Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 3 (click title for audio access...sorry for the excess noise at the beginning...)

"Hello John The Baptist!" • 4.25.10 • Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- Certainly one who lived in the times that Matthew has been describing would have said that there were strange happenings in the land of Judea.

- There was astronomical phenomena, the unannounced visit and mysterious exit of a large caravan of Persian Magi, and somewhere in Bethlehem, rumor had it that a King was born.

- Matthew resumes his story about 30 years later. The first two chapters set the stage.

- Matthew comes back into the story and introduces us to a stunning character who will serve as Christ's forerunner: John the Baptist.

Text

• Matthew 3:1,2 : "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!'" : Matthew makes no attempt to familiarize us with John the Baptist. Most of his details come from Luke's gospel.

- From Luke, we gather that he was the son of a priest and a barren woman, as well as the cousin of Jesus! This was no ordinary man!

- John the Baptist was a preacher. The word means to proclaim openly, or to to announce.

- His preaching brought about baptized converts. Preaching and subsequent baptism were so intertwined that he is literally referred to as the Baptizer.

- John chose to preach in the wilderness of Judea! Interestingly, he was not preaching in Jerusalem. He was where Jesus was about to be.

- Note his message: Repent! The word "repent" means to change your mind. Change your thinking! "Change your thinking about your life, actions, God, and heaven!"

˚ "What is repentance? Repentance is that the sinner forsakes his sin, puts it out of his thoughts, and fully resolves in his mind that he will never do it again."

Maimonides

˚ "In the understanding it means knowledge of sin; in the feelings it means pain and grief; and in the will it means a change of mind." Eric Sauer

- "Repent!?" He is telling people to turn from sin and to turn themselves to God. It's no good if they turn from sin and not to God. It must be a 180˚ turn.

- Who is he speaking to? Predominantly a Jewish audience. We'll get to that in a moment.

- There is urgency in the Baptist's voice because the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's right on the cusp of being fulfilled. It's as near as can be.

- You might think that repentance is just for those unregenerate people. And there is truth to that. To repent, as John was saying it, was to be converted, to be saved!

- However, it's significant that he speaks this to God's people!

- If Jesus was physically coming today, would you repent? I repent everytime there is an earthquake! Would you change your thinking about everything!?

- If we are honest, there is plenty that Christians need to repent of.

- How about fearfulness? Faithlessness? Anger? Hate? Bitterness? Jealousy? When we consider things that we should have done but did not, then we have a whole new reason to repent.

- The point is not to drudge up new reasons to look down upon ourselves. However, we must maintain a heart that is soft before the Lord and aware of that which offends Him.

• Matthew 1:3 : "For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'" : John was not a random person. He was fulfilling a prophetic role that Isaiah had spoken in Isaiah 40:3. John was Christ's herald, his forerunner.

- Turn over to Luke 1. The angel that announces John's birth also describes John's ministry.

• Luke 1:15-17 : "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'"

- He came to prepare a straight path for the Lord. This is a word picture for us.

- Before a King came into an area, a person, called a forerunner, and a team of servants, would go into that area before Him. He would check on the roads in and out of the given area.

- He was responsible for removing obstructions and clearing the route of the King.

- He would check the safety of the road, even filling up potholes so that road would not be bumpy! John fulfilled this role spiritually by preparing the hearts of the people for Jesus!

- He pointed out that the Kingdom was coming and it was going to take residence in the hearts of men, therefore, they needed to repent.

- The same is true right now. God wants a clear path in your life. Today, we do not have John the Baptist, but we do have God's Word and His Spirit.

- Sin clogs the corridor. The more sin, the less God can or will express His life through you.

- When he came, he announced the imminent presence of the King. Today, we announce the imminent return of the King!

- This passage helps us to understand the nature of the Kingdom as John and Jesus understood it. Wherever a King was, there also was His Kingdom in all it's totality.

- The Kingdom of God finds it's total expression in Jesus Christ, who is the King of Kings. John has the privilege of proclaiming the King's presence.

- We do the same as we proclaim Christ our King. We say that He has complete rule in our hearts, in the sphere of our influence.

- We show the world what His Kingdom looks like as we act, live and speak. I pray it's a good representation

• Matthew 3:4-6 : "Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins." : John was dressed like an Old Testament prophet. He wore camel's hair and wore a leather belt.

