002 The Beginning of the Gospel – part 1

Mark 1:1-20 (1-10)

November 23, 2025

This morning we gave sort of the overview

Of this remarkable gospel account of Mark.

It is his story, as he learned it from Peter, regarding the Amazing Jesus.

As we pointed out this morning

It is rather fast-paced and filled with excitement.

· That is certainly recognized here as we read the first 20 verses of Mark’s gospel

· And realize that it took Matthew and Luke each 4 chapters to cover this time period.

Mark isn’t a historian, he’s a story teller.

And right out of the gate his excitement is on display.

You know by now that we’re not going to be in any hurry,

But I do want to make sure that

We do not lose sight of Mark’s excitement as we study.

So before we start working through verse 1 and following

Let me show you Mark’s first big exciting point.

Mark starts his story with this opening phrase:

“The beginning of the gospel…”

It is the Greek word (yoo-on-GAY-leon)

The simple phrase means “glad tidings” or “good news”

That is how Mark starts.

I’ve got good news for you!

That good news is centered around “Jesus”

Who is the “Christ, the Son of God”

What Mark wants you to see from the outset is that

Jesus is both the subject and the preacher of that good news.

Mark starts with the announcement of the forerunner of John,

And while he does give a little details about John,

Marks main focus is what John has to say to this seeking crowd.

(7-8) “And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

There is the first indication of the good news

That Mark has for you to hear.

· I want to tell you about One who could do infinitely more than even John the Baptist did.

· I want to tell you about One who could actually baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

· I want to tell you about One who could cleanse your heart.

And Mark wastes no time showing Him to you.

(9) “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth to Galilee…”

· Mark tells you about how He was baptized

· How God ripped the heavens open to tell the world that Jesus was His “beloved Son”.

· He reveals how Jesus’ perfection was tested in the wilderness,

· How He came to the masses with a message.

And here is Mark’s opening good news!

(14-15) “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

It only took Mark 15 verses to get to his point.

He couldn’t wait for you to hear the good news.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

The good news is that

· The Christ has arrived.

· God’s Son has appeared.

· He is the One who will cleanse your heart by baptizing you in the Holy Spirit.

And the time for you to believe it and follow Him is now!

HOW EXCITING IS THAT!!!

We see the phrase throughout the Old Testament…

That phrase, “How long?”

TURN TO: PSALMS 90

It is the Psalmist lamenting

· How long they must languish under the judgment of God.

It is the Psalmist asking

· When God will return to deliver them from their sin?

And Mark has come to tell you, “Good news! Now is the time!”

God has come!

Forgiveness is available!

The King has arrived!

What you have been waiting for is finally here.

We certainly do not dismiss the importance of Matthew’s genealogies or Luke’s in depth backstory regarding Jesus’ birth.

But Mark is too excited to read a genealogy.

He wants you to know that the good news of the gospel

Is here and it is for you today.

And He wants you to see the excitement of those who realized it.

· Do you see Simon and Andrew in verses 16-18 recognizing Jesus and immediately leaving their nets to follow?

· Do you see James and John in verses 19-20 recognizing Jesus and immediately leaving their father to follow?

I’ve got good news, salvation is here!

You can be saved today!

You can enter the kingdom of heaven today!

The wait is over!

The delay is gone!

That is the excitement of the first 20 verses of Mark 1.

Now, let’s go back and work our way through it

And show you why Mark is so excited.

I want to break these first 20 verses down into 6 points.

We’re talking about “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

And here’s point number 1

#1 IT STARTS WITH A PROPHET

Mark 1:1-3

I told you this morning that Mark is not like Matthew.

· Matthew was big on linking all of those Old Testament prophecies to Jesus,

· Mark is not.

Mark wants you to see Jesus today

And let His appearance and power today blow your mind.

But that does not mean that Mark has no use for prophecy,

For it does help Mark make his main point of anticipation fulfilled here.

THE FACT IS that the gospel did not begin with the birth of Jesus.

That is just when we first saw it.

THE GOSPEL BEGAN in the heart and mind of God.

When we read of the salvation of sinners

We see that it was on God’s mind before time began.

2 Timothy 1:8-9 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”

God’s salvation was a plan “from all eternity”

And God revealed that plan to us a long time ago.

1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”

This was the information that captivated

Not only earth, but also heaven.

· The O.T. prophets were consumed with trying to figure out who the gospel was about and when it would come.

· They searched and begged but never received a direct answer.

· They were only told, it was not for them to know, but for those coming later.

· We are even told that even angels are mesmerized by this truth.

AND THIS ONLY BUILDS MARK’S ANTICIPATION.

You know those truths you’ve been reading about?

