In the New Testament there are 4 larger books called “Gospels.” Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These 4 books are the
life story of the Lord Jesus from the perspective of each of these men who either walked with Him or spent lots of time with
people who did walk with Him. Matthew and John were 2 of the disciples who lived with and spent 3 years with Jesus
daily. Mark was a young man who likely followed the 12 disciples and Jesus around later in those 3 years – and as time
went on, Mark became a crucial member of the apostle’s crew who traveled around and preached the message of
salvation. We introduced Luke a few weeks ago as a physician who traveled with the apostle Paul and may have even
seen Jesus when He was on the earth.
God uses these 4 writers to give us a multi-faceted view of the life of Jesus. Each writer focuses on many of the same
events and circumstances and we see Jesus from each writer’s perspective as God inspired him. As we have started our
new series in the Gospel of Luke, we are focusing on Luke’s account and will be seeing a REAL human life. Jesus is
described by doctor Luke in terms of His humanity – a natural thing for a doctor to pay attention to. This is a great thing
for US human beings to see and study and apply to our lives. Today – for the first time in our new series – we’ll see Jesus.
Before we open God’s Word, let’s ask our Teacher for His help as we look at the things He wants us to see. PRAY
One of the things that all 4 Gospel writers mention is the arrival of John the Baptist before the arrival of Jesus. In fact,
Mark calls the involvement of John the Baptist “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Luke also
started with John – with his conception and birth. John fills us in on a lot of the things John the Baptist said and did.
Matthew’s account of John is similar to Mark’s. Apparently John the Baptist is vital to know if we want to know Jesus –
God inspired these 4 writers to include lots of information about him as they begin their description of the life of the Savior.
Today we are going to focus mainly on what Luke says about John the Baptist. Turn to Luke 1. John’s father Zacharias
prophesies about his son. Luke 1:76-79. READ.
John’s part in God’s eternal plan of salvation was vital. And John did it – he trusted God and did what He said. Look at
these verses and let’s find what John’s job was:
- prepare the Lord’s ways (v. 76)
- give knowledge of salvation to God’s people (v. 77) Knowledge of salvation, it says in verse 77, comes by the
remission of peoples’ sins – the exchanging of sin for righteousness, which we now know happens through Jesus
Christ. This exchange comes through the tender mercy of God who has sent the Dayspring – the Dawn – the
morning of a new day – these are all names for Jesus who was and is the Creator of the world (John 1) and now the
Creator, the one who started it all and is bringing the dawn of a new day and is visiting His people in person.
Verse 79 refers to the work of the Dayspring – the Savior – not John. Jesus is the one who will give light to those who sit
in darkness and the shadow of death and Jesus will guide our feet into the way of peace. God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all, John tells us in 1 John. Jesus says, “I am the Light of the World.” To those who are in the shadow of death
Jesus gives hope – I am the way, the truth and the life – I am the bread of life – I am the resurrection and the life. In Psalm
23, David depends on this Savior – yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me.
He will guide our feet into the way of peace. Those who follow Jesus – fully devoted followers – He will guide to peace. If
you and I lack peace in our lives, that’s an indicator that we aren’t following Jesus – He will GUIDE our feet into the way
of peace – and notice, it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. Jesus told His followers, “Peace I leave with you –
My peace I give to you.” Who lived a more peace-filled life than the Lord Jesus?
John’s job was to prepare the way for this Savior to arrive – and John did it. We are going to see right now how this
happened. The prophecy of Zacharias was made when John was 8 days old. Let’s jump ahead in time – 30 years later.
Luke 3:1-6. READ.
Just to give us perspective, 30 years has past since the birth of John. There is a new Caesar and Herod the Great, King
Herod has died and left his region of rule to his 4 sons – called tetrachs. Luke mentions only 3 of them here. One of them
is named after his father – Herod – and he rules the region where most of the disciples and where Jesus is from – Galilee.
Philip is another son of Herod the Great and rules the region of Iturea which is the next door neighbor to Galilee to the
northeast. Their brother Lysanias ruled the region of Abilene which was up in modern day Syria. We are also introduced
to Pontius Pilate – who will play a significant role in the story of Jesus later and the co-high priests of the Jews, Annas and
Caiaphas, who we will also hear about as the life of Jesus unfolds.
But the word of God came to John in the wilderness – where John lived. Why wouldn’t John live with his parents or in his
own dwelling? For one thing, John’s parents were old when he was born and probably died within a few years of his
birth. For another thing, John’s dwelling in the wilderness was fulfillment of prophecy. We’ll see the prophecy in a couple
of verses. Surprisingly, Luke doesn’t mention John’s wardrobe or his diet. Mark mentions that John was kind of a crazy
looking and acting guy – he wore camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey.
