John the Baptist and Jesus - Matt 3

Introduction

I hope you are well this morning, Praise God for another week and day of life, Amen.

So many times we get up and we just get going and we fail to thank God for his blessing of daily life.

So thank you Lord for life and liberty today, the freedom to gather today, to worship both in person and electronically.

He is Good...

This morning I want to spend some time in a new study, a new opportunity to walk through the word of God and with that the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.

So this morning lets find the Gospel of Matthew and lets begin in chapter 3, now I’m starting in chapter 3 because I think we are familiar with the story of the birth of Jesus, especially after Christmas being so close.

Matthew chapter 3, verses 1-6

Matthew 3:1–6 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.” 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.’ ” 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.

So we start here in chapter 3 three and I will share three thoughts with you about John the Baptist...

The Man, The Message and the Mission.......

So lets begin with this first thought today..

1. The Man...

So lets being by addressing a couple of questions… Who is John the Baptist?

Well, we know that he is a long awaited child two godly people longed for, prayed for and never thought they would ever have a child...they are Elizabeth and Zechariah.

If you remember from the gospel of Luke, They were both of priestly lines, Elizabeth a descendant of Aaron. And while Zechariah was serving in the Temple the angel of the Lord appeared to him.

Gabrielle, came and shared an incredible message with Zechariah, Your prayers have been heard, your wife will bear a son… His name will be John and there are some unique details about this child’s life..

Let me share with you Luke 1, verses 15-17

Luke 1:15–17 ESV

15 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. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 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.”

So this child has a unique calling upon His life...

I love that the Bible tells us that he will be great before the Lord. His purposes were great before God, He would be used greatly. Even Jesus will testify later in Matthew 7, verse 28 there is no one (completely human) greater born of woman than John.

He would be filled of the Holy Spirit from His birth (remember he jumped in His mothers womb when Mary walked into Elizabeth presence), and he would bare upon his life the Spirit and power of Elijah.

Elijah, was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. His power, spirit, the mantle of that prophet would be upon John. He would be a powerful witness and servant. The Lord would use him to help lead many back to God in the generation he would serve...

And so here in chapter 3, of Matthew’s gospel we see him as an adult, and he is fulfilling the ministry for which God has prepared him for..

Matthew 3;1 tells us "In those days He came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.” This is the country side of where he lived and grew up, He is ministering there.

In those days refers to the time of Jesus life.. and there is close to a 27 to 28 year gap that we can see from chapters 1-2 until the current time being shared in here in chapter 3.

So what do we know about John? John is knows as the Baptist, the one who baptizes people and he is preaching, proclaiming, He is a herald of God’s message. It is like the baptist churches, baptist churches are the largest group in the protestant umbrella of the churches, and our emphasis is that believers should be baptized in obedience to what Jesus said in the great commission ( Matthew 28:18-20.

Now back to John...

John is one whom I have always described as the man out of time. He is literally the last of the Old Testament prophets, He is prophetically declaring the word of God and prepares the way for Jesus. He will be dead before the New Covenant of Jesus will be established.

He is God’ s prophet, God’’s man, the one who was established for that day and time..

God prepared him for that time… and my friends I want to stop right here and tell you that God has prepared you for this time. You are the one who are to herald His message.. Jesus saves...

You where born at the right time, with a calling in your life to minister, to live and share the Lord you love...

Jesus saves like the old preacher used to say from the uttermost to the gutter-most, it doesn’t matter the message, salvation is for all and God has prepared you to share that message with all you can...

You are His man or woman....

And now lets move to our next thought...

2. The Message

We have just established that John was the messenger of God, He was the one God sent to share his word.

But what was the word that John came preaching in the wilderness?

Look at Matthew 3, verses 1-2

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.”

He was preaching, He was a herald of God’s message. Repent… God’s kingdom in close at hand.

Repent… look at your life and change, you are heading in the wrong direction, turn and head in the right direction and turn back to God before it’s to late.

The Kingdom of God speaks to a irruption of God’s power and presence. God is getting ready to do something wonderful and everyone needs to get their lives ready, in place to see and respond to what God is doing...

John was God’s fulfillment, of what was said long ago by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3

Let me share that passage with you...

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

The wilderness is the area southwest of Jerusalem and it probably mirrors the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel.

John went out through the countryside, through the scattered areas where people lived and he was proclaiming the message of turning from sin and acting in repentance. “That is the core of make your ways straight...” Prepare your hearts and life for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Remember the Messiah would come to save the people from their sin, from their broken lives… Matthew has already reported this in chapter 1, verse 21..

Matthew 1:21 ESV

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

So John is calling these precious people, those who left abandoned by the religious leaders of the day who placed as Jesus said heavy burdens upon the people. in Luke 11:46, let me share it with you..

Luke 11:46 ESV

46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

So the people felt helpless and hopeless in the world, they were broken and hurt. But my friends, God sends John with this simple message of repent, get your hearts right.

Just as roads were often repaired in the ancient world in preparation for royalty traveling on them, so John calls his listeners to rebuild highways of holiness i.e., to return to moral living in preparation for God’s coming in Jesus.

And they responded… people came and were being baptised by John.. so much was happening that world made its way to the religious leaders.. Hey there is a revival happening out in the country side....

You see my friends one of the greatest truths is what when we tell the goodness of our God to others, they respond, they find hope and they find life.

You have the message, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.. you have the words of life and death, will you proclaim the message to those who are lost and dying...

