The King's Kingdom
Series: THE SERVANT KING
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 10th February 2018
Passage: Mark 1:1-15
00:00:00 --> 00:00:07 Emile Calliette grew up in a small village in France and went on to become professor
00:00:07 --> 00:00:12 of philosophy at Princeton Theological Seminary in the middle of last century, around the
00:00:12 --> 00:00:13 20th century.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:22 During his college days, Emile was not a believer and wasn't sure that God existed at all.
00:00:22 --> 00:00:29 He loved his books, he loved his philosophy, but he had never picked up a Bible.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:38 He went on to serve in the French Army during World War I, and of that time he wrote,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:44 The inadequacy of my views on the human situation overwhelmed me.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:53 What use the philosophical banter of the seminar when your buddy, at the time speaking to you
00:00:53 --> 00:00:58 of his mother, dies standing in front of you with a bullet to his chest?
00:00:58 --> 00:01:03 One night, a bullet got Emile too.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 His life was saved and he returned to his books.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:16 He read, reading literature and philosophy, and he found himself searching for meaning.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:21 He wrote, during long night watches in the foxholes.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:29 I had in a strange way been longing, I must say it, however strange it may sound, for a book
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 that would understand me.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:40 And since he knew of no such book, he decided to prepare his own one for private use.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:49 He read widely and he would file away passages that, as he wrote, spoke to his condition.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:57 And the day came when Emile put the finishing touches on what he referred to as the book that would
00:01:57 --> 00:01:58 understand me.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:05 And he hoped that this collection of words and sentences would help him through life.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 And it was a beautiful day.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:08 It was a sunny day.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 And Emile went out, sat under a tree.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 He opened his book and he was disappointed.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:18 In his own words,
00:02:18 --> 00:02:39 In that moment, in his disappointment, Emile's wife walked into the garden and she had with
00:02:39 --> 00:02:46 her a Bible in the French language from a pastor that she had just walked by in her morning
00:02:46 --> 00:02:47 walk.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:54 And as she stood in front of him, Emile literally grabbed the Bible out of her hands, rushed into
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 his study, and he opened it at the Beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:12 And he read, and he read, and he read with what he described as an indescribable warmth surging
00:03:12 --> 00:03:13 inside.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:16 These are his words.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 I could not find words to express my awe and my wonder.
00:03:21 --> 00:03:26 And suddenly, the realization dawned upon me.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:31 This was the book that would understand me.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:36 I continued to read deeply into the night, mostly from the Gospels.
00:03:36 --> 00:03:45 And lo and behold, as I looked through them, the one of whom they spoke, the one who spoke
00:03:45 --> 00:03:49 and acted in them, came alive to me.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:58 The providential circumstances amid which this book had found me now made it clear that while
00:03:58 --> 00:04:05 it seemed absurd to speak of a book understanding a man, this could be said of the Bible.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:14 It's pages were animated by the presence of the living God and the power of his mighty acts.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 And to this God, I prayed that night.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:26 And the God who answered was the same God of whom it was spoken in the book.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:32 That happened to me 25 years ago.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:39 The Bible came alive in a way that it is hard to describe.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:45 And more specifically, Jesus came alive to me in a way that it's hard to explain.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:52 For the first time, having read through the Bible at least three to four times prior to that,
00:04:52 --> 00:04:59 and known of Jesus for the very first time, Jesus became alive to me.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:00 Real.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:00 Real.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:11 Not just someone to know about, but someone who was calling me to follow him and adore him
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 and worship him and obey him and love him.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:24 Next 13 weeks, we are working our way through Mark's gospel.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:33 And my hope, my dream, and my prayer is that many will have the experience that I've had
00:05:33 --> 00:05:38 and the experience that Emil Caliat has had and experience that many have had
00:05:38 --> 00:05:48 and that Jesus will come alive to us even as we look to who Jesus is.
00:05:48 --> 00:05:56 You see, my concern in this gospel is that we have access to the real Jesus.
00:05:57 --> 00:06:01 The Jesus who is unpredictable and yet reliable.
