Mark 1 a

[Music] so tonight we're going to be looking here at chapter one of mark's gospel we did somewhat of an introduction last week as it pertained to the gospel of mark and really just kind of working our way through the new testament for the third time here at living way so that's pretty exciting going through the new testament already three times in 14 years of pastoral ministry and so there's never a dull moment when you're dealing with the scriptures amen and so you get so much out of it no matter how many times you go through it but here uh mark's gospel as we looked last week really is centered on jesus's ministry and if you have taken note you know to the four gospels as they call them matthew mark luke and john all three gospels except for mark they're pretty extensive they're they're pretty big as far as their writings john and also um mark's gospel are a little bit smaller but um out of the three matthew mark and luke mark's gospel doesn't focus on jesus's sermons it focuses more on jesus's ministry and it goes back to what we were talking about a little bit last week in regards to the ministry of jesus and the very fact that jesus came to serve and it highlights jesus's ministry as servant he's a servant king and ultimately this is what we can learn from the gospel of mark now when we look at this here we've seen last week that mark starts this gospel with really a very profound introduction and the introduction here is that jesus christ is the son of god this is a very important statement because it testifies to the person and work but also the mission of jesus and there is in a sense as the bible would describe according to the book of deuteronomy in chapter 19 we see something of great importance to the people of israel that the lord spoke to them in regards to this idea of witness that there should always be a testimony or a testifying of witness this is why we see that the the word witness itself is very important but this is what the bible goes on to say in verse 15 of deuteronomy 19 it says this one witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established and notice that it states this at the second half of the verse that at the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established now this in its context is speaking yes about perhaps maybe a person coming and bringing accusation against someone uh like what paul encouraged his young protege timothy to be very aware of as he ministers and in regards to dealing with perhaps people in ministry he spoke a word to him in regards to the same truth and he says in uh first timothy chapter 5 in verse 19 he says do not receive an accusation against an elder except for two or three witnesses notice that that really comes from deuteronomy chapter 19 in verse 15. jesus also made the same statement in matthew chapter 18 in verse 16. and so this idea of witness is very important and i think that we can grab that from mark's introduction clearly here that he's speaking concerning the witness of jesus now notice here that mark begins with his witness of who this person is he says the beginning of the gospel now remember the whole purpose of the gospel is the good news and in a world where there was a need for good news where there was a need remember that the people of israel really in the time in which the book was written in the roman empire was in power and this is the setting in which the lord prepared jesus to come as messiah remember all of this was done according to god's purpose and plan so god doesn't make mistakes the bible says very clearly in galatians chapter 4 that that this was all done at the right time galatians 4 4. but notice what it says here the beginning of the gospel the beginning of the good news and this clearly is a message of good news that jesus christ here it says the son of god but i just want to kind of give this thought the good news is that jesus christ is the son of god that is the good news of the gospel one because it clearly shows the person and work of christ but two it also reveals his deity and his divine his divine person and so what we see here is that mark in a sense gives witness number one that jesus is the son of god the second thing we see here as we looked at this from a different perspective last week by way of the introduction that mark here took three different texts of the old testament the more profound would be isaiah chapter 40 and verse 3 but he quoted exodus 23 and verse 20 in malachi chapter 3 in verse 1 and then isaiah chapter 40 and verse 3 and mark said that here is the testimony or the witness of the prophets so it's not just mark witnessing and testifying that jesus christ is the son of god but then mark says the prophets have declared him to be this one as well and look at what it goes on to say as it is written in the prophets behold i send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord notice that it says here lord make his path straight so the prophets have declared that jesus is lord they've declared it and so the picture here that i think is remarkable is that the prophets testify and then we see here that john the baptist himself makes testimony and witness and he says this in verse seven he says and he preached saying there comes one after me who is mightier than i whose sandal straps i am not worthy to stoop down and to loose and then he'll give go into the description of who you know jesus is now at that present moment that john makes that statement it really was unknown to john who jesus was up until that point he was just preparing the way his ministry was in a sense a ministry of obedience before the lord and remember that there's some similarities into john the baptist's ministry that's what we're going to look at tonight as how the lord prepared the way so we have as deuteronomy 19 says on the account of two or three witnesses a matter is established so what matter has been established according to mark's gospel at the very start well there's three witnesses now that are all declaring that jesus is very unique and the prophets are saying he is the one who was promised to come they're calling him lord mark says that he is the son of god and john the baptist is saying this is the one whom the father has declared that he would send and so reading this from you know maybe perhaps a background of biblical times this would be the first couple of verses here just in mark's gospel would really grab your attention because of deuteronomy 19 5. okay this is this is pretty solid there's enough here to believe what mark says about jesus but now it goes into the ministry of john the baptist people often ask this question and so i want to get it out of the way and get it clear now you know i i always tell people no you know no question or you know not people say why i i want to sound stupid you know but this is kind of done i said there's no dumb question okay just ask it but they always say this is john the