Christ Church Washington D.C.

What does baptism do? Now our text this morning is going to be the entire chapter, first chapter of Mark. It’s humongous. If any of you know the book of Mark, it moves quickly and rapidly from one section to the next. But we’re going to be looking at Mark chapter 1 verses 1 through 45. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask your blessing upon us this morning. We pray that you would bless the preaching of your word and we pray that you would cause us to hear your word,
for we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. When you live in Los Angeles, you run into celebrities all the time. You guys remember that old show, the original one, the American Gladiators? Well, one of the gladiators, Thunder, used to come to our little tiny Calvary Chapel church. And years later, my wife regularly played pickleball with Nitro. They were TV warriors, not real warriors in real battles.
When Jesus was baptized, He was set apart for His vocation as a warrior, priest, and king. This morning in Mark chapter 1, we’ll see that baptism begins battle. Baptism begins battle. Go ahead and open up your Bibles to Mark chapter 1.
Three consecutive battles. So the first battle here, beginning in verse 1. It says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark, as he is wont to do, is brief, concise. He likes to use the word immediately, and things come about suddenly. You’ll notice here in his gospel, he doesn’t have the genealogy that you find in the other ones. And it says here, the beginning of the gospel. The beginning of the gospel.
I want to remind you once again that the implication of the gospel is how we get saved, but the gospel itself is the announcement of the reign and rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next up, we’ve got his name here, Jesus Christ. Literally, Jesus the Christ. And remember, Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua. So Joshua, the anointed one, the Christ, the chosen one, the greater Joshua and Christ who is.
We you say you that is the son of God, the great metaphysical God man. Going on to verse two, as it is written in Isaiah, the prophet, behold, I will send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. These words are drawn from Isaiah chapter four.
These are things that were spoken by the prophet Isaiah about events that would happen 700 years into the future. That is hearing the voice of the messenger in the wilderness. And the wilderness is an exile experience for the people of God. And when they heard these words, they should have been reminded of the great exiles that they had been through as the people of God and look forward to full deliverance from the current exile.
Now, Israel has traditionally been exiled to, reformed in and emerged from the wilderness. Remember, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after they came out of Egypt. And then they were brought out of exile into the land of Canaan in the days of who? Joshua. And in the days of the judges, we see that the people of God came into the land and they didn’t complete the conquest.
And it ends with the exile finishing off with the coming of the kings. But the people of God disobeyed him, did not listen to his word, did not obey his laws, and so he sent them once again into exile in Babylon. And in some sense, they’re still in exile here in the days of Jesus. They’re ruled over by Gentile powers. They’re waiting for a king to come and deliver them. They’re waiting for return from exile. Going on to verse 5.
All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Judea and Jerusalem are going out to be baptized in the Jordan River. They’re going out to the wilderness to be baptized in the Jordan River. And why is it important that they’re going out to be baptized in the Jordan River? And what’s going on here? Well John’s at the exact spot where the first Joshua came to the Jordan River and saw it parted just like the Red Sea was parted.
We know this is true from Psalm 114 verse 3. It says the sea looked and fled. So we’re talking about the Red Sea parting, right? And then it’s got a comma and then it says,
So here we’ve got the Jordan River parting, the people passing through it just like the Red Sea. We’ve got two baptisms and we’ve got a third baptism here because John has arrived at the Jordan River at the exact spot where Joshua came into the land and he’s baptizing the people, preparing them for the coming of the king. And John is dressed like Elijah.
He’s wearing a hair shirt. He’s got a leather belt around his waist, just like Elijah did. Now think about this for a minute because the story gets deeper. You may remember Elijah at the end of his ministry. He comes with his sidekick, Elisha, who’s going to be rising up as the new prophet in Israel. He comes to the Jordan River. He’s standing in the land at a time when God’s judging hand is about to fall upon Israel. Elijah takes off his cloak, strikes the water of the Jordan River, and what does it do?
Just like the Red Sea. Just like the Jordan did in the days of the first Joshua. And he goes out symbolically because God is bringing judgment and exile upon the people of God. And on the far shore, outside the land of Canaan, the chariot of fire came and took him away. So he was out of the land. And where does this new Elijah turn up? Outside the land.
Joshua to come. The Jordan trajectory is Joshua and then coming into the land. Elijah going out of the land. The new Elijah coming to the river and preparing for the new Joshua who’s going to bring his people into the land of peace. Going on to verse 9.
Jesus’ baptism is among other things. An anointing. Your baptism is an anointing. In fact, I believe the proper way to do it is pouring or sprinkling from above. Because it’s like the oil that comes down on the priest’s head. Or the oil that’s poured out on the king’s head. It takes a person and sets them into a new vocation.
