The Greatest Man That Ever Lived

If you have your Bible and I hope that you do, please turn with me to the book of Mark. We are starting our new series that will carry us into the middle of 2025. If you’re new, I hope that you will be blessed by Mark chapter 1. We are talking about John the Baptist in our text today but before we go there we should know a bit about the author and the audience.

I want you to imagine that you are a first century Christian in the city of Rome. Rome, of course at this time, was the largest city in the world. A literal metropolis of a million people with 25-45% of them being slaves filled with all the trappings and seduction that could be found in every city since. The emperor cult would have been filled with sensualities and prostitution, the city celebrates with circus’s and murderous battles in the Roman coliseum. Philosophers and the Senate debate policies and ethics while immorality roams rampant on the streets. The Pax Romana, or the Roman Peace, begins its slow decline as a superpower.

You regularly gather in a home to hear an elder in your church read one of the prophets from the Old Testament. The elders point to how Christ is the fulfillment of all Scripture and you have a meal together. You sing a couple hymns and that’s the extent of church for you. Your church has a copy of Galatians and a copy of James. Both are excellent books that you love to hear expounded by your pastor.

One day your elders receive a letter from John Mark! John Mark is famous in the church and you’ve actually gotten to meet him! He’s the one who travelled with Paul and Barnabas until they had a public falling out but you hear they’ve been working on their relationship. John Mark had been visiting with Peter who was an elder in the church in Rome and apparently Mark has made a retelling of Jesus’ ministry with Peter’s stamp of approval! You’ve heard some of the stories of Jesus and you can’t wait to find out what John Mark’s written!

And so you get to church early, you and all your brothers and sisters in the Lord. There’s also a lot of your friends and neighbors there. They’re curious about Jesus Christ but still worship the emperor and his gods. You spend a moment praying for them and redirect your attention to your elders. You are so excited to hear about the life of your Savior and the elders stand up and begin to read this earliest Gospel account.

The time that Mark was written was around 50 AD and is one of the earliest parts of the New Testament. Looking at our copies of God’s Word it’s important to know why these books were written and who they were written to. The Gospel of Mark was written to the people of Rome. So it doesn’t include a ton of Old Testament references, it’s not going to share a lot of the same parts that Matthew or Luke shares. In fact, it’s not presented chronologically. The goal of Mark is to present Christ as the perfect Servant and this theme will come up over and over and over again as we study this book.

Today, we are going to look at The Greatest Man that Ever Lived and we are going to see 5 points from the passage. I started to think, who are some of the heroes of the church that I would like to see in their shining moments opposing the crowds and history is marked by brave men and women who argued, opposed, and contended for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

I would like to have been in Hampton Court the day that Hugh Latimer preached to Henry VIII in such a way that it offended him. I would like to have been there the following Sunday when he was commanded by King Henry to preach again and make an apology. Latimer addressed himself as he began to preach: Hugh Latimer, don’t you know who you are addressing this day? The high and mighty monarch, the king’s most excellent majesty, who can take away your life if you give offense; therefore, be careful of what you talk about and don’t give a word that may displease him; but then consider well, Hugh, don’t you know from where you come from; don’t you remember that you are a sent messenger? A messenger from whom? The great and mighty God! who is all-present, and who knows all your ways, and who is able to cast your soul into hell! Therefore, take care that you deliver His message faithfully. He then gave King Henry the same sermon he had preached the week before—only with more energy!

I would like to have been at Worms on April 18, 1521, when Martin Luther stood against his world, contra mundum. There before him were arrayed the princes and theologians of the Church, and along with them, Charles, heir of a long line of sovereigns—of Maximillian, of Ferdinand the Catholic, of Isabelle—the orthodox-scion of the Hapsburgs, Lord of Burgundy, Austria, Naples, Spain, the Low Countries, even the Holy Roman Emperor! To the questioning of Johann Eck, Archbishop of Trier and, Luther answered: “I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Here I stand, I can do none other. Amen!”

