Through the Water . . .

up through the Pentecost which is right after Easter and so we'll probably go through the first two chapters of Mark and then the church counter switches to John as it has Jesus gets closer and closer to the cross and then of course we'll look at the crucifixion and resurrection and then Pentecost also I've said this before but for the third service tonight I'm gonna read this whole text today but you're only gonna get part of it this morning right so if you want you know my wife has this gift of interrupting me when I'm in my woodshop listening to the radio right when Paul Harvey is getting ready to tell you the answer to the rest of the story she'll say it's dinner time you gotta hear this and so you'll see you know basically we're gonna look at this this the first two thirds of this text and tonight we're gonna finish it up so the title this morning is through the water and tonight's title is and into the wilderness so they go together so that's a teaser for tonight so with all that said hear the word of God John appear baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem we're going out to him and we're being baptized by him in the river Jordan confessing their sins now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore leather belt around his waist and ate locus some wild honey and he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the strap of whose sandals I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the holy spirit in those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John and the Jordan and when he came up out of the water immediately he saw the heavens opening and the spirit descending on him like a dove and the voice came from heaven you are my beloved son with you I am well pleased 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 let us pray father I pray now that as we consider your word as we consider this passage in the gospel of mark that you would make it clear about your intentions with regard to us that your intention is to restore us to call us back to yourself and that you have provided the way home in the person of Jesus I pray that you be in my head and in my thinking in my heart and in my understanding and in my mouth in my speaking in Christ name we pray these things amen and amen you know I was ordained first in June or August I think it was August of 1997 and many of you have heard my story I didn't grow up in the church at all and I became a Christian right before I graduated from high school and then I went into the army and so the unit that I served in in the army was in the woods about 10 months out of the year so I really didn't go to church then very much and then I got out and went to Florida and went to college and went to church in college but it was like a college church and then ultimately I became a pastor my first job as a pastor was right in the heart of the Bible belt right in the center of Atlanta and so I received the call and Judy and I moved our family there and I remember the first day at the church the pastor came by my office and he had a book in his hand and he said hey I brought you something I think it would be good for you to read and I immediately thought you know well this is great man this gets going to mentor me that wondering yeah what kind of book is it you know that it's virgin you know anyone where there's a solid he would have given me some more virgin or Jonathan Edwards and he handed me a book and I looked at it and the title of the book was dress for success by John Malloy not very subtle but it worked and I read it right I mean he here's let me summarize the book for you at least if you're a man is where Navy suit a white shirt and a stripe tie in your golden for almost any situation okay if you have an intimidating personality a boy pinstripe when it's everywhere plaid softened you up some and never under any circumstances unless you work for the circus Malloy would say where a bow tie okay and the thing is what's interesting you know I sort of mocked that book but at the end of the day Malloy is right different different situations in different contexts require different clothing different uniforms even here when you read this text about John the Baptist we often read that with our modern eyes and go that must have been crazy yeah was he trying to make a point well John John the Baptist had apparently had read whatever the ancient Near Eastern version of dress for success because he was wearing the exact thing he should have been wearing for the job that he had you see John was a prophet he was Israel's last prophet besides Jesus of course and John was dressing the part in fact remember Jesus said that he John was the Elijah to come and if you look back in first king John the Baptist here is wearing the exact garments and an outfit that Elijah was wearing so John's clothing is important because it marks him as someone who has a very specific task and that's what we're going to talk about this morning really I go only two points for you this morning and it's really two questions the first question is who was John by John I mean John the baptizer who was John the baptizer and why did he administer baptism to Israel and the second question is who is Jesus and why did he receive baptism okay who is John and why did he administer baptism who is Jesus and why did he receive baptism so first let's consider John who is John and why did he administer baptism let me read to you the first verse here says John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins okay what is John doing