God does not do things the way we would. God uses things that we would consider totally ineffective. But God knows
exactly what He is doing all the time and we should not disregard God’s choice of people to use, circumstances to use or
things to use to accomplish His purposes. Turn quickly to 1 Corinthians 1:26-29. READ. John looked like a wild man. It
would have been gross to watch him eat. I’m not sure how good he smelled. But God used him. Turn back to Luke 3.
Here is this wild man preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And this is who God has put in place
from eternity past to prepare the way of the Lord – the coming of the Savior.
Let’s look at what John preached. “A baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Yesterday we celebrated the
baptism of several of our church family and we talked about what baptism represents. Baptism is not just getting wet. It
symbolizes several things. John proclaimed a baptism – a complete immersion in, a total overwhelming of repentance. The
person who is baptized is covered in the reversal of old ways and the changing of his or her mind and pursuit of a different,
godly direction. The result of this repentance is because of the remission of sins – the complete release from, freedom
from, pardon for sins. John’s baptism laid the foundation for the saving work of Jesus. It is through the blood of Jesus that
all of mankind’s sins are forgiven – released, pardoned. John baptized in water after people proclaimed their repentance
from sin – basically, his message was, “You repent and turn away from sin – this baptism in water is a picture of that
cleansing. And when the Messiah comes, He will bring the final piece of the puzzle – the remission of your sins totally.”
The prophecy in verses 4 – 6 is taken from Isaiah and John is the fulfillment of that prophecy. He is the voice of one crying
in the wilderness (that’s why he lived there). His cry is “Prepare the way of the Lord”- the Lord is coming, so get ready.
“Make His paths straight” – give Him unhindered access to you (by repentance). “Every valley will be filled, every
mountain and hill brought low, crooked places will be made straight” – when the Lord comes, He will do major
transformations on the things that are not as He wants them. Specifically, the “crooked places made straight” relates to the
previous phrase, “make His paths straight” – we can prepare ourselves and give Him unhindered access as best we know
how, but, when He comes and does His work in us, He will do the job correctly and completely. “The rough ways will be
made smooth” – same connection as “prepare the way of the Lord.” We can do what we know to prepare for Him, but it
is Him who smoothes out His ways in us. “All flesh shall see the salvation of God” – John preached a baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins. The salvation of God IS the remission of sins – wiping them clean, releasing us from
them.
In verses 7-14 we see one of John’s messages to the crowds who came to be baptized by him. God knew what He was
doing – it says multitudes came to this wild man to hear him and to be baptized by him. Listen to the tender, loving and
warm message John expresses to these people. Luke 3:7-14. READ. I tell you what, John is no Joel Osteen. I’m not
sure John understands the concept of making people comfortable – God is neat, the Bible is happy, you’re beautiful – have
a nice day. “You ball of snakes!” How can John be so mean and insensitive? Isn’t he concerned about offending all these
people who God brought to him and who need to hear his message?
Apparently when God gives you a message (remember, the word of God came to John), you proclaim it – it is GOD’S
message. John was not the first prophet of God to speak harshly to people. But, as we have said, God knew what He
was doing – people crowded to hear and see and be baptized by John. His message was – there is wrath coming, how did
you know to come out here and listen to me? I’ll tell you how you knew – it is the work of GOD. So then, RESPOND
correctly. Repent – turn away from depending on the fact that you are descendants of Abraham – that’s not worth
anything unless you get right with God (as it says in verses 4 – 6). God is not impressed with you because you are related
to Abraham. He could make relatives of Abraham out of rocks if that’s what He wanted. God is ready to clear out the
dead wood and make His people productive for His Kingdom.
The people started to ask him questions on what they needed to do. John’s answers all related what Jesus would lay out
as the greatest commandment – love God and love your neighbor. If you love God, your actions will show that kind of
love to others – which is a direct result of repentance because your sins are forgiven.
As John explained these things to the people, they began to wonder if maybe John was the Messiah. Luke 3:15-17.
READ. All 4 of the Gospel writers mention this. John’s response is, “I am not the Christ – the Messiah. The Christ is
coming – I am the one who prepares people for His arrival. My baptism is a picture of the cleansing that happens to
people whose sins are forgiven. The things I’ve told you to do are things that happen on the outside. He is much more
powerful than I am – in fact, I am not even worthy to loosen His shoestrings. When the Christ arrives and accomplishes His
work, He will not only clean up the outside, His baptism won’t be merely with water. His baptism will be with the Holy
Spirit and with fire – He will purify the inside of those who believe in Him. Verse 17 is an explanation of the purifying
process that the Messiah will put in place. When farmers harvest grain they cut down the stalks of the plants and have to
separate the grain from the stalks. In John’s day that process was called winnowing or threshing. The stalks would be
beaten in a place where the grain could be easily scooped up and the stuff that wasn’t grain would be piled up and thrown
into a fire. John says that the coming Savior would do that both in the hearts of those who believe in Him and He would
separate those who do believe from those who don’t.
