 And so we'll begin reading at verse one, Mark chapter one, and one other thing. I welcome you who are watching us online, and it's a blessing to have you with us today. Some of you are able to be here, others can't. Those who cannot, you know, that's understandable. Those of you who can, it's probably time to come home. And if you're able to be here with us, I encourage you to come and show up. We miss you as a church. We miss you, we miss your presence. And so as a pastor, if I'm your pastor, please come if I'm not, then don't, who cares? Anyway, beginning at verse one. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. So as we have just concluded our study in the book of Revelation, I thought it would be good for us to begin looking at a gospel. And so I began to look at when is the last time I taught through the gospel of Mark, and I haven't taught in the gospel of Mark since 2003. So it's been quite a number of years since we've been through this book together, so I believe it's time for us once again to do so. And so what I'll do right now is what I usually do as we begin a new study. I'll give you some basic information in order that we might have a context and be able to understand this particular book, this gospel called the gospel of Mark. Obviously as we look at it, notice it's called the gospel according to Mark. Now Mark was not one of the original apostles. He most likely came to faith in Jesus Christ through the apostle Peter's ministry. Now how would we know that or why would we say that? When you read 1 Peter in chapter 5 verse 13, a letter written by the apostle Peter, Peter speaks of Mark and calls him my son Mark. And so Bible commentators would say it would seem obvious that in his reference to him as my son Mark, it would be speaking of the fact that Mark had come to faith through Christ through the ministry of the apostle Peter. And so that may be something that helps us understand why some refer to the gospel of Mark is actually, they'll sometimes say it's really the gospel of Peter. Why is that? Because the apostle Peter is more than likely the one who gave him the information. Why? Because Mark was not one of the original apostles. And so Peter is the one who brought him to faith that would seem that way according to 1 Peter 5 13. Now that helps to establish his credibility. Mark became a traveling companion in ministry. We're introduced to him in the book of Acts. And he was a traveling companion with his cousin Barnabas. And he accompanied the apostle Paul. You see that in Barnabas as his cousin and all. You see that in the book of Acts in chapter 4 as well as chapter 9. And so when you're looking at the Bible and you're looking at the gospels and you're looking at the various letters and all, you read the book of Acts, it's the history. And in the book of Acts, we see that Mark went with Paul and Barnabas on Paul's first missionary journey. But the problem is, and I want to develop this with you for a moment in my introduction, the problem is that Mark was not ready for the spiritual challenges of ministry. A lot of people don't realize that ministry has some tremendous challenges, spiritual challenges. Mark wasn't ready for them because the Bible tells us in Acts chapter 13 that Mark had accompanied his cousin Barnabas and the apostle Paul as they had gone on their missionary journey. But in chapter 13 verse 13 in the book of Acts, it tells us that he deserted them. He left. He actually left them and went back to Jerusalem. And when he got up and left, it caused a tremendous problem for the apostle Paul. He was just not spiritually mature enough for this kind of ministry. And Paul didn't do well with that. Well later when you're reading in the book of Acts, Paul was about to go on another missionary journey and Barnabas wanted to take Mark with him on that journey, but Paul refused to take him. You see, Paul wanted to visit cities that he had gone to and made converts and he wanted to check on their spiritual health. But it says in Acts 15, 37 through 40, Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and departed being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. When it speaks concerning that the contention became so sharp, the word sharp speaks of it being a very, very deep. The word is a proxism. It was just a very, it was something that was very intense. And it was a division that happened. Now we need to understand something. Barnabas, being his cousin, had a natural love for his kin. But also Barnabas was an encourager. His name Barnabas actually means son of comfort. When Saul became a Christian in his, as he was breathing out threatenings to take the Christians and put them into jail and all, even to the point where some were dying, he had had this road to Damascus experience. We all know it. It's found in Acts chapter 9. How that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to him, asked him, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who am I persecuting? He says, it's I Jesus. And when you, when you persecute one of those who are mine, you're persecuting me. And he had this conversion and he went and went to the place called the house of Ananias. And while he was there, he came to realize that he himself needed to have Christ as his savior. And so Acts tells us how that, that he wanted to join with the apostles, but they wouldn't accept him because this is the one who was killing people. This is the one who you should fear. This guy had authority to put you in jail and even, even oversee your execution. And they didn't want anything to do with this guy. And so what happens is Barnabas actually spoke on Paul's behalf and brought him to the apostles. And that's how Paul actually made his way into the apostolic company. Barnabas was the son of Comfort, son of Comfort. He was an encourager. So, so Saul is more, no, we've got to do