Something is Different

Title: Something is different

Theme: The waters of John are different

Text:

Goal: Something is different come to the waters.

3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[a] 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare[b] the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

4 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. (Esv)

ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE

3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” *ESV)

In Those Days

There is something familiar and new about John the baptist

The emergence of John was like the sudden sounding of the voice of God. At this time, the Jews were sadly conscious that the voice of the prophets spoke no more. They said that for 400 years there had been no prophet. Throughout long centuries, the voice of prophecy had been silent. As they put it themselves, ‘There was no voice, nor any that answered.’ But in John the prophetic voice spoke again.

WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)

How long has it been since you have heard the lord call you?

How long has it been since God told you you have done something wrong?

How long has it been since you have hit your knees in repentance?

How long has it been since your behavior changed?

If it has been awhile you have become stagnate

How long has it been since you have heard the lord call you?

How often has he since God told you you have done something wrong?

How often has art been since you have hit your knees in repentance?

How often has it been since your behavior changed?

If it has been awhile you have become stagnate

GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION

I. Who is this John?

3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare[b] the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

A. He fearlessly denounces evil where ever he finds it.

1.If Herod the king sinned by contracting an evil and unlawful marriage, John rebuked him. ( His brothers wife)

2.Wherever John saw evil—in the state, in the religious establishment, in the crowd—he fearlessly rebuked it. He was like a light which lit up the dark places; he was like a wind which swept from God throughout the country.

3. There is still a place in the Christian message for warning and denunciation. ( public condemnation of someone or something.)

4. It may be that there have been times when the Church was too careful not to offend. There come occasions when the time for smooth politeness has gone, and the time for blunt rebuke has come.

B. He urgently summoned men and women to righteousness.

John’s message was not a mere negative denunciation; it was a positive erecting of the moral standards of God. He not only denounced people for what they had done; he summoned them to what they ought to do. He not only condemned them for what they were; he challenged them to be what they could be. He was like a voice calling people to higher things. He not only rebuked evil, he also set before men and women the good.

6. It may well be that there have been times when the Church was too occupied in telling people what not to do, and too little occupied in setting before them the height of the Christian ideal.

( Old school, you really gave it to us pastor. Nothing like a good old fashioned sermon)

Today many look for the happy ending.

C. (3) John came from God.

He came out of the desert. He came among the people only after he had undergone years of lonely preparation by God.

2. John leapt, as it were, into the arena full-grown and full-armed.’ He came, not with some opinion of his own, but with a message from God. For a long time before he spoke to the world, he had kept company with God.

3. The preacher, the teacher with the prophetic voice, must always come into the presence of others out of the presence of God.

II. What waters are you in?

7 But when he saw

many of the Pharisees

and Sadducees coming

to his baptism,

he said to them,

“You brood of vipers!

“You brood of vipers!

Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

9 And do not presume 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.

10 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.

John calls the Pharisees and the Sadducees a brood of vipers, and asks them who has suggested to them to flee from the coming wrath.

1. Call them to bear fruit of repentance.

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

2. Just because you are Jews everything is good, you must show fruit like the others that are coming.

3. Then, once again, John returns to his harvest picture. At the end of the season, the keeper of the vineyards and the fig trees would look at his vines and his trees; and those which were fruitless and useless would be rooted out.

4. They only took up much-needed space. Uselessness always invites disaster. Those who are useless to God and to others are in grave peril, and are under condemnation.

III. Who is the Holy Spirit?

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance,

but he who is coming after me is mightier than I,

whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

12 His winnowing fork is in his hand,

and he will clear his threshing floor

and gather his wheat into the barn,

but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

(1) The word for spirit is ruach, and ruach, like pneuma in Greek, means not only spirit; it also means breath. Breath is life; and therefore the promise of the Spirit is the promise of life. The Spirit of God breathes God’s life into human beings. When the Spirit of God enters us, the tired, lacklustre, weary defeatedness of life is gone, and a surge of new life enters us.

(2) This word ruach not only means breath; it also means wind. It is the word for the storm wind, the mighty rushing wind that once Elijah heard. Wind means power. The gale of wind sweeps the ship before it and uproots the tree. The wind has an irresistible power. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of power. When the Spirit of God enters into us, our weakness is covered with the power of God. We are enabled to do the undoable, to face the unfaceable and to bear the unbearable. Frustration is banished; victory arrives.

(3) The Spirit of God is connected with the work of creation. It was the Spirit of God who moved upon the face of the waters and made the chaos into a cosmos, turned disorder into order, and made a world out of the uncreated mists. The Spirit of God can re-create us. When the Spirit of God enters into us, the disorder of human nature becomes the order of God; our dishevelled, disorderly, uncontrolled lives are moulded by the Spirit into the harmony of God.

(4) To the Spirit, the Jews assigned special functions. The Spirit brought God’s truth to men and women. Every new discovery in every realm of thought is the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit enters into our minds and turns our human guesses into divine certainty, and changes our human ignorance into divine knowledge.

(5) The Spirit enables people to recognize God’s truth when they see it. When the Spirit enters our hearts, our eyes are opened. The prejudices which blinded us are taken away. The self-will which darkened us is removed. The Spirit enables us to see.

Such are the gifts of the Spirit, and, as John saw it, such were the gifts that the one who was to come would bring.

YOU: APPLICATION (TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO AND WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD)

Conclusion:

What waters are you in?

Preparation for Christ’s coming begins in the heart, then the life and finally in our service.

The heart of the matter is a matter of the Heart.

Something is different come to the waters of repentance?

Take a few moments to seek God, then repent.

Sinners prayer