Prophetic Roots of John's Ministry

Introduction: John's Ministry as the Beginning of the Gospel

0:06 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, August 7th, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:19 Now may I encourage you to follow in your own Bibles as I read this morning from the Gospel according to Mark, Mark's Gospel, Chapter 1, and the first eight verses. Mark's Gospel, Chapter 1, verses 1 through 8. The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way.

1:02 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John came, who baptized in the wilderness, and preached the baptism, the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and wild honey.

1:41 And he preached, saying, There comes after me he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I baptized you in water, but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

2:03 In our study of the Word of God last Lord's Day morning, we considered together verse 1 of Mark's Gospel, this verse that constitutes in a very general way an introduction to the entire Gospel, but more specifically, an introduction to the ministry of John the Baptist. Now it's evident, I'm sure, if you were listening and following to the reading of this opening paragraph, that it does indeed focus upon the ministry of John the Baptist. And yet Mark introduces that ministry with the words, The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And we saw in our study last Lord's Day, that John's ministry does indeed mark the beginning of the actual historical manifestation of the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And in that sense, John's ministry constitutes the beginning of the good news concerning this great and glorious person, Jesus Christ, who is none other than God's only, begotten Son. Having looked at John's or Mark's introductory words with respect to the ministry of John the Baptist,

3:29 we begin this morning to open up the verses that set before us the ministry of John. Now because we will be studying for several weeks the ministry of John, this is not a contradiction of what we'd said last Lord's Day. Mark tells us that this is the beginning of the good news which focuses upon Jesus Christ. He no sooner writes that than he turns our attention to John.

3:58 Now is that a contradiction? Not at all. Because the Christ of Scripture had to be preceded by the ministry of John. And if John had not ministered, we would have reason to question whether the Jesus Christ of Mark's Gospel was indeed the Christ promised in the Old Testament Scriptures.

4:24 So this is not a contradiction. This is not a forgetting of the major theme and a turning aside from that central focus upon Jesus Christ to John. For the Christ of the Bible is the Christ who must be preceded by the ministry of John as we shall see in our study this morning. And furthermore, we cannot long, contemplate the ministry of John, but what John points us back to Jesus.

4:54 For again and again in the ministry of John, he constantly points away from himself and declares, I am only a voice. And I'm a voice whose voice cries, look to the Lamb of God. Look to Him who gives the Holy Spirit. Look to Him, the one mightier than I, the one who alone, is the focal point of the hopes and aspirations of needy sinners.

Structure of Mark 1:2-8: Prophetic Roots, Summary, and Details

5:25 Well, with that general word before us, let us concentrate our attention this morning upon this paragraph beginning with verse 2 and following in which the ministry of John the Baptist is set before us. Let me give you an idea of the overall structure of the paragraph and then we will zero in upon the first segment of that structure. In verses 2 and 3, we have what I am calling the prophetic or the Old Testament roots of John's ministry. No sooner does Mark say the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but he writes, even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet.

6:10 And in so doing, he demonstrates the prophetic or Old Testament roots upon which the ministry of John the Baptist grew. Then in verses 4 and 5, we have what I am calling a summary description of John's ministry. Notice how we have this very brief Mark-like description in summary form. And there went out unto him all the country of Judea, and they of Jerusalem were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

6:45 Here we have a summary statement of the response to his ministry, verse 4, the essence of that ministry. And then in verses 6 to 8, we have some additional details concerning John himself and his ministry. And there we have the details about how he dressed, what he ate, and more details about what he preached. So the organizing principle of the paragraph is very plain on the surface of the text.

7:16 The prophetic roots of John's ministry, a summary description of John's ministry, and some additional details concerning John and his ministry. Now this morning, we'll zero in only on the prophetic or Old Testament roots of John's ministry. Verses 2 and 3. Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Connection and Problem of the Prophetic Quotations

7:58 And as we attempt to open up the words, notice first of all the connection of these words with verse 1. The sentence begins with the words even as it is written. And with the words even as we are driven back to verse 1. Mark wrote, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as it is written.

