November 20, 2022

In eternity past―Ephesians one, verse three, before the foundation of the world―God in his mind, made us His people. God determined in his mind that he would take an attitude, a position of forgiveness toward his people, based on the atoning work of the Cross that wants to come. He would take an attitude, of position of forgiveness towards those who are in Christ. Yet that forgiveness wasn't completed, in a sense, until what? Repentance. Until the ones who will be forgiven, then say to God―I've sinned. I see it now. I've sinned against you. And so the atoning work of Christ on the cross, in a real way will, not be complete, without the repentance of those He died for. That's why John has to prepare the way. That's why his work of preparation is making the mountains low, and the valleys high. Get the pride out of the way. Because as we see the people respond to John, what are they doing? They are confessing their sins. Jesus will die in about three years. He will make the atonement that secures their forgiveness. Meanwhile, since eternity, God has had in his heart, this position of forgiveness towards those who are in Christ. But for the whole thing to be made complete, the sinner must repent. And this is John's preparatory work. All the country of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him and we're being baptized by him in the river Jordan―doing what―confessing their sins. You know what confession confessing means or confession? Literally what confession means is agreeing with God, about your sinful position. That's what confession of sin is. confession of sin is saying to God―God, I agree with your assessment of me, I agree with your words regarding my behavior, regarding my heart, regarding my thoughts, regarding my actions. I agree that I am a sinner before your face, before your eyes. And so this is what they were doing. They were coming and they were confessing their sins because this message of John had taken great, great root. Take a look with me again, at verse five. All the country of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him. And we're being baptized by him in the River Jordan. So think about that for just a moment. John did not set up a nice air-conditioned tent in the outskirts of Jerusalem, with nice little cushy chairs for everybody to sit on, little snack bars as they come in. John did not rent out the biggest, nicest Auditorium in Jerusalem. John is in the wilderness, miles from Jerusalem. And this is of course, the day of no internet. There's no social media postings to tell people―hey, there's this guy John out in the wilderness. Or not even fliers put up around Jerusalem somehow, somehow, people found out about this and people knew and they're going to him. Mark says all of Judea in Judaism, now does Mark mean every single person. No, he, of course, he does not mean every single resident of Judea and Jerusalem. He's using language the same way we use language. You know, you ever say something like―you're sitting at a traffic light and you say, everybody's on the road today? No, everybody's not on the road, literally. You just mean there's a lot of people on the road. This is what this is what Mark means. The response to John was so overwhelming so massive that he says all of Judea and Jerusalem is coming to him. Miles from Jerusalem, they're making this trek out into the wilderness, to hear a message of affirmation? To hear a message of condemnation―repent. You must be baptized into the people of God. Don't tell me you’re children of Abraham. God can make children of Abraham out of rocks. You must be baptized in this baptism of repentance, in order to be part of God's people, and people are coming by the droves. It’s simply not true, what the wisdom of the day would tell us that if you want to fill a church building, then you have to have an appealing message for people, you have to have a comfortable setting. And that's just not true. What you have to have is the hand of God. What you have to have as a work of the Spirit and the Spirit is powerfully at work in Jerusalem right now, why is the spirit powerfully at work because John is the Herald of the Messiah. So of course, the Spirit is going to be powerfully at work, invigorating his message, opening the hearts of people to receive this message. And they don't care. He could have been outside of Palestine, and they still would have come to Him. They come to him in massive, massive numbers. Now, does this mean that all of the 10s of 1000s, probably a people that are coming to―does it mean that they're all genuine converts, that they all receive this message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and they stuck with the path? Of course not. There were lots who fell away. Just like Jesus will have in John chapter six, He’ll have people that were his disciples who were following him. But then he gives that hard teaching about the supper about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And many of who those who are following him stopped following him. In the same sort of way. We read in John chapter five, that from the