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[0:00] We left off last week in verse 12, Mark 1. It says, The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.! And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.

[0:14] ! And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.

[0:34] Passing along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

[0:49] 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.

[1:01] And immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Just pray with me. Holy Father, we just want to express our great need for you this morning, that we have nothing to offer in and of ourselves.

[1:21] We can't bring anything to the table. Lord, we need your help to, not just to understand your word, Lord, but to let it resonate in our hearts. And God, I just pray that your word would have its desired effect today in the hearts of the people here.

[1:40] We love you. We just lift you up in Christ's name. Amen. So, if you just noticed, we just read through... I've been walking around a lot just because I can't see.

[1:51] If you noticed, we just read through like three major parts in this all together at once. We read through the temptation of Christ. We read through the start of Christ's ministry.

[2:04] And then we read through the calling of the first disciples, just all back to back. And it'd be very easy to turn each one of these into like a five-week sermon, each section on this.

[2:15] Because in the other Gospels, Matthew and Luke, they give you a lot more detailed accounts of these events, like the temptation in Matthew 4. You could just go on and on.

[2:25] And so, instead of doing that, we could have done that. But instead of doing that, if you really read carefully, like in the Gospel of Mark, and you're really praying that the Spirit kind of like shows you what's going on, you'll see that that's not really Mark's intent.

[2:42] He doesn't want you to get stuck or just stay on these places. He wants you to kind of keep moving on. And if you don't do that, you'll sometimes miss the purpose for why the author wrote something a certain way.

[2:56] So that's why we're trying to like bring it all together into one thing, to get a wider view of what's going on. So Mark even uses the word immediately, I think nine times almost, in chapter one.

[3:08] It gets you to kind of keep moving on. So we're just going to take a wider view of things. Mark skipped over the initial ministry that Jesus had in South Judea.

[3:19] He missed the cleansing of the temple and the Samaritan woman at the well, like all that. Kind of like he doesn't mention that, but that would have happened. You can see it in the other Gospels in between these things.

[3:32] So he's going into Galilee. It goes from the temptation right into his ministry in Galilee. So why? Why does Mark do this?

[3:43] Why the speed in which Mark does this? And really the answer is that Mark seems to be wanting to establish that Jesus is the king. Jesus is like the new king who has arrived on the scene.

[3:57] If you look at verse one in chapter one, it says the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Just proclaiming that like the king of kings has arrived.

[4:08] The long-awaited Messiah is here. And if he's going to be the new king, he has to establish his authority. He has to show that he is who he says he is.

[4:19] And that's what these three things, three sections that we're going to look at, talk about. So I guess if you had to call this message something, it would be like the authority of our Christ, like the authority of Christ and how he demonstrates it.

[4:33] So we see last week when we talked about baptism that this is when Christ was, I guess, you could say it was his coronation as the king who's come.

[4:47] He was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descended on him and the Father spoke from above that this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So all three members of the Trinity, they are at work together at Christ's baptism.

[5:01] And really awesome, awesome picture. And Christ was going to fulfill all the Old Testament roles that the new king was going to fulfill. And if you, I'll just read this in John 3 to you real quick.

[5:13] John 3, verse 34, talking about Jesus, says, For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

[5:25] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. So it says here that Jesus was given the Holy Spirit without measure. That's incredible.

[5:35] That's awesome. He's saying that, like he had this measureless anointing of the Holy Spirit, Christ did. And that's what happened at the baptism. Christ then just jumps right into his earthly ministry.

[5:51] So he wants to demonstrate. I'll say I'll just kind of give you the three points in advance and then we can kind of unpack them. But Christ is going to demonstrate his authority in three different realms.

[6:02] He's going to demonstrate his authority over Satan in his realm. So he's going to have to show that he is the new king who's going to overthrow the usurper, Satan.

[6:14] He's got to prove that he can destroy the works of the devil like it's been spoken of. And that will be in the temptation. Secondly, he shows his authority over sin and its dominion.

[6:26] So Satan, then sin itself. And then thirdly, he shows his authority over sinners. People like you and me, he shows authority over them.

[6:38] So that's just kind of the rightful conclusion. If he has authority over Satan, authority over sin, then he definitely would have authority over sinners. So he's going to establish his rule in our hearts.