baptist the same as john who wrote the gospel of john and a lot of people asked that question and we know the answer if some of you don't know well now you know no they're not the same it's a question that is always asked and even the ones later on in you know years later after they're in the word and they say oh no he's definitely not well they were the ones in the very beginning who would have asked that question trust me everybody always thought that because of the name john right away you think of john's gospel and luke's gospel gives us really some insight into who john the baptist is so let's consider this for a moment the bible says this that i think it's interesting here look at john the baptist's lineage his heritage the bible says in luke chapter 1 verse 5 there was in the days of herod the king of judea a certain priest named zacharias of the division of abijah his wife was the daughter of the daughters of aaron and her name was elizabeth isn't this interesting here john the baptist okay it says here that this is actually his parents these these are who his parents are so zacharias is a priest his wife comes from the daughters of aaron it says in verse 6 they were both righteous before god walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the lord blameless but they had no child because elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years so it was that while he was serving his priest before god in the order of his division according to the custom of the priesthood his lot fell to burn incense and when he went into the temple of the lord the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense then an angel of the lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of the incense and when zechariah saw him he was troubled fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be afraid zacharias for your prayer is heard and your wife elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name john isn't that pretty interesting we know the story of jesus really well right the angel of the lord then goes and and and he appears to mary right and tells mary that she's going to have a child and that which will be conceived in her is of the holy spirit and then it's found out that she's pregnant and joseph's there kind of contemplating whether he's going to remain with her or put her aside quietly and then the angel of the lord appears to joseph and then begins to tell joseph hey you know that which is going on with mary that's of the lord and and so we know the story and you would think that you know jesus's birth as it came as an announcement by an angel well john's birth came as an announcement also by an angel this sets kind of john apart it makes him very unique in his ministry and notice something here too that we see as you read a little bit further we see the story there of the angel appearing to mary as well explaining to her but now look at verse 39 of chapter one it says now mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haze to the city of judah and entered the house of zechariah and greeted elizabeth now we just read about them right and it says here and it happened when elizabeth heard the greeting of mary that the babe leaped in her womb and elizabeth was filled with the holy spirit and she spoke out with a loud voice and said blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb but this but why is this granted to me that the mother of my lord should come to me now what's interesting here is we see that through this relationship between mary and elizabeth there is some relation there and it's an interesting dynamic because john the baptist there's relation between john the baptist and jesus but yet john the baptist doesn't know that his relative is the messiah just like jesus's brothers didn't believe john believed but he didn't know who the messiah actually was at least as we read there in mark's gospel he is he's preaching a message but but this is who john is so then we see here the birth of john the baptist verse 57. now elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered and she brought forth the son when her neighbors and relatives heard how the lord had shown great mercy on her they rejoice now when you go back and you read the very start there in chapter one it says that you know zacharias was not to say what john's name was until his birth so he was like mute for this entire time you know and probably you know a big advantage to a pregnant wife having a husband that just keeps his mouth shut so that's good but you know god knew what he was doing in that right so anyways but now look at what happened so it was on the eighth day that they came to circumcise a child and they would have called him by the name of his father zacharias his mother answered and said no he shall be called john but they said to her there is no one among your relatives who is called by this name and they made signs to his father what he would have him called and he asked for a writing tablet and wrote saying his name is john so they all marveled and immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loose and he spoke listen to this praising god and then fear came on all who dwelt um around them and all the sayings were discussed throughout all the country of judea and all those who heard them kept them in their hearts saying what kind of child will this be and the hand of the lord was with him so all of this to say without reading a lot of john's uh you know coming into his ministry you know the angel of the lord spoke some very specific things to zacharias and said that john the baptist would be of the order of a nazirite in other words separated for this very thing so john understood his purpose in his ministry very clearly through the word that was given to his father zacharias and it would seem too that the people in their community as we just read right now all the people knew that there was something unique about john so here's what we do know an angel of the lord declared that he would be born it was a miraculous type of birth why because the bible was very clear that his parents were well advanced in age he came from a very strong pedigree of a family right his mom was of the daughters of of aaron so there is you know the high priest lineage if you will his father was an acting priest in the day and he was there doing his service in the temple of the lord so he came from a very spiritual family godly family the bible says that both of his parents were very humble they were very godly and they observed everything that the angel of the lord spoke to them so you can see very clearly according to mark's gospel that john the baptist is life was clearly lived out according to how it was spoken it should be john's ministry declares the very same verse 4 says this mark chapter 1 john came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins now here we just seen the person of john the baptist okay he was a