things right. We have to have things done in a proper way. And, and Barnabas is in agreement with that, of course. But Mark, Mark has potential. Don't you see it? And Paul appears at least in reference to, to Mark. Paul would say, Nope, I'm not taking him. So Paul took another man, took off and Barnabas took off with, with Mark. And that's how it happened. They departed. They had a great schism that occurred over this. But I wanted to tell you that story as an introduction because Mark eventually became an example. He became an example of a man who was mentored into maturity. Barnabas undoubtedly discipled him. And Barnabas encouraged him in his growth. And this should provide for us encouragement, especially to any who have stumbled at the cost of service. If you take notes Psalm 37 verses 23 and 24, you might want to mark that down. It says, The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall. For the Lord holds them by the hand. Though they stumble, they will never fall. Well, wait a minute. What do you mean they will never fall? Well, when he says they will never fall, he's speaking of they will never be cast away. Though they stumble, they will not be cast away. They will not be thrown away. In other words, though a righteous person may fail, they're not discarded. Instead, the Lord upholds them by the hand. That's what it says in Psalm 37, 24. It says they will never fall. For the Lord holds them by the hand. Now that's another interesting thing. The word hold there is literally really upholds them. It's not simply that he's holding their hand. He's upholding him. In other words, it's not by his own power that he's recovered. But because even when he fails, he's held up by God's invisible hand. And God will not let him sink into complete ruin. Maybe somebody watching right now might need to remember that or even know that. Maybe some who are here right now or perhaps next service need to hear that. Though you stumbled, who doesn't stumble, huh? Who doesn't fail besides me? No, who doesn't fail? We all do. In word, in tongue, in action. We all do. That's no excuse. I'm not saying so. Let's all go and stumble at a bar after church. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is you can fail even when you don't want to. You can fail sometimes because by human nature, we do. We will stumble. We hear the Bible. We teach the Bible. We want to do what God says. And then we find ourselves in situations that reveal our weakness. I were coming home from our trip and be honest with you, I hadn't had a day off in two weeks. My body's tired. I taught four times in Indianapolis. I did Q&A with the pastors. I was very busy from early to late. My body's tired. I'm coming home. I'm ready to come home and rest. I'm ready. And so what happens? We get to Indianapolis Airport there and we have a delay. As we have the delay, I'm thinking we have to catch a flight in Dallas because we didn't have a direct flight. So I'm thinking, oh boy, this is going to be cutting it close. I'm already beginning to think we're going to miss our flight. But we get on and we make up a little of the time. We arrive and it's 25 minutes before they close, about 20 minutes before they close the gate. And so we're going to make it because the gate that we're going to be going to is just right next to the gate we got off. We got off on gate 17. We depart in gate 19. Traveled enough to know that it'll take just two seconds to get there basically. We're going to make it except for one thing. They didn't open the door. So I'm standing there waiting to get out of a plane knowing that our plane is about to leave. We have to be on it. And as I'm waiting there, it took over 20 minutes to get somebody to open the door. So they finally opened the door. And Marie and I hurry to our gate. When we get to the gate, the fella says, gate's closed, you can't get on the plane. And I say to him, you don't know who I am? No, I said, I said, we've been sitting on the plane here because they didn't open up the door. He said, well, I'm sorry, you're not going to get on the plane. So I said, okay, so we have to wait three hours. That's a long wait when you're especially ready to go home. So we go and sit down in the lounge area. And as we sit down in the lounge area, I'm quiet. Whenever I'm bugged, Marie can tell you this, I just get real quiet. I'm not the guy who yells. I just get quiet and I stew and I complain. It's what I do. Oh, God, you know I'm tired. What's going on? Why? I just want to go home. You know, I'm being a baby. So as I'm sitting there thinking, here comes a little boy, he's about three. And he comes walking past me. And his dad's going to get him something to eat. And the boy says, I want spaghetti. And the father says, I'm sorry, son, they don't have any. And the kid starts getting really mad. And he starts yelling, I want spaghetti. And then the Lord says to my heart, how's it feel? How's it feel? I want to go home. What's the difference? You're not going to get your spaghetti shut up. See, so, you know, I like to make it real. I like you to know that we're all in it together. We don't want to make those decisions. We don't want to get frustrated. I don't, I'd assume you don't either, but we do. And the Lord has to bring me back. He reels me in so often. And so scriptures like this, he holds you up. He holds you up. You know, he's not going to discard you. These are important scriptures. And in ministry, especially John Mark, his name was John Mark. We call him Mark, but John Mark, Mark departed. He basically abandoned Paul. He left him holding the bag. He didn't want to go on. It was too tough. Ministry is too hard. Why do I want to travel to these cities where they're so upset? There's so much, there's so much evil. I just want to go home. And that's what he did. He went home. And as he went home, well, Paul comes back, finishes