Bible Study - Mark 1:1-8 (Introducing Jesus)

welcome you this is the first of our series through the Gospel of Mark we're going to begin with chapter 1 verses 1 through 8 and I have the text on my slides so if you don't have a Bible you can just read along and I have my notes as well so I want to begin with a word of Prayer Lord Jesus open our eyes so that we can see wonderful things from your word we ask this in your name amen today as we see the Gospel of Mark we will see that mark makes five statements about Jesus and I'd like to begin with those five statements by just taking a moment with each one and explaining them to you we're going to read through the text and I'm going to just make comments as we go very simple way of reading the Bible and studying the Bible I hope you learn from this as well mark chapter 1 mark says in the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah the son of God a few comments about this as you see mark begins the life of Jesus saying that he's beginning with the ministry years of Jesus that is if you read the book of Matthew the Book of Luke you will see that those writers begin with Jesus birth John John begins more taking different teachings from the life of Jesus and not necessarily in a chronological order mark begins with the ministry years of Jesus the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah the Son of God and so we're not going to get any information about Jesus birth his early life from mark interesting that mark says the beginning of the good news this word good news is the Greek word looong Gallion it is the word we get evangelical from it means exactly as it says good news and isn't it wonderful to see that the very first words about Jesus Christ that are announced by Mark is that Jesus is good news Jesus is not depressing news Jesus is not religious news Jesus is good news and it says in the Bible God did not send his into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him the good news is is that the world is already in need of a savior already in need of help already in need of someone who will come and rescue us from our condition of sin and the result that that condition will bring and so Jesus is announced by mark as the person who's going to come and bring good news he has not come to condemn but Jesus has come to save great news good news if you need the good news if you need to be forgiven of your sins if you need a new life with God you want to begin a relationship with God then Jesus is for you he doesn't come to condemn he comes to save that's amazing and now we begin with some statements that mark makes about Jesus Christ we see that number one he says that he's the Messiah this is an Old Testament word that's used that's called anointed one it means the Christ or the Messiah now I don't know if you're confused about Jesus we often say Jesus Christ it's not that Jesus first name is Jesus and his second name was Christ Christ is his title Christ means The Anointed One Christ is a Greek word Messiah is a Hebrew word but both words point to the same thing so we see that Jesus is the Messiah and this is a wonderful thing for the Jewish people because in the Old Testament over and over again the people were told that there's a messiah coming who was going to rescue them this is like their superhero their national superhero who's going to come and to rescue the Jewish people and bring deliverance salvation and make them great he would be worshipped so throughout the Jewish history there's an anticipation that this person Jesus is coming this Messiah rather is coming and they were always waiting for him so you can imagine as Mark is writing these words and he says this is the seiyya his name was Jesus so he is now going to present Jesus as the Messiah throughout this book and for the Jewish people this was great news for you and me who may not be Jewish it's great news too because the Messiah comes for us too he's not just with the Jewish people but he comes to bring salvation to everyone the other thing that that mark says is that Jesus is the Son of God now this is an important phrase because what Mark is saying is through this is that Jesus is God we don't have time at this moment to develop this completely we will later but take it for now Mark's statement is that Jesus is God you and I can say that we are sons of God daughters of God if we believe but by saying that we are not saying that we are God and so for Jesus to be the unique son of God the only begotten as the older versions of the Bible in English will say the unique the one and only Son of God it makes him unique different from us that is that He is God the phrase originally comes from second samuel chapter 7 verses 14 verse 14 and first chronicles 17 verse 13 on this night David was told that he would have a son and God told David this son will not only be your son but he will be my son and so the phrase son of God applied to the Messiah means that he was going to be God and throughout the Old Testament we see this Messiah whose coming was God so here is a clear statement that Jesus is also the son of God so two statements already we have seen mark make about Jesus and this helps us because we see that Jesus is 100% man you're going to read as you go through mark about Jesus eating food talking with people sleeping in fact he dies things that only human beings can do but he is also God he's going to be showing us that the things Jesus did were things that only God could do and so we have very clearly presented in the book of Mark that Jesus is both God and man and we will see this as we read through for now mark is just making some simple statements let's read on mark 1 verses 2 to 4 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way a voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for 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 interesting here this verse comes from Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 that there would be a messenger who would come ahead of the Messiah and prepare his way John the Baptist is that messenger as you see it says a little bit later and so John the Baptist appeared so mark is saying here that John the Baptist is the messenger from malachi 3:1 mark also shows something that isaiah said and John the Baptist himself uses these words Isaiah said a voice of one calling the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord make straight paths for him this is from Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 now interesting pay attention to this if you go back and you read Isaiah 40 verse 3 you're going to see that this verse is saying that the people should prepare themselves make themselves ready because the coming of someone called the Lord is very near and so they should make preparations it's a little bit like when my mom used to go away when I was a little boy she'd go out for the afternoon and she would give me and my brothers a few jobs to do around the house so when she came back