loved this man and the youth grew and exploded at the seams from everywhere. You will remember Uncle Gary, I don't see Erica, you'll remember Uncle Colin de Fries. Because when you have senior leaders leading a younger generation, there's this intergenerational impact. There's this wisdom that's passed from old to young. And young people are really looking for father and mother figures. And so when we let the youth lead the youth, we don't get that same kind of impact. I'm not saying it should be a rule, but I'm just saying it's my preference, you know? That's why when we were putting together the youth, and I said, hey, come on, tell your parents. You're the right people for the job, you know? They were saying, ah, no, man, we're old now. (laughs) We're baking. I think that's what the kids need. Then we've got our other senior, Greenville, who's growing gray. Doing a great job with the youth because when the old lead, the young, there's a torch of faith that is passed down from one generation to the next. Amen. And so when we get into the content of Mark's gospel, we see that Mark portrays Jesus slightly different to every other gospel. Mark portrays Jesus, and he goes out of his way to portray Jesus as this authoritative, miracle-working, servant-king son of God. Mark's gospel is fast-paced, and he dedicates more of his gospel to the miracles of Jesus than any other gospel author. He gives very little attention to the dialogues and the discourses and teachings of Jesus because he's trying to convey a point and paint a specific portrait of who Jesus is. And so the portrait he's really painting for us is the determination and demonstration of Jesus being the son of God, the worker of the Trinity, the one who overcomes the forces of evil, the one who crushes the head of the serpents. That's the kind of picture he's trying to portray. And so you'll find there's 22 miracles recorded in Mark's gospel, 11 of them are healing, six of them are wondrous miracles, there's four exorcisms, and there's one record of Jesus raising someone from the dead. And so Mark, in his short gospel is bringing us to this portrait and picture of Jesus that he is a way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light that shines in the darkness. And Mark has this unique style of writing, unique literary style in the way he presents his gospel is very intentional, his fast-paced, his concise, his vivid, he gives like these vignettes, you know, shots of action scenes in his gospel, and he uses the term immediately, that term immediately which we stumbled across in his prologue, he uses it 42 times, 42 times. Secondly, he uses a literary device called an intercalation, which we discussed the last time we were in Mark last year, and you can refer to the device also as the sandwich effect, you can see some of you getting hungry right now, the sandwich effect. So what he does is he tells two stories simultaneously, but he does this by telling one story and inserting another story in the model of that story. And we see an example of that in Mark, in Mark chapter five, he tells a story of Jairus who comes to Jesus, whose daughter is ill on a deathbed, and he says he begs Jesus to come and heal his daughter. So Jesus, what his disciples make their way to heal, the daughter of Jairus, but on the way while that vertical is emotion, you have a woman with an issue of blood that interjects and interrupts the whole movement and touches the hem of his garment and she's healed. And by the time Jesus gets to Jairus's daughter, she's passed away, but he raises her from the dead. And so we find Mark using this technique six times in his gospel, his style of writing. So now when we look at Mark's prologue, verse one to 11 or to 13, it can actually be divided into three parts. So you have verse one that stands on its own, that's the first part. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The second part is between verses two to verses three, where Mark begins to introduce the forerunner, John the baptizer. And then we find him speaking of the baptism of Jesus between verses nine and 11 and some refer, or prefer to look at verses 12 to 13 as the additional parts of the prologue. But this morning we are only going to look and examine the first three parts, the first two parts that will be verse one. Then we're going to look at the baptism, we're going to look at the forerunner and the baptism of Jesus. And we'll leave the temptation of Jesus possibly for next week. So let's look at verse one. Let's look at verse one. And let's look at how Mark introduces his written account of the life and person of Jesus. Mark opens up his letter and his book by saying this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This introduction serves both as a title and it encapsulates the entire plot of the gospel. In other words, when you are done reading all 16 chapters of Mark, you must come to the conclusion that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Funny enough, Mark is the only author that distinguishes his written account of the life of Jesus as a gospel. The only one employs the Greek term eongalian, which is translated into the English term gospel. Osborne states that in the Greek Hellenistic world, this term eongalian was tied to the announcements of an emperor that was born or a victory that the king accomplished. And so when a Greek speaking individual in antiquity would hear the term eongalian or the gospel, they would understand it as there's an announcement that the emperor is born or we have received good news that the king has won the battle. And so the gospel was seen as an announcement of what has been accomplished for what new