Hope has a name. We have been studying this over the last few weeks and we have come to know that the name of hope is found in the person Jesus. Today we end our sermon series, Hope Has a Name. And as we do, we turn our attention from the Old Testament, making an emphasis now on the New. We will be going through the Gospel of Mark. If you’ve ever studied the Gospel of Mark, you will know it’s fast paced, it’s exciting, it’s powerful. His favorite word is immediately. Immediately this happened, and we have to get there fast, and we have to do this, and Jesus did that. It’s a wonderful, wonderful gospel. It’s one of my favorite. Uh, as we study this book, Mark wastes no time.
From the very beginning, he says, I have written This, so that I can introduce you to the person of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. He invites us to come and to hear the good news about the Lord Jesus. And Mark says, it begins here. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel. We’re going to read the first eight verses or four to get started. And then we’ll, um, see where he takes us after that. Mark writes, the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Some translations say, the good news. It is written, as it is written in Isaiah, I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.
A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him. And so, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him, confessing their sins. They were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message, After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So we meet John. And as we do, let us begin in prayer. Dear Father, we thank you for bringing us here today, gathered around the truth of your Word. Lord Jesus, send your Holy Spirit. Thank you that you already have sent Him here. So we ask that He would open our ears to hear you, our eyes to see you, our hearts to receive you. As he brings faith to us, faith to tell, to help us be believe you are the son of the living God, our Savior and redeemer.
So Holy Spirit, come now and take me out of your way. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. One of the key themes that we’ve had all throughout. The fall, even from September until now, is that God keeps His promises. He says something is going to happen, and then it happens. Today, as we study the life and ministry of John the Baptist, we see, once again, God keeping His promises. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, we heard about the angel who came to a man named Zachariah. He was working in the temple and the angel said, um, you are going to have a son and you’re going to name him John. And the angel said that, among other things, John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born.
We know this is true because if you remember, uh, in reading the Gospels at some point in your life, Mary goes to see Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John. And when she speaks, John leaps in his mother’s womb at the sound of his Lord’s voice. Boy is the mother of his Lord so evidence that he was filled with the Spirit even before he was born Mark says he will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Last weekend, we then left John, when we left John the Baptist last weekend, he was just a baby. And, again, like I said, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then this morning we heard, uh, Pastor David read the song of John’s father, Zechariah, who prophesied that his son, John, One thing that struck me this time as we heard it is one of the reasons why, and let me see if I can now find it.
By the rising sun, we’ll, um, let’s see. He’s going to come to give his, this is speaking of Jesus, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercies of our God by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death. That is the condition of the people that Jesus finds himself coming to minister to. John’s message is powerful, powerful. We are living in the shadow of death. We’re living in darkness. And Jesus, the light of the world, comes to shine his light upon us. And today we are going to see what it’s like when these two men now join up. Mark’s gospel opens. And 30 years have passed since last Sunday. Are you tired already?
John steps onto the world stage just as God promised he would. He was spoken about centuries earlier by the prophet Isaiah. God is faithful in keeping his promise to send John to get the people ready. Mark describes John as being strange. If you’ve ever watched The Chosen, you know that the John the Baptist character in that He is a little strange in that particular rendition of him, but John called Mark describes John as being strange. He wore strange clothes He preached a strange message in a strange place. He ate locusts and wild honey. But, he was filled with the Spirit. So much so, that the people in the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem were transfixed by his simple yet powerful message. And this is the message. God wants to be in relationship with his people. And there’s a way to have that happen. John’s message is not powerful because of his lifestyle. It is powerful because of the message itself. John called out the people telling them, if you want to be in a relationship with God who wants and yearns to be in relationship with you, then come back and return to the covenant God made with Abraham centuries before.
John’s message is urgent. You see one like David is coming. And when he arrives, he’s going to defeat our enemies. He’s going to give us peace. He’s going to establish his kingdom that would never end. He’s coming. Get ready. It seems like the crowds grew in numbers every day. As John preached his message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, being full of the Holy spirit, John would stand in the waters of the Jordan river and he would preach and some in the crowd would be moved to tears, weeping over their sins as they would enter into the waters of baptism. Others resisted his call, standing aloof, dismissive of this strange preacher. In the Gospels, we know that one day John the Baptist is again baptizing, and he sees a man walking by. And he points to him, and he says to his disciples, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John says to his disciples, This is the one that I mean when I said a man who comes after me has surpassed me because, uh, because he was before me. Let’s continue reading in Mark’s chapter to find out what happens, verses 9 through 11. At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee. Uh, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove, and the voice came from heaven, You are my Son, whom I love, and with You I am well pleased. Mark tells us, The day after, John says, Behold, the Lamb of God, Jesus comes back. He steps out of the crowd, and without invitation, he waded into the waters toward John. John knows him. He’s his kinsman. He’s his cousin. And as Jesus approaches John, John’s own unworthiness of being in the presence of the Messiah. Welled up inside of him and he says to Jesus, I am in need of being baptized by you and you are asking me to baptize you. And in Matthew we find Jesus’s reply.
