Mark 1:12:20

We left off last week in verse 12, Mark 1.

It says,

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

! And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.

! And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,

and saying,

The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.

Passing along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon,

casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother,

who were in their boat, mending their nets.

And immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Just pray with me.

Holy Father, we just want to express our great need for you this morning,

that we have nothing to offer in and of ourselves.

We can't bring anything to the table.

Lord, we need your help to, not just to understand your word, Lord,

but to let it resonate in our hearts.

And God, I just pray that your word would have its desired effect today in the hearts of the people here.

We love you.

We just lift you up in Christ's name.

Amen.

So, if you just noticed, we just read through...

I've been walking around a lot just because I can't see.

If you noticed, we just read through like three major parts in this all together at once.

We read through the temptation of Christ.

We read through the start of Christ's ministry.

And then we read through the calling of the first disciples, just all back to back.

And it'd be very easy to turn each one of these into like a five-week sermon, each section on this.

Because in the other Gospels, Matthew and Luke, they give you a lot more detailed accounts of these events,

like the temptation in Matthew 4.

You could just go on and on.

And so, instead of doing that, we could have done that.

But instead of doing that, if you really read carefully, like in the Gospel of Mark,

and you're really praying that the Spirit kind of like shows you what's going on,

you'll see that that's not really Mark's intent.

He doesn't want you to get stuck or just stay on these places.

He wants you to kind of keep moving on.

And if you don't do that, you'll sometimes miss the purpose for why the author wrote something a certain way.

So that's why we're trying to like bring it all together into one thing, to get a wider view of what's going on.

So Mark even uses the word immediately, I think nine times almost, in chapter one.

It gets you to kind of keep moving on.

So we're just going to take a wider view of things.

Mark skipped over the initial ministry that Jesus had in South Judea.

He missed the cleansing of the temple and the Samaritan woman at the well, like all that.

Kind of like he doesn't mention that, but that would have happened.

You can see it in the other Gospels in between these things.

So he's going into Galilee.

It goes from the temptation right into his ministry in Galilee.

So why?

Why does Mark do this?

Why the speed in which Mark does this?

And really the answer is that Mark seems to be wanting to establish that Jesus is the king.

Jesus is like the new king who has arrived on the scene.

If you look at verse one in chapter one, it says the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

Just proclaiming that like the king of kings has arrived.

The long-awaited Messiah is here.

And if he's going to be the new king, he has to establish his authority.

He has to show that he is who he says he is.

And that's what these three things, three sections that we're going to look at, talk about.

So I guess if you had to call this message something, it would be like the authority of our Christ,

like the authority of Christ and how he demonstrates it.

So we see last week when we talked about baptism that this is when Christ was, I guess,

you could say it was his coronation as the king who's come.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit descended on him and the Father spoke from above that this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

So all three members of the Trinity, they are at work together at Christ's baptism.

And really awesome, awesome picture.

And Christ was going to fulfill all the Old Testament roles that the new king was going to fulfill.

And if you, I'll just read this in John 3 to you real quick.

John 3, verse 34, talking about Jesus, says,

John 3:34

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

So it says here that Jesus was given the Holy Spirit without measure.

That's incredible.

That's awesome.

He's saying that, like he had this measureless anointing of the Holy Spirit, Christ did.

And that's what happened at the baptism.

Christ then just jumps right into his earthly ministry.

So he wants to demonstrate.

I'll say I'll just kind of give you the three points in advance and then we can kind of unpack them.

But Christ is going to demonstrate his authority in three different realms.

He's going to demonstrate his authority over Satan in his realm.

So he's going to have to show that he is the new king who's going to overthrow the usurper, Satan.

He's got to prove that he can destroy the works of the devil like it's been spoken of.

And that will be in the temptation.

Secondly, he shows his authority over sin and its dominion.

So Satan, then sin itself.

And then thirdly, he shows his authority over sinners.

People like you and me, he shows authority over them.

So that's just kind of the rightful conclusion.

If he has authority over Satan, authority over sin, then he definitely would have authority over sinners.

So he's going to establish his rule in our hearts.

So we'll look at the first point.

