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[0:00] We'll look at Mark chapter 1, 9 through 13 tonight.

[0:13] Before we read those verses, though, remember what we saw last week. The first eight verses gave us the theme of Mark, and the overall theme of Mark is that Jesus is the promised Messiah! and Son of God who fulfills Old and New Testament prophecy.

[0:29] In tonight's passage, we'll see that theme demonstrated in two different ways. So let's go ahead and read Mark chapter 1, verses 9 through 13. It says, In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

[0:45] 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 whom I am well pleased.

[1:01] The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

[1:14] So Jesus' baptism and temptation demonstrated Jesus' deity and previewed his purpose. That's the main idea for this section. Again, Jesus' baptism and temptation demonstrated Jesus' deity and previewed his purpose.

[1:29] So one of the paradoxes visible throughout Jesus' earthly ministry all the way to the cross was that he came to earth not only as the messianic king, but also as the suffering slave.

[1:41] As king, he was exalted and glorified. As a suffering slave, he was demeaned and mistreated, and that was vividly demonstrated during his temptation.

[1:52] The most exalted one was also the most humiliated one. Jesus' baptism with his temptation manifested those contrasting realities. The final contrast would come in his death, of course, where he was numbered as a criminal while a sign declaring him to be king hung over his bloody head.

[2:12] We'll cover tonight's verses in only two sections, beginning with verses 9 through 11. And those verses show us the coronation. So the coronation is your first blink.

[2:23] At his baptism, Jesus is proclaimed to be the Messiah by both God the Father and the Holy Spirit. So here are verses 9 through 11 again.

[2:36] 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.

[2:50] And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased. This event is reported by all four of the Gospels, and it's the only meeting between Jesus and John that's recorded in the New Testament.

[3:06] Julie pointed out that they did meet when they hadn't been born yet, but John couldn't see Jesus. He only knew that Jesus was there. They were related, of course.

[3:17] They later contacted each other through their disciples, but there's no indication that they met before or after this occasion once they were born. And the meeting was initiated by Jesus, who came when the time was right for him to make his first public appearance.

[3:32] According to Luke 3, verse 23, Jesus was about 30 years old when he came from Nazareth in Galilee to be baptized and to begin his ministry. Like everything Jesus did, his trip from Nazareth to the Jordan was perfectly planned.

[3:48] We sometimes use the expression that someone went the extra mile for us. You might know that that expression is biblical, and it comes from Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

[4:00] In Matthew 5.41, Jesus says, And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. But before Jesus said these words, he demonstrated the teaching through his actions.

[4:13] And verse 9 of Mark 1 simply says that Jesus came from Nazareth. The simplicity of that statement understates what a difficult trip that would have been for him.

[4:25] John was baptizing near Bethabara, which is generally believed to be in the area of Jericho. This made Christ's trip from Nazareth of Galilee to John at the Jordan River about 60 to 70 miles, and he did it on foot.

[4:39] Nobody came with Christ for this baptism, even though it was one of the most important baptisms ever in the history of the world. Jesus knew where he was headed, and all through his ministry he moved with purpose.

[4:54] From an earthly perspective, we know that Jesus came from Galilee, but from an eternal perspective, Jesus came from a much better location. Jesus, the eternal second person of the Trinity, originally came from an exalted place in heaven.

[5:10] For confirmation of that, turn over to John chapter 1. We'll look at a few verses there. And in John 1, we'll see Jesus referred to as the Word.

[5:21] So let's look at John 1, verses 1 through 3. John 1, 1 through 3 say, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[5:34] He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Skip down now to John chapter 1, verses 14 and 15.

[5:49] John 1, 14 and 15 say, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[6:02] John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. Then if we go over to Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 8, Paul summarized Jesus' coming this way.

[6:21] And these verses are Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 8. Paul said, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

[6:44] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So yes, Jesus came from lowly Nazareth, but Jesus also came from an exalted place in heaven.

[7:00] And because he was willing to give up such an exalted place, we should always marvel that Jesus came. Going back to tonight's text, verse 9 simply tells us that Jesus came and was baptized.

