HG020-22. Mark 1:1-6, Matthew 3:1-10, Luke 3:1-14

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” 3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

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Matthew 3:1–10 NKJV

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” 4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Luke 3:1–14 NKJV

1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” 7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” 11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” 12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” 14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Today we are having a look at the person and preaching of a certain John. John is a common name then as it is now. So, how do we differentiate? We add a descriptor: The Baptist. We are left in no doubt about which particular individual we are talking about. In the passage we read today we find similar things said about John in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew which are also part of this week’s bible readings. When you read these three gospels do not gloss over them for they all have some detail the others do not have.

Luke gives us the historical date when John came preaching which is AD26 which is the 15th year of Tiberius’ reign again giving our faith an historical grounding. Now this man was preaching out in the desert which is where the Word of God came to him to start with. This is where his ministry starts…there must be something in this for this is where the ministry of Jesus starts too. I don’t know what that says about me for I do not think I have ever been in the desert! But this does seem to be the place where John lived. It makes for a rather strange man. He must have been a loner. He must have been introvert. Not only must we consider his social skills but how he looked. He was dressed with the skin of a camel wearing a belt and he was on a diet which does not sound particularly healthy: insects and honey. I don’t think he’d look out of place on a new TV series I propose; ‘I’m a prophet get me out of here!’ Bugs would not be a problem for this man.

Why is this important at all? Because he must have been a curiosity, there was something about him that set him apart for he was not one of the in-crowd nor could he have been a popular guy to be around for he was simply odd. We know from his birth he was born to his parents in old age and the prophecy of his father and the message from the angel that this was a man destined to do great things for God.

I was listening on Radio 4 this week about first impressions. When we see someone for the first time and how we make judgements about their character which is also how many of us judge politicians. This is not new, of course, we know that when God sent Samuel to anoint a new king he thought it would have been one of the brothers of David however God made it clear, what exactly? That He looks on the heart and not the outward appearance. So, I wonder how we would have responded to John the Baptist. Is dress code that important? I think we’d not really like the answer if we are honest with ourselves. I know a Pastor who wears a t-shirt, shorts and flipflops in the pulpit in a baptist congregation of a similar age group to here. We tell ourselves appearances do not matter when, to us, they actually do matter very much! This is a prejudice we have to overcome as James made clear:

James 2:1–4 NKJV

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

There’s been a story circulating on Facebook this week, of a homeless man going to church, a large church of about 10,000, named Jeremiah Steepek, who was only spoken to by three people and asked to sit at the back when he tried to sit at the front - I know that would not happen here for the back seats are already full! Then, the purpose of this meeting was the induction of a new pastor, there was a lull whilst waiting for this man to come on from stage right. In the meantime this homeless man, it seemed had enough of sitting at the back was moving back to the front again but he walked straight on by the front row right up onto the platform, turned around and revealed that he was the new pastor to the shock and horror and shame of the congregation. This story, which as far as can be ascertained is not true, though something similar did happen in 1970 with a Methodist Minister. Another story in the news was last month that the King of Holland was flying for KLM incognito. Let’s be careful that we do not judge on appearances for even angels come disguised as men.

So, enter John the Baptist and his first recorded words: “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” We know that he also said to be baptised and be forgiven your sins. Indeed we can see that John the Baptist was a very successful preacher. All of Judea went out to him and were baptised confessing their sins. John the Baptist awoke the people to their need of forgiveness.

So, enter John the Baptist and his first recorded words: Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Be baptised and be forgiven your sins.

The explanation for John the Baptist is a prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 40. He was sent to prepare the way. He was the herald declaring the King was coming through soon or the Town Cryer that Jesus was on the way. Get ready, straighten the roads, level the ground so that everyone can see clearly who is coming along the way. We can understand this in a physical sense but we know that this is spiritual - get your life sorted out, turn from your evil ways, repent otherwise He may just pass by and you do not see the one who is the King.

And John was not one to mince his words: You brood of vipers, you snakes, do you think you can escape God’s anger especially by pretending to change. If you do not actually change, if you do not actually show you are repenting then you are still blind. John is recorded as saying these things to the religious leaders in one passage and to the general people in another. This is simply recording two sermons with the same content but with different audiences in mind. Can you imagine if I came in here and called you all rats and vermin and snakes…I am not sure what the response would be: more likely to be offended. I don’t think that another word would be heard of my preaching! But it was a useful tool for John because it was effective. Sure, some would have slunk away for they did not genuinely want to change but others would have been awoken out of their complacency - they would have thought, hey, this is really important, really serious, we must really listen and obey and truly repent.

Is this not we are called to do? Are we not also preparing the way? John prepared the people for the 1st advent, the 1st coming but we are to prepare people for the 2nd when He will not come as a baby but as King of kings and with the wrath of God when He will judge the living and the dead.