This is point one.

And so the authority of Christ over Satan.

And we see this in verse 12 and 13.

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

And he was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan.

And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

So that's Mark's shot, like right there, a snapshot of what happened at the temptation.

So we could go to Matthew, we could go to Luke, but we're not going to.

We were going to just talk about what Mark gives us here, for the most part, and add in a little bit of what the other authors say.

But immediately following his empowerment by the Spirit, it says he was driven into the wilderness.

And this is like a very, very strong verb.

It literally means like to impel someone, to throw them out.

Like Jesus was literally thrown out, led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.

And it was the will of the Father.

It wasn't the will of Satan.

It wasn't the will of anything else.

This is what God desired.

And so Christ had this strong compulsion to go into the wilderness.

And so don't misunderstand that.

James tells us that temptation does not come from God.

God tempts no one, nor can he be tempted by evil.

But what is true is that God will allow his own people to go through temptation

in order that they can have victory through it and become stronger.

If you remember at the Last Supper, Jesus told Peter,

Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.

Like he's asked.

And we're giving him permission, you know.

But in the end, he was going to be strengthened through what happened to him.

And so he has the same idea here is that Christ is going to be sifted,

be tempted by Satan himself.

So it wasn't by chance.

It wasn't by a whim.

Christ deliberately was set out into the wilderness.

And he was going.

So why the wilderness?

You ever thought, like, why couldn't it just be somewhere else?

Personally, when I think of like, like if someone like said,

just the Spirit drove me immediately into the mountains,

I'd be like, all right, the mountains, you know.

But I would think like temptation would be a lot stronger,

like in a city setting for me.

But with Jesus, this wasn't a lush mountain paradise.

It was a barren wasteland.

It really was.

It was the wilderness.

And so why was he driven there?

Because he's going to have to face Satan by himself.

Like he can't, he's not going to have anybody there to support him.

At all.

He's going to be by himself.

And so this area, a lot of historians say, is called Yashinam.

It means like the devastation.

That's what they call this area, the devastation.

And it's around 35 by 15 miles.

It's wild, uninhabited.

It's near Jericho Road going through Jerusalem.

I looked up pictures of it, just kind of see what it looked like.

And it is really quite, quite barren.

Very desolate place.

There's certain cliffs and ravines that plunge hundreds of feet down.

It's not a place you just want to go and hang out at all.

And Deuteronomy talks about this area.

And it says, it speaks of a great wilderness.

Fiery serpents, scorpions, and a thirsty ground with no water.

That's what it talks about in Deuteronomy.

So, also in the Old Testament, we know that, like, lions were prevalent.

We know that jackals were.

So this is all the stuff that he's surrounded with.

Have any of you ever, like, probably not, but, like, camped out by yourself, out in the woods?

It's, I've done that before.

I actually kind of enjoy it.

But usually it freaks a lot of people out just because you've seen too many movies, probably.

But, like, you start hearing noises and you're just like, like every little thing, you're just all wired up about.

Thinking, like, what could that be?

But, like, Christ was literally surrounded by this for 40 days and 40 nights.

And by himself.

And a very terrifying aspect.

So you think about this.

Adam, our father, Adam, he was tempted in a lush, green paradise, right?

And he was tempted with a companion, Eve, who was with him.

So he wasn't alone.

But Christ is completely opposite.

He's in a barren wasteland, a desolate wilderness, and he's all alone by himself.

So, man, just think about that.

And so, Satan comes after him.

And so who is Satan?

You know, like we, so many misconceptions about who Satan really is, even in the church.

But he's the ruler of darkness.

And Satan, Satan, just means like the adversary or the opponent of our soul.

Just who he is.

The devil, the other name for him, it means like to throw, really.

It means to, in the sense of throwing up slandering against somebody.

And this is what he's done.

He takes the wonderful, beautiful things that God has given us and he twists them and perverts them and does all he can to, like, destroy the beauty of them.

And he hates them with great malice.

And so, up until this point, right, no one in Adam's race has been able to, like, withstand Satan.

No way.

No one has.

None of Israel's great heroes have.