his trip. He's a real warrior. He says, let's go out and check on the churches that we've been ministering to. I want to talk to the converts and Barnabas says, well, yeah, let's bring John Mark. No, I'm not bringing him. He departed. He doesn't have what it takes. Well, you know, I think that we should take him because he needs to gain experience. Paul, I don't care. I'm not bringing him. And it became a real, real battle between the two. It wasn't just, well, you think so? It was an angry exchange between Paul. And you have to think, no, wait a minute, Barnabas was a believer before you, Paul. Not only that, Barnabas is the one who encouraged you, Paul. You don't remember that? And he's the one who introduced you to the apostles. You don't know any of that. You're just so busy wanting to do this that you don't think of that. And Barnabas, Barnabas said, no, I'm going to retrieve this one. Not that Paul wouldn't. Paul, it appears when you read about Paul, he had a mind to do what God told him to do. And sometimes what he needed to do seems to have overridden some other considerations, whereas Barnabas, and I won't say it was an error for it, by the way, I won't say that. But I will say that there are two strong personalities involved here. And Barnabas said, you know what? You can go. But I'm going to take care of John Martin. That's what I'm going to do. Thank God for the Barnabas's in our life. Thank God. Thank God for the ones who say, you know what? Understand. I understand you. Been there, done that. But you can be recovered. You can be used. And that's exactly what happened. In Philippians 1-6, I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it's finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. He begins and continues, and he will finish it. Perhaps somebody needs to remember that today. Perhaps somebody needs to remember that. He began, he continues, and he finishes. And that's what our God does. Well, Paul ultimately reconciled with Mark and even spoke well of him. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 11, 2 Timothy being his last letter, he says, get Mark, bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. And that's what happens when you have a Barnabas in your life who believes in God and is willing to work with you. Again, we may fail, but we don't have to remain in failure. In Proverbs 24-16, though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again. But the wicked stumble into calamity, and they basically remain there. And so this is a man who wrote this gospel. This is Mark. It was written probably between, and conservative scholars would say, between the year 55 and 65 A.D. And the reason they say that is because when you're reading through Mark, you'll notice that the temple is not spoken of as being destroyed, and the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. So this was written before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Each gospel, when you read your Bible, each gospel was written with a purpose. When you read Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, it was written to Jewish readers to present Jesus as Messiah to the Jewish reader. Luke, the Gospel of Luke, was written for the Gentiles, for the Greeks. Luke himself was a Gentile, and so Luke was written for the Gentiles to present Jesus as the perfect man because within the Greek framework, the ideal man was the perfect man, and that's what they wanted to be. And then John, when you read the Gospel of John, it was actually written as an apologetic against a heresy called Gnosticism that was entering into the Christian church. The Gnostics believed that that matter and spirit could not have anything to do with one another, and that's why John begins in his gospel in a different way. In the beginning was the Word. It was with God. The Word was God, and the Word became flesh. It's because he was writing to those to defend against Gnosticism that was entering into and undermining the Gospel. But Mark was written to Romans to present Jesus as the perfect, submitted servant. You see, in Roman culture, that would make Jesus an example of the ideal Roman. And you're going to see this in much of the writing, and hopefully I'll remember to point it out. But Jesus said it in Mark 10.45, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve to give his life as a ransom for many. And the Romans as a culture valued the servant of the state. So that's why Mark is written in the way that it is. Now it's interesting, as you notice in verse 1, how it begins simply by saying the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, Christ the Son of God. We're so used to the word Gospel, those of us who have been believers for a while. We're so used to the word Gospel that we always associate Gospel with the written word here. Mark begins by giving us a sense of the transition of the word Gospel. You see, Gospel itself speaks of great or good news, and the Gospel is often referred to as the Gospel of the Kingdom. It's a good news of the Kingdom. But here, Mark makes it clear that Gospel can also refer to a written record. So he uses the word to share the main facts of Jesus' life as well as his work. Today we use the word Gospel to describe the message of salvation as well as the book. And so he begins with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now notice in verse 1, he immediately points us to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He makes it very clear to us. He wants to make that very, very open and help us to be aware of that, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so he begins by proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That reminds us, by the way, of the words of the Apostle Peter when he was there in a place called Caesarea Philippi. When we go to Israel, we always go to this place, Caesarea