Sermon for December 6, 2020 16 Minutes
Notes
Transcript
2nd Sunday of Advent - December 6, 2020
This morning I'll be reading Mark chapter 1 verses 1 through 8.
And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
Mark 1:1-8
Almost all of the commentaries that I read,,, on the book of Mark,,, agree that it begins,,, with the "good news",,, which is,,, Jesus Christ! On this Second Sunday in Advent,,, we will look at this "good news" this morning.
Mark 1:1–8
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight! 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. 6 John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He was preaching: “Someone more powerful than I will come after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.
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As we continue to prepare for the Christmas season,,, even during this covid pandemic,,, like it is every year it seems that as Christmas gets closer,,, we lose sight of the reason why we celebrate this holiday.
Our reading this morning reminds us that maybe we need to remember the words of John the Baptist as we await our Savior to come again.
Hopefully we can learn what John was trying to tell the people during those days and help us in our walk with God this Christmas season.
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Verse 1 says: 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
This very first verse that Mark wrote,,, should really set the stage for anything that is told about Jesus,,, and especially during the Christmas season.
That's because the word gospel as most of you know means "good news".
Mark says that this is the beginning of the "good news" about Jesus Christ,,, the Son of God.
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Verses 2 and 3 say: 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way. 3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight!
Both Malachi and Isaiah predicted that a messenger would come before the Messiah,,, calling the people to be morally and spiritually prepared for His coming.
Mark used Isaiah's scripture which can be found in Isaiah 40:3.
You also have Malachi 3:1 as an example.
And Malachi 3:1 says: 3 “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.
As we will see in the next few verses,,, John the Baptist fills this prophesy perfectly,,,as the messenger,,, and does his job as he was sent here to do.
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Verse 4 says: 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John's message was that the people should repent,,, change the way that they were living,,, in order to receive the remission of sins.
Otherwise they would be in no position to receive the Lord.
My Believer's Bible Commentary says that "only holy people are able to appreciate the Holy Son of God".
My study Bible says that John's baptism was a visible sign that a person had decided to change their way of life,,, giving up a selfish and sinful way of living and turning to God.
It says that the Jews often baptized Gentiles that converted to Judaism.
But to baptize a Jew as a sign of repentance was a radical departure from Jewish custom.
This was very new to them.
Of course,,, we know that later,,, the early church took this step further associating it with Jesus' death and resurrection that gives us the fellowship of the Holy Spirit today.
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Verse 5 says: 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.
When the people that came to listen to John did repent,,, he baptized them,,, as an outward expression of their about-face,,, or their turning away from their sinful ways.
Baptism separated them publicly from the mass of the nation of Israel who had forsaken the Lord.
It united them with a remnant who were ready to receive the Christ.
It might seem from verse 5 that the response to John’s preaching was universal.
This was not the case.
There may have been an initial burst of enthusiasm, with multitudes surging out to the desert to hear the fiery preacher, but the majority did not genuinely confess and forsake their sins.
This will be seen if you continue reading further into the chapter and beyond since we aren't going to cover that today.
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Verse 6 says: 6 John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
In John's day and time,,, he was different.
Today,,, there are enough people around that live different types of lifestyles than we do that maybe its not something that would get our attention too much,,, but he would still be different.
His home was the desert.
His clothing, like Elijah’s was the coarsest and the simplest.
His food was enough to maintain life and strength, but was that was all.
He was a man who had one purpose and that was the glorious task of making Christ known.
Perhaps he could have been rich,,, but he chose to be poor.
By his actions and lifestyle,,, he showed that he was worthy,,, to proclaim about the One that had nowhere to lay His head!
According to my Bible Knowledge Commentary,,, we learn here that simplicity should characterize all,,, who are servants of the Lord.
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Verse 7 says: 7 He was preaching: “Someone more powerful than I will come after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals.
John's wanted everyone to know that someone else was coming that was more powerful than he was.
Someone that he wasn't even good enough to stoop down and untie the straps of His sandals.
He wanted to be sure that all were keeping their eyes out for Jesus,,, not concentrating on him.
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Verse 8 says: 8 I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John’s baptism was with water,,, and it was an external symbol,,, but it produced no change in a person’s life.
And,,, to a certain extent,,, that can still be true today.
Without the Holy Spirit,,, you are just wet,,, there is no change.
Now,,, that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit won't be working on you,,, but at the same time,,, don't you be foolish enough to think that Satan won't be working overtime on you either!
After I was baptized at 12 years old,,, I slid backwards instead of stepping out in faith.
The next 4 years of my life was a continuous challenge almost,,, to see how much trouble I could get into and yet,,, not get caught.
I straightened up a little bit by hanging around more with friends here in Seminary instead of around home,,, but it wasn't until after Chace and Chayne were both born that I rededicated my life to God the way that I needed to be.
But,,, going back to talking about the scripture,,, Jesus would baptize them with the Holy Spirit,,, and,,, this baptism,,, would produce a great inflow of spiritual power (Acts 1:8).
Also it would incorporate all believers into the church, the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).
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But it's the work that John the Baptist was doing that I think that we need to return to today.
It's this message that we as pastor's today need to be preaching from the pulpits to be sure that everyone knows what's expected of them.
It's this message that we need to take back to our homes and families so that we are all ready when Jesus returns.
It's this message that we as believer's of Jesus Christ need to get out into our communities and work places when we leave our homes to go to work or wherever we go as we begin our week.
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For too many years,,, when it comes to Jesus,,, it has been taught that He is "love",,, "loving",,, "He loves you even while you were a sinner",,, with so much emphasis being put on love that we have forgotten to teach others about the change that is needed when they accept Jesus as their Savior.
Like the change that John is teaching here in these verses,,, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Because until we understand that we aren't living the life that we need to be living,,, in other words,,, if we see no reason to change,,, we will continue in our sinful ways.
We need to get back to the Bible as a church,,, and when I say church,,, I'm talking about all of the Christian churches and pastors.
Because in a lot of churches,,, you don't hear this anymore.
God is still the same.
The God of the Old Testament is the same God that sent Jesus into the world to save us from our sins.
John the Baptist never tried to say that a new God was coming.
He was just getting the people ready for Jesus,,, who was going to begin His ministry very soon.
And that’s what we need to be doing today.
Because whether Jesus comes today,,, tomorrow,,, or sometime in the future,,, we must be ready.
And we cannot be ready if we aren't living our life the way that God intends for us to live.
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So as we continue into our Second week of Advent,,, remember John the Baptist and the message that he preached so many years ago.
Remember that even though the message today has been preached a lot that God is loving,,, and God loves us while we are still sinners,,, He doesn't expect us to continue living our sinful ways!
There must be a change.
And that change will start with your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Savior,,, because that's what makes this Christmas season all possible.
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