It’s from a scripture passage that I’ve preached on before but we’re going to come at it a different way this time. How is it that Jesus was being tempted at all?
I want to conclude our mini-series of how the Old Testament helps us understand who Jesus is and what he does. This is also Labor Day weekend so I share a true story that happened early Sunday morning at my “new job.”
In Mark 1, John the Baptist is preaching a message of repentance and baptizing in the Jordan River when Jesus comes to be baptized. He has no sins to confess or repent of but God is about to do something new this event is just the beginning.
Why did John baptize? We are familiar with Christian baptism but John’s ministry began before Christ’s. There was no Old Testament baptism but washing something in water to make it clean is a pretty ancient concept. Let’s talk about how John the Baptist is and where he came from and see if anything points to God doing something new.
Faith is belief in action, but who or what you believe in is important. Trusting in the wrong thing, false gods, astrology, misinformation etc. could be worse than not believing anything.
*Near the end of the sermon I started a story about “back in my college days” that squirreled away from me. The point of the story was that our Bible professor was sometimes asked “Can God…” He took a moment to explain that “Can God…” is never the right question. The definition of God is all can. He could do anything but perhaps a better question is does God, will God, something along those lines.
I always try to share the Gospel no matter the sermon text or subject matter. And every now and then you need a good sermon with the Gospel as the main focus. The lost need to hear the Gospel, Christians need to share the Gospel; the most important thing need to stay the most important thing.
Last week’s sermon was about finding ways to share the Gospel from Leviticus. Leviticus 15 is about things that make a person ritually unclean; I would not read that chapter in a Sunday morning church service. Here is the link I promised if you want to check it out on my Read the Bible podcast. Understanding the background of the Jewish audience Jesus ministered to gives the Christian believer a better understanding of the Gospel message. The woman in Mark 5 had more than a medical condition, she was an outcast in her society and touching Jesus, even his clothing, would have been illegal.
I have to admit that I approached Leviticus as something we needed to “get through.” I have been surprised at the ways I’ve found to share the Gospel from Leviticus.
This is part 3 of a 3 part series. We can learn a thing or two from Peter but next week we will move on.
Unity Baptist Church 