Sermon for 1/8/2005
Matthew 3:1-12
Introduction:
- Let’s compare John the Baptist to modern day preachers.
A. His clothes.
1. Modern day preachers wear suits.
2. John the Baptist wore camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist.
B. His diet.
1. Modern day preachers like chicken, or more like the buffet.
2. If one had John the Baptist over they would have to eat locust and honey.
C. His pulpit.
1. Modern day preachers stand behind a pulpit usually made of wood.
2. John the Baptist didn’t have a pulpit. He walked around the Jordan River shouting out his message.
D. His building.
1. Modern day preachers want a church building right off of the main drag. 2. John the Baptist didn’t have a building. As a matter of fact he preached outside in a place with few buildings. He preached in a remote place where few went unless they were looking for John the Baptist.
E. His style.
1. Modern day preachers like to tell stories and a lot of jokes to make the audience feel comfortable. They speak for at least 20 minutes.
2. John didn’t tell any stories and he never made a joke. As a matter of fact, his message was serious. He didn’t speak long but in a few minutes he was hard hitting. John’s style was to beat you up from head to toe in a short amount of time.
F. His personality.
1. Modern day preachers are public relations people.
2. John the Baptist was very confrontational. This was one guy that we would not want to invite to a social occasion.
3. He was confrontational in his talks in the wilderness. Could we imagine a preacher that began to talk about sin and then started naming names?
4. This is exactly what John did. He not only named names he called people derogatory names. Vs. 7
5. The ruler of the land came out to see John the Baptist and witness his ministry. If this were to happen today, we would roll out the red carpet. Not John. (Luke 3:19 NIV) But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, (Luke 3:20 NIV) Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison. You see Herod had an affair with his Brother Philip’s wife Herodias and they got married. (Mark 6:18 NIV) For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife."
6. This lead to John’s beheading.
H. His message.
1. Modern day preachers try to present a positive message. Light on negativity.
2. John was very negative.
B. this morning I want us to examine the message of John the Baptist.
Thesis: This morning we will examine 4 themes from John’s preaching in the wilderness.
For instances:
1. Repentance.
A. Vs. 2, 8
B. Wilkins, Michael J. - John’s call to repentance sounds similar to the prophets of the Old Testament, calling the people into a right relationship with God that must affect every aspect of their lives. 6 Indicating “to change one’s mind,” repentance in the Old Testament always called for a change in a person’s attitude toward God, which would then impact one’s actions and overall direction in life. External signs of repentance regularly included confession of sin, prayers of remorse, and abandonment of sin.
C. Confession of sin. Vs. 6. Many times we are general in our confession of sin. But I can picture here John encouraging people to specific and not general. The more specific we get about our sins the more it helps us to change our minds about our sins.
D. Regret about our sins. Repentance is not just confession of our sins; it involves the emotions like guilt. Guilt is something that is absent in our society. Now there is bad guilt and good guilt. Good guilt is when we know that we have done wrong and we are sorrowful for what we have done.
E. Abandonment of sin. To repent is not just to feel sorry and go out and do it again. It is to take steps to make sure that we will not do it again. One of those steps is to give it to God and let him help us to not do it again. Without God and his strength, we will keep on doing it. Repentance is to take a 180 degree turn and go the other direction.
F. John’s central message is repent. Why? Because the Messiah is coming. Get ready for what is ahead! Sounds good for us because we don’t know what is ahead!
H. Repentance is a rare message in today’s church because it requires confrontation with an uncomfortable subject: sin. And sin does not sell well in our culture. When sin gets personal, people get skittish. Preacher you’ve gone from preaching to meddling. Only the conviction of personal sin, however, brings us to Christ. This was John’s central message and it should be ours.
2. Hell
A. Vs. 12
B. Drawing on a scene common to his listeners, he declares that the coming Messiah already has the winnowing fork in his hand. The harvest is ready to begin. At the end of a harvest season, the farmer brought the harvested wheat into the threshing floor. He then took a large pitchfork and tossed the wheat into the air, where the wind blew the lighter chaff away, leaving only the good wheat heads in the threshing floor. The wheat was then stored in the granary for later grinding into flour to make bread, but the chaff was raked into piles and burned.
C. The impact of this message on his audience must have been profound, because they are gathered with mixed motives. John is drawing a line in Israel that is intended to test the hearts of all who hear. Those who have come out to hear him with impure motives are even now being warned that the Messiah will bring judgment on them, a judgment that will be eternal. But those who have come out to hear him with sincere motives of repentance and confession of sin will be prepared for the coming of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Spirit.
