The Message of John the Baptist

Introduction

Good Morning

What a crazy week we have had. 8 inches of snow in October seems about right for this crazy years doesn't it? Rachel and I were talking about how the last time we had snow was that snow storm on Easter - and that was crazy too! It has just been a year to remember hasn’t it?

You know my family and I live southwest of town in a quiet valley surrounded by woods and hills and one of the things that we have grown accustomed to is the fall traffic. You see we typically don’t see a lot of traffic on our road, especially when roads are icy or snowy, but on a typical fall day we have come to expect short bursts of traffic roaring by our house. You see when the fall colors are in full bloom, various car and motorcycle clubs love to go winding around and up and down our little county road. The scenery is a part of it, but what they really like is to take their beloved vehicles cornering around a steep hillside and powering up a hill to see a whole valley open up for miles of color and splendor. And we did have a short run of that this past fall - at least before the snow.

Tension

The reason that I bring that up is that today we are going to be looking at a character in Jesus’ story who is described as being the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. The prophecy reads like this:

Isaiah 40:3–4 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

Apparently road construction is a Biblically approved activity - just like fishing, hunting and carpentry. What is the significance of the presence of straight and level roads here Isaiah’s prophecy and how did this person in Jesus’ story accomplish such a thing?

Well unlike the roads that go by my house, the roads in Isaiah’s day were often well worn and treacherous paths with rather fluid boundaries. While an individual might be able to walk comfortably enough on them, carts, caravans or horse drawn wagons of all sorts would often get stuck or topple over.

But if you will hop into the phone booth with me…we are going to do some time traveling this morning and fast forward from the days of Isaiah, where the roads were so bad, to the days of Jesus and you have a whole different perspective on roads.

The Roman Empire of Jesus’ day was known for their development of a system of roads. Ever heard the expression, “All roads lead to Rome”? That is because at one point they basically did. I have a map to show you of the major roadways of Europe...

Map Pic

Kind of beautiful map of the roads of Europe. Looks like the many veins of a leaf all throughout Spain, France, Germany, Britain…and all converging on the city of Rome down at the bottom. The reason that Rome built some 50,000 miles of roads had to do with power and authority. They knew that if they were going to successfully rule over the 113 provinces they had conquered, then they would need to be able to quickly transport messages, governors, and ultimately their military through to these places.

Ok…back in the phone booth and let’s get back to Isaiah’s day again. This network of roads did not exist, but there were still Kings who conquered far off provinces. So what a King in Isaiah’s day would do, in order to extend his rule into these provinces, is send a forerunner on ahead to prepare for his arrival.

This forerunner would make sure that the region was prepared for the arrival of their King, even to the extent of leading the people in building roads that would be fit for the arrival of the King.

That is how important the arrival of the King was. That is how important the role of the forerunner was. He was much more than just the guy who showed up right before the King and announced his arrival. This person was responsible to lead the people into investing in significant changes in their lives in order to be ready to receive their King.

And we don’t have to guess on who this “forerunner” is. The New Testament tells us plainly that this prophecy found it’s fulfillment in John. You might know him as “John the Baptist” and we are going to look at his part in Jesus story.

While three of Gospels cover his story, we are going to focus in on the account in Matthew Chapter 3. So if you would open your Bibles with me to Matthew Chapter 3, I’ts page 808, I’ll pray and we will look at John’s pivotal role as the “forerunner” for the Jesus...the King of Kings.

Truth

As the forerunner for Jesus...

John boldly proclaimed a message of repentance. (Matthew 3:1-6)

Matthew 3:1–2 ESV

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

This message is one of the things that John is famous for... but what is repentance anyway? How would you describe it? I imagine that if I threw this question out to our Table Talk Groups after the service we would get answers like “saying your sorry” “apologizing” or “confessing wrong doing” of some sort and all of this is in the right direction, but it does not give us the full understanding.

The Greek word here is the word μετανοέω (meta-noeo) and it is compound word “meta” meaning new and “no-e-o” meaning mind. So put together it means to have a new mind or “to change ones mind” which is “to repent”.

And what was John trying to get the people to have a “new mind” about? That their true King was coming, and they were not ready.

Remember, at this point the children of Isreal had not had an established prophet who spoke of the Words of God for 400 years. Generation after generation just kept passing on the Words of the Law and the Prophets - but without someone to correct them, they had begun to drift off track into two opposite directions.

On one side, they had grown lazy and lethargic over the commands of God. They became pragmatists who chose to do only the very minimum required to keep them in the good graces of the more “progressive” religious leaders of their day. In this way they could still be considered Jewish, but they were free to buy into the values and lifestyles of the Roman world around them. We might call this group “The Religious Liberals”

On the other side, there was a group teaching that a plain understanding of God’s law just didn’t go far enough. They had decided to add their own “practical applications” to the law. These extreme standards could never be kept perfectly, and in time, the arguments of these “so called applications” became the focus, and God’s law was forgotten. So while they looked extremely pious on the outside, secretly they were violating God’s law as sure as the people they were condemning for not abiding by their “practices”. We might call this group the “The Religious Legalists”

Crazy times, right. Not like anything we ever have to deal with in Christian circles today.