You know that gospel you’ve heard promised?

Well guess what…

That is where Mark starts.

He starts with prophecy.

But, he’s in too big of a hurry to give you very many,

· And in fact, he’s even in too big of a hurry to give you all the context of the ones he mentions.

· He doesn’t even have time to tell you where all of it comes from.

He says, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:”

That’s interesting because he actually gives you two separate prophecies

And only one is from Isaiah.

The first prophecy:

“BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY;”

That one is actually Malachi 3:1

· But it’s like Mark doesn’t have time to even introduce Malachi.

· He just names the most prominent of the two and moves on.

He doesn’t even have time to give you the whole thing.

Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.”

The whole prophecy is great stuff.

· We are told about a messenger who comes.

· We are told how the Lord will come after him.

· We are told how He will come to His temple.

· We are told about His new covenant.

· We are told He is the One in whom God will delight.

BUT MARK IS IN A HURRY.

IT’S LIKE, “So you remember that prophecy about a messenger coming first…”?

Ok-Ok-Ok-Ok

And you remember that other prophecy?

“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT’”

That one, by the way, is Isaiah 40:3

And Mark doesn’t give you near all of it either.

Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

We studied Isaiah not too long ago, so hopefully you remember that

· While the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are pretty much doom and gloom,

· Isaiah 40 opens a segment on redemption.

The final 27 chapters of Isaiah are all about God’s plan to save His people.

· We are introduced to the Messiah.

· He is that suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

· We are promised the glorious salvation of Israel and the ushering in of His great kingdom.

Even the verses we read here in Isaiah

Point out to us the one coming is in fact Yahweh.

Isaiah said that after the messenger comes, “Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed…”

BUT AGAIN, MARK IS IN SUCH A HURRY TO GET TO THE GOOD PART

That he doesn’t have time to give you the whole prophecy

Or to even tell you who gave both of them.

He simply wants you to remember that

There have been promises from God

That we have been waiting for a really really really long time.

I hope you can hear his excitement.

· “I’ve got good news!”

· “You remember how God said He was going to send His messenger ahead of

the Messiah?”

WELL THAT WAS HOW HE STARTED! (3 VERSES)

His very next words are (4) “John the Baptist appeared…”

He is ecstatic to tell you!

Now we’re going to have to hit the pause button on Mark’s enthusiasm

Just for a second to grab some of what is laid before us.

It is not lost on us that before God would send His Son,

He would first send His messenger.

And there is a very good reason.

Back to Malachi’s prophecy, which Mark only quotes a little.

Malachi 3:1-6 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. “He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

If you follow what Malachi has to say here, it is very important.

He points out that if God were to simply show up unannounced

No one would be able to handle Him.

Malachi actually asks: (2)“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.”

Malachi points out that you aren’t ready to stand before the king.

So to prepare you, God is sending a messenger.

That messenger is coming to “clear the way before Me.”

He is coming to lead you to repentance and righteousness.

So that when the King comes

He can save the humble before He judges the wicked.

John the Baptist was that messenger.

· He was there to prepare the people for the holiest man who ever lived.

· He was there to prepare the people for His coming.

He came to tell the people to “MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.”

And I want to point that out to you because

This is a word that is very important to Mark throughout his gospel.

I told you this morning that Mark uses the word some 40 times.

It is the word (yoo-THOOS)

And you see it as “immediately” over and over and over.

I told you it means “straight way or forth with or immediately”

I point it out to you again because that is also the word you see in verse 3 translated “STRAIGHT”.

And it reminds us

Not only of the necessity of being made right before God,

But of the urgency of it.

For one we’re reminded that GOD’S WAYS ARE STRAIGHT WAYS.

When Peter spoke to Simon the Magician:

Acts 8:21 “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.”

When Paul confronted the false prophet known as Bar-Jesus:

Acts 13:10 “and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?”

When Peter spoke false prophets in his second epistle:

2 Peter 2:15 “forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”

God’s way is a straight way, it is a narrow way,

And as see in Mark’s gospel it is also an urgent way.

It is the same word translated both “straight” and “immediately”

Perhaps we would think of it like this:

The shortest, quickest, fastest, straightest way to get right with God.

That is what John the Baptist has come to announce.

AND JUST FOR THEOLOGY SAKE

What is the shortest, quickest, fastest, straightest way to get right with God?

REPENTANCE

And don’t treat that like a bad thing.

Repentance is a grace of God.

· Do you remember when the Jews finally understood that God was willing to save Gentiles too?

· Do you remember how they said it?

Acts 11:18 “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

That God would grant repentance as a means of preparing you to stand before Him is a glorious thing.