You think about it, like, Samson, who was the strongest.

Satan overthrew him, right?

He took down Solomon, who was the wisest, made him look like a fool.

And then he overcame David, who was the most passionate and zealous with grievous temptation.

So, like, it doesn't matter.

Like, all of Adam's race, who's gone, has not been able to withstand Satan.

And so he's, Christ has to establish that he is the new king, that he has the power to rule and the power to remain that way over his formidable adversary, Satan.

So, think about this.

Can you imagine, just pretend you don't know, like, what's going to happen in the long-awaited Messiah that we've been waiting for,

where he's finally going to have, like, a showdown, if you want to call it that, in the arena with Satan himself.

Is he going to prove that he is sovereign, or is he going to prove that, like, Satan is his equal?

You know, like, Christianity is not a, we talked about this on Thursday night,

it's not a dualistic thing where you have good and evil bowing it out, and both are equally matched, and it's like a fight.

Is it going to prove to be that, or is it going to show that Christ has complete control and complete sovereignty in this situation?

And Christ, our older brother, he's called in Hebrews, Christ is called our older brother.

I don't know how many of you have older brothers, but my parents are here today.

I love my older brother.

He's a knucklehead sometimes, I want to punch him sometimes, but he's a good guy.

And I have a really vague memory of, like, being in elementary school,

and, like, these kids were, these older kids were picking on my buddies,

and I, like, stood up to them, I said, you know, get lost or whatever,

and, like, I'm going to take no stuff, you know, so I, like, stood up to them.

But I remember thinking, like, oh, man, like, I'm going to get it from these guys.

There's, like, three of them, and, like, they're all bigger than me,

but I'm going down with a fight, you know, kind of thought.

But then I remember, like, walking up to them, and, like, they just kind of went like this,

and they started, like, walking away.

Then they started running, and then I was like, man, what happened?

And then, like, I saw my older brother, like, running, like, past me,

and he just, like, pummeled one of them, like, on the back, and I was like, get away.

So, yeah, then I came by and, like, did the little on the ground.

And so, like, Christ, our older brother is, like, entering the arena with Satan here.

And if you can imagine, just, like, watching this on a big screen,

just not knowing, like, what was going to happen.

But if he really was a long way in Messiah, he was going to be able to overthrow Satan.

And he's going to be able to prove that he was the one in Genesis 3 who was spoken about,

who would crush the head of the serpent.

So, 40 days, that is a long time.

But just so you're aware, like, a 40-day fast is not an uncommon thing in the Old Testament.

Moses in Exodus 34 had a 40-day fast.

Elijah in 1 Kings, he had a 40-day fast.

So you would be near, like, almost physical depletion by that time.

You really would be.

It only would be if God was in it would you almost survive.

And so, what was Christ's temptation?

Like, have you ever thought about that?

Like, what was he being tempted with?

It really could be kind of several things with all the same aim, I guess, or the same goal.

But one was, like, Satan might not have been trying to tempt him to give up his sovereignty or his royalty,

but he was trying to tempt him to abandon his humiliation.

Like, you're the Son of God.

Don't put up with this.

You should have the right to eat.

You should be doing this.

Why are you doing this to yourself?

So, definitely a strong assault of, like, you don't have to do this.

You're the Son of God.

Abandon this humiliation.

Because he was trying to prevent Christ from getting to the cross, right?

So, that's one.

And then the other hand, he actually was trying to get Jesus to commit sin and disobedience

so that he wouldn't be the perfect sacrifice for our sins anymore.

But on both attempts, though, really,

it was just trying to subvert God's plan and God's redemptive purpose on the cross.

So, Christ had to remain true to the Father,

and he had to remain sinless if that was going to happen.

So, that was his goal.

But if you ever thought about this, like Christ, the Scripture said,

has been tempted in every way, just like us.

It says that he was a child and that he grew in wisdom and stature with God.

He was a teenager, and he was a man, and he never sinned.

Peter said this,

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

And then towards the end of Luke's Gospel,

Jesus tells his disciples,

You have been with me through many temptations.

So, don't mistake this as also being the only temptation that Christ faced.