8:27 In other words, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ identified with the ministry of John the Baptist is even as it was predicted in the Old Testament. If we come to the gospel of Mark with the question, is the Jesus of Mark's gospel the Jesus Christ promised throughout all of the Old Testament scriptures, Mark tells us in his opening words, we will not be disappointed as he sets before us a Savior who comes even as it was written of him in the Old Testament prophecies. And that's the connection you see between verses 1 and 2. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is even as God said it would begin, namely with the ministry of this voice in the wilderness, this messenger who would go before the face of the Lord. So much then for the connection of verse 1 and the verses we're examining this morning. Now notice

9:45 the problem connected with these verses. And the Bible, does give us problems. Mark says, even as it is written in Isaiah, the prophet, but if you read Isaiah from chapter 1 all the way through to chapter 66, you will nowhere find the words of verse 2, behold I send my messenger before thy face who shall prepare thy way. You would have to read all the way over into the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, to chapter 3 and verse 1, and then you would find these words.

10:22 There God makes a prophecy through the prophet Malachi that the messenger of the covenant would be preceded by one who would go before him. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face who shall prepare thy way. Then verse 3 is a direct quote from the book of Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness make ye ready, the way of the Lord make his paths straight.

10:54 And as we have in the gospel of Luke chapter 3, John apparently even went on, I'm sorry, Luke even went on and quoted further from Isaiah 40, every valley shall be filled up, every mountain made low, the crooked places plain, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Well, now we have a problem. Did Mark have a lapse of memory? He said, at the beginning of the gospel, even as Isaiah prophesied, and then he gives us a sentence out of Malachi before he gives us this verse out of Isaiah.

11:30 Well, if someone comes to the Bible with the bias of skepticism and unbelief, they say, aha, see, the Bible's full of mistakes. Here's one right in the opening words of Mark's gospel. How can you trust anything this man says? In his opening words, he makes a blunder that even a child can see.

11:49 He said, Isaiah said it. Isaiah didn't say it. It was Malachi who said half of it. So the best we can hope for is half truth.

11:58 Well, you see, when you approach the scriptures with the bias of unbelief, you can come to conclusions like that. But you see, if you approach the scriptures with the bias of faith, you need come to no such conclusion because there is a pattern of citing scripture references in the Bible itself that is very parallel to this in other places in which the biblical writers will cite one or more, sometimes two, sometimes three references, but only refer to one of the original authors of that reference, and generally, the major author. If they are quoting minor portions, a major prophet and a minor prophet, a major author and a minor author, this will be the pattern of quotations. So what Mark does, is not different from what we find in other portions of the word of God. Some of you concerned to look into those matters in greater detail, I commend Hendrickson's Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, page 34, that's in our church library. Any one of you is welcome to take it out and read it.

13:08 But as one author has very humorously but accurately said, Mark promises us one quote from Isaiah, and he gives us two, one from Malachi as well, and he gives us two, one from Malachi as well, and he gives us two, one from Malachi as well, why should we complain? If someone promises us a quote from Isaiah, and adds to it a quote from Malachi, who are we to complain? Well, I say the bias of faith approaches a passage like that, for it's really the burden of Mark, is not the emphasis of Malachi's quotation, but the burden is the quotation from the prophet Isaiah, that's the part that he wishes to emphasize, but the burden is the quotation from the prophet Isaiah, that's the part that he wishes to emphasize, and typical Mark fashion, he passes, as it were, very quickly from the vestibule of that reference out of Malachi, to the heart of his concern, which is the quotation from the prophet Isaiah, pertaining to this voice of one crying in the wilderness. So there is a problem in the text, I'm not ignorant of the problem, but approaching it in the bias of faith, but approaching it in the bias of faith, it is no stumbling block to my faith, and I trust it will not be to yours. Now having looked briefly at the connection of the words, the problem of the words, now, what is the meaning of these words? Well, you will notice in verse two,

Meaning of the Prophetic Words: Preparing the Way for the Lord

14:35 that there is one dominant point of emphasis, and likewise in verse three. The dominant point of emphasis in verse two, is that God promised in the Old Testament, is that God promised in the Old Testament, to send a messenger before the face of the messenger of the covenant, who would essentially perform one function. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way. That's the dominant note in this quotation from Malachi.

15:13 One would go before the way of the messenger of the covenant, to prepare the way of the messenger of the covenant, to prepare his way. God will send a messenger, small m, to prepare the way of the messenger of the covenant, capital M. And then the great emphasis of Isaiah's quote is this, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ye ready the way of the Lord. So the dominant emphasis is, that there would be a voice, crying in the wilderness, that the way of God would be prepared.