season the city is coming into. The term eongalian is also tied back to the Old Testament to the book and prophecies of Isaiah. But more specifically, not the Hebrew record of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testaments. And the first time this term eongalian occurs is in the book of Isaiah, who prophesies of a time when Israel will be freed from exile, from Babylon. Because they were in exile for 70 years in Babylon and the prophet got up to speak and he said, how beautiful upon the mountains of the feet of those who come to bring eongalian, the good news, who publish peace, who bring good news of happiness, who publish salvation, who say to Zion, your God reigns. This was to be an announcement of good news that Israel was now going to be free from exile. And so what, what typically happened, or distinctly happening, Israel chapter one, verses one to four, when Cyrus, King Cyrus of Persia, declared and issued a decree that Israel is now released from their Babylonian activity, exile, they are free to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and restore the boundaries of Israel. A herald was sent across the mountains to announce to all of Persia the good news that every Jew would hear this good news, that you are free. You are free to go, you are no longer in exile. And the prophet had foreseen this day and said, how beautiful upon the mountains of the feet that comes to bring this good announcement, the God has released us from captivity, he's restoring the nation of Israel. This announcement about God restoring his people and bringing his reign to the earth. And God freeing and liberating Israel from the exile of Babylon only serves as a metaphor of what Christ would accomplish. And how Christ would set us free from a greater exile. In exile of sin, hell and the grave. This is the good news. This is the announcement. This is the clear tidings that we published of what God has accomplished through his son to liberate us from the bondage of sin and the grave. And how did he accomplish this? He accomplished this through his life and dead on the cross. The gospel is good news because of what God has accomplished through Christ. The gospel is good news of what God has accomplished through Christ to redeem the world and sanctifies people. The gospel is good news because God intervened. There's something we have not crossed about the gospel for the longest time. And I'll ask you to listen very carefully, you know? Like Zuma would say, "Yes, you like." He said, "No, take carefully." And it's very easy for you to work out of service today with an incomplete understanding of what I'm trying to say. What I'm going to say this morning about the gospel is absolutely paramount to how we understand the gospel. And what you're going to hear about the gospel this morning really betrays that a lot of us, even sometimes leaders and preachers don't fully understand what the gospel is. The gospel does not tell us what God will do if we do our part. The gospel tells us about what God has already done. We have no part in that. We contribute nothing to the gospel. It was a divine accomplishment. It was an intervention of God. It is what God done in and through Christ to save the world. We had nothing to contribute to that except the son we brought to the table. God brought everything to the table. We brought absolutely nothing. It's kind of the picture we saw at the Red Sea Crossing. Moses and the children of Israel were caught between the Red Sea and an angry mob of Egyptian soldiers. No way to go. People are like you brought us out of Egypt to kill us. Yeah, in the wilderness, we got to die in luxury. We brought us out here in the wilderness. We've been on day's journey and we've been before Red Sea. We're going to drown if we try and swim. And it is a army coming to slaughter us. What are we going to do, Moses? You told us about this God who's going to liberate us. Moses has the immediate returns to God. I said, Lord, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? You know what the Lord says to Moses? Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. It's not your problem to fix it. It's my problem. Your salvation will be my work solely. Moses had no magic charm to open at Red Sea. But it was purely a work of God. And it's difficult for us to comprehend this about the gospel. Because we are religious folk. We have a lot of religious self-righteous notions. We like to sow fig leaves to cover our nakedness. God says that won't do. You cannot save yourself. The problem you created is too colossal and gigantic for you to fix. Only I can fix that. Not even an angel in heaven can fix the problem you created. I have to come on and save you for myself. And so salvation is purely an accomplishment by Christ. Hard for us to cross death. Hold on. It's going to get tough. It's going to get turbulent just as well. What's critical for us to understand is that the gospel fundamentally is not an offer or invitation to salvation. Can I say it again? The gospel is not an invitation for your salvation. The gospel is what Jesus did on the cross to procure and accomplish your salvation. John Owens stated, "Christ did not die to make mere salvation possible for all men, but to procure a certain, infallible and actual redemption of those who were given to him by the Father." Sproul further states that Christ did not come to make salvation possible. He came to save and that the cross was an actual accomplishment of redemption, not a mere provision that awaits a human response. This in no means implies that we do not call men to repentance on the contrary. It is only through the proclamation of the good news of what