00:06:01 --> 00:06:06 The Jesus who is gentle yet powerful.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:08 Authoritative and yet humble.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 Human and yet divine.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:17 Access to the real Jesus is something that every generation and language and people
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 are in desperate need of today.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:29 That's because Mark's gospel conveys something very important about Jesus.
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 Jesus is not merely a historical figure.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 He is a living reality.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 You see, Mark's gospel declares that Jesus is God.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:48 Our creator God who rules everything and speaks to us today.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:54 And he says as such in the very beginning sentence, the very first sentence,
00:06:54 --> 00:07:01 Mark tells us that the God who started history is the God who has broken into history.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:09 The beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:14 And Mark here communicates his style is a sense of crisis.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 The status quo has been ruptured.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:23 God, sorry, Mark wants us to see that this Jesus is still disrupting the status quo
00:07:23 --> 00:07:28 and he's still calling for decisive action in our lives now.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:33 So have a look at it with me.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34 Mark 1.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 He wastes no time in establishing the identity of Jesus.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:48 He abruptly and bluntly asserts that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:54 And the title Christ means an anointed royal figure.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:59 It's another way of referring to the Messiah.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:07 The Messiah was the one who would come and administer God's rule over on the earth
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 and rescue Israel from all its oppressors and all of its troubles.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:18 But Mark goes further than just calling Jesus the Christ, the fulfillment of all of Israel's hope.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 He calls him the Son of God.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 It's an astonishing term.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 It is a claim of outright divinity.
00:08:29 --> 00:08:35 He expands on it when he quotes here the prophet Isaiah and asserts that John the Baptist
00:08:35 --> 00:08:44 is the voice that Isaiah referred to who is calling out in the desert.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:52 So Mark equates John with the one who was to prepare the way of the Lord.
00:08:53 --> 00:09:03 So the clear inference is that Mark is equating Jesus with the Lord, with God Almighty himself.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:15 And so Mark connects Jesus in the deepest way to the ancient religion of Israel.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:30 Jesus is the one who has come to rule and renew the entire universe.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:35 But more of Jesus' identity is revealed.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:42 Striking scene of verses 9 to 11, if you cast your eyes down there.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:44 It says,
00:09:44 --> 00:10:12 Now this is a familiar scene.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:19 But at first glance, we don't often know what it is specifically that we are looking at here.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:24 The Spirit of God is described as a dove.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:30 And it's a description that many Christians are familiar with.
00:10:30 --> 00:10:36 You go to Kurong and you'll see stickers of doves that are meant to represent the Holy Spirit.
00:10:36 --> 00:10:43 It was, however, very rare when Mark was writing.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:56 In all of the ancient writings of Judaism, there is only one place where the Spirit of God is likened to a dove.
00:10:56 --> 00:11:09 And it's in the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which was the Bible that the Jews of Jesus' time, and Mark's time, read.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:24 And the one place is the creation account of Genesis 1 verse 2, where it says that the Spirit hovered over the face of the waters.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:29 And the Hebrew word for hovering is fluttering.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 The Spirit fluttered over the face of the waters.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:44 And to capture the vivid image of the Holy Spirit in that moment, the rabbis translated this passage like this.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 The earth was without form and empty.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 And darkness was on the face of the deep.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:57 And the Spirit of God fluttered above the face of the waters like a dove.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 And God spoke, let there be light.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:07 There are three parties active in the creation of the world.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:13 God, God's Spirit, and God's Word through which He creates.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 And notice that the same three are present at Jesus' baptism.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 The Father who affirms love for the Son.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 The Son who is the Word.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:29 And the Spirit fluttering like a dove over the Son.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:33 And Mark is deliberately the beginning of his gospel.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:40 The beginning of the good news is pointing us back to the beginning of history.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:49 Just as the creation of the world is the work of the triune God, so is the rescue and the renewal of it.
00:12:49 --> 00:12:58 The Christian teaching of the Trinity is mysterious and intellectually challenging.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:06 The Bible teaches that God is one God eternally existent in three persons.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:13 It isn't tritheism with three gods who work together in harmony.
