Sermon Tone Analysis

John the Baptist

In the Gospel of Matthew, we see a gap of nearly 30 years in Jesus’ life, picking up with the story of the fore-runner, John the Baptist.

If we think back to the time of Mary announcing her pregnancy to Elizabeth, the baby leapt at the news!

John’s purpose had been prophesied in the OT:

He was the forerunner of the coming Messiah.

In his ministry, John came out of the wilderness of Judea preaching a new message.

Now, John was not your normal evangelist, he was dressed in a garment of camel’s hair with a leather belt secured at his waist and ate a diet of locusts and wild honey.

Judea was a country area, and had at least 6 cities scattered throughout.

This was the base of John’s ministry.

If we think back to the ministry of many throughout the Bible, we find God uses these quiet places (wilderness) to prepare men for their ministry.

It may be linked to Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.

” His ministry was ground breaking, as no prophet had been found in Israel in about 400 years (Malachi being the last).

There had been no verbal word of God spoken in 4 centuries, and now this ragged, modestly dressed man with a peculiar diet came forward with the words “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.

Prophecy had been fulfilled.

This simple message called those he preached to action - repent- change your life, turn away from sin and turn towards God.

Kingdom - it is God’s, the sovereign Lord of the Kingdom of Heaven, and He is coming now.

Of Heaven - it is of another world, the third heaven as described by Paul.

It is not of the world as we know it, not the atmosphere, and not the cosmos, but a spiritual world created by God Himself.

His ministry was successful, as there were people throughout the region near the Jordan river who were confessing their sins and were being baptized by him.

But he caught the attention of the religious crowd; the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they came to see if this modern-day prophet had truly been sent from God.

When he saw them, though, he confronted them “You brood of vipers!

Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

He called out their religiosity, and by calling them vipers pointed out their false doctrine (full of deadly venom).

Notice, he did not back away because they were “religious people” in the community, but instead told them of their sins.

Flee the wrath to come - those who were spectators only would face God’s wrath.

Repent - verbal repentance was not enough.

Bear fruit - they were to be changed in their conduct.

Overlook their heritage - the righteousness of a family member does not make you acceptable to God.

Judgment - those who do not do the work God has called them to, will be removed.

It didn’t matter what position they held, what family name they possessed, or their status in the community, judgment comes to all.

John goes on to point out the purpose of baptism, as a symbol for their repentance, but pointed out the one who was coming afterwards - Jesus - was mightier than he was.

John even goes on to say he was not even worthy to carry His sandals.

Notice, John did not speak of his own ministry, the number of baptisms he had conducted, or the number of people converted, but simply exalted Jesus.

You see, God uses the one who exalts His Son, not himself.

Jesus was coming not only to baptize, but to fill the converts with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Why would he refer to fire?

You see, fire is used for lighting the way, for warming those in need, and for burning.

Fire can be as beneficial as detrimental though; it may destroy and consume, but it can also refine and make pure.

He comes with winnowing fork in hand.

A winnowing fork is a simplified version of a pitch fork used for tossing the grain stalks into the air so the grain could be separated from the stalk, and the wind would carry away the chaff.

Side note: I had a thought on this; do you ever wonder if churches go through a winnowing process?

A time where God tosses the church around for the purpose of separating the stalk and the chaff from the grain?

Why would this be important?

Because it was the grain that had been refined and was of greatest value.

Christ came to judge and purge.

His ministry gathered wheat, which was an act of sacrifice and love, and to separate and dispense the chaff, which is an act of justice.

Today, there is still a mixture of wheat and chaff in the world.

A mixture of professing Christians, and those who are only religious.

Christ still sorts them out in judgment, with the grain being gathered into the barn (heaven), while the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire (Hell).

Jesus’ Baptism

Jesus deliberately chose Jordan as the place to launch His ministry.

It was in Jordan that His forerunner, John the Baptist, had been preparing the way for Him.

You see, the people knew that the Messiah was coming, the prophets had predicted Jesus’ coming time and time again, so the people knew what John was predicting.

Yet they expected the Spirit to fire up the nation, and lead the people in freeing Israel and establishing it as one of the greatest nations on earth.

They were not prepared for the carpenter’s son.

Nevertheless, Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist.

He sought out baptism, but not just to be baptized, but to be baptized by John.

He identified with John, John identified with Him - He was the Messiah, the Lamb of God who would be slain - the one John was proclaiming.

Why would Jesus desire to be baptized?

As the one who knew no sin, He had no need for baptism.

He was the one who was making baptism possible and EFFECTIVE for mankind.

He needed no repentance, yet He sought baptism “to fulfill all righteousness”.

The Righteous One symbolically went through the process of what He was going to do for sinful man.

He fulfilled the law of God, one of which was Baptism (anointing in the OT), He would pay the penalty of our sins for breaking the law (the penalty of death), He humbled Himself, emptied Himself, and took on the form of a servant so that He could identify with the ones He came to save.

He humbly sacrificed Himself, so that we could experience the free pardon of sin by salvation.

When Jesus was baptized, we see a symbol of the Trinity.

Now, some folks get hung up on this word “Trinity” saying it is not in the Bible.

Here is a picture of the Triune God all being present at the same time; as Jesus (the Son) came up from the water, the heavens opened and a visible sign (the Spirit of God descending like a dove) rested on Jesus and an audible voice from heaven was heard “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”.

Now, the word Trinity may not be in the Bible, but I see the Son of God (Jesus) present in the flesh, a visible sign (the Holy Spirit) descending on Him, and the audible voice of God the Father speaking.

If that doesn’t support the Trinity, I don’t know what does.

Not only do we see this symbol, but listen to the words spoken by God - Beloved - pointing to the love within the Godhead (Trinity); Son - pointing to the deity of Christ; Well pleased - Jesus lived a perfect life, without sin.

Shouldn’t we want to hear those words spoken to us? Well done my Son/Daughter, in whom I am well pleased.

You see, as Christians we are adopted into the family of God as a Son or Daughter.

And we should want to live our lives in a manner that would be pleasing and approved of by our Father.