You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. Jesus later says that there was no prophet greater than John. But
John didn’t write a book of the Bible like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Daniel. The truth is, John had the greatest
prophet job a prophet could have. We’ll talk about his job in a minute. Zacharias explains why John would be called the
prophet of the Most High – because he would go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of
salvation to God’s people. John would be the one to prepare God’s people for the physical arrival of the Messiah, the one
who had been promised from the beginning to deal with sin and give life. John would go before His face – people would
see the face of the Lord.
It says in verse 2 that the word of God came to John in the wilderness. We see this throughout the whole Old Testament –
when God has a message for His people, He gives His message to a prophet. You find this same expression, “the word of
the Lord came” or “the word of God came” to Abraham, Samuel, Nathan, Solomon, Jeremiah, Daniel. John was in the
same position as those Old Testament prophets – in fact, John WAS an Old Testament prophet. He lived under the Law
and, in fact, John died before Jesus did, so John never saw the fulfillment of the plan of salvation.
Seeing the words of John we kind of know what to look for when we start to see and hear from this Savior. All 4 of the
Gospel writers write about the baptism of the Lord Jesus by John the Baptist out here in the wilderness. Each of the
writers gives information about the event. Luke gives very little. But we see Jesus – Luke 3: 21,22. READ. Jesus came
to John to be baptized even though He had no sin – but it is a picture of the cleansing power of God. Jesus wanted people
then and people now to know that the purity He lived and the purity He promises are real. This is another indication, by the
way, that baptism is not necessary for salvation – you don’t get saved by being baptized. You are baptized BECAUSE
you are saved. Jesus had no sin, so His baptism could not possibly be related to Him getting salvation.
John said that his baptism was with water and signified the cleansing of our decision to repent. He said that when the
Messiah came, He would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Believers in Jesus Christ are baptized with the Holy
Spirit – they are immersed in the Spirit of God and consequently ought to take on the character and flavor of God as they
are filled with Him and have His power available to them. Believers are also baptized with fire – those of you who were
baptized yesterday, we forgot to do that part. Are you ready? Fire is a picture of the purification of the Spirit of God and
the indwelling Word of God in believers. Jeremiah says that God’s Word IS a fire and Jeremiah could not contain it. The
purification of the indwelling Spirit of God and the indwelling Word of God in true believers will have a dramatic impact on
their actions.
Look at your life. Do you SAY you are a believer? James told us that it is easy to see who really IS a believer – his/her
life will show the character of Jesus. The people asked John the Baptist what they should do in preparation for the
Messiah. Everything he told them was related to putting their faith into practice. If we honestly look at our lives and we do
not see the life of Jesus – and especially if we see ongoing issues of sin – we need to take those things seriously and allow
God to deal with them. We need to repent.
By the way, sinners are WELCOME in the Kingdom of God. That’s who God made it for. And as a welcome center for
the Kingdom of God, sinners are welcome here. All of US are in the same condition – sinners who have been welcomed
into God’s Kingdom and, even better, adopted into God’s family. We are all people who struggle with sin – even after we
believe. And, listen carefully – especially those of you who are older in the faith – we do NOT ascribe to a point scale for
sin. No one’s sin is worse than anyone else’s. Neither do we use a waiting period for grace. No one has to prove himself
or herself worthy to be part of our church family or of the family of God. We believe in the Risen Jesus who took our sin
away and now has even cleaned us up and purified us. We still fail and blow it – we sin – but He proves over and over
Romans 5:20, where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. The cleansing and purification John talked about is
available to anyone who trusts Jesus.
Maybe you’ve come today uncertain about where you stand with Jesus, with sin or with life. I want you to know that there
is only one requirement for taking advantage of the forgiveness and purification we’ve talked about today. The one thing
required is to BELIEVE in Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Several other things kind of go along with it – admission that
you are a sinner (as we all are). Acknowledging that you have no power to clean yourself up or overcome sin. Believe that
Jesus is the only one who ever lived without sin and when He died, He took all of the sin of everyone who has, is or ever
will live and He satisfied God’s requirement for sin. And believe that after dying, Jesus completely destroyed the power of
death by rising from the dead – He defeated sin and death now offers human beings the kind of life God always intended
them to live. That REAL human life is possible now because our sin is paid for by the Lord Jesus and God Himself purifies
us and takes away our sin.
This is the message of John the Baptist. This is the Good News, the Gospel. Do you believe this? Are you experiencing
it? Now is a good time to ask God to make it happen. Now is a good time to share it with the people around you. Now
is the acceptable time – behold, now is the day of salvation.