00:13:14 --> 00:13:22 And it isn't unipersonalism, which is the idea that God takes one form and sometimes He takes another form.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 But He can't only be one form at any one time.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 Another name for unipersonalism is modalism.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:31 Both.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:31 It's a heresy.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:41 Trinitarianism holds that there is one God in three persons who know and love one another.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:47 God is not more fundamentally one than He is three.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:51 And He's not more fundamentally three than He is one.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 Told you it's challenging.
00:13:54 --> 00:14:11 And many have, over time, have tried to use all kinds of illustrations to try and get a picture of just how wonderful and beautiful and majestic God is to try and capture it.
00:14:12 --> 00:14:13 He is truly mysterious.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:18 And all illustrations in one way or another fail.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:27 And the best I could do to illustrate it is to draw a circle in red pen.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:38 And then to perfectly, absolutely perfectly, go over the red circle with a blue pen.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:48 And then to absolutely perfectly, go over the blue pen with a green pen.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 So when you looked at it, you looked at one circle.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:56 But the red line's not the blue line and the blue line's not the green line.
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 That's the best you can come up with.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:01 Best I can come up with.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:10 Three separate lines making one perfect circle.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:18 When Jesus comes up from the water, the Father envelops Him and covers Him with love.
00:15:19 --> 00:15:19 Verse 11.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 You are my Son whom I love.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 With you I am well pleased.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 And the Spirit covers Him with power and sends Him out.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 In verse 12.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:33 What we have here in the baptism of Jesus is just a glimpse.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 And obviously you need to read the rest of the Bible to get a fuller picture.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:44 But a glimpse into the interior life of the Trinity that has been for all of eternity.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:50 Mark is giving us a glimpse into the very heart of reality.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 The meaning of life.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 The essence of the universe.
00:15:54 --> 00:16:02 And C.S. Lewis describes the essence of the universe like this.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:08 In Christianity, God is not a static thing.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 But a dynamic, pulsating activity.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 A life.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 Almost a kind of drama.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:22 Almost, if you will not think me, irreverent.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 A kind of dance.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 Let me try and explain why Lewis called it a dance.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:35 That the heart of who God is, a dance.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:44 We glorify something when we find it beautiful for what it is in itself.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:49 We don't glorify it for what we get from it.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 We glorify it for what it is.
00:16:54 --> 00:17:00 When it's a person that you find beautiful and magnificent in that way,
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 what you do is you serve them unconditionally.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:08 On the other hand, when we say,
00:17:09 --> 00:17:14 I'll serve you so long as I get benefits from you,
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 it's not glorifying.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 It's not actually serving.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:24 It's serving ourselves through them.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 We serve ourselves by serving them.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:29 That's the goal.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 You see, that's not circling them.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 It's not orbiting your life around them.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:45 It's using them in order to get them to orbit around you.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:45 No.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 That's what happens.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:55 Now, of course, there are many of us who look unselfish and dutiful in our serving,
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 busy in our serving, simply because we cannot say no.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:04 In that case, we are serving out of our own need.
00:18:04 --> 00:18:10 And it is a million miles from glorifying.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:17 To glorify others is to unconditionally serve them,
00:18:17 --> 00:18:21 not because we are getting anything out of it,
00:18:21 --> 00:18:27 but because of our love and appreciation for who they truly are.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 And so, and let me be honest,
00:18:32 --> 00:18:37 there are rare glimpses of that at all in our world.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 And yet the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
00:18:43 --> 00:18:49 are each centering their lives on the others
00:18:49 --> 00:18:53 and adoring the others and serving the others.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:58 There is no self-orientation in the Godhead at all.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:07 And so God is therefore infinitely and profoundly happy.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:16 And that is what God has enjoyed for all of eternity.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 It is the essence of reality.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:21 That relationship.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:27 Theologian Cornelius Plantinga puts it like this.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:32 The persons within God exalt each other,
00:19:33 --> 00:19:34 commune with each other,
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 and defer to each other.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:41 Each defined person harbors the others
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 at the center of his being.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 In constant movement of overture and acceptance,
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 each person envelops and encircles the others.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:59 God's interior life overflows with regard for others.