[7:15] Mark uses his characteristic brevity here, and he leaves out the fact that John initially was hesitant to baptize Jesus. Listen to part of Matthew's account of Jesus' baptism.

[7:27] These verses are Matthew chapter 3, verses 13 through 15. And Matthew chapter 3, verses 13 through 15 say, John had an obvious reason to say that Jesus had no need to be baptized.

[8:03] Remember a verse that we looked at last week, and that's Mark chapter 1, verse 4. Mark 1, verse 4 says, John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness, and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

[8:20] John knew that Jesus is the perfect son of God who also is God himself. Jesus never had sinned and never will sin, so Jesus had no need to repent and seek forgiveness.

[8:33] However, Jesus said that it was fitting for him to be baptized so that he might fulfill all righteousness. And that's both an act of obedience to the Father's will and as a way to identify with sinners for whom he would later die as a righteous substitute.

[8:49] Part of the main idea for this passage is that Jesus' baptism and temptation previewed his purpose. And here we see Jesus substituting himself in a place for sinners.

[9:00] Jesus making himself the substitute for sinners is why he came. Jesus identified himself here with the sinners that he had come to save. He fulfilled all righteousness, not only through his life of perfect obedience, but also through his substitutionary death on the cross, in which God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

[9:27] And of course, that is from 2 Corinthians 5.21. The righteous requirement of God's law was death as a payment for sin. Christ's death paid that debt in full.

[9:40] Centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah declared that the Messiah would be numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

[9:51] That verse is Isaiah 53, verse 12. In the first act of his ministry, the one who had no sin publicly identified himself with those who had no righteousness.

[10:04] So the sinless lamb submitted to a baptism that was designed for sinners, and that was the foreshadowing of the fact that he would soon submit himself to a death deserved by sinners.

[10:16] Look again at Mark 1, verses 10 and 11. Mark uses one of his favorite words in verse 10. This is the first of many times we'll see Mark use the term immediately.

[10:29] Verses 10 and 11 say, 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.

[10:40] And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased. Mark will use the term immediately so often that we sometimes can miss its significance.

[10:53] But the significance is important here. Remember Mark 1, 5 from last week's study. Mark 1, 5 said, And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

[11:12] When John baptized an ordinary person, that person would stay in the water afterward and confess sins. Jesus made no such confession here because he had no sins to confess.

[11:26] Instead, Luke 3, 21 tells us that Jesus was praying. So here are Luke 3, 21 and 22. Again, these verses are Luke 3, 21 and 22.

[11:38] Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.

[11:58] So picture the scene here. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, a dramatic scene began to unfold. And this was a majestic Trinitarian scene that might be best described as the Messiah's royal commissioning.

[12:13] It was a glorious event that encompassed both Jesus' official coronation and the divine inauguration of his public ministry. Visibly, the Son was anointed by the Holy Spirit, and audibly, he was affirmed by the Heavenly Father.

[12:29] Charles Spurgeon summarized the significance of this event with these words. He said, As Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon him in a visible shape and rests upon him.

[12:41] John says that it abode on him as though the Spirit was thenceforth to be his continual companion, and truly, it was so. And there was heard a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

[12:57] This was the voice of God the Father. The Father revealed himself not to the eyes as the Spirit did, but to the ears, and the words he spoke clearly indicated that it was God the Father bearing witness to his beloved Son.

[13:11] The entrance of Christ upon his public ministry on earth was the chosen opportunity for the public manifestation of the intimate union between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

[13:26] So the Messiah's coronation was distinctly Trinitarian, yet it was open to public view. When Jesus looked up, he saw the heavens opening, but this was not a private vision given only to him.

[13:40] John the Baptist, presumably among many other bystanders, provided eyewitness testimony to the reality of these glorious events. If we go over to John chapter 1, verses 32 through 34, we'll hear John the Baptist own testimony about these events.

[13:56] So here are John chapter 1, verses 32 through 34. And John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

[14:09] I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

[14:21] And I have seen and bore witness that this is the Son of God. These events at Jesus' baptism were foretold in the Old Testament.

[14:32] So let's look at a few verses in Isaiah to see that. Here are Isaiah chapter 11, verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 11, 1 and 2 say, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

[14:51] And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

[15:02] Now these verses are Isaiah chapter 42, verses 1 through 4. Isaiah 42, 1 through 4 say, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights.

