The Gospel of Mark 1:1-8

Background check if you don't have one on file and you can begin saving your pennies but most of all you can pray no sign up meting for that thank you yeah and so we've got that coming up that's a huge deal for our church we've been partnered with the wgts and the Johnson's for literally decades at this point and so this is not something that's completely new to our church we're unfamiliar although for some of you who are maybe a little bit more newer to our church you may not know the Johnson or the wgats you can see their pictures right out here in between the Ivory Coast flag be sure to check them out remember to pray for them because it's been cool to see what God's been doing over there tonight we have the Riven Gospel quartet that's going to be here at 6 pm and so if you want to hear some good southern Gospel that'll be happening tonight right here at 6 p.m. Also so we wanted to let you guys know that for our Wednesday night meals last year we were kind of behind the eightball a little bit because of inflation and everything like that we were actually losing money a little bit on Wednesday nights and so the cost of those meals is going to go from $3 to $4 I know I know that just breaks the bank doesn't it but or $15 a family as opposed to 10 because it goes up by four so anyways be prepared for that'll help us to balance the budget a bit better in 2024 also the women's ministry they've got an event coming up Amber help me out what's that doctor's name Dr po Dr poell Dr pal was a lady Who U last year in 2023 showed people how to do some type of immuno yeah fire firer fires cider and it was some type of like really awful concoction that you can drink that apparently makes you healthy I'm just kidding I'm not

Gonna muscle that down but then again I was sick for a month so take that for what you would but anyways we're going to be they're going to be doing a new kind of cough syrup and that's going to be a zoom call and so if you're interested in doing that we do need your email and so talk to Amber talk to Joyce wave your hands around real quick Amber before you go you can find her in the toddler room and Joyce over there and they can get your email and get youall signed up for that also we do have inclement weather that's coming in and so I just want to remind you of the policy that we have that if school is cancelled Wednesday night services are cancelled okay all of our activities would be cancelled as well as looks like we may get some on that Friday Saturday next week and if that's the case please pay attention to the website please pay attention to the prayer chain and also to social media because that's how we will update that if you want to know how to get plugged into the prayer chain there's directions in the bulletin there's also tons of information in the bulletin as well where you can just stay up to date and all the things that are happening in the life and Ministry of our church now if you would do me a favor maybe find someone that you haven't been able to say good morning to this morning and say welcome to First Baptist Church you TR for e well good morning church it's good to see you here this morning glad to be here with you I hope you had a great time in community groups this morning and I hope that you got to shake some hands maybe meet some new people this morning but now is the time of our service where we like to

Just take a moment and prepare ourselves in heart and mind for worship this is not something that we ought to enter into flippantly or lightly this is a solemn and serious thing but it's all also a joyous thing it's something that we are graciously given by our God that we should be allowed to come together to praise His name together and loudly is a great grace so I invite you now to Bow your heads and close your eyes and ask God to prepare you for worship those of you with children with you especially and even those of you with friends and other family with you take this time to pray out loud with one another for and so Lord We Gather before you this morning to come before you in worship God because you are worthy infinitely worthy Lord You've proven yourself worthy over and over again even though you didn't have to Lord by your very nature you are worthy of our worship you are Creator you are sovereign and Lord you are so good God I pray that this morning we would be reminded of the good things that you've done for your people throughout all of human history I pray that we would also be reminded of the good that you've done in and through our lives and I pray Lord that as we think on these things as we meditate on these things Lord that we would turn it back into praise that we would worship you in spirit and in truth together this morning it's in Jesus name we pray amen I invite you to stand and join me as we sing All Creatures of our God and [Music] King All Creatures of our God and King LIF up voice and with us Oh Praise

Him hallelu sun with golden me th Silver Moon with s Oh Praise Him Oh Praise hallelu Hallelujah [Music] hallelu let all things their [Music] creator and worship him in humbl Oh Praise Him hallelujah praise praise the father the and praise the spirit Oh Praise Him Oh Praise Him hallelu [Music] hallelu the redeemed Washed by his [Music] love and rej in his great love Oh Praise Him Hallelujah Christ has defeated everything cast all your now on Oh Praise Him oh praise him hallelu hallelu he's coming back he shall return in power to rain Heaven and Earth will join to say oh praise [Music] [Applause] hallelu [Music] shall All Creatures of our God and K Oh Praise Him Oh Praise hallelujah he is worthy of our praise praise God from all blessings Praise Him All Creatures here below all praise Him [Music] hallelujah praise above the heaven host praise Father Son and Holy Ghost all praise him praise Him hallelu

