The Gospel Project® for Adults
Leader Guide CSB, Unit 19, Session 3
© 2022 Lifeway Christian Resources
Permission granted to reproduce and distribute within the license agreement with purchaser.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens
being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11 And a voice came from heaven:
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”
Verse 9 bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
Jesus was baptized, in part, as an example for us to follow
in His steps.
Pass out copies of Pack Item 7: The Trinity, and use the handout and the
Verses 10-11 bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
God the Father validated the identity of God the Son, Jesus Christ,
and sent His Spirit to dwell on Him.
How can growing in our understanding of the triune God
help us worship Him more?
The Jordan River flows north to south and has significance
in the history of Israel. God parted it to let Joshua
and the Israelites pass (Josh. 3:15-17),
as well as letting Elijah and Elisha pass (2 Kings 2:8,14).
Naaman was healed of leprosy there
after dipping himself (2 Kings 5:8-14).
And here we find John baptizing Jesus there.
In all these stories, we see God’s power and fulfilled promises
at the Jordan.
Because we have died with Christ and have been raised to new life
through Him, we call on others to repent of their sin,
trust in Christ, and be baptized.
Jesus is God’s Son. The Father’s voice at
Jesus’s baptism confirmed His identity to the world
for those who heard and those who read this true story with faith.
Since Jesus is God’s Son, He can be trusted and worshiped
as God. The act of Christian baptism is a public proclamation
of this reality of faith. Those who are baptized
are saying to the world that they are united with Jesus,
believe Him to be the true and living Son of God,
the Second Person of the Trinity, and are submitting their lives
to follow Him. God’s people by faith in God’s Son
are then given God’s Spirit to validate their identity
as God’s children.
What are some ways Christian baptism should impact believers
in Christ and even unbelievers who witness
a believer’s baptism?
Christians can find hope in the way God validated Jesus’s identity
because it provides a picture of the way
God establishes our identity as well.
Those who are God’s children belong to Him.
Therefore, they don’t have to grapple for identity
in secondary sources. There is no reason to look for worth
and value in what we do or how others think of us
or how we stack up to those around us. All we need to do
is look to God and trust that what He says about us is true.
From that place of worth, we, like Jesus, are then sent out
into our earthly mission as believers with meaning and purpose.
In your life, what sources of identity compete with
a secure identity in Christ as God’s beloved child?
How do you need to repent in this regard?
Christians should know their role in comparison to Jesus’s.
We are not powerful like Him, nor are we worthy of worship.
Like John, we should live to point attention to Jesus
as the One who is all-powerful and worthy of all worship.
God gives us our lives for that very reason. We exist to point
to God, the hope for salvation for the world. In our service
to others, love for the church, and evangelism of the lost,
we should humbly point to Jesus. We can trust
that He is the One who can save, heal, and forgive,
so all we need to do is use our lives to show off
how great Jesus is.
How will you leverage your life this week to point others to Jesus?
“He told them he had drenched them with water
which was only external, but One would come
who would drench them in the Holy Spirit,
which was intrinsically internal. What a beautiful metaphor
for the work of the Holy Spirit! When we are baptized
with the Holy Spirit, he permeates every part of us.” 2
– R. Kent Hughes
1. Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, rev. and expanded (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1997), 113 [Logos].
2. R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1989), 23.
3. James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 39-40.
4. Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 147-48.
5. Charles R. Swindoll, Mark, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Tyndale House Publishers, 2018), 21.
The Gospel Project® for Adults
Leader Guide CSB, Unit 19, Session 3
© 2022 Lifeway Christian Resources
Permission granted to reproduce and distribute within the license agreement with purchaser.
Mark 1
John the Baptist was the herald who prepared the way for the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah.
Jesus obeyed God and identified with sinners by being baptized like sinners are baptized. His baptism points to His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. For those of us in Christ, the words spoken over Jesus at His baptism are also true of us: we are the Father’s beloved children with whom He is pleased.
Because we have died with Christ and have been raised to new life through Him, we call on others to repent of their sin, trust in Christ, and be baptized.
Click on the link or scan the QR code for a reproducible handout of this session’s Scripture passages:
https://gospelproject.lifeway.com/scriptures-for-adults-unit-19-session-3/In his Gospel, Mark first introduced Jesus to the world through the eyes of John the Baptist. The pacing of Mark’s Gospel is fast—it’s the shortest of all the Gospel accounts and the oft-used term “immediately” demonstrates that Mark was intent on progressing the stories quickly so that his readers could focus their attention on Jesus’s work on the cross. Therefore, it is worth noting that Mark slowed down to consider how John paved the way for Jesus—both through his declaration of Jesus’s identity and by baptizing Him in the Jordan River.
When people write memoirs or biographies, it is impossible to tell every story with every detail involved. Writers need to pick and choose what is important to convey for the focused message they want readers or listeners to hear.
None of the Gospel writers intended to tell everything they knew about Jesus. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, they wanted to hit the high points and specific points so that their readers understood who Jesus is and what He came to do. Therefore, we can have confidence that the stories and teaching that are included in each Gospel are important and necessary. The story we will consider in this session, as told through Mark’s Gospel, launched Jesus into His public ministry.
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
Ask a volunteer to read aloud Mark 1:1-6 from his or her own Bible.