He says, yes, let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus is in obedience to what the Father wants him to do. In the waters of baptism, Jesus would fulfill. Right, all righteousness on our behalf. Throughout his ministry, he does other things to continue to fulfill all righteousness.
As Jesus goes down into the waters of baptism, the baton is passed from John to Jesus. From the messenger to the Messiah. From the one who would prepare the people for the coming of the Lord, to the Lord himself, who would now prepare his people to enter into the kingdom of God. A new kind of kingdom. As Jesus walked up to John, and John told him of his need to be baptized by Jesus, it was as if Jesus said to, was saying to John, No, no, no, John. I have to do this thing. The people are living in the shadow of death. They’re living in deep darkness. I have to be the one to go and to represent them as I step into the water and be baptized.
Jesus was pledging to them and to all of us that He could be trusted to come and to take our place. He takes our place in receiving our sins. So that we can truly be washed clean. He comes and He takes our place on the cross. So that we can be saved and have eternal life. Jesus comes to fulfill all righteousness demanded by God on our behalf. He pledges to go to the cross, and He does. He pledges to die for our sins, and He does. And so, dear friends, when we see Jesus entering into the waters of baptism, our hearts should swell up as the Holy Spirit gives us faith to know that He, the Holy Spirit, is whispering into our ears, Behold the Lamb of God who came to take away your sins, my sins.
This is a powerful message and it should move us as such. Verse 11 tells us that when Jesus comes up out of the waters, the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove, and the people standing there, and Jesus himself, hears the booming voice of God from heaven. Behold, my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The voice of the Father is establishing the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. The Son of God, the perfect representative of God’s kingly authority and God’s power, kingly power for Jesus is the King of Kings and He is the Lord of Lords. The Son of God was now dwelling among the people of God. The Son of God would do something now that no other person, no other prophet, no other priest, no one but Jesus could do.
He would reconnect. People with the Father. God the Father, through the person of Jesus, the Son of God, was reaching out from heaven, offering to all who would listen, to all who would repent, to all who would believe, participation in a covenant relationship with the Almighty. It was a heavy price that Jesus was agreeing to pay. Not just for the people then. But for everyone in this room, including me today. The Father establishes Jesus identity as the Son of God. Jesus bows His heart and His body down into the waters of baptism so that you and I can be lifted out of our baptismal waters made clean. Jesus, who had no need to repent, who had no need to be redeemed, came into the waters of baptism so that you and I who need to be redeemed could be so. So that you and I could be given eternal life. He who had no need came. Because you and I have need. He came to take our place. Mark pulls no punches. In the next section. As he describes what happens next, as Jesus comes out, up, out of the water, the heavens are ripped apart, they’re torn apart, because God can’t wait to get to His Son.
The Holy Spirit can’t wait to rip the heavens open so He can go and land on our Savior. He rips open heavens so He can create the possibility, the opportunity for us to draw near to the heart of God, who is our Creator, who loves us so much that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to hang on the cross for you and for me. To take away the sin of the world. As I said, Mark is fast paced. We aren’t even 20 verses in. to this chapter and Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 12 says, At once the Spirit sent him 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 attended him. This last sentence always gets me. He was with the wild animals, and the angels attended him. For a long time. I would think that Jesus was out there for 40 days and after it happened, then the angels came. But Mark tells us that the angels were there taking care of him throughout. I wonder if when we are in our own wilderness Our own trials. If we understand that God sends the ministering angels to take care of us as well, if you wonder about whether this is true, read Psalm 91 verse 11. It says, For he, for God, commands his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. The time had arrived. Jesus says, Come, the baton has been passed.
He’s been baptized. He has gone out into the wilderness for 40 days. He’s been tempted. He has defeated Satan. God the Father has identified him as the Son of God. And with his identity asserted and his authority established, Jesus comes out of the wilderness full of the power of the Holy Spirit that flows through him. He is the Son of God. He is the heir to the kingdom of heaven. And he is armed with a certainty. and a power in his mission as he begins his ministry. Mark tells us the first thing Jesus did after John the Baptist was put into prison, he went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the gospel. It says that in verse 15, Jesus cried out, The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news. Jesus was saying, here I am, I am the king of kings. Therefore, my rule and my reign will be established in the lives of my disciples. You see, the kingdom of God comes first to the person of Jesus, and then through Jesus to us. So, yes, the time has come.