she expected those jobs to be done and so we needed to get the house cleaned up and when she would return she was expecting those jobs to be done there was a little bit of preparation we would make before she came and getting those jobs done so that when she came she was ready so the same way the Lord is giving people a little bit of an advance warning prepare your West self for the coming of the Lord we're gonna see what that preparation is in just a moment but one other interesting statement that mark makes is that he says prepare to meet the Lord so this third statement that mark makes about Jesus is that he is the Lord and if you go to Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 you're gonna see that this person the Lord is actually Yahweh Yahweh is the name that God gave to Moses when Moses asked what is your name he said my name is Yahweh I am for Jewish people the I am is an unspeakable name and so Yahweh was a very reverenced and holy name for the Lord God Almighty and the God of Israel and so mark is telling us that from Isaiah we can see that the Lord who comes the Messiah who comes is also Yahweh these are very strong statements about Jesus and about the Messiah and so John the Baptist appeared so John the Baptist is this voice calling out in the wilderness and he preaches something a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins so here we see how did the people prepare themselves they made themselves ready by repenting and changing their hearts let me just explain repentance for a moment in my time of teaching I've found that people are quite often confused about this repentance is not a commitment to never sin again it's not a commitment to say to God I will never never never sin again repentance is not you trying to clean up your life to make something better of your life and by yourself to prepare yourself for the Lord repentance is very simply a change of heart it's that thing that only you and God can do within you you see people can force religion on you they could force you to dress a certain way to eat certain foods to behave a certain way but it may not be a change of heart a change of heart comes when within your own heart you're not interested in how you dress and what you eat you're interested in your heart being right with God you're interested in a change within you that says God no longer will I run from you no longer will I resist your spirit pushing me and moving me toward you now I want to open myself to you and to all that you have for me Here I am I'm open it's a confession repentance repentance is a confession that you have done wrong and that God is right and you've been wrong and that you come to God needing a new life a changed heart so repentance is a complete word of change it's a word in Greek that's called metanoia it's a word that means conversion and so when the Bible speaks of conversion it does not mean an outside conversion to religion it means an inside change of heart toward God a beautiful word and this is the message that John preached so as we move forward we can see in John I'm sorry in mark chapter 1 verses 5 & 6 the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him that's to John the Baptist confessing their sins they were baptized by him in the river Jordan let me just show you a little bit of an interesting note on this notice it says the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem so if we take this Judean area and the city of Jerusalem and by the way I may not have got the Judean area absolutely perfectly right on my map for those who are more fussy and picky on the perfect details I'm drawing a general area of the Gd and countryside but it says this whole area the entire city of Jerusalem and Judea went out to him to be baptized so when you think of this picture of John the Baptist and you think of him baptizing people in this river Jordan do not think that there were 10 15 20 maybe a hundred people you have to have in your mind the picture of thousands of people moving out of the city out of this countryside walking some of them may have been walking for a day day and a half to come and see this man and probably they wouldn't come and just sit there and get baptized and disappear and leave again they probably would be baptized and stay and listen to him preach so quite a crowd gathering in this Gd and countryside the other the other thing it helps us to see is where John was baptizing by the Jordan River now the Bible doesn't tell us exactly but it means if these people were coming from Jerusalem Judea to be baptized by him more than likely this is the region that he was baptizing in the River Jordan but that's up for debate now notice it does say that the response to John was what the people were drawn this is an amazing truth that you're gonna see in the book of Mark in religion religious leaders love to scold the people who attend their meetings they want more people to attend they try to find ways to make people feel guilty for not attending for not participating but with Jesus mmm we're gonna see something very different and here it already begins with John the Baptist the people were drawn John is not forcing anyone to come there's something that's of curiosity that's rising in their hearts something of interest of wanting to seek after God of wanting to know who is this man what is he announcing what is his message and so the people were drawn to John in the thousands the other thing it says is that they work confessing their sins now as I previously mentioned this is not a forced thing this is something that comes from within the heart it's when you agree with God that he's right that you are a sinner and you need a clean heart and you stop disagreeing you stop wrestling and fighting and you give in to this work of the Spirit you submit to that work of the Spirit and you agree with God when you say God you're right and I'm wrong I've been a sinner so people were drawn by the thousands the confessing of sins so you can imagine the scene at the Jordan River not only were people being baptized in water but there were men a lot of tears being shed as family relationships were being made right because people were confessing how they had hurt each other and wronged each other people who had maybe cheated on their taxes were going back and sorting things out or who had frauded others of money were going back and correcting those things that they had done wrong so you can imagine the crowds drawn the confession picture this scene in your mind as John is baptizing in the River Jordan let's just say it this way it was not a quiet secret everyone knew that there was a man named John baptizing in the River Jordan and they were coming they were drawn and they were confessing their sins and he got the picture a third thing we thought you see is that John baptized John baptized in water a symbol that they're believing his message a symbol that they were confessing their sins and getting themselves ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ now interesting thing that John that mark says is that John wore clothing made of camels hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey let's just say this John was an unusual person he was raised in the wilderness he dressed like Elijah and he ate honey-coated insects interesting character nonetheless some people have tried to make a lot of this I don't know that we can say much more than that but he was a very interesting person and I think that itself might have been part of the draw maybe people thought that Elijah had been raised from the dead and people were waiting for Elijah to come before the Messiah came because Malachi chapter 3 tells us that so we don't know everything that was in the people's mind but maybe this is what they were thinking and John dresses peculiar he eats peculiar food and he had a different message so people were drawn to him now here's his message and we'll finish with this mark 1 7 to 8 after me comes one more powerful than I the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie here we have this fourth statement about Jesus number one his number four that is his majesty the majesty of the Lord this is an amazing statement with John that John makes we can think of this as John having low self-esteem but I don't think that's what John is having John is not having a problem with low self-esteem in other words what I mean is John is not sitting here saying I'm such a lowly person if I just have no nothing to do in life I'm a nobody I'm a loser loser loser oh I'm not worthy to do anything in life I'm not worthy of anybody that's not the statement John is making he's not having a self-esteem problem what John is making a statement about is the greatness and majesty of the Lord you see when the Lord appears to people in the Bible they don't sing and dance quite often they fall down as though they are dead and quite often the next words to be spoken to them are do not be afraid so for example in the book of Revelation John falls down at the feet of Jesus like a dead man in the Book of Daniel Daniel after seeing the Lord becomes pale and weak and falls down faint Isaiah chapter 6 we read that Isaiah when he saw the Lord he felt completely undone so it's a common response from people who see the Lord and John knows that this Yahweh Messiah Anointed One son of God is going to appear soon and he's going to see him and he's going to baptize him and he is saying an amazing statement that this person Jesus is Lord God and he is on not worthy to stoop down and untie the sandals that are on his feet this is a great statement for another reason John was actually related to Jesus and so as John the Baptist is introducing Jesus he is not telling the people oh by the way my cousin's coming you gotta meet him he's a great guy now it could be that John had not even met Jesus because he was raised in the wilderness and in different cities from Jesus but he probably heard about Jesus we can assume this and that Jesus was the Messiah and that he was coming but John is going to use the baptism as a time to recognize who Jesus was and to identify him as the Messiah and so he is saying something amazingly great about Jesus this is also helpful because people would see Jesus and see him as a man and have a very difficult time accepting him as the Messiah not all but some because they were expecting this great glory maybe to shine from the Lord maybe they were expecting him to descend out of the heavens and to set his feet on the Mount of Olives but when Jesus came this first time he came as a humble man and in very humble means and a humble way and so his humanity for some got in the way of his deity and they couldn't see him as God as the Messiah and so John is making a very clear statement that he is the Lord and he's not worthy to untie Jesus sandals now finally we want to finish up with this other statement that's made about Jesus it's the fifth statement that mark makes in these opening verses that is that John says i baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit an amazing statement a very big topic but besides the topic here the Holy Spirit is introduced and John is saying a very simple statement about Jesus that Jesus will baptize in the Holy Spirit when you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible tells us that you are baptized into the body of Christ the Bible tells us that you receive the Holy Spirit into your life and this happens when you believe the baptism of the Spirit can happen when you believe it does happen when you believe and for some people you may have an experience later in life where the Holy Spirit fills you moves upon your life in a special way and so we have to understand that when you believe in Jesus you are filled with the spirit given the spirit baptized into the body of Christ by Christ himself this is the baptism of the Spirit and there may be other times in your life when the Spirit of God moves upon you so the timing of this is very important but here I don't want to get lost in the different study of the timing of the spirits baptism of the baptism of the Spirit but I want us to see here something very beautiful don't lose this here John is saying that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit very important John is taking people down to the river as they come to him he is submerging them under water they come up out of the water and they are dripping wet and this is a picture this water baptism is a picture of the baptism of the Spirit Jesus will take you when you come to him and not simply sprinkle you with a little bit of water of the spirit not simply give you a small dose a small measure of the spirit but he will baptize you in the spirit the picture here is that the spirit will drench you you will be soaking wet in the Holy Spirit so this the idea here is that the Holy Spirit is given without measure to you and to me God is not holding back he's not giving small teaspoons he's pouring out his spirit upon you and upon me when we believe and it's beautiful because it introduces to you and to me something of a spiritual relationship with God a relationship of spiritual power a relationship of spiritual healing of spiritual life and a spiritual connection to God the Father who is spirit tune in for the next broadcast we're going to pick it up from here in mark chapter 1 be blessed

Channel: Richard Bustraan

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Keywords: Mark, Gospel of Mark, Mark 1:1-8, Mark Chapter 1, Life of Jesus, Life of Christ, Who is Jesus, Jesus is Yahweh, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God, John the Baptist, Untie sandals, not worthy to untie sandals, Christianity, faith in Christ, faith in Jesus, Live Stream Teaching, richard bustraan, expository teaching, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, baptism of the Holy Spirit

Id: b6Fnpn4ep5M

Length: 25min 33sec (1533 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 13 2016