[15:19] I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.

[15:34] He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he is established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law.

[15:47] Now here are Isaiah 61, verses 1 through 3. And in Isaiah 61, 1 through 3, the Messiah himself is speaking.

[15:58] Those verses say, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planning of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

[16:42] If you have any doubt that Isaiah 61, 1 through 3 are talking about Jesus, let's go ahead and remove that doubt by fast-forwarding to a later event in Jesus' ministry.

[16:56] We'll look at Luke 4, verses 16 through 21. And in Luke 4, verses 16 through 21, Jesus returns to Nazareth.

[17:06] So here are those verses. Starting in verse 16 of Luke 4, it says, And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.

[17:17] And of course, this is talking about Jesus. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.

[17:29] He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he had anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

[17:52] And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and all the eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

[18:05] Going back to the baptism, another surprising aspect of Jesus' baptism is the word that Mark chooses for what happens to the heavens. Matthew and Luke say that the heavens were opened, but Mark says that they were torn open.

[18:21] You see that in Mark 1, verse 10. The tearing of the heavens was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prayer, where he said, Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.

[18:32] This tear is good news indeed. Some people use the phrase, all hell is breaking loose, but the picture here is so much better. Mark is saying that all heaven is breaking loose.

[18:46] The last part of that quote used Isaiah 64.1 in the verse that came from Isaiah, and so here is the full verse. It says, Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your present.

[19:00] So here we have yet another fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies. Mark quotes the Old Testament prophecies less than the other synoptic gospel writers.

[19:11] However, the references to fulfilled prophecy are there when we take the time to look. Another reason why Mark uses the word torn in verse 10 likely is to connect what happens here with what happens at the end of the story.

[19:26] The story begins with the tearing of the heavens, but when Jesus is on the cross, the story ends with the tearing of the temple curtain. That temple curtain had become a symbol of humanity's separation from God.

[19:40] So at first, the heavens are torn and God comes to us and then the temple curtain is torn so that we can go to God. The sacrifice of Christ now has torn open the way to God and we see the first part of that here.

[19:55] In the Spurgeon quote referenced earlier, we noted that God said something at Jesus' baptism and look again at Mark 1.11 to see what he said.

[20:06] Mark 1.11 says, And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased. God's words in Mark 1.11 look back at what the Old Testament pictured.

[20:20] They also look forward to what will happen later in the New Testament. Here's a Jason Meyer quote. He said, Mark 1.11 is surely one of the most important verses in the Bible.

[20:33] It is echoed again at the transfiguration in Mark 9.7 along with the admonition for the disciples to listen to him. It is a combination of three massively significant Old Testament texts.

[20:46] The phrase, You are my son, comes from Psalm 2.7. In quoting this Davidic Psalm, the Father announces, You are the Messiah King, the greater son of David who will rule the nations.

[21:00] In calling Christ beloved, we are reminded of the way Abraham saw Isaac, the son he was called to sacrifice, in Genesis 22.2. It bears the weight of Christ being the one and only son of the Most High God.

[21:15] The third phrase, I take delight in you, comes from Isaiah 42.1, which is the first of Isaiah's suffering servant songs. These passages climax in the great Isaiah 53 text where the servant is crushed by God as he bears the sin of the world.

[21:33] This declaration of the father's love for his son cannot be overstated and it must not be overlooked. Here's why we say that. No prophet had ever heard words like these.

[21:46] Abraham was called a friend of God in Isaiah 41.8. Moses was referenced as a servant in Deuteronomy 34.5. Aaron was listed as a chosen one in Psalm 105.26.

[22:00] David was called a man after God's own heart in 1 Samuel 13.4. But only Israel in Exodus 4.23 and the king of Israel as their representative in Psalm 2.7 were called God's sons.

[22:16] Now they are united in the person of the servant king Jesus of Nazareth. And James Edwards says Jesus is Israel reduced to one. As the Messiah and son of God Jesus is a second Adam a new Israel and a perfect king who will succeed where they each fail.

[22:37] We could spend even more time looking at verses 9 through 11 but we need to move on to the next verses because Mark again uses his favorite word to tell us about the events in verses 12 and 13 and they happened immediately after the baptism.

[22:54] So because of that timing we need to look at them in the same study. So, so far in verses 9 through 11 we have seen the coronation of Jesus as the sinless son of God.

[23:05] In the second section of tonight's passage we see the confirmation. So the confirmation is your second blink. You could make the argument that God's words and the Holy Spirit descending to rest upon Jesus already have provided the confirmation that Jesus is the promised Messiah the sinless son of God.

[23:26] You would be correct to say that but verses 12 and 13 provide additional confirmation of that fact because Jesus' behavior demonstrates his identity. Look at verses 12 and 13 again.

[23:39] They say the Spirit immediately drove him out 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.

[23:53] When we go through difficult times we can think that perhaps God has abandoned us but if we're true believers God the Holy Spirit always is with us. Sometimes as we see here the Holy Spirit even leads us into difficult times for a purpose and Jesus our sinless sacrifice knows exactly what that is like.

[24:16] Try to put yourself in Jesus' place here. God the Father has publicly declared you to be his beloved son. John the Baptist and presumably others have seen the Holy Spirit come rest upon you.

[24:30] Life on earth at this point would be about as good as it could get and you might think let's go and ride this great momentum to show even more people that the Messiah has come. God though had other plans.

[24:43] God had other plans because Jesus came to be our substitute. Jesus came to succeed where our ancestors failed and where we ourselves would fail if we were faced with similar circumstances.

[24:55] Mark 1 verses 12 through 13 should take our minds back to at least two failures in the Old Testament. Our first parents Adam and Eve failed not in the wilderness but in the perfect Garden of Eden.

[25:08] The nation of Israel failed in the wilderness after God miraculously freed the nation from captivity in Egypt. Listen to this quote from Daniel Akin. He said, This reminds us of Israel's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness where they grumbled, complained, and failed to trust their God.

[25:29] This also reminds us of Moses' 40 days on Mount Sinai and Elijah's 40 days at Mount Horeb. Jesus is not only a new Adam and a second Israel but he is also a better Moses and a superior prophet.

[25:46] Thankfully, Jesus yields to the Spirit and embraces this test. The servant king has a job to do and the Spirit immediately compels him to do it. Rather than shrinking back as Israel was so prone to do, our king and our commander-in-chief, the true Israel, goes out to fight in the trenches with us and for us.

[26:07] And by doing so, he turns back the enemy and provides hope and a pattern for us to do the same. Some people wrongly say that Jesus' resenting temptation was no big deal.

[26:20] They say that as the sinless Son of God, he was incapable of sinning. Therefore, resisting Satan would have been easy for him. Well, those people are correct that Jesus was incapable of sinning because he was the sinless Son of God, but the conclusion that they draw about Jesus' temptation was wrong.

[26:41] Jesus' sinlessness made resisting Satan's temptation harder instead of easier. Adam and Eve and the Israelites gave in to temptation before they had to experience Satan's full barrage.

[26:54] We do the same thing when we're faced with temptation. temptation. Jesus, on the other hand, never gave in to temptation. That means he had to endure everything that Satan could throw at him.

[27:06] A few things about Jesus' and Satan's meeting in the desert would have made it especially difficult. Satan meets Jesus in the wilderness, not a garden. Jesus has been fasting for 40 days.

[27:21] Jesus is alone. The wilderness is full of wild animals. And the wild beasts are mentioned immediately following the mention of Satan suggesting that they are in partnership with him.

[27:34] Further, remember what we talked about last week. Mark's Roman audience, especially during the Neronian persecution of A.D. 64-68, knew what it was like to be bothered by wild beasts.

[27:47] Tacitus wrote in his Annals that Christians were covered with the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs. So people associated wild animals with adversity and persecution.

[27:59] Including this detail would undoubtedly heighten the horror and danger for our Lord's 40 days in the Judean wilderness. It appears from all of these conditions that Jesus does battle with Satan on Satan's home field.

[28:13] It's a divine invasion of enemy territory. The other synoptic gospels highlight three instances at the end of those 40 days where Jesus tempted Satan in the wilderness.