- John the Baptist looked like Elijah the Prophet as described in II Kings 1.

- Turn over to Malachi 4. The important thing about Elijah was that He was also expected to come before the Messiah. God's people saw this in John the Baptist.

• Malachi 4:5,6 : "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”"

- He came in the spirit and power of Elijah to perform this task of preparation.

- He lived off the land and when I say that he lived off the land, HE LIVED OFF THE LAND! He ate locusts and wild honey. Honey usually makes anything taste pretty good, but LOCUSTS!?

- In Leviticus 11:22, the people of God were given provision in their law to eat locusts, just in case you were wondering!

- John was a throwback to a time when Israel was visited by prophets of God. He represents the last of these prophets.

- At this time, it has been 400 years since an authentic prophetic voice from God has spoken. - When John came on the scene, his appearance brought out the masses. There was a growing hunger and thirst for God to do something significant and authentic.

- These people were genuinely moved and they wanted God to cleanse them as they confessed and were baptized. There was an expectation in the air.

- Sometimes, I feel that expectation is the missing element in our hearts. Do we expect God to do anything in our hearts as we gather?

- For these Judeans, they heard his preaching and responded with confession of their sins.

- Many people talk about revival and how they want that. Real revival begins right here, with confession of our sins, a recognition that our sin has come between us and God.

• Matthew 4:7-12 : "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." : Like John, the details about the Pharisees and Sadducees are left out.

- These groups had been the heroes of the Jewish people. The Pharisees were the back to the Bible people. They were the conservative sect. The Sadducees were the more liberal group.

- The Pharisees were influential because of their stance on things. The Sadducees were the rich cats with the big pockets and the political influence.

- When they came up, they were the wealthy, aristocratic, "three piece suit wearing" guys.

- To these religious leaders, John yells, "Brood of vipers." Snake children! By the way, this is not the best way to get an offering!

- The Pharisees and Sadducees had become increasingly corrupted. When John sees them coming, he does not pull any punches.

- John uses an interesting picture that would be understood in that culture. It was a common experience to witness, as farmers would burn their fields after harvest time.

- When they did this, snakes and other animals came fleeing out from the flames. This was the same thing spiritually for these Jews.

- It's intersting here that Christ's coming signals both hope, love and joy, but at the same time wrath and judgment! For one team it's awesome. For the other, it's awesome for a different reason!

- John was discerning the reason why they had come to be baptized: They wanted fire insurance! John's message of repentance applies to them as well!

- He says, "Guys, I know you're not used to this but it isn't enough to get wet! You need to have a life that is radically transformed which proves the authenticity of your faith!"

- I love John's approach. Notice these principles:

- First, all are included in his message. He was going after the entire nation, including the religious leaders. John, being a priest's son knew better than most about their corruption.

- Second, he does not offer refuge in their lineage. They were Jewish, but that offered them no safety from what God was going to do.

- Tradition taught the Jews that Abraham sat at the gates of hell, just in case a Jewish person started down that path. "Oh no my son, you belong that way!"

- God can raise a religious person from a rock! That is nothing special! Don't rest in your religion or your background. God does not respect any of that.

• Matthew 4:10-12 : "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'" : His message is ripe with figures related to judgment. Notice how each of the following figures ends with fire.

- The first illustration is destruction. Destruction of trees that have borne lousy fruit!

- The ax is laid at the root. Those trees that do not bear good fruit will be cut down. Where will they go? The fire. A tree not fit for food, is fit for fuel!

- The religious leaders had borne fruit, but after their kind. It was not good fruit. John is saying that the King will do away with such "trees."

- The next picutre is of purification in the expectation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

- John's baptism would be with water and it would be for repentance. This was an outward act, symbolic of an inward reality.

- The person baptized would need to repent again and again. That water would lack the power for transformative change. In a sense, a physical baptism was only outward.

- Jesus, the one mightier than John, would come and His baptism would be with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

- This baptism would be internal, the Holy Spirit would come into a believer's life to give Him power over sin and power to live a life that pleases God.

- What was John saying? He was saying that their external religious show was done!

- Now, God's people would have access to God's power, free from the bounds of reliigion. That fire of God in the believer's life would purify them from their sins, a function of the Holy Spirit.

- Third, we come to the illustration of separation. The winnowing fan or fork was used for separation of the wheat from the chaff.