[Music] hallelujah amen he is worthy of Our Praise today and every this is a song that I think is appropriate to sing together in the new year we sang it last week all glory be to Christ it's to the tune of Al Lang sign which many of you probably sang just last week getting ready for the new year although most of us pretend like we're going to sing it they realize we know none of the words so this is a reminder that as we enter into this new year it's not about all acquaintance being forgot it's about all glory be to Christ let this year in every step every breath every decision that we make be about giving Glory To Our God and King should nothing of our effort stand [Music] the ra the house in vain it Builders stri to you Tom G tell me what is your life that vanes at dawn all glory be to Christ all glory be to Christ Our King all Christ his Rule and rain will ever sink all glory be to Christ his will be done his kingom come Earth as is above who is himself our daily bre praise the Lord love let Living Waters sisy the Thirsty with ch we take a cup of kindness yet all glory be to oh glory be to ch our King all glory Christ his and rain will sing all glory be to [Music] CHR on The Day The Great I Am the

Faithful and the true the lamb who was more s is making all things behold God shall live with us and life and we shall his glory be to Christ oh glory be to Christ Our King glory be to Christ his Ru and R we ever sing all glory be to Christ oh glory be to Christ Our King glor be to Christ his and R sing all glory be to Christ you can be seated as our ushers come forward morning if you guys would pray with me for to receive this offering father we just come to you today Lord and we just thank you for what you're doing in this church Lord and we ask that you just bless the givers and father we ask that you bless those that are going to be in charge of using your money wisely father and we thank you for sending your son Lord and we just pray that today as Cody brings the word Lord let them not be your his words that they hear Lord but your words father we pray this in the name of your son amen in the book of Isaiah in chapter 53 we read a prophecy of the coming Christ it says he was despised and rejected by Men A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken Smitten by God and Afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our

Iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed this man was called a Man of Sorrows the same baby that we just celebrated coming to that little manger he was born to be led to the slaughter he was the Passover Lamb for those of us who would believe he bore our sins he was stricken and we esteemed him not but here he is the Risen lamb he has been raised raised again to seal the promise that we too may have new life with him that's who we worship this morning amen so I'd invite you to join me in standing As we sing Man of Sorrows what a name for the Son of God who [Music] came [Music] sorrow what a name for the Son of God who [Music] came to Reg [Music] hallelujah what [Music] aor teing shame anding rude in [Music] my still my part with his love Hallelujah for [Music] theor of Sorrow Son of God Pur freom by his take the for Hallelujah what [Music] aor and hel

Spotless of was can it be hallelujah what a [Music] sa of Sorrow Son of God Pur Freedom my his love who take the flame for hallelujah what a [Music] saor LIF was he to die is his [Music] now hallelujah what [Music] a Hallelujah what Hallelujah theor son of godest freom by his and to take us for S hallelujah what a s he's coming again our glorious King all his to I sing [Music] Hallelujah and Son of God freom by his love who t for S hallelujah what [Music]

A [Music] amen What A Savior we have What A Savior we can rejoice in together this morning I'd invite you to be seated as Thomas gson comes forward if you haven't gotten a chance to meet him this is our newi is he's been here a while now children's Minister he's going to introduce our family worship time to us well good morning church it's good to be here with you I'm not preaching today but I did bring my Bible up here because for the family worship I'd like you all to turn to Mark chapter 1 and it's the text that we are going to be reading from this morning and today the theme for family worship and what we do on Family Worship during this time is we get together in our family groups so that we can worship with our family and moms and dads can lead their children into worship with the Lord and today that worship is going to look like confession when we look in Mark chapter 1 we see in the beginning that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ The Gospel not the Gospel of Mark is the book but the Gospel being the good news and before we can understand the good news we need to understand that there's a problem and so for this first portion if we could focus on what is wrong what is wrong with us why what is wrong with the world why is there problems all around us and look inside deep ask the Lord to Really draw out from the from the deepest parts of your heart where there might be sin and moms and dads this is important to lead by example to show your kids maybe start off by saying hey son daughter I have sinned here against you wife husband I have sinned against you here take that time to Really bring that out within your family and so we're gonna have