It probably was one of the most intense times,

but he was tempted in every way, just like we were.

So, what's the outcome of the temptation?

In his weakest and the most isolated circumstances imaginable,

Christ remains steadfast.

Through total dependence on the Father,

through prayer,

he remained that way.

He quoted the Scripture.

We know that from the other Gospels, right?

He quoted from Torah, from Deuteronomy,

three different times.

And just the Word of God is powerful.

Psalm 119 says this,

Great peace have those who love your law.

Nothing can make them stumble.

You see that?

That's what Christ was holding on to.

So, Christ overcame.

And he remained like the sinless sacrifice.

And just think about it.

Like, finally, remember like the last words he said in the temptation?

When Satan goes after him, he says,

Away with you, Satan.

Like, he commands him, like, sovereignly,

to get out of my face.

Like, you are done.

And he slithered away like the snake he is

from the holy presence of Jesus.

And he did this all by himself,

with total dependence on the Father.

Now, don't make the mistake.

Like, Jesus didn't have some kind of upper hand, okay?

If he did, then he wouldn't,

his temptations would not have been real.

To be the sinless, perfect sacrifice,

he had to be tempted every way,

just like we were.

So, it wasn't like he had some kind of supernatural juice

that just kind of got him through this.

Like, he was utterly dependent on the Father.

You see that in Gethsemane, too.

He's going to the Father.

He's showing us how to overcome.

So, he did it.

And he did it for us,

and for the salvation and the glory of his Father.

And then, all that Mark says is,

like, angels minister to him.

How cool is that?

Like, right after the temptation,

angels come from heaven and minister to him.

So, what do you think that could have been?

Well, the phrase is used, like ministering.

It means to serve food.

Pretty cool.

So, like, I bet it was some special,

awesome concoction from food from heaven

that God, like, brought him partially,

like to restore him back to physical health

after all that was over.

So, what's the point?

Flip to Hebrews 4 real quick.

Hebrews 4, verse 14.

Hebrews 4:14

So, Christ has exercised,

and he's proved his total authority over Satan.

And he overcame him.

Okay?

Check this out.

Awesome stuff.

Verse 14.

Since then, we have a great high priest

who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus, the Son of God,

let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest

who is unable to sympathize with our weakness.

See that?

But one who in every respect

has been tempted as we are,

yet without sin.

So, every way we were.

Every way.

It says then,

let us then with confidence

draw near to the throne of grace,

that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help

in time of need.

So,

Christ suffered

far greater temptations

than we were,

to be honest,

I believe,

because he never gave in.

If you ever, like,

arm wrestled someone really strong before,

and like maybe,

like you resisted for a while,

but then you broke,

like,

you didn't really feel

the full force of that guy,

did you?

Like,

you capitulated and broke

before you really felt

the full onslaught

of what that big dude

had to offer you,

but Jesus didn't break.

You see that?

Like,

he was stood the full force

of what temptation

had to offer.

So,

Christ,

our older brother,

has conquered,

and he's cleared the way

for us,

and because he is overcome,

now we can overcome.

He's cleared the way

to the Father

and provided all we need.

So,

flip back to Mark again.

We'll go on to

the second point.

And the second point,

number two,

so we have the authority

of Christ over Satan,

and now we have the authority

of Christ over sin.

Alright,

we see this in verse 14 and 15.

Now,

after John was arrested,

John the Baptist,

Jesus came into Galilee

proclaiming the gospel of God

and saying,

the time is fulfilled

and the kingdom of God

is at hand.

Repent and believe

the gospel.

And this phrase

kind of summarizes

Christ's preaching ministry.

If you ever wonder,

like,

what do I say?

Like,

what's the message

that we bring to

a lost world?

Like,

in the most simple way,

like,

this is it.

Like,

this is the gospel message.

And,

so,

God's establishing,

or Christ is establishing

His authority over sin

and in the lives

of Adam's fallen race.

So,

in response to this,

we're to repent

and believe the gospel.

So,

the kingdom of God,

let's just look at that

just for one second.

Well,

most people,

most theologians would say

that the kingdom of God

should be,

can be understood

in three different ways.