here John appears first of all the first thing you hear John appeared baptizing in the wilderness what is John doing why is he baptizing why in the wilderness you see when you begin to look at these things when you read these geographical names and we're going to see in a little while you know that all Judea and all Jerusalem came out but Jesus came from Galilee the issue here with these names is not geographical but it's theological okay the purpose of the locations at least in Mark's gospel they're theological there's a theological purpose behind it and what's the purpose and the purpose is and at least in this case is that John is doing something incredible he's basically calling Israel to relive the Exodus he's calling Israel to relive the Exodus that they went through years before if you're if you're not familiar with the book of Exodus remember Israel was basically in bondage and slavery and in Egypt and then God sent Moses and told Moses to tell Pharaoh a couple of things the first thing was let my people go right you've ever seen the Charlton Heston flick however there's if you look at chapter four of Exodus there's a nuance there because after Pharaoh has resisted the plagues and God's going to do the final plague on his on Pharaoh's firstborn son God tells Moses Moses you go tell Pharaoh to let my son my firstborn son Israel go Israel is my firstborn and because Pharaoh has oppressed my firstborn I will kill his firstborn so Israel is called God's son and if you read through the prophets the prophets say over and over again that the the place that God is going to renew his relationship with Israel after the dispersed and in exile is in the wilderness and so in the book of Exodus what happens Pharaoh releases Israel and they do what the first thing they do is they pass through the waters of judgment the red sea right if you don't have the grace of God passing through the red sea your toast and so the first thing they do is they go through the water and into the wilderness and they're tested there for a time and that's exact pattern you see here going through the water into the wilderness and tonight we'll look at Jesus actually goes through the testing so he's calling them to pass through the waters of baptism and into the wilderness to renew the relationship with God in other words he's calling them to repent he's calling them to turn from the ways what they're doing now and to come back to where everything began for Israel as a nation and where that began was having passed through the waters of judgment and into the wilderness where God administered to them so John appears calling them to pass through the waters and into the wilderness and they do that by way of repenting it says that he called them to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins now first of all what's repentance it's actually pretty simple great illustration the girls and I saw last Sunday evening last Sunday evening I was here for a meeting and my two oldest daughters were at the youth group and my Judy called me at some point and said hey you realize it's snowing like crazy outside right there's two or three inches already and the reason she was calling me is because the truck that I used to have won't make it through the snow and so I went and gathered the girls and we got in my truck and started pulling out and we drove to 212th and sort of started to go down and as I saw other cars corigning off of the road I realized my truck doesn't do that well when it's not snowing so I realized I need to turn around and come back to the church and I turned around to come back to the church and as the girls and I were turning from 212th onto Benson there was a sweet older woman who as she took that same turn you know when when it snows the sort of these fake mediums that you could see in the road well she took a left and she turned right into what would eventually be oncoming traffic I mean she was two lanes over for a month and we were in the right lane and there was no cars coming yet and we could see her because we're only going about five miles an hour the look on her face when she saw the the hoard of cars coming over the hill directly toward her and at that moment what I should have done out my car window was yell repent you see repentance means nothing more or nothing less than stop going the direction you're going because it will lead you to harm and turn around 180 degrees and go back people ask me at the first after the first service they said what did she turn around and I so I don't know I was in survival mode myself I hope she's all right but that's all what it means to repent and John was calling Israel to repent that is to stop being disfers to come back to God and the the nuance here he says he says he called them to repentance or baptism which was repentance for the forgiveness of sins and there's nuance there in the Greek that's important to to point out because John's baptism did not achieve forgiveness of sins for them a better translation of that a more nuanced translation of that would be that he baptized them with a baptism that was that had to do with repentance with an eye to forgiveness of sins or with a view toward forgiveness of sins in other words they were coming back he was calling them to come back to pastor the waters to come out into the wilderness and by doing this show God that they were repentant and ready to receive forgiveness of sins it was preparatory so John calls them out to to prepare them to to have their sins forgiven by God now who's going to do this who's going to accomplish