Turn to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. Titled, The Message, The Forerunner,
or The Voice. I don't want to get that mixed
up with the TV program. The Voice. We have here The Forerunner. God's messenger. God never sneaks up on anyone.
Never. He gave prophets. He gave types. He gave pictures. Preachers. His word. What you have in your lap. No price can be put on what you
have in your lap. The Word of God. The Word of
God. In our day, pastors and teachers,
God never sneaks up on anyone. I thought about this this morning
as I've gone over this. There is no excuse for not believing
God. So much evidence. So much evidence. No reason, no reason to leave
this building in unbelief. When you have His words sitting
in your lap, we have no excuse not to believe God. No excuse. Now, as I told you Wednesday,
I wanted to do a study through Mark. I'm going to look at these
first 11. We looked at verse 1 Wednesday,
but let's look at these again, except I'm going to do the first
11 verses, Lord willing. Mark says here, the beginning
of the gospel. We know it's the beginning of
him telling the gospel, his account of the gospel. We know this,
it's the beginning of the incarnation of the Son of God on this earth. We know that. The beginning of
his redemptive work as he wrought out our salvation, we know that.
But we know that the gospel is the everlasting gospel. It's
ancient. It's the ancient gospel. It's
everlasting. It's before the world was. And as I said, you can read it
like this. I said Wednesday night, the beginning of the good news.
And the good news is found in his name. Jesus, Savior. Savior. Christ, the appointed,
the anointed one. the Son of God. You know, Joshua
means Savior, doesn't it? The Son of God didn't follow
his name. He was a type. He was a picture. He couldn't
save anyone's soul. But here, it's Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. And Joshua was the Son of God,
but not in the sense Christ. He's the incarnate. He is God,
the very God. That's who He is. He's God. And he says here, and he begins,
Mark just keeps, of course, under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
he just keeps driving the nail. In verse two, he says, as it
is written, that caught my attention this week, as now, not similar, not kind of like it, as it is
written. As it is written. All that we
have to preach, all that we believe is based on this, as it is written. Show it to me in the Word of
God. Show it to me in the Word of God. Everything concerning
Christ is written in God's Word. Even the forerunner was foretold
in Isaiah and Malachi, Malachi chapter 3. But everything concerning
Christ is written in God's Word. When He came to His own, they
had no reason, they had no excuse to turn thumbs down on Him. They had the Old Testament. They
had everything that spoke of Christ. There was so much evidence. This is the Son of God. But without
a work of grace, it wouldn't matter if He stood right in front
of you. You'd turn thumbs down on Him, too. That's human nature. That's what it is. Our Lord said
to those Pharisees, search the Scriptures. In other words, you
do search the Scriptures. And in them, you think you have
life. See, they'd look over in the law, in the book of Moses,
and they'd say, what do you do next? Well, I did that. What
did that young man say? That rich young man. I've done
all these things. From my youth up, I've kept all
these things. Boy, was he in delusion. He didn't
keep any of them. Oh, he might have been a good
son growing up to his parents. He probably appreciated that.
But he was as lost as lost could be. He didn't keep any of them. Search the scriptures, in them
you think you have life, but the scriptures are they which
testify of me. There is no other way of learning
and knowing Christ apart from the word of God. The written
word and the living word cannot be separated. They can't be separated. Look over in Matthew chapter
26. In Matthew 26, look in verse 24. The Son of Man goeth as it is
written to Him. Every step. Now listen. I believe
this. Every step ordained of God. Everything that happened to Him.