But,

one is

the spiritual kingdom,

the invisible kingdom.

And that is,

like,

when Christ comes to rule,

like,

in the hearts of mankind.

We can't see it with our eyes,

but it's there

and it's worldwide.

It goes all over the world.

So,

that's the kingdom of God,

at least the spiritual kingdom,

is happening,

like,

right now.

And then,

there's a future millennial kingdom

with the new earth

that's talked about

in Revelation 20.

And that's to come

where Christ will fulfill

all the Old Testament prophecies

about the Messiah.

And then,

following that,

the last aspect of the kingdom

is the eternal kingdom.

And that's when we all

accumulate,

finally,

with the new heaven,

with the Father.

That's all,

it's in Daniel,

it's in Isaiah,

it's Revelation,

all that.

So,

when Jesus says

the kingdom of God

is here,

it is here

because the king is there.

You see that?

Christ has brought

the kingdom.

And,

if you want to think about it

this way,

like,

the kingdom of God

is already here,

but it's not yet

fully here.

And,

for a long time,

people have described

that as like,

if you can picture

like the sun

kind of coming up

over the horizon,

it's kind of piercing

through the darkness,

but the sun's not

completely up yet.

Like,

that's kind of what

the kingdom is right now.

Like,

it's breaking through

the darkness,

but it is here,

but it's not yet

fully here.

So,

where it says,

where Jesus says

the time is fulfilled,

really cool.

Like,

I'll always be encouraged

that God is a

planning God.

He's not making

stuff up.

This is stuff

that He's ordained

before the foundation

of the world.

Jesus says

the time is fulfilled,

the keros,

which means like,

it doesn't mean like

clock time,

or calendar time,

or anything like that.

It has to do with

the idea of

a fixed point

in history

for an event

to happen.

That's what He's

talking about.

So,

Galatians 4,

for instance,

says,

like,

in the fullness

of time,

God sent forth

His Son.

So,

this is like

the fixed time

when God was

to do this.

So,

Jesus is saying,

like,

that time

is now,

like,

I am here,

and the kingdom

is here.

It's the most

significant error

in history,

and where the Messiah

would come and pay

the penalty for sin

and save sinners.

So,

like,

that's the kingdom.

So,

how do we get

into the kingdom?

how does one

take part

of this new

reign

that's now

coming

or being

reestablished,

I should say?

Well,

repent and

believe the

gospel.

Like,

that's how we

do it.

So,

let's just look at

these,

like,

repent.

It really

means,

some people say

it means,

like,

to just turn

around,

but it

implies a lot

more than that.

It means,

like,

to change

one's mind

for the

better.

A total

turning away

from sin,

hating it,

and resolving

by God's

power to be

completely free

of it,

to completely

fight against

it,

to forsake

it.

So,

it's not just,

if you notice

this too,

when you read

this language,

you'll see that

repent and

believe is not

like an

invitation,

it's not

like a

suggestion,

it's a

command,

like from

Jesus,

like repent

and believe

the gospel.

It's not

like,

come on,

you can

repent and

you can

believe if

you just

want to

do that,

it's a

command.

He's

exercising

his authority

here,

and he's

commanding all

men to

turn away

from their

sin and

to come

to him

because he

knows that

he is

their only

hope.

Have you

ever noticed

that some

commands can

be loving

things,

right?

Like,

your kids

running out

to the road

where there's

a lot of

traffic,

and you're

like,

come back

right now,

like I

command you

to come

back.

Like,

that's a

loving

command.

He's

saying,

like,

repent and

believe the

gospel as

a command.

So,

believe.

Got repent,

and what about

believe?

It doesn't

just mean,

like,

a mental

assent to

who God

is.

A lot of

people can

do that.

Unbelievers

can do that.

It means to

be persuaded.

It means to

be convicted

strongly,

and to throw

your total

trust into

something.

It's like

a belief

that's so

strong that

it actually

changes your

actions.

Notice that?

Like,

it's not just

like,

I believe

that.

It's like

it really

does affect

how you

live.

That's the

kind of

word that's

used here.