[6:51] So we'll look at the first point. This is point one. And so the authority of Christ over Satan. And we see this in verse 12 and 13. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

[7:05] And he was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. So that's Mark's shot, like right there, a snapshot of what happened at the temptation.

[7:21] So we could go to Matthew, we could go to Luke, but we're not going to. We were going to just talk about what Mark gives us here, for the most part, and add in a little bit of what the other authors say.

[7:32] But immediately following his empowerment by the Spirit, it says he was driven into the wilderness. And this is like a very, very strong verb. It literally means like to impel someone, to throw them out.

[7:46] Like Jesus was literally thrown out, led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. And it was the will of the Father. It wasn't the will of Satan.

[7:56] It wasn't the will of anything else. This is what God desired. And so Christ had this strong compulsion to go into the wilderness. And so don't misunderstand that.

[8:08] James tells us that temptation does not come from God. God tempts no one, nor can he be tempted by evil. But what is true is that God will allow his own people to go through temptation in order that they can have victory through it and become stronger.

[8:25] If you remember at the Last Supper, Jesus told Peter, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. Like he's asked. And we're giving him permission, you know.

[8:37] But in the end, he was going to be strengthened through what happened to him. And so he has the same idea here is that Christ is going to be sifted, be tempted by Satan himself.

[8:49] So it wasn't by chance. It wasn't by a whim. Christ deliberately was set out into the wilderness. And he was going. So why the wilderness? You ever thought, like, why couldn't it just be somewhere else?

[9:03] Personally, when I think of like, like if someone like said, just the Spirit drove me immediately into the mountains, I'd be like, all right, the mountains, you know. But I would think like temptation would be a lot stronger, like in a city setting for me.

[9:19] But with Jesus, this wasn't a lush mountain paradise. It was a barren wasteland. It really was. It was the wilderness. And so why was he driven there?

[9:30] Because he's going to have to face Satan by himself. Like he can't, he's not going to have anybody there to support him. At all. He's going to be by himself.

[9:42] And so this area, a lot of historians say, is called Yashinam. It means like the devastation. That's what they call this area, the devastation. And it's around 35 by 15 miles.

[9:55] It's wild, uninhabited. It's near Jericho Road going through Jerusalem. I looked up pictures of it, just kind of see what it looked like. And it is really quite, quite barren.

[10:06] Very desolate place. There's certain cliffs and ravines that plunge hundreds of feet down. It's not a place you just want to go and hang out at all. And Deuteronomy talks about this area.

[10:19] And it says, it speaks of a great wilderness. Fiery serpents, scorpions, and a thirsty ground with no water. That's what it talks about in Deuteronomy.

[10:30] So, also in the Old Testament, we know that, like, lions were prevalent. We know that jackals were. So this is all the stuff that he's surrounded with. Have any of you ever, like, probably not, but, like, camped out by yourself, out in the woods?

[10:48] It's, I've done that before. I actually kind of enjoy it. But usually it freaks a lot of people out just because you've seen too many movies, probably. But, like, you start hearing noises and you're just like, like every little thing, you're just all wired up about.

[11:01] Thinking, like, what could that be? But, like, Christ was literally surrounded by this for 40 days and 40 nights. And by himself. And a very terrifying aspect.

[11:14] So you think about this. Adam, our father, Adam, he was tempted in a lush, green paradise, right? And he was tempted with a companion, Eve, who was with him.

[11:26] So he wasn't alone. But Christ is completely opposite. He's in a barren wasteland, a desolate wilderness, and he's all alone by himself. So, man, just think about that.

[11:40] And so, Satan comes after him. And so who is Satan? You know, like we, so many misconceptions about who Satan really is, even in the church.

[11:50] But he's the ruler of darkness. And Satan, Satan, just means like the adversary or the opponent of our soul. Just who he is. The devil, the other name for him, it means like to throw, really.

[12:04] It means to, in the sense of throwing up slandering against somebody. And this is what he's done. He takes the wonderful, beautiful things that God has given us and he twists them and perverts them and does all he can to, like, destroy the beauty of them.