Austin and the band playing music while we do this because it is you know a sensitive time and we don't want other people hearing everything that we are saying we want this to be kind of local so feel so please do that and spend some time I'm going to be sitting over here and then we have there's a second slide I'm going to introduce when we get to that point I'd also like to encourage us those of you who don't have children in the room this doesn't mean that you get a free pass no this is a time for you to gather with your friends with your loved ones with your community group with people you've never met before and discuss the things of Our Lord that's what we do as Christians we talk about God Amen and so oh I didn't hear much amen we talk about God as Christians that's that's what we what we do so I encourage you to follow suit to discuss with one another who God is what he's done and how we can be made right in him e [Music] that's [Music] h [Music] you [Music] h amen okay we could go to the next slide there's good news you know we don't have to be left alone thinking about our sin and wallowing in it constantly there's good news we have a risen Savior 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness you know in Mark verse 5 you see at the end there that thousands of people were coming and

Confessing their sins one of the marks of a true Revival of a true Awakening is where there is repentance and confession people turning to Jesus sorrowful over their sin and so you know we can we can leave it just with ourselves and we can leave it maybe just with God but God has given us in his word another commandment to confess our sins and make things right with one another James 5 verse 16 says if we confess our sins sorry let me go there I had it memorized therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you might might be healed you know there's a healing that takes place on so many different levels and it and it's good wisdom in God's word for us to do this it's uncomfortable it's hard but in this last couple minutes if you need to go to someone and say I someone else and say I'm sorry I have I have wronged you would you please forgive me think about that pray about that and if you if you feel a call from the Lord to do that then would you do that this [Music] morning h [Music] I [Music] h [Music] the as we think on confession do you know that confession is a part of worship it's a part of acknowledging that God is who he says he is and he has done for us what he says he has done for us confession is worship so now that we have confessed I would invite you to join us as we close out the song service the music portion of our service by asking the Lord to guide us to be our

Vision be thou my vision oh Lord of my heart not be all else to me say that thou my best God by day or by Night waking or sleep keeping thy presence [Music] my be thou my wi th my true word I ever will be and thou me Lord th my great father I your th ining and I [Music] withes your hands and praise now my inheritance now and now and only the first in my heart my king of Heaven by treasure th High King Of Heaven Victory is one may I reach heaven Bri and of my heart still be my vision oh ruler of Heart of My Own Heart whatever still be Lord You Are God you are sovereign you are omnipotent you are omniscient Lord You Are God help us to recognize it to remember it to worship you for it Lord be our vision be our very sustenance Lord let every decision every step every thought that we have be for you and for your glory God we pray this in Jesus name who ransomed us from sin amen okay children can come on up wonderful there you are all right guys I got a picture here I want to know your thoughts on it okay what is that Locus it's a Locus Locus yeah why would somebody do

This they're hungry yes Calia because of climate change and people are going crazy that's a good answer yes to survive to survive yeah most likely probably because maybe there's nothing else to eat right and so someone would would eat a locust something that typically is not it's like the last of the of the last items of food you would want to eat and it's to survive well did you know that there was somebody in the who ate Locust y John the Baptist that's right John the Baptist did okay guys yeah John the Baptist ate Locust now here's my question why would John eat Locust yeah because he Liv in yeah he lived in the wilderness he lived in the desert okay last question why would why was he in the desert why was he in the wilderness because he was preaching because he was preaching he was preaching but he was he lived there long before he was preaching you see God brought John Into the Wilderness God brought him into the desert for a purpose you see John was a very special messenger of God he was called by God to Herald in to usher in and to prepare people for the coming Messiah that's a that's a big job and in order for John the Baptist is to do this well he needed to be in the wilderness away from all the worldly distractions away from the Comforts of this world in order to be able to hear God's voice really well you see John the Baptist was set apart he was set apart for a very holy purpose and you know what so are we God has set us apart as well in Christ to live a holy life and to have a special calling okay now we are set apart as Christians but do we eat locusts and live in deserts no we don't but we may be called to do other things you know maybe one of the things that we can do is instead of watching TV all day we could help

Our mom and dad okay or maybe maybe instead of playing so many video games we could do something else for okay that's holy that's good you know we can work and read our Bibles you know we can we can move away from worldly things so that we can hear God's voice better I got I got something for you guys to do I want you guys to close your eyes close your eyes and just imagine for a minute that you were like this all the time okay now I know it's very sad there are some people who are blind okay but here's my question if you guys could not see all the time do you think your hearing would get better it would you would become a listener and you know what God sending John Into the Wilderness God asking us to close off our hearts to worldly things that allows us to better hear God's voice okay so you know it's a hard thing to know what that always is and so this is what I'm going to ask you guys to do I want you guys to talk to your mom and dad about that Mom and Dad how can I be set apart for the Lord okay you would you guys do that and we're going to pray and then I got something to help you remember this lesson okay let's pray dear heavenly father thank you for this time thank you so much for these children again and again Lord it is they are such a blessing and it is wonderful to see them come here every Sunday and to have their parents care enough about them that they would bring them to church and come so that they can come and know you more Lord would you help us discern and know what it means to be set apart to help us to hear your voice and your word and Lord I pray for these children I ask that you bless them pray these things in Jesus name amen okay I got I got a little cockroach for you guys it but you have to do two things you can't eat it and you can't scare your mom

Okay well parents if your kids come back with a little cockroach be sure to take that with you don't leave it behind I know our custodian would appreciate not having to pick all those up will wonder what on Earth are we talking about on Sundays so if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to the Book of Mark we are in Mark and we are going to be in Mark until the middle of 2025 and so we're going to be taking some breaks as you know we come across like you know like Easter and Christmas that's pretty much about it maybe if some something huge happens or you know we feel led to do something but otherwise we're just going to go straight through Mark and we are talking about John the Baptist today that's where where we are talking about but before we go there I think that we should know a little bit about the author and the audience now I want you to imagine that you are a first century Christian okay you are living in the city of Rome of course is the capital of the largest and most powerful Empire in the world to that to that date the city of Rome is a literal Metropolis with a million people in it and there's roughly 25 to 45% of that population that is in ens slaved at that time now the emperor cult would have been filled with all sorts of sensualities and prostitutions and the city celebrates with circuses and with murderous battles in the Roman Roman Coliseum philosophers and Senators would debate policies and ethics while immorality just roams rampant in the streets the Pax Roma which is the Roman peace really H hits at zenith during that time and then its slow Decline and collapse in about 400 years and you are a Christian in this city and you gather in a home and in that home you hear your elders preach

They typically read from one of the prophets from the Old Testament and those Elders would expound upon how Christ is the Fulfillment of all the law and all the prophets you might sing a few hymns together you might hear encouragement and you share a meal together maybe your church has a copy of Galatians maybe your church has a copy of the Book of James because those are the only New Testament books that had been written up to that point and one day your elders they receive a letter from John Mark John Mark is one of the most famous people in the early church at that point actually you've had a chance to meet John Mark he's the one who traveled with Paul and with barn ab and they had a very public falling out it's kind of a big church controversy but from what you hear they're trying to work it out actually you learned that John Mark he's been visiting with Peter Peter is an elder at your church in Rome and apparently he's made a full retelling of Jesus's Ministry with Peter's stamp of approval and it is this letter that you received and you just cannot wait to hear about the life of Jesus Jesus Christ and so the Lord's day comes and you get to church early you and your brothers and sisters in the Lord and you're gathered together because you get to hear the story of Jesus Christ and you are excited and in fact word starts to spread about this Jesus this Jesus of Nazareth that people at this time are still talking about and you find that you have a few friends there a few neighbors that are gathered there and you know that they still worship the emperor you know they still worship false gods so you pray you pray for them you pray for God to get a hold of their heart and at that time your elders they stand up and they begin to read this earliest Gospel account the time of

This writing is about 50 to 60 AD it's the earliest part of the New Testament and looking at our copies of God's word it's important to know why these books were written and it's important to know who these letters were written to the Gospel of Mark was written to the people of Rome and so it's not going to include a whole bunch of Old Testament references it's not going to have a whole bunch of Prophecy being fulfilled it's not going to share a lot of the same parts of Matthew or Luke in fact it's not even presented chronologically the goal of Mark is to present Christ as the perfect servant and this theme is going to come up over and over and over again as we study this book and today we are going to look at the greatest man aside from Christ who ever lived and we are going to see Five Points from this passage and I started to think who are some of the heroes in the church that I would have loved to have seen at the Pinnacle of their Ministry and I mean because there are so many Shining Moments in church history of men and women who stood up who opposed the culture of their time who argued who contended for the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints I would have loved to have been in Hampton Court and there's this guy his name was Hugh laimer that's him he's a very brave man he was preaching to King Henry VII and he preached in such a way that it defended him and I would have loved to have been there on this Sunday morning when he preached and King Henry VII hated what he preached he was so angry with them that King Henry VII said you come back you preach next week and you give a public apology for what you preached about against me and so that next Sunday Hugh ladimer he addressed himself as he began to preach he said this he said Hugh laimer don't you know who you are addressing this day the h