00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 And so the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
00:20:04 --> 00:20:09 for all of eternity have been pouring love and joy
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 and adoration into each other.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:20 They are infinitely seeking one another's glory.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:26 And so God is infinitely happy.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 And this is the God who created the world.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:40 And that's why C.S. Lewis refers to ultimate reality as a dance.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:47 But he goes on to suggest that a self-centered life is a static life.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:48 It's a stationary life.
00:20:49 --> 00:20:54 A self-centered person wants to be the center of the universe
00:20:54 --> 00:20:58 and for everyone and everything to orbit around them.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 We might even help people.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 We might even have friends.
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 We might even fall in love.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:09 So long as there's no compromise in my individuality,
00:21:09 --> 00:21:13 my individual interests and whatever needs I need.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 Whatever meets my needs.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 I might even give to the poor.
00:21:19 --> 00:21:23 So long as it makes me feel good about myself
00:21:23 --> 00:21:26 and doesn't hinder my lifestyle at all.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30 Self-centeredness makes everything and everyone
00:21:30 --> 00:21:33 a means to an end.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:38 And that end is the self.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:43 What happens when everyone declares in their hearts,
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 no, no, you orbit around me.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 Imagine we stop Kids Church right now,
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 brought all the kids in and said,
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 we've got to play on right now
00:21:53 --> 00:21:57 and you all are the number one star player
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 and the star player stands here.
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 What do you think would happen?
00:22:04 --> 00:22:08 This would happen.
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 I'm not moving.
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 Everything becomes static.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 Nobody gets anywhere.
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25 The dance becomes impossible.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 It's a static life.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:28 But ultimate reality,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 the Father, the Son and the Spirit
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 are characterised in the very essence
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 of mutual, self-giving love
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 as they circle each other consistently,
00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 pouring love and joy and adoration into the other.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:46 Each one voluntarily orbits around the other.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:49 And yet,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:55 there is also headship and submission
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 in ultimate reality.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:05 This is a truth that explodes
00:23:05 --> 00:23:10 with life-shaping, glorious implications for us.
00:23:10 --> 00:23:15 If this is the God who made the world,
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 then relationships of love
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 are at the centre of what life is all about.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 Also, if this is the God who made the world,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 then you've got to ask yourself,
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 why on earth did he make the world?
00:23:29 --> 00:23:30 Why did he create it?
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 Why create humanity at all?
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 It's not like he's lonely.
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 It's not like he's looking for more friends.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:42 He doesn't need anyone to serve him.
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 That's what they've been doing for eternity.
00:23:49 --> 00:23:53 He didn't create us in order to get joy from us.
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 He must have created us in order to give us joy.
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 He must have created us
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 to invite us into the dance
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 of infinite happiness.
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 And if we centre our lives around him,
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 if we glorify him,
00:24:13 --> 00:24:16 if we find him beautiful for who he is,
00:24:17 --> 00:24:20 then we step into the dance for which we were made.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:24 We weren't made by God just to believe in him
00:24:24 --> 00:24:29 or to be spiritual in some kind of sense.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 We weren't even made him to pray to him
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 or to get some help from him in times of trouble.
00:24:35 --> 00:24:40 We were made by God to centre everything in our lives on him.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:43 We were made to serve him unconditionally
00:24:43 --> 00:24:48 because that is where we find ultimate joy.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:55 And so every single human being needs more than anything else.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:56 Anything else they need
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 is to be in this divine dance with God
00:24:59 --> 00:25:04 where everything orbits around him.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:08 And that, my friends,
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10 is where the battle rages for us
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 in verses 12 to 13.
00:25:11 --> 00:25:16 All of humanity is born outside of this dance,
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 outside of this relationship with God.
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 In Genesis,
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 the spirit moves over the face of the waters.
00:25:21 --> 00:25:24 God speaks the world into being.