words of Jesus, he says, speaking of John, he says he was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. So there’s these people coming out by the 1000s―in my mind, I'm picturing―John’s not the only one baptizing here. He's got a disciples, his disciples that are helping him, because there's 1000s of people. And so there's lots and lots of people that are coming, they're confessing, they’re repenting, they're being baptized. And a lot of them receive this message, and they will follow and they will stay with this path. But then a lot of those will also receive this message, and they will follow for a while and they'll fall away, just like we see in the church today. We see, just like Jesus's words in the parable of the soils, there are many who lack a depth of soil, and so they'll spring up to immediate life, but they'll quickly fall away. In the same way, John had disciples, so to speak, that quickly sprang up to life, that came enthusiastically receiving this baptism, but then they also fell away. But at the same time, many of them did not fall away, and they constituted the people of God, that were then ready to receive the words of Messiah when He came. In such a way―this is amazing―but in such a way that we actually can look late into the book of Acts. And we still find people in the latter part of the book of Acts, who were baptized into John's baptism, that haven't yet heard about Jesus, but they're still following what they were baptized into in John's baptism. For example, in Acts chapter 18, there's a fella named Apollo's who comes to Ephesus Apollo's comes in he's preaching there in Ephesus very powerfully, being fervent and spirit. He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. So here's Apollos, this is Acts, chapter 18. This is probably somewhere around 25 or 30 years after Jesus' ascension into heaven. And here's Apollos still only knowing the baptism of John. Or the next chapter, chapter 19. Paul, who is now in Ephesus, he says, we're into what then we baptized, they said well into John's baptism. So here we have people this late in the game that were baptized, they were part of this group of people that responded, they were baptized, they still haven't yet been taught about Jesus and what He's done on the cross and how He rose from the dead. But yet they are still following in this path, and they're going to constitute the people that now make up the people that are ready to receive Messiah. So now, continuing on verse six, now, John was clothed with camel's hair and wore leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And so here we're given a little bit of side information, so to speak about a couple of things about John's eccentric wardrobe and John's eccentric diet. The prophets, of whom John was the last Old Testament prophet, the prophets had a way of, well, sort of being eccentric. And we can think of many instances in which the prophets did some odd kind of things. For example, Isaiah prophesying naked―I'll just leave you with that image. Isaiah would walk around with, with a frying pan in front of his face, or Jeremiah burying his undergarments in the rocks beside the Euphrates River, or Ezekiel lying on one side for 390 days in a row. You know, just some very odd things. And all of those odd things were teaching tools. They were they were God's way of teaching people, the spiritual lessons. And so John the Baptizer here in the same way, sort of takes up some eccentric type of behavior in his dress and what he's eating. Both of these also are containing for us spiritual lessons as well. So first, let's take a look at his diet. His diet was a diet of locusts and wild honey. So the Locust would have been much like our grasshoppers today. And so he would have eaten those without the legs without the he would have ripped off the legs and ripped off the wings, and then eaten those. And we didn't we're not told whether he ate them raw or cooked. And he also ate wild honey. So the honey, I thought about wild honey, and I was wondering what Wild Honey is, anybody know what Wild Honey is? Wild Honey is from wild bees. Who would have figured that? I've never quite heard of tame bees. Now I know that there are bees that live in prepared places that people prepare for them. But I think I still consider those to be wild bees, don't you? I don't think there are any tame bees. But nonetheless, Wild Honey is what he ate. Now, that doesn't mean that he sort of treated himself to―we think of honey like a treat. You know, it's something sweet, it's good to eat. I love eating honey. I mean, it's but it's a treat. In the Scriptures, though, honey is treated more like a food. We see people eating honey, quite frequently in Scriptures to get to gain energy, to gain sustenance. You think of Jonathan with the big battle with the Philistines. And then Jonathan was weak and feeling faint, he found some honey and ate it. Or Samson, who eats the honey out of the lion carcass, that kind of thing. We see frequently in the Old Testament people finding honey and eating it for sustenance. So he's eating this honey, but he's also eating these