A new way of life. And Jesus is being anointed here as a holy warrior to make battle. Verse 12. 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. The father was well pleased. But maybe you think the same thing I do. God’s well pleased with his son. But then what happens?
The third person of the triune God drives Jesus into the wilderness. The spirit in Greek, ekbalo, kicked him into the wilderness. And immediately it’s on. He’s been set apart for battle. And he makes battle with Satan. And he overcomes Satan in the first battle. So we’ve got battle one. Let’s go on to battle two. Verse 14. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled.
And the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Jesus has been baptized. He’s returned triumphantly from the wilderness. He defeated Satan there. And now he’s begun his ministry. John’s been arrested by Herod. And now we see that Jesus pulls up John’s ministry into his own. John’s ministry was about announcing the way of the coming of the Christ.
To his own ministry, Jesus fulfills the ministry of John, and he begins to preach, repent, and believe the gospel. Verse 16, passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Now this is the hard part about chapter 1 of Mark, and you’re going to probably find this with all your other preachers here. There’s like five humongous sermons in each chapter here.
They’re talking about fishers of men. Now Jesus was attending to some affairs, and now he seeks out his first followers at Capernaum, a city on the side of the seashore of Galilee that becomes his headquarters. They may have been fishing from their boats from shore, casting out nets for tilapia and small fish. They know who Jesus is. These are men who are disciples of John the Baptist. They’ve met Jesus before. They’re waiting for Jesus to return and begin his ministry.
Going on to verse 17. And Jesus said to them, Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat mending their nets. And immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Fishers of men. Have you ever looked at the whole concept of fishers of men in the Old Testament?
It’s something that somebody in the first century would have understood. When exile comes to an end, when God brings his people back into the land, when God shows his favor to his people again, he sends out fishers of men. Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah 16 verse 16.
Fishers of men to bring his people back into his favor. And when the temple is sending out refreshing waters in Ezekiel chapter 47, a little trickle is coming down from the Holy of Holies. It comes down through the middle of the temple. It becomes a large stream flowing out to the east, goes down into the Jordan River, and turns the Jordan River into a huge raging torrent of water. What kind of water? Fresh, living water.
No fish live, even today. And it makes the Dead Sea fresh, and it brings forth all kinds of fish. And we read these words in Ezekiel 47, in verse 10. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From En Gedi to Englaim will be a place for the spreading of nets. The fish will be of many kinds, like the fish of the great sea. Is this about catching fish? Is this about, hey, we got some sardines, and got some nice tilapia fish. Hey, look, there’s some weird fish here from the great sea.
In the Old Testament, the idea of the sea is always about the turbulent nations out to the east. The fish here are of many kinds. The fish in reality represent humans, people, the nations that need to be brought in. Ezekiel’s talking about the days that kick off and the days of the apostles and spread forth through the centuries to you. We’re fishers of men. We’re going out and casting the gospel net and bringing the nations in. Now, they’ve been with John, too.
They met with Jesus at the Jordan. They’re in their boat, mending their nets, waiting for Jesus to come, verse 21. And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as one of the scribes. Now, Jesus is called his fishers of men, and he immediately enters the synagogue and begins teaching.
Andrew and Peter went. In fact, I think they might have found it. Some of you follow archaeology know that they found this synagogue in Capernaum. They’re down to the floor now, somewhere at the level of the Byzantine Empire. It may be this exact synagogue. This would have been the synagogue of these apostles here. They would have been served by rabbis and scribes. The typical service would have consisted of dry lectures on small points of the law, but Jesus, the rabbi, teaches with astonishment.
Admonishing power and authority. Jesus owns the text because the text is about him, and it came from him. Verse 23, And immediately there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent. Come out of him. Immediately, there’s in the middle of them,
a demon-possessed man. And in the Greek here, it says, He shouted aloud. Imagine that, kids. You come into church, and some guy suddenly stands up and starts screaming in a voice that’s unearthly. Everybody sits in silence. What shall we do with this strange situation? The synagogue had clergy that served him, and yet here’s a demon-possessed man among them crying out in an unearthly, scary voice.
Maybe this man went to that very synagogue, and yet whoever served them as rabbis was either unaware that this man had a spiritual problem, or they weren’t able to do anything about it. And the demon says something shocking, something that in Mark has only been acknowledged by John the Baptist and God at his baptism. This is the Holy One of God who has the power to destroy demons. So Jesus,
says here, be silent, come out of him. Now imagine the scene. The man’s gotten up, screaming out, pointing at Jesus and saying, this is the Holy One of God. Don’t destroy me. Everybody’s sitting around looking at this strange scenario and then Jesus cries out, be silent, come out of him. What will happen? Can Jesus overcome the demon?
Going on to verse 26, and the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him and they were all amazed and they questioned among themselves saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him and at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. The crowd is shocked and silent. The man’s limbs are clacking on the floor.
And at the command of Jesus, the demon casts a man down violently, but it came out without harming him. How do we know this? From Luke’s Gospel. Luke 4, 35. And when the demon had thrown him to the ground in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. The demon battled mightily against Jesus and clung to the host, but it came right out and Jesus won the battle. With the arrival of Jesus,
it seems like there’s demons everywhere, doesn’t it? If you look at the Old Testament, can you think of any examples of demons? Maybe you see Satan every once in a while, right? You don’t see a lot of demons going around possessing people, though. But when Jesus comes, it’s like Satan calls in all the reinforcements, all the demons from everywhere. They’re in Israel. They’re fighting hard to hold onto their territory, but Jesus is way bigger than demons.
He has his own authority, and he commands the demons. And the disciples here are being trained to fear who to fear and who to follow and how to do battle. And so we finished off our second battle. Let’s go on to our final battle here, verse 29.
Having taught with authority, having cast a demon out in the synagogue. These are all kingdom acts and signs, by the way. By the way, Jesus doesn’t do anything by accident. Everything Jesus does is confirming who he is and it’s fulfilling prophecy. But having taught with authority and casting out the demon in the synagogue, Jesus immediately leaves with his disciples and goes to the house of Simon and Andrew, where Simon’s mother,
his mother-in-law lays sick with a fever. And Jesus is so powerful that he needs only to raise her up. He doesn’t have to speak over her. And the mere act of raising her up, she’s healed. Verse 32, that evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed with demons. And the whole city gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons.
Demons to speak because they knew him. Word had gotten out. Jesus can cast out demons. Jesus can heal sickness. The sun’s going down on the Sabbath. The sun’s going down on the Sabbath. Kids, do you remember what day it is now? If the sun’s going down on the Sabbath and the Sabbath’s from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and the sun’s going down on the Sabbath, what day is it? It’s Sunday.
It’s resurrection day. What’s happening here now? The whole city’s gathered at the door because it’s a doorway to the true temple and the great high priest is within. The doorway of the house is where battle now breaks out and Jesus exercises the authority of an all-powerful king. He silences demons, something no earthly king can do and has authority and power to do because the demons knew him.
And he silenced them. Why? Because he’s got a ministry to carry out. He’s got several years of ministry. He needs to come at the exact right moment, at the exact right Passover to come and die. He doesn’t need extra publicity at this point in time. Verse 35,
And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. He arises early in the morning on the Lord’s day after cleansing the people. And when they arose, the disciples are distressed. Everyone’s looking for you, Jesus. But the battle is breaking out of Simon and Andrew’s house. The battle’s breaking out of Capernaum. Going on to verse 40,
Now, we’ve got a little switch here in the story. Things kind of change gear here. We’ve got this upward trajectory of battle. Jesus winning these battles. People following along after Jesus. Excited. The kings come. The kingdoms arise.
The leper doesn’t question Jesus’ power. Only his will. And Jesus can. And Jesus does heal the man. Verse 43.
Spread the news. So that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town. But was out in desolate places. And the people were coming to him from every quarter. Now we see that authority meets resistance. Not from demons. But from the disobedience of one who was healed. The battle which started with baptism in the wilderness. Moved on to Capernaum. And then out to all Galilee. And now it comes back to Jesus in the wilderness.
Because he has to be in the wilderness now. His fame has gotten too large. It’s going to disrupt the purposes of God. So what’s my point on all this this morning? Baptism begins battle. You’re the baptized. You’re the baptized. Even you kids out here that are baptized. You’ve been called to battle. You’ve been called to battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Don’t disobey the call.
And fight for the king. Can I hear an amen to that? Amen. My Uncle Ralph seemed an ordinary man in a family of engineers and artists. He appeared nearly subnormal. A small Japanese man working blue-collar jobs in a blue-collar neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. When he died without children, my parents received a small box of his effects. A burial flag, combat decorations, and a purple heart. They revealed that he had fought in numerous ferocious battles in World War II.
With the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit in American history. When Jesus came to be baptized by John at the Jordan, he seemed so ordinary, so normal, so human. Yet Jesus in the flesh was the tip of a vast iceberg. As he rose from the water, the God-man and Savior of the world was revealed,
in a battle against Satan, sin, and death. And so are you. Your baptism calls you to battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. In Mark chapter 1, we’ve seen baptism begins battle. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your power. We thank you for the resurrection in the Lord Jesus Christ and that you save us and call us and fill us with your spirit
the purpose of spreading your kingdom. Bless us and strengthen us in our time and place to spread your kingdom and to bring glory to your name. For we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.