Dancing into Battle - Jesus Picks a Fight Mark 1:12-13

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. So Mark chapter one, we're

going to be in verses 12 through 13. This is

one of my favorite passages in the, in the gospels,

mostly because it has to do with picking a fight,

which is The title of my sermon, which is Dancing

in the Battle, Jesus Picks a Fight. So if you

like fighting, this is a great passage. So we

talked about the Trinity being a dance, right?

And that they reflect one another. And so we're

gonna continue with the dance, but dancing in

the battle. And so let's go ahead and read. If

you don't have a Bible, it's gonna be right up

here. If you want a Bible, you don't have one.

There's one right in the back. So here we go.

We go from the baptism of Jesus to starting in

verse 12, Mark chapter one, 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. So my big idea today

that we're going to unpack is True victory over

life's temptations come not from our own strength,

but from intentional communion with God, who

empowers us to remain steadfast and fearless

against the adversary's schemes. And so last

week, like I said, we talked about the divine

dance. It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit, eternally giving, eternally receiving,

eternally delighting in one another. There's

no competition between them, no insecurity, no

grasping for control, just perfect love, humility,

joy, and unity. And so I think what we do is

we tend to look at temptation in a way that's

sin -focused. And what we need to do is think

of temptation in a way that takes us out of the

dance. And so that's what we're gonna look at

today in how Satan actually tries to enter in

to this dance between Jesus, the Holy Spirit

and the Father. And so, because we want to experience

a life that Christ has always known, we want

to step into the dance. This is why salvation

is not simply forgiveness, it's invitation. When

we... We are not merely rescued from sin, but

we are welcomed into communion and we are drawn

into the rhythm of God's own life. We are invited

into the dance. And so last week I talked about

the dance. We all know what it is to dance. For

the most part, everybody here was like, yeah,

I've danced before in my life, right? And so

when we dance, there has to be two individuals.

I mean, as long as we're not break dancing, right?

A break dancing challenge, right? But we're dancing

together as as a husband and wife or boyfriend

and girlfriend, and there has to be, there's

a leader, but we're kind of moving together.

And the second both try to lead at the same time,

right, it becomes stepping on each other's toes,

right? And so it gets a little complicated because

in our own sin, we do not naturally want to join

into the dance. We want to lead it. We don't

want to orbit God. We want others to orbit us.

Instead of self -giving love, we grasp for control.

And instead of humility, we chase power. Instead

of trust, we demand proof. And at the core of

sin is not merely rule -breaking. It is the ancient

desire to be God. We see that in the garden,

right? What does the enemy whisper to Adam and

Eve in the garden? What does he say? Yeah, did

God really say and what ultimately was he speaking

to with Adam and Eve like what what was the temptation

for them there? Knowledge right? Yeah, but what

was the core issue of what what the enemy was

speaking into? You can be God right you can be

above him. You can be like him. So we're going

to come back to the garden in a moment. But today

we step into the wilderness because immediately

after Jesus is baptized, immediately after the

divine dance is revealed, the spirit leads us

into the desert. You would think there would

be a moment because when Jesus came as a baby,

what did God do? Do you guys remember? Yeah,

there's celebration, right? Everyone gathers

around. There's this big kind of party, if you

will, in Bethlehem in a stable. Angels are rejoicing.

Shepherds come to see it, but not here. Here,

we see no rest. We don't see any celebration.

We see a fight. And this is on purpose. Jesus

doesn't drift into temptation. He marches into

it. and we're going to look in just a second

on how this reflects. So the Son of God walks

directly into enemy territory and the battle

that unfolds there is not merely about hunger

or power or safety, it is about reality itself.

Satan does not simply tempt Jesus to sin, he

attempts to disrupt the dance, the relationship

between he, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

And he tries to distort Jesus's identity and

fracture his trust in the Father and rewrite

what obedience means. He seeks to butt in on

the divine rhythm and take the lead. And here's

what this means for us. If you're truly walking

with God, if you're stepping into the divine

dance, you should not be surprised when resistance

comes. Here's what I mean by that. You shouldn't

be shocked when you are tempted. When you become

a believer, it doesn't get easier. Temptation

just ramps up. You get a target on your back.