C. John is talking about hell, a judgment that is eternal. Unquenchable fire. Reminds me of the words of Jesus about hell. (Mark 9:48 NIV) where "’their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
D. I don’t know of anyone who can say they enjoy hearing a sermon on hell. Certainly I find no delight in speaking about such a place, but it is a Biblical teaching.
E. Vs. 7- the wrath to come. John was a hell fire and brimstone preacher. Yes, he was but so was Jesus. Jesus mentioned hell more than he mentioned heaven.
F. Hell is real and true. Hell will have many inhabitants. Hell will be intense misery. Hell is a subject that ought not to be kept back.
3. Baptism
A. VS. 5-6
B. John kept as close to the water as he could get. He was so close that when the time came, they got into the water without delay.
C. One time Jesus asked, “John’s baptism--where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?" Jesus indicated that the baptism of John was from heaven.
D. John was doing a new thing. IT came from God.
E. Vs. 11- unto repentance and then John talks about the Messiah. John was the forerunner of Christ and he was also the forerunner of baptism.
F. Jesus said when he left, “(Mark 16:16 NIV) Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
G. on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:38 NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
H. Holy Spirit and fire. Some refer to the fire as the fires of hell. If we do not accept Christ then we will be baptized with fire. I don’t think so. IF that is the case it should read, “With the Holy Spirit or fire.”
I. Fire does two things, it purifies and it also gives energy. It purifies gold and other precious metals. The Holy Spirit does that in our lives. He burns away our sins. Fire also gives energy, warmth. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to do the right things, to do good works. He takes away our bad and he fills us with energy to do the good.
J. John the Baptist can echo these words. When questioned about why people came to listen to him preach and teach, John Wesley is said to have remarked, “I really don’t know. All I can figure out is that the Holy Spirit sets me on fire and people come to watch me burn.” This is what happens to all Christians.
4. Humility
A. Vs. 2, 11 reveals John’s mission and that is to get people ready for the Christ.
B. John’s purpose is not to get glory for himself put to point people to Jesus Christ. He says that he is not worthy to carry his sandals. He is saying that he is nothing compared to Christ. What humility this took!
D. We see in the gospel of John, that John the Baptist tells many that Jesus is the Christ. Two of his disciples leave him on that day.
E. At one time Jesus and his disciples and John and his disciples were not far apart and they were all baptizing. (John 3:26 NIV) They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
F. (John 3:30 NIV) He must become greater; I must become less.
G. (John 4:1 NIV) The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, (John 4:2 NIV) although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. (John 4:3 NIV) When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
H. John encourages his disciples to follow Jesus. In one sense Jesus and John are in competition to each other, and John is more than willing to bow out. I don’t think we have ever heard of a preacher that said, “That preacher down the road is better than me. I think we all need to go down and hear him.” Why? Because it would ruin their careers. Because preachers are full of pride. We don’t need to be pointing people to ourselves but to Christ.
J. John was willing to surrender to Jesus Christ when the time had come. I know that I am not God’s gift to preaching, (I know some of you want to say Amen) and if someone can do a better job, praise God.
K. I had two ladies come into my office on benevolence requests. After talking with them, they revealed that they were living immoral lives. I told them that I appreciated their honesty. Since they were honest with me I told them that I was going to be honest with them. I unleashed both barrells on them. I told them what they were doing wrong and how to correct it. They left my office and I thought I would never see them again. They came back several months later and they had evidence that they took my advice and made changes through the power of God. My jaw hit the floor. After my sense of awe wore off, I thought, "But why didn’t they come to this church instead of somewhere else. What do I have to do to get people to come to this church?" In the end I was ashamed. Not that I am against promoting the church, but is that what I am supposed to be doing. I am supposed to be pointing people to Jesus Christ and not to one particular church!
L. I just want to play a small part in God’s plan. God’s plans and desires go far beyond these church walls. Do we really care about people? Are we really pointing people to Jesus Christ?
M. If there was a great revival in Mount Airy and many became followers of Jesus Christ, if none of them came to this church, would we be joyous and praising God for how many were seeking Him, or would we be upset because they did not come to this congregation! Do we really care about people and pointing them to Jesus Christ or are we more concerned about who gets the credit? Do our egos get in the way of what God wants out of us?
O. A person that is wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.
P. Quote from the movie The Gospel- WE need to be concerned with being good instead of looking good.
