1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Thank you, Charles. Good morning, everyone. In keeping with the theme of the pulpit, how's

2
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:17,800
it? Terrible. Sorry. Not many South Africans here this morning. All right. Before we get

3
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:24,720
into our text this morning, we will be in the Word a lot. So if you want to have your

4
00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:32,240
Bibles with you, we will be looking at the text of Matthew 3 quite a bit. But before

5
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:43,160
we get into it, let's come to our Father in Prayer. Father, these are indeed your words

6
00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:53,200
given to us, your church. And we thank you that as we pray, as we speak to you, that

7
00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:58,600
these words are not hitting the ceiling, but they're indeed coming before your throne of

8
00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:07,240
grace. This morning we ask that we would see Christ more clearly, that you would show us

9
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:15,120
by your Holy Spirit in the work of the hearts and minds of your people, just the awesomeness

10
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:22,560
and the love of our Savior. We ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

11
00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:30,040
So the book of Matthew has been an incredibly convincing book so far as to why the Jesus

12
00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:36,440
that Matthew followed around for a good part of three years was the expected Messiah of

13
00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:43,640
God. Matthew first showed us this by taking us through the family tree of Jesus and showed

14
00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:51,120
us that he was a descendant of King David, meaning that Jesus was in the right family

15
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:58,520
to have a claim to the throne of Israel. But not only that, Matthew also showed us how

16
00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:05,820
Jesus was related to Abraham. And we saw that that connection was significant because it

17
00:02:05,820 --> 00:02:13,160
was to Abraham of all the people in the world that God made a promise. And that promise

18
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:20,380
was that there would come a day when God would bless the entire world through someone in

19
00:02:20,380 --> 00:02:25,480
his family. So just in the opening verses of Matthew's

20
00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:33,040
account of the gospel, he showed us that this Jesus was not only sent to be Israel's king,

21
00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:42,800
but also to be the world's blessing. Interestingly though, Matthew didn't stop there, did he?

22
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:50,120
No, as we've seen, he started to take us through various prophetic utterances that were fulfilled

23
00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:58,000
in the life of Jesus when he came to dwell among us. For example, in chapter one, Matthew

24
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:05,800
showed us that Jesus was conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin named

25
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:11,600
Mary in Bethlehem, which just so happened to fulfill a prophetic utterance that was

26
00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:21,720
made 700 years before that event even took place by a prophet named Isaiah. And he also

27
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:28,640
just so happened to say that when the child would be born, he would be known as Emmanuel,

28
00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:34,400
which means God with us. Then in chapter two, Matthew turned his attention

29
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:41,240
to a couple more prophetic utterances that were made, in particular by the prophets Micah

30
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:47,720
and Jeremiah, who said that out of Bethlehem in Judea, which just so happened to be the

31
00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:55,000
very town that King David was born in, that incredible turmoil would come. Yet in the

32
00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:03,000
midst of it all, a shepherd would come out of that place and grow up to rule God's people,

33
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:08,920
which as we saw ended with Jesus's family fleeing Bethlehem, going to Egypt, and then

34
00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:16,520
immigrating back to a little working class town called Nazareth. And that's kind of where

35
00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:22,960
Matthew left Jesus's childhood. And not much else was said about what happened when that

36
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:28,760
little family came out of Egypt and immigrated to that little town of Nazareth all those

37
00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,880
years ago. Yet in saying that, if we look at the other

38
00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:39,160
evangelists, we can piece together that the child Jesus traveled with his family to Jerusalem

39
00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:45,960
for the annual festivals, meaning that his family weren't just nominally adherent to

40
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:52,320
the Bible or the church life of their day. Luke tells us that Jesus even blew away the

41
00:04:52,320 --> 00:05:00,040
theologians in Israel because of his grasp on difficult biblical truths before he was

42
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:08,040
even a teenager. All that to say, what we do know is that Jesus grew up in Nazareth

43
00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:15,520
as the son of a village carpenter, most likely helping Joseph with the family business and

44
00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:20,800
looking after his brothers and sisters, which Joseph and Mary went on to have after the

45
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:30,520
supernatural birth of Jesus. For whatever reason, church, we don't really know, but

46
00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:36,160
the Holy Spirit thought it wise to not move Matthew to write on the Messiah's childhood.