- The wheat is the kernel, the valuable item. The chaff is what falls off of the wheat. It has no value. Here, John says that the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.

- Unquenchable fire will become a synonymous expression with hell later in Matthew.

- Jesus did not come to bring peace. His coming is weeding out the righteous from the unrighteous!

• Matthew 3:13-15 : "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed Him." : Matthew switches the scene from this confrontation with the religious leaders to the coronation of the King.

- The contrast cannot be more evident. John has spoken prophetically of the destruction of religious systems and leaders that would take advatage of position over God's people.

- Here, Matthew presents John's view of Jesus. Jesus, unlike the religious leaders, has come to submit Himself to baptism. John has just defined his baptism as a "baptism of repentance."

- Why would Jesus need to be baptized? Did He have sins to repent of? John felt the same way, which is why he tried to prevent him.

- Jesus came to be baptized to affirm John's ministry. More importantly, Jesus was baptized as an act of beginning the work of redemption that water baptism would come to symbolize.

- Again, note the contrast: The religious leaders had come to John and he did not respect them. Here, he immediately recognizes Jesus and is a different man.

- Understand that theme. Matthew is presenting us with a credentialed King in chapter 1. In chapter 2, He is a recognized King by the Magi, who come from a far distance to honor Him.

- Here, John the Baptist, a man of God, a prophet, understands and witnesses to the reality of Christ's rule and Kingdom.

- John did not want to comply. The language implies that he kept trying to prevent Jesus. John knew that Jesus did not need to repent and he wanted the baptism that Jesus offered!

- Jesus tells John that His baptism would fulfill all righteousness. What is He referring to? He came to be the representative who would be made sin for us.

- John understood this. He was God's lamb who had come to take the sins of the whole world.

• Matthew 3:16,17 : When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" : John baptized Jesus, but something happened at Christ's baptism that did not happen any other time. Matthew says, "behold." It's his way of saying, "pay attention."

- When Jesus was baptized, heaven made a statement. This was a moment of revelation.

- Right here, you see the trinity in it's full glory, putting to death the concept of modalism, Sabellianism or "oneness" theology.

- That doctrine says that God is one person who shows himself three ways. Here we see three persons at once!

- The Spirit of God, like a dove, the simple but beautiful creature, alighted upon Christ. I have never noticed that word before.

- The idea is that the Spirit, the third person of the trinity, put a spotlight on Jesus. This is, and has always been, the role of the Holy Spirit: To bring attention to Jesus!

- He is ever showing us more about Christ. He is always bringing our attention to Him.

- When we study the scriptures and we see Christ in them, it's the Holy Spirit who is lighting our path toward that revelation.

- Then there was the voice. The voice of God the Father Himself, speaking about His pleasure in the beloved Son, in Jesus Christ.

- It's significant that we hear His voice right now, in this chapter. This is the first of several times that God will say this. Why does He say it here?

- First, this is the beginning of Christ's mission in earnest. He has been on Earth and has grown in wisdom and stature. That work was private. Here, He is publically presenting Himself.

- Second, a likely more affirming is this: Baptism represents an inward confession of consecration. It speaks of death to self and life to God and His ways.

- Jesus in submitting to baptism, submits Himself to the mission that baptism will symbolize.

- The Father is pleased to call Jesus His Son because of His willingness to embrace this call.

Conclusion

- Here at the end of our study, I am blown away at the parallels that strike at our hearts today.

- In that day, there was an expectation of Messiah's coming. Signs and wonders pointed to it, but the hearts of men pointed to it as well.

- Today, we await Messiah's second coming. Earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, ethnicities fighting against one another, are all signaling His return.

- Couple that with the fact that men are lovers of themselves and not of God and you can feel it can't you? Jesus is coming back!

- His coming then signaled a great time of hope, but a certainty of wrath. Today, we expect to have our hope fulfilled and His righteous wrath against sin to be displayed.

- At that time, the forerunner called for repentance. Today, the Spirit of God calls for repentance! Repentance from sin and conversion, as well as repentance from dead works.

- Then, John announced that there would be a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Today, that promise is available to us.

- Then, Jesus was baptized and the Lord announced His pleasure. That hasn't changed at all today! What pleasure He has in those who would live the life that Christ exemplified.