Christ has accomplished that men and women respond to the finished work of Christ. So effectively, repentance is not a precondition or cause for salvation. Repentance is a response to what Christ has already accomplished. Sproul puts it this way, he says. Repentance is commanded. It is not the cause of our salvation. Repentance is the effect of what Christ has accomplished on the cross, the effect of the gospel. The preacher calls men to repent because it is the proper response to the grace that has already been accomplished for us. And so we have to distinguish between what is the gospel and what is the gospel's effects. Because of the gospel, you repent. Because of the gospel, he convicts you of your sin. Because of the gospel, we come to him and ask him for the forgiveness of sins. If we see the cross simply as Jesus died on the cross and now he left the door open for anybody to come, anybody. It is a provision. If you come, if you don't come too bad, there is room at the cross. If we have that understanding of the gospel, then we undermine the work of Christ. Because when he died on the cross, there was a finality when he declared it as finished. There was a ransom paid for your soul. It was an accomplishment, not a provision. And because it's an accomplishment, it doesn't need our cooperation to complete salvation. When we look at the gospel as a door open and invitation to accept him, friends, you don't accept the king. The king accepts you. You are accepted in the beloved. What power lies in you for you to say, I'll choose him, I don't choose him. You don't have that power. When you get really deep into Ephesians 1, you see that he chose you before the foundations of the earth. What choices do you really have? Talk about free world. Let's open a Pandora's box for you. When we talk about the gospel being an invitation for you, then we shift the focus from what Christ has done to what we need to do to activate our salvation. On the cross, Jesus declared it is finished. And for us to say that we still need to complete this whole gospel story by accepting him and this provision that he made, we undermine the finality of that statement. If the work of Christ on the cross only makes salvation possible and does not actually accomplish salvation, then we diminish the glory of God in salvation. Because we assume that what Christ accomplished on the cross was insufficient. It was a complete, thorough, finished work. And we are responding to that work in repentance only because it was already planned that you respond. It was already established 2,000 years ago when he died for your sins. It was you on his mind. It was you in his plans. You will know of the thoughts, emergency backup, contingency plan. You were the plan from the beginning. And that is something really profound for us to contemplate. What a blessing it really is to be chosen. That God really is sovereign, absolutely sovereign even in salvation. Looking at verse 2, Mark now begins to initiate his story of Jesus as though they were an offstage voice reading from Scripture and his sights from from Malachi 3 and from Isaiah 40. He tells us he's quoting from from Isaiah, but he actually quotes from Malachi and then he quotes Isaiah and this is his style of referencing. He does it a few times in in in his gospel. And so he cites Malachi 3, verse 1 and he tells us that is a messenger, a hero coming. He says, as is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I will send my messenger before your face who will prepare the way." Verse 3, "The voice of one, crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his parts." And so now he begins to foretell of a messenger that would forego and precede the arrival of the Lord. Crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way, make straight the part for his his way, his honest way. The king is arriving, the king is coming. This is a proper protocol for a hero to maintain, to prepare the hearts of the people for the arrival of the king. In verse 4, John now the royal hero and a messenger burst onto the scene, almost in cinematic fashion, almost appearing out of the blue and Garland states that Mark shows us that he has no interest in the details of John's life. He just simply accepts John as a forerunner to Christ. Mark gives us no information about John's parents, his origin, his spectacular birth, the contents of his preaching and teaching. He leaves all those details to look. Mark simply tells us that this baptizer comes preaching and he's baptizing people for the remission of sins and his preaching has to do with the promise of one that is more powerful than him that's coming. And so by Mark citing Malachi III and Isaiah 40 that we mention in verse 2 and 3, Mark is assuring us that John's appearances by no means an accident, that John's appearance is by no means out of the blue, but part of the blueprint of God's eternal plan. So he cites Scripture to make it clear that the ministry of John and the gospel's proclamation is bound forth to the promise of Scripture. He cites John's ministry as the fulfillment of prophetic Scripture because he wants to make it clear that the gospel is part of a continuation of an ancient promise. He cites Scripture because he's really affirming to us that the good news is no new news. It's not plan B, it's not some new Fed or some new movement. It's not God's contingency plan. No, the gospel is part of God's unchanging promise. It's plan A. And so he cites Scripture to convey to us that God's plan really to redeem the world is driven by divine intents. He's intentional about redeeming the world because God does nothing by accidents. Everything he does is driven by an