Intro

Good morning, my name is Conrad, I’m one of the pastors here. And today, I’d like to talk about my Dad. We lost him to cancer 8 years ago this past October at the age of just 55. But in the brief time that he had on this terrestrial ball he shared a lot of wisdom with me. You don’t need to be around for a long time to make a difference. 

He’d say something to the effect of “Stand up for what’s right”, and “admit when you’re wrong”, and “always say just what you mean”.

And these weren’t just snippets of life advice he would throw out at me, he lived this way. And that consistency is what made those words stick. If he had told me something that was true, but didn’t live it out himself, I more than likely would have disregarded it.

He told me “You’ll spend time at the bottom like everyone does but just try to stay on your feet”

Just because you fail doesn’t mean you’ve lost, and just cause you’ve fallen doesn’t mean you can’t get up. 

Another thing he taught me was the value of an honest day’s work. He would tell me that I should take pride in everything I do. When you’re done a job, whatever it is, you should be able to stand back after and be proud to put your name on it. To say “I did that”.

But enough reminiscing this and that and having such a good time, I would like to pass along one last piece of advice to you today from my father. And you’ve probably heard it from your parents.

That advice was: take care of your things and… “THEY’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU”. In this case it was actually “take care of your tools and they’ll take care of you”. And the idea was simple, if you maintain your tools, then when you need them, they will be there, ready to use, and – most importantly – effective.

But you know what? Let’s press pause on that story for now, we’ll come back to it later on. Let’s read today’s passage and kick off our study with a word of prayer.

Passage

The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, enduring temptations from Satan. He was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs.

Prayer

Study

So Mark, being Mark is writing the Gospels as a white-knuckle thrill ride. Mark 1:1 is a statement about the story we are about to read. Then 2 verses about historical context. 5 verses about the ministry John the Baptizer, 3 about Jesus’ Baptism and just TWO VERSES about the temptation of Jesus at the hands of Satan himself!

Matthew takes 11 verses for the same event. Luke uses 13!

Now, the easy way out here would be to jump into one of those Gospels and deal with the specifics of the temptation episode. But that’s not what Mark does, and we’re studying Mark, not Luke or Matthew. So then, using an incredible economy of storytelling, what does Mark actually say in this brief account. Because you don’t need to be around for a long time to make a difference, right?

My preference is to go verse-by-verse but Mark packs so much in here that we’re going to go kind-of phrase-by-phrase or word-by-word… smaller pieces is what I’m trying to say. And we’ll follow the order of the English translation.

Spirit

Last week Mike talked about Jesus’ baptism and why that was done. Mike highlighted 3 things:

1. Initiation
2. Identity
3. Instructions

Thats a classic three-point sermon with alliteration tying all three points together, that’s a textbook preach and a homiletic bonus of over 9000!

[[[ Homiletic Definition on Screen ]]]

But during that episode, we see the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus. What are we to believe? The Holy Spirit landed on Jesus’ shoulder like this classic Disney Clip?

[[[ Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah – Song of the South – 1946 ]]]

No, sir, I don’t think so. Side note, for his performance as Uncle Remus, James Baskett became the first black man ever to be recognized by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences… the Oscars…

But no, what I think happened is that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus and filled him. Why? Because John baptized with water, but Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit!

So now we have Jesus, fully God, but also fully man, filled with the Holy Spirit, is imbued with power for ministry… and now what? The Spirit leads Jesus on the next step in his journey. And Jesus? He submits to the leading of the Spirit.

Church! Are you getting this church? Filled with the Holy Spirit. Imbued with Power. Led by the Spirit? That’s the promise for us today! That’s the promise we see fulfilled in the Book of Acts. Keep this thought in your pocket, we’ll come back to this one.

Immediately

Our next word is “immediately”. Directly. Straight. The next thing. There is no break here. These are consecutive sequential events. Let’s drop this in our pockets for a minute, we’ll come right back to this…

Drove Him

So, what did the Spirit do immediately after Jesus’ baptism? Drive Him into the wilderness!

And this phrase “drove Him” out is applied constantly – BY MARK – as a rebuke used by Jesus to cast out demons. What does this mean? It means that the Spirit didn’t gently guide Jesus into the wilderness, he was cracking the whip!

[[[ FRIENDS – WAH-PAH ]]]

This is amazing. And don’t miss what’s happening here. Mark is teaching deep theology in these short and to-the-point sentences. Last week, in 3 short verses Mark taught and demonstrated the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons who are part of one single God… or Godhead.

[[[ THE OFFICE – WEIRD WORD ]]]

And now, we see another huge issue tackled, and that is the dual-natures of Jesus of Nazareth. He is fully man, and fully God. And we see that here. Jesus’ human inclination is not to go endure what he knows is waiting for him. 40 days of fasting and active temptation. So the Spirit very forcefully points Jesus in the direction God would have Him go. And where you and I might hem and haw and argue with God, Jesus submits to the will of the Father, as directed by the Holy Spirit.

And I want to dig a little deeper into this, but it’s not time yet. So we’ll drop this in our jacket pocket and come right back to it.

