Preached by Gregory W. Lee
12 November 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 3
1. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea
2. and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
3. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"
4. John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
5. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
6. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
8. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
9. And do not think you can say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
10. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11. "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
12. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
-- not being a mother myself, it would not surprise me to discover that there was a secret mommy manual that is given out to all mothers after the birth of their first child -- for it has been my observation that all mothers use the same phrases and warnings -- no matter how old they are -- no matter what part of the country they are in -- no matter how many children they have -- which leads me to believe that there is some manual out there where they are gaining all of their motherly wisdom and advice from
-- for instance, I imagine all of us have heard mothers say from time to time
-- "close that door -- were you raised in a barn?"
-- "when you have your own house then you can make the rules"
-- "always change your underwear -- you never know when you might be in an accident"
-- "don't make that face or it's going to freeze like that"
-- "be careful, or you're going to put your eye out"
-- "don't put that in your mouth -- you don't know where it's been"
-- and, of course, there is the warning that we all have heard -- "don't talk to strangers"
-- now that last one is really good advice, but when mothers say "don't talk to strangers" -- what they really mean is "don't talk to someone you don't know, because you don't know what they might do to you"
-- it doesn't mean, "don't talk to someone strange" -- because if that was what your mom was trying to say, then we wouldn't have anyone to talk to at all -- I remember hearing the evangelist David Ring speak one time -- David has cerebral palsy and he shakes uncontrollably and is very difficult to understand -- he said that one day someone walked up to him and said, "Don't you just want to be normal?" -- he looked at them for a moment and then pointed at them and said, "You think you're normal?" and started laughing
-- we are all strange in our own little ways -- we are all different and unique creations of God -- some of us, though, are just a little stranger than others
-- but, if you think about it, aren't those the people that you are drawn to? -- aren't those the people that catch your eye and catch your attention? -- I remember several years ago, Kim and I visited a non-denominational church here in town -- and I went with a certain expectation -- having grown up going to church in south Georgia, you kind of know what you're going to see -- normal people -- people just like us
-- but, when we got there, we were seated on a row with this guy who was covered in tattoos from head-to-toe and had multiple piercings on his body -- I was fascinated by him because he was so different from what I expected to see -- he captured my attention, and I hate to say it, but I spent most of the service stealing glances at him rather than worshiping God
-- there's just something about these strange, eclectic people -- these people who march to their own drum -- who go through life making their own path rather than following the crowd -- that draws our attention
-- so, it is no surprise to me that when God was ready to send His Son to the world -- that He selected just such a person to announce the coming of the Messiah
-- of course, we're referring to John the Baptist -- and, as we will see, everything about John was a little strange -- last week we talked about the strangeness of his birth -- which caused the people to exclaim, "What then is this child going to be?" -- and now we see what he has become -- a stranger in a very real sense
-- as Alistair Begg puts it, "A Strange Man in a Strange Place" -- and, I would add, "with a strange message"
-- so, this morning, I want to spend some time looking at the life and times of John the Baptist -- we are primarily going to be in Matthew this morning, but I am going to be referring to the other synoptic gospels -- Mark and Luke -- as we go through this
II. A Strange Place
-- look back at verse 1
1. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea
2. and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
3. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"
4. John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
5. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
6. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
-- last week, we talked about how the best way to understand another person is to walk a mile in their shoes -- to see life through their eyes
-- this morning, I want you to imagine that you are living in the time of John the Baptist -- Matthew tells us that it was "in those days" -- but Luke tells us exactly when it was -- it was during the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea -- it would have been around 29 or 30 AD
-- and one day, someone comes up to you and says, "I hear there's this great new rabbi -- this exciting new teacher and preacher -- and he's out by the Jordan River and several of us were going to go hear him and we wanted to know if you wanted to go" -- what would be the first thought in your mind?
-- probably, it would be -- "why the Jordan River?" -- I mean, if this man is such a great teacher and preacher, why isn't he in the temple -- or at least in the synagogue -- if his message is so good, why is he out there? -- why isn't he here, where the people are?