And then

the word

gospel,

glad tithing,

it's good

news.

The good

news about

the Messiah,

the new

king coming

to redeem

mankind.

That's what,

so,

repent and

believe the

gospel.

Throw

yourself

completely

into

Jesus

and depend

on him

only for

salvation.

Turn away

from your

sin and

forsake it

and resolve

by God's

power to

put it to

death.

So,

that's how

they get

into the

kingdom.

So,

the gospel

though,

was how

God plans

to destroy

the power

of the devil,

the power

of sin.

So,

flip to

Colossians 2

real fast.

John said,

for this

reason,

the Son of

God appeared

to destroy

the works

of the

devil.

It's not

just to

destroy

Satan,

but also

to destroy

the works

of Satan,

to destroy

sin itself.

So,

by his

death and

resurrection,

he would

destroy

the power

of sin

to rule

over us.

I'm so

glad,

because I

can't do

it by

myself.

Like,

guys who

live with me,

they would

know.

Like,

I can't

put sin

to death

by myself.

We would

just be

utterly

lost.

So,

let's

just look

at this.

Colossians 2

Colossians 2:13

verse 13

says this,

And when

you were

dead in

your

trespasses,

and in

the uncircumcision

of your

flesh,

you were

made alive

together with

him,

having

forgiven

us all

our

trespasses,

by

canceling

the record

of debt

that stood

against us,

with his

legal demands,

and this

he set

aside,

nailing it

to the

cross.

And then

I'll read

just this

next verse.

It says,

When he

had disarmed

the rulers

and authorities,

he made

a public

display of

them,

having triumphed

over them

through him.

So,

there's a lot

in that.

But,

we were in

a desperate

state.

Like,

our sinful

condition was

not just

like a

kind of

bad thing,

we're sick,

and we just

need some

medicine.

We were

utterly

just a

corpse

spiritually,

and we

needed a

sovereign

God to

resurrect us

from the

dead,

and we

were not

a part

of the

people of

God at

all.

But then

it says,

God made

you alive

together with

Christ,

with him.

And then

it says that

the cross

canceled the

record of

death that

stood against

us.

See that?

Like,

we have

this record

of everything,

every thought,

every motive,

every action

that we

ever have

committed

against

God.

And it

would be

this endless

list,

like,

forever

long,

but Christ

canceled it,

or he blotted

it out,

as some

other good

translations say.

He literally

blotted out

what you

did by what

he did on

the cross.

He paid the

penalty for

it.

He canceled

the record

of debt,

and he

nailed it

to the

cross.

So,

what's really

cool here,

though,

is what

happened?

What happened?

Then it

mentions,

like,

the spiritual

enemies of

our souls

in verse

15,

if you see

that.

He disarmed

the rulers

and authorities.

Then he

uses the

word triumph

over them.

Now,

just indulge

me.

Those of you

who know

me know

I really

like ancient

history a lot.

I love,

like,

Roman history,

Greek history.

But,

in the time

of the Roman

Republic,

this is before,

like,

all the

emperors,

before the

Caesars,

there was

two men

elected every

year called

consuls,

and they

were more

or less

like generals.

And,

like,

the ones

who fought

against Hannibal,

they were

consuls,

they were

all that.

So,

but if a

consul won

a major

battle or

major victory,

the Republic,

the Senate,

allowed him

a parade

to come

through

Rome itself.

It was

called a

triumph.

And he

would ride

in a

chariot,

and he

would have

this big,

you know,

pomp and

celebration

for the

people of

Rome.

But behind

the consul

would be

like prisoners

that they had

taken from

the battle.

They would

have these

big things

that they

would carry,

like some

of the

prisoners on

top of,

these platforms

that kind

of put them

on display

for the

people of

Rome to

see.

And they

also would

have like

armor and

weapons that

the enemy

fought with.

And at

least in

the ancient

world,

if you

were a

warrior,

if you

were a

soldier,

to have

your weapons

taken away

from you

was like

the greatest

act of

shame ever.

Like it

was like

you were

naked,

really.

Like you

just didn't

have anything

to offer.

So to be

disarmed was

complete,

total humiliation.