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 Humanity is created.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 History is launched.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 And what happens next?
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 Satan tempts the first human beings,
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 Adam and Eve,
00:25:36 --> 00:25:37 in the Garden of Eden
00:25:37 --> 00:25:41 to make them themselves,
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 take care of yourself,
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 make you the centre of the world,
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 make God orbit around you.
00:25:48 --> 00:25:49 Ignore God.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 God's holding something back from you here.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 You look after yourself.
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 If you want what's best for you,
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 you look after yourself.
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 And Adam and Eve failed that test.
00:26:05 --> 00:26:06 And every human being since
00:26:06 --> 00:26:09 except Jesus.
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 See, Jesus was tempted in the same way
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 to make it about him,
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 to not trust God,
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 his goodness, his word.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 And so what happens to Jesus
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 immediately after baptism?
00:26:22 --> 00:26:23 He finds himself
00:26:23 --> 00:26:25 away from the Father and the Son,
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 in the wilderness.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 Take a look at verses 12 and 13.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:31 At once the Spirit sent him out
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 into the wilderness
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 and he was in the wilderness
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 40 days,
00:26:34 --> 00:26:35 being tempted by Satan.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 And he was with the wild animals
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 and the angels attended him.
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43 You see, Mark treats
00:26:43 --> 00:26:44 Satan as a reality,
00:26:45 --> 00:26:45 not a myth.
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 The Bible asserts that he's real
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 and he tempts us away
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 consistently
00:26:50 --> 00:26:52 on centering our lives
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 around God.
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54 And throughout the remainder
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 of his life,
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 Jesus is consistently
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 assaulted by Satan
00:26:59 --> 00:27:01 again and again and again.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 And the climax
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 of the assault
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 is in another garden.
00:27:08 --> 00:27:11 the garden of Gethsemane.
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14 It was the night
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16 of his great anguish
00:27:16 --> 00:27:18 over God's plan
00:27:18 --> 00:27:19 just before he's rescued
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 and just before his execution
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 and he knows
00:27:23 --> 00:27:24 he's heading to the cross.
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 And God says to Jesus,
00:27:29 --> 00:27:32 you obey me, Jesus.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 Obey me about the tree.
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 Adam and Eve didn't,
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 but you obey me about the tree.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 Only this time the tree
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 was a wooden cross.
00:27:47 --> 00:27:48 Obey me about the tree
00:27:48 --> 00:27:48 meant for Adam
00:27:48 --> 00:27:50 that he would live forever
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 in infinite joy.
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 But Jesus,
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 obey me about the tree
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 would result
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00 in rejection
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 by his father
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03 with whom he had
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 experienced
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 infinite joy
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 and he would die.
00:28:10 --> 00:28:11 And so Jesus
00:28:11 --> 00:28:12 went into the battle
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 with Satan
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 for us
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 in order to draw us
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16 back into the dance.
00:28:19 --> 00:28:21 What he has enjoyed
00:28:21 --> 00:28:22 for all eternity
00:28:22 --> 00:28:25 with the Father
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 and the Spirit
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 he came to offer us.
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 He steps out of it
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 to offer it to us.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 Jesus offers us
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 a relationship
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 of unconditional love
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 with God
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 the only source
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 of infinite joy.
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 And he calls us
00:28:46 --> 00:28:47 at the end of this passage
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 to come.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:53 He calls us
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 into this relationship
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 in verses 14 and 15.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 We have all failed
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 like Adam and Eve
00:28:58 --> 00:28:58 before us
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59 and we have all
00:28:59 --> 00:29:00 attempted to make
00:29:00 --> 00:29:01 everything,
00:29:02 --> 00:29:02 everyone,
00:29:03 --> 00:29:04 all but around us.