Philippi. And you see a clear rendition of what took place in Matthew 16 when Jesus is there. And Caesarea Philippi was a place where the people would actually go to vacation. It was a beautiful place, and it is. It's very nice to use to have a city around it. But it was also the center of of idolatry. And so Jesus is there, and he asks the question of his man. He says, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they begin to respond. John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. This is what they're saying about you, which is common at that time. You even see in the Gospel of Luke that Herod was saying those things concerning Jesus. It was common that people were saying that about him. So you're one of the prophets, at least. And then Jesus asks the question, but who do you say that I am? Because you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Notice how Mark begins, the Son of God. It would seem that as the Apostle Peter is sharing the events of the life of Christ with his young man Mark, that the thing that stuck to his mind from the very beginning is who Jesus Christ is. He wasn't simply a prophet. He wasn't one of the old prophets. He is God's Son. And that's how he begins to let us know who Jesus actually is, because that would have been a critical moment in the life of the Apostle Peter. It's something that he would have instilled in Mark as he shared with them. Well, Mark refers to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God is written in the Jewish prophets concerning Messiah. Notice verse 2, it's written in the prophets, behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare for you the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. So right off the, you know, right out of the gate it's Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets. Again, the Romans didn't necessarily have a great knowledge of Old Testament scriptures. But in Mark's gospel he quotes scripture to reveal that Jesus fulfills prophecy. You see the Old Testament prophets wrote concerning Messiah, the one who was to come and hundreds of years before the fact the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit to write of Jesus Christ. Again, in Peter's writing, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21 he said, prophecy for prophecy never came by the will of man but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy came from God not through something inside of man and in his first letter Peter made it clear that the prophets were writing to future generations. In 1 Peter 1 12 it says to them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things which angels desire to look into. The prophets received the word, wrote it down, it was inspired by God but they knew that this was for a coming generation. So Mark's gospel is intertwined with the prophets of the Old Testament. That's because he desires to demonstrate the Messiah of the Old Testament as Jesus Christ. As I've been sharing with you recently in the life and ministry of Christ no less than 300 specific Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled and this element by the way of prophecy is found in no other religious book in the world. There's no other book in the world that purports to be inspired by God that has prophecy. Only the Christian faith has prophecy. The Jewish Christian faith does because our God is the God who knows everything. In Isaiah 46, 9 and 10 God says, remember the former things, those of long ago. I am God. There's no other. I am God. There's none like me. I make known the end from the beginning from ancient times what is still to come. I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please. In Isaiah 48, 5 even from the beginning I have declared it to you before it came to pass. I proclaimed it to you lest you should say my idol has done them my carved image, my molded image have commanded them. God says, no, I'm the one who can tell you the end from the beginning. I'm the one who gives to you the future. He prophesies. He speaks forth. He begins to declare what has been found in ancient writings and as we look at this in verses 2 and 3 he's actually quoting two prophets. He's quoting Malachi as well as Isaiah and he says it again it's written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way for you. The first reference, book of Malachi, an Old Testament book, the last book of the Old Testament is about 430 years before Christ. In Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 it says I will send my messenger he shall prepare the way before me the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in behold he shall come say at the Lord of hosts Messiah is going to come but before he does a messenger will come to prepare the way for him. So in verse 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness that word crying speaks of crying out loudly in the wilderness. It speaks of the messenger the message even Messiah and it's taken from the book of Isaiah written 740 years before Christ. So Isaiah 40 verse 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God. So Jesus said that the one referred to as a messenger is John the Baptist. In Matthew 11 verse 10 John is one of whom it is written behold I send my messenger before your face will prepare your way before you. Now I want to look at this with you for a moment as I'm developing all of this. The ministry of John was to prepare the way of the Lord. What was John's ministry to preach repentance to prepare people for Jesus Christ? Notice how he's referred to as a voice the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord to make his path straight. When he speaks of that crying in the wilderness that's a picture of a waterless desert. It's a place without roads it's a place that's filled with with obstacles and that's what it's like to be without a relationship with the