Use the Verses 1-3 commentary to highlight the following point (the bold words fill in blanks in the Daily Discipleship Guide [DDG]):
God had prepared for all the details of Jesus’s coming, including using John to prepare the world for Jesus’s arrival.
Use the Verses 4-6 commentary to emphasize the following idea (the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
John’s practice of baptism, connected with confession and repentance, was a precursor to the work that Jesus would do to make a way for the forgiveness of sins.
Like the prophets of old, John the Baptist came to prepare the people’s heart for God’s message and mission. He also was preparing them for God Himself come to earth as the Christ—Jesus—who would be ready and willing to sacrifice Himself to save the world.
The wilderness is an ambivalent term, having both negative and positive connotations, depending on the context. It is a place of refuge (1 Sam. 23:14) and prayer (Luke 5:16), as well as a place of temptation (Luke 4:1-2) and wandering (Deut. 8:15). Sometimes it is green (Joel 2:22) and sometimes it is dried up (Jer. 23:10). Evil and rebellion lurks in the wilderness, but so does delivery and revelation.
7 He proclaimed, “One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Ask a volunteer to read aloud Mark 1:7-8 from his or her own Bible.
Use the Verses 7-8 commentary to highlight the following point (the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
John knew that Jesus’s baptism would be greater because it would symbolize the work of God’s Spirit to transform the heart.
Use the baptism commentary to emphasize the following key doctrine (the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
Baptism:
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to the believer’s faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
Not only did John practice baptism and not only did he point forward to Jesus’s baptism, a baptism of the Spirit, but curiously, he also had the privilege of baptizing Jesus Christ.
“The baptizing work of the Spirit is the means of associating us with the crucifixion of Christ (Colossians 2:12 and especially Romans 6:1-10) in our dying to the old life. Being associated by baptism unto His death, burial, and resurrection is the basis for the crucifixion of the believer’s sin nature and his victory over sin.” 1
– Charles C. Ryrie (1925-2016)
9 In tho se days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”
Ask a volunteer to read aloud Mark 1:9-11 from his or her own Bible.
Use the Verse 9 commentary to highlight the following point (the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
Jesus was baptized, in part, as an example for us to follow in His steps.
Pass out copies of Pack Item 7: The Trinity, and use the handout and the Verses 10-11 commentary to emphasize the following idea (the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):
! ~God the Father validated the identity of God the Son, Jesus Christ, and sent His Spirit to dwell on Him.
How can growing in our understanding of the triune God help us worship Him more? (helps us have a fuller picture of who God is; helps us grow in faith even when we don’t completely understand the Trinity; helps us realize how relational God is, one God in three Persons; helps us see the ways God has worked from the beginning of time until now)
The Jordan River flows north to south and has significance in the history of Israel. God parted it to let Joshua and the Israelites pass (Josh. 3:15-17), as well as letting Elijah and Elisha pass (2 Kings 2:8,14). Naaman was healed of leprosy there after dipping himself (2 Kings 5:8-14). And here we find John baptizing Jesus there. In all these stories, we see God’s power and fulfilled promises at the Jordan.
Because we have died with Christ and have been raised to new life through Him, we call on others to repent of their sin, trust in Christ, and be baptized.
Jesus is God’s Son. The Father’s voice at Jesus’s baptism confirmed His identity to the world for those who heard and those who read this true story with faith. Since Jesus is God’s Son, He can be trusted and worshiped as God. The act of Christian baptism is a public proclamation of this reality of faith. Those who are baptized are saying to the world that they are united with Jesus, believe Him to be the true and living Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, and are submitting their lives to follow Him. God’s people by faith in God’s Son are then given God’s Spirit to validate their identity as God’s children.
What are some ways Christian baptism should impact believers in Christ and even unbelievers who witness a believer’s baptism?
Christians can find hope in the way God validated Jesus’s identity because it provides a picture of the way God establishes our identity as well. Those who are God’s children belong to Him. Therefore, they don’t have to grapple for identity in secondary sources. There is no reason to look for worth and value in what we do or how others think of us or how we stack up to those around us. All we need to do is look to God and trust that what He says about us is true. From that place of worth, we, like Jesus, are then sent out into our earthly mission as believers with meaning and purpose.
In your life, what sources of identity compete with a secure identity in Christ as God’s beloved child? How do you need to repent in this regard?
Christians should know their role in comparison to Jesus’s. We are not powerful like Him, nor are we worthy of worship. Like John, we should live to point attention to Jesus as the One who is all-powerful and worthy of all worship. God gives us our lives for that very reason. We exist to point to God, the hope for salvation for the world. In our service to others, love for the church, and evangelism of the lost, we should humbly point to Jesus. We can trust that He is the One who can save, heal, and forgive, so all we need to do is use our lives to show off how great Jesus is.
How will you leverage your life this week to point others to Jesus?
“He told them he had drenched them with water which was only external, but One would come who would drench them in the Holy Spirit, which was intrinsically internal. What a beautiful metaphor for the work of the Holy Spirit! When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, he permeates every part of us.” 2
– R. Kent Hughes
1. Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, rev. and expanded (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1997), 113 [Logos].
2. R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1989), 23.
3. James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 39-40.
4. Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 147-48.
5. Charles R. Swindoll, Mark, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Tyndale House Publishers, 2018), 21.