15:55 Now in those words, there is contained a graphic ancient Eastern imagery. And if you and I lived in Bible days, we would have understood it immediately. When a monarch decided to visit one of the cities in his kingdom, or one of the villages, among the many things he would do, would be to send a messenger, before him, to announce to that city or village to which he purposed to come, that the monarch was coming. And because he would come with all of his royal entourage, riding upon his chariot, those crude roads would have to have special preparation for his coming.

16:39 And so the messenger would go out before the monarch, and cry out, the king is coming, prepare his way. And in the, vivid imagery of Isaiah 40, the valleys, that had come through erosion would have to be filled up. The high places would have to be leveled. The stones and boulders that had worked their way to the surface would have to be removed.

17:03 There would have to be some highway construction and repair, if the king was to come, unimpeded to ride in all of his regal glory, into that town, that village, or that city. And that's the imagery picked up by the prophet. I send my messenger before thy face, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Now John was very conscious that this was precisely his role and his function.

17:40 That he was a herald, he was a messenger of God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, sent before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, God, to say to the nation of Israel, God in Christ is coming upon the chariot of His grace and power. Prepare the way of the Lord.

John's Conscious Awareness of His Prophetic Role

18:09 He was conscious of this, no doubt, because of the instruction received from his own parents. For at John's conception, this was marked out as his specific function. Turn to Luke chapter 1. Do you remember the story of aged Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John?

18:34 Though she had passed through the change of life, and Zacharias was an old man, and from the human side all hoped that they would ever bear a child was gone, God visits them in the person of an angel and announces that Elizabeth shall be with child, and God speaks a word about the peculiar and special nature of the ministry that that child will have. Luke's Gospel chapter 1, verses 16 and 17. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God. He shall go before his face.

19:12 He shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him. So at the very announcement that Elizabeth would conceive, this clear word marking out John's function is given to Zacharias, his father. He shall go before the Lord to prepare a people for him. Then when he's actually born, we find that note coming through again later on in Luke chapter 1.

19:55 Notice, Notice, verse 76.

19:59 Yes, and you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways. You see that emphasis again. To prepare a people for the Lord, you shall go before his face to make ready his ways. So that when John came to maturity, was set apart, was set apart for his ministry, and people come and ask him, Who are you?

20:32 What is your own conscious sense of your identity in the purpose of God? John had no question about his identity. John chapter 1 and verse 23.

20:44 Verse 22 records the question that they asked him. Are you Elijah? I am not. Are you the prophet?

20:51 He answered no. They said unto him, Who are you? That we may give an answer to him that sent us. What do you say of yourself?

21:01 Men are saying all kinds of things about you, John. Some wonder if you're this, if you're that. Who do you say that you are? What is your own conscious awareness of your identity and function?

21:12 Notice how clear his answer is given in verse 23. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet. Now could words be clearer?

21:32 John was not at all mistaken as to his identity. And his identity is bound up particularly in this quotation from Isaiah. That's why I said that was Mark's main concern, the focal point of his mind, and he would draw us not so much to the Malachi prophecy, but through the Malachi prophecy to the prophecy of Isaiah in which we have a doubt. But I would say that John, the whole identity and function of John, he is but a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Relevance Part 1: Fundamental Unity of Old and New Testaments

22:12 Now then, having looked at the connection of these words with the first verse, having addressed briefly the problem, having opened up briefly the meaning of the words, now this is the heart of our meditation this morning. What is, the relevance of all of this to us? What is the significance of these words? And I have but two parts to the answer of that question.

22:40 First of all, these verses in Mark's gospel constitute an assertion of the fundamental unity between the Old and the New Testaments. They constitute an assertion of the fundamental unity between, between the Old and the New Testaments. Now most commentators are very quick to point out that there is only one direct quotation of the Old Testament in all of Mark's gospel that comes directly from Mark's pen as an editorial comment. As we go through the gospel of Mark, we'll find many times when Jesus is quoted as quoting the Old Testament. Mark will say, and Jesus said, and in giving us an account of the words of Jesus, there will be many references to Old Testament scripture. But in Mark's actual editorial comments, this is the only place in the entire 16 chapters where Mark himself quotes from the Old Testament. Now you'll remember in our background study that we concluded that Mark was writing primarily, primarily for Gentile readers, particularly Romans.

