John the Baptist Part 8

VIII. John’s ministry generally had broad acceptance. MAT 3:5. A. The people were for a season willing to rejoice in his light. JOH 5:35. B. But John did not use the crafty sophistry of the religious leaders. c/w 2CO 4:2. 1. He was not a warm, fuzzy light but a burning one. JOH 5:35. 2. He did not try to zealously affect men with pretended care. GAL 4:17 c/w 2SAM 15:1-6 ct/w 1TH 2:5. 3. He was resolute, stedfast, unwavering. MAT 11:7. 4. He was not a light and treacherous preacher who soft-pedaled his message to avoid offending the hearers. ct/w ZEP 3:4. 5. He did not cater to men’s vanities with emotion-based preaching or carnal experiences. He didn’t even do miracles. JOH 10:41. 6. He was very much what a modern Baptist preacher should be: frank, diligent, stedfast, fact-oriented, Scripture-oriented, practical, honest, without miracles, dunking only penitent believers and giving Christ preeminence. C. He knew what he was dealing with and called men out for what they were in spite of potential backlash. 1. He called the religious leaders a “...generation of vipers...” (MAT 3:7). 2. He called the multitude a “...generation of vipers...” (LUK 3:7); it was an “...adulterous and sinful generation...” (MAR 8:38). 3. He did not excuse the publicans because of their civic duty or the harlots because they were victims of circumstances or bad choices. MAT 21:32. 4. He did not let Herod’s veneration for him stop him from reproving Herod. MAR 6:17-18. D. Though he himself followed a restricted regimen of food and drink (LUK 7:33), he never demanded that his converts must do likewise. 1. If someone has conscience issues about using wine for communion because John never drank wine, it should be noted that he also didn’t eat bread. 2. NOTE: we should not callously violate conscience but conscience can be both misled by false assumptions and also relieved by truth. Conscience is a guide but the truth of God’s words is the best guide. PSA 119:128. E. Consider how practical John was in his instruction to humbled folk in various walks. LUK 3:10-14. 1. He affirmed discretionary charity to the desperate for the needs of the body. v. 11 c/w ISA 58:7; JAM 2:15-17. 2. He did not force the publicans to quit their work, only to purify it. vs. 12-13. 3. He did not forbid soldiers their service but to do no violence (The exercise of physical force so as to inflict injury on, or cause damage to, persons or property; action or conduct characterized by this; treatment or usage tending to cause bodily injury or forcibly interfering with personal freedom) nor resort to graft. v. 14. 4. However, we do not read of where John permitted harlots to continue their walk. a. harlot: 1. A vagabond, beggar, rogue, rascal, villain, low fellow, knave. In later use (16–17th c.), sometimes a man of loose life, a fornicator; also, often, a mere term of opprobrium or insult. Obs. b. harlot: 5. Applied to a woman. a. As a general term of execration. (Cf. 1.) rare. b. A female juggler, dancing-girl, ballet-dancer, or actress. (Cf. 2.) Obs. c. spec. An unchaste woman; a prostitute; a strumpet. c. John would have some choice words about current women’s standards. c/w 1TI 2:9-10. d. John’s reproof of Herod was also a reproof of Herodias. MAR 6:19. 5. Nothing about John’s ministry implied isolation from society as necessary. F. Consider John’s message to the multitude. LUK 3:7-9. 1. “...who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (v. 7). a. John would have known about the 70th week of DAN 9:26-27 which spoke of the utter destruction of Jerusalem, etc. b. That wrath came to the uttermost. LUK 21:23 c/w 1TH 2:16. c. “wrath to come is not meant hell fire, everlasting destruction, from which baptism could not save them; but temporal calamity and destruction, the wrath which in a little time came upon that nation to the uttermost, for rejecting the Messiah, and the Gospel dispensation; from which they might have been saved, had they given credit to Jesus as the Messiah, though only with a bare assent; and had they entered into the kingdom of heaven, or Messiah, the Gospel dispensation, by receiving its doctrines, and submitting to its ordinances, though only externally.” (John Gill on MAT 3:7). d. The future “...great day of his wrath...” (REV 6:13-17) is only escaped because Jesus Christ Himself has delivered us from it. 1TH 1:10; 5:9. 2. John denounced any notion of descent from Abraham as being a substitute for repentance. v. 8. a. This was a vain conceit of the religious leaders also (JOH 8:33-40) and remains a stumblingblock unto this day to Jews and deluded Christians. b. “The God that had called Israel out of Egypt and led it across the Jordan River was now creating a new people by passing them through the waters of baptism in that same river. The twelve stones that had been set up to mark Israel's crossing of the parted Jordan (Josh. 4) would themselves be raised up into twelve new tribes if the people of Israel would not repent.” (Walter Wink, The Oxford Companion to the Bible, pp. 371-372) 3. Repentance, faith and baptism to walk in newness of life were the identifiers of the kingdom of God that John was introducing. c/w ROM 14:17-18. 4. Compare the chopping of v. 9 with LUK 13:1-9. Israel was due to be chopped down by the end of Jesus’ ministry but God gave it a little more time to bring forth the fruits of repentance. G. John’s conversation was so holy and his message so profound that the people wondered if he might be the promised Messiah/Christ but he ever affirmed that he was only a bit-player to introduce the Christ. LUK 3:15-18. H. The Jews sent a committee of Pharisee Levites and priests to query John. JOH 1:19-25. 1. They had expectations of three notable characters potentially appearing: Christ, Elias, that prophet. a. The Christ was prophesied of pointedly in PSA 2 and DAN 9. b. Moses had declared a special miracle-working prophet to come. DEUT 18:18-19. c. Elijah did not die (2KI 2:11) and was expected to reappear, per MAL 4:5. 2. John denied that he was any of those, which prompted the committee to ask, “...Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?” (v. 25). They evidently associated a watery rite like John’s with major players and changes. 3. The Jews had a number of notable “immersions” in their history and scriptures to lead them to this association. a. The Flood was an obvious immersion which began a new era. b. Moses “baptized” Israel through the Red Sea unto a new era. 1CO 10:1-2. c. Joshua “baptized” Israel through Jordan unto a new era. JOS 3:14-17. John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 14  d. Elijah divided Jordan to pass through it in another virtual immersion and be translated. 2KI 2:7-11. 4. Whatever they were reasoning about John was likely tied to the concept of immersion in water indicating a great change. And it should! ROM 6:4. John the Baptist 6-29-25 Page 15