-- the gospels tell us that when John the Baptist began in his ministry -- "in those days" -- he began by preaching in the wilderness -- in the Desert of Judea -- as Luke tells it, in the region all around the Jordan -- this is the area known now as the "Jordan Rift Valley" -- it stretches from Syria all the way to the Red Sea following the drainages that make up the Jordan River
-- the area that John preached in probably ranged from the Sea of Galilee to the north down to the Dead Sea -- now, this was truly a desolate area, with very little native vegetation -- extensive deserts -- and very little water, except for the Jordan River, and it would almost dry up from time to time -- there were a few scattered towns and villages in this region, but, by and large, it was uninhabited except for the wandering shepherd or nomad
-- this area -- the Jordan Rift Valley -- is the lowest place in the world -- at the Sea of Galilee it is 700 feet below sea level, and drops from there to 1300 feet below sea level at the Dead Sea
-- if you were beginning a ministry, this would be an area that most church growth experts would tell you to avoid -- the experts tell you that if you are going to be successful in ministry, that you need to be in a place with a growing population -- with ready access from major highways -- with a large, highly visible church, well-tended and immaculate in appearance -- with ample parking and ample activities for all members of the family
-- the Jordan Rift Valley is not that place -- so, why did God send John there to start his ministry? -- it's like I said a few weeks ago, "Sometimes, you have to leave home in order to find home" -- sometimes you have to get away from the familiar in order to find what it is you are really looking for -- perhaps that is what it took for the people in John's day to open their ears and to open their eyes and to hear the good news of the gospel for the first time in their life
-- and the people certainly responded -- Matthew tells us that people went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan
-- which just goes to show, the places that the church growth experts think are strange -- the places that they think won't ever work -- places like small country churches stuck out in the middle of nowhere -- just might be the place where God's power is made manifest through the teaching of the Word -- the issue is not the place, but whether God is there or not
III. A Strange Man
-- but, that was not the only thing that was strange about John's ministry -- when I first mentioned his name this morning, I imagine a vision of him popped in your head -- not a vision of him dressed in a fine robe, well-kempt and perfect in appearance, standing by the Jordan River surrounded by listeners as he calmly preached to them -- no, your vision of him was probably kind of like mine -- wild-eyed -- unkempt -- maybe his hair uncombed -- wearing this coarse brown robe -- very similar to what Matthew has described here in verse 4
-- both Matthew and Mark make mention of how strange John was -- not just where he preached, but also because of his appearance and behavior -- keep in mind that Matthew was a contemporary of John -- and Mark may have been, too, even though he appears to have been a little younger than the Apostles -- they knew John -- they had seen him and talked to him and the strangeness of John, especially in his dress, would have stood out to them
-- these men -- both Jews -- would have grown up knowing certain rules about dress and behavior and the way good Jewish men were supposed to act
-- I'm sure their mothers had a mommy manual, too -- and while it probably didn't say, "wear clean underwear because you might be in an accident" -- it probably did say, "wear good clothes -- behave yourself in public -- remember who you are -- you are of the people of God -- and you are to act like it" -- this was the cultural norm -- this was how they distinguished themselves from the others in Judea -- from the Romans and the pagans and the other Gentiles there
-- so, you can just imagine the shock that these fine, well-dressed Jews had when they made their way down to the Jordan Valley to hear this fine, new preacher only to discover that he wasn't wearing a suit and tie -- he wasn't wearing clergy robes -- he wasn't even wearing the normal dress of the people in that day -- he was dressed in animal skins -- camel skins -- with a leather belt -- and he was going around eating locusts and all other kind of exotic food
-- can you picture them on the river bank approaching John, thinking to themselves, "What a strange place and what a strange man -- can he be saying anything of any value at all?"