[12:19] And he hates them with great malice. And so, up until this point, right, no one in Adam's race has been able to, like, withstand Satan.

[12:34] No way. No one has. None of Israel's great heroes have. You think about it, like, Samson, who was the strongest. Satan overthrew him, right?

[12:45] He took down Solomon, who was the wisest, made him look like a fool. And then he overcame David, who was the most passionate and zealous with grievous temptation.

[12:55] So, like, it doesn't matter. Like, all of Adam's race, who's gone, has not been able to withstand Satan. And so he's, Christ has to establish that he is the new king, that he has the power to rule and the power to remain that way over his formidable adversary, Satan.

[13:15] So, think about this. Can you imagine, just pretend you don't know, like, what's going to happen in the long-awaited Messiah that we've been waiting for, where he's finally going to have, like, a showdown, if you want to call it that, in the arena with Satan himself.

[13:29] Is he going to prove that he is sovereign, or is he going to prove that, like, Satan is his equal? You know, like, Christianity is not a, we talked about this on Thursday night, it's not a dualistic thing where you have good and evil bowing it out, and both are equally matched, and it's like a fight.

[13:47] Is it going to prove to be that, or is it going to show that Christ has complete control and complete sovereignty in this situation? And Christ, our older brother, he's called in Hebrews, Christ is called our older brother.

[14:01] I don't know how many of you have older brothers, but my parents are here today. I love my older brother. He's a knucklehead sometimes, I want to punch him sometimes, but he's a good guy.

[14:14] And I have a really vague memory of, like, being in elementary school, and, like, these kids were, these older kids were picking on my buddies, and I, like, stood up to them, I said, you know, get lost or whatever, and, like, I'm going to take no stuff, you know, so I, like, stood up to them.

[14:34] But I remember thinking, like, oh, man, like, I'm going to get it from these guys. There's, like, three of them, and, like, they're all bigger than me, but I'm going down with a fight, you know, kind of thought. But then I remember, like, walking up to them, and, like, they just kind of went like this, and they started, like, walking away.

[14:50] Then they started running, and then I was like, man, what happened? And then, like, I saw my older brother, like, running, like, past me, and he just, like, pummeled one of them, like, on the back, and I was like, get away.

[15:03] So, yeah, then I came by and, like, did the little on the ground. And so, like, Christ, our older brother is, like, entering the arena with Satan here.

[15:17] And if you can imagine, just, like, watching this on a big screen, just not knowing, like, what was going to happen. But if he really was a long way in Messiah, he was going to be able to overthrow Satan.

[15:32] And he's going to be able to prove that he was the one in Genesis 3 who was spoken about, who would crush the head of the serpent. So, 40 days, that is a long time.

[15:44] But just so you're aware, like, a 40-day fast is not an uncommon thing in the Old Testament. Moses in Exodus 34 had a 40-day fast. Elijah in 1 Kings, he had a 40-day fast.

[15:58] So you would be near, like, almost physical depletion by that time. You really would be. It only would be if God was in it would you almost survive. And so, what was Christ's temptation?

[16:11] Like, have you ever thought about that? Like, what was he being tempted with? It really could be kind of several things with all the same aim, I guess, or the same goal.

[16:21] But one was, like, Satan might not have been trying to tempt him to give up his sovereignty or his royalty, but he was trying to tempt him to abandon his humiliation.

[16:34] Like, you're the Son of God. Don't put up with this. You should have the right to eat. You should be doing this. Why are you doing this to yourself? So, definitely a strong assault of, like, you don't have to do this.

[16:46] You're the Son of God. Abandon this humiliation. Because he was trying to prevent Christ from getting to the cross, right? So, that's one.

[16:56] And then the other hand, he actually was trying to get Jesus to commit sin and disobedience so that he wouldn't be the perfect sacrifice for our sins anymore. But on both attempts, though, really, it was just trying to subvert God's plan and God's redemptive purpose on the cross.

[17:14] So, Christ had to remain true to the Father, and he had to remain sinless if that was going to happen. So, that was his goal. But if you ever thought about this, like Christ, the Scripture said, has been tempted in every way, just like us.

[17:29] It says that he was a child and that he grew in wisdom and stature with God. He was a teenager, and he was a man, and he never sinned.

[17:41] Peter said this, He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. And then towards the end of Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, You have been with me through many temptations.

[17:54] So, don't mistake this as also being the only temptation that Christ faced. It probably was one of the most intense times, but he was tempted in every way, just like we were.

[18:06] So, what's the outcome of the temptation? In his weakest and the most isolated circumstances imaginable, Christ remains steadfast.

[18:18] Through total dependence on the Father, through prayer, he remained that way. He quoted the Scripture. We know that from the other Gospels, right? He quoted from Torah, from Deuteronomy, three different times.

[18:31] And just the Word of God is powerful. Psalm 119 says this, Great peace have those who love your law. Nothing can make them stumble.

[18:43] You see that? That's what Christ was holding on to. So, Christ overcame. And he remained like the sinless sacrifice. And just think about it.

[18:56] Like, finally, remember like the last words he said in the temptation? When Satan goes after him, he says, Away with you, Satan. Like, he commands him, like, sovereignly, to get out of my face.

[19:06] Like, you are done. And he slithered away like the snake he is from the holy presence of Jesus. And he did this all by himself, with total dependence on the Father.

[19:19] Now, don't make the mistake. Like, Jesus didn't have some kind of upper hand, okay? If he did, then he wouldn't, his temptations would not have been real. To be the sinless, perfect sacrifice, he had to be tempted every way, just like we were.

[19:35] So, it wasn't like he had some kind of supernatural juice that just kind of got him through this. Like, he was utterly dependent on the Father. You see that in Gethsemane, too. He's going to the Father. He's showing us how to overcome.

[19:47] So, he did it. And he did it for us, and for the salvation and the glory of his Father. And then, all that Mark says is, like, angels minister to him.

[19:59] How cool is that? Like, right after the temptation, angels come from heaven and minister to him. So, what do you think that could have been? Well, the phrase is used, like ministering.

[20:12] It means to serve food. Pretty cool. So, like, I bet it was some special, awesome concoction from food from heaven that God, like, brought him partially, like to restore him back to physical health after all that was over.

[20:26] So, what's the point? Flip to Hebrews 4 real quick. Hebrews 4, verse 14. So, Christ has exercised, and he's proved his total authority over Satan.

[20:49] And he overcame him. Okay? Check this out. Awesome stuff. Verse 14. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

[21:08] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness. See that? But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

[21:20] So, every way we were. Every way. It says then, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[21:34] So, Christ suffered far greater temptations than we were, to be honest, I believe, because he never gave in. If you ever, like, arm wrestled someone really strong before, and like maybe, like you resisted for a while, but then you broke, like, you didn't really feel the full force of that guy, did you?

[21:52] Like, you capitulated and broke before you really felt the full onslaught of what that big dude had to offer you, but Jesus didn't break. You see that? Like, he was stood the full force of what temptation had to offer.

[22:06] So, Christ, our older brother, has conquered, and he's cleared the way for us, and because he is overcome, now we can overcome. He's cleared the way to the Father and provided all we need.

[22:18] So, flip back to Mark again. We'll go on to the second point. And the second point, number two, so we have the authority of Christ over Satan, and now we have the authority of Christ over sin.

[22:38] Alright, we see this in verse 14 and 15. Now, after John was arrested, John the Baptist, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

[22:53] Repent and believe the gospel. And this phrase kind of summarizes Christ's preaching ministry. If you ever wonder, like, what do I say? Like, what's the message that we bring to a lost world?

[23:05] Like, in the most simple way, like, this is it. Like, this is the gospel message. And, so, God's establishing, or Christ is establishing His authority over sin and in the lives of Adam's fallen race.

[23:23] So, in response to this, we're to repent and believe the gospel. So, the kingdom of God, let's just look at that just for one second. Well, most people, most theologians would say that the kingdom of God should be, can be understood in three different ways.

[23:38] But, one is the spiritual kingdom, the invisible kingdom. And that is, like, when Christ comes to rule, like, in the hearts of mankind.

[23:49] We can't see it with our eyes, but it's there and it's worldwide. It goes all over the world. So, that's the kingdom of God, at least the spiritual kingdom, is happening, like, right now.