And of course, I would like to have heard Peter on the day of Pentecost or perhaps before the Sanhedrin when he and John said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19, 20). What a day that was in the history of the Church. But if I really stop and think about it, there is one I would love to hear aside from Christ Himself: John the Baptist. I say this for two reasons. First, Jesus said that “among those born of woman there is no one greater than John” (Luke 7:28). And second, John was the herald, the primary witness, to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Mark’s Gospel, John jumps full-blown onto the front page of the story of Christ with a prophetic introduction made mostly from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’” (vv. 2, 3). John’s story dominates the first eight verses of this Gospel. He is also mentioned extensively in each of the three other Gospels. Why? And why was he so effective in his ministry? Why did Christ hold him in such high regard? The answer will provide remarkable help to our own desire to witness.

Please stand with me in honor of God’s Word as we read Mark 1:1-8. READ. PRAY.

The book of Mark begins in the Greek with the word arche. It’s the same as the Greek version of the Old Testament’s Genesis and also the Gospel of John. The word beginning is used in this way to point to a new work of God in Christ. Just as the arche of Genesis founded the world, the arche of the Gospel was happening. This points to the Gospel not being the work of man or men, but solely the good work of God towards sinners in need of a Savior. It is God who begins the work of salvation, it is God who completes the work of salvation. And this is the beginning of this work.

Look at verse 1 and note The Purpose of Mark’s writing. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This is as RC Sproul writes, “the thematic statement for the entire gospel.”

This beginning of the Gospel shows us that the arrival of John the Baptist doesn’t happen by mere chance, or coincidence but God had a purpose for the arrival of John and for the timing of all things.

But that word “gospel” appears here right from the outset. Its the Greek word evangellion which is not a Christian word. It was actually something very common in the Greco-Roman world and was associated with the cult of the emperor and battle. When someone brought news of victory from a battle they were called evangelists. The word evangellion is specifically used surrounding the emperor’s birthday people would go around from city to city declaring the “good news” of the emperor’s succession and the celebration of it.

In fact, this is the Priene Calendar inscription from 9 BC and it says about Caesar Augustus, “the birthday of the god was for the world the beginning of joyful tidings which have been proclaimed on his account”. So how would a first century Roman citizen understand that word “gospel” or “good news” or “joyful tidings”? It would be understood that a new time and season has come into the world marked by actual historical events and Mark is writing that it is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who inaugurates the new state of affairs for mankind.

For first century Christians, they believed that this new age dawned with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are no more sacrificial systems required for us to be reconciled to God because Jesus has satisfied all the requirements of the Law and Prophets and now Mark declares that the Gospel is not presenting a more fulfilling method to life, or a alternate set of truths or new rules to abide by, but Mark presents to us Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This confession pronounced here is the same confession that Mark is going to drive us to in Caesarea Phillippi when Jesus asks, “Who do you say the Son of Man is?” And Peter declares, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Mark continues driving to the cross in Mark 15 when after Christ’s death a centurion declares “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Point 2: The Promise. Look at verses 2-3, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”

This messenger is John the Baptist. When we see John interacting with the religious leaders they ask John, “Are you Elijah?” And John said, “I am not” you can read about that in John 1. But then when Jesus was asked about John, Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elijah and you can read about that in Matthew 17. So how can we reconcile those statements? Well in Luke 1 we are told that John’s ministry was in the spirit and power of Elijah. And Jesus affirmed that John’s ministry is the same as the ministry of Elijah’s but it wasn’t as though John the Baptist was some form of a reincarnated Elijah. So John and Jesus’ testimony are both true.

And John’s ministry was all about preparing the way for the Messiah. Jesus’ ministry from the beginning of the Gospel was no about spirituality, mysticism, ethics, or any of that sort of stuff. Jesus ‘ ministry was about a way to salvation. And it all happens when John the Baptist begins his ministry.

John was the son of a godly older couple, Elizabeth and Zechariah. An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah and said to him Luke 1:14-17 “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

After John was born, Zechariah prophesied Luke 1:76-80 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”

Third Point: The Preparation. We can clearly see God’s call on John the Baptist’s life. We see the affirmation of family and the miraculous events. If only our own lives were marked like this, that would be awesome, right? But this is John the Baptist. He’s the greatest prophet, he’s the herald of the Lord, the one who would prepare the way but in order for him to prepare the way he would be need to be prepared as well.

