Matt - Acts 242 Notes

Chp. 3

John the baptist is introduced here. We are told that was preaching and baptizing in the wilderness of Judah

Now we mentioned that John was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth and would be the cousin of Jesus.

John would be the promised son of Zacharias and Elizabeth in their old age.

God spoke to Zacharias through an angel while he was serving in the temple. He was told that he would have this son John who would be the forerunner to the Messiah.

now remember that there was a silence period of 400 years from the book of Malachi all the way until this angel is speaking to Zacharias.

400 years earlier in the book of Malachi, once of the last things God would speak to His people was concerning the coming of the Messiah and of him who would come before the Messiah, the forerunner.

Malachi 3:1 NKJV

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts.

so here 400 years of silence have passed, and the first message that God sends to His people is of the promise coming Messiah, and of the coming forerunner who would prepare the way for the Messiah.

Forerunner

The forerunners job would be to prepare the way for the coming king and the picture would be of a king entering a city in ancient times and the need to send those who would prepare the way, to remove the obsticles, to make straight the roads in order for the king to enter the city

John The Baptist’s Role

Question #1

this is what John’s role would be. He would be the man called by God to prepare the way for the coming king.

now we were given insight into what exactly John was to prepare by the message he preached.

we saw that he was preaching a message of repentance. He was charging the people to have a change of mind and heart which would lead to a change of direction.

John would say to “repent” for the kingdom of God is at hand”.

we spoke about John addressing that a kingdom was coming.

God’s Kingdom

Question #1

God longs to exercise His authority over the throne of our hearts. Why is there a need for us to self examine and repent? What makes it so difficult to surrender our hearts?

Matt. would use the would kingdom 32 times in his gospel. Goes to show us the importance and the emphasis of his letter.

now the word “kingdom” in the original language has (2) different related meanings

Speaks of “the territory ruled by a King”

this speaks of a specific region, area, city, a geographical location where the king exercised his authority

2. Speaks of “the act of ruling”.

speaking of the power which a king exercises.

this is what John was speaking about when he declared the kingdom coming.

he spoke about a king who was coming who would long to exercise His authority not over a specific geographical location, but would long to rule and reign over the throne of the hearts of men.

so John was sent to prepare hearts. There was a necessity for people to remove any obsticles , anything that would hinder the king from exercising that authority over their hearts.

Application

and talked about this being the same thing in our lives. Oh we may have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we may have been walking with the Lord for many years..... but the reality is that sometimes we too can lay up things in our lives that become obsticles

we can bring things into our lives that will grab a hold of our affection. As a result, we will often unintentionally place these things on the throne of our hearts.

and just like the people who John preached too, and just like some of the churches in the book of Revelation, there may be a necessity for us to repent, to turn our hearts and minds back to the Lord and to welcome Him back unto the throne of our hearts.

Baptism

John is not only preaching a message or repentance but he is also baptizing people in the Jordan river.

the water baptism was a symbol of the washing away of their sins that they were confessing and repenting of.

after the death of Jesus, water baptism would be a way for us to identify with Jesus’ death and resurrection as we entered the water and put the old man to death and we come out of the water as a new man.

Warning of Judgement to Come

Question #2

Read Gal.5:16-26- Discuss how walking in step with our Savior produces certain characteristics in us. Compare the church and the culture. Does the church resemble the culture or Christ?

John would then give a warning to those religious leaders who came to see what was taking place in the wilderness.

These religious leaders came to see & to challenge what was taking place

John calls them out for their rejection of what God was longing to do. And the warning was that a continual rejection of God would lead to judgement. The picture John uses is of a fruit tree that has stopped producing fruit. That tree would be good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire.

the illustration we talked about was that a healthy and mature tree will by nature produce fruit.

when a fruit tree does not bear fruit, it is a sign of the tree not being mature, it being unhealthy or it being dead.

Application

and these principals are the same today in our lives spiritually speaking. A believer that is walking closely with God, that is walking in step with his saviour will naturally begin to produce Godly qualities and characteristics...... we call this the fruits of the spirit.

and the opposite is true as well, a person who is not bearing those God like characteristics out of his life, will show as evidence that something is not right.

either the person will not be spiritually mature, or they will be stunted in their growth or they may be dead spiritually.

Jesus is Baptized

Question #3

Jesus surrendered Himself to the will of the Father regardless of the required cost of His life. How difficult is it for me to surrender to God’s will for my life today? What is the cost that makes it difficult to pay?

we then got to the baptism of Jesus. It was neat because we got to see the humility of both John and Jesus.

John showed humility in knowing that he should not be baptizing Jesus, it should be other way around. Matter of fact, John would say that he was not worthy to carry of the sandals of Him who was to come, speaking about Jesus. Making the statement that in comparison, he was not even worthy of doing the task that was left for the lowest servant. He viewed himself lower than the lowliest servant in comparison to Jesus.

John 3:30 NKJV

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Jesus showed humility in that he did not need to be baptized here. This was a baptism of repentance but Jesus had no sin so why would He want to be baptized?

Jesus was identifying with sinful man here as He entered the water. He was submitting Himself to the plan of God for the salvation of man. Later on He would be a fulfillment of that plan as He would die on the cross for you and I.

John 5:30 NKJV

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

at the baptism of Jesus we would see both the Promised Messiah and the suffering servant who identified with man, who would surrender to the Father’s will and would die for the sins of the world.

John finally agrees to baptize Jesus and we saw the trinity at work at the same time. We saw the Son be baptized, we saw the Holy Spirit come upon Him like a dove and we heard the Father say, “ this is my beloved Son in whom i am well pleased”.

God’s voice was an affirmation of the person of Jesus and an affirmation in what Jesus would do on that cross.

the Father looking forwarded to the day when Jesus would lay on that cross and say, “it is finished”....... it is this that the Father saw and said I am well pleased.

He was pleased in who the Son was and what the Son would accomplish through His death.