man who was a holy man so to speak a righteous man as a matter of fact he was a nazirite set apart because he took this valve and azerite so set apart and his life clearly was a picture of that the purpose in his life that you could see here that it starts off with is that he came preaching a message it seems here just from the text that mark is emphasizing one thing and that is that to john the baptist the message was very important his life was surrounded around this message he was not just one who spoke the message but it's apparent here in the next couple of verses that we're going to read that he also lived this message and he had to because of what was spoken concerning how his life should be you know in the same sense we kind of see that whole thing in jeremiah's prophecy we quote this quite a bit but it's so true when it says you know that the lord he's speaking to israel in jeremiah 29 11 he says for i know the thoughts that i think towards you thoughts of good and not of evil and he speaks about giving the people of israel a future and a hope and we often refer to this about our lives individually that that the thoughts that god thinks towards us they're always good they're not of evil and the purpose that god has in his thoughts towards us are for a future and a hope or as we would say a very hopeful future because god is at the end of all things for us and in the same way the lord set apart john the baptist for the work of the ministry the lord does the same for all of us yes john was heralded by an angel just like jesus the messiah was but but ultimately through the word of god we know that not one of us here tonight were a mistake or were you know by chance or something you know whatever the case might be this was all by god's doing and just like john the baptist's life became a life of purpose what highlighted his life well at the very start of this it was very clear that john was doing all that he knew the lord god had called him to do and remember even later he was asked by the religious leaders in you know john's gospel and and also in matthew's gospel we see that that he was asked you know are you are you the messiah who are you and are you the christ and he says no i'm not but he understood who he was he says i am just a voice in the wilderness crying prepare the way it's evident that john understood very well what his purpose and his mission was three things i want you to take away from this tonight and one the bible says in matthew chapter 11 in verses 7 through 12 verses 7 through 12 and also in verse 14 this is jesus speaking concerning john the baptist john the baptist was esteemed in the eyes of jesus that is pretty remarkable that jesus clearly spoke concerning john and he held him in such high regard why is this important because the bible says that when we humble ourselves in the sight of the lord when we do this in due time he will exalt us and that's exactly what jesus was doing john's ministry was a very humble ministry very powerful but humble another thing we see here is that john's message declared the messiah was true and many came to faith as a direct result of that john chapter 10 verses 41 and 42 many people listened to this message and they came to you know a realization that jesus is the messiah this is what john's message prepared it prepared the people's hearts to receive jesus as messiah we also see too a third thing that john he prepared the way for the messiah and i think that's probably what marks his ministry more than anything john chapter 3 and verse 30 this is what it says that he was the one who prepares the way for jesus's ministry so these three things i think are important john was esteemed by jesus john's message declared jesus to be the messiah and it was true and many came to faith as a result of that the john prepared the way of the messiah he knew not to get in the way but prepared the way so john the baptist you know his faithfulness was in this message so look at the message it says here that he preached the message it says here of baptism and repentance for the remission of sins now what is this message of you know of baptism and repentance for remission of sins well one it was to bring the people to a place where they could have a heart prepared for the coming messiah and you know when we look at this some people always want to read books on ministry and how to do ministry you know if you were just to read and study the life of john the baptist you'll know exactly what ministry looks like you know exactly what ministry looks like and this is what it this is what it does this message was a preparation of the heart the heart has to be prepared and in a sense you know you could see here very clearly that this message was effective as a matter of fact it says that you know in the other gospels when you look at this account of of jesus's ministry at the start of it it always has john the baptist you know the one preparing the way it says that many came to him in the wilderness now when you think of the wilderness if you've never been to israel you can't really get this picture in your mind but the judean wilderness is a very dry and arid place man and there's a place called uh garc that we go to when we visit israel it's outside of jerusalem maybe about an hour or less than an hour drive outside of jerusalem it's actually across the way from jericho the city of jericho and you could actually see what is believed to be the place where um satan offered jesus all the kingdoms of the world that the pinnacle of the mountain is there and the place garc it actually borders the kingdom of jordan and the jordan river is right there and this baptismal site where a lot of people go and get baptized we don't do our baptisms there but a lot of people get baptized there and on one side you have people doing their tours in israel and being baptized and the river is probably about and i'm not exaggerating at that point there because there are parts where the jordan is very wide it's probably from the back of the sanctuary there to about right here it's about as wide as it is and right there there's a an area where there's nothing but jordanian soldiers there because you know you can't just cross the border into this other country and so but there's no fences there's no barbed wire there's nothing it's just the jordan river that separates the two and it's believed there that that is the actual site where jesus was baptized by john the baptist it's also believed to be the area where elijah was taken up and so it's just an interesting dynamic that that would be perhaps the place where the two would be and remember that john the baptist he came in the spirit in the power of elijah this was one of the last prophecies that that malachi closed out you know the old testament with and and he stated this very clearly that elijah would come and so the people of israel were looking for elijah to come again in power to come again