47
00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:43,640
No, he just jumped straight into telling us the story of Jesus's reparation for ministry,

48
00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:49,880
picking up the story around 30 years after the events of chapter two, which we've been

49
00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:56,600
going through for the last few weeks. So we're going to pick it up there this morning, but

50
00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:03,120
not in Nazareth, mind you, but in a different context, which we're told about in verse one,

51
00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:10,240
which is in the wilderness of Judea. So if you have your Bibles, let's look at chapter

52
00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:17,600
three of Matthew's gospel, looking at verses one and two. In those days, John the Baptist

53
00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:25,720
came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven

54
00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:32,760
has come near. So there's a couple of things that I want you to notice here. We have this

55
00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:39,120
guy called John preaching in the wilderness and his message was about repentance and the

56
00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:46,320
kingdom of heaven. And so I want to slow down here so that we can get what Matthew is showing

57
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:50,480
us here this morning. So what we're going to do, we're going to do this in a couple

58
00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:57,680
of ways. First, we're going to look at the man that Matthew introduces us to here, this

59
00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:03,960
John the Baptist. And then second, we're going to look at his message. We're going to look

60
00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:10,840
at the message he was preaching in the wilderness all those years ago. Okay, so first, John

61
00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:17,680
the man. Now, Matthew says that he was named John the Baptist, and we're going to look

62
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:24,080
at why that's the case in just a moment. But notice what he was doing and where he was

63
00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:33,560
doing it. He was preaching. But Matthew mentions that it wasn't in the temple or in the synagogue,

64
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:40,360
but in the desert of Judah, which is between the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan River. In

65
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:45,680
fact, where John preached is where the Dead Sea scrolls were found just some years ago,

66
00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:52,120
which are some very, very old copies of the Bible that proves that our Old Testament is

67
00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:59,760
word for word correct with what we have now. And Matthew presents John to us as somewhat

68
00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:06,860
of a wild mountain man preacher, meaning he wasn't ordained by the religious authorities

69
00:08:06,860 --> 00:08:12,920
of the day to get on out there and preach about the good news of the kingdom. Oh, it's

70
00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:18,560
as we read here. John was out there in the wilderness, solo in the desert, in the hot

71
00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:25,120
sun, living off the land, preaching day in and day out to whomever would come and listen

72
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:33,560
to him. This should remind us of somebody else as soon as we read these verses about

73
00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:40,600
a rugged preacher out there in the wilderness who wore camel's hair and had a leather belt

74
00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:49,560
around his waist, Matthew tells us in verse four. And that's of the prophet Elijah, who

75
00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:57,160
had a very similar ministry and lifestyle as we see in first and second Kings. It's

76
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:06,000
there that we read that Elijah too was a preacher sent from God to warn Israel of her sins and

77
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:12,400
had to flee to the desert to live like a mountain man because of the wicked leaders of the day

78
00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:20,400
that wanted him dead. And what makes all of this all the more interesting is the very

79
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:28,640
last thing that God said through Malachi to Israel almost 400 years before the ministry

80
00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:37,160
of John even started. He said, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great

81
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:43,200
and dreadful day of the Lord comes, Malachi 4.4. Now that's interesting, right? Here you

82
00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:48,820
have God saying to Israel that there's going to come a day when Elijah is going to rock

83
00:09:48,820 --> 00:09:57,940
up before Yahweh himself comes on the scene. This is where things start to get pretty mind

84
00:09:57,940 --> 00:10:06,040
blowing. You see, Matthew records that upon reflection of John's ministry, Jesus had some

85
00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:11,640
things to say about John to his disciples. If you have your Bibles, you might want to

86
00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:20,600
turn to chapter 11 verses 7 through to 15, but I'll read it for you. Chapter 11 verses

87
00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:27,880
7 through to 15. Matthew writes, as John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak

88
00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:34,640
to the crowd about John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed

89
00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:41,120
by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those

90
00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:48,720
who wear fine clothes are in King's palaces. And what did you go out to see? A prophet?