John was not into easy believism, ask Jesus into your life and it will all be OK but he was calling for a genuine change of heart and mind and life. I have concerns about the type of evangelism that is going on if there is no call to a changed life. This is incredibly serious stuff for people’s eternity depend upon it.

Repentance is intensely practical which, John, in response to questions said that they were to be generous and content, rather than be greedy. For those who were in the Wednesday prayer meeting this is a return to what was said in about being greedy for gain and their life being taken away as a result of it.

We are to prepare the way. We can preach by our words and by how we live our lives. We may be as successful in this endeavour as Jonah: A man who did not want to preach – but actually had no choice in the end – and a whole City, Nineveh, repented at his preaching: A very successful man. What we should bear in mind about Nineveh is that 150 years later it was destroyed in a flood after numerous warnings to repent. This says to me that the Gospel, the preparing of the way, needs to be done in every generation for one generation will repent but the next may not. We have this experience here in Wales where one generation came to the Lord and subsequent ones have not to the point where churches are closing every week, where people have not even heard the story of Jonah.

I like us to look at some other successful preachers and see what we can glean from them: Let’s look at Noah: A man who did not want to preach – but actually had no choice in the end – a whole City, Nineveh, repented at his preaching: A very successful man.

Let’s remember, though, it is God alone who gives the increase, God alone who can save. We are not called to be successful but faithful for Noah who was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years had no converts other than his own family and therefore we should be faithful too when we don’t see results.

What then, shall we fail to preach the Gospel to this generation? No! But like Noah who was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years with no converts we should be faithful too when we don’t see results. Few are those who will be saved – but we don’t know who those few are and maybe those few are all concentrated in Manselton!

What then, shall we fail to preach the Gospel to this generation, NO! But like Noah who was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years we should be faithful too when we don’t see results. Few are those who will be saved – but we don’t know who those few are.

Let’s go back to John the Baptist – how many were truly converted? There were only 120 in the upper room even at the end of Jesus’ ministry. There were some like the time like when John said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”: And Andrew went and followed after Jesus and left John. And Andrew, in turn, told Nathaniel and he came along! Isn’t that the way – you can preach the Gospel to thousands without seeing any one becoming Christians and then there is Andrew – he tells one person and he becomes a disciple! But, he had been prepared by John to do this.

On Thursday, at the Women’s guild, we sang a song that also comes from Isaiah

Isaiah 52:7 NKJV

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Why feet? Even Paul mentions feet in

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. Why feet? Before the days of TV and Internet the way a message was brought was by a messenger running to bring. There was a sense of urgency – and for those who receive the message of Good News they are they who say how beautiful are your feet!

Ephesians 6:15 NKJV

and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Before the days of TV and Internet the way a message was brought was by a messenger running to bring. There was a sense of urgency – and for those who receive the message of Good News they are they who say how beautiful are your feet!

Before the days of TV, Internet, cars, trains and planes, the way a message was brought was by a messenger running to bring it. There was a sense of urgency – and for those who received good news they would say ‘how beautiful are your feet’! There is to be this same sense of urgency in sharing the real Good News for Jesus IS coming soon.

What do I want to say? We cannot tell others to repent if we are not willing to ourselves. We can see God’s way clearer when we are in obedience to God. We have to be careful of our prejudices of other people based upon how they look. We all do make judgements but let’s make sure that we correct them accordingly in the light of the Gospel.

From this passage even John the Baptist was foretold in Malachi & Isaiah..

Can you think of any verses that are in the Old Testament that prophesied the future and has already come to pass? (, , etc)

Let’s all be preparers of the way, those who point to Jesus as the coming King. Maybe there are some God will be gracious to save. We need to obey the commission and preach Christ and be like Paul – woe is me if I do not preach Christ.

From this passage even John the Baptist was foretold in Malachi & Isaiah..

How did John the Baptist prepare the way? (pointing to Jesus, preaching repentance of sin)

Should we be those who prepare the way for Jesus’ second coming?

John the Baptist was a very successful preacher as everyone went out to him: there was something about this man and his message that drew people to God. He was holy to the Lord and full of the Holy Spirit and therefore led of Him. There is something attractive about Christians when they are living for the Lord and something very disturbing when they are not.

We should strive to bring people into the Kingdom of God especially when we consider the eternal consequences of hell and the lake of fire and what can be had in the Good News – eternal life in the presence of God – but in the end it is only God who can save and therefore our reliance is upon him to show us how to reach the people with the Good News.

Let us renew our commitment to the Lord, truly repenting of anything in our lives that would surely be an embarrassment to us if it were exposed to others but more about how ashamed we would be if Jesus returned now whilst in the midst of thinking, saying or doing things we ought not to. Let us speak to others about our Lord and the wondrous things He has done for us calling others to a life of following Jesus and so, preparing the way of the Lord.

HG020-22. Mark 1:1-6, Matthew 3:1-10, Luke 3:1-14

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