Prepare the Way of the Lord; Mark 1.1-8
0 Amens
All of us have our own little personal likes and dislikes…
We shouldn’t deny this…it’s only natural
Well…one of mine …is this
(I may as well share it with you…)
I don’t like picture of Jesus…
…I don’t like them
Now, I realize that there is little I can do about this
After all, they are printed all over our children’s Sunday School material
It’s nearly impossible to find a Christian book that is written to children that does not have them…
But, nonetheless…it is something I do not like…
I don’t like pictures of Jesus because they are fake, they are false
I believe that at best they detract from the glory and the majesty of Jesus Christ
Because the glory of Jesus Christ was not in His physical appearance
The prophet Isaiah, writes about the Christ…
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
And so when we see pictures, and artists’ renderings of Jesus
Especially when they show Jesus as a pale-faced, handsome, white man with bright blue eyes…
I think that at best we are detracting from His glory
At worst…we’re violating the 2nd Commandment (you shall make no graven images)
…but even if we’re not doing that…we are at least detracting from His glory in some way…
In the same way that a movie detracts from a book
Have you ever read a really good book, and then you saw the movie and you were disappointed?
Why?...
Because your imagination was better than the movie
In the same way…the book (the Bible) is better than our imagination
Because the Bible paints a picture of Christ that is far more reaching,
Far more vivid
Far more accurate…than anything that we can dream up
[…]
…We begin today to look at a picture of Jesus
But not just any picture of Jesus…
But a radical picture of Jesus…
Perhaps a picture of Jesus that you have never really seen, and never really grasped…
We start, of course, the gospel of Mark today
And Mark is the story of Jesus Christ…
Mark paints a vivid picture of a Christ that is fully human beside complete divinity
As we will see from the very first sentence
This is a Jesus who commands control of the storms
And casts out demons with a word
And heals lepers
And restores sight
But the Jesus in Mark’s gospel also
Gets angry
Gets frustrated
Grows tired and weary
Struggles intensely with God’s mission for Him
…this Jesus, more than any other gospel, is painted in vivid colors of absolute full humanity beside full deity
So go ahead and find the gospel of Mark in your Bible
We will look at today the first 8 verses…
While you’re turning there
I do want to say a few brief words about the Gospel of Mark
It was written by a non-apostle
Mark, who is the John Mark of Acts 12 and 13
The same one who was a cousin to Barnabas
The same one who deserted Paul and Barnabas on the mission field
The same one who was with Peter as he wrote his first epistle
Mark was closely associated with Peter
And so this is why we finish last Sunday the book of 1st Peter and go from there to the Gospel of Mark
Because it is widely understood that Mark’s gospel is a collection of the preachings and teachings of Peter
Although Mark never mentions that…the earliest church fathers wrote this down for us
Even going back to a man named Papias
Who was discipled by the apostle John, himself
Mark’s gospel is probably the most neglected and overlooked gospel
Because it’s the shortest…
And so people often skip over it in favor of Matthew or Luke
But Mark’s gospel has unique strengths all its own
It may be shorter, but the events it describes, it describes them with far more detail than the other synoptic gospels
And it does this by simply relating far fewer events than do the other gospels
There is no birth narrative
There is no long discourse of Jesus’ teaching
In fact, Mark largely ignores Jesus’ teachings altogether and focuses instead on Jesus’ actions
Mark is a book of action
Mark’s favorite word is the word translated ‘immediately’
…we will read that word no less than 41x in this gospel
Whatever is happening, Mark says it is happening immediately
Mark is also written to persecuted Christians
It is written to those Christians living in Rome who were suffering under Nero’s persecutions
Peter has been martyred, Paul has been martyred…and the persecution in Rome is heating up
And Mark will write this gospel is strengthen and comfort those Christians being persecuted
And he will do it by focusing primarily on one thing
Mark will focus on the suffering Christ
Over 1/3 of Mark’s gospel is written about the passion of Christ…those last days leading up to the crucifixion and then the crucifixion itself…
…and that’s how Mark will strengthen those suffering for Christ
By writing to them of the fully human Christ who suffered in the flesh for them
There is much more that could be said by way of introduction
But let’s get into our text for today by reading Mark 1.1-8
Mark 1.1-8
The opening line sets the stage for the entire gospel
v 1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The gospel of Jesus Christ takes front and center stage in Mark’s gospel
This is a book that is centered on
Focused on
Enraptured by Jesus Christ…
Every episode,
Every story
Every paragraph has Jesus as the central character
With the exception of two…
The one we study today, that speaks very briefly of John the Baptist
And another one that occurs in chapter 14 that tells us of Peter’s denial of Jesus
But otherwise, the book is radically Christo-centric
It is thoroughly Christ-focused
It is fundamentally Gospel-centered…
It begins and ends with the confession that Christ is God…
Verse 1, Mark declares
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ…The Son of God
And then it ends with the centurion declaring from the foot of the cross that held the dead body of Jesus
Truly, this was the Son of God…
This book is thoroughly gospel-centered…