Well that is what God promised in the Old Testament.

· That before He would come to judge the wicked

· He would first send a messenger to prepare the way.

That has always been the good news of the gospel.

IT STARTED WITH A PROPHET.

Well, let’s “unpause” Mark now and move ahead.

#2 IT IS SEEN IN A PREACHER

Mark 1:4-6

Again, Mark writes like a man without much time.

· He is in such a hurry to show you Jesus and the promise of the gospel that he has no time for frills.

· He simply reminds his readers of the man named “John the Baptist”.

· Matthew, Luke, and John had a lot more information about him.

Remember those prophecies about the forerunner?

Well that was him!

And Mark reminds that

· John was “in the wilderness”

· And that he was “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

And just like that Mark is moving on again

To tell you that everyone was coming.

But again, let’s “pause” a second and talk about the ministry of John.

John’s ministry breaks all the rules about what modern day church growth people think it takes to have a thriving ministry.

So much of ministry talk today mirrors that of marketing and advertising.

They would say, “Location, location, location”

It only stands to reason that if you want a big church

You need to be in a thriving and populated area.

Apparently no one told John that.

John was “in the wilderness”.

And that is not an accident.

· Certainly you see in John that he was no lover of the world.

· He did not need or desire the world’s comforts.

· He lived his life as an object lesson against worldliness.

You certainly see that in verse 6, “John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.”

John came looking a lot like Elijah.

· Forsaking the world.

· Forsaking the comforts.

· Concerned only with godliness.

John is a living illustration just in his lifestyle.

But that is NOT THE ONLY reason he was in the wilderness.

John was requiring people to return to the wilderness

Because of what that represented for the Jewish people.

· The wilderness was a place of discipline.

· The wilderness was a place of wandering.

· The wilderness was a place of testing (even Jesus is headed there).

Calling the Jews back into the wilderness

Was a reminder of their rebellion against God.

Calling them back into the wilderness was a reminder that

They had angered Him in their behavior.

They were now back where their fathers had wondered for 40 years.

That was all part of the lesson.

But also interesting is that John is “preaching a baptism of repentance”.

As you’ll see in verse 5, as the people were coming, “they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”

What John was doing here DOES NOT resemble any of the ceremonial cleansings that were required in Leviticus.

What John was doing was performing the ritual

That was required for a Gentile to convert to Judaism.

This was what you did to make a proselyte.

John is here treating the children of Israel like they are Gentiles

And forcing them to repent of their sins

And be converted back to Judaism.

This is humiliating for a Jew.

This is pride crushing.

This is how salvation occurs.

Remember the prodigal son when he returned?

· He didn’t come back as a son, he came back as a slave.

· The Father took him and reinstated him as a son.

That is what John is doing.

He is providing a ministry in which those who have blown it

Can confess that they have blown it and return to God to be reinstated.

· They travel out into the wilderness,

· They confess their failures,

· They ask to convert back to Judaism.

· It is a confession of miserable religion.

· It is a confession of total failure.

· It is the kind of brokenness God requires for salvation.

But that is what John is offering.

From a modern-day church growth strategy it is terrible.

John is making them travel to a miserable place

To perform a humiliating ordinance.

AND YET in verse 5 we read, “And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”

THE PEOPLE WERE DOING IT!

And not just a few of them!

Here is my question.

WHY?

· Why are they leaving Jerusalem and Judea to travel out into the wilderness to humiliate themselves and to be baptized?

THE ANSWER is given in verse 4.

“for the forgiveness of sins”

It is such a picture of just how USELESS their religion had become.

· How many sheep had these people killed?

· How many oxen had they slaughtered?

· How many waive offerings?

· How many grain offerings?

· How many “Day of Atonement” celebrations?

· How many Passovers?

And yet, somehow these people still knew they were not right with God.

Somehow they still knew they needed forgiveness.

The writer of Hebrews makes that point.

Hebrews 10:1-4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

These people knew there was no forgiveness in those things.

· Their consciences were cleansed.

· They still knew they were guilty.

What that reveals to us is

Just how great the anticipation must have been by the time John came.

It’s not only for the King to come, but also for forgiveness to be offered.

· These people were waiting for one who could forgive them.

· These people were waiting for one who could wash them.

· These people were waiting for one who could make them right with God.

And when John shows up, THEY THINK JOHN IS THE GUY!

Well, John is A guy, a very important guy, but he’s not THE guy.

And Mark can’t wait to show you that too.

So we’ll “unpause” Mark again for a second.

Starts With A Prophet, Seen In A Preacher

#3 IT IS STATED AS A PROMISE

Mark 1:7-8

Mark couldn’t wait to show you the forerunner.

He couldn’t wait to tell you about the messenger who comes first.

But it is in no way Mark’s intention to tarry there long.

He wants you to understand what John is talking about.

(7) “And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.”

John’s message is clear.

· I’m not the guy.

· I’m the one who comes ahead of the guy.

There is one coming after me who is “mightier than I”.

· He can do things that I can never do.

Not only is He “mightier than I” but He is also HIGHER THAN I.

Mark, as I told you he likes to do, gives more a word picture

And dramatic scene than the other gospel writers.

Mark includes the word “to stoop down”. No one else includes that.

“I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.”

· To untie someone’s sandals was part of the ritual of the lowly slave washing his

master’s feet.

· It was the task for the lowest slave on the totem pole.

And John says, “I’m not worthy to do that.”

But not just that, “I’m not even worthy to lay on my belly in front of Him.”

And then comes the first really remarkable statement.

(8) “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John says “You think I am something special?”

· “Wrong!”

· “I wash you with water, He will wash you with the Holy Spirit.”

All I can do is wash your outside.

He will wash your inside.

This is exactly what Jesus was talking about when He spoke to Nicodemus.

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

It was a reference to the New Covenant promise as given by Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 36:24-27 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

All the people could do under the Old Covenant WAS FAIL.

· All they could do was read and learn commands they had no power to obey.

· They read them, they disobeyed them, and God judged them.

· And it was an ongoing cycle of God’s judgment.

· All they ever inherited was curses.

· They never inherited the blessings.

· They never experienced the promised rest.

· Somehow they knew that their sacrificial system was not enough.

Despite all the rams and oxen and blood sacrifices

They were still here experiencing the judgment of God.

It had been Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and now Rome,

BUT NOTHING HAD CHANGED.

They needed a forgiveness that worked.

They needed a way to have their sin removed.

And finally, this man named John arrived and he is offering forgiveness.

But even John points out,

· The forgiveness is not found in the water.

· The forgiveness is found in the One coming after me.

· You do need to repent,

· But you also need the One who will give you the Holy Spirit.

The only shot you have at being made eternally right before God

Is what the One coming after me will offer to you.

And now Mark’s anticipation has reached a fever pitch.

He can’t hold back any more.

He can’t stand the suspense any longer.

WHO IS THIS ONE COMING AFTER JOHN?

#4 IT IS SATISFIED IN A PERSON

Mark 1:9-13

This is Mark’s good news!

· The gospel John is preaching is “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

It took him 8 verses to get there,

And you get the feeling he couldn’t wait any longer.

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”

Again, let’s “pause” for a second.

Mark is so eager to get to the point that

He can kind of leave us hanging with some of our questions.

If baptism is for repentance then why is Jesus being baptized?

Mark doesn’t answer.

Matthew does.

Matthew 3:15 “But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.”

· Jesus’ baptism wasn’t about repentance, it was about fulfillment.

· Jesus was walking in obedience.

· Jesus was identifying with sinners.

Mark doesn’t fill us in, because Mark can’t wait to get to the point.

The Savior is about to be announced!

(not just by John, but by God Himself!)

(10-11) “Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came our of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

LISTEN TO MARK THE STORY TELLER HERE.

OK, FOLKS,

· You’ve been waiting for ages for the Savior to come.

· You knew the messenger had to come first.

John came, he baptized, he was exactly who the prophets said he’d be.

· But John said, just wait for the One coming after me.

Well tell us Mark, who is He?

How will we know Him?

Well there was a day when Jesus of Nazareth came to be baptized,

· And when He came up out of the water,

· God ripped the sky in two

· And thundered from the heavens “You are My beloved Son”!

You remember from this morning that Mark didn’t just use the word “open” to describe what happened, he used a mark dramatic word.

Mark said the heavens were rent asunder, they were torn into.

He spoke of it as a dramatic event of

God ripping the sky apart to speak regarding His Son.

And that is where I want us to pause this evening.

Can I tell you about the Amazing Jesus?

Can I tell you about the day when God ripped the sky in two to reveal Him to the world?

With unmistakable clarity

The God of the universe declared that Jesus is His beloved Son.

With unmistakable clarity

The God of the universe declared that He is pleased with Jesus.

· He is the One we’ve been waiting for.

· He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

· He is the One who saves.

The time is now!

He has arrived!

And it began with a bang!

He is the One mightier than John.

He is the One loftier than John.

He is the One who is pleasing to the Father.

He is the One the prophets expected.

And God Himself announced Him from heaven.

Isaiah 64 “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence— As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has been burned by fire; And all our precious things have become a ruin. Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O Lord? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”

“Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down…”

On this day, He did!