and rule now remember to them elijah was a very a very mighty mighty prophet of the lord and it says this in uh malachi chapter four in verse five it says behold i will send you elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord so they were looking they were looking for the prophet elijah right and so obviously he didn't come he was taken up but john the baptist and this is why oftentimes i tell people you know the old uh the old testament ends with this this you know the prophet malachi and speaking a word of of uh to to the people of israel and then we don't hear of a prophet again until john the baptist so from the time of malachi saying that elijah was going to come malachi chapter 4 and verse 5 until the time that john the baptist comes on the scene now remember when jesus was questioned about you know his ministry and and he turns around and he tells them you know the baptism of john he tells them you know john the baptist is baptism what was it what was its purpose and they were afraid to say something like it was meaningless because it said in the scriptures they believed john the baptist to be a prophet so it's believed that john the baptist is the old testament if you will an old testament prophet that which was prophesied by malachi so from that prophecy of malachi chapter 4 and verse 5 up until john the baptist's ministry here you have a period of 400 years and in that period of 400 years there was a lot of books written it's the the apocryphal books and you know the the apocrypha means hidden that's what it means it means hidden and those are the books that you see in let's say a catholic bible they have the apocrypha if you get a bible and you see that it has the old testament and new testament but it says it has the apocrypha in it those are the books that were written during the inter-testamental period and there was no prophet at that time so people always ask the question why are those books you know not in the scriptures well obviously number one they were not canonized to be in the scriptures there was a process the canonization process that's what the word canon means it means to measure and the books that we have here before us in your bible tonight these books were canonized and we believe that they're inspired of the lord now it doesn't mean that there was not other books written in biblical times like the apocryphal books that was biblical times those books we believe because there was no prophet because remember god spoke to his people through the prophets that's what hebrews chapter 1 is all about it says god who at various times and in various ways spoken times past through the prophets so the only other prophet that you can validate in the new testament as we call it the new testament is john the baptist that's it so from malachi to john the baptist 400 years and then you have all the apocryphal books that were written first and second maccabees judith daniel bell and the dragon the songs of mary you have uh you know a lot of material that was written in that period of time now there are some significance of historical significance in some of those books and it's okay to look at it from that perspective but because there was no prophet that was part of the canon canonization process that god wasn't speaking through any prophets until the time of john the baptist so all of this is really a message that was very fresh to the people and this is why i want you guys to kind of get this maybe you might not see this historical significance but i think it's pretty powerful and let me tell you why because what god is showing us here in his word just going from old testament to new testament that the proclamation of god's word not just the gospel the proclamation of his word from very beginning to very end is god breathed it has no influence of man or aid of man and if these apocryphal books were inserted i mean there are some things that we have to kind of get around you know this is where some of these false teachings that we hear like you know purgatory that there's a waiting place and you have to now be you know kind of prayed into heaven after you're already dead you know that comes from the apocryphal writings and they gather these and so this is why they don't rely we don't rely on those books we rely on the books that we have here but here's the point john the baptist comes and preaches this message and listen to this the people of israel had not heard from a prophet for over 400 years often times when we get to the new testament and we start speaking about john the baptist we don't realize that his message is a fresh message it's something that has been unheard of it's a message that hasn't been heard since malachi spoke to the people to god's people for over 400 years they had not heard from a prophet until john the baptist comes on the scene and here's what i think is interesting it says here that he not only came but he came baptizing this baptism this is interesting because john says there's a distinction between his baptism and jesus's baptism and people often ask the question about you know what is john's baptism well his baptism was more of an outward expression of what he was preaching it wasn't the baptism that saved them it was them responding to his message and that message was that they were sinners in need of a savior so his message was in preparation for the savior that would come and set the people that would deliver them that would that would minister to them and really set them free from the bondage of of sin in their life and i think the picture is important for us to consider here because this is what makes the message so powerful that for the first time there was a way out now i have to add this in there because you know i don't think we get how powerful the sermon on the mount is the next most powerful sermon or teaching was jesus's sermon and notice that after john's message nobody else was preaching it went from malachi to john the baptist from john the baptist to jesus and jesus then says you heard it said he wasn't talking about john the baptist because john the baptist was not preaching the message that jesus was preaching so now the question is who were the people of israel listening to if malachi had stopped prophesying 400 years before it's interesting because when the people of israel came out of the captivity babylon was no longer a world empire the medo persians was the dominating empire of that day the lord used the medo-persian empire to direct the people of judah back to israel to rebuild the second temple and at the rebuilding of the second temple when the worship of the lord god was re-established there was a lot of things missing the first temple had everything it had the presence of god and great glory and and and power and might it had the ark of the covenant of the lord it had it had you know the the priestly order it had everything to it the second temple didn't have the ark