-- we tend to think like that, don't we? -- we tend to be somewhat judgemental of our fellow church-goers -- especially of our leaders and our teachers and our preachers -- we know how they are supposed to act and what they are supposed to wear and how they are supposed to carry themselves -- we judge them more based on their appearance and behavior than we do on what they teach and believe
-- so both Matthew and Mark make a point out of what John was wearing to point out that God's word sometimes comes from improbable sources -- just like it sometimes comes in unlikely places
IV. Strange Message
-- the other reason why both Matthew and Mark made such a big deal about John's clothes is that it pointed to his message -- the angel Gabriel had told Zechariah, John's father, that John the Baptist would go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to make ready a people for the Lord -- when the men and women went out to hear John preaching in the Jordan wilderness -- and when they saw him and his dress -- they would immediately have been reminded of the story of Elijah from the Old Testament
-- Elijah, too, dressed in a garment of hair with a leather belt and spent most of his time in the wilderness, preaching a message of repentance to the nation of Israel
-- and that is the exact same message that John preached -- Mark tells us that John's appearance ushered in "the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" -- John's message would have sounded as strange to the ears of his listeners as Elijah's message had to the people of his day
-- the Jews had been taught to justify themselves by the leaders of the church -- they were told day-in and day-out, "follow the laws -- try to live a good life -- sacrifice once a year on the day of atonement -- and you will be righteous in the eyes of God"
-- let me put the message of the Jewish church to you in terms that you might hear today -- "go to church on Sunday -- read your Bible and pray every day -- try to live a good life -- and you'll go to heaven when you die" -- there's a lot of people that we meet -- there's a lot of people in our churches -- that believe that -- they believe that if they're good and if they come to church and if they try to live a moral and upright life -- if they follow all the rules -- then they're a Christian
-- that's exactly what all these fine and upstanding Jews from Jerusalem and from all Judea who were coming out to hear this strange man in this strange place thought -- that's what they expected to hear -- a message that would justify what they were doing in their religious life -- they were coming to hear someone tell them, "You've got it right" -- they didn't come expecting to hear the Word of God -- they came expecting to hear someone tickle their ears and tell them just how good and holy they were
-- but the message of John the Baptist was, "No, you're not -- you're not good or holy or righteous" -- look down at verse 7
7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
8. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
9. And do not think you can say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
10. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11. "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
-- "You brood of vipers" -- hardly the message that they expected -- but exactly the message they needed to hear
-- John was telling them, "You may think you're righteous -- you may think you're holy -- you may think you are secure with God -- but you're not -- you're actually a brood of vipers -- your heart is not right -- you have sin in your life -- and you need to turn from your sin -- be baptized -- and put your faith in the One who is to come"
-- C.S. Lewis once remarked how hard it is to evangelize good people -- and I've seen that in my own life -- I've tried to tell people at work -- good hard-working people -- people who are trying to live good lives and who don't break the law and who appear to have it all together -- I've tried to tell them about Christ and about their need for a Savior, but they tell me, "I go to church -- I do good things -- I know that I'm going to go to heaven when I die"
-- but that's not what the Bible says -- the Bible says you can't get there on your own -- you have to make a personal decision to receive Jesus and His atoning, sacrificial death on the cross if you want to be holy and righteous in God's eyes -- that's why Jesus came
-- one of the hardest things in the world is to convince a "good" person that they can never be "good enough" to get to heaven on their own -- that they need to turn from their sins and ask Jesus to forgive them for their sins and to ask Him to be their Lord and Savior
-- and that, in a nutshell, was the message of John the Baptist -- and that is the message for you, this morning
V. Closing
-- John the Baptist -- a strange man in a strange place with a strange message -- someone sent by God to catch the attention of the world -- to shock them out of their comfort zone -- and to prepare their hearts to receive Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior
-- a man who showed that it doesn't matter where you are -- or where your church is -- a man who showed that you don't have to conform to the ways of the world in dress or behavior -- in order to do great things for God
-- the most important thing is to have the message -- to have the Word of God in your heart -- and to faithfully share it where you are
-- and when you do that -- the people will come -- and hearts will be transformed -- and lives will be changed through the power of the Holy Spirit made manifest in their lives
-- as I close this morning, as the last hymn is played, I want you to ask yourself these questions, "Have I ever made a personal decision to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? -- Have I ever turned from my sins and asked Jesus to forgive me for all that I have done that is wrong in His eyes?"
-- you may have gone to church your whole life -- you might read the Bible and pray on a daily basis -- you might live a good and moral life -- but if you've never answered "Yes" to those questions, then you are as lost as all those Jews who went out to hear John the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea
-- if you have never answered "Yes" to those questions, then I would invite you to do so this morning, before you leave here
-- John the Baptist -- a strange man in a strange place with a strange message -- but, maybe, a message for you today
-- let us pray
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