Sunday Sermon | The Gospel of Mark: True Son

What happens when everything God intended keeps failing—until one finally gets it right? In Mark 1, we see Jesus step into our story and succeed where everyone else has fallen short.

In this sermon, we explore how Jesus fulfills Israel’s story as the true Son of God—faithful in the wilderness, victorious over temptation, and announcing the arrival of God’s kingdom.

Scripture: Mark 1:9–15; Psalm 2:6–7; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 53:5

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:05

All right, good morning, church family. Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one. It never gets old, does it? Listening and watching testimonies of what God is doing, right? God is saving. God is changing lives. Can't wait for that baptism in the second service. Praise God for that. If you're a guest with us this morning, my name is Jason Smith. Let me welcome you. It's a tremendous privilege for you to be here. We are very thankful for that. If you do not have a Bible, there's a Bible in the PureC in front of you. You can take that Bible as a gift from us to you. Keep it. We want you to have a copy of God's Word. So last week we started our introduction to the Gospel of Mark 1 through 15. And this morning we will finish part two. It was too big for me to do in one week. You're welcome. I broke it into two parts. So this morning we will finish that second half. Several years ago, there was a movie titled Remember Me. Now on the surface, it looked like a movie that was about a young man trying to find his way in life. But one of the deeper storylines was the relationship that develops with his younger sister. You see, she's struggling. She feels unseen, overlooked, okay? And their father is distant, distracted, okay, largely absent in all the areas that she needs him to be, just like he had been with his son. But as the story unfolds, you begin to notice something that the son begins to step in into that gap for her. He shows up for her, listens to her, defends her. He becomes for his sister what their father had never been, succeeding where someone before had failed. And that's something that I think every one of us resonates with. Now, when we come to Mark chapter 1, it may not be obvious, but we're actually walking into a story just like that, but on a bigger scale. Because long before Jesus arrives, God had called Israel to be his son. He brought them out of Egypt, led them through the waters, through the wilderness. And they were meant to trust him, to obey him, to reflect him to the world. But they failed. Again and again and again they failed. And that wasn't just failure on paper. That sin had consequences. A broken trust in their relationship with God. They wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. They were filled with fear. An entire generation missed out on what God had for them. You see, sin doesn't just make us guilty, it makes our lives smaller, harder, more fractured. And now into Mark chapter one, Jesus steps onto the scene. He goes down into the water. The voice of the Father says, You are my beloved son. And like Israel, he's driven into the wilderness. You see, it's the same story, the same pattern, the same test, but this time the Son succeeds where Israel failed. Jesus is the true Son of God, and he has come to do for God's people what they could not do on their own. Listen, as I read Mark chapter 1, verses 9 through 15. And in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opening, and the spirit like a dove descending upon him, and a voice came out of heaven. In you I am well pleased. Immediately the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. And he was with wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to him. Now, after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Will you pray with me? Our Heavenly Father, this morning we have come to sing your praises. Your people have gathered around your word because we need to hear a word from you. We need to be reminded that you are the God who steps into our lives and you succeed where we fail. That you are our hope. You are our trust. And that you have come to bring life and to undo all the chaos, all the misery, all the cycle of sin that we fall into. You have come to bring abundant life. Father, help us, as Paige gave testimony, help us to surrender to you. Because we trust you and we believe that you have accomplished the peace that we so long for. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Several years back, my family decided that it was time for us to have a Harry Potter marathon. Okay? We had never seen, or at least I had never seen the movies before, but we were gonna sit down and in one summer watch them from beginning to end. So that's what we did. We all lounged up, got our popcorn, and about 30 minutes into the first movie, I fall asleep. Alright? The second and third movie, I just sat up with my computer and I was working the entire time while the kids are watching. Now, along we're about into the fifth movie, okay? And a scene catches my eye. And so I look up and I watch about 20 minutes of it, and I have lots of questions. Who's that? Why is he so mean? What's a hogwarth? Dad, we're five movies into this. There are four previous movies. You can't start asking questions now. Alright. I want you to keep that idea in mind today as we walk through our text, because our scene is not random. Okay? It is the fulfillment of a much bigger story that has been unfolding. God's been telling a story all through the entirety of the Old Testament, even Old Testament movies, if you will. So let's reset our scene from last week. John the Baptist has come as the long-awaited forerunner of the Messiah, promised long ago. But the scene is surprising. We are in the wilderness, and John is anything but a, he's anything from a normal kind of dude. And he is baptizing in the Jordan for the repentance of sins. A scene like you've never seen before. The masses are pilgriming out, confessing their sins publicly, and then being baptized. Picture in your mind a long line of repentant sinners, and