24:04 Unlike Matthew, who was writing primarily to the Jews, and Matthew again and again says, this happened, this was said, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled. He quotes passage after passage from the Old Testament by way of editorial comment. Mark does not do that. He is not writing primarily to Jews.

24:26 He's writing primarily to Gentiles, and more specifically, to Romans. But in his opening words, he gives this direct quotation from the Old Testament. Why? Because Mark is concerned to highlight this fundamental principle that if his gospel is about Jesus Christ,

24:51 we must understand at the outset, even though we be Gentiles with very little acquaintance with the Old Testament, that the Christ who comes, comes to us out of the womb of the New Testament Scriptures, is the Christ of whom we learn in the Old Testament Scriptures, and they are one and the same Christ. And the Old Testament Scriptures said of Christ that He would not come until, first of all, a herald went out into the wilderness crying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. God had prophesied that Messiah would not come, unannounced, that there would be one to go before Him, performing that function of a herald, crying out to men, Prepare in the desert a highway for our God. And Mark then is concerned to assert in no uncertain terms the fundamental unity between the Old and the New Testaments. He's doing exactly what the Apostle Paul does in the opening verse. In the verses of the book of Romans, Paul is writing to Rome, to the church at Rome, made up of Jews and Gentiles, but it was essentially a Gentile city.

26:17 And notice how he begins. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets, in the holy scriptures concerning his Son. You see how the language is very familiar to Mark? The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's Son, even as it is written in the prophet.

26:49 So this gospel concerning Jesus Christ, Son of God, has its tap roots inseparably bound up with the whole flow of Old Testament teaching, and prophecy. And therefore, these words of Mark constitute an assertion of the fundamental unity that exists between the Old and the New Testaments. You say, Pastor Martin, I see the point, but why labor it? Well, for several very practical reasons.

27:26 First of all, when we approach the scriptures, we must always approach them with the conviction of this, and the conviction of this, essential unity between the Old and the New Testament. We must never approach the scriptures as though the New Testament cancels the Old, or that the Old towers over the New. Many of you have heard that little couplet. The New is in the Old contained, and the, I'm sorry, the concealed and the Old, is in the New revealed.

28:07 The New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed. There's this interpenetration. And should we expect it to be other than that? It is the one God, revealing the one redemption, that focuses in His one Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

28:30 And in all of our approach to the scripture, though we see advancement and progress, and we see progression, and we see certain things dropping along the way, as there is that advancement and progression of revelation, we must never adopt an approach to scripture that would fragment the Old from the New and separate them in that living bond that exists as the one word of the living God to men and for our salvation. And furthermore, it gives us a great principle in our life, in our witnessing. What's happened to those of you who've gone out into this neighborhood, going door to door? You've made a discovery, have you not?

29:14 That this community has more than an average amount of people living in it who are of Jewish background and have some degree of adherence to one form or another of the Jewish faith. Now here's a great principle to help you in your witness. You do not come to present to them a Christ, who is a witness, who is a negation of their Old Testament scriptures. You come to present to them a Christ who perfectly fits everything their Old Testament would lead them to expect, if only they would read it.

29:53 But alas, most of our Jewish friends are ignorant of their Old Testament scriptures. But you have every warrant to do what Mark did. He's writing a gospel account for Gentiles. But he starts out as a Christian.

Relevance Part 2: Fundamental Principle of Spiritual Experience

30:06 But he starts out with the Old Testament, the beginning of the gospel as it is written in Isaiah the prophet. And he gives us a wonderful model of what we can do in witnessing to those who say, well, I have my religion embedded in the Old Testament. And we take them to the Old Testament and show them how that the Christ who came after the announcement of John is the Christ who indeed fits all of the prophetic utterances that went before him in the Old Testament scriptures. But then these verses not only contain an assertion of that fundamental unity between the Old and the New Testaments, but then they also articulate a fundamental principle of spiritual experience. They articulate a fundamental principle of spiritual experience. Don't you think it's strange? And it struck me in my preparation this week that the Lord Jehovah Incarnate, Jesus Christ, God's Son, should need a messenger, a mere human being, John the Baptist, to prepare His way for Him.