And Mark will show us this morning 5 truths about that gospel…
Again, Mark begins with these words…
v 1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Mark’s words here remind us of another book that begins the same way…
Genesis 1.1
In the beginning, God…
In the same way that the history of mankind begins with God
The history of God’s redeeming acts for mankind also begin with God
Now, this word gospel is a pivotal word for the book of Mark
And we know that it is a word that literally means good news
The word originally was used to mean the good news of a victory in the battlefield that was sent back to the king and the people
But the NT writers took this term
And used it to mean the good news of salvation…
The gospel is the good news that although we are sinful
Although man has freely chosen to take up arms and fire against a holy God that loved us and created us
Although we all have rejected God…He has not rejected us
And Christ came, and lived, and died, and was raised from death
In order that we might be reconciled
That we might enjoy restored relationship with God…
But this didn’t begin in the NT
The prophets also wrote of the good news that was coming…
Isaiah wrote…
Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful…are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
For Mark, the arrival of Jesus Christ was the beginning of this fulfillment of God’s reign
In Mark’s understanding, the gospel is more than just a set of truths
Or even a set of beliefs
I. The Gospel Comes to Man in the Person of Jesus Christ
For Mark, the gospel is more than good news of a victory of the battlefield
Or even the good news of victory over sin and death
But the gospel is a person
It is Jesus Christ, Himself
The kingdom that God has inaugurated is bodily present in this Jesus of Nazareth
This is why God says to Isaiah
That you will receive a sign….
A virgin will conceive and bring forth a Son…
And you will call Him Immanuel…which means…God_with_us
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
God didn’t send us this gospel like the leader on the battlefield who sends a messenger back to the people
God brought us this gospel Himself
God is this gospel Himself
The good news is that God is here
The good news is that God is not separated from us
The good news is that God has come and made His dwelling place with man
John said;
The Word became flesh
[…]
We all have a hard time placing our faith in words, don’t we?
We all have a hard time placing our faith in a set of principles
In a group of ideas
In a way of thinking
But God calls us to place our faith in a person
In a man
In real flesh and blood
Which would you rather trust in
A set of rules and regulations
Or real, flesh and blood?
The gospel is in a person, the Person of Jesus Christ
It cannot be separated from Him
There is no way to be rescued from our sin and the certain punishment that that sin deserves…without the Person of Jesus Christ
Luke says;
Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
[…]
So the gospel comes to man in the Person of Jesus Christ,
Second;
II. The Gospel is the Fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures
v 2
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet
As_it_is_written
Mark says
Mark immediately links the life and ministry of Jesus to the Old Testament
Jesus is not an afterthought in God’s Plan
Jesus is not some sort of solution to God’s Plan gone awry…
Rather, Jesus stands in perfect continuity with the work of God in Israel
He stands as the Fulfiller of the Law and the Prophets
[…]
Jesus says in John 5
You don’t believe in Me…then read your Scriptures
Because your Scriptures write about Me…
John 5:46-47
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
The gospel is understandable only as the completion of what God began in Genesis 3
The gospel only makes sense when viewed as the fulfillment of what God began when man sinned in the garden…
Jesus was the Jewish Messiah
In order to believe in Him, we must believe that He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies
Any Jesus that we create outside of that is a false Jesus
It’s a made-up Jesus
And any Jesus we make-up cannot transform us
Any Jesus that we create in our minds that is the result of our imaginations
That Jesus is an idol…He cannot transform us
(one reason I don’t like pictures of Jesus…they are a product of man’s imagination)
The Jesus-es we make up cannot transform our lives
They cannot give us new hearts…
And there’s lots of those Jesus-es out there
There are Jesus-es that are people’s co-pilots
There are Jesus-es that are people’s therapists
There are Jesus-es that are nice guys, hippies
Republicans
Democrats
Liberals
Conservatives
These are just variations on the common belief that God can be who you want Him to be
This kind of thinking is not just in the New-Agers
This kind of thinking is in the church…
And the gospel of Mark paints a picture for us
A vivid, living, full-color picture of the Jesus who was not only the fulfillment of the OT Scriptures
But a Jesus who was fully divine…and fully human
Mark will show us the suffering Savior that is the perfect fulfillment of Isaiah 53
[…]
Now, in the original language, Mark emphasizes the ongoing role of the Scriptures
Mark says…As it is written
This doesn’t really come through in our English translations
But Mark uses the Greek Perfect tense of the verb
And what that indicates is an action that is completed in the past but has lasting effects into the future
An action that was done in the past, but the results of that action are ongoing…
IOW; The Scriptures were written about Jesus…They were written in the past, but they continue to speak of Him
They continue to tell us of the Christ
Those words aren’t dead, Mark says
They are living and they speak to us of the Christ even today…
Now, what are those words saying?