of the covenant of the lord there was a lot of things missing as a matter of fact in all of this here we also see that to some degree there were inconsistencies even with those that would lead the sacrifices of the lord and the interesting dynamic out of that people often assume in their mind reading the new testament this is why i think that somebody had just said something very profound the other day they says you know i love teaching the bible but if you don't have a historical understanding of what you're talking you shouldn't be teaching the bible period at all you shouldn't be because these things are really important mess the message of the bible of the gospel is very important it's very important because it's god's message not yours his and it's not about you living a holy life it's about you not misrepresenting the lord and we have no excuse we can't say oh well i didn't know well you didn't know because you didn't search it out it's nobody's fault but yours you know and here's what's really important this is why we have to know the word of god pay attention to this so what were they hearing well people assume that the scribes the sadducees and the fairy if you ask the common chris christian i used to do this a lot before but i realized it started embarrassing people and i stopped doing it but i should just go up to them the people that you know would handle the word and and and you know share with people the word of god so they think they know the word so i would ask them these questions when did the scribes and the pharisees come into play and they and the common answer was oh oh they're like in the old testament show me because they're not and they think well i don't know i just read the new testament and they're already there you see that maybe you shouldn't really be teaching the bible unless you know these things because this is important their message led so many astray jesus even rebuked them and said you've never opened the kingdom you shut it you yourselves don't even go in and neither have those that followed you their message pay attention when they came out of the captivity about 535 bc right they rebuilt the temple 516 bc this is 500 years before jesus was born you know we don't really know when he was born some believe it was you know six bc some believe it was four uh it could be maybe even a little bit before that could be you know uh two we don't know but we know that it's close to that but but this is before jesus even comes on the scene that period of time these religious sects came out of that time frame now remember what was missing in the second temple there was quite a bit and you had now all these religious sects that came out and they began to give their interpretation some were interpreting the law from the babylonian talmud and they wrote the jerusalem talmud later it now became a system in a series of laws and remember god gave ten commandments by the time jesus comes on the scene there's 613 and in the midrash and the babylonian talmud there's 32 chapters dedicated to the sabbath when the lord just said keep the sabbath day holy now you've got 32 chapters telling you how to keep it holy talk about religion talk about tradition and so this is why jesus's message was so powerful and john the baptist's message was so different they were like what is this guy talking about that we're sinners do you understand how religious we are do you know that for over 500 years since we came out of the captivity we've been honoring god we've been worshipping him and jesus is saying yes you heard it said but now i say to you well who did they hear it said by prior these religious sects known as the scribes the sadducees the pharisees and even the radicals of zealots right coming out of that and they took the very essence of the gospel and made it man-made so the message that they heard was not the good news it was all bad news that god was upset with them that he was going to judge them and that they were not good enough to be called children of god and all of a sudden john the baptist comes on the scene and he's not one of these out of the religious sect as a matter of fact the way they dressed was different remember jesus even rebuked them for how they dressed he says you're more concerned about you know your garments and these things why because it was very important to them how they looked their clothes identified them by who they were and it showed that they were religious can you imagine you know it's kind of like today we wear christian clothing right but it doesn't mean that your clothes is born again we just say it's christian clothing because it has all kinds of jesus stuff on it well that's what the religious leaders did in their day they wore not of this world shirts they wore the religious jesus stuff now i'm only telling you this only because i want you to not no don't get me wrong you're probably right here right now and you probably got something on your shirt and you're probably going like this now and listen just relax listen it does you no good to wear the shirt remember what jesus said he said your white-washed tombs well everybody knew that a tomb that was whitewashed clearly means that inside it was full of dead men's bones and that's exactly what jesus was saying outwardly you have this look that only reveals what's taken place inwardly so all of their listen to this all of their ministry all of their life so to speak in religious service had to do with outward actions and expressions john the baptist comes on the scene and he's preaching a message of repentance and then he tells the outward worshipers of religion you have to be baptized oh yes that intrigued them here's another mark on our list to show us how spiritual we are let's go and get baptized this is what drew the crowds the religious leaders went out to the wilderness now remember i told you it's a very dry and arid place we've been to the place where it's believed and trust me there's nothing around there today the only thing that's around there for those of you that have been with us you know it there's a long road from the main road that takes you all the way back there and what's all around there there's no buildings there's no brush there's no trees landmines that's all that's there it's dangerous to go on the outside of that road because you'll easily can get blown up i mean there's land mines all over the place from the wars that took place there before when other countries like jordan had the territory further into the land it's mind-blowing but a dry and arid place and you know what's crazy i often tell people this if you're called by god you don't have to tell people to come you don't have to tell people to come listen to you john the baptist never told anybody to come and listen to him the lord sent the people to john the baptist and he was there in the wilderness just preaching a message if god were to tell you go into the wilderness you're