A LOOK BACK…

Last week we learned that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies about the coming MESSIAH || From the Babylonian captivity, Judah was freed and Jerusalem was rebuilt along with the temple, the priests and sacrifices and then there was a 400 year gap of silence that led to Jesus’ birth [of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem, just as God had told them]. His name will be “IMMANUEL”, God with us. We don’t know much about Jesus’ younger years except one story of when he and his family went to Jerusalem for passover when he was 12 years old [LUKE 2:41-52]. Today we are going to pick up his story when he was bout 30 years old. Jesus was a carpenter having been trained by Joseph, and when the time was right, he left carpentry to start his formal, public ministry, revealing to everyone that he was indeed the MESSIAH (Person, Words and Works). Although his PUBLIC MINISTRY had not started yet…these three events set the scene for his PUBLIC LIFE: His BAPTISM, His TEMPTATION, and the choosing of the TWELVE DISCIPLES…

…SCENE ONE: JESUS AFFIRMED AS THE MESSIAH THROUGH HIS BAPTISM…

JOHN…God sent a messenger named John to tell people to get ready because the Messiah was coming. John was a distant cousin of Jesus, born just six months before Him. He was a rugged man who lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and wild honey, and wore clothes made out of camel hair. John came on the scene about 6 months before Jesus was baptized… He preached and announced that the coming of the Messiah was very very near!

-- He told them to do three things:
1. to repent, to come back to God;
2.to believe the message that the King and the Kingdom are soon to come; and
3. to publicly affirm one’s own repentance and faith in the preaching of the Kingdom by being baptized by John. John became known as John the Baptizer as he dunked those who had confessed their sins in the Jordan River.

—> THE PURPOSE OF BAPTISM...
Baptism was a jewish practice before it was a practice of the Church. The basic idea behind baptism was IDENTIFICATION…identifying one’s self with a person and/or a message and/or a group

—> TWO KINDS OF BAPTISM…
1. John’s Baptism...was the baptism of repentance; people will…
--- IDENTIFY with the message of John and prepare themselves to accept the Messiah. And…
--- IDENTIFY with the message of the coming Kingdom.

2. Baptism of the Church: Establishes believers in their new IDENTITY [MT 28 FATHER=FAMILY/SON=SERVANT/HS=SENT MISSIONARY] and also IDENTIFIES believer with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

WAS JOHN THE MESSIAH?…
READ JN 1:12-28
-- When Jewish leaders asked John if he was the Messiah, he responded, “No! But someone is coming soon who is far greater than me—I’m not worthy to untie His sandals or even to be His slave. You see . . . I baptize with water, but He will baptize with God’s Spirit!” Soon after that Jesus came to be baptized. John affirmed Jesus was the Messiah in JN 1:29-34

—> MT 3:1-17 JESUS’ BAPTISM…
-- Jesus wasn’t baptized because of a need to repent of sin (John didn’t want to baptize Jesus) But Jesus needed to be baptized…and here are FIVE reasons why…
1. Jesus said he needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness (MT 3:15). Since the basic meaning of baptism is “to be identified,” He was showing in a visible way that He would fulfill the righteousness of the Law [OT Law and Prophets demanded this of the Messiah]
2. Jesus was baptized to be identified with the preaching of the Kingdom. (identifying himself w/John’s teaching of the coming King and Kingdom.)
3. Jesus was baptized to be made known to Israel. At His baptism He publicly identified as the Messiah
4. Jesus was baptized to be identified with sinners. Not to be identified as a sinner, but to be identified with sinners
--- [2 COR 5:21] “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God..”
Paul reaffirmed the fact that Jesus had no sin and was made sin on our behalf; to fulfill all righteousness…He became sin. By connecting MT 3:15 with 2 COR 5:21, we can say He was baptized to be identified with sinners.
5. Jesus was baptized to receive the special anointing for His ministry, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. [Acts 10:37-38] “…37 You know the events that took place throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.”

-- Since it was at His baptism that the Holy Spirit came down on Him, by connecting MT 3:16 with what happened at the baptism with Acts 10:38, it is clear that it was on this occasion that He received His special anointing by the Holy Spirit for His mission.

—> At His baptism the entire Triune God appeared in that the Son was seen in the person of Jesus standing in the water; the Holy Spirit was seen in visible form of a dove, while the third Member made His appearance, not visibly as it was with the Son and Holy Spirit, but by an audible voice. In MT 3:17, God the Father spoke out of heaven. At the baptism of Jesus, the whole Triune God appeared. On this occasion, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit for His mission and was verbally identified as the Messiah by God the Father.

…SCENE TWO: JESUS PROVED HE WAS THE MESSIAH BY HIS TEMPTATION…

The clear relationship between the baptism of Jesus and the temptations of Jesus should not be missed. This connection is seen in two ways.

1. At His BAPTISM He came to fulfill all righteousness & He was declared to be the Son of God by God the Father.
2. At His TEMPTATIONS this righteousness was tested & He was told to prove that He was God’s Son.

>>> JESUS’ TEMPTATIONS…MT 4:1-11
-- The temptations of Jesus were part of God’s divine plan (led by Holy Spirit). It is clear that God had some goals and Satan had some goals when it came to the temptations of Jesus…
-- GOD’S GOAL...To prove that Jesus was NOT ABLE TO SIN, (not that he wouldn’t sin, but that he couldn’t sin because he was God) and to prove that Jesus was SINLESS.
-- SATAN’S GOALS...His primary aim was
1.TO CAUSE JESUS TO SIN.
2.TO KEEP JESUS FROM THE CROSS BY OFFERING A SHORTCUT…to His messianic goal. While Satan wanted to have the Messiah killed, he did not want the Messiah to die at the proper time - the Passover; or in a proper way - by crucifixion. That is why, throughout the life and ministry of Jesus, there are attempts to have Him killed prematurely; that is, before Passover; or in a wrong manner, such as by sword or by stoning. If the Messiah had died at any other time than the Jewish Passover; in any other way than by means of crucifixion, there would have been no atonement. That is why Satan did all he could do to keep Jesus from the cross, even to the point of offering Him a shortcut to His messianic goal, which would mean to bypass the cross.
3. SATAN AIMED TO BRING ABOUT LEGITIMATE ENDS BY ILLEGITIMATE MEANS… It is God’s will for the Son of God to rule the Kingdoms of the world, but the means of obtaining this authority in accordance with God’s will was by means of the cross. Satan offered Jesus a way of gaining legitimate ends but by illegitimate means.

—> JESUS REPRESENTED BOTH ISRAEL AND MANKIND AT HIS TEMPTATIONS

>>>ISRAEL…
1. SON OF GOD... In EX 4:22-23 and HOSEA 11:1, Israel as a nation was called the son of God. In MT 2:15 and 4:3, 6, Jesus is also called the son of God. Israel is the son of God nationally, Jesus is the unique son of God individually.
2. IN THE WILDERNESS... I COR 10:1-13 states that the wilderness was not merely a place for Israel to pass through between Sinai and Israel; it was also a place where God was testing the loyalty and faithfulness of Israel. it was no accident that Jesus was also tempted in the wilderness. MT 4 states that Jesus was in the WILDERNESS 40 days and that the Spirit led Him into the WILDERNESS to be tested.
3. THE FIGURE FORTY... Israel was forty years in the WILDERNESS, and JESUS was FORTY DAYS in the WILDERNESS.
4. THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT... All three Gospel accounts make it clear that the Spirit was involved in leading Jesus into the wilderness and was there with Him. The Holy Spirit was also present with Israel in the wilderness according to ISA 63:7-19
5. FROM THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY... When He resisted Satan by the use of Scripture, all three of JESUS’ citations came from the Book of Deuteronomy…it is the COVENANT BOOK. “DEUTERONOMY” means “second law”, repeats a lot of Numbers…but the purpose of Deuteronomy is to put them in the format of an ancient contract or covenant.

SUMMARY: In these 5 ways, Jesus played a representative role on behalf of Israel…the national Son of God, failed; Jesus, the unique, eternal, individual Son of God, succeeded on their behalf. He became their substitute (in temptations & final substitute sacrifice for sin.)

>>> MANKIND …
-- Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
-- How is that possible?
-- The phrase “in every way” simply means “in all areas.” Jesus suffered temptations in all of the areas that we suffer temptations [1 JN 2:16] “16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world”. Every specific temptation will fall into one of these three categories.

1. LUST OF THE FLESH: The temptation to change stones into bread came after a forty-day fast. During those forty days, He did not eat and He was very hungry. His flesh cried out to be satisfied because of its extreme hunger. Indeed, it is God’s will for the hunger of the flesh to be satisfied, but it was not God’s will for Jesus to use His divine power to feed Himself. Instead, He was to feed Himself along normal and natural lines. So this first temptation was a temptation in the area of the lust of the flesh.