91
00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:54,360
Yes, and I tell you more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, I will

92
00:10:54,360 --> 00:11:01,320
send my messenger ahead of you, you who will prepare your way before you. Truly, I tell

93
00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:08,160
you among those born of women, there is not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

94
00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:13,720
Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John

95
00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:18,640
the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent

96
00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:25,560
people have been raiding it. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and here

97
00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:32,640
we go, this is what's important. And if you're willing to accept it, here's the Elijah who

98
00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:40,720
was to come. Now for some of you here this morning, this might be the first time you're

99
00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:48,680
hearing anything like this. But what Jesus is saying here is that Malachi's prophecy

100
00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:57,180
about Elijah isn't to be taken as a literal reappearance of Elijah or some sort of act

101
00:11:57,180 --> 00:12:04,200
of reincarnation. Now Malachi when understood in light of what Jesus is saying here in chapter

102
00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:12,300
11 means that someone would indeed come before Yahweh himself and he would be exactly like

103
00:12:12,300 --> 00:12:21,840
Elijah. That's how Jesus understood it and that's who Jesus said John the Baptist was.

104
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:29,000
He was the Elijah to come. So in light of all of that John was more than just a preacher,

105
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:35,320
right? No, as we see here he was a prophet. In fact according to Jesus he was the greatest

106
00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:43,960
prophet to ever live and one who operated in the likeness and the power of Elijah. If

107
00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:51,920
that's pretty mind blowing, wait till we, wait till what we hear next, verse 3. Matthew

108
00:12:51,920 --> 00:13:00,200
makes a really interesting comment here drawing on Isaiah 40 verse 3 in verse 3 of our text

109
00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:09,120
this morning. And that was that John was he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah,

110
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:15,360
a voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight

111
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:23,920
paths for him. Incredible, absolutely incredible and I say it's incredible because if we put

112
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:30,760
all of this together we have a clue as to why Jesus saw John as the greatest prophet

113
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:36,600
to ever live. It wasn't because he did the biggest miracles or raised the dead or turned

114
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:44,880
tyrants hearts, no he saw him as the greatest prophet because he was chosen by God to go

115
00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:53,520
to Israel and prepare them to meet Yahweh himself. That's why John was the greatest

116
00:13:53,520 --> 00:14:04,280
prophet to ever live because he was chosen to prepare Israel to meet their God. Okay

117
00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:10,400
so that's a brief look at John and we're starting to get a picture here right church,

118
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:16,520
with Jesus's understanding of who John was and with Matthew's comment of why John was

119
00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:23,400
sent to Israel drawing on the prophet Isaiah. We can clearly see that this was no ordinary

120
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:32,320
Messiah that was coming to his people. This was the Lord, this was Yahweh, Israel's God

121
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:39,760
himself that was coming to his people and John had been sent to Israel to get them ready

122
00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:48,400
to receive him. That's John the man. Now second let's turn our attention to his ministry and

123
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:55,640
see the details of what he was doing to prepare Israel. Well Matthew as we've already read

124
00:14:55,640 --> 00:15:02,640
in verse 2 said John's overall message was pretty straightforward. It's right there in

125
00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:11,360
verse 2. It was repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Now that word repent

126
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:18,240
is really interesting because in the Old Testament the word repent was used in a way that meant

127
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:25,360
about face and to turn from the way that you were going and go back. You're going one way

128
00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:32,360
and you turn and go the other. However the New Testament wasn't written in the Old Hebrew

129
00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:38,640
language but in Greek and the Greek that's used for the word repent is the same word

130
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:44,920
that we would use when talking about changing your mind. Now this in no way contradicts

131
00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:53,280
but complements the two uses of the word because the overall message of repent is one needs

132
00:15:53,280 --> 00:16:00,920
a change of mind in order to turn back to God. And this is exactly what John was preaching

133
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:06,960
all those years ago in the wilderness to Israel. He was saying not just with his words mind

134
00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:13,600
you but with his very context his very life that he was living. He was saying we are a

135
00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:20,120
people who are in the wilderness and we need to turn back to God. How? Not by just having

136
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:27,920
a change of mind about your choices or wanting a better life but by making a decision and

137
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:36,160
that decision is to turn to God and confess your sin to him. That's what John was preaching

138
00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:42,920
and when people were convinced of that message they would confess their sins says verse 6

139
00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:51,400
and they were baptized. That's what John was out there doing. Preaching all those years

140
00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:59,280
ago he was calling people's attention to the coming messianic kingdom or the kingdom of

141
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:05,440
heaven as Matthew calls it here and he was calling their attention to the fact that they

142
00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:13,080
were in no way right with God and something needed to change. Preaching people needed

143
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:21,680
to recognize their sin and renounce and turn from it back to God. Very much like what Elijah

144
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:30,320
was doing in 1 Kings 18 who said decide today who you are going to follow. That's what John

145
00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:35,760
was doing out there all those years ago. He was preaching to those in the wilderness.