What did this preparation look like? Well, firstly it took his parents committing themselves and their child in the Lord. God knew exactly what He was doing in choosing this godly older couple to raise the one that would prepare the way for His only begotten Son. Listen parents, I don’t want good children, I want godly adults. This takes both Amber and I working together and prioritizing the Lord first in order to accomplish that goal. Some days it feels like a home run. Some days feels like a headache. But all the days are the Lord’s and He will accomplish His will as we submit our parenting to the Lord and give Him preeminence.

What else did this preparation look like? Well, it took saying no to good things for the best thing. John the Baptist was raised as a Nazarite not touching anything dead, not partaking in wine or any kind of grape juice or raisins. He wouldn’t have cut his hair. I mean… being a Nazarite was a major commitment that Elijah, Samson, and Samuel all shared the same characteristics of being Nazarites. Each one did incredible things for the Lord and are heroes in the Old Testament.

It also looked like going into the wilderness. Throughout the biblical story we see God using the wilderness as a time of preparation for men to get ready for ministry. It was in the wilderness where God made His covenant with Abram. It was in the rocky wilderness of Midian where God spoke to Moses in the burning bush. It was in the wilderness where God continued to get Egypt out of the people of Israel so they could take the promised land. It was in the wilderness that Elijah rested after being chased by wicked Ahab, it’s in the wilderness that Christ first goes after being baptized. Christian, find the Lord in the wilderness! I don’t mean, skip church to go hunting or fishing, okay? I mean that men and women would oftentimes find themselves so burdened to seek the Lord that they would be driven to the desert to seek God and they wouldn’t leave until God let them leave.

For John, he never left the wilderness but became a wild man for the glory of God. Look at verses 4-5, “John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

This act of baptism was a unique activity. Gentiles if they converted to Judaism, would take ceremonial baths to “scrub off” their old ways, but that’s not what John was doing. In fact John the son of Zechariah became known as The Baptizer and he set up shop in the wilderness. Once again, in order for Israel to be close to the Lord and draw near they had to go to the wilderness. At the establishment of the Mosaic covenant, it began by going into the desert. And here at the time of preparation for the new covenant they found themselves drawn again to the desert. John was calling them to repent and be baptized! This is the message of the Gospel still to this day. Repent of your sins, and be baptized!

This man was a prophet. Look at verse 6 “Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.” This man was dressed like a prophet. Nearly identical to how Elijah would have dressed. 2 Kings 1:8 says “They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

John’s dress and lifestyle was completely counter to the religious leaders of his day. They had gaudy, expensive robes with tassels that hung and shawls and symbols with boxes and the forehead. They loved the attention the garb got and John’s the exact opposite. John is concerned about what God thinks and totally committed to separating himself from sin, from religiosity, and from the expectations of others. If you want to be a lover of the Lord, then expect for people to think that you’re weird. Expect to be misunderstood or even opposed.

John was the greatest man who ever lived according to Jesus Christ but I wonder what our culture would think about him. I think Christians would think he was argumentative or contentious. I think folks would consider him dirty, or weird. Too wild and perhaps even unwelcome in the church. How sad is that? How do you think you would react to someone who was so zealous for God’s glory?

This man was consumed with zeal for preparing the way for the Lord! His heartbeat was never about his own glory, but only the Lord’s! This man was wild and ate bugs and wild honey. And he preached!

The last point we need to note is The Preaching. This is what prepares the hearts of men and women for the Gospel. It is preaching. Preaching repentance. Preaching against sin. Preaching again godlessness. People hate preaching because preaching offends. It either offends our senses, offends our conscience, and as a result people blame the preacher for preaching. The religious people came out to see this wild preacher that wasn’t trained in their schools and wasn’t educated by their leaders. They came out and John the Baptist preached at them!