Lord. Life is dry filled with obstacles but when you receive forgiveness for your sins and Christ is your savior that's when you're satisfied in Psalm 107 35 he changes a wilderness into a pool of water a dry land into springs of water. You see when kings went on journeys through the wilderness the way had to be prepared for them workers would be sent out to clear and to level to build a road for his travel. So John was sent to prepare the way for Messiah and the way he prepared the way for Messiah is to preach repentance. His preaching was to encourage people to pray for Jesus a fitting reception. People were to prepare to meet Messiah how are they going to do that? How are you going to meet Messiah? Well clean the debris of sin out of your life. They were to confess. They were to repent and in confession and repentance turning away from and admitting a direct path was opened up for the Lord to enter in. So make his path straight through the sin and clear out the clutter so he can enter in. I don't know if you've ever seen those shows called hoarders the show hoarder. I don't watch it that's not one of my favorite shows but my daughter in law does and when she's in my house it's her house and she watches hoarders so I sat with her to watch it. I don't know if you've ever seen it. How many of you have seen it the illustration doesn't fall in dead air some of you have others let me tell you. It's people who have clutter in their houses you started out with this and you like it and you kept it then you got something else you like and you kept it you never throw it away and it begins to have great value to you and before you know it your house is filled with little knickknacks and things that you found oh I got this in a yard sale or my mother gave me that's usually what they say as I was watching this but what happens is the house begins to be filled with everything everything to the point where they'll move boxes and rats will come running from underneath it they slide a little bit off of the table so they can eat and it's just it's tragic it's sad and the thing is that the hoarders don't realize they have all the clutter and you know what I've discovered a long time ago that we don't understand that we can be cluttered too that sin can clutter our lives now this is not a bad this is not a bad thing it's just something it's just who I am I'll keep it right here now this isn't really it's not really that bad yeah some people don't like it and all that but it means something to me I have a whole history with this so I'll keep it right here and before you know it you've got a whole life of clutter and so John is saying get it out of the way get it out of the way so that God can have straight entrance your king is coming get it out of the way how do I get rid of this clutter he says you need to confess and repent we'll see this in a moment you confess and you repent and that's how you are able to have made a way for the Lord to enter in by confession and repentance and so as he's speaking concerning this and he's saying make this pass straight John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins that's how it works and well John was unique when you look at John and we're introduced to him here he was unique Jesus said he was not only a prophet Jesus said he's more than a prophet in other words he's not only a prophet the last of the Old Testament prophets John the Baptist but he is even more than why not only was he a prophet but he was a subject of prophecy this is he of who it spoke so he was a subject of prophecy now Mark is introducing John notice that but he doesn't give us much information so when you look in the Bible about this man John you see various things you see that for example he was a miracle child you see that John was born to an aged couple named Zacharias and Elizabeth you know that his mother Elizabeth was Mary the mother of Jesus's cousin and that John is 6 months older than Jesus so John was also a cousin to Jesus Christ you can see that his father and his mother were a priestly descent Luke chapter 1 tells us this that means that John was qualified to be recognized as a priest he had a godly heritage and that gave him great advantage and when speaking of him in Luke chapter 1 it says that you see to be great in the sight of the Lord and Jesus said that in Luke 11 verse 11 he said I tell you the truth of all who have ever lived none is greater than John the Baptist so this John who is great the subject of prophecy and a prophet had a desire to please God and that made him great in the Lord's sight you see to be great in the sight of the Lord you need to have your priorities established and John was one who had priorities that were established because in Deuteronomy 6 verse 5 the command is love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your strength and that's what he did when you read about him there's another thing I noted as I was just kind of putting some things together in Luke 1 verse 15 it says that he didn't drink wine or strong drink in other words he was separated to God he didn't cater to the desires of flesh one commentator said that John sustained by avoiding the use of alcohol somebody said I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church well John was a man who was separated he didn't let the world put him in its mold Luke 1 15 again tells us that he was filled with the Holy Spirit he was empowered and led by God and that's what gave him the strength to abstain from fleshly desire because his sinful flesh was under the control of the Spirit of God he wanted to do that which pleased the Lord and in his ministry he turned many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God he was sent to call the people of Israel to repentance and turn to God and because of that and we'll see this I'm just touching on some things he was courageous he's