then Jesus steps into the back of that line. But you say he has no sins to repent of? Exactly. And yet he so identifies with sinners that his coronation as king is being baptized by John. Mark intentionally brackets Jesus' entire ministry with the tearing of the sky and the tearing of the temple veil when Jesus died on the cross in Mark 15, 38. It's the same Greek word, okay? Because Jesus has come to save sinners. And so he humbly enters the water to be baptized. Immediately coming up out of the water. We soften the translation because it pictures the word there is that the heavens are torn open. It's the same word, actually, that's used in the parting of the Red Sea. That's the Hebrew word for it. That's going to become important here in a second. And the heavens were open, and the spirit like a dove descending upon or even into him. And a voice came out of the heavens, you are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased. You see, heaven had been silent for so long. And suddenly, suddenly the heavens are torn open, and a visible figure, something like a dove, descending into Jesus. And you think that's right. It was promised that the Messiah showed up, he would be so full of the Holy Spirit. Not only did everyone see something, they heard a voice declaring from heaven, You are my beloved son, and with you I am well pleased. I don't know how it did on the voice of God. You probably imagine it like a James Earl Jones, a Morgan Freeman. All right. Probably not as nasally as my voice, okay? But there it is, divine discourse. The Father speaking to the Son, where everyone can see and now hear. Now that statement that God speaks is not random. It's actually pulling together two massive promises from the Old Testament. So for a moment, I need you to go back to the movie, if you will, the Old Testament movie of the coming king from the line of David. Because you see that language there, you are my son? That is actually a quotation from Psalm 2. But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my son, and today I have begotten you. You see, David was promised that he would always have a descendant, he would always have a king on the throne. But David's line failed. There hadn't been a Davidic king in 500 years. Even the best of them, David and Solomon, they're deeply morally flawed. But there is hope. There was a promise of a coming king who would be unlike all the others. He would be so filled with the Spirit of God that he would be one with God, able to judge perfectly. He would lead like a shepherd, and he would defend like a warrior. And here, in the arid wilderness, from the Jordan River, God announces that his son, his king, has come. Recall in your mind from 2023, at the coronation of King Charles, the King of England, and the 91 million dollars spent, all the pomp and circumstances, a stark contrast from this scene, because here the true king has come. And he has come to succeed where all of Israel's kings failed. Now there's a second Old Testament quotation when God speaks at Jesus' baptism, but from a completely different movie. This is from the movie of the humble servant, the suffering servant that Isaiah promised. You see, in this movie, the movie, the plot line is that Israel has failed to be an obedient son, to be an obedient servant of God, that instead of reflecting God, they are selfish and idolatrous and spiritually blind, a tainted, tarnished reflection of God. But then suddenly, in the Isaiah movie, a promise is given that there is coming a true servant, one who is faithful where Israel failed, one who embodies what Israel should have. Look at the screen, Isaiah 42. Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the nations. You see, the true servant has come to succeed where Israel failed. Yet the incredible twist with the suffering servant, with the servant in Isaiah is that he suffers. Even though he's faithful, he suffers. You may recall in Isaiah 53, verse 5, he was crushed for our iniquities. The servant suffers not from his own sin, but from others. But fear not, though. You see, God is faithful. Because somehow God will use his suffering for glory and his shame for vindication. So come back to our scene in Mark chapter 1. Because the Spirit descends and the voice from heaven declares, and in one sentence, God tells us that Jesus is both the king who rules and the servant who will suffer. See, he has all authority, and yet he has come in humility. Everyone expects a conquering king, but a careful reader understands that God has announced a servant who will suffer before he reigns. Immediately, the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. And he was with a wild beast, and the angels were ministering to him. You see, right after the coronation of the king, there's no celebration, no crowd, just confrontation. He has been thrust out into the wilderness. Why? You see, because Jesus is reliving the story of God's people. Israel was led out of Egypt through the parting water out into the wilderness for 40 days, where their faith was tested. See, God graciously provided for them manna and water out of the rock, but they grumbled and complained. You remember that? And Satan whispered, Is God really good? And they longed to return to Egypt. Even though they had been led out of Egypt, over the most powerful army on the planet, God had defeated, they still feared the people who lived in the land and said, No, I don't think I trust God enough to conquer them. And so they retreated instead of stepping forward in courage. But friend, you must not miss the point. See, if you think it's only, don't be dumb like Israel, you're gonna miss the point. You already are like Israel. We have the same fears, the same doubts, and when we follow those fears, it doesn't just offend God, it damages us. We choose comfort over obedience. Amen. And then we get stuck in life. We choose control and we live anxious lives. We choose sin and it creates cycles that enslave us. See, the wilderness isn't just where Israel failed, it's where their failure shaped the rest of their lives. But now, God's Son, the true Son, has come. Jesus passes through the waters, he enters the wilderness, he faces Satan for 40 days, facing all the same questions that we face. Is God good in the midst of hardships? He faced physical fears and demonic fears, everything Satan could throw at him, as Hebrews 4.15 says, tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Because Jesus is the faithful Son. Everything that Israel got wrong in the wilderness, Jesus gets right. And everything that we get wrong in the wilderness, Jesus gets right. Now, all through the Old Testament, God's people were waiting. You see, the first Exodus was amazing. It was awesome. What a display of God's power. But the prophets said that one day God would do it again. A greater rescue was coming. Not just one from slavery from Egypt, but from sin. A rescue from the enemy, a rescue from everything broken. And now Jesus comes out of the wilderness, having faced the enemy, and he begins to preach. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. In other words, what God promised is finally happening. Friend, the rescue story has begun. Because if left to ourselves, guys, we don't just fail once. We build patterns and habits, ways of living that pull us from the presence of God. And sin doesn't just separate us, it keeps us from the abundant life that God wants for us, that He's designed for us, but we're just stuck in sinful patterns. But how do you enter it? Well, you repent. And you believe in the gospel. To repent means to turn from sin, from self-rule, from trusting yourself. To believe means to trust. Not just that Jesus exists, but that you rely upon him, that he is your hope. Okay? All of my hope, all of my trust are in him. I need to do that because, friend, you fail just like Israel has failed. But here's the good news. One has come. One has come who succeeds where we fail. And he he didn't come just to forgive me, but to pull me out. To pull me out of the life that sin keeps producing. A life of fear, of selfishness, of bondage, and to lead me into something different, into abundant life. He identifies with my sin. He takes it upon himself so that by his wounds I am healed. And by his suffering I am forgiven. That is the good news of the gospel. In 2011, after a massive earthquake off the coast of Japan, it caused a massive tsunami and a nuclear power plant and Fukushima was critically damaged. Radiation levels were rising, systems were failing. And if nothing was done, hundreds of thousands of people were in critical grave danger. So robots were sent in. But if you believe it, the scene was so toxic, so awful, that the robots couldn't change anything. In fact, there was only one option left. Someone had to go in. But you couldn't just go in. The radiation levels meant that anyone who went in, it would cost them their lives. The nation held its breath when suddenly a group of fifty men stepped forward. They were well in their sixties and above. And they volunteered. Not because they were forced, but because they knew that if they went in, that the younger generation would live. And so they stepped into danger in order to absorb so that others could survive. And as powerful as that is, that falls incredibly short of what Jesus has done for us. Because, friend, the danger that we face is not an accident. It's not something that just happened to us. That danger we face is our sin. Our rebellion. It's not just that it makes us guilty before God, it's destroying us. And it shows up in our fears, in our broken relationships, the patterns that we can't escape. We keep trying to fix it. You keep trying to fix it, but you can't. We're not just victims that are in need of rescue. We are part of the problem. And yet, Jesus, the one true Son of God, the one who succeeded where we failed. Jesus steps in. And he doesn't just step in to take the penalty for our sin. He steps in to rescue us from the life that sin is producing. See, he doesn't just forgive, he restores, he calls us forward. And now the king who did all of that for you stands before you and says, Repent and believe in the gospel. Turn from the sin that is destroying you. And trust the one who has stepped in your place. See, because Jesus succeeds where every one of us fails. And he alone can lead you to the life that you were meant to live. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we pause right now to thank you. To thank you that you are the kind, merciful, forgiving God who enters into our mess in order to undo all the wrong, all the wrong of our story. All the wrong that is compounded by sin in our lives, by sin all around us. Father, there are so many times in life we feel helpless. We look around and see the absolute mess that we are in. But King Jesus, you have entered in. You have entered in to restore and to redeem and to save. And I praise you for that. Heavenly Father, I pray right now, all across this room, that if there is anyone here that does not know you, that they would cry out in faith, in the name of Jesus, that they would see with clarity. That Jesus, you restore, you live the perfect life so that we might be forgiven and redeemed. Father, that is all of our hope. That is all of our trust. And I pray this morning that your spirit would speak with clarity into the different areas of our life where we need to be reminded of this incredible truth. That the king has come. The one true son who succeeds in everywhere that I fail. Thank you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Alright, church family. As we do every week, we give a time at the end of service for you to respond. For you to respond however the Spirit of God has pressed you through God's word. We'll have ministers down here at the front who would love to pray with you. If you want to use this stage as an altar to pour out your heart before the Lord, if you need someone to talk to, if you need someone to pray with, do not be shy. We are not here to play church. This isn't a formality. We are broken sinners who long to draw near to our Savior. I pray that you will humble yourself in whatever the Spirit of God is prompting you to be obedient. So, church family, would you stand and sing in faith?