this and that's what John preaches about notice what John says in verse seven it says any preach saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the strap of whose sandals I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit okay this is one of those passages that's often used to miss you what is what does John mean here when he says I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit on one hand John is saying but there's one coming who I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals all I do is baptize you with water I give you the outward sign of what we hope is an inward reality right this it's water baptism is a sign of repentance it's a sign that you deserve the judgment of God and yet you're seeking his forgiveness and it's an outward sign we hope of an inward reality I come and I only can give you the outward sign of the inward reality so what does he mean when he says but one comes who he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit let me tell you what he doesn't mean there when John is speaking at least in this context he doesn't mean he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit he doesn't he's not saying he will do to you what you see happen in the book of Acts where you see the Holy Spirit come on people and being powered with gifts and things John is basically using baptism here's a metaphor I'm giving you with my baptism I'm giving you an outward sign of an inward reality with his baptism he is going to accomplish what my sign points to I can only point to the forgiveness of sins I can only point to a changed heart I can only point to a renewed relationship with God the one who comes after me will accomplish redemption the one who comes after me by his spirit will accomplish reconciliation with God and that was promised throughout the whole Old Testament let me read to you from I Ezekiel chapter 36 this is God promising Israel upon the restoration he says I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and I will put a new a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God and I will deliver you from all your unclean nesses so in other words John says I can only point to the to the reality but there's one coming who by his spirit will actually accomplish the reality there's one who will deliver you from all your uncleannesses or there's one who will restore you and make you clean and you he will be your God and you will be his people who is that well one thing I love about the gospel of Marcus he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't do a lot of small talk in his gospel so John says there's one coming who's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and then the very next thing you hear is in Jesus showed up which leads to the next point who is Jesus and why was he baptized let's look at the verse nine says in those days came in those days Jesus came from Nazareth and Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan okay so Jesus comes from Nazareth and Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan now again when you're reading this think theology don't think geography because the geography makes a point about the theology so let me let me I made a graphic if you guys have it back there remember he talking to you that is the land of Israel and remember the herds kingdom when at this time was split he split Israel into six different places and Brian figure pop that up and Jerusalem the next one okay so that is how Israel was divided up under hered when Jesus appeared on the scene and if you remember when John was baptizing where everyone came from all Judea and all Jerusalem and if you look at the bottom of that map that's Jerusalem and that's Judea so all Jerusalem and all Judea came out to be baptized by John and if you remember me talking about John before if you look way at the top there Galilee which was often referred to as Galilee of the Gentiles Galilee the Gentiles and to be blunt was the other side of the tracks if you were an Israelite Galilee was where Gentiles would go to live Galilee is where Jews who were not particularly religious would go to live it was considered unclean by any any upstanding religious Jewish person and so that's all the way up north and so when you put them in contrast at John's baptism all Jerusalem and all Judea came out to be baptized okay Brian you can get that and yet how many people came from Galilee how many people came from the unclean part of town how many people came from the other side of the tracks to be baptized by John case you're counting it's one one person came from the other side of the tracks his name was Jesus so right from the beginning we see Jesus identification with those who are who are the least and the lowly those who are the worst of centers those who are on the outside of the religious establishment those who are considered unclean one comes from the unclean part to represent them and that's why Jesus comes Jesus comes as a representative for his people why was he baptized you ever think about that why was Jesus but he did he need to be if this is a baptism of repentance Jesus had nothing for which to repent if it was a baptism with a view toward toward having your sins forgiven Jesus had no sins to forgive why then would Jesus need to be baptized Jesus was baptized in order to be our representative in other words the irony is the one who would come who would would baptize you with the Holy Spirit and accomplish what God had promised submit himself to the baptism of repentance that sinners deserve you see the whole gospel is