And so you shouldn't ever be surprised by spiritual

conflict. Because the more you go into the dance,

the more you're involved in the dance with the

Godhead, then the sharper the conflict becomes.

If you want to write this down, it's gonna be

right up here. Because when you enter the dance,

you also enter the battlefield. But the good

news of this passage is that Jesus does not merely

show us how to resist temptation. He shows us

what faithful sonship looks like. He shows us

how trust defeats deception and how us And he

shows us how obedience overcomes rebellion. Get

a little ahead of myself. And ultimately, he

shows us how victory is won. Where Adam failed,

Jesus prevailed. Where Israel stumbled, Jesus

stood firm. And where we fall again and again,

Jesus remains faithful. And this is the same

Jesus, the one who overcame temptation, crushed

the serpent, and walked out of the grave. He

now invites us to walk with him into obedience,

into freedom and into the dance and even into

battle. So here's point number one. If you're

taking notes, spirit sovereign summons, which

is drawing. So let's look again. What does it

say? Who immediately drives Jesus into the wilderness?

The spirit does now. I'm gonna have to explain

something here in just a second, but Mark is

drawing two lines at the same time, okay? On

one line, he's showing us that ultimate reality

is a dance. Life with God, communion with God,

harmony with God, but on the other line, he shows

us something just as true. If we step into the

dance, we experience the reality as battle. Nothing

about the Christian life is passive. Nothing

about following Jesus is safe, easy, or neutral.

If you're walking in step with God, you have

a target on your back, not because Satan is omnipotent,

but because obedience makes you dangerous. I

just have to point to not only Jesus, but Paul

and any other Charles Spurgeon, any other theologian,

Martin Luther, anyone who has gone before us,

who walks in obedience and stands on truth, ultimately

are dangerous because God moves through them.

And Mark weaves us into this truth, into his

gospel with a detail so subtle that I honestly

haven't noticed until this week. I was actually

telling Trudy and Jean this on Wednesday. But

last week, we talked about how the powerful parallels

between that Mark draws between creation and

Jesus's baptism. And so I'm going to remind you

real fast in Genesis. The Spirit moves over the

face of the waters. God speaks. Creation comes

into being. Humanity is formed. History begins.

And what immediately follows in Genesis? Temptation.

And so, Satan enters the story and confronts

the first humans in the garden. So now watch

what Mark does. At Jesus' baptism, you've got

the Spirit descends, Jesus comes up from the

water, the Father speaks, a new humanity is revealed,

and history is relaunched. And then what happens

immediately next? The temptation in the wilderness.

And so Mark is telling us that this is not random,

but it's a pattern. Every time God moves powerfully,

Satan responds aggressively. Every time God creates

life, Satan tries to corrupt it. Every time God

launches redemption, Satan launches resistance.

And here's the part that should stop us all in

our tracks. God knows this about the enemy, so

he's going out to Satan's turf in order to pick

a fight. God knows the pattern of the one he

created. And so what does he do? Before anything

else can happen, Jesus goes where... Adam and

Eve failed in the temptation. I'm now going to

go out onto his territory and I'm going to pick

a fight. And not only am I going to pick a fight,

but I'm going to win. But here's the funny thing.

If you've ever been tempted in a way that's like

kind of dramatic, you know what I mean? Like,

God, why would you give me your hardest battles?

Last I checked. None of us have been fasting

for 40 days in a wilderness with dangerous animals

all around and Satan himself forms and begins

to tempt us. A little bit of a difference, right?

And yet Jesus defeats Satan at his own game.

I'm going to kind of go into it in just a minute.