00:29:05 --> 00:29:07 And the very first words
00:29:07 --> 00:29:08 that you hear
00:29:08 --> 00:29:08 from Jesus
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 in Mark's Gospel
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 is the call
00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 that he still calls
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 on every life
00:29:15 --> 00:29:15 today
00:29:15 --> 00:29:18 in 2018
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19 around this world
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20 and ever since
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 he first uttered it
00:29:22 --> 00:29:22 repent
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 and believe
00:29:23 --> 00:29:25 the good news.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 The word repent
00:29:28 --> 00:29:28 here
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30 means reverse course
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 or to turn away
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 turn away
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 from having the world
00:29:33 --> 00:29:34 orbit around you.
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 In the Bible
00:29:37 --> 00:29:37 it means
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 to specifically
00:29:38 --> 00:29:38 turn away
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 from the things
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 that Jesus hates
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41 and towards
00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 the things
00:29:42 --> 00:29:43 that he loves.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 And the good news
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 is another way
00:29:46 --> 00:29:47 of saying gospel.
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50 The word gospel
00:29:50 --> 00:29:51 literally means
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52 news
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 that brings joy.
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55 And at the time
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56 of Mark
00:29:56 --> 00:29:58 they used
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59 the word
00:29:59 --> 00:29:59 it
00:29:59 --> 00:30:01 meant
00:30:01 --> 00:30:02 history making
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 life
00:30:03 --> 00:30:04 shaping
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 history
00:30:06 --> 00:30:07 altering
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 as opposed
00:30:08 --> 00:30:09 to
00:30:09 --> 00:30:09 the nightly
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 news bulletin
00:30:10 --> 00:30:11 about some
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 cat
00:30:12 --> 00:30:12 stuck up
00:30:12 --> 00:30:12 a tree.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:16 the gospel
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17 was news
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18 of some
00:30:18 --> 00:30:18 event
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19 that changed
00:30:19 --> 00:30:20 things
00:30:20 --> 00:30:22 in a meaningful
00:30:22 --> 00:30:22 way for
00:30:22 --> 00:30:23 everyone
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24 in the Roman
00:30:24 --> 00:30:24 Empire.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:28 The words
00:30:28 --> 00:30:29 good news
00:30:29 --> 00:30:29 can
00:30:29 --> 00:30:30 you can see
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 the difference
00:30:31 --> 00:30:32 between
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33 Christianity
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 and every other
00:30:34 --> 00:30:34 religion
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 in those words
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 good news
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 including
00:30:38 --> 00:30:38 may I add
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 the religion
00:30:39 --> 00:30:39 of no religion.
00:30:39 --> 00:30:42 the essence
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 of other
00:30:43 --> 00:30:43 religions
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 is
00:30:44 --> 00:30:45 advice.
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47 Christianity
00:30:47 --> 00:30:48 is essentially
00:30:48 --> 00:30:48 news
00:30:48 --> 00:30:50 good news.
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 Other religions
00:30:52 --> 00:30:52 say this
00:30:52 --> 00:30:53 is what
00:30:53 --> 00:30:54 you need
00:30:54 --> 00:30:54 to do
00:30:54 --> 00:30:54 in order
00:30:54 --> 00:30:54 to connect
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55 with God
00:30:55 --> 00:30:55 forever.
00:30:56 --> 00:30:57 The Christian
00:30:57 --> 00:30:57 gospel
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 says this
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 is what
00:30:59 --> 00:30:59 has been
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 done
00:31:00 --> 00:31:00 in history
00:31:00 --> 00:31:01 this is
00:31:01 --> 00:31:02 how Jesus
00:31:02 --> 00:31:02 lived
00:31:02 --> 00:31:03 this is
00:31:03 --> 00:31:03 how he
00:31:03 --> 00:31:03 died
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05 to earn
00:31:05 --> 00:31:05 the way
00:31:05 --> 00:31:06 for you
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 to God
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 and therefore
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 Christianity
00:31:10 --> 00:31:10 is joyful
00:31:10 --> 00:31:11 news.