[24:00] And then, there's a future millennial kingdom with the new earth that's talked about in Revelation 20. And that's to come where Christ will fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. And then, following that, the last aspect of the kingdom is the eternal kingdom.

[24:15] And that's when we all accumulate, finally, with the new heaven, with the Father. That's all, it's in Daniel, it's in Isaiah, it's Revelation, all that.

[24:28] So, when Jesus says the kingdom of God is here, it is here because the king is there. You see that? Christ has brought the kingdom. And, if you want to think about it this way, like, the kingdom of God is already here, but it's not yet fully here.

[24:46] And, for a long time, people have described that as like, if you can picture like the sun kind of coming up over the horizon, it's kind of piercing through the darkness, but the sun's not completely up yet.

[24:58] Like, that's kind of what the kingdom is right now. Like, it's breaking through the darkness, but it is here, but it's not yet fully here. So, where it says, where Jesus says the time is fulfilled, really cool.

[25:12] Like, I'll always be encouraged that God is a planning God. He's not making stuff up. This is stuff that He's ordained before the foundation of the world. Jesus says the time is fulfilled, the keros, which means like, it doesn't mean like clock time, or calendar time, or anything like that.

[25:31] It has to do with the idea of a fixed point in history for an event to happen. That's what He's talking about. So, Galatians 4, for instance, says, like, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son.

[25:45] So, this is like the fixed time when God was to do this. So, Jesus is saying, like, that time is now, like, I am here, and the kingdom is here. It's the most significant error in history, and where the Messiah would come and pay the penalty for sin and save sinners.

[26:03] So, like, that's the kingdom. So, how do we get into the kingdom? how does one take part of this new reign that's now coming or being reestablished, I should say?

[26:15] Well, repent and believe the gospel. Like, that's how we do it. So, let's just look at these, like, repent. It really means, some people say it means, like, to just turn around, but it implies a lot more than that.

[26:31] It means, like, to change one's mind for the better. A total turning away from sin, hating it, and resolving by God's power to be completely free of it, to completely fight against it, to forsake it.

[26:48] So, it's not just, if you notice this too, when you read this language, you'll see that repent and believe is not like an invitation, it's not like a suggestion, it's a command, like from Jesus, like repent and believe the gospel.

[27:04] It's not like, come on, you can repent and you can believe if you just want to do that, it's a command. He's exercising his authority here, and he's commanding all men to turn away from their sin and to come to him because he knows that he is their only hope.

[27:20] Have you ever noticed that some commands can be loving things, right? Like, your kids running out to the road where there's a lot of traffic, and you're like, come back right now, like I command you to come back.

[27:32] Like, that's a loving command. He's saying, like, repent and believe the gospel as a command. So, believe. Got repent, and what about believe?

[27:44] It doesn't just mean, like, a mental assent to who God is. A lot of people can do that. Unbelievers can do that. It means to be persuaded.

[27:55] It means to be convicted strongly, and to throw your total trust into something. It's like a belief that's so strong that it actually changes your actions. Notice that?

[28:06] Like, it's not just like, I believe that. It's like it really does affect how you live. That's the kind of word that's used here. And then the word gospel, glad tithing, it's good news.

[28:18] The good news about the Messiah, the new king coming to redeem mankind. That's what, so, repent and believe the gospel. Throw yourself completely into Jesus and depend on him only for salvation.

[28:31] Turn away from your sin and forsake it and resolve by God's power to put it to death. So, that's how they get into the kingdom. So, the gospel though, was how God plans to destroy the power of the devil, the power of sin.

[28:51] So, flip to Colossians 2 real fast. John said, for this reason, the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil.

[29:05] It's not just to destroy Satan, but also to destroy the works of Satan, to destroy sin itself. So, by his death and resurrection, he would destroy the power of sin to rule over us.

[29:22] I'm so glad, because I can't do it by myself. Like, guys who live with me, they would know. Like, I can't put sin to death by myself. We would just be utterly lost. So, let's just look at this.

[29:33] Colossians 2 verse 13 says this, And when you were dead in your trespasses, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, you were made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us, with his legal demands, and this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

[30:03] And then I'll read just this next verse. It says, When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him.