Not super deep, but some really cool things about

this. And so Mark tells us, and I think this

is going to be up here. that the Holy Spirit

drove Jesus into the wilderness. That word drove

is intense because in Greek, that word is ekbalo,

which means to compel, to thrust, to push forcefully.

And so this isn't a gentle nudge, it's a divine

urgency. The Spirit drives the son straight into

confrontation. And Luke tells us why. What Luke

tells us, you don't have to turn there, I can

just tell you, to be tempted by the devil. And

so, within God's sovereign purpose, it was necessary

for Jesus to face Satan, not symbolically, not

indirectly, but personally, directly, and decisively.

This isn't random suffering, it's strategic warfare.

And so Jesus walks into the wilderness not to

avoid Satan, but to confront him because before

Jesus could defeat sin on the cross, he had to

defeat temptation in the desert. And before Jesus

could crush the serpent's head at Calvary, he

had to stare him face to face in the wilderness.

And so I don't want you to miss what's going

on here. This is Jesus walking fully submitted

to the spirit. And so that's why in our verse

of the week, I have Galatians, which said, what

did it, do you guys remember what it said for

the verse of the week? It's right at the top

of your bulletin. Walk by the Spirit. The Spirit

will never lead you astray. Jesus doesn't wander

into it. He's led into battle and there's a massive

difference. When Jesus encounters temptation,

he does it in obedience, but when we encounter

temptation, it is often in indulgence. So Jesus

confronts temptation in order to defeat it. And

so here's something I need you to focus in for

just a moment because what I don't want you to

hear is, is that the spirit leads us into temptation.

Why is that incorrect? James 1 says that God

does not tempt. If God was the one doing the

tempting, what would that mean about God? Let's

just think through this philosophically and doctrinally.

If we're learning correctly about who God is,

why do we have to understand He cannot be the

one leading us into temptation? What would that

say about God? Why is it inconsistent? You're

right. Why does that make him inconsistent? Because

God is not evil, right? God does not play tricks.

He's full of love. He is fully good. And if he

led you into temptation, there is a trickster

type mindset that comes into that. And that would

mean that there is evil in him. And so here's

what John MacArthur has to say about this temptation.

He says, this is something that we need to make

sure is clear. Although the spirit led Jesus

to the place where he would be tempted, it is

important to note that James 1 is clear that

God does not tempt anyone. God did not do the

tempting of Jesus, Satan did. But it was the

spirit who led Jesus there for the sole purpose

that through his victory, Jesus might demonstrate

His absolute power and authority over the devil's

devices. That's important. So we often go looking

for temptation in order to enjoy it. Jesus wasn't

going looking for temptation in the way that

we do. And that's where we step off the dance

floor. When we go looking for temptation, when

we go looking to enjoy sin or to kind of, sometimes

we go, I wasn't looking for sin when you know

you've been looking for sin. You guys know what

I'm talking about, right? Sometimes we put ourselves

in situations that aren't good, we know they

won't be good, and we put ourselves on purpose

so we can lie to ourselves and go, I didn't know

that was gonna happen. You know what I mean?

And so we go looking for temptation in order

to gratify ourselves, Jesus goes in order to

defeat it. Do you see the difference? So we step

off the dance floor and become the wallflower

that I talked about last week. Instead of walking

in rhythm with the spirit, we drift towards selfish

desires. Instead of orbiting God, we want others

to orbit us. And instead of trusting the Father,

we grasp for control. And this is how the dance

becomes distorted. This is how communion becomes

competition. And this is how worship turns into

a power struggle. But Jesus shows us another

way. To walk by the Spirit is to trust the Father

and to confront temptation rather than to coddle

it. So by doing so, Jesus doesn't just resist

Satan. He begins the process of reclaiming humanity.

You can write this down. Where Adam fell in the

garden of abundance, Jesus stands firm in a wilderness

of deprivation. Have you ever thought about that?