Well John’s role was to call these people to repent, change their minds about these things in preparation for the coming of the King. They were to have a new mind about the commands of God, and a renewed expectation in the coming of the Messiah. The King of Kings who would reign on David’s throne.

And this role is the one that was given him hundreds of years before He was even born, as it clearly says...

Matthew 3:3 ESV

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 the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”

John is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, and this fact is recorded in each of the three Gospels who talk of this New Testament Prophet John and his ministry. And of course, his message was not the only thing unique about John’s part in Jesus’ story.

Matthew 3:4 ESV

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.

This was quite a fasion statement in Jesus’ day, just as it would be in ours, but it was about more than just standing out as unique. John was wearing the official attire of a prophet, or at least a representation of it as this was the same outfit that the well known prophet Elijah was know to wear.

We see this clearly in 2 Kings 1:8 when the evil king of Israel named Ahaziah fell out his upstairs window and found himself on his death bed. He then sent messengers to the seek word from false god Baal to see if he would recover. Well the true God of Israel, intercepted these messengers with one of his own. But Elijah didn’t identify himself, he just delivered the message that the evil King would surely die.

When the messengers returned, sooner than expected with this message the King asked what sort of man gave them the message. .

2 Kings 1:8 ESV

8 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, like Elijah, was known for his prophetic message as well as the way in which he dressed, and large crowds came out to see, hear and respond to his message.

Matthew 3:5–6 ESV

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.

This was the effect of John’s ministry. The people were hungry for a Word from the Lord and finally there was someone to deliver it, and they responded in a baptism of repentance. A responsive act to identify the new mind that God had given them.

And there was quite a diverse group that came out to see John, to hear his message and to respond in a baptism of repentance.

Turning over to the Gospel of Luke we get these details:

Luke 3:10–14 ESV

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 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 you are authorized to do.” 14 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.”

John went right after the heart of the people didn’t he. Selfishness, greed, cheating, bullying …these had all become common place and John says - Repent! Change your mind about these terrible things because the Kingdom of God is at hand. And many did, but

John’s message of repentance was not always accepted or appreciated (Matthew 3:7-10)

Matthew 3:7–10 ESV

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “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.

So just who are these Pharisees and Sadducees? Well you have probably heard of them before. The are going to come up frequently in Jesus’ story as we continue in our “Christos” series - but their presence doesn’t linger on very long after Jesus’ ascension.

You see these men were the religious leaders that were born out of the 400 years of silence between the last prophet of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. God gave no instruction for the formation of these leadership factions - they were born out of the drift...and they led were the ones who led the people into their need for repentance…in both directions.

The Pharisees were the “Religious Legalists” who argued that their “practical appliacations” of God’s law were just as important as that Law itself. One time these Pharisees came to Jesus to complain that Jesus’ disciples where not washing their hands in the right way. Not that washing your hands is a bad thing, in fact we highly encourage it, but this wasn’t about hygiene, it was about ceremony...

Mark 7:5–8 ESV

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

That is a pretty good definition of what we would call a “Religious Legalist”, and this is just one example of run ins that Jesus had with the Pharisees.

But the Sadducees were really no better. They were the “Religious Liberals" and they held much more weight politically - because they play so much nicer with Rome. You see these, so called “Religious Leaders” were really only interested in money and power, and they found that they could bend religion to bring them both. Archaeologically, it has been uncovered (pun intended) that the homes of the Sadducees were “ the most opulent discovered to date in Jerusalem,”

And of course Jesus had his run-ins with these leaders as well. They were always trying to trap Him with seemingly unanswerable questions about the after life - because they didn’t believe in it.

On one occasion, they tried to trap Jesus with this hypothetical question based on Moses’ command for a man to take his brothers widow as his wife if he were to die. Then they presented this impossibly rare scenario where seven brothers all died in a row and so this same woman became the wife of each one down the row. Then their question was “Whose wife would she be in the afterlife, since they all had her?” They figured they had stumped Jesus, but Jesus just flat out shuts them down. Listen to this...

Matthew 22:29 ESV

29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

These were the religious leaders that followed the crowds out to see John. They were mostly all conspiring, conniving and corrupt, and they had little interest in the kind of repentance that John was calling for, it would upset their monopoly on power and control.