00:31:12 --> 00:31:12 The call
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 from Jesus
00:31:13 --> 00:31:13 is to turn
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14 away from
00:31:14 --> 00:31:14 the lies
00:31:14 --> 00:31:15 of Satan
00:31:15 --> 00:31:16 and to
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 trust God
00:31:17 --> 00:31:17 turn away
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18 from being
00:31:18 --> 00:31:18 king of
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 your own
00:31:19 --> 00:31:19 life and
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 surrender
00:31:20 --> 00:31:20 to the
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 true king
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 turn away
00:31:22 --> 00:31:22 from the
00:31:22 --> 00:31:22 life of
00:31:22 --> 00:31:23 self-centeredness
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 of self-centeredness
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 destroys every
00:31:26 --> 00:31:26 relationship
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 around you.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:29 Nothing
00:31:29 --> 00:31:30 makes us
00:31:30 --> 00:31:31 more miserable
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 than self-absorption
00:31:33 --> 00:31:37 because self-absorption
00:31:37 --> 00:31:37 leaves us
00:31:37 --> 00:31:38 static.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 Wars
00:31:41 --> 00:31:42 class
00:31:42 --> 00:31:43 struggles
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 racism
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45 family
00:31:45 --> 00:31:45 breakdown
00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 they all
00:31:47 --> 00:31:49 have
00:31:49 --> 00:31:49 the root
00:31:49 --> 00:31:51 their root
00:31:51 --> 00:31:51 in the
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 darkness
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53 of self-centeredness.
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 When we
00:31:56 --> 00:31:57 decide to be
00:31:57 --> 00:31:57 our own
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58 center
00:31:58 --> 00:31:58 our own
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 king
00:31:59 --> 00:31:59 everything
00:31:59 --> 00:32:00 falls apart
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 physically
00:32:02 --> 00:32:02 socially
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03 spiritually
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 psychologically
00:32:04 --> 00:32:05 everything
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 falls apart.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 We have
00:32:08 --> 00:32:08 left the
00:32:08 --> 00:32:08 dance
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 a mutual
00:32:09 --> 00:32:09 love
00:32:09 --> 00:32:09 relationship
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 with God
00:32:10 --> 00:32:12 and yet
00:32:12 --> 00:32:14 our longing
00:32:14 --> 00:32:15 in every
00:32:15 --> 00:32:16 human heart
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 is to be
00:32:17 --> 00:32:17 there.
00:32:21 --> 00:32:22 The good
00:32:22 --> 00:32:22 news
00:32:22 --> 00:32:24 the history
00:32:24 --> 00:32:24 altering
00:32:24 --> 00:32:25 news of
00:32:25 --> 00:32:25 Christianity
00:32:25 --> 00:32:26 is that
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 Jesus has
00:32:27 --> 00:32:27 come back
00:32:27 --> 00:32:28 to bring
00:32:28 --> 00:32:28 us in
00:32:28 --> 00:32:29 and the
00:32:29 --> 00:32:29 call of
00:32:29 --> 00:32:30 Jesus
00:32:30 --> 00:32:30 repent
00:32:30 --> 00:32:31 and believe
00:32:31 --> 00:32:31 the good
00:32:31 --> 00:32:32 news.
00:32:32 --> 00:32:32 They are
00:32:32 --> 00:32:33 the very
00:32:33 --> 00:32:33 first words
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34 of Jesus
00:32:34 --> 00:32:34 in Mark's
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 gospel.
00:32:38 --> 00:32:38 Have
00:32:38 --> 00:32:39 you heard
00:32:39 --> 00:32:40 him calling
00:32:40 --> 00:32:42 you today?
00:32:43 --> 00:32:44 2 years
00:32:44 --> 00:32:45 later have
00:32:45 --> 00:32:45 you heard
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46 like Emil
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 Caliet sitting
00:32:47 --> 00:32:47 in that
00:32:47 --> 00:32:48 garden
00:32:48 --> 00:32:48 have you
00:32:48 --> 00:32:49 heard him
00:32:49 --> 00:32:50 calling you
00:32:50 --> 00:32:50 today?
00:32:54 --> 00:32:54 Do you
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 have any
00:32:55 --> 00:32:56 sense of
00:32:56 --> 00:32:57 a warmth
00:32:57 --> 00:32:57 in there?