Have you ever thought about that Adam and Eve

failed in a place of perfection? Sin had not

entered the world yet. I say perfection. I don't

mean that in a way that was like they didn't

have to work because it was wild. It needed to

be tamed as far as a garden goes. But they weren't

suffering. They were fully fed. Their bodies

weren't dying. Their bodies were literally perfect.

It wasn't breaking down. Adam wasn't taking a

shovel to the ground and blowing his back out.

He didn't sneeze and go, oh, right. And so if

you think about where these two things go, it's

very interesting how Adam and Eve walks with

God in the cool of the day, every day, they know

Him and they're in a place of abundance and yet

they absolutely failed in the temptation. But

Jesus in the exact opposite situation walks into

the wilderness, which we're gonna get into what

the wilderness actually is and what it means.

He walks out there to go to Satan himself and

go, let's get it on for 40 days, you and me,

mano y mano. Man, I'd pay to see that pay -per

-view, buddy. Point number two, Satan's subtle

scheme is doubt. And so in Mark 1 -13, We see,

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. Why do I

say that doubt creeps in? Here's why. Not with

Jesus, but with us. So Mark gives us one short

sentence in verse 13 that is absolutely loaded.

The phrase the wilderness is doing far more work

than you actually usually realize. The Judean

wilderness is a brutal place. It is arid, barren,

and desolate, stretching roughly about 35 miles

long and about 15 miles wide. It is scorching

by day and freezing by night and filled with

danger. It is a landscape of isolation, vulnerability,

and exposure. But in Jewish thinking, the wilderness

was not merely geographical, it was theological.

And here's why. What I mean by that, the wilderness

represented rebellion. Why does it represent

rebellion? Remember what I told you guys a couple

of weeks ago? Yep, it's where Israel failed over

and over and over again. So we see judgment in

the wilderness, we see disobedience in the wilderness

and it was a place where Israel wandered for

40 years because of unbelief. Constantly they

doubted God. Come on guys, you guys, most of

you have grown up in the church or if you had

not grown up in the church, you've read your

Bibles. You guys know this stuff. What things,

in what ways were they doubting God? What would

they see and then turn around and do the opposite?

Yeah, big part to see, but he couldn't give him

water to drink. What are you gonna say, babe?

Yep, what about how they griped God was literally

feeding them from heaven and They griped and

they were like we want meat God was like you

want me I got meat for you. You guys know the

story He gave him so much meat. They were puking

Because he was like, you know, okay. All right

I'm giving you literal food from heaven and you

still gripe and you still doubt that I'm not

taking care of you And so the wilderness is a

place that is dominated by doubt. Now notice

the pattern. Israel, 40 years of failure in the

wilderness. Jesus, 40 days of faithfulness in

the wilderness. Where Israel failed, Jesus prevails.

And in Hebrew, I said it was theological, the

wilderness also was the dwelling place of demons,

ghosts, and supernatural evil, which is why it

makes sense that Jesus goes there and why Satan

is hanging out there. It's not just by happenstance

that Satan is just out in the wilderness randomly.

That's where he dwells. In the barren places.

It's not coincidence. It's confrontation. And

so Mark goes on to tell us that Jesus was with

the wild animals. This is totally off kind of

still on topic, but off my notes, Keith May,

when you trained to go, I say you trained, your

wife says you didn't train enough. But when you

went hunting with your with your son, you had

to like prepare yourself to go up and down mountains.

Right. But there was also some wild beast out

there you had to be careful of. Right. Things

like. Bears. Yeah, there's other. crazy things,

mountain lions, right? There's other things that

we have to be aware of when we go out in the

wilderness, right? There's a reason why wild

is in the name, right? And so for Jesus, he's

out there with these wild animals, but, and yeah,

there's a lot of crazy types of wilderness animals

like wild animals that are out there, but Mark,

who is Mark writing to? I wanna remind you, who

is Mark writing to? The Roman church, right?

The Roman church is experiencing persecution,

which would mean what? If they're experiencing

persecution in Rome, what is happening? Yeah,

who said that? Great job, Chrissy. Gold star

today. Yeah, they're being fed to wild animals.

So Mark uses that terminology on purpose because

He's saying I know that you're doubting I know

that you're wondering is gotten like is this

Like is it okay? Are we gonna be okay? Cuz everywhere

I look people are being fed to lions and all

these other crazy animals And we're being literally

lit on fire on these big poles Right in order

to show light so people can watch us all be eaten

like it was crazy what they were enduring. And

so naturally, this doubt begins to creep in.

And so Mark uses the term wild animals to speak

to the doubt. So yeah, they're living under persecution.

Their brothers and sisters are being torn apart

in arenas and their faith is costing them everything.

And so as their doubt creeps in, they begin to

think, is God really good? Is following Jesus

really worth it? Is this suffering, is it meaningless?

Have you asked those questions before? Yeah,

I have. So Mark includes the wild animals because

his audience is surrounded by fear. They're beginning

to hedge their commitment. They're tempted to

loosen their grip on faith, not necessarily to

abandon Jesus, but just to soften their devotion,

not seem like they're these wild, crazy faith

believers, right? So Satan always starts there.

How did he do it in the garden? We've already

said it. How did he ask it? Did God really say,

right? There's the doubt. Did God really say,

maybe you've heard the temptation being whispered,

can God really be trusted? Is God really good?

Are you sure that money's gonna come in at the

right time to pay your mortgage? Are you sure

that rain's gonna come for your crops? Satan

never attacks God head on. He whispers sideways.

And doubt is his favorite weapon. Because if

he can fracture trust, obedience collapses on

its own. And this is why spiritual warfare is

rarely spectacular. It's just subtle. You know,

when we think of spiritual warfare, we think

of horror movies, right? demon possession and

stuff being cast out of people and ghosts and

just stuff moving and crazy stuff, right? But

real spiritual warfare is so subtle. It's just

a little bit of doubt creeping in. And so it

sounds like maybe God isn't listening, maybe

God doesn't care, maybe God has forgotten you,

or maybe obedience just isn't worth it. And if

we're not anchored in truth, doubt slowly begins

to pull us off the dance floor. This is why Jesus'

response matters so deeply. Every time Satan

speaks, Jesus answers with scripture. So we don't

see it here in Mark, but if you're familiar with

the temptation, let's kind of burrow down here

for a second. I don't have this in my notes,

Gennaro, so I apologize. If you don't know, Gennaro's

translating, which is just awesome. Thank you,

Gennaro, for doing that. So if you know the story,

Satan begins to twist the scriptures, right?

He says, if you bow down and worship me, or if

you throw yourself from this building, right?

He says, he quotes the scriptures, his angels

will, right? Right? If you bow down and worship

me, I'll give you all of this. and he's twisting

things. And Jesus always responds with what?

Scripture in right context, right? He gives the

sword right to him. But here's something else

that I can't go into a whole bunch of, but there's

something actually even more sinister going on.

Just to kind of give you guys like a 30 ,000

foot view, because it's just really cool. What

Satan is doing is Satan actually quotes a Psalm.

That Psalm that he is quoting is a Psalm about

the coming Messiah. And so what he's doing is

trying to garner intel. So what he's doing is

he's quoting and what he's ultimately saying

is, I know that you are the Messiah. I know that

you are God. How are you gonna do this? What

is it that you're going to do to kind of flip

the script on us? But Jesus doesn't play his

game. He just quotes scripture and he's like,

no, no, no, no. And then he gives him a jab.

You see it? And so when we see this, this playing

out back and forth, Jesus is so like, no, this

is what the word is saying. And that's why it's

important that you memorize scripture, that you

know the scriptures, because when temptation

comes knocking at your front door, or when doubt

comes knocking at your front door, you can respond

in truth. Even when your brain is saying, I don't

know, your heart can go, no, I know, you can

be trusted, here's why. And so every time, Satan

speaks, Jesus answers with scripture, not with

emotion, not with impulse, and not with reasoning,

with truth. And Jesus shows us that scripture

is not a religious accessory, it is a weapon.

When doubt attacks, truth anchors. When deception

whispers, truth clarifies. And when discouragement

overwhelms, truth steadies the ship. And this

is why memorizing scripture matters, like I said.

This is why saturating your heart in God's word

matters. Because when you are tired, when you

are hungry, when you are lonely, when you are

hurting, and when you are afraid, you will not

rise to the occasion. I've told you guys before,

you get Pastor Logan not having ate a meal, I'm

talking about just one. It's over. Donezo. I'm

not making it through. You get Pastor Logan skipping

a meal and being by himself in the quiet for

12 hours? Oh my gosh, go ahead and just call

me done. Day's over. God doesn't love me anymore.

I'm out. Take me home, Lord. But if I know the

scriptures and when I'm at my weakest, the truth

anchors. Amen? You will fall to the level of

your formation. I don't have this up here, but

you need to write that down. You will fall to

the level of your formation. What do I mean by

that? The formation of your soul, the discipleship

with which you are taking part in. And here's

the other beautiful part. When we doubt, Jesus

does not push us away. How do I know that? Jesus

actually draws us closer. Pastor Logan, how do

you know that? Simple. Thomas. He is also known

as Doubting Thomas. And so if you don't know

the story, after the resurrection of Jesus, Thomas,

a disciple. Aw. When Jesus resurrects, he's standing

before Thomas and Thomas is like, I don't know

that I believe that Jesus is still real. I want

to be able to stick my hand into his side. And

what does Jesus do? Does Jesus go, how dare you,

Thomas? How dare you doubt? What does he do?

Stick your hand right here, right through the

hole. Stick your hand in my side. Go right ahead.

It's OK. That's the beautiful part of the God

that we serve. He doesn't push us away. He invites

us in closer. When you're scared, when you're

doubting, when you're fearful, he doesn't go,

how dare you? He's a dad that goes, I know you're

scared, it's okay, come closer. I wanna show

you. It's okay that you doubt, I'm not afraid

of your doubts, come here. I'm gonna show you,

yeah? So he says put your finger here, see my

hands, put your hand on my side. Jesus is not

afraid of honest doubts. but he will not let

us live in it. He always invites us back into

the dance because doubt changes our orbit. Instead

of orbiting God, we begin orbiting fear. Instead

of trusting God, we begin trusting ourselves.

And instead of walking in step with the spirit,

we drift into isolation. And isolation is Satan's

playground, which is why he's in the wilderness.

But when we stay in the dance and when we are

anchored in the truth, rooted in community and

grounded in scripture, we discover again and

again that God is faithful. I'm going to say

this again, when we are anchored in truth, did

you hear the second part? Rooted in community.

The church, you cannot live a Christian life

on your own. You need your brothers and sisters

because doubt does creep in. God is faithful.

Every scar proves it, every empty tomb declares

it, and every promise fulfilled confirms it.

Jesus stands in the wilderness surrounded by

danger, tempted by Satan, exposed to death, and

he does not flinch because he trusts the Father.

And though Mark's gospel doesn't tell us this

detail, the others do. When Satan takes scripture

out of context, Christ quotes the truth and where

Satan twists, Christ makes straight. And in doing

so, he shows us that doubt does not win. Point

number three, if you're taking notes, Savior's

supreme success and defeat. In the garden of

Eden, God gave Adam a single command. Do not

eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil. For in that day if you eat it you will

surely die and immediately the question rises

in us What's that question? It's a question all

little kids love to ask Say it louder Noah Why

why? Because I said so why right Now I would

love to take credit for this, but this came from

Tim Keller. This is so so so good If you just

listen in, because this, oh my Lord, this is

so good. So immediately the question rises in

us, why? Why that tree? Why that test? Why that

restriction? Because God created humanity not

merely to obey rules, but to live in relationship.