vv 2-3
"Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
Mark attributes this quote to the prophet Isaiah
And if you look this up in your Old Testaments
You will find that it is actually a combination of quotes from
Exodus 23
Malachi 3
And Isaiah 40
The main part of the quote being from Isaiah…
Now, don’t let that distress you
It was common for writers of the NT to quote OT passages in this way;
Combining elements of more than one passage, and then attributing the quote to the passage that was the most central…
But all three of these passages are interesting
In two ways;
First; Three times they speak of a path or a way…
[…]
Jesus_is_the_way;
From the outset, the story of Jesus directs people not to mysticism
Not to ethical rules and systems…
But to something transforming and practical…the way of salvation
And, of course, Mark will tell us that that way of salvation is the way of the cross…
Secondly; All of these OT references are referring in their original context to God
And here, Mark begins by quoting these passages that referred originally to God
And he uses them to refer to Jesus Christ…
This is significant…
Now, these passages are speaking about Preparing the way of the Lord
And Making His paths straight
And they say that one will be sent to prepare His way…
And then we read in verse 4
v 4
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness…
John is the predecessor of the gospel
John is the preceeder to the gospel
The gospel begins with someone coming before the gospel and preparing the way for the gospel
Now, if Mark is recording the sermon material of Peter, then this makes perfect sense
Because that is also how Peter presented the gospel
Acts 10; the first time the gospel is taken to the Gentiles
Peter is in the home of Cornelius, and he begin to share the gospel with Cornelius this way…
Acts 10:37
…you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning…after the baptism that John proclaimed…
Peter himself, when he communicated the gospel, begins with John
[…]
So, this proclamation of John’s
This necessary predecessor to the gospel…
What was his message?...what was his purpose?...
v 4
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance…
III. The Gospel is Preceded by Repentance
John is the preparer for Jesus
He is the one making the paths straight
And he is doing that by preaching a message of repentance
Repentance must precede the reception of the gospel…
There is no receiving of the gospel that has not been preceded by repentance
[…]
Now, let’s read what else Mark says about John
vv 4-6
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
John here, is clearly portrayed as the second Elijah
Who, himself was connected closely with the desert, and dressing and acting in unusual manners…
But what is most interesting is where John has chosen to bring this message of repentance…
John is preaching this message in the wilderness…in the desert
The area where John is preaching is about 20 miles from Jerusalem
Now, if you or I wanted to bring a message to the people
A message as important as
…Prepare the way of the Lord…
…I don’t think that we would go to the desert to do this…
Why does John preach this message in the wilderness?
[…]
The wilderness is representative of the spiritual state of repentance
Think about this…
How many times did God bring someone into the desert, into the wilderness
In order to meet Him there?
Most notably, the nation of Israel was led out of Egypt into the wilderness
And there, they grumbled and complained against God
And God judged them there, and brought them to repentance in the wilderness…
…And God was with them…and His presence was a visible pillar of clouds by day and a light by night
And it was in the wilderness, that the people received the law
And it was in the wilderness that they received the designs for the tabernacle,
That place where God would meet His people…
And this is not the only instance…
Moses, David, Elijah, Paul on the road to Damascus…
They all met God in the wilderness
…And the wilderness, is where John preaches his message of repentance
And in the wilderness of our soul, in the desert of repentance where we reach the end of ourselves
The end of our self-sufficiency
The end of our pride…
That is where we meet the gospel…
The gospel begins where personal repentance begins…
The gospel can do nothing in your life until you are at the point of repentance…
Until you are fed up with trying to make it yourself
Until you are fed up with trying to save yourself
Until you understand that the only thing that self-help books are good for is making money for somebody else
…Until you reach the end of yourself…the gospel holds nothing for you…
Until you arrive at the point of repentance
When you realize that you are a sinner
And you realize that it is your sins that have created a separation between you and God
Until you realize that your sins are not the fault of the devil
Your sins are not the fault of your parents
Your sins are not the fault of your spouse, or your boss at work…
Or television, or movies,
Or anything but you
[…]
Until repentance of sin prepares the way for the Lord in your heart
The gospel cannot touch you…
John says…
Prepare the way of the Lord…make His paths straight
We must make His paths straight into our hearts through repentance…
Through our understanding that we are lost and hopeless without the gospel of a God who came to us in the Person of Christ…
Like the that old Presbyterian hymn says…
All the fitness that you require is to know your need of Him…
[…]
So this gospel, this good news begins with repentance
How is repentance good news?
How is coming face to face with my own sin against a holy God good news?