Him going down to Egypt. When he was, you know, getting
out of town when he was just a little boy, he said, I'll call
my, let me find it over here. Go to Matthew chapter, well,
let's start in chapter one. I'll find it. I think I'll find
it. Look at Matthew chapter two. Look in verse 14. When he arose,
he took the young child and his mother by night and departed
into Egypt. and was there until the death of Herod, that it might
be fulfilled." Why did he go to Egypt? For one, one reason. "...that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Out
of Egypt have I called my son." Look over in verse 23, "...and
he came and dwelt in the city called Nazareth, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be
called a Nazarene." Oh, as it is written. As it is written. No one has
been more written about than Jesus Christ. But I can tell you this, the
only one that's really right and true is this one. It's his
word. It's God's word. How important
is this? As it is written. As it is written. You know, it says over in Psalm
22, over Psalm 22. I didn't write the verse down,
so they'll cast lots for my vesture here in verse 18. He says, they part my garments
among them and cast lots upon my vesture. Now, that is a foretelling
of what they're going to do. Now, let me ask you this. When
our Lord was crucified and they took his vesture, what if
one of those soldiers said, here, you keep it? What if the captain? I said, I'll tell you what, I'll
take it, it's mine, I'm going to take it and I'm going to keep
it. And they had not done that. You might as well take this book
and throw it away. If one thing concerning Christ was not fulfilled,
this Word means nothing. This Word is no better than another
book. to the very fact of casting lots for that vesture. It just
struck me last night when I was going over this. I thought, if
they had not cast lots for that vesture, like it was foretold
they would do back in Psalm 22, this book is useless. God is
not a God of His Word. If He can't keep that one, then
there'll be another one and another one. It'd be like this. It'd
be like this. is written. That's so important. God must keep his word if he's
God. I mean, listen, to the very jot
and tittle, to the very dotting of an I. Christ said all his
sufferings, all that was written of him in the Psalms and by the
prophets, he said must be fulfilled. Must. Right down to the Rolling
the dice. Did you think they knew that?
Do you think those soldiers, those old crusty soldiers, sitting
there rolling the dice, realized they were fulfilling the Word
of God? Do you realize when they tried to give him the great vinegar,
they were fulfilling the Word of God? No, but I tell you what, they were
doing as it is written. As it is written. Now let's look
at John here, let's go back here to Mark. He talks here, he says, as it
is written in the prophets, he speaks of the forerunner here.
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare
thy way before thee. I send what? A messenger? It's mine. ownership, my messenger. John was God's preacher. He was
sent of God, chosen of God, gifted of God. He's God's preacher. He's the forerunner of Christ.
He's the one prophesied of. And I tell you what, if God sends
a preacher, listen to him. Listen to him, because that's
the man whom God's going to speak to you through. God sends you
a preacher. God does not save sinners apart
from his preachers, preaching the gospel. Not that they save,
but the gospel they preach. He doesn't work apart from them.
He uses them. And John was God's preacher.
And his responsibility was to prepare the way of the Lord.
He was a herald, the harbinger of Christ. And it just struck me that I
have that same responsibility. I have that same responsibility.
This happens even now. When God saves a sinner, he sends
that sinner a preacher. And through the preaching of
his word, that sinner is prepared. The way for him to receive Christ
is prepared. It's prepared. Sin is exposed. You don't understand sin until
you hear the gospel. And then you begin to understand
it. God gives you an understanding.
Prejudices are brought down. Unbelief revealed, falsehood
taken away, self-righteousness exposed, and then Christ is revealed
in you. God is still sending his Johns. He's still sending his preacher,
and the way is still being prepared. It's still being prepared. And he said, make his path straight. The voice of one, look in verse
three, the voice of one crying into wilderness, Prepare you
the way of the Lord, make you the path straight. Don't complicate
it. I don't know what all that means,
but I tell you this, it means this. Don't complicate it. Paul
said he preached the simplicity of Christ. Don't let the temptation, I don't
think it's going to happen to me, turn an intellectual on you. Using words, you have to look
it up in the dictionary. You know, I want to preach the
gospel. Now, listen, I want to preach the gospel intelligently,
but not intellectually. I believe there is a difference.
There's a difference. Don't complicate it. Keep it
simple. Truth must be established. And there's one thing about truth
I've learned, truth and wisdom. It's always simple. Wisdom is
not, you know, true wisdom is always simple. You go back and
you read Solomon, it's always just so simple. It's not complicated. It's not complicated until we
get a hold of it. Then stupidity takes over and
then it gets complicated. That's the truth. That's what
happens. But true wisdom is not complicated. And truth is not
complicated. Truth is like this. It is what
it is. What's complicated about that? Black is black, white is
white. That's truth. We keep it simple. Now, John, it says, did baptize
in the wilderness and he preached the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins. And it went out unto him all
the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, for all were baptized
of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. John was clothed
He was clothed with camel's hair, with a girdle of skin, and about
his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey. John's ministry, his ministry,
was out there in the wilderness. Out there in the wilderness.
Why was it out there in the wilderness? You know, his father was a priest. John grew up around the temple.
He grew up around all the temple services. When he started his ministry,
he was around 30 years of age. He stayed out there in the desert.
He stayed out there. John did not join up with organized
religion. He didn't do that. He didn't let the pressure of
organized religion compromise his message. He did not align
himself with error. He separated from it. You think, well, if I just stay
here, maybe I'll convince these people of the truth. No, you won't. No, you won't. I learned that lesson years ago.
When I first heard the gospel, I thought, and I was excited. I thought, I mean, I heard the
gospel. I thought they'd be excited too.
They were not excited. And my presence there did not
convince anyone, anyone. Come out from among them, saith
the Lord. That's what he says. To separate from them. John made,
and I thought about this in writing this message out, I thought John
made people very uncomfortable. His preaching made people uncomfortable. There is no such thing. Look
here, he said, John did baptize in the wilderness and preached
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. There is no such thing as a comfortable
repentance. No such thing. The Scripture
says, they shall mourn when they look on him whom they pierce.
They shall mourn. There is no such thing as a comfortable
repentance. Now, let's look at John's message
for a few minutes here. Well, it's the same old message
that the prophets and the Psalms spoke of. The Redeemer, the Messiah, we
know who his name is. We know who he is now. We know
his name is Jesus Christ. It was the same message. It was
a message of redemption. Look over in John chapter one. John's message was the same message
he saw in the temple. He said, listen, he saw, how
many Passovers do you reckon this man saw? I think he was
about 30 years old when he started preaching. He saw a lot of Passovers,
didn't he? How many morning and evening
lamps did he see witnessed being slain? And that message was a message
of this, redemption by the blood. Redemption and forgiveness of
sins by the blood. Look over in John chapter 1.
I'm sure you're already there. In verse 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith," here's what he saith. Like I said, he grew up around
that temple that he saw them pass over after pass over. He said, "'Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'" There's the Redeemer. His message was a message of
a Redeemer. His message was a message of
effectual redemption. He didn't say, Behold the Lamb
of God, which is going to try to take away the sins of the
world. No, He's taken them away. When Christ died on that cross,
He removed all the sins of all the elect, and they're gone. He redeemed them. He purchased
them. He bought them back. There he
is. There he is. It was a message
of redemption. It was one of forgiveness. Go
back to Mark. John did baptize in the wilderness,
in verse 4, and he preached the baptism of repentance for what?
That word remission there is the same meaning as forgiveness.
as forgiveness. Repentance for the forgiveness
of sins. Let me tell you this. This is what I know about this,
and it's very short. A person will never be forgiven
of what they will not repent of. You can just mark that down. A person who will not repent
is a person who is not forgiven. A person who repents of their
sins, they repent of who and what they are, they beg God for
mercy, they get it every time. He forgives and he forgives and
he forgives. And he's talking about here about
the baptism of repentance. What do you do when you're baptized?
We witnessed this last week. You take someone and you immerse
them underwater. I thought of this when I was
reading this, and I thought of that young lady last week being
immersed underwater. We are immersed. We are immersed
in repentance. Just submerged in it. Lord, have
mercy. Have mercy. Just covered in it. Just covered in repentance. And there's no such thing as
repentance apart from faith in Christ. What are you repenting
of? Do you feel bad about something?
You know, you can feel bad for drinking one too many. You can
feel bad the next morning for drinking one too many. That's
not repentance. Because you'll do it again. Repentance has to do with what
I am. This is being baptized in repentance. Repentance has to do with what
I am, my rebellion and my attitude toward Christ, and I'm sorry
for it. It's having a change of mind.