146
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:45,120
Turn your minds, turn your lives back to the Lord because his kingdom is near. And I want

147
00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:49,640
to say a couple of things here that we find in our text this morning on the kingdom of

148
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:57,200
heaven and baptism. Church we're going to see the kingdom of heaven come up a lot in

149
00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:02,760
the book of Matthew. I think it's mentioned about 36 times and we're going to explore

150
00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:09,400
it in greater detail as we work our way through this series. But for now what we need to understand

151
00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:17,000
is that the kingdom of heaven understood by looking at the whole of biblical revelation

152
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:25,240
is that it's the perfect rule and reign of God. It's the perfect rule and reign of God

153
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:30,920
and by John preaching that the kingdom of heaven was near he was saying that God's perfect

154
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:38,560
rule and reign was breaking into history in an entirely new way because no longer was

155
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:45,200
it something to be expected but something that was going to be seen in the hearer's

156
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:57,360
lifetime which also meant salvation was near. It also meant that salvation had come to Israel.

157
00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:02,720
And I say that salvation had finally come because we see this is why Jesus was born

158
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:12,320
right? It was as Isaiah said of the Immanuel, he will save people from their sins. Matthew

159
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:18,960
1.21. So that was John's ministry. He was announcing to Israel that the kingdom of heaven

160
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:26,480
was near. It was incredibly exciting stuff for those original hearers but I will also

161
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:34,240
say incredibly terrifying at the same time. You see on the one hand with the kingdom of

162
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:42,240
heaven coming you have salvation knocking on the door for those seeking it but on the

163
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:50,200
other hand you have damnation knocking on the door for all those who will reject John's

164
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:58,840
message and the Messiah. That's what you have in this text happening simultaneously. You

165
00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:03,880
have this prophet sent from God preaching in the wilderness and those who believed his

166
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:09,960
message about the kingdom of heaven changed their minds and turned to God showing it by

167
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:18,160
confessing their sins and being baptised and others who were going to be met with the judgement

168
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:30,880
of God because they refused John's message. I want to stop here and ask the question,

169
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:38,920
what exactly was this baptism and why was John doing it? What is it and why was he doing

170
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:46,520
it? We need to remember the context here. John was a prophet in the old dispensation

171
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:51,640
of things. It's as Jesus said in the text we looked at before, all the prophets and

172
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:58,120
the law prophesied until John. Meaning John was the last of the Old Testament prophets

173
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:03,680
who came and pointed the way to Jesus. So the baptism that we're looking at here is

174
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:12,480
unique to John and the Jews of that time. Meaning this isn't the exact same baptism

175
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:19,280
that we practice now since the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and how we baptise

176
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:27,160
people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But that's not to say there's

177
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:36,160
not similarities because first of all it involved water. Now for us in the church age this is

178
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:45,640
normal but in those days the only people that would have been baptised would have been Gentiles

179
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:52,960
who were proselytised. Meaning they had decided to publicly renounce their pagan heritage

180
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:59,480
with its religious connections because they had put their hope in the God of Israel. That's

181
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:04,920
who was usually baptised, heathens who had publicly renounced their pagan ways and had

182
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:12,240
come to trust in Yahweh, the God of Israel and they symbolised the past being washed

183
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:24,240
clean by baptism. So for the original hearers of John's message it would have been surprising

184
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:31,600
to say the very least to see Jews getting baptised right? Because basically what they

185
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:38,280
were showing like the Gentiles were was they were no longer putting their trust in their

186
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:45,880
heritage or religious works. No by getting baptised they were saying I'm putting my trust

187
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:54,440
in Yahweh because I know I'm a sinner and I need to be washed clean. And what's significant

188
00:22:54,440 --> 00:23:02,480
here was in doing this their Jewish heritage became nothing to these people. I mean this

189
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:07,920
is huge because Jewish people believe that simply by being part of the covenant people

190
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:14,240
of Israel meant you were right before God pretty much from birth. You just had to keep

191
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:20,920
on keeping on so to speak to remain in good standing. And this is why what John says in

192
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:26,240
verses 7 through to 10 is so powerful. He says when he saw many of the Pharisees and

193
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:32,720
Sadducees coming to where he was baptising he said to them you brutal vipers who warned

194
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:37,480
you to flee from the coming wrath, produce fruit in keeping with repentance and do not