[28:26] The Bible's wording strongly implies, though, that these were just three examples of the temptation Jesus faced. The Bible's wording seems to indicate that Jesus was tempted continually throughout those 40 days.

[28:40] And even if Jesus had been tempted just those three times, any one of those three times would have been enough for a mere human to succumb to the temptation. We could go to either Matthew chapter 4 or Luke chapter 4 to see the details of these three temptations that happened at the end of the 40 days.

[28:58] But let's go to Luke chapter 4 and we'll read Luke chapter 4 verses 1 through 13. Again, these will be Luke chapter 4 verses 1 through 13.

[29:12] The verses say, And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil.

[29:23] And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.

[29:35] And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me and I give it to whom I will.

[29:55] If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

[30:08] And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone.

[30:28] Jesus answered him, It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

[30:39] Here is another quote from Daniel Lakin. He said, What was Satan's goal? He wanted to defeat the Son, but how? Ultimately, it seems that Satan's goal was to get Jesus not to suffer.

[30:55] Satan was at the baptism, I am sure. He saw and heard it all. The suffering and death of Jesus meant Satan's doom and destruction, and it meant salvation for you and me.

[31:06] This is what was at stake in the war in the wilderness. Have you ever thought about Satan's initial goal being Jesus to avoid suffering? At first, that comment seems to border on blasphemy, but consider the three examples that we have from Luke.

[31:24] In the first example, Satan says, in effect, Why are you starving, Jesus? Just fix yourself a meal. In the second and third examples, Satan tries to get Jesus to take the easy route to what God had already promised Jesus.

[31:38] In the second example, Satan tells Jesus that Jesus doesn't have to wait to receive an exalted place. All Jesus had to do was to worship Satan now. And then in the third example, Satan tempts Jesus to skip the suffering that will go along with God's plan to show that Jesus is the Messiah.

[31:58] He says that Jesus could prove that he's the Messiah by simply jumping off the temple and letting the angels catch him. If Jesus had given in to any of these temptations or any other temptation that Satan presented, Jesus would have proven himself to be no better than Adam, Eve, the Israelites, or us.

[32:18] Had Jesus given in, he would have been disqualified from being the sinless sacrifice. Let's personalize it a little bit now. How often does Satan tempt us to just take the easy route instead of the route that God has for us?

[32:32] Well, whenever you are tempted, remember that Jesus has experienced the same type of temptation, and remember that Jesus endured far worse temptation than that.

[32:43] Jesus endured all that temptation for our benefit. Christ successfully endured the temptation to prove that he was indeed the sinless son of God. And that is why we can say that verses 12 and 13 provide the confirmation that Jesus was and still is who he claimed to be.

[33:02] The end of Mark 1, 13 gives us an additional detail about Jesus' temptation that we need to consider. The end of verse 13 says, And the angels were ministering to him.

[33:17] You might be thinking that's great news for Jesus, but that would never happen for me. And if you're thinking something like that, consider these two cross-references. Psalm 34, verses 7 and 8 are the first cross-reference.

[33:33] Psalm 34, verses 7 and 8 say, The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

[33:45] Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Then Hebrews 1, verses 13 and 14 tell us, And to which of the angels has he ever said, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

[34:01] Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? This brings us back to the main idea.

[34:12] Jesus' baptism and temptation demonstrated Jesus' deity and previewed his purpose. Here's another quote from Daniel Akin. He said, Christian, be encouraged.

[34:24] Christ knows what you are going through. Even more, Jesus' angels came to his aid. They may be sent by God to serve us as well.

[34:36] Just look at the baptism and the temptation of the servant king. God's will is not always safe, but it is always best. Think about those last couple of sentences again.

[34:48] Just look at the baptism and the temptation of the servant king. God's will is not always safe, but it is always best. A dear Christian friend whom I consider my second mother has a saying that she uses often.

[35:04] And when she or someone she knows is going through difficult times, she reminds them to call God's 911. And that's her shorthand comment as a reminder to go to Psalm 91, verse 1 and read through the promises of that psalm.

