FIERY JOHN THE BAPTIST

well tonight we continue our study in matthew and you have to appreciate that where we are in chapter 3 of matthew how significant it was this silence between what we call testaments the old and the new testaments that there was no real prophetic voice for 400 years that is really a remarkable thing to think about no real powerful prophetic voice in that period of time where you had this kind of preaching you know the last words of the old testament see i will send the prophet elijah to you before the great and dreadful day the lord comes he will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents or else i will come and strike the land with total destruction or curse that was um last word the other gospels take that verse and they apply it to john as there was obviously a great anticipation of elijah to come from that verse that they understood as jesus spoke that if you will receive it, John is the Elijah figure to come. Why is John so significant? That's what I want to think about with you tonight. It's really the question I thought about. My title isn't real interesting, just fiery John the Baptist. But I wanted John the Baptist. I should say he's not a Baptist. He's a baptizer, okay? He's a baptizer. John the Baptizer, that's what we should call him. Why is John the Baptizer so significant? it well he's interesting figure in the history of redemption you hear malachi said he's going to turn the hearts of parents to their children and children to their parents meaning that the families of god's people the families of god's people will again turn to the lord in repentance lest he comes and strikes the earth with a curse that's what you should expect to see you should expect to see repentance and restoration in the ministry of this figure and for those whom it doesn't happen there will be curse it's as if the old testament prophets being silent for 400 years in john this role is taken up again as final call if you will final call it's important for israel it's particularly this figure is important for israel in the history of redemption he's important for us too but i want us to understand his place and his role in this as we see the greatest moment of fulfillment in history preparing the way for the lord the end of the old covenant and the bringing in of the new is upon us in this text so as we take up our study tonight in matthew what we see really in john is fulfilling two purposes in john in his work he's the forerunner to the messiah announcing as you'll see tonight the kingdom has come and he is a wilderness prophet bringing a message of repentance and judgment this is two very important things that john is fulfilling here as the forerunner preparing the way and as a wilderness prophet announcing repentance and judgment this has huge implications for us of course because it presses us it presses us to ask and and have us think about where we sit in history and and what this means for us in the whole picture and have we believed today it's a marvel we're here have we believed that the kingdom of god has come and have we repented and believe the gospel these are the very words that jesus will use as he begins his ministry well i want tonight to look at john's ministry with you and then his warning and his baptism briefly uh to help us with these issues it's as it's if when matthew presents uh john john that he comes seemingly out of nowhere we don't have the background that the other gospels give he's just on the scene all of a sudden this mysterious figure that comes on the scene no background provided of him as luke does but matthew introduces him in a fascinating way and what do we see first is we have a great emphasis on his ministry and what the ministry was like and what he was saying in those days john the baptist came preaching in the wilderness of judea saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand john was a preacher this is what we see it's in the line with jesus why did jesus come everyone wanted him to be a healer fix all these problems over here and he always was correcting it mark one listen the reason i came forth was to preach so john is a preacher john is a preacher this is a loaded statement right at the beginning that requires some real serious reflection it's john's claim now you have to you have to you have to really put yourself in sort of jewish shoes here for a second because matthew is the most jewish of the gospels matthew's aiming to show us the true king kingdom has arrived it is a strong claim a shocking claim for the masses to hear this statement we just hear it and we let it go right over us the kingdom of heaven has come do you understand the implication of that it's not just near. John is out heralding. John is preaching. It's arrived. It's arrived. It's here. Now that has such a history. The other gospels use kingdom of God. Matthew chooses kingdom of heaven. Why? Well, you can read endless debates on it. Matthew is making the case that the true king from heaven has come why does he emphasize it that way why would he choose that phrase and as i was working on it dawned on me this is why it's nice to work through books in the old testament remember what was promised to daniel in the 70 weeks you might say after the fourth kingdom there would be another kingdom that would break into history this kingdom would be an eternal kingdom it would be an everlasting kingdom when it comes after all these successive kingdoms after after remember Babylon and after after the Medes and Persians and after Greece and after Rome this kingdom would break into history and it would be an everlasting kingdom but do you remember when God first announced this to Nebuchadnezzar what he said oh Nebuchadnezzar you will become a wild beast until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men but then he said this your kingdom shall be confirmed until you know that heaven rules that heaven rules well Matthew I believe has that on his mind he's announcing what was announced in Daniel the kingdom of heaven's rule has come now think of all this history think of all we've been preaching think of all that we've been saying about kings and kingdoms and now the the claim of this that the eternal kingdom has just begun what israel understood is that god's sovereign rule over the kings and kingdoms of the earth that promise of daniel is that this everlasting kingdom would break into history at some point and that when it came it would never be toppled and it would never fall and it would be an everlasting kingdom now after all of this study in daniel on kingdoms we studied in chapter 9 the messiah the prince would come do you appreciate the moment here in matthew's gospel you have to hear it with all that history in mind here's the first thing john says it's here it's come the glorious kingdom of heaven has arrived i'm not just announcing i'm proclaiming i'm heralding it says john i'm the last of the old i'm the last old covenant prophet john would say and to make a big moment of this Matthew says this was is exactly what was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying a voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight that comes from Isaiah 40 verse 3 and if you look at that citation carefully john is preparing the way of who the lord in other words this jesus whom he's preaching is the lord he's the king here the divinity of the messiah you think about the lord would come they knew that john is saying that time has come the kingdom has come and i've prepared the way of the lord himself you see so now what a proof of the divinity of the son of god he's the lord so putting it together the promised rain has just begun the promise god has brought it into history right now it has just broken his heavenly rule has just been showcased and he is now taking control of the nations everything we've been looking for has just started it's just begun that doesn't mean that god wasn't lord and ruler overall before it's that the kingdom now is broken into history with the coming of the son of god now the jews of course wanted an immediate political solution to everything they wanted political rule to be established that of course will come in the final consummation of all things when every king and king is put under his feet on that coming day but john is surprising here up front in his aim what is he saying what does this mean for us what does this mean if the lord has come and his kingdom has arrived the kingdom of heaven has broken into history this way, the implications of that are huge. It means one of two things for everyone right now. We're not talking about later. For John, this is right now. It means one of two things right now. That's why John is so urgent in the preaching. That's why John is so urgent in his preaching. It means one of two things. You are in the last moment of history in bygone generations god has suffered and allowed all the nations to walk any way they wanted to go but what did acts say but now in these last days he has commanded men everywhere to do what repent because that means right now you are either receiving judgment or salvation now the arrival of the kingdom brings judgment or salvation when Jesus was preaching in John 3 the sticker verse we love of course is John 3 16 it's a wonderful verse God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life what what a verse i mean that verse should never get old to us that is just beautiful well that's often the only verse we're willing to hear in john 3 and post up you know what john said right after that god did not send his son in the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only son of god that has huge implications see how that thread runs through the preaching with the arrival of the kingdom this means you are either received into the favor of the king or you are put under his wrath right now right now condemned already that's why john preaches with such urgency if the kingdom is broken into history then there's no playing around with response john is preparing the way for this that's why the ministry of jesus the ministry of christ he never let people play around did you ever notice that he never let people play around with this he never let people kind of sit back and say you know i'll decide that's never what jesus did some said well i'll first go bury my um my father then i'll come follow i'm first going to go do this i'm first going to do this excuse after excuse after excuse jesus was really clear you can't put your hand to the plow and look back you're not fit for the kingdom i think as we study john we get a sense and i think what bears down on us is the urgency of this the urgency due to this truth god has extended a time before the kingdom comes in full at his arrival again his second coming but at this point you feel the concern because the kingdom has just broke in we have all kinds of people who don't respond because they don't feel any urgency to this and we say well we don't want to push people we don't we don't want to drive them away where are they if they're not coming you see you see this is not it's not a middle sort of ground here what if their soul's required of them tonight john knowing that the kingdom rule of christ has broken in the into the earth the heavenly rule means one of two things it means salvation or it means judgment so he's not soft in his preaching he's not worried about offending as an old last old covenant prophet he's got a job to do as the last of the old to set the stage for the messiah and that's what it really comes down to john says notice how he says it the axe is laid to the root of the tree why do you lay an axe to the root of the tree well because the whole tree is coming down so what are the what is john's call here command repent repent John came preaching repentance because the kingdom of heaven was at hand what are we talking about here what am I talking about well John's the last of the old testament prophets old covenant prophets he's preparatory for Christ he's bringing the old to an end so that the new would break in. That has big implications. I want you to listen to Malachi 3 right before, you know, we get into that final section there. And Malachi 3 has very important indications as it's anticipating the ministry of John the Baptist. But listen to Malachi 3. Ever since the time of your ancestors, you've turned away from my decrees. and have not kept them return to me and i will return to you says the lord almighty what is repentance repentance is the returning to the lord with the whole heart it's a mind not just a mind change it's a it's it's this kind of sense in the old covenant feel you are in a bad predicament you have have a long history of hardening your heart to your god oh israel your heart has rebelled against him you have not loved him you've only turned away from him god sees all that you do but last call israel come repent believe the gospel john's the fulfillment of all these calls in the old covenant of one great theme when it came to repentance i went through a six ingredients of true repentance this morning of one great theme and true repentance did you remember it throughout history the lord was always saying it or was always saying over and over and over and over return to me come back to me come back to the lord your god grace means nothing if you don't understand the predicament you're in and now that the kingdom of heaven has broken in come now see that's that's that's a sense of this It's totally useless to run around preaching grace to people who have no realization for the need of it. Preaching the law was the way of calling people to repentance. It's preparatory itself. John represents the strength of the old covenant prophets in their call to say, return to the Lord. Now this is what John's ministry is about. Notice he's in the wilderness. That's not unimportant that he's in the wilderness. He's purposely clothed in camel's hair. He's very hairy, boys and girls. He has a leather belt on. He's eating locusts and wild honey. I don't know anyone who would sign up for that pastoral position. This would be like me putting on a 15th century Reformation suit and preaching today. You'd think I'm crazy. If I started dressing like Luther or Calvin in preaching up here. Why would God do that? Why would God dress him that way? Why would God want him looking like that? Well, for a very important point, he's out in the wilderness. He's dressed like Elijah. He's dressed as a 9th century prophet. And he is speaking to everyone's need throughout the history of their wilderness journeys of Israel. saying in the wilderness is not insignificant um what matthew has done and we didn't spend a lot of time on this in chapter two is that he's traced the whole history of christ christ went out of egypt out of out of egypt i've called my son and then christ christ in the next section is going in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil um he goes he goes he comes out matthew traces this whole theme of israel coming out of the wilderness and this signals a great moment what did israel do in the wilderness well they failed they didn't repent they didn't listen they they complained the whole way. And you see, John, dressed like this, is representing this great opportunity for them to come to their Lord. It's the new beginning that's happening with the ministry of Christ, the new exodus something great is happening and here's the beauty of this tonight there's massive response this is the end of malachi or listen he's going to return families it happens it happens i don't think we realize the significance josephus said all the rulers in all the region were absolutely terrified of John's ministry because the masses were going out confessing sins and repenting and turning to Christ. That's what's said in verse 5 that Jerusalem and Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan confessing their sins. This is great fulfillment. This is a great moment. Jesus made a big deal of it. Everything John is doing is preparatory for what would become normal in the ministry of Christ. What we have here is the right response captured to the arrival of Christ in the kingdom. What is the right response? Confess your sins. Be baptized. Believe. Faith is the right response to John's preaching. Repentance. They heard his call to repent of their sin. They believe the one he preached, the Messiah. And they receive the symbolic act with water of the new beginning. That's all preparatory of what would happen in the ministry. the point is they're repenting they saw what their former life was they saw how they were living and rebelling against god this is a huge moment in history in redemptive this is a huge moment they came under conviction and they believed and they receive a sign that signified the returning to the Lord. Washing. Water baptism would soon be normalized. And I think we're meant to stop and ask at this point an important question. All the generations were meant to ask an important question at this point. Have I repented and believed the gospel? God has broken in his rule into history, and there are two places you can be right now, into his favor or under his judgment. And you see, John, where he's so hard here, is now dealing with those who won't believe. That's verse 7. Then he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the baptism. Stop, stop, stop. Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees, they're not friends. They don't like each other. The Sanhedrin has obviously sent a delegation. This is preparatory for Jesus' ministry. The Sanhedrin has sent a delegation out to see what in the world is happening with this crazy man out here preaching that the masses are coming and being prepared for a man he says is the Messiah. What is this? John sees this. Here they come. What do you think they're wearing? They're not wearing 6th century clothes, 7th, 9th century. They're wearing phylacteries. They're wearing their robes. They're wearing their academic garments. They're the scholars of the day. They're coming out to see this backwoods preacher who's not too interested in being smooth. He's rough. He's from Lemoore. I had to say something like that. How about Huron? How about Corcoran? John sees them. You brood of vipers. There's a warning. There's a welcome, by the way. You snakes. No diplomacy here. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? That is as sarcastic as can be. I didn't. Who told you to come out here and flee from wrath? and don't go around saying as i know you're going to say we've got abraham as dad that is not going to get you anywhere god can raise up stones for for abraham as children who do you think you are and now we get to the heart of matthew's concern in this gospel it's the religion of the pharisees it was all external it was all for show it was all for self-righteousness there was nothing in the heart there was nothing genuine there was no true repentance there was nothing real it was all phony they were simply carrying forward israel's history of rebellion against god now in a formalized way that the mass is recognized. And you might ask the question, well, why so strong, John? Why so strong? It's precisely because the kingdom has come. Jesus has arrived. The kingdom of heaven is broken into history. And here's the answer. God is done with the hypocritical game. God has wearied, Isaiah 1, of the outward sacrifice with no circumcised heart. He's done with that. He is done with that. He is done with playing the game of religion. That's what Israel did for years. The end of all things is at hand. Notice the calling is the same. Even to them, the calling is the same. Repent, you guys, and bear fruits worthy of repentance. They should have been on their knees trembling like this morning. And this is the other part of the message, you see. While John preached a baptism of repentance, he is showcasing the Messiah. Remember when Jesus passed by, what would John preach? Behold the Lamb of God. Look at Him. There's the One. He takes away the sin of the world. But this is the other side of it. The axe is laid to the root of the trees, you guys. When you clear a forest, you cut it all down. We're not leaving trees up. God's not leaving trees up. His winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out the threshing floor and gather his wheat in his barn and will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. He is preaching eternal judgment. You know what they did when they separated the wheat and the chaff in the harvest. They would take the threshed grain and throw it up into the air and the winnowing fork so that the wind would blow away the chaff and the heavier grain would fall back down on the floor to distinguish what is true grain. They're metaphors for judgment. The chaff will be burned in unquenchable fire. This is no game. And John says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but listen it's all preparatory he who comes after me is mightier than i i've prepared his way i'm not even worthy to loose the sandals straps on him he's the king he's the lord heaven has come down and guess what he's going to do he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire meaning the promise of the old covenant that when the new would come is that god would pour out his spirit again on the peoples john was saying christ isn't just around instituting outward actions outward signs he says his baptism is the actual baptism that results in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into people's lives that's a fire baptism and that time has come have we repented and believed the gospel are there any here today delaying and coming professing our parents don't get us into the kingdom the escondido urc doesn't get us into the kingdom itself calvin christian going there doesn't get you into the kingdom having all these godly influences in your lives doesn't get you into the kingdom john would say the kingdom of heaven is at hand it's here come now believe now repent now of sin in your life turn from it turn to the lord return to the lord sure that's all grace that is exactly what the lord is calling us to by his grace he has the power john is saying to wash you to truly wash you i don't says john he does i'm just giving what is the preparatory sign of the sign. And he will cleanse your hearts. That's what Sadducees, Pharisees, that's what you need, cleansed hearts. Then you will see how wonderful it is and what it means when Jesus says, when it was said of Jesus right at the beginning of his ministry to Joseph and to Mary, you shall call his name jesus for he will save his people from their sins what a wonderful god and if you have believed that gospel repented and believed that gospel by his grace know this today you've already entered you're already in you've already been brought graciously into his kingdom and heaven rules your hearts praise the lord for his sovereign grace in your life let's pray heavenly father thank you for the gospel and thank you for your work may we hear this great call and we pray today that the masses would hear and understand that the kingdom of heaven has broke into history and that there's an urgency to this message we confess that all of us have played fast and loose with it we're more afraid of offending people than the lord but let us hear oh lord the great warnings that come out of this and then hear how gracious your gospel is come to me said jesus all who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest for your weary souls thank you for sending this the man from heaven your son to deliver us and to baptize us with the holy spirit pouring out life into our hearts so that we might repent and believe this good news of your gospel in jesus name we pray amen