going to say there's nobody there well god's like if i send you there i'm going to get them to you and john the baptist obeyed the lord because he understood what his place was now this message of repentance was to recognize that they're in sin and that they needed to be forgiven they needed to have their lives changed it says that all the land of judea and those from jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the jordan river confessing their sins now here's another thing too the jordan river just so you guys know was not a common place for baptism all right we know the history of the jordan river but it wasn't a place for baptists see the jews had their ceremonial cleansing they had the jews had their rituals you know and uh today when you go to israel too you'll see all these mikvahs this is what they would fill up with water and they would go in there and they would clean themselves you know they had this ceremonial cleansing you know you read the book of leviticus you see a lot of how it happened right but they also had this form of of themselves being baptized as well in a sense of being you know immersed so to speak and there have been some that believed or to state you know and i kind of held this view for a while until i started doing my research and really found out that the only one that really states this is more of a description kind of given but they were saying that the reason why john was baptizing is because you know one of the ways to go from uh you know being a gentile into judaism that you had to be baptized into it well there's really no scriptural basis for that it's just believed that that would be what would take place so why were they coming and why were they listening to john and why were they getting baptized if john wasn't a scribe a sadducee a pharisee look at let's just i think this is all really good look at what happens here he goes on to say in verse six now john was clothed with camels here wow that doesn't look like a pharisee here and with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locust well he was clothed with camels here in second kings chapter one in verse eight in a sense you could see that his clothes is the same type of dress code that elijah had in his ministry and so john the baptist is clearly modeling himself after what he knows god called him to be this modern-day prophet after 400 years of silence and that's what that time is called the inter-testamental period from malachi to matthew is called the silent years john the baptist breaks the silence and he begins to preach this message and all of a sudden they look at him and they say this is the guy look at him he's look at his clothes he doesn't dress like one of us he has this leather belt around his waist you can imagine how crazy john the baptist looked okay listen to this and then look at what he ate he ate locusts and wild honey now in leviticus chapter 11 locusts were okay to eat you know some of you here how many of you guys here have ever eaten cricket anybody here eating crickets they taste like sunflower seeds right so this is like what john the baptist is doing right he's he's he's eaten locust and for dessert wild honey so he's clearly not the typical polished in a sense you know what his clothing represents in that day it is a stand against the religious establishment their materialism because remember what the pharisees thought and the scribes what did they teach that wealth was an indication that your heart was right with god that the way you dressed if you dress nice was an indication that that god was on your side and if you were poor god was not with you and if you didn't have money that you were cursed of god well john the baptist how did he look he looked totally different but what they could not deny that there was a power in his message and why well the power wasn't in john the power was in the message and what amplified that power pay attention to this and i hope you're taking this down in your notes what amplified the power was his obedience to the will of god so john understood some very important things but but notice this even his character here it shows that john was a heralder he was a proclaimer and it says here preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sin so the baptism didn't save them it was the message that he proclaimed preparing the way for the one who is to come your heart needs to be ready to receive jesus i guess it's the best way you can describe this and look at what else it goes on to say here and he preached saying there comes one after me who is mightier than i whose sandal straps i am not worthy to stoop down and to loose so another thing that john the baptist understood listen to this guys he understood that the message was not about him he never included himself in the message and he didn't try to address in a way or look in a way that tried to sell the message it's an interesting thing he was obedient he was called by god before his parents there in luke chapter 1 and verse 15 and and he committed himself to this nazarite vow numbers chapter six verses uh you know versus really the first 13 you know verses of that chapter speak concerning this vow and you see that his life clearly was this picture jesus said in matthew chapter 17 in verses 12 and 13 remember the disciples had a lot of questions and the people clearly had questions about jesus and notice what they asked jesus the disciples matthew chapter 17 verse 10 and his disciples asked him saying why then do the scribes say that elijah must come first jesus answered and said to them indeed elijah is coming first and will restore all things but i say to you that elijah has come already and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wish likewise the son of man is also about to suffer at their hands the disciples understood that he spoke to them of john the baptist see john understood what his ministry was before the lord jesus testified of it and there was never a part in time where john made the message about him listen to this he always made it about the one who is mightier than him one greater than john verse 8 says indeed i indeed baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the holy spirit i love this why because jesus is the baptizer with the holy spirit and so notice the picture here that i think is amazing john is very effective in his witness why because his testimony is about someone other than himself do you want to be an effective witness of jesus yes or no then make whatever you say not about you make it about jesus know your role know your calling know what you're talking about i think it's important the enemy will use that the enemy will use that this is why you have so many people believing all types of weird things and it's just an interesting dynamic you know it's it's it's it's the way of man but the bible says there's a way for us to know this is what john is doing he's preparing the way