Christ
Rules! So I Can Stand Strong!
Christ
Rules! Gospel of Mark Series
Mark 1:9-13
A Sermon By Jim Hammond
Focus:
Because Christ Rules! I am Somebody.
Because of Jesus’ identity, I have an identity.
It is my identity in Christ that gives me power over temptation.
I. Why
was Jesus Immediately thrust into Testing?
A.
The Desert Test Proved Christ Rules!
1. As the Servant King
n
Jesus Successfully confronts the rebel prince
2. As the True Israel
n
Jesus passes the wilderness test (to birth the New Israel)
3. As the New Adam
n
Jesus fulfills righteousness for those identified with him
II. How
Did Jesus Succeed?
A.
He was Equipped
B.
He was Already Approved
Arrest
of Jose Rivera
Have you heard the folk story of the bandit Jose’ Rivera, who
became notorious in several little towns in Texas for robbing their
banks and businesses? Finally the townsfolk, weary of the constant
plundering, hired a ranger to track down Jose’ Rivera in his hideout
in Mexico and retrieve the money. The ranger at last arrived at a
desolate, ramshackle cantina. At the counter he saw a young man enjoying
his brew. At one of the tables, hands over his ample stomach, hat over
his eyes, snored another patron. With much gusto, the ranger approached
the young man at the bar and announced that he was on a mission to bring
back Jose’ Rivera, dead or alive. “Can you help me find him?” he
asked. The young man smiled, pointed to the other patron, and said,
“That is Jose’ Rivera.”
The ranger shifted his southern girth and ambled over to the sleeping
bandit, tapping him on the shoulder, “Are you Jose’ Rivera? he
asked. The man mumbled, “No speak English.” The ranger beckoned to
the young man to help him communicate his mission.
The ensuing conversation was tedious. First the ranger spoke in
English and the young man translated it into Spanish. Jose’ Rivera
responded in Spanish, and young man repeated the answer in English for
the ranger.
Finally, the ranger warned Jose’ Rivera that he had two choices;
the first was to let him know where all the loot he had stolen was
hidden, in which case he could walk away a free man. The second choice
was that if he would not reveal where the money was stashed, he would be
shot dead instantly. The young man translated the ultimatum.
Jose’ Rivera pulled himself together and said to the young man,
“Tell him to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile,
and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree.
Beside the trunk of that tree is a large concrete slab. He will need
help in removing it. Under the slab is a pit in the ground. If he
carefully uncovers it he will find all the jewelry and most of the money
I have taken.”
The young man turned to the ranger, opened his
mouth...swallowed...paused—and then said, “Jose’ Rivera
says...Jose’ Rivera says...’Go ahead and shoot!’”
Today we are going to look at the subject of temptation.
. Before we go
any further, just so that today will be more meaningful for you, let me
ask you a question.
What
is your Greatest Spiritual Challenge
A recent survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of
greatest spiritual challenge to them:
1. Materialism.
2. Pride.
3. Self-centeredness.
4. Laziness.
5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness.
6. (Tie) Sexual lust.
7. Envy.
8. Gluttony.
9. Lying.
Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had
neglected their time with God (81 percent) and when they were physically
tired (57 percent). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84
percent), avoiding compromising situations (76 percent), Bible study (66
percent), and being accountable to someone (52 percent).
I
enjoyed the following reader’s digest blurb entitled “Was it worth
the trouble”?
While my wife and I were shopping at a mall, a shapely young woman in
a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. My eyes followed her. Without
looking up from the item she was examining, my wife asked, “Was it
worth the trouble you’re in?”
Erwin
W. Lutzer, author of Men of Integrity,
writes:
Each
temptation leaves us better or worse; neutrality is impossible.
Look at the
Focus:
Because Christ Rules! I am Somebody.
Because of Jesus’ identity, I have an identity.
It is my identity in Christ that gives me power over temptation.
Or as today’s
title puts it: Christ
Rules! (3) So I Can Stand Strong!
From the
narrative about Jesus’ baptism and temptation we will answer 2
questions: Why was Jesus
immediately thrust into testing after his baptism?
AND How Did Jesus Succeed under those conditions?
These answers will help us find strength to stand and resist
rather than fall under the pressures of temptation.
(Mark 1:11-13 NIV)
"And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I
love; with you I am well pleased." {12} At once the Spirit sent him
out into the desert, {13} and he was in the desert forty days, being
tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended
him."
Notice the contrasts here:
There was heavenly fellowship and affirmation followed by and
Contrasted with the desolate, lonely, barren silence and emptiness of
the wilderness testing and temptations.
I.
Why was Jesus immediately thrust into testing?
A.
The Desert Test Proved Christ Rules!
Jesus’ mission was to confront the rebel prince,
but the way in which he was to confront Him was already defined at His
Baptism. He must confront
him as a man in order to fulfill all righteousness for man.
If Jesus would have confronted Satan with unique power in a way
that only the Son of God could have, in a way that we cannot, he would
have failed His Mission.
Passing this
test of confronting the rebel prince begins his mission, but succeeding
in this test IS the Mission, and it was not limited to the 40 days in
the desert.
In these few
brief lines of thought many bible thoughts come together.
Jesus must pass the test as the Servant king, the New Adam, and
the True Israel in order to fulfill all righteousness for those who he
identifies himself with.
1.
As the Suffering
Servant King, Jesus Successfully confronts the rebel prince
{12} At once the Spirit sent him out into the
desert. . . being tempted by Satan.
Christ, The
Conquering King heralded by John the Baptist goes to confront the
Adversary. Yet he must
confront him as the servant king. The
rebel prince had claimed for himself a kingdom.
The true King's kingdom of light confronts the prince of darkness
and his domain of darkness. The
kingdom of love marked by humility and servant hood confronts and is
confronted by a contrary kingdom, one that instead offers seductive
power. Satan attempts to
detour Jesus from his mission as suffering servant Son of Man.
If Satan can just get Jesus to go the path of glory rather than
service, Satan wins. If he can just get him to handle the test in his divinity
rather than in his humanity, the mission of fulfilling righteousness
will be thwarted. All Satan
wants is one little compromise. The servant King is faced the tyrant
prince.
Christ
Knows What Temptation Is
C. S. Lewis made these insightful observations about temptation:
“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A
silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation
means. That is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation
know how strong it is....Christ, because He was the only Man who never
yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what
temptation means.”
2.
As the only True
Israel Jesus passes the wilderness test
{12} At once the Spirit sent him out into
the desert, {13} and he was in the desert forty days,
Why The Desert?
Why 40 Days? Why Immediately?
Jesus
comes as the true Israel of God, The true Son of God.
(Hosea 11:1 NIV)
""When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of
Egypt I called my son."
His identity is
affirmed at the Baptism, but must be confirmed in the wilderness.
It is no accident that his wilderness experience is 40 days.
Why 40 Days?
It recalls for
us the 40 days Moses was on Mt. Sinai,
the 40 days Elijah wandered through the wilderness to Mt Horeb.
Both of these 40 day experiences focused on the inner most
quality of their mission. They,
like Jesus, were still in the wilderness before and after these 40 day
experiences.
The 40 years Judgment
The 40 days
also corresponds to the 40 years of wandering of Israel in the
Wilderness as a judgment upon them for their 40 days of unfaithfulness
spying out the land without faith.
The time has come for the judgment to fall.
Jesus accepts the judgment that is to fall upon Israel by dipping
down in the baptism. A new
Israel will emerge from all this. The
true Israel of God are those who are in Christ.
Jesus mission has begun with his baptism.
He will be bearing the brunt of the judgment, he will be bearing
the burden. He will be the suffering servant messiah.
He identifies himself with his people.
Jesus' lonely pilgrimage in the wilderness will provide the
only true exodus. The exodus he will provide must withstand the test of the
wilderness to enter the promised land.
Jesus determined he would withstand the wilderness, to live under
the judgment of God on behalf of all.
If he opted out, all is lost.
If he decides not to drink this cup of judgment all is lost.
Not for him but for us.
He
passes the test but not without a price.
Angels minister to Jesus. This
desert battle gives new meaning to the phrase "Desert Storm".
Jesus had been through it. He
won the first round. The
toughest round was yet to come. He
has accepted and thus just begun His mission as the suffering Servant
Messiah.
His baptism is seen from the aspect of his
self concealed mission. One
that would be revealed little at a time.
To those around him he looks like all others, coming to be
baptized. There is no indication from Mark that anyone other than Jesus
understood the significance of that event. Only from the perspective of
the resurrection, and the revelation that event made possible, is the
reader of the Gospel able to enter into its meaning.
Jesus here associates himself with sinners and places himself in
the ranks of the guilty, not because he was guilty, but because he is at
one with the Church and is the bearer of divine mercy.
The way he brought us mercy is by his mission of bearing the
divine judgment due to us.
Temptations Come Immediately
When you submit
to God, you enter into a struggle between the Kingdom of light and the
Kingdom of Darkness. This
is a real struggle, and it is difficult.
The desert experience is for our good, and we are equipped to
handle it. The question for us is will we trust God in our desert
experiences.
Mark’s Emphasis
Mark
does not report the victory of Jesus nor the end of the struggle like
Matthew and Luke do. The
reason he doesn't is because Mark is pointing out that Jesus did not win
the decisive victory during the forty days nor did he cease to be
tempted after the forty days. Mark
doesn't specify how Jesus was tempted because his whole gospel
constitutes the explanation of the manner in which Jesus is tested. The end result of the 40 day period is not specified as the
other Gospels because Mark wants us to see that the confrontation
between Satan and Jesus is sustained throughout the rest of Jesus'
ministry. Mark's emphasis on this is quite clear.
Jesus
sustains obedience in the wilderness, the precise place where Israel's
rebellion had brought death and alienation, in order to birth the new
Israel.
3.
As the New Adam Jesus fulfills righteousness for those identified with him
{12} At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert,
{13} and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.
He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him."
Christ, The New Adam, Second Adam, faces
his testing in order to cause a reversal of what happened with the first
Adam's failure at his testing. We
have already seen how the baptism was Jesus taking on the covenant
obligations of righteousness for all of mankind.
The
crucial point of Adam's temptation in the Garden was that Adam was not
acting as an isolated individual. He was acting on behalf of all mankind. His disobedience (or obedience had he obeyed) had
implications for the rest of mankind to come.
The consequences visited upon the human race because of Adam's
failure is summarized by Paul in Romans 5:12-19.
Here Paul contrasts the failure of Adam with the victory of
Christ, the New Adam. Both
Adam and Jesus served as universal covenant representatives.
Both were subjected to a test.
The
work of Christ involved much more than offering an atonement to pay for
the sins of His people. He
also had to fulfill all righteousness in order to merit the rewards of
the covenant for Himself and those whom He represented.
For Christ to be our Savior He not only had to die for our sins,
but He also had to live a life of obedience that He might be our
righteousness. He must do
this as a man. As the new
Adam.
The
Bible tells us that Christ was like us at every point, except one:
He was without sin. (Heb.
4:14-15). The sinlessness of Jesus is crucial to our salvation.
What
was the condition of Jesus when He faced His trial? As the New Adam
facing a new probation, a new testing, Jesus was born without a sinful
nature. Jesus possessed the
same moral state that Adam did before the Fall.
Jesus had the ability to sin and the ability not to sin.
Like the first Adam, He had a choice.
Some
Christians ask, Was it really possible for Jesus to have sinned?
If it was humanly impossible for Jesus to have sinned , then was
His test merely a charade? Some
insist that since God cannot possibly sin and that Jesus was God
incarnate, then it was impossible for Jesus to have sinned. The issue
here focuses on how we understand the two natures of Christ.
Obviously the divine nature of Jesus does not have the ability to
sin. But with respect to
the role of Jesus as the New Adam we are concerned with His human
nature. We can say then that, touching His human nature, it was possible
for Him to sin. We must
insist that the human nature of Christ had the ability to sin just as
Adam did. We must also
remember that his human nature was in intimate union with the divine
nature, a union that Adam did not possess.
However, rather than this making it easier to overcome these
temptations, it actually adds a temptation that is uniquely his a
greater temptation than the first Adam faced.
Jesus must overcome the temptation as the New Adam without
relying on his divine nature to do so.
He must overcome as a man, or all is lost.
Thus we see the dangerous tactics of the enemy.
The
temptation of Christ was not an empty charade by any means.
The full force of hell was coming against the human nature of
Jesus. In His human nature
He suffered under the burden of hunger, loneliness, and all the other
perils of the wilderness. In
order to gain a picture of the severity of the test, it is helpful to
contrast Jesus test with Adam's.
Adam’s Test Contrasted with
Jesus’ Test
- Jesus'
test came in the Wilderness. Adams
in Eden, a paradise, a lush garden with beautiful surroundings and
abundant food.
- Adam
was tested on a full stomach; Jesus was tested in the middle of a
long fast.
- Adam
had Eve. Some of you think this was a disadvantage.
It was not. His wife was made to be a help mate.
The two should have been able to support each other against
the assault of the evil. Jesus
faced the tempter alone. On
Some other time I'll explain why Adam was held responsible when it
seems Eve took the first bite.
- For
many people solitude is a formula for disaster. They figure their
sin can go unnoticed if they are alone. The Bible speaks of sins
done in private under the cover of darkness.
The presence of others usually offers us restraint.
But Jesus was alone.
- Another
contrast was that with Adam the custom of sin was absent.
When Adam was tested, there was no cultural climate of sin.
When Jesus was tempted he was tempted in an environment that
thought little or nothing about making concessions to human
weakness. It was a
culture that accepted a level of behavior far short of perfection.
Jesus had to face the argument
"What is the harm of one little concession to evil?
Everybody else is doing it."
The standard Jesus was called to uphold was a standard that
had never before been upheld by any man.
Jesus knows the
ultimate loneliness--total and prolonged.
Emotionally He has fallen from high to low; environmentally, He
has been driven from the affirmation and cheers of the baptism to the
dread of the desert; and physically He has been weakened by hunger until
He is dangerously open to any temptation and suggestion.
We
are daily drawn to standards that are less than God's standards.
As long as we can point to others more sinful than ourselves, we
can ease our consciences a bit. But
for Jesus in the wilderness there was no hope that God was going to
judge Him on a curve. He was given the mission of achieving perfect obedience.
Thus fulfilling all righteousness for those he represents.
Nothing less would suffice if He was to qualify as the Lamb
without blemish.
How did Jesus do?
He withstands a
forty day fast in the desert where the furnace of the day and the
freezer of the night would be amplified because of his weakened
condition.
Remember the nature of the temptation:
Jesus rose up from the place where the kingdoms of the world
shimmered before him, where crowns flashed and banners rustled, and
hosts of enthusiastic people were ready to acclaim him, and quietly
walked the way the suffering servant to the cross.
Mark’s Unique Detail
"He was
with wild animals"
One of the
significant details that is unique to Mark's account of the temptation
is that he was with wild beasts in the wilderness.
Mark was writing to Roman Christians.
These Roman Christians would identify with Jesus' wilderness
experience because of their circumstances of testing.
They themselves were facing the wild beasts of the arena and
their persecution and possible martyrdom, this was a cause for fear.
But knowing Jesus faced these also gave them courage, as they
identified with their conquering King.
He
faced his trials with the same resources we have available to us.
He achieved victory as the Son of Man to fulfill all
righteousness.
II. How Did Jesus
Succeed?
A.
He was Equipped
What resources did he have?
Mark’s
Emphasis:
Jesus has 1. the
Affirmation of His Identity, 2. The
Approval of the Father, and 2. the
Equipping of the Holy Spirit
Matthew and Luke’s Emphasis:
The Word of
God.
It is not a coincidence that Jesus answers Satan's tempting
offers with only verbatim quotations from the Word of God.
This fits the circumstances in which He finds Himself. Vulnerable to suggestion because of His weakened condition,
Jesus knows that He cannot win a debate with the Devil. A similar scene might be a Vietnam prisoner of war whose mind
is dulled by starvation and beatings.
Round the clock interrogation is used to get him to confess
spying or to strike a deal for a piece of bread.
Instead, all that his captor can get from him is his name, rank
and serial number. So it is
with Jesus. Physically
weakened and psychologically beaten, He only answers, "It is
written,...It is written...It is written (Luke 4:4-12).
Jesus has a creative reservoir in the Word of God from which He
can draw when all alone and tempted.
He illustrates the Truth which we take so lightly, "Thy word
have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Ps.
119:11) He pulls out his
Sword of the Word and Satan stands his distance.
"and Angels attended
Him"
Just as Angels
with Israel in the first Exodus (Ex. 14:19, 23:20,23 32:34; 33:2); here
the angels are ministering to the true Israelite, the only righteous
Israelite. Nonetheless, do
not forget that God guards and watches, and ministers to us.
Mark doesn't
give indication in his reference that the angels service is withdrawn
nor that is serves to mark the termination of the temptation. This is appropriate since Mark describes a ministry dominated
by confrontation with demonic forces and a ministry that continues to
sustain temptation. Though
Jesus may have felt alone, He was NOT left alone, and neither are we.
B.
He was Already Approved
So all that remained was to stay true to his
identity. That’s how
Jesus did it, and now because he did it we can too.
Because now we are also equipped, and we are also approved
(because of our identity in Christ).
So all that remains is to be true to who we are in Christ.
Power of Positive Words
He was always in trouble at school, so when the parents of the junior
high boy received one more call to come in and meet with his teacher and
the principal, they knew what was coming. Or so they thought.
The teacher sat down with
the boy's father and said, "Thanks for coming. I wanted you to hear
what I have to say."
The father crossed his
arms and waited, thinking what defense he could use this time. The
teacher proceeded to go down a list of ten things—ten positive
affirmations of the junior high "troublemaker." When she
finished, the father said, "And what else? Let's hear the bad
things."
"That's all I wanted
to say," she said.
That night when the father
got home, he repeated the conversation to his son. And not surprisingly,
almost overnight, the troublemaker's attitude and behavior changed
dramatically. All because a teacher looked past the negatives.
The power of God’s approval in our lives is
greater than that! Christ Rules because He knew who he was. He was ALREADY APPROVED.
And in Christ we are already approved.
I CAN STAND BECAUSE I AM ALREADY APPROVED. We truly have been given not only Positive Words,
but a new identity, and we are fully equipped to carry that new identity
out. All we need do is
trust, or believe. We will
live out what we truly believe.
Summary:
·
AS THE SUFFERING SERVANT KING,
Jesus Successfully confronts the rebel prince
Christ Rules—So I CAN stand
·
AS THE ONLY TRUE ISRAEL Jesus
passes the wilderness test
Jesus
associates himself with us, God’s People; He
took upon himself the judgment of God successfully So that We can
have God’s mercy. He led
us out of sin; this is the true Exodus into the Promised Land.
He did it by taking upon himself our judgment!
Christ Rules—So I CAN stand
·
AS THE NEW ADAM Jesus
fulfills righteousness for those identified with him
He
made a reversal for us, because he passed the Desert Test
Christ Rules—So I CAN stand
CHRIST RULES BECAUSE HE WAS EQUIPPED. So Am I equipped in Christ
to Rule over sin-- I CAN Stand.
Christ
Rules because He knew who he was.
He was ALREADY APPROVED. And
in Christ we are already approved.
I CAN STAND BECAUSE I AM ALREADY APPROVED.
Knowing this I
can trust God through my desert experiences, I WILL ENTER THE PROMISED
LAND!
[1]
Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, (Word Publ., Dallas:
1994), pp. 98-99
Drew Anderson (Tucson, AZ), Reader’s
Digest
Today in the Word, November, 1998, p. 24
There
may be more here as inspired by the Holy Spirit than even that.
A dominant theme in the first portion of this Gospel is the
wilderness theme, once this is recognized this little detail may
become intelligible. If
the wilderness theme which seems prevalent here is carried through
in contrast to the Paradise theme, the contrast of the first and the
Last Adam, this may be a significant detail.
The New Adam is victorious over Satan and temptation so that
paradise is restored in which man is at peace with the animals and
with creation. In the
OT blessing is associated with inhabited and cultivated land; the
wilderness/desert is the place of the curse.
In the wilderness desert there is not seed nor fruit, water
nor growth. Man cannot
live there. This is the
very opposite condition of paradise with which the first Adam was
tempted.
Citation: Bonne Steffen,
editor of Christian Reader; true story from a Florida
Christian school; source: Peter Lord, former pastor of Park Avenue
Baptist Church, Titusville, Florida
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