obedient and he was very direct I don't think that John would be a good pastor in many churches today I really don't I think if I say you know we have a special guest this Sunday John come on up you whitewash I don't think he'd go over very well he wouldn't be on a lot of Christian TV programs I promise you very direct very courageous very obedient we'll look at him closer and we will but I just wanted to touch on a few things because notice verse 4 says he came baptizing in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance he was an evangelist he called people to God John was the first prophet in 300 years to come and speak to Israel and as he preached he gave the invitation for them to be baptized there in the wilderness now in the eastern border of Israel that's where John baptized his baptism was called the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins in other words the baptism was a result of repentance it led to sins forgiveness John's baptism did not produce repentance the baptism was the result of repentance and when you hear that word repentance and I'm giving a lot of basic words that we'll become real familiar with through the gospel repentance is a changed mind it's a turning from sin it's a righteous life of faith in God repentance is the changing of mind which produces the turning from sin in living for God and he was on a mission he was going to make people who are prepared to meet the Lord now his ministry purpose was not for personal popularity popularity and fame eventually came to him but so did his death he was sent with the purpose of preparing people to be ready to meet the Lord and by the way that's what pastor teachers do also is we want to make sure that our churches are well equipped that know the word that's why take the time and do what I do some appreciate it some don't but that's the reason I do this so that you're equipped for works of service so that if somebody knocks on your door and says I believe that Jesus Christ is Michael the Archangel you say wait a minute I've learned things about Jesus and never says that now you can have a discussion oh I believe that the gospel came to North America went to the Indians and this and that and you can say well wait a minute where do you get that from and you know these things because you've been in the word of God and so that's why we do what we do that's why Mark is saying from the beginning the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ let me give you some scripture even if you don't believe it Roman but these two scriptures pertain to Messiah so I can show you our faith is not built on just feelings from within but scripture that came from God himself and that's what's happening and as he's there baptizing notice verse 5 all the land of Judea and those in Jerusalem went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan river confessing their sins that's what's happening they came from all around when it speaks of all the land of Judea that represents the southern area of Israel it includes Jerusalem and so they came to the Jordan river on the west going to the east on the border there on the east and and they were being baptized there there's a place there that we go to and look at some people baptized there it's called Kassar Al Yahrud 30 miles just a little bit to the north and to the east of Jerusalem and and they go to this site we go and look at it but I won't put you in that water it's muddy John it says in John 3 23 was baptized in in in near Salem because there was much water there they came there and they were baptized well the traditional site is there but notice it says they confess their sins now they're confessing their sins not to John but before the people who are there it's another thing I want to talk to you about again all of this is introductory development so we can see the gospel clearly they confess their sins but not to John there are people who think that they were confessing to John and he wasn't again it says confessing their sins listen John could not forgive sins in Mark 2 we're going to see this in verse 7 who can forgive sins but God alone they're receiving baptism was an open confession of their need for cleansing John's was a baptism of repentance preparing people to meet the one who was to come who was Messiah Jesus's baptism was to signify the cleansing that takes place when you become his follower next week when we have our baptism I'll be sharing some details about that and I'm also going to be looking at that a little bit in our next study to help to prepare but these people were not coming saying John forgive me for I have done this he just was receiving them they were being baptized and as they openly did so they were identifying themselves as sinners we need cleansing now in verse 6 it says John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist he ate locus and wild honey so when I grew up I thought he was just a hippie we had a lot of those but here you go I'm going to give you another thing here the way he dressed and what he ate identified him as a prophet his clothing reminded the people of Elijah whom they expected to come before Messiah when you look at the description of Elijah in 2 Kings 1 verse 8 it says he had a garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist and the king said that's Elijah the tish bite and so he was clothed with camel's hair camel's hair is how prophets would dress Zechariah 13.4 it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies they will not wear gold coarse hair to deceive so prophets would wear that garb now his leather belt was modest in value in contrast to the belts that the rich would wear the rich might wear a belt of linen or cotton embroidered with silver and gold his was of untanned leather and when it speaks of his diet his diet voluntarily demonstrated a selfless life now when you go to