The reason that John’s preaching was so powerful was because his presence embodied his message! Philip Brooks gives this definition for preaching “Truth through personality is our description of real preaching. The truth must come through the person, not merely over his lips… it must come through his character, his affections, his whole intellectual and moral being. It must come genuinely through him.”

John the Baptist so embodied the message of repentance that to see him was to see repentance. He was so completely set apart by the Lord that his words were his actions and dominated his person.

The same is true of us. Our words will not make an impact in the souls of men and women if our lives are not in line with what we say is true. If we want our witness to have an impact then we must humbly seek the Lord like John the Baptist and ask God to make our lives come in line with our confession. If we say we believe that Jesus is worthy of everything, then we should ask the Lord to cut away all the things that distract us from that.

What did John preach here? Firstly, he preached for people to repent of sins. I believe that this is still the message but people are too proud and hard hearted to hear it. Preaching is always confrontational.

Listen to what John preached at them in Luke 3:7-14 “He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.””

Notice that John just gets to the heart of the issue. It’s confrontational and it’s loving. It’s filled with grace and also with law. This is the way of preaching. This is the ministry of preaching. To offend with the Word of God in order that the balm of the Gospel may do its work.

Secondly John preached to prepare the way of the Lord. What does that mean? It means that reconciliation is going to happen! No more will we need to do all sorts of things to find the Lord, but the way to God will be made clear and that one way is Jesus Christ! Jesus is the one that leveled the mountain of the Law and brought up the valley of death.

But John’s message wasn’t simply to do better, right? We’ve already established that. John the Baptizer’s ministry was bigger than that, and more God focused and Christ-honoring. In fact, even in the message of repentance, John the Baptist was looking past his own ministry and looking forward to Christ’s ministry being established. The third thing John preached was that the Messiah is coming.

Look at verses 7-8 “And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Now sandals were the only shoes used in the Middle East at this time. In fact, no one would take off their own shoes because their feet were so disgustingly filthy. That job was reserved for the lowest slaves in Hebrew culture, Gentile slaves. And so by John saying this points to his humility and subordination to Christ.

So many people have this view of strolling into the presence of God. Perhaps, strutting even. But you know what a believers reaction is in Scripture? It’s falling down in worship. It’s service and heartfelt gratitude! The joy of knowing God is no excuse for irreverence- God is the one that condescends to us and lifts us up! But we are unworthy to do anything for the Lord, yet He invites us to do it. He instructs us to do it. Therefore we do it with joy and humility, gladness and with great care because our Savior King is worthy of it.

What is John saying to the crowds through all this? John’s saying, “Don’t get excited about me. My job is to point you to the One Who is to come! He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Your Savior is coming! Get ready!

For us, the Savior has come, and the Way has been made through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Now, what will you do? Will you remain on the path you have or will you do as this crowd did and repent, confess your sins, and get ready for the Lord to do a mighty work? I pray so! I pray that all our hearts would be transformed by the glory of Christ!

I pray that our attitude would be the same as John the Baptists. That we wouldn’t consider ourselves too big or important to get low and humble ourselves in service before God. I pray that our lives would point others to Jesus Christ. That our lives would help others to see the beauty and the worthiness of Christ!

Head: I want you to know that God’s plan of redemption will not be prevented by anyone. God’s timing and plan is always perfect and that extends to John the Baptist’s ministry. It also goes for you. God’s perfect plan will be done and God uses His people to accomplish this plan! Are you willing to be used by the Lord? John certainly was.

Heart: I want you to believe that God’s timing is perfect! God is not slow to fulfill His promises to His people and you may be frustrated with God’s timing. God oftentimes makes us wait. You might have a friend or relative you’ve been sharing the Gospel with and they haven’t budged. Take heart! Keep praying for God to change their heart. Keep sharing the Gospel. And live like the Gospel is the most important thing to you. John did.

Hand: I want you to keep sharing the Gospel with the lost. One day the Lord will use your faithful ministry of sharing the Gospel. We know that no one will ever be saved unless they hear the Gospel. So share it. Share with courage. Share it with conviction. Share it with humility. John did.