[30:14] So, there's a lot in that. But, we were in a desperate state. Like, our sinful condition was not just like a kind of bad thing, we're sick, and we just need some medicine.

[30:25] We were utterly just a corpse spiritually, and we needed a sovereign God to resurrect us from the dead, and we were not a part of the people of God at all.

[30:37] But then it says, God made you alive together with Christ, with him. And then it says that the cross canceled the record of death that stood against us. See that?

[30:48] Like, we have this record of everything, every thought, every motive, every action that we ever have committed against God. And it would be this endless list, like, forever long, but Christ canceled it, or he blotted it out, as some other good translations say.

[31:06] He literally blotted out what you did by what he did on the cross. He paid the penalty for it. He canceled the record of debt, and he nailed it to the cross.

[31:18] So, what's really cool here, though, is what happened? What happened? Then it mentions, like, the spiritual enemies of our souls in verse 15, if you see that.

[31:29] He disarmed the rulers and authorities. Then he uses the word triumph over them. Now, just indulge me. Those of you who know me know I really like ancient history a lot.

[31:39] I love, like, Roman history, Greek history. But, in the time of the Roman Republic, this is before, like, all the emperors, before the Caesars, there was two men elected every year called consuls, and they were more or less like generals.

[31:56] And, like, the ones who fought against Hannibal, they were consuls, they were all that. So, but if a consul won a major battle or major victory, the Republic, the Senate, allowed him a parade to come through Rome itself.

[32:14] It was called a triumph. And he would ride in a chariot, and he would have this big, you know, pomp and celebration for the people of Rome. But behind the consul would be like prisoners that they had taken from the battle.

[32:31] They would have these big things that they would carry, like some of the prisoners on top of, these platforms that kind of put them on display for the people of Rome to see.

[32:42] And they also would have like armor and weapons that the enemy fought with. And at least in the ancient world, if you were a warrior, if you were a soldier, to have your weapons taken away from you was like the greatest act of shame ever.

[32:56] Like it was like you were naked, really. Like you just didn't have anything to offer. So to be disarmed was complete, total humiliation. And this is what it's saying, like Christ did.

[33:08] You see that? Like he is the triumphator over Satan, over evil. and he's put Satan on public display. You see that? Like he's made a mockery of him.

[33:20] So like what was Satan's weapon? Like what was, what did the cross take care of? If you notice, the cross didn't destroy Satan, did it? Like Satan's still alive and active today.

[33:33] He will ultimately be destroyed. We know from what scripture says he will ultimately be destroyed. But what happened at the cross? And this is something John Piper said. He said about this verse, when the record of our law breaking is nailed to the cross and canceled, the power of Satan to destroy us is broken.

[33:54] Satan has only one weapon that can damn us to hell, unforgiven sin. And this weapon, Christ stripped from Satan's hand on the cross.

[34:05] So like he's disarmed him, like he doesn't have any power over us anymore because of what Christ did at the cross. And that's the gospel. Like in this present life, we can be delivered from the power of sin and the power of Satan through what Christ has done and be saved from the wrath of God.

[34:25] So, awesome stuff. Lastly, the third thing, the authority of Christ over sinners is now demonstrated.

[34:36] So, authority of Christ over Satan, authority of Christ over sin. sin, the obvious outcome of that would be Christ's authority over sinners, people like you and me. Back in Mark, verse 12, passing along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

[34:58] And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately, there's that word again, 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 the nets.

[35:16] And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the higher servants and followed him. So, Christ shows that he has the power to rule in the hearts of men here.

[35:27] And in the same way, you should know, these are just ordinary guys. These are blue-collar, not your most sophisticated kind of guys. Like, I don't consider myself a decent fisherman.

[35:41] I don't really go much anymore. But, like, I know some guys who are just straight out blue-collar, chill dudes who just love to fish, you know. And, like, the Lord picks these ordinary men to display his power in them.

[35:53] They were fishers on the Sea of Galilee. Galilee had a huge fishing industry. That was the main industry for meat in the Mediterranean world. It was fish. And so, they were also exporters of the fish they had.