31:26 Why does God Incarnate need a voice in the wilderness to prepare His way? What can a mere man, John, do that the Son of God can't? Doesn't that strike you as strange? If it had said that Jesus went to prepare the way for John, that would make sense.

31:48 But it says John comes to prepare the way for Jesus. Does God need a man to prepare His way? Thou, child, shall go before His face to make ready a people prepared for Him. Doesn't that strike you as strange?

32:07 Or have I got a funny kink in my brain that I'm the only one that thinks that's strange? Well, you see, there is bound up in all of this a profound spiritual principle, a principle of spiritual experience. And it is this. Here's the principle.

32:25 The people of God in Israel were in a state of religious decadence. They were held in the grip of formalism and lethargy and externalism. And if they were to have any appreciation for the ministry of Christ, They needed this strange Elijah-like man to come and blast them out of their state of spiritual lethargy and dullness and complacency. They needed this strange man to appear in the wilderness who began to cry out like the man who went before the king, all of the boulders of formalism and hypocrisy must be removed and all of the valleys of duties omitted and great scriptural commands and demands neglected must be filled up in the great mountains of pride and arrogance and religious ostentation and smugness. They must all be leveled. You see, it was only when people were shaken and in a sense shocked by the stinging ministry of this man that they would be brought to the place, the place of awareness that they needed what was to come in the person and work and ministry of Jesus Christ himself.

33:53 And when you read the parallel accounts of the ministry of John the Baptist, you see what a stinging, conscience-smiting ministry he had. He didn't play games. He drew attention not merely by his funny dress and his funny food. He'd pull off the wings.

34:11 He'd eat them. That's enough to attract anybody's attention, isn't it? And he was dressed in his rough, hairy garment and had funny diet. But whatever may have brought people out of curiosity to see this man in his funny clothing and funny diet, once they got close enough to his voice, all the fun stopped.

34:33 This man turned and said, You generation of snakes, you vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? And John went after their convicts. consciences. And John knew what it was to take the word of God and apply it closely to the consciences of men. What was he doing? According to the very prophecies given before his conception and at his birth, he was preparing the people for the Lord. And what was that preparation? That preparation was not involving people in more anti-ritual. It wasn't telling them to go back to Jerusalem and do a little bit more at the temple and offer a few more sacrifices. No, no. He cut through all of the ritual and all of the formalism, and he had a message which laid bare the tragic state of their hearts. And he said, though you think yourselves externally pure and clean and part of the nation that is clean and pure, you must come and undergo this humbling, watery rite. You must acknowledge that, just like pagan Gentiles, you are unclean and you must undergo an inward spiritual bath borne witness to in this external physical water bath. That was shocking stuff to be preaching to those people. And yet it was all part and parcel of the fulfillment of this prophecy. A voice

36:01 crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. And therein is contained a fundamental principle. The principle of spiritual experience. Here it is in a nutshell. Until you are blasted from your pillows of complacency and self-contentment, Jesus Christ will mean nothing to you. He'll mean nothing to you as long as all is well because you've got the right rituals. As long as you think all is well because you go through form and ceremony. Jesus Christ, yourself can do nothing for you. He said it in these words, I did not come to call the

36:51 righteous, but sinners to repent, those that are well have no need of a doctor, have the Lord Jesus come directly without His. For runner without this voice crying in the wilderness. We saw this morning in our reading in Matthew 10, He had enough opposition as it was. But had He come directly on the human Inside we wonder if any would have heard his voice, but because John went before and in the power and spirit of Elijah preached so as to prick the consciences of men, to pull off the veneer, to lay bare, as it were, the open running sores of their sinfulness.

37:35 When that John said one day, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, one can only imagine what good news that was to people who had attended faithfully and with perception and faith upon the ministry of John. One can only imagine how their consciences must have been rubbed raw and they felt the stinging painful awareness that we are sinners. Where can we turn? Where can we go for relief? And John says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Oh, what good news for a heart prepared by the ministry of the forerunner.

Application: Have You Known God's 'John the Baptist'?

38:24 Now, my friend, let me press it home to your conscience. Have you ever known God's John the Baptist speaking to you? You know what I mean by that question? I don't mean, have you seen a man dressed in a hairy garment, eating locusts, who came to you in a vision of the night? But I am saying, has God brought a set of circumstances, an individual, a book?