wild locusts―as opposed to tame locusts, I guess. So then the Old Testament, of course tells us that that was a clean food for God's people. So that's, that's what sort of made up his diet. Now, it doesn't say to us that, first of all, it doesn't say that that's all he ate. Many commentators I’ve read will try to prove the case that that could have been a complete diet, that you could get all your nutrients from locusts and wild honey, but I think that's all unnecessary. Because that's not all that―we're not told that that's all he ate. We're told that that's indicative of what he ate, that he ate that regularly. So he's this diet would not have been an elaborate diet, it would have been a very basic, very rudimentary, very rather untasty, sort of unsavory, sort of diet. And then in addition to that, which by the way, another thing about John the Baptizer, you can you can be thankful―I know that this is Thanksgiving week, and we're all counting our blessings―here's another blessing you can be thankful for―is that John never preached that we must imitate him―like Paul said, Imitate me―that so John never said you need to eat like me. Thank the Lord for that right? But nevertheless, that was sort of his diet. And then in addition to that, we're told about his clothing―this coat that he wears of camel hair. So don't think of this coat as John wearing this camel skin with the hair still on it. Instead, what this coat was, was a tightly woven coat from camel's hair. It was a very inexpensive type of garment. It was very, very much a garment that the lower-class people would have worn. It was effective at keeping you warm, but it was anything but comfortable. It was very scratchy, very itchy, very stiff. You know, you ever worn clothing that would just was stiff and just didn't move with―that's what camel hair, a camel hair garment would be like. It'd be just really scratchy and irritating for the skin―warm, but not in the least bit comfortable at all. It would have been brown, undyed, uncolored. And so you think about people, that this day, really valued brightly colored clothing. Remember Lydia in Philippi, who was a seller of purple clothing, right? So they valued bright colors in clothing. This would have been brown like the sand. And this coat would have been, not like this form fitting coat that I'm wearing with, you know, sleeves and collar and everything. But instead it would have been more like a poncho, with maybe a hole for the head, a couple of holes for the arms to go through. You put it over your head, and then that's why he would tie it with this belt, to keep it from flying up in the wind, that sort of thing. So imagine, this is just as simple as basic as unostentatious as you could possibly get. As eschewing of comfort as you could possibly get. This coat of camel hair was something that drew the least amount of attention to him. Something that afforded him the least amount of comfort. And what that is, is a rebuke against the religious society of his day. Even Jesus himself would say, these Pharisees go around, they love to wear long flowing robes. They love to wear this clothing that draws attention to themselves. They are the ones who rob widows of their homes so that they can go around getting all the attention of the people because they're wearing these long flowing robes. But instead, Jesus will say, even of the Baptizer, He’ll say―you went out to, who did you go out to see in the desert? Did you go out to see somebody wearing soft clothing? No, that's not who you saw, because John wasn't one wearing soft…so even his clothing is a rebuke against the excesses of the day, the religious excesses of the day. So this will add validity, and believability and power to John's message. Because this is a sense in which John himself preached, or practiced what he preached, right? So you remember John's words to people? Luke three, for example, all these people are gonna be coming to John, and they're gonna say, What should we do? What should we do? What should we do? And he'll say, if you got two tunics, give one away. If you're a tax collector, don't collect any more than you have to. If you're a soldier, don't extort people for any money, right? And so he can say these words, and he can say them with authority, because he himself practices that. He has a life that backs up―his message is to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And his life also backs that up because he himself is just like Paul, as Paul says to the Philippians, to Thessalonians. In First Thessalonians chapter one, he'll say―you saw the way we lived before you, you heard our message. It was a message of power from the Spirit, but you also saw how we lived before you, our life back up our message. So now we're going to continue on from verse seven. Now let's take a look at the humility of John verse seven. And he preached saying―and here's sort of a summary of his message―After me comes one who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandal I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie. So here we see a dramatic portrayal of the humility of John. I