And this

is what it's

saying,

like Christ

did.

You see

that?

Like he

is the

triumphator

over Satan,

over evil.

and he's

put Satan

on public

display.

You see

that?

Like he's

made a

mockery of

him.

So like

what was

Satan's

weapon?

Like what

was,

what did

the cross

take care

of?

If you

notice,

the cross

didn't destroy

Satan,

did it?

Like Satan's

still alive

and active

today.

He will

ultimately be

destroyed.

We know

from what

scripture says

he will

ultimately be

destroyed.

But what

happened at

the cross?

And this

is something

John Piper

said.

He said

about this

verse,

when the

record of

our law

breaking

is nailed

to the

cross

and

canceled,

the power

of Satan

to destroy

us is

broken.

Satan

has only

one weapon

that can

damn us

to hell,

unforgiven

sin.

And this

weapon,

Christ stripped

from Satan's

hand on

the cross.

So like

he's disarmed

him,

like he

doesn't have

any power

over us

anymore

because of

what Christ

did at

the cross.

And that's

the gospel.

Like in

this present

life,

we can

be delivered

from the

power of

sin and

the power

of Satan

through what

Christ has

done and

be saved

from the

wrath of

God.

So,

awesome stuff.

Lastly,

the third

thing,

the authority

of Christ

over sinners

is now

demonstrated.

So,

authority of

Christ over

Satan,

authority of

Christ over

sin.

sin,

the obvious

outcome of

that would

be Christ's

authority over

sinners,

people like

you and

me.

Back in

Mark,

verse 12,

passing along

the Sea of

Galilee,

he saw

Simon and

Andrew,

the brother of

Simon,

casting a

net into the

sea,

for they

were fishermen.

And Jesus

said to them,

follow me,

and I will

make you

become fishers

of men.

And

immediately,

there's that

word again,

they left

their nets

and followed

him.

And going

on a little

farther,

he saw

James,

the son of

Zebedee,

and John,

his brother,

who were in

their boat

mending the

nets.

And immediately

he called

them,

and they

left their

father Zebedee

in the boat

with the

higher servants

and followed

him.

So,

Christ shows

that he has

the power

to rule in

the hearts

of men here.

And in the

same way,

you should

know,

these are

just ordinary

guys.

These are

blue-collar,

not your

most sophisticated

kind of guys.

Like,

I don't

consider myself

a decent

fisherman.

I don't

really go

much anymore.

But,

like,

I know

some guys

who are

just straight

out blue-collar,

chill dudes

who just love

to fish,

you know.

And,

like,

the Lord

picks these

ordinary men

to display

his power

in them.

They were

fishers on

the Sea of

Galilee.

Galilee had

a huge

fishing industry.

That was the

main industry

for meat

in the

Mediterranean

world.

It was fish.

And so,

they were also

exporters of

the fish they

had.

as well.

And,

really cool,

when we see

this though,

when Jesus

came to them,

it's important

to know that

he already

knew who

they were.

Like,

from other

gospels,

they were at

John's baptism

where they saw

Jesus come,

and John

said,

there's the

Lamb of God.

So,

they already

knew who

Jesus was.

Jesus knew

who they

were.

But then he

came up to

them and did

something very

unusual.

He commanded

them to come

to him.

Right?

Rabbis didn't

do that.

There's no

record in

any Old

Testament or

ancient Hebrew

writings at all

that ever said,

like a

rabbi,

would come and

say,

come to me,

like,

follow me.

Never

happened.

Even the

prophet said,

turn to God,

follow God,

but like Christ

actually commands

them to come,

follow me,

and I'll make

you fishers of

men.

very unusual.

So,

he did this

in the most

extreme way

possible.

He's asking

them to

abandon their

way of life,

to abandon

their fishing

industry,

to leave

their family,

and to

become heralds

of the gospel,

to become heralds

of the good

news.

I will teach

you how to

do these

things.

And they

came.

It was a

sovereign

enabling.

God has the

power over our

hearts.

I don't know

if you know

that or not.

Some of us

like to think

that we

have the

power,

but like the

God who

created the

universe has

the power

to create

in us a

new heart.