This is why John called them what He did. And you have to understand....No one talked to these men this way. They were too powerful and too good at covering their wrongdoings - but in the prophetic power that God had given John - he saw them for what they were and called them out on it. And so they hated him and his message of repentance and eventually, just like they did to Jesus, these leaders conspired to have John killed as well…but we will talk about that later. At this point in Jesus’ story...

John boldly proclaimed his message…and the crowds responded in a baptism of repentance, but not the religious leaders. They did not accept or appreciate John or his message.

and lastly, and probably most importantly...

John’s message of repentance was about Jesus, not about Himself (Matthew 3:11-12)

Matthew 3:11–12 ESV

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.”

Unlike the other religious leaders of the day, John was not in it for personal gain. He knew his role was to be the forerunner. The one who prepared the people for the coming of the King. That is who was important, the great and powerful King. The King of Kings who will is coming to claim his people as His own and judge all those who would rebel against his rule.

Repent, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Gospel Application

John’s message some 2000 years ago is just as true for us today as it was for the people in his day. In fact, we could say it is even more true for us as this command to “Repent” was not just given by John, who was the forerunner of Jesus - but it was also the message of Jesus himself. In fact, it appears that Jesus picked up right where John left off - because the corrupt religious leaders arrested John first.

It says in Mark 1:14-15

Mark 1:14–15 ESV

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus made it clear that repentance and faith or “believing the gospel” are like opposite sides of the same coin. They go together because if you believe that Jesus is the Lord who saves, you have changed your mind (repented) over your ability to handle things on your own. That is repentance.

The Biblical definition of faith focuses on who Jesus is, not on who we are or on what we can do. It is trusting that that Jesus is who He said He is and that He does what He said He would do.

Sometimes faith is described as having really three parts: 1. knowing, 2. agreeing and 3. relying.

The knowing part of faith is about learning who Jesus is and what He has done to save us from the Word of God. That why the Bible says,

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

The agreeing part of faith comes as the Holy Spirit convinces you of the truth about Jesus. You agree with God’s testimony and admit, “What God says is true.” This is one of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit. In John 16:13, Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth…”

The relying part of faith is where things get personal. This is not about just information anymore, this is about life transformation. This is the point where you stake your life, now and for all eternity, on that the truth of Jesus. You are relying on him.

A good way to illustrate this is to see the first two parts of faith — knowing and agreeing — as being like going to an airport, watching people get on airplanes, and seeing the airplanes take off. By observation, you come to know that these big winged objects can carry people thousands of miles at amazing speeds; and you agree that it happens all the time. The third part of faith, relying, is like you boarding an airplane. It’s one thing to know and agree that planes can take people to faraway places. It’s another thing to get on a plane yourself.

Biblical repentance and faith is just like this. You come to know from God’s Word the truth about Who Jesus is and what He has done for you. Then, the Holy Spirit convinces you of the truth of God’s Word, and you agree that the gospel is true. And then you take it personally: you renounce reliance on your own efforts to achieve salvation, and place your life in the hands of Jesus, trusting that Who He is and what He did are sufficient to save you. You “Change Your Mind”. You Repent.

Landing

Is this you? Have you done this? Repented of your sin and your efforts to save yourself? Have you come to rely on Jesus alone for your salvation? Oh, how I pray you have! If you haven’t, today would be a great day. I would love to talk with you afterwards about this, come see me or if you are online you can call me up adn we can talk on it. To Repent and to Believe in the Gospel. Our salvation is rooted in our Repentance and Belief in the Good News of the Gospel.

If you have already done this, than let me leave you with the words of John the Baptist.

Matthew 3:8 ESV

8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Just like John, we have a mission to accomplish as ambassadors for Christ Jesus. 2 Cor 5:20 says

2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

How is your mission going, ambassador? When was the last time you had a hand in “Boldly proclaiming our message of Repentance”? Remembering that we are only responsible to “Boldly proclaim” the message. We know that not everyone will accept or appreciate the message but only those who the Holy Spirit leads into it. And you might say, well that is not really me, I am no evangelist, I am not the Billy Graham type…well our message of repentance is not about us. It’s about Jesus.

You might have noticed the new orange cards in the chair pockets this morning. Those are our update Communication Cards, where you can take one out and share a prayer requests, concern or comment…but there is also a place on that card where you can communicate an area of ministry here at Friendship that you would like to be a part of. Our mission here at Friendship Church is to Communicate the Life giving message of Jesus Christ and we would love for you to be a part of that in some way. To have a hand in our “Boldly proclaiming the message of the Gospel” here. God has not wired all of us to be up front sharing like a Billy Graham, but there is a part that each one of us can play in getting the message out and you can see so many of them there.

So if you have never placed your faith in Jesus as the Bible describes it, and you want to then please come see me or someone else you trust that knows about these things. And if you have, but are not yet serving in “Boldly Proclaiming the message of the Gospel”, then today would be a great day to being that step as well. Let’s pray together into th