It's turning from and turning to. Repentance is when you turn away
from. Now listen, you turn away from. And you don't go back. Remember
Lot's wife? She turned back. And God turned
her to a pillar of salt. Lot didn't. He just kept right
on going. Turn over to Hebrews. I thought of this while sitting
up here a while ago, going over these notes. Hebrews chapter
11. Here's a form of repentance.
I've never seen it in this light before, but Hebrews chapter 11. Look at verse 13, These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For
they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Now listen, and truly if they had been mindful of that country from which they
came out, they might have had an opportunity to have returned.
You know, how many times did the children of Israel say, we
should have stayed in Egypt? How many times did they say it
was better in Egypt? They had no idea what repentance
was. Only a handful of them. But now they desire, here's true
repentance. They desire a better country
that is a heavenly, where God is not ashamed to be called their
God. We have prepared for them a city. Well, if they had been
mindful, if they had been of the mind, if they had been of
mind, they could have probably went back. Repentance is when
you turn from and you do not go back. That's true repentance. That's
true repentance. Now it says here, let's go back
here to Mark, I'll rewind this up. In verse 5, there went out
unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were
all baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now there were many of them saved,
but don't be fooled by a large crowd. Someone was talking to me once,
this has been a few years ago, about how a certain Congregation
was still growing in larger numbers. And I said, well, what's that
got to do with anything? I said, so does Billy Graham.
That's what I told him. I said, so does Billy Graham.
I said, he's got a large congregation. I mean, you can go through, I
can go through a whole list of people that's got a large congregation. What's that got to do with anything?
A big part of this crowd said crucify him later. A big part
of this crowd. I said, don't let that fool you. And it says here in verse 6,
and John was clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of skin
about his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey. This
is God's prophet. This is God's preacher. And he
lived such a simple, unassuming life. Examples for men like me. He lived such an unassuming life.
He was a powerful preacher because God's hand was upon him. That's
what makes powerful preachers. That's what makes preaching powerful,
I should say that, is God's hand in it. And you'll notice here in verse
seven, John preached the superiority of Christ. He preached this. He's the Redeemer. He had a message
of redemption. And in verse seven, he preached
saying, there comes one mightier than I after me. The latchet
of whose shoes I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose. Do I feel that way about Christ?
Do I really feel that way about him? Mightier than I, greater
than I, more important than I. I'm not worthy to stoop down
and untie, unlace his shoes. Oh, my soul. John said, I have
indeed baptized you with water. He was commanded to. We have
that ordinance today. To baptize. That and the Lord's
table. We have those two ordinances. But if this second part doesn't
happen, you can be baptized with water a thousand times and you're
just as lost as ever. See, here's the greatness of
Christ. Here's the greatness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I indeed have baptized you with
water, but he, Christ, shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. As I said earlier, that indicates
a new birth. That indicates the indwelling
of God's Spirit in you. That indicates regeneration. He said, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those
days. Now, why? I said the Lord gave us two ordinances. The Lord's table and baptism. Are they important? Well, first
of all, yes, because He gave them. And secondly, He partook
of both of them. Now here's the importance of
it. He partook of both of them. And it came to pass in those
days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized.
Our Lord submitted to it. He was baptized of John in Jordan. He identifies with us in everything. He never asked us or commanded
us to do something He hasn't done. And then he also did this,
that he might be identified to Israel. Look over in John, I
believe it's John chapter 1. In verse 31. Well, let's look
at verse 30. This is he of whom I said, after
me cometh a man which is preferred before me. That's his preeminence.
where He was before me. He's God. And I knew Him not,
but that He should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come
baptizing with water." That was also a way of identifying Him
to His people. And straightway, straightway,
immediately coming up out of the water which proves here baptism
by immersion. You don't come up out of sprinkling.
You come up out of the water. He was submerged. And straightway, coming up out
of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit, like
a dove, descending upon him. And there came a voice There
came a voice from heaven saying, this is God the Father putting
his stamp of approval on this man. You see, Mark says here in verse
1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
But now God says from heaven, God spoke from heaven, God the
Father. And he says, Thou art my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. I'm telling you this, for God to be well pleased, that
man has to be absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect. And he is. Because he's not only a man,
he's the Son of God. He is God incarnate. God incarnate. Am I well pleased? Am I well pleased with Christ?
God is. God said he's well pleased. We have in him all we need. All we need.