And that's

what being

born again

is.

That's what

regeneration

is, is the

Holy Spirit

giving us a

new heart

that can love

God and

follow God.

And so,

he commands

them and they

come.

And later on

in chapter 8,

we'll get there

in a few

months,

probably.

He,

yeah,

right.

It says,

if any man

come after

me,

let him

deny himself,

take up his

cross and

follow me.

Basically,

come and die.

That's what he's

saying,

come and die.

And to us,

it may be like,

you know what,

following Christ

may not cost us

our lives,

some of us it

might,

but he is saying

like,

if you knew

that following

me would cost

you your life,

would you come

anyway?

Are you that

desperate for

me?

Do you really

know who I

am?

And if you

really do

believe that,

it's not going

to matter.

You're going

to be willing

to cast aside

anything to

be with Christ,

family,

friends.

And he says

those kind of

things.

Luke 14,

Matthew 10,

he says that

kind of stuff.

You have to

love me more

than your life

itself.

He says that.

So they put

an end to the

family business

right there.

and they

headed out

to follow

Jesus.

And he

trained them

to preach

the gospel.

So he

established his

follow this,

okay?

Jesus established

the means

by calling

these men,

he established

the means

by which his

kingdom would

advance to

transform broken

sinners.

That's how he

chose to do it,

through us.

In other words,

like,

how awesome is

that?

He sovereignly

identifies these

guys,

and he sovereignly

calls these

guys.

And he's done

the same to

us.

So these are

just simple

men.

I wanted just

to show you

one other

passage.

And look at

Acts chapter 4

Acts 4 · chapter mention

real quick.

Acts chapter 4,

Acts 4:13

verse 13.

Okay.

So just think

about this.

This is after

Christ has

gone back

to the

Father.

This is after

the disciples

have spent

years following

Jesus and

watching Jesus.

And now

they've been

empowered by

the Holy

Spirit to

preach the

good news.

And so what

about these

ordinary,

simple men?

What kind of

power did

Christ have in

their lives?

And because

you remember

before the

resurrection,

they were

scared.

They were

running.

They were

trying to

hide.

They were

terrified.

But after

they saw

Jesus,

they were

completely

bold and

empowered by

the Spirit.

And verse

13 says

this,

Now when

they saw

the boldness

of Peter

and John,

and they

perceived that

they were

uneducated,

common men,

they were

astonished,

and they

recognized that

they had been

with Jesus.

See that?

It doesn't

matter who

we are.

If we

know Christ

and we

walk with

Christ,

commune with

Christ,

what He can

use us for

is the sky's

the limit.

William

Carey, a

great missionary,

he said,

expect

extraordinary

things from

God and

attempt

extraordinary

things for

God.

Ask God to

empower you

to advance

the kingdom

for His

glory.

I'll read

you one

other text

in Acts

17.

Just go

ahead and

turn there.

You're already

in Acts.

Acts 17,

Acts 17:6

verse 6.

You can

see that

like the

followers of

Christ are

calling like

a big

uproar,

these

uneducated

and common

men.

And

verse 6

says,

When they

could not

find them,

they dragged

Jason and

some of the

brothers before

the city

authorities.

So,

they're

arresting

them and

they're

saying,

These men

have turned

the world

upside down,

have come

here also.

So,

again,

the power

of Christ

and the

authority

of Christ

was enabling

these guys

to literally

turn the

world upside

down for

the kingdom

and for

the glory

of God,

for the

gospel.

So,

if we have

fellowship

with Christ,

no matter

how simple

we are,

He can

empower us

and we can

advance His

kingdom.

nothing to

fear either

because Christ

has overcome

Satan,

He's overcome

the power

of sin,

He's overcome

us.

So,

He has the

complete authority

to do that.

He's a king

worth living

for and

worth dying

for.

So,

let's just

rejoice that

He doesn't

have some

kind of

puny

authority.

It's like

a sovereign,

God-endowed,

awesome authority

that one day

He will come

back and

reestablish

complete authority

over all

things.

So,

let's pray

together.

Let's pray

together.

Let's pray

together.