2. PRIDE OF LIFE: With the second temptation, He was taken to the pinnacle of the Temple and told to prove that He was the Son of God by throwing Himself down. If He had thrown Himself down, then Psalm 91:11-12 (JESUS’ ANSWER) would have applied; angels would have had to rush to rescue Him because He was not allowed to die before His time. They would simply have let Him down gently from the pinnacle of the Temple from which He had jumped. This temptation was to get Him to prove that He really was the Son of God. This temptation was in the area of pride of life.

3. LUST OF THE EYES: The third temptation occurred when He was shown all the kingdoms of the world. He could see all the kingdoms over which He could easily reign by bypassing the cross.Satan, who is the prince of the kingdoms of the world, had every right to make this offer. Turning to Jesus, Satan said that he would freely give Jesus this authority if He would simply worship Satan once. This would have the advantage of bypassing the cross and still gain the messianic goal of world kingship. Jesus could see the power and wealth that would be His; this was a temptation in the area of the lust of the eyes

HOW TO RESPOND TO TEMPTATION:
When Jesus resisted these temptations, He did not rebuke Satan or call him names, nor did Jesus “bind” Satan. He always resisted Satan by means of Scripture: He simply quoted appropriate Scripture. Even when Satan misapplied and misused Scripture, Jesus, by the proper use of the Scriptures, was able to resist Satan. This is the way we should resist Satan as well.

…SCENE THREE: JESUS STARTED HIS MINISTRY BY CHOOSING DISCIPLES…

MT 10:2-4 & LK 6:12-16

Chronology of events from baptism, temptation and calling of disciples…
- John rebukes religious leaders, vipers (Matt. 3:7-10, Luke 3:7-14)
- John confirms he is not Messiah, but that He is coming (Mark 1:7-8, Matt. 3:11-12, Luke 3:15-18)
- John baptizes Jesus (Mark 1:9-11, Matt. 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-23)
- Jesus goes into wilderness to be tempted (Mark 1:12-13, Matt. 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13)
- John gives testimony of who he is and who Jesus is (John 1:19-28)
- John points out Jesus and proclaims He is “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” and that Jesus is the one he baptized who fulfilled the qualifications God had given him about the Spirit descending on him (John 1:29-34)
- John again proclaimed Jesus is the Lamb of God…Andrew and John were with John and then they decided to follow Jesus and stay with him until 4pm talking (John 1:35-39)
- Andrew goes back and tells Peter about Jesus and then takes him to meet Jesus (John 1:40-42)
- Jesus finds Philip and calls him to follow him (John 1:43-44)
- Philip tells Nathanael, Nathanael “can anything good come from Nazareth?”…Jesus reveals he saw him under a tree and Nathanael believes he is the Messiah (John 1:45-51)
- Jesus meets Peter, James, John, Andrew on the shore mending their nets after catching nothing the night before, asked to teach from their boat, after teaching asked them to go out further and let nets down, they catch a huge amount of fish, Peter is now aware of the miracle, believes he is Messiah…
Peter, Andrew, James and John left everything that day to follow Jesus (LK 5:1-11)
- Jesus then calls Matthew (Levi) the tax collector to follow him (LK 5:27-28)
- Jesus went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, he called his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles (LK 6:12-16)

12 DISCIPLES OF JESUS...

MATTHEW 10:2-4
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

LUKE 6:12-16
12 During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. 13 When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.


1. Simon (Peter, Cephas, bro of Andrew)
2. Simon (the zealot)
3. James (bro of John, son of Zebedee)
4. James (the lessor/younger, son of Alphaeus)
5. Judas (Jude, Thaddaeus, son of James, Lebbaeus)
6. Judas (Iscariot, betrayer)
7. Matthew (Levi)
8. John (bro of James, son of Zebedee)
9. Philip (introduced Nathanael to Jesus)
10. Bartholomew (aka Nathanael)
11. Thomas (doubted)
12. Andrew (bro of Simon)
* Bonus: Matthias (replaced Judas Acts 1:23-26)

RESPOND, REFLECT & COMMUNION

I would like to give you a chance to respond to God…

—> LETS TAKE A MINUTE TO THANK HIM, RESPOND TO HIM, CONFESS OUR SIN TO HIM, EXAMINE OUR HEARTS BEFORE COMMUNION…

—> WHAT IS JESUS SAYING TO YOU TODAY?

—> WHAT IS JESUS ASKING YOU TO DO?