195
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:44,960
think you can say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father. I tell you out of these stones

196
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:51,000
God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees and

197
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:57,720
every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

198
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:07,840
Do you see that? John was saying even to the religious elite of the day it's not what heritage

199
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:14,320
you come from, it's not what church you go to, it's not even what theological stripes

200
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:21,880
you bear or denominational lanes you run in. None of that is going to save you. None of

201
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:28,920
that means anything before Almighty God and none of that makes you right before him. You

202
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:39,800
must repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And brothers and sisters we too

203
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:46,640
need to be very very careful of this. We too have to be very careful that we don't put

204
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:53,000
our trust into the family that we were born into or put our trust in the tradition that

205
00:24:53,000 --> 00:25:01,240
we were raised in and think that we're automatically right with God. The text before us is incredibly

206
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:10,700
clear. We are not saved by being born into a certain physical family. That's dangerous

207
00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:17,760
and potentially damning if you don't see that. Just because some of us were born into a Christian

208
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:25,040
family, had a Christian education, maybe were even baptized as babies, that doesn't mean

209
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:32,960
that you were automatically saved. Family heritage does not make you right before God.

210
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:43,840
Friends and personal trust in Jesus Christ alone makes you right with God. Please if

211
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:49,600
you were here today and depending on your works, on your personal righteousness or on

212
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:56,120
your family heritage for your salvation, then you are here by no mistake. I implore you

213
00:25:56,120 --> 00:26:03,800
to turn from trusting in those things and to trust in Christ alone. I mean this is John's

214
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:09,400
entire ministry to Israel right? We see it here in our passage before us. We see that

215
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:16,200
anticipation of the coming Messiah and his kingdom. John preached to Israel and those

216
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:22,440
that heard and believed confessed their sin and they were baptized. Meaning that people

217
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:28,960
were out there renouncing their ways and not trusting even in their Jewish heritage. Saying

218
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:36,200
that those things didn't make them right or righteous before God. That's what these people

219
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:41,240
were doing. They were confessing their sins and renouncing the things that they thought

220
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:49,200
had made them right before God and they were turning and relying on the mercy of God alone.

221
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:56,160
It's a little wonder that Jesus called John the greatest prophet to ever live. Because

222
00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:04,120
he brought such an incredible truth, such amazing news so clearly to Israel. And that

223
00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:12,080
message created a spiritual stir in the ancient world. The likes that have never been seen.

224
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:18,800
A revival that was so big that people were willing to leave the comforts of their homes,

225
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:24,200
the work of their farms, the safety of their families to travel out to the middle of nowhere

226
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:29,960
and confess their sin to God. That everything that they had been relying on, everything

227
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:38,440
what they thought made them right wasn't enough. Now they needed to renounce all of that and

228
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:47,160
confess that they weren't righteous. Confess that they couldn't make themselves righteous.

229
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:54,760
And so as they went out, as they confessed their sin, they were washed in the Jordan,

230
00:27:54,760 --> 00:28:04,240
which was a symbol of purification before the God of Israel. And what is so striking

231
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:12,080
is what comes next in our text. You have a spiritual revival. You have hundreds, if not

232
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:17,200
thousands being converted out there in the middle of nowhere. And then we read in verses

233
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:24,080
11 and 12. John said, I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me comes one who

234
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:32,240
is more powerful than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with

235
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:38,360
the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing

236
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:47,400
floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

237
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:53,800
Hear that church. Hear what John is saying here. He's saying, look at all of this. Well,

238
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:59,840
it's just a foretaste of what is to come. Just a glimpse of the reality that the kingdom

239
00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:07,640
is going to bring in. I baptize you with water to signify purifying, but the one coming after

240
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:14,360
me, well, he's going to do this very thing, but, and this is important that you hear this

241
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:22,640
this morning. He's going to make you clean. He's going to purify you not with water, but

242
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:32,280
with the very Spirit of God himself and fire. Now I was hoping to get through this entire

243
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:38,200
passage this morning, but as I was praying through and writing the sermon, I didn't feel

244
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:44,280
like we would get everything done here and give the passage justice if we were just to

245
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:50,320
race past what John is talking about here. So we want to have a look at this a little

246
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:57,520
bit more in depth and what's coming up in verses 13 through to 17 next week. So as you

247
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:02,600
may have noticed this morning, this is part one of a two part sermon that I'm going to