38:51 He can use any number of things to be his forerunner, to be his John the Baptist, to come to us in the midst of our complacency, in the midst of our smugness. In the midst of our religious pride and self-satisfaction that all is well and God can disturb us, bring us to the place where we begin to cry out, where shall I flee? Where shall I go? What can I do with this wicked, sinful heart and these sins that cannot be taken away by more ritual and more form and more ceremony? I need something more than what I presently have.

39:34 And I know it. For it's not to be found in myself. My friend, have you ever known what it is to be thus disturbed by God? The most wonderful thing God can ever do to a smug, self-satisfied sinner is begin to use anything at his disposal to blast that smugness.

39:58 And though it's the last thing we want, for few things are more painful upon the face of the earth than Holy Spirit conviction of sin. To see that everything I've trusted in is nothing before God, just like those people that came to John's baptism. They were trusting in their heritage, trusting in their form, trusting in their rituals, and he cut through all of that. And he said, none of that will do until you manifest that you've had a change at the very seat of your being, and it's manifested in the total pattern of your life.

40:31 He said, God will consume you in the fires of his anger and wrath. The axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down, cast into the fire. Oh, my dear friend, sitting here this morning, do you understand in your own experience what I'm talking about?

40:52 Or do you sit there saying, what in the world is that crazy preacher going on about? Do you understand what it is? Can you look to the time and circumstances that God used to disturb you? To blast?

41:06 To blast all of your pillows of complacency? To drive you out of yourself to the place where you were prepared to acknowledge that your only hope for life and salvation was to be found in Jesus Christ? That was John's ministry. Just a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.

41:31 Just a voice, the messenger sent before the face of... Incarnate Jehovah, prepare his way.

41:41 That principle is true down to this very hour, though God will not send a John the Baptist to us again. He did it once for all in history to validate that Jesus was indeed the Christ of God. But that principle is a recurring cycle of spiritual experience. And it's not only true when God lays hold of us initially.

42:05 It's true of his continuous dealings with us. Because you see, so easily, we as the people of God become complacent. We get into patterns where we pat ourselves on the back and we feel all is well. Things that once were difficult disciplines we now do without thinking.

42:24 And we not only do them without thinking, we do them without heart. And we become smug and we become complacent. And what does God do to make Christ precious to us again? He blasts us.

42:36 He pricks our pillows. And he goes after us to get us to the place again where our hearts thirst and pant for the water of life. And where our spiritual systems are hungry afresh for the bread of life. And where nothing but Jesus Christ himself can satisfy our hearts.

43:02 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where does it begin? In actual history it begins. With the messenger sent before the face of our Lord.

43:15 With the voice crying in the wilderness. Even as God had promised and prophesied in the Old Testament scriptures. And thereby Mark asserts this basic unity between the Old and the New Testaments. He also articulates a fundamental principle of spiritual experience.

43:38 May God grant that the message. Of the messenger of the Lord. Will find its root in our hearts. And that we too may know the blessedness of beholding the Lamb of God.

43:51 Who takes away the sin of the world. Let us pray. Our Father we thank you for this portion of your holy word. We thank you for the ministry of John the Baptist.

44:13 His faithfulness to his calling. His refusal to be made drunk. His refusal to be made drunk. His refusal to be made drunk.

44:20 His refusal to be made drunk. With pride when men even were prepared to wonder if he were the Christ. We thank you that he knew his place. And he stuck to his mission.

44:31 And we pray that you would give us the same understanding of our place. With the same determination to stick to that place. With all of our might and all of our determination. We pray oh God that you would deal with those.

44:50 With all of our might and all of our determination. And we pray oh God that you would deal with those. Who like the multitudes of Israel at that time. Who like the multitudes of Israel at that time.

44:55 May be locked in complacency and smugness. That your word would lay bare their deep need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lay bare to them that their only hope is to be found in your Son. We thank you again for your word.

45:16 And pray that you will write it upon our hearts. We commend to you your people. the remainder of this day, and ask that in it we may know the joy of communion with Yourself, joyful fellowship one with another, and may this Lord's Day be one in which we are refreshed in our fellowship with You, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.