Israel they bring this up to you they'll say you know how John the Baptist ate locust and wild honey well that's what scripture says and so as a first timer to Israel we'll say yeah that's what it says they'll say did you know that in Israel there's a tree that is called the locust tree and you'll go no and it's like a carob it's chocolate so they say it's very possible that he did eat locusts I'll say that quickly because locusts I hunger for them every day locusts locusts are kosher you can eat locusts if you want here's something for you just to get your attention back you go to Mexico City not just there but you go to Mexico City and if you go into Taco Shop and you say I'd like to have authentic Mexican food you may be surprised what they're going to give you because you may be thinking oh I'd like to get you know kind of some whatever you like and they give you bugs because the Aztecs used to eat bugs and so you might get I forget what kind I mean it's just wonderful and delightful but some eat that because they're high in protein and so it's possible that he ate locusts the actual thing it was clean and you could do that now honey when you hear the word honey what do you think of honey from bees but when you're in Israel they have date honey they have different kinds of honey that are produced by different fruits and things so locusts and while honey there's an actual discussion about this among scholars they'll say yes he could have had locusts it's clean, it's kosher but at the same time there was a carob tree that is called the locust tree it produces a chocolate like substance and he may have just eaten that and as far as the honey it doesn't have to be bees honey it could have been a variety of other kinds of honey now why am I telling you all that just to make it clear that I actually studied what's the point the point is this and I'm about to finish in one more verse um he lived out his message if there's anything that the church needs today it's people like me ministers like me living out the message because if there's anything that stumbles people it's when the person giving the message doesn't live it out it's that attitude do what I say not as I do and people will see that they'll say but what's good for the goose is also good for the gander what you tell me Aya to do are you doing it yourself I think is true I think that's justifiable of course we're to live out what we give out when you looked at John you knew he was the real deal that's the whole point I'm making you knew he was the real deal because he taught humility and as he would preach this and it cost people to realize that what he was saying had validity he taught humility he also taught rejection of the world and that's what he did so okay here we go first service forgive me but it comes to mind some of you have seen it I think it's sad but it comes to mind there's a website where a guy started it just to show the tennis shoes that preachers wear sometimes and I didn't know not because I've got some some ancient hippie mentality related to this I just didn't know that you could buy tennis shoes that cost 8 to 10 thousand dollars I didn't know that some of you some of you guys know that I didn't know that that there are tennis shoes I think when you buy shoes for 100 dollars that's a lot of money no we're talking 8,000, 10,000 dollar tennis shoes so this guy has a website and it's like preacher sneakers or something like that and these people and see John was a guy that when you looked at him you knew there was something different about him his humility and his lack of trying to build himself up on other people his whole goal was to proclaim the message that Jesus Christ Messiah is coming prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight and he was courageous he was filled with the Spirit he was bold enough to speak to anybody we'll see this next week he would speak to anybody and he'd say this is what you need to do this is what you need to do if you're going to have a relationship with God and he was such an amazing man that even his disciples were so caught up with him that when Jesus began to eclipse him they were actually angry and said master the one whom you baptize because John baptizes Jesus when you baptize he's baptizing bringing more people to himself and that's when John speaks and says I'm supposed to decrease he's supposed to increase don't you understand see that's a man of God and when you look at John he lived a life that was separated he lived a life that had integrity he had a courageous message he spoke to the king he said it is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip's wife and that's what cost him his head because he stood up and he said no this is the way it's to be and we need more courageous Christians who are willing to stand up and say no I'm not judging you as an evil person I'm simply saying that is not right before the sight of God and you need to repent in order to have a relationship with him and John did that John was able to do that and if there's anything that undermines anybody's ministry credibility is when they don't live the message they give to other people before I was a Christian somebody told me about God or you shouldn't do that they're sitting there drinking their beer while I'm smoking my pot and they say you shouldn't smoke pot and I say yeah and you shouldn't drink who are you to tell me what I'm supposed to do with my own mind come on practice what you preach if you think I'm not supposed to do this why do you think it's okay for you to do it why? because you enjoy your sin and I'm not supposed to enjoy mine I wasn't a Christian I just didn't see the logic of it if you're going to tell me to do something do it yourself let me see it in you if you're going to tell me how I'm supposed to live sometimes I would see who claim to be Christians they were