Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

For the last month now, we have been soaking ourselves here in the gospel of Matthew and looking at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and His miraculous birth.

Then, we looked at the immediate events after His birth and the call that God had placed upon the life of Joseph to raise the Son of God and protect Him.

We have seen the providence of God in the fact that He sent wise men with gifts to prepare Joseph for a trip he didn’t even know he was about to take.

We also seen the omniscience and omnipotence of God in action by telling Joseph to take his family and go to Egypt for Herod would try to kill them.

He delivered Joseph and the family from the snares of Satan over and over again many different times.

We left off in Chapter 2 with Jesus more than likely being a young toddler and now we are about to jump ahead some 25-30 years to the beginning of Christ’s ministry.

We it comes to the rest of Jesus life, know very little about the childhood of Jesus.

One of the only stories we have of His childhood was when Jesus was 12 years old.

His family had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of the passover and when they left, Jesus somehow sneaks away unawares to Joseph and Mary.

After traveling a whole day’s journey away from Jerusalem, Joseph and Mary finally realize that He’s not among them and their family and so they turn back to Jerusalem to find Him.

After three days of searching, they find Jesus, at twelve years of age mind you, sitting in the temple, listening and disputing with the doctors of the law and the Bible says that all who heard Jesus, even at the ripe young age of twelve years old, were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Mary upon finding Him says, “Son why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been frantically searching everywhere for you!”

To which Jesus calmly replies, “why did you need to search?

Didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?”

I mean, could you imagine Mary’s reaction?

I’m sure she was hot!

If that had of been my mama, she wouldn’t even have asked any questions!

She would of asked daddy for his belt and commenced to spanking!

From this point, the Bible simply says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man and that’s it!

One little glimpse into this exquisite twelve year old’s life and then we fast forward another 18 years to the day He pops onto the scene to be baptized by John the baptizer at the ripe young age of 30 years old which is who and what the focus of our text is going to be on today.

Because you see, before the ministry of Christ, came the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ!

John MacArthur — In chapter 1 Jesus' kingship is shown by his birth—by His descent from the royal line of David and by His miraculous conception.

In chapter 2 His kingship is shown by the circumstances surrounding His birth—by the homage of the magi, the hatred of Herod, and God's miraculous protection of the young Jesus.

Now we are shown the evidence through the herald who announced the King's arrival.

The greatest man who had yet lived was primarily so because he was herald of the Messiah, the One who was greater still.

His greatness was related to his calling.

In ancient times it was common for a herald to precede the arrival of the monarch, to announce his coming and to prepare for his safe and proper travel.

With a coterie of servants, the herald would make sure that the roadway was as smooth and uncluttered as possible.

Holes would be filled, rocks and debris would be removed, and unsightly litter would be burned or hidden.

As the group traveled along and worked, the herald would proclaim the king's coming to everyone he encountered.

His twofold duty was to proclaim and to prepare.

That is what John's ministry did for God's great King, Jesus Christ.

And so today, we are going to spend a few minutes looking into the ministry of the forerunner of our Lord for it was very important to the ministry of Jesus.

If you have your Bible’s turned to Matthew Chapter 3 please say, Amen.

The Messenger

The Personage of John

Who exactly was John the Baptist?

Matthew’s gospel does not tell us a whole lot but if you flip over to Brother Luke’s, you will find a great deal about the man before us today.

John the Baptist was born to parents Zacharias and Elisabeth.

Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abia and his wife Elisabeth was of the daughters of Aaron.

The Bible tells us they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless!

From all accounts, we would say today that Zacharias and Elisabeth were very dedicated Christians when it come to the work and will of God.

The problem for them though was that Elisabeth was barren.

They were both well up in years the Bible says and that they could not have children.

One day, while Zacharias was in the temple performing his priestly duties, he gets a visit from the angel Gabriel who tells him that they are going to have a son and then he says this about the child’s ministry...

After the child was born, the Bible says that the hand of the Lord was with him and that his father Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost prophesied of his son saying...

Then the Bible says of John that the child grew and waxed strong in the spirit and was in the deserts until he began his public ministry to Israel which is where we pick up here in the gospel of Matthew.

As the prophet Elijah leaped onto the pages of literature in 1 Kings 17 with a message from the Lord for King Ahab, John the son of Zacharias, leaps into our story with a word from God for anyone who would listen!

Just as the great prophet Elijah preached with fire and fervor, the forerunner of Christ did much of the same!

It was a message that fired some up and caused others to flee because of it’s mighty call to personal repentance!

Chuck Swindoll — With John the Baptizer, it was “what you see is what you get.”

He was raw, authentic, real.

He didn’t spiff himself up, put on a flowing white robe, and craft scripted sermons to be sensitive to the seekers.

He didn’t avoid words like sin, repent, or even judgment and fire!

He didn’t care what people thought of him, what he wore, or what he ate (3:4).

And he certainly didn’t adjust his message to accommodate influential or wealthy members of his audience.

He had one mission—to preach the message God gave him to preach.

And he fulfilled that mission faithfully until he was beheaded by Herod Antipas somewhere around 28-29 AD.

Josephus writes that the reason for John’s beheading was because of...

"the great influence John had over the people", which might persuade John "to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise)" — Wikipedia

This was undoubtedly an influence given over the people by God to point the people towards His dear Son but the death of John didn’t catch Him or God off guard for He knew from the beginning of his ministry that he was the forerunner and as he stated in...

Satan may have thought he scored by using Herod to take out John but what he didn’t know is that one, he was doing John a favor and two, John’s early departure was all part of God’s master succession plan.

And because of his faithfulness, Jesus said of His forerunner in...

Matthew 11:11 (KJV 1900)

Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Of all the major and minor prophets, priests and kings alike up to this point, there had not come a single person greater than John the Baptist!

A man whose entire life, from even before his birth, was dedicated to the turning of people from their sins to serve the living God!

Now, that we know a little more detail about The Person of John the Baptist, let us now look at the Prophecy Concerning John.

The Prophecy Concerning John — (Vs. 3)

One way we can know that the ministry of the forerunner of the Christ was an important one is because it was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah some 700 years before John the Baptist was even born.

Look at Verse 3 here.

This specific prophesy was referenced in...

There are so many things about this prophecy that are brought to fruition in the ministry of John.

The prophecy references one who is crying in the wilderness.

Well, guess where John’s ministry took place?

Look at Verse 1.

Where was he preaching?

In the Wilderness of Judaea, right?

One writer said of this wilderness...

The term "wilderness of Judaea” described the desolate area extending from the hill country near Jerusalem down to the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.

It is a limestone country, rough and barren, with only patches of grass.

It seems to have had many inhabitants but no large cities. — Zodhiates

So, John’s Ministry fulfills the prophecy where it takes place and then, as we will see in a second, His Message fulfills the second part and lastly, the Multitudes who came to hear his message fulfills the final part!

From beginning to end and everything in between the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptizer.

Not only is there the prophecy of Isaiah but the prophet Malachi also references the forerunner of Christ in...

Malachi 3:1(a)

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:

Which leads us to The Purpose of John’s Ministry.

The Purpose of John’s Ministry — (Vs. 3)

What was the Purpose of John’s Ministry?

Look back at Verse 3 again real quick.

John’s purpose was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah!

Luke 1:77–79 (KJV 1900)

77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people By the remission of their sins,

78 Through the tender mercy of our God; Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.

And the thing we need to understand this morning is that John’s Purpose is also Our Purpose!

Jesus said in...