Because Jesus was driven where?

Into the Wilderness

Into the wilderness! Again. Moses. Elijah. Isaiah. John the Baptist. And now Jesus. Another one hits the dust. Yes that’s a mis-quote, but yes, the reference still counts!

And the wilderness is a place of preparation. John prepared the way, but Jesus is preparing for his public ministry. And… interestingly… he appears to be alone. Right? We’re running low on pockets, here. But for now, let’s pop this is the other jacket pocket. And we’d better start addressing these, because we’re running out of pockets!

Forty Days with Wild Animals

“But Conrad, you above-average orator and relatable dresser” I hear you say, “these things are from different parts of the verse!”

Correct you are, but like Mark himself I will group items thematically when it is helpful to understanding rather than be slavishly committed to a Chronological study.

When I was in college I joked that the only numbers a Pastor needs to know are 1, 3, 6, 7, 12, and 40. That’s Gods, Persons, Creation, Rest, Disciples, and time in the wilderness. Here again are the echos of the Old Testament. Mark wrote to a Roman audience, so he doesn’t dwell on the Old Testament references, but God has clearly orchestrated things to have that callback, that reverberation. And here is it again. Moses (Exodus 34:28), Elijah (1 Kings 19:8, 15) and even David & Goliath (1 Samuel 17:16).

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So then, what of the wild animals?

It might surprise you to learn that much has been made about this. Wild Animals. What does it mean? Does it point back to creation, like Adam was the first Adam, but Jesus is the new Adam? Or is it there to highlight the fall and how sin has touched everything on the earth? Maybe it’s a reference to a future when the lion – wild animal – will lay down with the lamb – of God… Jesus!

Nothing quite so dramatic, I’m afraid. Mark is simply painting a picture of the wilderness. It is not necessarily a hospitable place. The wild animals point to the character of the wilderness. Folks, it’s dangerous out there.

Moving on…

Enduring Temptations

And here’s where we come to the meat of the story. What is it that Jesus was doing out in the wilderness for 40 days at the behest of the Holy Spirit?

Endure temptations.

Jesus is in the wilderness to endure temptations. And let’s be real clear, here, the word translated here as temptation means “entice” as we would think of it today.

[[[ URSULA ]]]

I always picture Queen Ursula singing to Ariel in the Little Mermaid when I think about temptation.

But the word also means to scrutinize or to test. Right? Because the wilderness is not a place for the lost to squander their lives, but a place for the found to prepare themselves for what God wants to do through them. Because notice that nowhere in any of the three accounts – Mark OR Matthew OR Luke – is the wilderness presented as a hardship or failure on the part of Jesus. And the sharper among you will immediately point to James 1:13 and boldly declare that the Bible says “God cannot be tempted by evil!” and Jesus is God… so what is the world is going on here?

Let’s look at it. Essentially the question is this: Why send a Jesus who cannot sin into the wilderness to be tempted?

It’s finally time to start pulling stuff out of our pockets. Starting with the first item in our jacket pockets. The idea that Jesus is fully God, but also fully human. So when James 1:13 says that God cannot be tempted by evil, this is true.

But as we was with Adam and Even in the garden, humans very much CAN be tempted by evil. So then, while God cannot be tempted, since Jesus is also fully human, that means he is subject to the same temptations as everyone else.

But Jesus stands strong, in the face of absolutely unrelenting temptation. Temptation that is more unreasonable than the cliffhanger endings of LOST episodes.

So the questions becomes HOW did he do it? This is where the dual natures come into play. Our human willpower has all the flexural – bending – strength of a piece of yarn. This was true of Jesus’ human willpower as well. HOWEVER, God’s willpower has flexural strength of a six-foot thick steel pole. And so when those things are bound together – as is the case in Jesus of Nazareth – the yarn cannot be bent because it is bound together with the steel. 

So then the natural followup question is why? Why bother if Jesus would never have folded under the pressure?

Two reasons:

1. Because if Jesus is going to claim to be the perfect, spotless sacrifice, he needs to actually stand up to the test; he needs to stand up to scrutiny. And He would. And He did.
2. Because God wanted to know what we experience. There is a very real difference between knowing something and knowing ABOUT something.

I can know ABOUT childbirth, but I will never KNOW it.

In the same way God knew about temptation, but could not understand what it was like to BE tempted. So Jesus came and withstood the worst iteration of every kind of temptation we experience. As we read in Hebrews 4:15:

For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.

But I would argue there is a third reason… and as luck would have it, that reason dovetails nicely into our next phrase:

From Satan

From Satan. Jesus is tempted by the prince of darkness himself. If you read the accounts in Matthew and Luke you’ll get real Garden of Eden vibes as Satan once again steps in and tries to bring about the downfall of God’s creation. 

And we see Satan doing what he can to defeat Jesus, and in so doing, defeat God Himself.

Something that I’ve always remembered from youth group is this: Satan is real. He’s a liar. And he’s a loser.

In fact this confrontation between Jesus and Satan reminded me of this scene from the 1994 Stephen King miniseries – The Stand.