And this brings me to my last thought for today my friends..

3. The Mission...

It is easy to see my friends that John had a mission, a calling in His life, we see the angel testify to it as they told Zechariah that He would have a son and he would be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And they could name him John, and he would go before Him (meaning Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah turning hearts of the people back to the Lord.

And so at the right time, John’s ministry began and he began calling people to return to the Lord their God.

Look at verses 4-6, in Matthew 3

Matthew 3:4–6 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. 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.

You know as we walk through this passage, people always comment about John’s garments and diet…

Now the only thing I could imagine here is that John probably would have fit in with the cast of Duck Dynasty pretty well.

I can imagine and large man, rugged man who wore very simple clothing, a camel hair garment with a leather belt. It was much like the prophet Elijah in days past. He eats a simple diet eating locust and wild honey. I tis almost like a monastic life style....

Now the locusts, there is a lot of debate here, was it bugs or was it fruit of a chocolate nature that was made into simple cakes? I believe it was the products of the locust tree, namely if he is living a lifestyle like those of other religious groups at the time, it was probably vegetarian and would not have had any flesh in it, not even that of insects.

Not that is my views, he lied a simple lifestyle, a simple dress code, His focus was completely on God and nothing else.

He is a charismatic gentleman, and he told of powerful message..

And as He teaches and preaches the people come out to him, they come out and hear, and receive the message of God’s word! They repent and are baptized and it is happening in such numbers that the religious leaders in Jerusalem hear of it and they go out to John

Lets go back to our text.. verses 7-12

Matthew 3:7–12 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. 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.”

Now lets break this down...

2 groups are there. Sadducees… they are political liberals with conservationism tied to religion. They made peace with the Roman government. They interpreted the law.

The Pharisees, are separatists… They had developed a oral law that was a fence around the torah. This oral law gave all they needed to interpret God’s law. They did not like Rome...

Now they tend to work together as they were people tied to the Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin.

John calls them all a brood( Offspring of the devil in a sense) - a bunch of snakes, vipers. why? They are shrewd, they are a danger to others.

He and others saw the hypocrisy in their lives. And John scolds them, what are you doing here, are you fleeing the coming wrath… in a sense, are you ready to repent and turn back to God.

If your doing so, then John tells them to repent and bear the fruit associated with it… Just don’t sit there and say, we are children of Abraham, we are ok. That would be the equivalent of saying something like… Granny was a member of so and so and a good Christian. that has been passed on to me. You are claiming credit by association. It doesn’t work like that...

And John warns then, the axe is resting upon the trunk of the trees that bear no fruit, they will be cut down, burned up....

And John tells them

I baptise you with water based on your testimony of your desire to seek repentance, . well lets look again at verse 11

Matthew 3:11 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.

John addresses himself as one like a slave who would do menial tasks, like removing the sandals of a master… John says he is not even worthy to do that...

John’s message will mirror that of Jesus, both will call for repentance, and both will refer to water as the outward sign of an inward change.

But the real difference is Jesus will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit..

The fullest mark of a changed life is that they will have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit is the one who guarantees the position we have in Christ, that sanctification has indeed begun.

So we know that the moment we receive Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters and begins the process where by we are made more like Jesus each and every day.. Wow!

The reference of fire, well that speaks to the judgment that come to those who reject Jesus. The winnowing fork is that would be used to separate the wheat grains from the chaff. The chaff would then be destroyed by fire, the grain used to sustain life.

John’s mission was to prepare the way....

Now for just one last thought, verses 13-17

Matthew 3:13–17 ESV

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

I love this, Jesus coming to John.. and to hear John proclaim those words, in John 1, verse 29....

John 1:29 ESV

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

But what is interesting here is that it is said that Jesus needed to be baptized by John...

What is being said there in the last portion of John mission?

Jesus came to be baptized. Not that he had any sin to confess or that he needed to repent… and John himself even rejects.. hey I need to be baptised by you.

But Jesus says in verse 15

Matthew 3:15 ESV

15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

What does that mean? to fulfill all righteousness....

To fulfill all righteousness” means to complete everything that forms part of a relationship of obedience to God. In so doing, Jesus identifies with and endorses John’s ministry as divinely ordained and his message as one to be heeded.

And John consists and then we have a wow factor… coming up out of the water after Baptism the Bible tells us that the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Him and God speaks..

Matthew 3:16–17 ESV

16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This is my beloved Son, with whim I am well pleased… Wow friends, just Wow.

God is placing His stamp of approval on Jesus and his ministry beginning..

2 signs appear, The first: The Holy Spirit like a dove, not a bird but like one.. and

Secondly, The voice of heaven, God himself speaking. This voice was present and not only did Jesus hear it, but John and any other person there heard that voice.

Man, I cannot even imagine who that day ended as Jesus came up out of the water with these things happening, but it was wonderful.

The mission of John was now complete.. Jesus has entered the arena, His public ministry is getting ready to begin...

John was indeed the last prophet of God calling, preparing the way for the Lord’s coming..

You my friends are God’s messenger as well, you are called to go and tell that others may experience His grace and mercy.

How beautiful my freinds,

Are you ready?

Will you go and tell?

Lets being by examining our heart. Lord if thee is anything in our life that separates us from you. Would you change that, forgive us, strip it away and change our lives forever.. so that we might bring others to your side.

Amen..

Let’s pray.....