unchanging plan and purpose. He does everything according to his good pleasure. Nothing catches him of God. So Mark in verse 4 to 5 now begins to highlight that John's ministry is really defined by the proclamation of repentance and by water baptism. And we don't look at this textually as being a disruptive thing. But if you understand the history and religious development of Israel, Gentiles and proselytes were baptized. No Jew was baptized. If a foreigner who wanted to convert to Judaism wanted to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he had to undergo the right of water baptism. And so this Jewish, this right was applied to Gentile people. And here John comes onto the scene and he says, "You Jews are no different to the Gentiles. You need to be baptized. You need a change of art. You need a change of mind. You need a change of soul. And through repentance we would see a revival of a spiritual renewal. And through repentance we would see the message of admonistry of John paved the way for Jesus. And what is repentance? Repentance is the turning away from sin, the turning away from your old life and turning to him. It's having a change of art. It's having a change of mind about sin, about your life and having a change of mind about God. It's more than just an expression of remorse or sorrow. It's about turning to God and saying, "Lord, I am tired of going this way. I'm running to you." And so in verse 6, Mark now begins to fully describe John's wardrobe. Describe his diet, describes John as having camels here, a leather belt, Versace belt, and he's wearing Fabiani. It's got Fabiani who is going through the toilet. And he has a specific diet. He only eats from all his... He's only eating from marble and... Oh no! And with Cremble and Sariisha, they only eat from this top red. No, no, no. John is dressed in very humble attire. His diet is very humble. Why does Mark fully describe John's wardrobe and diet and ignores his background information? What is he trying to tell us? Is he not trying to tell us that John is not mainstream? That John wouldn't be welcomed into the Jerusalem Hilton. That John is not about opulence and image. And man, I wish they were prophets today. They would bear the marks of this kind of humility. John is cut from a different cloth. And the reason why he's cut from a different cloth is because God wants to bring a contrast between him and the lifestyle and image of the Pharisees. John's clothing and aesthetic diet really presents him in the image of Elijah because he was an Elijah type figure. And we see that in 2 Kings 1, verse 8. And so John, in some sense, is a fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy where the prophecy and the Lord said, "I will send Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord." And so as Elijah type prophet, he becomes a forerunner to the Messiah. And now, Mark begins to tell us about John's message. And basically between verses 7 and 8, this is what constitutes John's message. One greater than me is coming. He is so great. I am not worthy to do what only a Gentile slave would do. And I'm not even worthy to untie his shoelaces. My baptism is outward with water. It's only a symbol. But his baptism is the real thing. The Holy Spirit baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, in your inward parts. The one that is coming after me, he is mightier than I am. He is far more worthy than I am. He is far more powerful than I am. I have touched your body with water. Oh, but he is going to touch your soul with the Holy Spirit. John is saying, "I know who I am in God's equation and economy, and I know what God is up to, and I know who he is. So I'm going to be that donkey that carries Jesus into Jerusalem with my head down. I'm not going to take the praise of the people for myself. I'm just a lowly donkey, and my purpose is only to carry and lift up Jesus Christ, the one who was mightier than I. Nobody celebrating donkeys in Jerusalem. He celebrated the promise of the one who was mightier than I. So John pays this kind of re-humility, this mantle of humility. His humility is rooted in his understanding of his role. He is preparing the way. He is not the way. He is preparing the way for the one who said he is the way. John performed no miracle, no signs and wonders. There is nothing spectacular about John. He is not even wearing the right outfits. Nothing fancy, no fancy schmancy, no bling bling. He is not trending for those reasons. He is preaching in the wilderness. He is not even preaching in the city, but the people are coming in droves to hear a man in the wilderness who don't even look like them or smell like them or eat like them, and he is talking about repentance and he is forcing them to be baptized like Gentiles in a dirty river Jordan. Nothing spectacular about this man, and Jesus regarded him as the greatest prophet to come out of a woman's womb. What made this man great? Was his direct role to Jesus? He understood that his purpose is to testify about Jesus. What makes a Christian great? What makes a preacher great? The way to greatness is the way down. A Christian descends into greatness, and sometimes you see this in church life and you see this amongst believers. Sometimes when we think we are entitled to be given all the attention, we want the seats of prominence, we want to be recognized as the gift, the preacher, the artist. What really makes you great? A man or woman wrapped up in themselves makes a small package. Jesus said, "If you want to be great, you ought to be long. You ought to get down long. You ought to become like a child." And the reason why God took the kingdom from Saul and moved it over to David. He said to Saul, "Was it not when you were little in your own eyes that I made you king of Azer?" At the moment you thought you were the head hardcho, that's when I brought you down, because humility is the fragrance of heaven. God hates the stench of pride. But he says he hates the look of it, but he gives grace to the humble. The humble soul will attract the attention of heaven. And so in verse 9 to 11, Mark then goes on to tell us that Jesus came to be baptized by John. Jesus comes to John, probably in the middle or latter days, or closing tail end of John's ministry. And when he gets to John, John refuses to baptize him, because John knows who he is. He says, "No, no, no. I shouldn't be baptizing you. You should be baptizing me." And then Jesus responds to him and says, "Suffer to be so this is necessary to fulfill all righteousness. But what does this mean? What does this really mean?" And I believe we can really tease out the answer here. And I believe there's six truths about Jesus submitting to the baptism of John there that we can look at. Firstly, the days of Jesus on earth were days of his humiliation. From the time of his birth to the time of his death, everything was in between was humiliating for him. The day he was resurrected from the grave was marked the day of his glorification. And so here we have the eternal son of God. We don't even have an idea, the foggiest idea of the glory he had, and he strips himself of his glory, and he descends through a buck canal of a woman named Mary, and he walks the dirty trails of Galilee, eating our food, being subject to our abuse. There's all humiliation for him. Whenever God has to stoop down, he's humiliating for him. And so he really comes to be baptized by John because it really mocks the days of his humiliation, and his faithful submission to the Father's world, and his willingness to be identified with sinful humanity. Divers stated that it is no order for Jesus to be baptized in the River Jordan, then for him to be hanging on the cross. As Sunless says, spotless as is, to be baptized in the dirty River Jordan, and to be hanging on the cross is humiliating anywhere you see it. Secondly, the baptism of Jesus was the moment when God inaugurated his ministry, his public ministry. It was at that moment that his ministry begins. For many years he worked as a carpenter, but at this moment his ministry took a shift. And so Jesus' baptism is associating also with with John's ministry, so it gives some kind of endorsement to what John's doing. And so this only helps support and advance the ministry of Jesus because John has the counts, John has the numbers, John has the people listening to him, and now John at the height of his success is saying, "Hey, I'm not the one. There's the one." And so his disciples were concerned when they saw Jesus' ministry growing, and they came to John and he said, "Hey, but they're baptizing there too." And this prophet Jesus is making headlines now. And John must have turned his disciples and said, "You fool, have not been preachiness for so long, he must increase, and I must decrease." This is why I'm here. I'm not the way. That's the way. Follow him. And so Jesus endorses John's ministry, and in turn John's ministry becomes endorsement with Jesus. And Jesus does not hesitate to connect himself to John the Baptist because he understands that the ministry of John is a fulfillment of prophecy. And so there's no one higher that Jesus praises than John. Third reason why Jesus submitted himself to the baptism is that Jesus' baptism demonstrates his approval by his father, as you'll see in thus him, because immediately the mock uses those terms immediately when he comes out of the water, the heavens are torn. And the Holy Spirit comes down and descends upon Jesus to this open sky in the form of a dove. Now that phrase torn apart, the heavens being torn apart only occurs one more time in Mark's Gospel. And that's the time when God tore the veil at the time of Jesus' death. So the tearing of the heavens at his baptism and the tearing of the veil really conveys the pleasure of the Father in what Jesus is doing. And so Isaiah 61 verse 4 predicts this moment and says, "If only you would tear open the heavens and come down, O God, so that the mountains would quite get your presence and tear the heavens apart did he do." And the Holy Spirit descended upon the life and person of the servant king. In this way the Father gives his approval of the Son and says, "You are doing the right thing, boy." Fourthly, Jesus' baptism revealed the triune God. We heard that earlier. And Adrian Rogers put it this way, the doctrine of the Trinity is not beyond logic or reason, it is just above it. And as difficult as it can be to wrap our minds around the concept of a triune God, we must clearly see that all three persons are present at the baptism. Jesus being baptized. The Father speaking and saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." And the Holy Spirit descending upon him in the form of a dove. Jesus baptized the Father speaks and the Spirit descends. Fourthly, Jesus baptism showed his total dependence on the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit on the life of the Messiah was actually promised in Isaiah 42 verse 1, where the Prophet declares, "And the Lord speaks of the Prophet. This is my servant. I will strengthen him. This is my chosen one. I delight in him. I put my Spirit upon him and he will bring justice to the nations." And the Prophet begins to elaborate on this promise. And we see this back also in Isaiah 11. "The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." And I like what Piper said here. He says, "When Jesus