for those that have a true desire so those that responded to john the baptist's message listen to this they were clearly prepared to receive who jesus was now listen to this he goes on to say one greater than him who will baptize you with the holy spirit the word here about this means to immerse it means to it means to to be completely immersed and this is what john the baptist did john the baptist said jesus will baptize you with the holy spirit now prior to this and i think this is really important because the statement here the holy spirit in the old testament the holy spirit operated differently he was still the holy spirit in the old testament in the new testament but his operation was different prior to jesus's baptism with the holy spirit you see the holy spirit would come and go as he pleased the perfect example is the story of king saul and david the bible says that one day the spirit of the lord departed from saul and a distressing spirit came upon him and then the lord used david to to minister to saul during that time and then when david years later committed his sin and he wrote psalm 51 david said something pretty powerful to the lord in that message of repentance he said take not thy holy spirit from me and that verse i think is very powerful number one because it clearly shows us that while david committed those sins he still had the spirit of god in him probably convicted him but him ignoring the conviction of the holy spirit and david says i don't want the holy spirit to depart from me because i see what he did to saul and he knew that when the spirit departed from saul that was the end of saul's reign as king and david didn't want that you see the spirit came and went as he pleased in the book of genesis very early on the lord said in regards to man before the flood he says my spirit shall not strive with man much longer so the spirit was actually a restrainer even in the old testament my spirit shall not strive with man something that i think a lot of people miss and then when you talk about the restrainer when paul is speaking to the thessalonian believers and he talks about the restrainer that's the holy spirit it's it's the work and ministry of the spirit in the church and so this teaching of the holy spirit i think is very important because jesus is the baptizer with the holy spirit he's the one that baptizes us with the holy spirit he's the one that gave us the holy spirit in john's gospel jesus made it very clear as he was ministering to his disciples concerning the holy spirit and he spoke to them the truth about the holy spirit's ministry he said this in verse 26 of chapter 15 of john's gospel but when the helper comes whom i shall send to you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will testify of me do you guys believe every word in the bible yes or no okay would you place an emotional experience over what the bible says yes or no now okay i didn't get a confident no you guys are like oh no well you know listen if the bible says something but you experience because you felt something different different than what the bible says who's right do you believe that with all of your heart i need to know do you believe that with all of your heart is the bible accurate 100 okay did you just listen to what jesus said right here look at what he said but when the helper who's the helper okay comes whom i shall send who sends him okay and where does he come from and what's his name the spirit of spirit of truth okay so when there's truth there's no lie there's no error it's truth the spirit of truth okay listen to this who proceeds from the father he who is he talking about right there the holy spirit will testify of the holy spirit will testify who show me one verse in the bible where it says the holy spirit testifies of the holy spirit show me one verse but you know there are many people that believe that because they say that's a work of the spirit look at what's going on right here that's the holy spirit that's a but you can't find that in the bible anywhere so what are they doing they're saying jesus statement is not true and our emotional experience is far greater than what's written in scripture you see how easy we could be distracted you see how easily we can be taken off listen guys jesus said the holy spirit will testify of me who was john the baptist testifying of who does the holy spirit testify of who are we supposed to testify of okay you ready for this now look at chapter 16 of john's gospel verse 13 however when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth what truth is he talking about the truth of god's word for he will not speak on his own authority i love this but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you the things to come listen to this he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you isn't that pretty interesting so anything the spirit reveals to us jesus says you can back it up with the word of god because if it's in my ministry my three and a half years of earthly ministry you can testify of it it's right there the spirit will never do anything outside of that okay isn't that isn't that good listen what else what else it says here it says this he will not speak on his own authority at all whatsoever that this picture here i think for us is really important and now here he says he will baptize you with the holy spirit why did we need the holy spirit because jesus needed to ascend to the father and remember what jesus said i will not leave you as orphans i'm not going to do this to you i'm going to send the holy spirit so i must go so he can come now this is i think this is really the theology behind this whole baptism with the holy spirit this idea here now we've taken this term i'm going to baptize you with the holy spirit and we in a sense kind of gave it its place in the book of acts but this is not what john the baptist was speaking about when john the baptist says that he will baptize you with the holy spirit he was talking about that you will become born again that it will be by jesus is doing by way of the holy spirit indwelling the believer and how do we know that to be true jesus preached this message in john chapter 7. jesus preached the message to the people that were going up to the temple and jesus invited them to come and to partake and to drink of this water the bible says in john chapter 7 in verse 37 on the last day that great day of the feast jesus stood and cried out saying if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scriptures have said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water and you know what's interesting is that people think that this has to do with the gifts and ministry of the holy spirit but it's talking about a spirit-filled life it's talking about eternal life but this he spoke concerning the holy spirit now notice this whole entire thing he says whom those believing in him would receive for the holy spirit was