am not worthy, he comes after me, I’m, before him, but yet, He is mightier than I. So much mightier than I that I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie his sandal. So this would have been a statement of extreme humility. And what this means is basically this. There was a saying in John's day, In John's day, they didn't have universities where you'd go off to college, or you go off to school for this, or go off to school for that. Instead, what people did in John's day was they attached himself to a teacher. They will become the disciple of a teacher. Paul was a disciple of the Gamaliel, or Timothy was a disciple of Paul, John himself had disciples, and that's just how it went. Those days, you would attach yourself to a teacher as a disciple of that teacher. And the saying went like this. They saying was―a true disciple will do anything his master tells him except take off his sandals. Only a slave will take off someone sandals. Now, what that means is, that in that culture, taking someone's sandal off, was for whatever reason, considered the most demeaning act that you could do. Even more demeaning than washing someone's feet. As Jesus remember, in the upper room, washes their feet. Or he says to Simon, the Pharisee, he says, I came in and didn't even wash my feet, right? So even beneath that, that culture considered to stoop down and take someone's sandal off to be the lowest most demeaning act that could be done, and the saying was―a disciple will do anything their master asks, except take off a sandal, only a slave takes off a sandal. Now, John says―I came before him, but He is so mightier than I, that I'm not even worthy to be His slave. I'm not even worthy to do the most demeaning act. I'm not even worthy to do the lowliest thing, which will be to stoop down and take off the sandal. So remember, what John is doing here is he's preparing the way of Messiah. And the one who is the heralder. or the one who is the Proclaimer, the one who is the preparing of the way, shows us that he himself is prepared for Messiah. Because to be prepared for Messiah, you must see Messiah as your Sovereign King, who possesses every right, every authority over every aspect of your life. He is the Master, he is the Sovereign, he is the King. There is no aspect of all creation, or your life, over which He does not have authority. So John himself shows us, I'm here to prepare the way for Messiah. And I'm showing you that my heart is prepared for Him, because he is my Sovereign. I'm not even worthy to do what a slave does. So we see his great humility there. But then lastly, let's take a look at verse, verse eight. Verse seven again, and he preached saying, after he comes here, he was mightier than I, the strap of who sandal I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So think once again, on the meaning of the word baptize, baptize means submerge, immerse, dunk. And John says, He's mightier than me. He comes after me, but He's the Sovereign. I'm not worthy to be His slave. I baptize you with water. I immerse you in water, but he is here to immerse you in the Holy Spirit. My baptism is symbolic. John's baptism―just like our baptism, John's baptism is symbolic, it points to a reality. It points away from itself toward a greater reality, just like our baptism points to a greater reality. John's baptism also points to a greater reality, the greater reality is―in the words of Jesus and Acts chapter one, verse four―the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, by baptism of the Holy Spirit, we don't mean what some charismatic or Pentecostal denominations mean, this the sort of a second experiencing of God, the second blessing in which the receiving of gifts like speaking in tongues and that sort of thing. What we mean is and what Jesus means and what John means is conversion, the receiving of the spirit, the regeneration, which brings the Spirit to live in us, okay. So John says, I baptize with this symbolic water baptism. I immerse you into a symbol. But he immerses you into God. I'm here to immerse you into the shadow. The One who comes after me, He is here to immerse you into the living God. Notice Jesus isn't coming to introduce us to God. Jesus isn't coming to give us a little taste of God. Jesus isn't coming so that you may dip your toe into the water of God and decide if it's warm enough to jump in or not. Jesus is here to fulfill what we're told in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 29. Our God is a consuming God. If we are his, we are immersed into him. If we are his, we are not adding him as one component of our life. If we are his, we are not scheduling him into this little compartment of our life when we have time for it. If we have been baptized into the Holy Spirit, we have been immersed into the consuming fire that is our God. And we, just like John, see him as the Sovereign over all of life. That nothing of our life falls outside of his jurisdiction, outside of his authority, outside of his prerogative. And that is the heart that has met been not only prepared for Messiah, but has now been immersed into Messiah.