00:33:00 --> 00:33:01 I want
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 to give
00:33:02 --> 00:33:02 you an
00:33:02 --> 00:33:02 opportunity
00:33:02 --> 00:33:03 to respond
00:33:03 --> 00:33:03 to Jesus
00:33:03 --> 00:33:04 today.
00:33:04 --> 00:33:05 To simply
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 respond to
00:33:07 --> 00:33:07 his call
00:33:07 --> 00:33:07 on your
00:33:07 --> 00:33:08 life and
00:33:08 --> 00:33:08 on the
00:33:08 --> 00:33:08 back of
00:33:08 --> 00:33:09 your service
00:33:09 --> 00:33:10 sheet there
00:33:10 --> 00:33:10 is a
00:33:10 --> 00:33:11 prayer.
00:33:11 --> 00:33:11 It's a
00:33:11 --> 00:33:12 very simple
00:33:12 --> 00:33:13 prayer but
00:33:13 --> 00:33:14 it is a
00:33:14 --> 00:33:15 life altering
00:33:15 --> 00:33:16 prayer.
00:33:17 --> 00:33:18 It's down
00:33:18 --> 00:33:18 the bottom.
00:33:21 --> 00:33:21 It's a
00:33:21 --> 00:33:22 prayer similar
00:33:22 --> 00:33:22 to what
00:33:22 --> 00:33:22 Emil
00:33:22 --> 00:33:23 Caliet would
00:33:23 --> 00:33:24 have prayed
00:33:24 --> 00:33:25 nearly a
00:33:25 --> 00:33:26 century ago.
00:33:26 --> 00:33:26 It's a
00:33:26 --> 00:33:27 prayer that
00:33:27 --> 00:33:27 I have
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28 prayed and
00:33:28 --> 00:33:28 many of
00:33:28 --> 00:33:29 you have
00:33:29 --> 00:33:29 prayed.
00:33:30 --> 00:33:30 The
00:33:30 --> 00:33:31 Jesus who
00:33:31 --> 00:33:32 was alive
00:33:32 --> 00:33:32 who is
00:33:32 --> 00:33:34 ruling and
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35 calling then
00:33:35 --> 00:33:36 is doing
00:33:36 --> 00:33:37 exactly the
00:33:37 --> 00:33:38 same now.
00:33:40 --> 00:33:41 He calls
00:33:41 --> 00:33:41 you to
00:33:41 --> 00:33:41 repent,
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 to believe
00:33:44 --> 00:33:45 and to
00:33:45 --> 00:33:45 have your
00:33:45 --> 00:33:46 life orbit
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47 around God
00:33:47 --> 00:33:49 and find
00:33:49 --> 00:33:50 infinite
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 everlasting
00:33:52 --> 00:33:53 joy in
00:33:53 --> 00:33:53 him.
00:33:54 --> 00:33:55 God's
00:33:55 --> 00:33:59 call on
00:33:59 --> 00:34:00 your life.
00:34:01 --> 00:34:01 Pray it
00:34:01 --> 00:34:03 and join
00:34:03 --> 00:34:03 the dance
00:34:03 --> 00:34:04 with God.
00:34:06 --> 00:34:06 If that
00:34:06 --> 00:34:07 is your
00:34:07 --> 00:34:08 prayer, I'm
00:34:08 --> 00:34:08 going to be
00:34:08 --> 00:34:08 down the
00:34:08 --> 00:34:08 front with
00:34:08 --> 00:34:09 a couple
00:34:09 --> 00:34:09 of others
00:34:09 --> 00:34:10 after this
00:34:10 --> 00:34:10 service.
00:34:11 --> 00:34:11 But I
00:34:11 --> 00:34:11 want to
00:34:11 --> 00:34:12 urge you
00:34:12 --> 00:34:12 strongly to
00:34:12 --> 00:34:13 pray that
00:34:13 --> 00:34:14 prayer and
00:34:14 --> 00:34:15 rejoin that
00:34:15 --> 00:34:16 dance with
00:34:16 --> 00:34:16 God today.
00:34:17 --> 00:34:17 Amen.