You see, everything in the Old Testament that has been guiding us and leading us and pushing us to find the person of Jesus has been fulfilled. Jesus has arrived. The kingdom of God is near. Jesus is near and he tells us what should happen to us when we come near the kingdom of God. Repent and believe. Repent and believe in me. Repent and believe that I am the Son of God. When you and I enter into the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to do so, we should have a change of heart. We should have a change of direction, a change of mind, a change of our understanding of who Jesus is, that He came so that we could turn our lives from sin to saint. To live in that tension between our sinful nature and our new nature, our new life found in Jesus. He comes, he says, repent and believe in me, follow me, surrender your life to me, let me be the king of your life. Let me have rule and reign over you. This is what Jesus expects of his disciples. It is what he is asking all of us to do as well.
Let us listen as Mark tells us about the time when Jesus calls his first disciples. It begins in verse, um, 14. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time had, has come, he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news. And then as Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people. At once they left their nets and followed Him. And when He had gone a little farther, He saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay, he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
I often wonder what it was like for Zebedee to be sitting there going, Uh, uh, boys, we were, had stuff to do. But, phew, they were off and running. Jesus had come, without delay, Mark says. These men gave up their entire lives. To follow Jesus the Holy Spirit brought them into the presence of God into the presence of Jesus the Christ Into the presence of their Messiah that they had waited their whole entire lives to meet and their lives were radically changed forever and when you and I Come into the presence of God When the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to know the true identity of Jesus, our lives should be radically changed, as well, as Jesus comes to the shoreline of our lives and says, Come and follow me. What was it like when you first knew that Jesus had called you to come and be his disciple? I bet you’ve got stories to tell of the adventures you’ve been on with our Lord Jesus. What has he asked you to give up? Where has he asked you to go so that you could be in ministry with him? As I was writing this, I was shocked it hasn’t even been six months! Since God came to Rich and I and said, Hello, I’m not done with you yet. Get up and go to Arizona. What? Oh, and we had, this is what it’s been like. We’ve been like Mark running since we got here. And I’ve never been in a place like this ever before.
Do you understand that we are in ministry with Jesus? This is an exciting place to be. We are never too old to be serving Jesus. He’s got a purpose and a plan for Victory Lutheran Church and everyone sitting in this room today. As I think about us, I think about one of the women on my visitation route. I met her on Halloween. Every time I go to see her, she meets me at the door. And from the door to the elevator, from the elevator to her room, she is greeting everybody. She knows him by name. And how are you today? And how is, how’s your back feeling? And what’s going on with you? And she introduces me. Oh, this is my pastor. She’s come all the way out here to see me. And we’re gonna go talk about Jesus. And that’s exactly what we do. She’s 98 years old, this woman. And I have never met anybody. So passionate and on fire for Jesus as this woman. I just like to go see her just so I can have, I can be raised up and lifted up and encouraged by her faith. I have a woman, 103 years old.
I love to go see her. She just can’t wait for me to be there so she can tell me about all that Jesus has done in her life. What about you? Who do you get so excited to go tell what Jesus has done in your life? I know there are people. Jesus is not done with Victory Lutheran Church means He’s not done with any of us either. He has adventures for us to go on this year with Him. Are you ready? Are you strapped in? Because He’s here! And He’s saying, are you up for one more? One more adventure with me this year. We are a congregation in mission with Christ. And I am excited to see what we are going to do this next year for Him, for the glory of God.
Our Lord Jesus is here. The Holy Spirit is. Brought us to the presence of our Lord and he’s saying no matter what stage of life you are in I’m standing here today Saying will you come and join me one more time? Trust me one more time follow me one more time Put your faith in me one more time and let me show you the future. I still have planned for you Let’s pray. Dear Father, one year is ending, another is dawning. You have been with us throughout this last year, through the ups and the downs, the mountaintops and the valleys, and you already know what’s on the horizon of our lives. You know everywhere we will go. Psalm 139 tells us there’s nowhere we can go where you’re not. You know when we stand up, you know when we sit down, when we go to bed, when we rise up. You know it all. What’s it gonna be like this year with you, Jesus? Today, as we sit here, I ask that you would send the Holy Spirit to bring a newfound passion and excitement as we look into the dawn of this new year. You know exactly where we are. You know exactly why you have called us to be here. You know exactly why you have gathered us to be this congregation. You know exactly why you brought us here to hear this message of your love today. So give us the confidence to trust you. The Holy Spirit, give us the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, sent into the darkness of the world, into the shadow of death, so that when we face it, we do not face it alone. We do not fear it, for you are with us. Jesus, you are the light of the world. Help us trust you. Help us believe in you. Cover us with your love, your forgiveness, your salvation, and the grace of your Father. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.