the most miserable upset angry people all the time you want to make me like that I'm already like that and go to heaven mad why would I want to do that you know what attracted me guys the love of God that attracted me the kindness of people the generosity of people the purity of people the ability to go someplace and not have to get hammered to have a good time and I started saying got something I need John was that guy John was that guy see when you look at your Bible you have to put it into flesh you have to ask yourself what it would have been like to see this guy dressed as a prophet and you see him because prophets wore that camel skin kind of thing they had the coarse hair they had the belt they had the look in many ways many of them were like aesthetics they just didn't abide by the same rules other people did and that enhanced their credibility and they looked at him and they said there's something different about this guy and so when he would speak up and say make a path straight for God to enter in they listened to him they thought this guy's got credibility and that's what he's speaking about here he was a messenger preparing the way for the Lord Jesus Christ and so finally I'll close he said I indeed verse 8 I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit we're going to be looking at these things in detail as we go through this he says my baptism is one of repentance then I might help to prepare you to meet Jesus Christ I can only baptize the outer man but Jesus is the one who baptizes the inner man and he has promised Isaiah 44-3 I will pour out water on him who's thirsty floods on the dry ground I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring your thirsty inside I can fill that thirst Jesus was saying I can give you power to live a life that you wish you could live but you just can't so he says I baptize you with water to prepare you he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit he's going to give you water to drink he's going to fill you with his presence and his power it's like when Jesus said in John 7.37-39 on the last and greatest day of the feast how Jesus stood and said in a loud voice if anyone is thirsty let them come to me and drink whoever believes in me as the scripture has said streams of living water will flow from within him by this he meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive up until that time the spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified in closing if there's anything the church needs today is to wake up to the fact that we are powerless that many Christians are not living the kind of life God would have us to live because we're not walking in his spirit many Christians have begun to look at the Bible as being a rule book if I do these things or I claim these things I can have these things he didn't come to give us more rules he came to set us free to live for him and that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit what has kept me faithful to God for 50 years the power of the Holy Spirit the Word of God that has guided me and the power that has kept me that's what we need here in this church that's what we need I'm serious that's why we're going through the gospel of Mark I want to remember these things with you I hope you stick with it because I want you to see who Jesus is and what he can do because a lot of Christians are running on half empty or almost empty when Jesus says no no I want to give you life in that more abundantly I want you to be able to see that I'm able to give you and do in your life more than you can ask or even think I want you to know my power is still available John could prepare you but Jesus said I came to fill you and I came to do a work in you that is the logical following of repentance and confession and if you need to get more power in your life today's the day to say to God God fill me I want to live for you I need to live for you I have stumbled but I haven't fallen but Lord I just ask that you hold me that you will just fill me so Father I ask for this congregation those who are watching right now I ask in Jesus name that Lord that you would awaken us as we look through this because your word tells us that you will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and Matthew adds in the word and fire that you will purge and cleanse and you will purify us and so Lord I ask that we not look at this book as just a story book but that we begin to be partakers of that story walking alongside of you as we go through these verses so that we might learn to live for Jesus Christ Lord that's our prayer and as our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed perhaps there are some right now who need to get right with the Lord and you need his power to be honest with you you may not know him at all you need to get saved but if you know him but you're just powerless right now if you need prayer I want to pray for you and as your eyes are closed your heads are bowed if you need to get right with him you need his strength would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at right now Father you see these hands and you know the reason why they're being raised I ask in Jesus name that you would just do a work in each one of us and somebody here that will begin to look at certain things here that will help us to get a grip on what it means to follow you but as these who raise their hands right now are saying God I need you I ask that you would just visit them meet them in a very special way right now fill them with your presence Lord may they walk in your spirit may they hunger for your word and may they do that what you say and as we look at this Lord in our own lives may you just fine we yield ourselves to you now and we bless you and thank you thank you Lord bless you you can put your hands down Jesus I ask that you keep moving in us in your name Amen