248
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:08,480
do on this passage because John's ministry was so powerful, but it pointed to something

249
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:15,720
and someone so much greater than himself. And we really want to unpack what's happening

250
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:20,120
in the coming verses. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to end it here on

251
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:26,360
a bit of a exciting cliffhanger and next week we're going to get together and we're going

252
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:34,120
to find out what this fire is, why Jesus came to be baptized by John and why God announced,

253
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:40,800
why God himself announced to the world why his son had arrived. Because it's going to

254
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:46,320
set us up for the rest of the book as to why Jesus the Messiah really is the savior, not

255
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:53,640
just of the Jews, but of the entire world. That he really is the blessing that was promised

256
00:30:53,640 --> 00:31:01,280
to the world all those years ago. But in saying all of that, I think there's something to

257
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:07,160
be said of John's ministry and something to be said of this passage that is directly applicable

258
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:15,880
to us this morning and it's this. Like John, we are all called to share the good news of

259
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:23,560
the coming of the Lord Jesus with other people. That's what we're all called to do. But admittedly,

260
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:30,320
we're not all like John, right? We can't all go into the wilderness, grow an amazing

261
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:36,880
beard, dress like, dress and eat like a rugged mountain man and then go hard on all who come

262
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:43,960
out to hear you. It can be really intimidating just even sitting there with someone and explaining

263
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:52,000
to them that they've broken God's law, that they're under a curse and that they're going

264
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:59,080
to spend eternity under the wrath of God. It's really hard to do and even as somebody

265
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:05,660
who has been set apart to do this very work, I have to confess, it's not easy to share

266
00:32:05,660 --> 00:32:12,000
with people all the time. But brothers and sisters, we know that this isn't all the news

267
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:21,840
that God has given to us to share. No, we know the good news. And that though we are

268
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:28,760
under a curse, Jesus Christ has taken the curse for anyone who has put their life in

269
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:38,760
his hands by confessing and repenting and trusting. It is he who is the lamb of God,

270
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:46,480
the one who was put forward as a sacrifice for our sins, which is indeed good news. And

271
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:51,800
if you find that hard to articulate to people, well then let me encourage you here this morning

272
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:59,080
that we are actually learning the gospel from a letter. And that tells me that the gospel

273
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:04,520
doesn't always need to be spoken, shouted, preached in the wilderness or on the streets

274
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:12,200
or even from a pulpit for people to hear, but that the gospel can be shared in all sorts

275
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:19,280
of other ways. It might be in a letter, it might be in a tract, it might be in a conversation

276
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:25,960
over coffee. One way that I found really helpful is to sit with someone and to actually go

277
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:31,160
through the gospel according to Mark with them so that they can wrestle with the very

278
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:37,080
words of God themselves if they have time. It's a wonderful thing to do. I don't know,

279
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:44,360
but we are all called to share with others this incredibly wonderful good news. And it

280
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:52,960
is indeed good news to share as it is the power unto salvation for all who believe.

281
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:58,560
Brothers and sisters, we are all products of other people's faithfulness. We are all

282
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:07,080
products of others prayerful consideration for our souls. So let us be prayerful as to

283
00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:13,320
how we might go about this wonderful work in the context that we find ourselves in.

284
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:24,800
Would you pray with me? Father, we do indeed thank you that we are here this morning. We

285
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:32,720
are thankful that we don't have to just wait to gather to be together to pray, but we can

286
00:34:32,720 --> 00:34:40,920
indeed go to our secret place, our room, like King David even lay on our bed and call out

287
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:47,760
to you. But Father, we are so thankful that you have called us out of this world, that

288
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:54,200
you have gathered us together, that you have placed us not just in this room, but in all

289
00:34:54,200 --> 00:35:01,280
different places all over the world at this very moment. Brothers and sisters crying out,

290
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:09,160
calling out, preaching, holding Christ high, and that you were pleased to bless that work.

291
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:18,080
Father, we have a wonderful truth. You have placed us in a wonderful city and we want

292
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:27,480
to tell those around us. We want to be a city, a light in Armidale. We ask that your spirit

293
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:34,560
would help us in the work. We ask that your spirit would give us opportunities and courage

294
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:41,960
and that Father, you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

295
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:48,880
Might we go? Might we explain? Might we not be clanging symbols, but might we do this

296
00:35:48,880 --> 00:36:05,240
all in love, holding you high all the time. And we ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen.