THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

(Part 3)

Matt. 3:17-97

Morning Meditation 9/11/16

John’s ministry was a part of God’s unfolding plan. John was a very humble man. He only claimed to be a voice. We are told how he dressed in verse 3. John would hardly be welcomed in any church today dressed like that. It is kind of amusing how preachers think in terms of presenting themselves on the platform today. They want glass pulpits and the most expensive suits to present themselves. The idea is that one does not need to hide behind a wooden pulpit. You know “We have to sell ourselves” in order to “sell our message.” Someone needs to tell them that the Christian Message is not for sale. We have the glorious privilege of giving the greatest gift that can be imagined “without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1). I really don’t think it will be long before we will see preachers with earrings to appeal to those with earrings (I’m talking about male preachers!). I think it would be a little distracting to dress like John in one of todays pulpits. God gave John his popularity and he was drawing good crowds.

Verses 5-6 say, “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” The popularity of John’s message and the number of converts was disturbing the leaders of the religious groups. Numbers were being baptized which was done in association with a confession of sin. Baptism was and is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. John came to introduce the One who would take away sin by His own death on the cross. Baptism was a profession of belief in that message. It is still a profession of faith in that message. Baptism didn’t save then or now. But anyone who professes to believe the gospel should be baptized as an outward declaration of faith in that message i.e., the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

John had a Spirit of discernment. This is brought out in verse 7: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” He called them a “generation of vipers.” He had not read Dale Carnegie’s book on How To Win Friends and Influence People. He was not standing behind a glass pulpit with a pinkie ring on his finger when he said this. A viper was a snake and this word was used to “address cunning, malignant, and wicked men” (Strong). Now we need to realize that these men were the “respected” leaders of the day. You had the fundamentalists (Pharisees) and the liberals (Sadducees) both represented when John said this. He divided the crowd right there. But it is amazing how common enemies will get together to do away with a common enemy! I do not have the Spirit of discernment. I have had many church members saved over the years and most of the time it was someone of whom I had no suspicions. John knew. And it was not just a natural intuition. God told John on them!

These “vipers,” as John called them, came for baptism! I thank the Lord we are told what John said. He told them to “Bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” I think I know some Baptist preachers that would have taken them in! They may have run them off later, but, they would have baptized them for the count! John’s message was one of repentance. The word “repentance” translates “metanoio” and means “a change of mind.” It goes something like this: “I used to believe that if you kept the outward law and the tradition of the elders, that you were right with God. But I see now that that can be a sham. You can be a hypocrite and do all that. I see now that you must have an inward change first. There must be the cleansing of the heart that issues in a change of actions” (The Pharisee would have said something like that if he had repented). John knew they had not repented. So he takes it a step further. He says in verse 8, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:” The word “meet” translates “axios” and means “equal to or corresponding to a thing.” In other words John says, “You claim to have repented. Let me observe your change before I baptize you.”

There are people who profess faith in Jesus Christ and never make any kind of a change. Their talk is the same. Their pleasures are the same. Their life style is the same. The only difference is that they go to church ... if something they like to do doesn’t interfere. If it does, they just miss that service. Some preachers cancel the services when a ball game is going on at the same time. The great reduction in church attendance is just too depressing to face. This lack of repentance also comes out when the preacher preaches against something they are doing. It is like the old lady who said amen to the preacher when he preached against smoking. She didn’t smoke. But when he got on snuff dippin’, she told him he had gone too far!

Then John goes to the root of the problem. He says in verses 9-10, “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” John knew them.. He knew what they would think as a result of the last demand that he had made. He knew they would claim superiority because of their lineage from Abraham. This made them the elite. John told them that they had made a claim that was less than nothing. He said, “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Ouch! That hurt, John. John is taking the position that they thought God owed them something because the were the seed of Abraham. John says, “All God has to do to make someone to take your place is to speak to the rocks under your feet.” John just cut them down and turned them into quadriplegics! John is not helping their PRIDE at all.

Do you know a fundamentalist who thinks he is elite because he graduated from a certain school? I mean there are a lot of schools that think they turn out elite preachers. Some schools just kind of build that into their graduates. Now this is going to hurt. But don’t look too close. There is someone passing you on the wrong side of the road (he is not doing it in the normal manner) with a message people are flocking to hear and he doesn’t even have a degree! Amen! He doesn’t even have a degree but people drive right by your church on the way to his. Is it ok with you, if God raises up a rock and makes it into a fundamentalist, that no one but God can take credit for?

Now watch what you “say.” John said, “Think not within yourselves . . .” We always try to answer things we object to in a way that lets us off the hook. Have you noticed how we always win in our imaginary life? John did not accept excuses or objections to his message. He told them the truth and at that point the ball was in their possession. We can do what we want to with the ball, but we have no control whatsoever with the result over what we do with that ball.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White