IV. The Gospel Produces Forgiveness of Sins
v 4
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The repentance that makes straight the paths of the gospel results in the forgiveness of our sins…
How contrary this message must have been to the message the people heard day in and day out from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law…
These false guides were teaching the people that a system of ritualistic, legalistic steps was necessary to receive God’s forgiveness for even the most trivial, unintentional sin
And for the worst of sinners,
The prostitutes,
The tax collectors
The Sabbath breakers
Well…there was no hope for them,
They just must be avoided…they deserved death
So, John message was received with enthusiasm
John’s message was startlingly fresh to these poor Jews
Burdened with a legalistic interpretation of the Old Testament
There is hope!
Repent…and_be_forgiven
Grace is abundant!
I know I am in the wilderness
I know I am a wretched sinner
I know I deserve judgment
I know I cannot live up to the law as the Pharisees prescribe
But John brings me good news
He tells me to repent and I will be forgiven
To confess my sin
And_turn_from_my_sin
And God will forgive…
[…]
This is why Mark says “all of Jerusalem” was traveling 20 miles into the desert
People don’t just drop what they’re doing and walk 40 miles round trip through the desert…
…but when we realize the life change that Christ offers
We will go any distance to receive that
[…]
How far would you go for a true life change?
I see people all the time
Waiting in line at the convienence stores to spend all of their hard-earned money
Just to buy a lottery ticket…because, sadly, they believe that is their hope for a changed life…
People will do anything for a changed life
What will you do for the gospel?
Will you go into the desert of your life?
Will you repent of your sins and turn from them?
[…]
When we do, we receive the greatest miracle of all
We receive in our heart the miracle of a changed life
…that is truly good news…
If there were no other good news.
That would be enough…
But John makes it clear that this is only the beginning
There is something much greater to come…
vv 7-8
And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Repentance is necessary
Forgiveness is even better
But God is doing much more than offering forgiveness of sins
God is offering a whole new life
God offers Himself…
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
V. The Gospel Brings the Baptism of the Spirit
Before Christ would come and complete His work on the cross…
God the Spirit would come into men’s hearts and then depart
We read over and over of the Spirit of God coming upon men in the OT
But, after coming, it would depart
This is why David prays…
Psalm 51:11
…take not your Holy Spirit from me.
But God promised that one day, His Spirit would come into His children to stay…
Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you…
Jeremiah 31:33-34
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people… For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
If you are a child of Christ today…
You have this promise within you right now…
2 Corinthians 1:22
…and [God] has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
[…]
I have heard people say…
It is so hard to be a Christian
To live my life based on faith in someone I’ve never seen
Someone who performed miracles I never saw
Someone whose teaching I only know through a book…
If only I could have been there
And seen Jesus
And walked with Jesus
And talked with Jesus
If I could only have seen one miracle…
…Then I could believe…
The book of Mark tells the story of three groups of people
The disciples
The Pharisees
And the crowds
All of them saw Jesus
All of them experienced His miracles…
..and none of them got it…none of them understood
This disciples themselves never got it until when?
Acts 2;
The fulfillment of the Promise of the Spirit
When all who believed in Christ were permenantly filled with the Spirit
That is what transformed the disciples from rag-tag bunch of
Arguing
Bickering
Disbelieving
Unfaithful
short-sighted
fearful men
…into 11 men than changed the world…
It wasn’t seeing Jesus in person
It was the power of the Spirit within them…
Would you rather have God walk beside you…
Or live within you?...
That power lives within all of us who have come to Christ with repentance and turning from our sin
And faith in His completed work on the cross
And faith in His promises
But our problem is…we have that power within us…but we don’t recognize it…we don’t use it…
We are like the man that takes his new chain saw to the repair shop…
Saying that it just doesn’t cut very well, it’s hard to use, it’s heavy, and awkward…
The repairman takes the chain saw and cranks it up
To which the man replies…what’s that noise?
Trying to live the Christian life with the power of God dwelling within you
But not using that power in your life
Is like a man trying to cut down a tree with a chain saw that he never cranks…
Greater is He who is within me than he who is in the world
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
There is now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death
Aren’t you tired of being condemned by the law of sin and death?
Aren’t you tired of trying to please a holy God by your own strength?
Aren’t you tired of trying to cut down that tree with a chain saw that you never crank?
Prepare the way of the Lord…make His paths straight in your heart
Repent today of the sin in your life
And the sin in your heart
Blaming no one else for that sin…
…only you are to blame for your sin…
…not the devil, not the world…only you…
And He will come into your heart
And He will forgive your sins
And He will place His Spirit within you…
This is how Jesus can say in Matthew 5 that He fulfills the Law
Because God says in Jeremiah 31
That He will write His law on our hearts
And His Spirit living in us will fulfill what the law cannot do…
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