[[[ THE STAND – ROACH ERRANDS ]]]

I think this captures the essence of what went down in that desert outside Galilee. Satan was defeated. Not only was Satan defeated, he was defeated before Jesus even STARTED his public ministry. At that point Satan was nothing more than a little cockroach running around doing little roach errands to Jesus. And we see Jesus command Satan and his demons throughout the Gospel.

Jesus got Satan out of the way early, because he had bigger fish to fry. Jesus was getting ready to take on death itself. So Jesus put Satan in his place and moved on. Amen?

I said Amen?!

On to our last section for this morning… somebody say ‘hallelujah’!

Angels Ministered to His Needs

Can I be honest with you for a moment? I don’t know what this means. No one does. There is plenty of speculation. Maybe the angels protected him from the wild animals. Perhaps they shielded him from the elements. Perhaps they brought Him water. Perhaps they brought him food when his fast was done. No one knows with any great degree of certainty, but what we do know. is that we can take that thing out of our other jacket pocket because God never left Jesus alone in that wilderness. The angels were there with Him; surrounding and protecting Him. The Holy Spirit was there with Him; in-dwelling and fortifying Him. Friends, Jesus was never alone and neither are you.

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Call to Action

Let’s bring this plane in for a landing by pulling out that first thing we put in our pockets. And that was the idea of being filled with and led by the Spirit. Jesus promised us that when He left, the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all people. And that infilling, that Baptism is something we can experience today. And if you’ve felt that Holy Spirit power, you know what I’m talking about. And if you haven’t, but you would like to, head over to surreycla.com/yes and reach out. We would love to help you seek that power in your own life. So Jesus experiences this baptism. And it would have been a SIGHT, amirite?

The heavens opened. Literally the heaven RIPPED open. Were torn open. This is the same word use of the veil in the Holy of Holies that torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on that cross at Calvary. And out of that chasm in the sky the audible voice of God the Father speaks and Holy Spirit descends body like a dove. And this would have been an incredible moment.

Now I’ve never had this particular experience in my life, but I have had those moments where I have felt like I was being moved in my very soul by God. These sort-of “highest heights” moments. And they are… transcendent.

But look what happened afterward! Jesus obeyed the Spirit and what happened?

He was taken into the wilderness.

He was tempted by Satan.

He was exposed to wild beasts.

And this is where the last thing we dropped in our pockets comes back out. Ups are followed by down. Triumphs by attacks. Friends Satan is real, he’s a liar, and he’s a loser. We know he’s lost and even HE knows he’s lost. But he is determined to do as much damage on the way down as possible.

Church. (Yes?)

I said church? (YES?)

The enemy comes to steal and kill and destroy. And when you are chasing the Lord and experiencing His joy and His victory, that’s when Satan comes for you. That’s when he carries out his attack.

Let me issue you a warning before I give you what I want you to take home today. Listen carefully and understand what I am about to tell you.

You will find what you seek. Do you understand what I’m saying. You WILL find what you seek.

Now, before you get too excited, remember that this is a double-edged sword. If you’re looking for someone to tell you that God is going to protect you from every bad thing. You will find that person. If you want someone to tell you that God will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise… then, yes, there is someone who will tell you that too! If you want someone to tell you that you are good person just the way you are, and there’s no need to change. Yup that person is out there, as well. You will find what you seek.

But that also means that if you chase after God, you will find Him. If you long for truth, you will find it. If you seek out a steely resolve that will bolster you when the enemy comes calling then yes, you will find that too.

Let’s unpause that story from the beginning as our worship team makes its way down.

The advice my father gave me is good advice. And I know that because we find the same advice in the bible.

• Stand up for what’s right – Isaiah 56:1
• Admit when you’re wrong – James 5:16
• Always say just what you mean – Matthew 5:33–37
• You’ll spend time on the bottom, but try to stay on your feet (or maybe on your knees in prayer) – 2 Chronicles 15:7
• Do everything in a way that you are proud to put your name on it – Matthew 25:23

And what about “take care of your tools and they’ll take care of you”?

Friends, following God can be hard. I will not lie to you. Satan will attack you. This is called Spiritual Warfare. And if you haven’t thought about Spiritual Warfare in a while it means you are LOSING THE BATTLE.

• You need to be in prayer. Prayer that God would lead and strengthen you like he strengthened Jesus.
• You need to be in the Bible. Each temptation was answered by invoking the Scriptures.
• And you need to be in fellowship with those who will minister to your needs. Jesus was never alone during his trials, and neither should you be.

Church, we MUST be engaged in Spiritual Warfare. Satan is. And if we neglect Prayer, Bible Reading, and Fellowship – if we neglect our tools – they will not be ready when we need them. We have to take care of them and keep them sharp.

And I’m telling you now, that the more you press into God the more Satan will try to attack you. But the more you press into God, the less those attack will even matter. We cannot live worried about this life. Because – gut check time – we are NOT promised tomorrow. We are promised eternity. Let’s live that way, amen?

Let’s pray.