High and mighty Monarch the king's most excellent Majesty who can take away your life if you give offense therefore be careful of what you talk about and don't give a word that may displease him but then consider well Hugh don't you know from where you come from don't you remember that you are a sent messenger a messenger from whom the Great and Mighty God who is all present who knows all your ways who is able to cast your soul into hell therefore take care that you deliver his message faithfully and then he proceeded to preach the same message from the week before just with more energy amen he was burned at steak but praise God for men and women like that I would have loved to have been at the diad of worms on April 18th 1521 when this guy Martin Luther he stood up against all the Royals all of the leaders of the church I mean you had you had Charles of maximilan Ferdinand the Catholic of Isabel the hapsburgs the Lords of burgundy of Austria of Naples of Spain the low countries even the Holy Roman Emperor are there and Johan e who is the Archbishop of Trier are questioning him ordering him to recant of his Biblical belief of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and he says I do not accept the authority of popes and counsels for they have contradicted each other my conscience is captive to the word of God I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe God helped me here I stand I can do no other amen and of course I would have loved to have seen Peter at Pentecost or perhaps when he was before the Sanhedrin when he and John said judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and what we have

Heard they were charged and warned strongly to quit preaching in the name of Jesus but that did not stop them what a day in church history that was but when I really sit down and think about it I really think that I would love to have sat down and just heard John the Baptist preach I say this for two reasons firstly Jesus said among those born of women there is no one greater than John and that's just awesome I cannot I cannot imagine Jesus saying that about me or about anyone else that I know because he said it about John was the Forerunner he was the one who prepared the way of the Lord and second John he was the herald The Herald means that he's the primary witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and in Mark's Gospel John he blow he jumps full-blown onto the front page of the story of Christ with a prophetic introduction made mostly from Malachi and Isaiah and John's story dominates the first eight verses of the Gospel and he's mentioned extensively in the other three Gospels and why is John's Ministry so effective why did Christ hold him in such high regard the answer is going to provide remarkable help in our own desires to witness so if you would please stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark chapter 1 vers 1-8 God's word says this the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God as it is written in Isaiah the prophet behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins in all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem M were going out to him and

Were being baptized by him in the River Jordan confessing their sins now John wor John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey and he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the strap of whose handles I am not worthy to stoop down and untie I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and so God we do thank you for this day thank you for corporate worship thank you for Family Worship thank you for each person that's in here God and I pray that our hearts and our minds our Spirits are receptive to what you would have to say to us through your word help us to adjust our lives according to what you have to say to us today may we be good Witnesses For Your Glory in this world that desperately needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and Lord I just pray that our lives would reflect that truth that we believe in Jesus name amen Now The Book of Mark it begins in the Greek with that word ar it's the same word if you were to read the Greek Septuagint that's the Greek version of the Old Testament in the beginning God AR it's Genesis 1:1 it's also the same word that John decides to use at the very beginning of his Gospel in the beginning AR and this one is the beginning the AR this points to the Gospel not being the work of man the Gospel is not the men but solely the good work of God towards sinners in need of a Savior it is God who Begins the work of Salvation it is God who completes the work of Salvation and this is the beginning of this work and if you're taking notes write this down I want you to note the purpose the purpose of the Book of Mark it says the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God Ry Sproul in his commentary he writes that this is the thematic statement for the entire Gospel this beginning of the Gospel it

Shows us that the arrival of John the Baptist is not by chance it's not by happen stance it's not by coincidence God he had a purpose for the arrival of John and for the timing of all things but it's that word Gospel that we like to focus in there there on right because you know for us Gospel is a very Christian word but for a news for a first century Roman reading this Gospel is not a Christian word in fact it was a very common word in the Greek and Roman world it was associated with the Cults of the emperor it was associated with battle when someone brought the news of Victory from a battle they were an evangelist because they would bring good word good news that is that Greek word Evangelion which means good news good tidings the best news you think about that and so when he uses his word the beginning of the RK Evangelion the beginning of the good news it is specifically used at that time around the emperor's birthday it was it was used by evangelists that would go around from City to City declaring the good news of The Emperor's succession and the celebration of it in fact if we look at the pr calendar this is an inscription in actually coin Greek this is from 9 BC this is about Caesar Augustus it says the birthday of the God was for the world the AR Evangelion the beginning of joyful Tidings which have been proclaimed on his account and so how would a first century Roman citizen understand these opening words these these words like Gospel good news joyful Tidings it would be understood that a new time and a new season had come into the world marked by actual historical events in Mark he is writing that it is Jesus Jesus Christ the son of God who inaugurates this new State of Affairs for mankind and so for first century Christians they believe that and we believe this that a new age had dawned

With the death with the burial with the resurrection of Jesus Christ so there's no more sacrificial systems that are required for us to be reconciled to God because Jesus satisfied all the requirements of the law all the requirements of the prophets and now Mark declares the Gospel and he's not Pres presenting a new a more fulfilling way to live our lives he's not presenting an alternate set of truths he's not giving new rules to abide by but Mark is presenting to us Jesus Christ the son of God and it is this confession that is going to get us through the halfway point of The Book of Mark in Mark chapter 8 in cesaria Philippi Jesus asks who do you say that the son of man is and Peter is the one who answers you are the Christ the son of the Living God and it doesn't end there because in Mark 15 after Christ had breathed his last and an earthquake happens and the dead are raised at that point a centurion looks at Jesus hanging on the cross and says truly this man was the son of God Point number two I want you to note the promise the promise look at verses 2 through3 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet behold I send my mess messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his path straight and it is this messenger who is John the Baptist and when we see John re interacting with the religious leaders they ask John very pointedly are you Elijah and John he says no I am not you can read all about that in John chapter 1 but then when Jesus is asked about John the Baptist whether or not he is Elijah Jesus says yes he was that you can read about that in Matthew 17 so how can we reconcile those statements well in Luke 1 we are told that John's Ministry was in the spirit and the power of Elijah it wasn't as though John the

Baptist was some form of reincarnated Elijah right so John's statement and Jesus's statement are true and John's Ministry was all about preparing ing the way for the Messiah Jesus's Ministry from the beginning of the Gospel was not about spirituality was not about mysticism wasn't about ethics or any of that sort of stuff Jesus's Ministry was about the way of Salvation and providing that way and it all happens it all begins when John the Baptist begins his ministry a little bit of history for us about John the Baptist John the Baptist was the child of an old older Godly couple she was you know outside of birthing age but Lord works his awesome Miracles and here's what it says in Luke 1: 14-1 17 it says and this is about John and you will have joy and gladness and many Will Rejoice at his birth talking about John for he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will 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 and he will 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 for the Lord a people prepared after John was born Zachariah who is his father he prophesied this he said and you child will be called the prophet of the most high for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of Salvation to his people in the Forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace and the child grew and became strong in spirit and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel the third point that I want you to note here is the

Preparation now we can clearly see God's call on John the Baptist's life we see the affirmation of family we see miraculous events if only our own lives were just hallmarked by those kind of things he's the greatest prophet of the Old Testament he was the herald of the Lord he is the one who would prepare the way but in order for him to prepare the way he would need to be prepared as well and what did this preparation look like well firstly it looked like his parents committing to raising him up to know the Lord God knew exactly what he was doing in choosing this Godly older couple to raise the one that would prepare the way for his only begotten son and so listen parents I hope that your goal is not to raise good children okay I pray that your goal is to raise Godly adults amen that's what we want that's the end result that we should be aiming for and this takes Amber and I both working together to accomplish that P purpose and some days we feel like we hit home runs and most days we don't feel like that but all of those days are the Lord's and he will accomplish his will as we submit our parenting to him and give him preeminence he takes our Frugal gifts and He blesses them and what else did this preparation look like well it took saying no to good things for the best thing John the Baptist he was raised as a Nazarite that means say he couldn't touch dead things he wouldn't wasn't able to partake in wine or grape juice raisins okay he wouldn't have cut his hair that might make some of you feel like he was unwelcome in our church if he had such long hair right I mean being a Nazarite was a major commitment Elijah Samson Samuel they all shared these same characteristics of being nazarites and each one did incredible things for the

Lord and they are heroes in the Old Testament but it also took going into the Wilderness throughout the Biblical narrative we see God using the Wilderness as a time of preparation for men for Ministry it was in the wilderness where God made his Covenant with Abram it was in the Rocky Wilderness of midan where God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush it was in the wilderness where God continued to get Egypt out of Israel because they were so steeped in that culture it was in the wilderness that Elijah rested after being chased by Wicked King Ahab it was in the wilderness that Christ first goes after being baptized Christian you are called to find the Lord in the wilderness and I don't mean skipping Church to go hunting and fishing what I mean is that men and women they used to be so desperate for the presence of God that they would forsake everything in order to find him and they wouldn't leave the Wilderness until they found him and then once they found the Lord they didn't want to leave him and what happened for John he never left the Wilderness he became a wild man for the glory of God and you look at verses four and five it says John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins and all of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the River Jordan confessing their sins this act of baptism was a unique activity because during that time you would have Gentiles that would convert to Judaism and one of the things that they would do is they would do a kind of a ceremonial cleansing but that's not the idea behind this act the idea behind this act is a full immersion that's why we are Baptists we fully immerse we don't

Sprinkle and we do it upon someone's confessing of their sins and profession of faith in Christ it's what Baptists do you don't get much more Baptist than that and at the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant what happened was that the people they were driven into the Wilderness and time and time again you had people being drawn to the Wilderness and into the desert and here at the time of preparation for the New Covenant guess where they found themselves being drawn again to the Wilderness and John he was calling them to repent to be baptized because that's the message of the Gospel still to this day repent of your sins and Trust in Christ be baptized this man was also a prophet if you're taking notes write that down look at verse six and now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate Locust and wild honey this man he was dressed like a prophet nearly identical to how Elijah would have been dressed because his ministry was in the spirit and power of Elijah when Elijah was being sought he was being hunted here's what Second Kings chapter 1 ver8 describes they answered him talking about the prophet he wore a garment of hair with a belt of leather about his waist and he said it is Elijah the tishbite John's dress and his lifestyle was so completely counter to the religious leaders of his day because they had these Gody expensive robes they had all these tassels that hung down they had these Shaws and these symbols with these boxes on their foreheads they love the attention that all of their clothing got and John is the exact opposite literally the cheapest easiest thing that he could toss on and he was John the reason why he did that was because John was totally concerned about what God thought about him he didn't care about what others

Thought about him he cared about what the Lord thought and what the Lord's expectations was of him he didn't care about the religiosity he didn't care about what people thought about separating from others and if you want to be a lover of the Lord then expect for people to think that you're weird expect for people to misunderstand you expect for people to oppose you John he was the greatest man who ever lived According To Jesus but I wonder what our church in our culture would think about him and I think Christians would think well he's just too argumentative he's not very graceful maybe he's just too contentious maybe he's too dirty we don't want him in here he's dirty maybe he's too wild weird perhaps he's too zealous I don't think that he would really fit in here do you and how sad is that how would you react to someone who is so zealous for God's glory this man he was so consumed with Zeal and preparing the way for the Lord that his heartbeat was never about his own Glory but about the Lord's own glory and this man he was wild he ate bugs he ate locusts and wild honey and he preached and that's the last point that I want us to write write down is the preaching this is what happens this is what prepares the hearts of men and women for the Gospel it is preaching it is the preaching of repentance it is the preaching against sin it is preaching against godlessness and people hate preaching because preaching offends it either offends our senses it offends our conscience and as a result people blame the preacher for preaching the religious people they came out to the wild to see this man in the desert who wasn't trained in their schools who wasn't educated by their leaders and they came out and John the Baptist preached at them and the reason why John's preaching

Was so powerful was because his whole presence embodied his message Philip Brooks he gives this wonderful definition of preaching and he says it is truth through personality in our is our description of real preaching the truth must come through the person not merely over his lips it must come through his character his affections his whole intellectual and moral being it must come genuinely through him and so John the Baptist so embodied the message of repentance that to see John the Baptist was to see repentance he was so completely set apart by the Lord that his words were his actions and they dominated his person and that is the TR the same thing is true of us if our action lives are not in line with what we say we believe then our words are meaningless I mean our words will not make an impact in The Souls of men and women unless our lives are aligned with what we say I can't tell you how many people I talk to who say oh yeah my dad was a deacon at a church or my grandpa was a deacon at the church and he was an awful alcoholic and we talk about how great the church used to be back in the day it made more two-fold sons of Hell than anyone else people they asked Jesus into their heart and then they continue to live like a demon those people are not saved we bemoon the fact that the SBC in church membership is down well you know what I'm glad it is because you know what that means it means there's less people saying that they follow Christ and more people meaning that they follow Christ if we want our witness to have an impact if we want to reach people with the Gospel then we must do what John did and humbly seek the Lord humbly seek Him and if we say that Jesus is Worthy of everything then we should be willing to

Also ask the Lord God are there things that I'm treasuring things that I have in my own heart that you need to get rid of are there attitudes are there habits are there things that I'm not dealing with Lord that you need to cut away Lord are you could you do that God we should be willing to do that what did John preach well he preached for people to repent of sins I believe that this is still the message but people they are too proud or too hard-hearted to hear that they have sins that they need to repent of and preaching is always confrontational look at what John preached in Luke Chapter oh I'm going the wrong way sorry look at what John preached in Luke chapter 3 he said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized him you brood of vipers that be that's that's a really tough opening to a sermon by the way who warned you to flee from the Wrath to come bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our Father for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire and the crowds asked him what then shall we do and he answered them Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none and whoever has food is to do likewise Tax Collectors also came to be baptized and said to him teacher what shall we do and he said to them collect no more than you are authorized to do soldiers also asked him and what shall we do and he said to them do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusations but be content with your wages notice that John he just gets straight to the heart of the issue this is what's separating you from God

It's confrontational and it's loving it's filled with grace but also law and that is the way of preaching this is the ministry of preaching to offend with the word in order that the balm of the Gospel may do its work secondly John he preached to prepare the way of the Lord what does this mean it means that reconciliation is going to happen no more will we need to do all sorts of things to find the Lord but the way to God will be made clear and that one way is Jesus Christ Jesus is the one who leveled the mountain of the law and took it away so that way we could walk the narrow path to Christ not that he abolished the law don't listen don't hear that okay he fulfilled the requirements of the law and he also brought up the valley of death but John's message is not simply to do better we've already established that John's Ministry was bigger than that and it was more God focused and more Christ honoring in fact even the message of repentance John the Baptist was looking past his ministry and looking forward to the ministry of Christ being established because that's the third thing that I preached about is that the Messiah is coming you look at verses seven and8 look at it with me and he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than I the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit now when you think of sandals sandals were the only thing in the Middle East at that time that would be appropriate Footwear okay and to walk around in sandals like your feet would be absolutely disgusting at the end of the day between the mixture of sweat between walking in a donkey DW between you know you know all the dust and dirt and everything in fact if

You had a Hebrew servant in the house they would not be allowed to in that culture to take off your shoes that was only reserved for the lowest of lowest slave in Hebrew culture which was a gentile slave and so by John saying that he was he wasn't even worthy to untie Jesus's shoelaces points to his humility and his subordination to Christ and so many people they have this I don't know picture of themselves strolling into the presence of God string even but you know what a believer's reaction is in Scripture to God it's falling down it's worship it's heartfelt gratitude it is the joy of knowing God and that Joy of knowing God is not an excuse for irreverence because God is the one who condescends to us God is the one who lifts up and we are unworthy to do anything for the Lord and yet he invites us to do so he instructs us to do so and therefore we do it with joy with humility with great CL care and gladness because he is our Savior King and he's worthy of it and what is John saying to the crowds through all of this John is saying don't get excited about me don't get excited my job is to point you to the one who is to come because he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit your Savior is coming get ready and for us the Savior has come the way has been made through Jesus's death burial and resurrection and now what will you do will you remain on the path that you have or will you do what the crowd did Will you repent of your sins will you confess your sins will you get ready for the Lord to do a mighty work and I pray so and I pray that all of our hearts will be transformed by the glory of Christ and I pray that our attitude would be the same as John the Baptist that we wouldn't consider ourselves too big or too important to get low and to Humble ourselves in the service before God and I pray that our lives would Point others to the Messiah Jesus Christ and that our lives would help others to

See the Beauty and the worthiness of Christ amen head heart hand head I want you to know that God's Plan of Redemption will not be prevented by anyone okay God's timing his plan is always perfect that extends to John the Baptist ministry it also goes for you that God's perfect plan will be done in God he uses his people to accomplish this plan so are you willing to be used by the Lord because John certainly was heart I want you to believe that God's timing is perfect God is not slow to fulfill his promises to his people and you may be frustrated with God's timing God often times makes us wait you might have a friend you might have a relative you might have a neighbor that you've been sharing the Gospel with and they haven't budged take Heart Take heart keep praying for their heart for their heart to be changed keep sharing the Gospel but keep living like the Gospel is the most important thing to you John did and I want you to keep sharing the Gospel with the lost one day the Lord will use your faithful Ministry of sharing the Gospel and we know that no one will ever be saved unless they hear the Gospel and so share it share it with courage share it with conviction share humility because John did let's pray father we ask that you would help us Lord to live with conviction like John did Lord as you testified there was no one greater who born of men other than John and Lord I just pray that you would help us to have courage and conviction and all of the stuff that goes along with that but most importantly I pray that our lives would match it Lord behind closed doors I pray that we're the same people that we are on Sunday morning

That we are on Tuesday [Music] night Lord remove the hypocrisy from our minds and our hearts and our habits God but help us to be full of zeal for you constantly consume with your glory God and help us to do our very best to submit ourselves to you we love you as we respond and worship may you be glorified today in Jesus name amen should nothing of our effort stand noive unless the Lord does raise the house in vain it Builder strive to tomor tell me what is your life amid that vishes at dawn all glory be to Christ all glory be to Christ Our King all glory be Christ his Rule and reign will ever sing all glory be to Christ all glory be to Christ Our King all Christ his Rule and R will all glory to Christ dismiss today just like Toc wild lay down your Els have there some weather coming up it's a good opportunity us to slow down in the and allow godare our ask that you open our hearts allow us have than