And so God has created us to orbit Him. And if

God had to explain every reason, every consequence,

every benefit, then obedience would become transactional.

Did you catch that? If God has to tell you why,

the reason to everything, he becomes, it just

becomes a transactional relationship. He becomes

a means to an end. Do you see that? And so we

would be like, if he explained why, why the tree?

Why did you put the tree there? There's a lot

of philosophical reasons I can go into and apologetics

reasons, but at the end of the day, he put the

tree there and just said, don't eat from it.

And we go, but why? And if God took the time

to explain it to us, we would be like, oh, okay,

yeah, that makes sense. I see how that benefits

me. I understand the logic. So in that moment,

you can write this down, in that moment, God

would become a means to an end, not an end to

himself. But God says, trust me, love me, obey

me, not because you understand everything, but

because you know me. Is that not a mind blowing

thought? That is the dance. You know me. Just

trust me, you don't have to know everything.

Eli is famous for wanting to take everything

apart and put it all back together. He wants

to know how everything works. And he's also king

of, it doesn't matter that we've been coming

here for a year, he's king of, dad, how much

longer in the car? And I'm like, brother, Just

look outside. Have you not figured out what the

terrain looks like as we're getting closer? Doesn't

matter. He's always like, how much longer? I'm

like, when we get there? Yeah, but how much longer?

Right? And we do the same thing with God. Yeah,

but why? How does this benefit? Like when is

the suffering gonna stop? When is this just gonna

get easier? God, when are you gonna? You're gonna

give me a million dollars. When are you gonna

show me that you really do love me? When are

you gonna answer that prayer that I prayed like

back in fifth grade? When are you gonna, you

see what I'm saying? And God's like, hey, listen,

I love you. You don't need to know everything.

Let's just dance and enjoy each other and let's

just see how this thing goes. When we want to

know everything by the way, it kind of takes

the fun out of it. Here's what I mean. I worked

at Disney World right out of high school and

People especially when I meet people, you know

that are not from Florida my wife and I can tell

you When people go, oh, I just love Disney World.

Did you go to Disney World all the time? We're

like no What? Why didn't you go to Disney World?

Well, first off, it cost a million dollars. But

the other thing is, is you get to see behind

the scenes. And it's not so magical anymore.

Know what I mean? And so sometimes you just don't

need to know because it takes away the beauty

of life. Does that make sense? Obedience is not

about logic. It's about love. But Adam failed.

He grasped, he doubted, he reached for control,

and in the single act of rebellion, the dance

shattered. Humanity stepped out of rhythm and

every generation since has repeated the same

pattern. Satan still whispers the same lie. This

idea of self -giving love, of vulnerability,

of orbiting around God, it'll never work. This

idea of humility, of not living for yourself,

that'll never work. And that is exactly the lie

he brings Jesus in the wilderness. But when Jesus

answers differently, where Adam grasped, Jesus

surrendered. Where Adam doubted, Jesus trusted.

And where Adam disobeyed, Jesus obeyed. And yet

the wilderness was not the final battle. Why

was it not the final battle? Brothers and sisters,

why was the wilderness not the final battle?

Right, the cross, the climax comes in another

garden, by the way. We have the garden of Eden

and then the garden of Gethsemane. In Eden, God

said to Adam, obey me about the tree and you

will live. In Gethsemane, God says to his son,

obey me about the tree and you will die. Is that

not beautiful? He says to Adam, obey me about

the tree and you will live. But he says to Jesus,

his son, obey me about the tree and you will

die. And Jesus does obey. He kneels in anguish.

He sweats blood. He trembles beneath the weight

of what is coming. And yet he prays, not my will,

but yours be done. This is the ultimate obedience

and this is the true dance that is being restored.