not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified what was he talking about being born again born of the spirit this is what he said in john chapter 3. now this is what john said this is what jesus would do verse 9 he says it came to pass in those days that jesus came from nazareth of galilee and was baptized by john in the jordan now i like john's gospels version of john the baptist baptizing jesus i said john and baptist and baptizing a lot right there but i like that i like john's gospel his version of john the baptist baptizing jesus why because it was there in john chapter 1 that john realized who jesus was it was there that he realized he he knew right there when he made the statement behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world this was john's witness if you will to jesus and when he's seen him coming on the next day verse 29 of john 1 he saw jesus coming toward him and said behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world or the sin of the world this is he of whom i said after me comes a man who is preferred before me for he was before me i did not know him he's not saying that he didn't know who jesus was he didn't know who the messiah was he was saying i didn't know who the messiah was going to be but i know now look at what he says here i did not know him but that he should be revealed to israel therefore i came baptizing with water and john bore witness saying i saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained upon him there john said now i know this is the messiah i seen what i was told i would see i did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him this is he who baptizes with the holy spirit and i have seen and i testified that this is the son of god behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world and there's so much we can talk on that passage but just really think about this john's message how powerful was this message many coming to know the lord their hearts being prepared and it says that here in verse 1 of chapter 9 it says that that as john came it says in verse 10 immediately coming up from the water he saw the heavens parting the spirit descending upon him like a dove listen to this only john and jesus and the father seen all this go down everybody else just seen jesus get baptized but john seen what he was supposed to see and recognizing and listen to this it says here then a voice came from heaven you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased now you have the father and the holy spirit as witness to who jesus is now we have to take jesus out of this religious mind what i mean by this is jesus can't be just a religious figure to you jesus just can't be sunday morning wednesday night bible study jesus jesus has to be more like john the baptist says here he he's more he's the baptizer with the holy spirit he's the one who gives eternal life jesus said he is the way the truth and the life in john 14 6. there's more to jesus than the religious jesus and listen if we get into the word of god we're going to find out some very truths maybe in a spiritual way the message of the gospel of jesus christ is speaking to you and it's saying you heard it said but now i say to you and jesus is speaking the same thing to you and speaking the same thing to me tonight and jesus is saying get out of your traditional views of christ and see jesus the person god who came in flesh and live like you believe that there's a god in heaven who came to this earth manifested himself in human flesh died upon the cross for your sins and on the third day was raised from the dead live that that like really happened for you and in your life but if you don't live that way then all you have to offer in that day the day of the lord is tradition religion ceremonialism and you might as well just call yourself a sadducee a scribe or a pharisee john's message was centered on jesus the baptizer with the holy spirit and i love that statement i remember years ago listening to pastor malcolm wilde the pastor of calvary chapel merit island at a pastor's conference this was early 2000 and i remember listening to speak about jesus the baptizer with the holy spirit and i remember going up to him after and i says you know what that was probably one of the most profound messages i heard on jesus being the baptizer with the holy spirit and i said it's one of the four core fundamental truths of the foursquare gospel that jesus is our savior jesus is our healer jesus is the baptizer with the holy spirit and jesus is our soon coming king i says this is very profound truth but if you just look at jesus as church if you just look at jesus as the name of a church if you just look at jesus tradition then you'll miss jesus who is the baptizer with the holy spirit and notice how important it is if the spirit was important for jesus's ministry what makes you think it's not important for yours immediately verse 12 says this spirit drove him into the wilderness and he was there in the wilderness for forty days tempted by satan and was with the wild beast and the angels minister to him boy i'll tell you you need to watch a little bit of the national geographic and see how it is to be in the wilderness with wild beasts put some earphones on crank that thing up and lions roar trust me it'll get you but jesus wasn't watching national geographic jesus was in the wilderness danger was all around him that's the picture that's given us here and the worst of it all listen to this satan was there preying on his weakness in his humanity what gave jesus the power what gave jesus the ability what drove jesus there and who would call jesus to go to such a dangerous place the wilderness dry and arid place listen to this remember when we said here that god told john to go and john went and the lord sent the people to him the lord by way of the holy spirit told jesus to go jesus went and the bible says here the angels ministered to him when we understand that jesus is the baptizer with the holy spirit we can go in and we can come out and we can go through anything we have to be better witnesses of who jesus is we'll talk more about the holy spirit's enabling empowering next week but this was his message john the baptist's message his message was that jesus is messiah mark says that he is the christ the son of god the prophets say that he is lord john the baptist said he is the baptizer with the holy spirit the father said this is my beloved son and who i'm well pleased and the spirit by his work and his expression descending upon him like a dove declared this is the messiah the savior of the world that same spirit that declared jesus strengthened jesus and went before jesus is the same spirit that indwells every believer today who has prepared his heart so that jesus could make his way in

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Length: 66min 51sec (4011 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021