[36:06] as well. And, really cool, when we see this though, when Jesus came to them, it's important to know that he already knew who they were. Like, from other gospels, they were at John's baptism where they saw Jesus come, and John said, there's the Lamb of God.

[36:22] So, they already knew who Jesus was. Jesus knew who they were. But then he came up to them and did something very unusual. He commanded them to come to him. Right?

[36:33] Rabbis didn't do that. There's no record in any Old Testament or ancient Hebrew writings at all that ever said, like a rabbi, would come and say, come to me, like, follow me.

[36:47] Never happened. Even the prophet said, turn to God, follow God, but like Christ actually commands them to come, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men.

[36:58] very unusual. So, he did this in the most extreme way possible. He's asking them to abandon their way of life, to abandon their fishing industry, to leave their family, and to become heralds of the gospel, to become heralds of the good news.

[37:17] I will teach you how to do these things. And they came. It was a sovereign enabling. God has the power over our hearts. I don't know if you know that or not.

[37:29] Some of us like to think that we have the power, but like the God who created the universe has the power to create in us a new heart. And that's what being born again is.

[37:39] That's what regeneration is, is the Holy Spirit giving us a new heart that can love God and follow God. And so, he commands them and they come.

[37:50] And later on in chapter 8, we'll get there in a few months, probably. He, yeah, right. It says, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

[38:06] Basically, come and die. That's what he's saying, come and die. And to us, it may be like, you know what, following Christ may not cost us our lives, some of us it might, but he is saying like, if you knew that following me would cost you your life, would you come anyway?

[38:27] Are you that desperate for me? Do you really know who I am? And if you really do believe that, it's not going to matter. You're going to be willing to cast aside anything to be with Christ, family, friends.

[38:39] And he says those kind of things. Luke 14, Matthew 10, he says that kind of stuff. You have to love me more than your life itself. He says that. So they put an end to the family business right there.

[38:51] and they headed out to follow Jesus. And he trained them to preach the gospel. So he established his follow this, okay?

[39:02] Jesus established the means by calling these men, he established the means by which his kingdom would advance to transform broken sinners. That's how he chose to do it, through us.

[39:15] In other words, like, how awesome is that? He sovereignly identifies these guys, and he sovereignly calls these guys. And he's done the same to us. So these are just simple men.

[39:28] I wanted just to show you one other passage. And look at Acts chapter 4 real quick. Acts chapter 4, verse 13.

[39:44] Okay. So just think about this. This is after Christ has gone back to the Father. This is after the disciples have spent years following Jesus and watching Jesus.

[39:57] And now they've been empowered by the Holy Spirit to preach the good news. And so what about these ordinary, simple men? What kind of power did Christ have in their lives?

[40:11] And because you remember before the resurrection, they were scared. They were running. They were trying to hide. They were terrified. But after they saw Jesus, they were completely bold and empowered by the Spirit.

[40:25] And verse 13 says this, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and they perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

[40:41] See that? It doesn't matter who we are. If we know Christ and we walk with Christ, commune with Christ, what He can use us for is the sky's the limit.

[40:56] William Carey, a great missionary, he said, expect extraordinary things from God and attempt extraordinary things for God. Ask God to empower you to advance the kingdom for His glory.

[41:09] I'll read you one other text in Acts 17. Just go ahead and turn there. You're already in Acts. Acts 17, verse 6. You can see that like the followers of Christ are calling like a big uproar, these uneducated and common men.

[41:31] And verse 6 says, When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities. So, they're arresting them and they're saying, These men have turned the world upside down, have come here also.

[41:46] So, again, the power of Christ and the authority of Christ was enabling these guys to literally turn the world upside down for the kingdom and for the glory of God, for the gospel.

[41:58] So, if we have fellowship with Christ, no matter how simple we are, He can empower us and we can advance His kingdom. nothing to fear either because Christ has overcome Satan, He's overcome the power of sin, He's overcome us.

[42:14] So, He has the complete authority to do that. He's a king worth living for and worth dying for. So, let's just rejoice that He doesn't have some kind of puny authority.

[42:26] It's like a sovereign, God-endowed, awesome authority that one day He will come back and reestablish complete authority over all things. So, let's pray together.

[42:38]  Let's pray together. Let's pray together.