Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: So far in our study in the book of Matthew we have seen that Jesus is the King over all kings as the very chosen and anointed King of God.

As foretold in the Old Testament the Messiah would be from the lineage of David, He would be born of a virgin, He would come out of Bethlehem, He would also come out of Egypt, at the time of His coming there would be great mourning in Israel, and He would be called a Nazarene.

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As Matthew picks up his narrative in he transports us nearly thirty years into the future from the time that Joseph relocated his young family from Egypt to Nazareth, and as he does so, after thirty years of silence (except for Luke’s brief account in ), he focuses us in on the ministry of John.

We know of John’s background from Luke’s gospel account.

John’s origin story begins with a mother and father who were both righteous in the sight of God who walked blamelessly in the commandments of the Lord, but, like Sarah before the conception of Isaac, Elizabeth was past the normal child bearing years.

Being past normal child bearing years Elizabeth and Zacharias had resigned themselves to childlessness - until one day.

One day as Zacharias was performing his duties as a priest in the temple an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said

In disbelief Zacharias questioned whether these things could be true since he was well as his wife were advanced in years.

As a result of his unbelief, Gabriel informs him that he would be mute until the day when these things took place.

After the days of his service in the temple Zacharias went home to his wife and she conceived.

Fast forward nine months and their child has been born, and when Elizabeth and Zacharias took him to be circumcised those at the temple would have called hm Zacharias were it not for for Elizabeth who said, “No, he shall be called John.” Zacharias then asked for a writing tablet so that he could agree and immediately his mouth was opened and he declared, “His name is John.”

What an extraordinary birth!

John’s birth was so out of the ordinary that these things were discussed all throughout Judea and many asked the question, “What kind of child will this be?”

Now that was a very good question.

Who was this child who was miraculously conceived when his parents were of old age?

Who was this child who was named by God? Who was this child that, even before his conception, Gabriel declared will be great in the sight of the Lord?

Zacharias rightly declared that John would be called the prophet of the Most High and that his greatness would be found in his role of going on before the Lord in order to prepare the way for Him.

Luke then records this statement, “And the child continued to grow, and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”

The Voice

Nearly thirty years later, almost out of nowhere, he appeared as the prophet of God with the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

And so John began his ministry preaching (heralding) the coming of the true King.

To be sure Elizabeth and Zacharias told John many times of the angel’s message surrounding his birth.

John was given a purpose directly form God and by all indications he never wavered from that purpose.

He never wavered from that purpose despite the fact that surely there were many who thought he was odd.

I mean, here he was heralding the coming of the King and His kingdom and he was doing it in the wilderness.

They might have said, “John, if the king you speak of is so important why are you heralding in the wilderness wearing camel skins?

Shouldn’t you be wearing the best clothes, eating the best foods, and networking with Jerusalem’s finest?”

John, however, knew his purpose - he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and he was calling true seekers of God away from the calloused religiosity of Jerusalem and all of its hypocrisy, all of its ritualism, all of its shallowness, and all of its worldliness into the wilderness where they could, without distraction, learn from this great man and learn of the surpassing greatness of the King he was heralding.

John knew the source of his greatness.

John was great, not because of who he was, but because he was the voice of the message.

What was that message?

Repent!

His message was, “Turn from sin and turn to righteousness!”

I am sure this message was a shock to the Jews.

They might have thought, “Jews do not need to repent do they?

Aren’t all Jews the children of Abraham, and being the children of Abraham aren’t all Jews promised a part in the kingdom of the coming King?”

In short, John’s response was, “No!” John’s message was one of absolute change.

In order to have a part in this great King’s kingdom, these Jews needed to be totally changed.

John was not preaching a gospel of religion or rituals, but instead he was preaching the good news that with the coming of this true King members of His kingdom would be given the power to live a repentant (totally changed) life.

Anticipating the Jews response John said

Now this was good news.

The power to live a changed life.

John was offering a message of relief.

It is possible to live a life that produces fruit worthy of repentance.

John’s message meant that it was no longer necessary to live under the pressure of the Pharisaical law, no longer was it necessary to be weighed down with those unbearable burdens, but there was a coming King who offered the hope of living a changed life.

Paul put it this way

The Kingdom

The message of hope, however, was not directed at everyone.

After four hundred years of silence from God, John breaks onto the scene declaring that Israel’s long awaited King is so very close, but most of Israel was not ready for Him.

Despite the words of the Old Testament prophets, Israel had not prepared themselves for their King.

The Jews felt that the coming kingdom was theirs, it was their Messiah, it was their King, it was their promises, it was their Savior.

It was the popular belief that every Jew was destined for the kingdom, and so they forgot to make room in order to love the God they claimed to value.

The Mission

Here again, as John heralds repentance in preparation for the coming kingdom, Matthew emphasizes the fact that John was also the fulfillment of prophecy.

Before the coming of the Messiah Isaiah foretold that there would be the voice crying in the wilderness - calling people to clear the road into their hearts of obstacles for the coming of the King.

Unlike most heralds, it was not John’s job to clear the roads throughout Israel for the coming of the king; it was his job to draw attention to the crooked paths of the heart and call for repentance so that the king could enter in.

John himself was an example of what he preached.

In a world where the religious leaders in Jerusalem lived in luxury, John comes in camel’s skin, eating locusts and honey.

He was the epitome of removing from his life that which might distract him from the mission of his life.

The Ministry

Almost immediately it was obvious that John was a powerful presence.

People were coming from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around Jordan to hear him, and many submitted themselves to baptism (washing).

The washings that happened as a result of John’s ministry were totally different from the baptisms of the Levitical washings.

The ceremonial washings were repeated in order to emphasize repeated washings for repeated sinning.

John’s baptism was a one time thing.

The only times Jews would perform one time washings was for Gentiles.

The one time washing of Gentiles signified their transition from being an outsider into the truth of Judaism.

A Jew who submitted to a one time washing was unheard of, for a Jew to submit to a one time washing was to signify that he recognized his condition as being an outsider of the one true faith and that he was now seeking entrance into the kingdom of God.

This act displayed to all the world that they knew that their racial descent from Abraham could not save them.

Like Gentiles they saw the need to repent and trust in the Lord.

So, as these Jews were washed with a one time washing, they confessed their sins.

They confessed that Jews too were unclean.

The Congregation

As John became popular the Pharisees and Sadduccees began coming to his baptism.

We do not really know why.

Perhaps they were curious about this man that the people thought of as a prophet.

Herod the tetrarch

It could also be that the Pharisees and Sadduccees, being ever obsessed with their own power and popularity, sought for a way to leverage John’s popularity for their own benefit.

Either way, John called them out

They were of the brood of the serpent, not true children of Abraham.

Their father was the devil, not the God of Abraham.

Jesus said of them

Their brand of godliness was poisonous and deadly and it kept many from true spiritual life.

They were Satan’s children doing Satan’s work.

John’s allusion to fleeing from wrath is a picture of a farmer who, after the harvest, sets his field on fire in order to rid it of vipers and other harmful animals.

John implies that their seeking to identify themselves with his ministry as a form of fire insurance would not work.

True repentance does protect from God’s wrath but superficial acts and identifications does nothing more than harden one’s heart to the point of further condemnation.

The Condemnation

Since neither the Pharisees nor the Sadduccees bore fruit that indicated repentance, the axe was already laid at the root of the trees.

At the end of every harvest, farmers would go through their fields and take note of those trees that did not bare any good fruit.

These trees would then be cut down in order to make room for productive trees.

A fruitless tree is a useless tree.

What do you do with a useless tree?

You cut it down and use it for firewood.

Repentance that is not effective to produce fruit is not a worthy repentance.

Throughout the Bible, fire is a frequent picture of God’s wrath against wickedness.

Just like John preached the benefits of repentance he also preached the consequences of unrepentance.

The Consolation

The good news is that John also gave hope.