was baptized along with all the repenting people who wanted to be on God's side, it was though the command in chief, the Messiah, had to come to the front lines, fastened his bayonet, strapped on his helmet, jumped into the trenches along with the rest of us." And when he did that, the fall in heaven looked down upon him and smiled and said, "This is my beloved son." So at this moment, point number six, that God declared that this is the Messiah. Mark 1 verse 11 is probably one of the most important verses in the Bible. And it's echoed again in the transfiguration where the Father says, "You are my son in whom I am well pleased." This is a combination of three passages, Old Testament passages. Psalm 2 verse 7, "You are my son." It's a Davidic psalm, the Father announces, "You are the Messiah, King." In a sense, he's saying, "You are the greater David who will rule over the nations." And then this is also a mix of Genesis 22 verse 2, "In calling Christ beloved." We are actually reminded of how Abraham saw Isaac as his beloved son, his one and only son. And so when the Father speaks this from heaven, it really bears the weight of Christ being the one and only eternal son of the Father. And the lost scripture that's included in the statement is found in Isaiah 42, "I take delight in you. I have pleasure in you." And all these three scriptures combined in this moment at the baptism, when the Father declares his pleasure and delight in the Son, we see that this actually climaxes in Isaiah 53, where the servant King has crushed for the sins of the world. And I want to conclude on this point that at this moment in the baptism of Jesus, when the Father declared his love for the Son, this is the reason for why everything exists. Everything the Father does is our love for his Son. The love of the Father for the Son is the source of all divine activity. We like to quote John 3 verse 16. Now share this with our Bible students the other way, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." So they ever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. But what's a more primal and fundamental reason for him saving the world is found in John 3 verse 35, "The Father has loved the Son and given everything to the Son." This world exists for the pleasure of the Son. Creation is only a theater stage for redemption. So that those who the Father has given the Son can enjoy him forever and experience the love that the Father has for the Son. Jesus prays that in John 17, this Lord's prayer he prays like they call it the high priestly prayer. And he's approaching the cross and he's about to be the Savior of the world, he's about to be crushed by the weight of our Son. And he gets to the garden of the Kissimmee and he's praying and he says, "Father I have manifested your name in all the all those that you've given to me. I have manifested your name and the love that you've had for me may be in them also. The love I experience from you that they may partake and enjoy also." That's why we exist. That's the purpose for salvation. That we get to enjoy the love that the Father has for the Son. Outside of the Son, outside of Christ, there is no life. There is no true blessings. That's why Paul said in Ephesians 1, "Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places." We're in Christ just as he chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of persons. In him we have obtained an inheritance. In him, only in him. And this is the picture of salvation. When we respond to his finished work, he joins us with Christ that he abides in us and we abide in him. Outside of him we can do nothing. When we are united to him in this kind of baptism, I'm not talking about water baptism, but when we are united in this kind of baptism where he dwells in us and we dwell in him, and the Father now is in the position to communicate the blessings of redemption. Only to those who dwell in the land of the place called in him in Christ. That's why John says, "In him there's life. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life." And those who are in Christ get to experience the love that the Father has for the Son because we've been adopted into the family of God. It's adopted, sons, and now the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us which cries out, "Abba Father, the Spirit pays witness with your Spirit that you are a child of God." And this only happens through regeneration. This only happens through being born again. How do you get into the family of God? You're born into this family. That's why Jesus said to Nicotemus, "You must be born again." It's only when you're born again that you become a child of God. He used to be a preacher, "Hey, everybody's a child of God." No, not everybody's a child of God. Everybody's a child of God, maybe in the sense of creation. But no, not everybody's a child of God by recreation. You need to be born into this family. All of His pleasures in the Son and salvation is simply as enjoying this love. There He has for the Son, love this Son to such an extent where He said, "My love cannot be contained. I need to spread out this love." This year is a pride for you. Can we stand this morning? God is love because God is a triune being. There has been an eternal love that has existed before God created a single planet. Jesus said, "Before the foundation of the world, you have loved me." Within the fellowship of the triune being, the Father eternally loved the Son. And the Son eternally loved the Father. And the Holy Spirit was the expression of this love. And the Father says, "I want the world to experience this kind of love." Let's prepare a pride for Him. Let's prepare the church for Him.