Jesus defeats Satan at his own game, not by grasping

power and not by demanding control and not by

escaping suffering, but by surrender. You can

write this down. Jesus doesn't merely survive

the wilderness, he conquers the grave. He goes

into the heart of the battle, not to avoid suffering,

but to redeem it. He walks the path that Adam

abandoned and he fulfills the obedience Israel

failed. He becomes the faithful son we could

never be. And because he does, we are invited

back into the dance, not condemned, not rejected

and not abandoned, but welcomed. Again, he's

saying, just come in the dance. And when you're

tired and when you're hurting and when you're

tempted and when you are weak, if you listen

closely, you will hear the same words spoken

over you. This is my beloved child whom I love

with you, I am well pleased. Even when you feel

tempted, even when you want to give up, if you

just surrender to obedience, if you listen closely,

you will hear those words. Not because of your

perfection, but because you are in Christ and

that changes everything. because now you don't

fight for victory, you fight from victory. You

don't dance to earn love, you dance because you

are loved. You don't obey to gain acceptance,

you obey because you already have it. Jesus danced

into battle so you and I could dance into life.

And I'm closing with this. I get asked all the

time, not so much anymore, but I used to get

asked a lot. How can you tell the difference

between a professional musician and an amateur

musician? And do you guys know the answer to

that? One gets paid, yeah, yeah. Sometimes not

a lot. But the answer is this, I can always,

even if it's a good musician. Even if I'm impressed

by the drummer that's up there and I'm like dang

that guy's good. He's really good. I Can tell

he's an amateur by one thing If he messes up,

he'll stop But a professional messes up and you

don't know it they just keep going You guys have

probably been to a show of some kind a musical

show of some kind and I guarantee you there was

nothing perfect about it, but you never picked

up on it. Unless singer forgot the words or,

you know, something was out of tune or whatever.

But usually you don't pick up on the fact that

professionals have messed up. And so the reason

why I share that is this. A few years ago, a

professional ballroom dancer was asked what separates

beginners from masters? And her answer surprised

everyone. She said, beginners focus on the steps,

masters focus on the music. Let me stop right

here for just a second. Aria, I told you guys

last week, she loves line dancing. What is it?

Swing dancing, gosh. Just get into line dancing,

will you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The church knows

even if I don't. Boot scoot and boogie, baby.

Well, when she was first learning to all the

dances, She in and you guys have probably seen

this before when somebody's trying to learn a

dance. They're thinking about the movement, right?

They're not thinking about the music so she would

always be like, you know, she's not listening

she's Thinking about what she's supposed to be

doing and she would get so out of rhythm with

the music and I would be like hey sis You got

to actually do this in time. It doesn't matter

that you know the steps You have to actually

do it to the rhythm of the music and she's like

I can't I can't And she, I mean, literally, she's

saying, I can't watch you doing it. Right. And

I said, listen, do you hear that? Yeah. I said,

turn the music off and I just want you to do

the dance to that. Feel that right there. And

so she started doing it and she's listening to

me. And then she begins to not focus so much

on the dance steps. She's listening to the music.

So back to. She explained that beginners are

so afraid of messing up that they stare at their

feet. They count every movement. They panic when

something goes wrong, and the moment they miss

a step, everything collapses. But masters don't

dance like that. They move to the rhythm. So

even when they stumble, they don't stop. They

don't freeze. They don't quit. They simply listen

and step back into the flow. She said, when you

trust the music, you can recover from almost

anything. And that's the Christian life. When

we spend so much time staring at our feet, obsessing

over our own failures, terrified of mistakes

or frozen by fear. But God is not calling us

to perfect steps. He's calling us to trust his

rhythm. The father sets the tempo, the spirit

leads the movement, and the son shows us how

to dance. And when we fall out of step, when

temptation hits, when suffering comes, when battle

breaks out, we don't quit. We just stop, we listen,

we trust, and we step back into the movements.

Because the invitation still stands. Step back

into the rhythm, brothers and sisters, trust

the Father, walk in the Spirit, and follow the

Son. And when the battle comes, don't be surprised.

Just keep dancing. Let's pray.