Sermons of Jesus – On John the Baptist
Bible Passage: Matt 11:7-15; Lk 7:24-30
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
~ Luke 1:76-79
The above describes the role and purpose of John – the son of Zacharias, a priest and Elizabeth, also from a family of priests.
Matthew 11:7-15, Luke 1:5-80, John 1:6-9, John 1:19-28 and John 3:27-36 give good accounts of the ministry of John, who was also known as John the Baptiser or Baptist.
John’s Mission
“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying … … … … But wisdom is justified by her works.”
~ Matt 11:16-19
If we take stock of our daily activities and interaction with people, how much of it is centred on God or edifies Christ? Without wisdom from God and a heart to put into practise God’s words, we are lost in all the pride and vying in the world. Instead of joyfully encouraging one another, we pass judgements on others and gossip about them. Instead of reflecting on our own mistakes, we gripe about others’ mistakes. Instead of being a good Christian role model, we may have been a stumbling block and perhaps even caused some to turn away from Christ.
As prophesized by prophet Malachi and prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist played an instrumental role in causing many people to look to the Lord, realising their disobedience and preparing their hearts to receive His abidance in their lives.
This was no mean feat – making people realise their sins and then causing them to actually repent of their sins. Today, we often talk about preaching and bringing people to Christ. To cause someone to believe what we say and gain their trust is not something that can be done overnight. Of course with God’s grace and help in opening up the hearts of those whom we preach to, things are much easier. But when we get down to actually doing the work e.g. door-to-door or our own personal evangelism, we need a lot of hard work and plenty of prayers.
Our lives are a book for others to see. Do we ourselves realise God’s grace in our lives? Do we have testimonies to share, to make this faith in our lives real to others? Do we know our role in the grand scheme of things and feel the joy in sharing this message of salvation to others?
This forerunner knew his role and purpose. He neither overstepped nor played up his role.
He was outspoken and did not shy away from calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a ‘brood of vipers’ (Matt 3:7). Yet he had understood and assimilated the great principles on which the kingdom is built, that of self-denial and service.
“… I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
~ John 3:28-30
John’s Messages
These were John’s messages to the people then to prepare them for the coming of the Saviour:
- “Behold the Lamb of God”
- “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
- “His fan is in His hand”
Some food for thought:
- Where in the Bible can we find John’s messages and what was the significance of each of them?
- How can we make John’s messages our own messages to our friends and do we have accompanying testimonies to share?
- Are we able to build upon John’s messages and further share our basic doctrines with our friends?