about this and we'll talk about it more tonight that Jesus the purpose Jesus mission was to live the life we should have lived and die the death we should have died and when Jesus comes and his baptized that's the beginning that's when if you will the starter gun has gone off that Jesus has stepped forward as a representative from the worst part of town and has stepped into the water in order to be baptized and did you see what happens next Jesus comes up in verse 10 it says when he came up out of the water immediately he saw the heavens opening in the spirit descending on him like a dove okay again this is one of those places where you're it's easy to it's hard to translate and and communicate the force of the passage but Jesus comes up out of the water and immediately Jesus coming up out of the water is meant by the coming down of God and it says here the heaven Jesus saw the heavens open up and and maybe a better translation there would be Jesus saw the heavens torn apart remember in Isaiah he cries out oh that you would rent the heavens and come down when Jesus comes out of the water he hears this he sees the heavens being torn apart and there's only one other place in the New Testament where you hear that same language where that same wording is used and it's in Matthew chapter 27 verse 51 and that's at the crucifixion of Jesus we hear that the the curtain of the temple was torn apart that the holy of holies was now accessible to those who had come to it through Jesus and so right from the very beginning we see this language of the heavens being torn apart because of this person Jesus and making God accessible and the spirit comes down upon him like a dove they have to ask yourself if you're if you're especially if you're not familiar with church what kind of person must this Jesus be to move God what kind of person must Jesus be that when he does something as simple as being baptized as a representative for sinners that the heavens would be torn apart and the holy spirit would descend upon him who is this guy and mark answers the question look at verse 11 says and a voice came from heaven you are my beloved son with you I am well pleased at least in my bible in the footnote it has an alternate way to translate that as well which is I think more powerful Jesus here's here's the God speaking for everybody here's a voice that says this is my son comma my beloved you see it's it's powerful to hear someone say this is my beloved son everyone would say that we would hope about their son it's another thing for someone to to call their their friend or their spouse this is my son my beloved this is my whole world everything that I am is right here my beloved and with him I am well pleased and those words should encourage you because if God is well pleased with Jesus if Jesus is God's beloved and Jesus is your representative what's that mean about how God feels about you if you're a Christian do you believe that you believe that Jesus is your representative and whatever God thinks about Jesus he thinks of you you know I mean this whole passage in some sense is about if you've ever seen the movie when a man loves a woman with Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan basically very upscale sort of Hollywood couple and he's he's a high powered lawyer and she's sort of a soccer mom but she's an alcoholic and over the course of the movie the her facade breaks down and she eventually gets put into a rehab facility or she puts herself in and her husband Andy Garcia comes to take her out and he says come on you're going home with me right now you shouldn't be around these people because the rest of the people are not upscale people they're bikers and and you know any other kind of homeless people they're all there and she stands up and says to him whatever you think of these people you think of me and when Jesus is baptized that's what he is saying whatever you think of these people father you think of me but the glory in that is also he says the flip side of that whatever you think of me think of these people you see the glory of the gospel is that Jesus came to be your representative it started right here with this baptism and if Jesus is your representative what does that mean for your life why are you so controlling we're going to talk about complaining a little bit tonight but why do you complain so much that's how Israel blew it why do you get angry so much why do you worry so much if Jesus is your representative and God has promised all this and God God looks and says this is my beloved how could you not be ecstatic about that the answer of course is you have to preach the gospel to yourself all the time you have to constantly remind yourself of that this baptism Jesus representing us is just the beginning he also goes into the wilderness for us we're going to look at that tonight Jesus just doesn't relive the Exodus but he actually relives the Garden of Eden he'll do that tonight think about that let me pray father I pray this morning that is we consider the gospel that you would in fact just open our eyes to it many of us have been Christians forever and yet we still walk around worried we still complain we still are angry and frustrated I pray that your Holy Spirit would come and change our hearts for those of us here who are not Christians I pray that you would open our eyes that they would see the glory in the fact that there is one who came from the wrong side of the tracks to represent them before God of God we pray these things in Christ name amen and amen at this point in the service as we