[35:21] We've already seen several references to Old Testament passages in our study of Mark's passage tonight. But we need to see one last thing. And we need to see how the temptation of Jesus alludes to Psalm 91.

[35:36] So go ahead and turn to Psalm 91 now and we'll read it. You've already heard some of it because Satan quoted it in the Luke passage that we read earlier. But the psalm's heading is Psalm 91 says, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

[36:00] I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

[36:13] He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

[36:35] A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

[36:47] Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague shall come near your tent.

[36:58] For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

[37:16] Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him.

[37:27] I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Jason Meyer said, here's what happens when we catch the echo of Psalm 91.

[37:44] We can be certain of the answer to the question, how did Jesus withstand all that the fallen world could throw at him? The answer is love. The loving relationship between God the Father and God the Son that was on display earlier in Mark chapter 1 verses 10 and 11 is still on display in Mark chapter 1 verses 12 and 13.

[38:08] Jesus is revealed to be the beloved Son in his baptism. The Father still loves him as he sends him into the wilderness. Jesus loves the Father and trusts him.

[38:19] The Father and the Son share a love and a delight that cannot be broken by anything. No wilderness, no wild animals, and no devil. This exactly fulfills Psalm 91.14 which is the verse that says, because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him.

[38:36] The Father's delight in and acceptance of Jesus is what enabled Jesus to endure the threats and terrors of the temptation. Adam and Eve failed to trust God's character and instead trusted Satan's words.

[38:51] But the beloved Son knows the character of both the Father and Satan. The Father is perfectly and purely true and trustworthy. Satan has no truth in him.

[39:03] The Son defends the character of the Father. He said, not what I will but what you will. That comes from Mark 14.36 And he went to the cross for us and our salvation and to vindicate the Father's character and glory.

[39:20] And that's why obedience should be the glory of humanity. For the first time we see what we're supposed to be like. Jesus can fully sympathize with us because he understands temptation but he also can fully save us because he overcame that temptation.

[39:39] We talked last week about how the gospel is more than just good news. In the Bible the gospel is always a reference to salvation. If you have yet to experience God's salvation you can do that by acknowledging your sin against God repenting of your sin and admitting that you need a Savior.

[39:59] We with our sinful human nature will always sin and fail to live up to God's standards. However, we've seen tonight that God through Jesus provided a substitute for us who succeeded where we have failed.

[40:11] We'll see more and more cases as we go through Mark where Jesus acts as our substitute. Consider the two events we've studied tonight. First, Jesus let the water of the Jordan River pour over his perfect self.

[40:26] That same water figuratively had been polluted by the sins of those baptized before him. That event illustrated Jesus' willingness to take the burden for our sins.

[40:38] And second, Jesus successfully resisted temptation where any other human would have failed. Jesus, as our substitute, exemplified righteousness that we can never attain.

[40:50] Jesus did those things because Jesus loves God. Jesus did those things because Jesus loves the people he came to redeem. And Jesus did those things because he knows and believes God's word.

[41:03] For the three temptations documented in Matthew and Luke, you saw that Jesus quoted God's word every time that Jesus resisted Satan. If Jesus had only paid for our sins, he would have succeeded only in taking us back to square one.

[41:20] We would no longer be guilty, but we would still have absolutely no positive righteousness to bring before God. Our Redeemer needed not only to die, he had to live a life of perfect obedience.

[41:33] The righteousness that he manifested could then be transferred to all who put their trust in him. Just as my sin is transferred to him on the cross when I put my trust in him, his righteousness is transferred to my account in the sight of God.

[41:49] So when I stand before God on the judgment day, God is going to see Jesus and his righteousness which will be my cover and that will be the cover for everyone who believes in him.

[42:01] That is the gospel. We read 2 Corinthians 5.21 earlier, but here it is again. It says, For our sake he, talking about God, made him, talking about Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[42:21] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the reminder that you indeed did send a substitute to be our righteousness and to take the burden for our sins.

[42:37] We thank you that Jesus willingly endured temptation and did everything in his ministry to prove and to satisfy your need for righteousness. help us be more and more grateful for that as we continue to live our Christian lives.

[42:53]  And if anyone has yet to see that truth open their eyes to that truth tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm