Unworthy Trailblazer

And so you’re here with us just at the beginning, and we are going to look this morning at Mark chapter 1, verses 1 to 8, with a focus on 2 to 8. Children, here are your questions for this morning. First, what was John the Baptist’s calling in life? Two, what is repentance? Three, why did John believe he was not even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals? And four, why did John call Jesus the Lamb of God?

Mark 1, beginning in verse 1, this is the Word of God. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. and all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached saying, after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. There ends a reading of God’s word. Let’s pray together. Almighty God, we do thank you for your word and we thank you for the gospel. Truly good news. Good news to hear that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.

And as we move forward in this gospel this morning, we pray that you would minister to us that very gospel. And Lord, we ask that you would help us to hear and to believe and to respond appropriately to what we’ll hear. We pray that you would send your Holy Spirit in a special way to the preacher. And please help all of us who need to hear from you this morning. Minister to us, we pray, by your spirit and through your word. We come to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, Mark has already laid the groundwork for what he calls the gospel, the good news, and it’s very simply that Jesus, the one who came to save sinners, that’s why we’re told he was named Jesus, is the Christ, that great deliverer, and this Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That is the good news, that this Jesus came to save sinners.

But when Mark launches into his gospel, he doesn’t begin by explaining the background of Jesus, but a man named John, who’s been referred to by prophets of Israel long ago. It’s important for us to recognize that while Jesus the Messiah had been prophesied by Old Testament prophets, actually from the very beginning, actually going back to right after the fall, begins the preaching of the gospel, you might say, in an Old Testament sense. There are many prophecies about the coming Messiah, but here we see that there are prophecies about the one who would precede the Messiah, one who would blaze the trail, one who would prepare the way for this Savior, this Messiah. Messiah’s messenger. It was Isaiah, 700 years before this took place, prophesied that he would come, that a savior would come.

That’s what we read right here in the beginning. Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice of one crying in the wilderness. And so we have it on good authority, solid authority from the prophet Isaiah. We also have a prophecy from Malachi at the very end of that last book of the Old Testament. Here’s what we read.

500 years before the coming of Christ. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. What an ominous prophecy. Then God’s word goes silent for over 400 years. You think of what happens next, normally think of it around Christmas time, but this Messiah comes and his predecessor or his preacher comes before he comes.

What will be the spirit of this preacher, this messenger from God? He will have the spirit of Elijah. He’ll be a great prophet. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will have the fear of Yahweh, the fear of God, the real fear of the living God. And he will have a spirit of fearlessness because he comes to call out sinners about their sin. He’ll have that spirit, that bold spirit of Elijah. He’s known as John the Baptist, or we can call him John the Baptizer. Somebody who baptizes, a baptizer, a wink to my Baptist friends. I call him John the Baptizer. I’m not sure we can call him a Baptist, but whatever. His extraordinary nativity, you know about that.

You know, probably if you don’t know, Zechariah was a priest in the time of Herod, and he had the duty to go into the temple and make a sacrifice. Now, remember, God had been silent for years. He goes in to make the sacrifice, and he’s confronted by an angel.

And he’s told that he’s going to have a son. And Zechariah thinks this is ridiculous because he and his wife are beyond childbearing years. They had been praying for children and it hadn’t happened. But now this angel is telling him that they’re going to have a child. And not only that, this child is going to be an extraordinary child. Well, Zechariah doesn’t believe him. He then goes silent until the baby is born. He’s told to call the baby John, his first words. are that he will be called John.

If you want to jump to Luke 1, a little more background on John, beginning in verse 14, and we can’t cover it all, but here’s what he’s told. Luke 1, beginning in verse 14. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. and he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord people prepared. And then jump over to verse 76, same chapter, same book. Here’s a prophecy that his father has at the birth of this John, beginning in verse 76. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God. whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide your feet into the way of peace.” John would proclaim that light, that light that’s coming into the world.

If you back up just a little bit, you might know the story when Elizabeth is waiting to have her child. She’s pregnant. Mary now has Jesus in her womb and the two of them meet. And Elizabeth is amazed that she’s in the presence of the one bearing the Lord. And she exclaims with a loud cry, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb jumps. And here’s what Elizabeth says, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy well this baby would grow to be a man and he had a very unique calling he would stand at the periphery as it were with a message that all needed to hear he stands in the place of bridging the gap of the old testament he’s the last old testament prophet and he’s pointing to literally pointing to the fulfillment Of everything that was promised and looked forward to in the old covenant would be fulfilled now in the new covenant.

He stood in that place and his message was an ominous one. You got a sense of that from the passage of Malachi. An ominous message. John preached more than the gospel, but he never preached less than the gospel. And there were three main components. First of all, there is wrath on sin. There’s wrath on sin, on all sorts of sin and therefore on sinners. All sorts of sinners, notorious sinners.

People who you look at and you clearly say they really need Jesus. You get to know them and you can almost smell the sulfur of wrath coming out of their pores or people like that. but the gospel message is for all sorts of sinners, those who think that they’re righteous. In fact, here’s what Jesus Here’s what Jesus said to the people that John preached and prostitutes and tax collectors were coming to John, but you were ignoring him. Here’s what John preached to those who were listening to him.

So you have notorious sinners, people obviously needed to change their lives. And we read in Matthew, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who could be more righteous than a Pharisee and a Sadducee, at least in their own eyes and in their community. He saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism. And he said to them, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

John Mintz has no words. There’s wrath coming. And wrath is coming on all unrighteousness. So listen up. Here’s the next component. Repent. Turn from your sins out of fear of God. Out of the fear of God, of the fact that you’re going to give an account to a holy God. Repent of your sins.

And many notorious sinners heard it. Many who listened didn’t hear it. Repent. Great preacher from the 17th century, Watson, puts it very simply. Six parts of repentance. Have a sight of sin. No sorrow for your sin. Confess your sin. Have shame over your sin. Have hatred for your sin. And turn from your sin. Repent. But the focus, the focus is not only that there’s wrath of sin on sin, but there’s forgiveness of sin.

And John has the privilege of pointing to the place of forgiveness, the person of forgiveness, Jesus. He’s literally pointing to the good news and the good news is Jesus. And so his cry to sinners that he’s calling to come out of the wrath of God, to repent of their sins, he’s pointing them to the solution for sin. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Behold, the Lamb of God. And the people who heard John would have connected the dots. John is using what we call biblical theology there. He’s connecting the dots. He’s putting two and two together.

This is the lamb that had been spoken of from the beginning, the Passover lamb, the sacrifice lamb. which necessitated the sacrifice of this perfect lamb, the shedding of blood. We know that there’s no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. And John is saying, he’s the one, no other blood will do but the lamb of God to take away your sins. That’s his gospel cry. The meaning of the lamb. came to take away the sins of the world.

How compelling that is to the desperate sinners. Those who feel their sin, those who know their sin. That wrath has been satisfied That repentance will point them in a direction and that direction is to the one upon whom the wrath of God was satisfied for their sins and there’s real forgiveness. What a wonderful, compelling message to desperate sinners who have a sense of their sin.

Remember how Jesus says, I didn’t come for the healthy, I came for the sick, those who need a physician. He’s saying, no, those who are healthy, they think they’re healthy, they don’t have a sense of their sin. I came for those who recognize that they need a savior. They need a savior. He didn’t come for the self-righteous if they’re going to remain in their self-righteousness. He came to the self-aware. And if anyone is in this room and you’re not self-aware enough to know that you’re a sinner, then you’re missing something very important, very important.

Jesus says to those who heard John the Baptist speak about wrath and repentance, he says, John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

You see, the message of repentance is not offensive to those who know that they’re sinners. The message of repentance, and that’s at the heart of John’s message, is offensive to the proud. But the message of repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is supremely necessary. in our church and churches throughout Holland and throughout West Michigan and all over America.

All over America love the fact that Jesus loves sinners. And that’s a good thing. And there’s many in our church, many of you grew up, you’ve heard it all your life, the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. Everybody loves that, and rightly so. It’s the great comfort of somebody who knows Jesus, reveling in the fact, basking in the fact that God loved us so much that he sent his son who died for us. And when we belong to him, that he keeps us in his care, that there’s nothing in our lives that can take us from his love. There’s nothing better. We know that. We know that first question and answer. But do we think regularly about the second one? What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

First, how great my sins and misery are. Now I would say that first we need to recognize how holy God is. But then to recognize, to recognize our sin and misery. First, how great my sins and misery are. Second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery. Behold the Lamb of God who’s come to take away the sins of the world. And third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance. I’m afraid that much of the church loves, and we love, Jesus loves me, this I know.

But do we know how deep that love is and how profound it is and that it has everything to do with the wrath that we deserve being put upon him? Many things should inspire us to repentance. from our sins. Our sinful nature, for one, we need to recognize that our sinful nature cuts us off from a holy creator, the one who made us. And the remedy for that is repentance unto life, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I trust that most of us have done so. But there is another reason for ongoing repentance, and it’s the destructive nature of sin. Sin is self-destructive. There’s some kinds of sin that are very clearly and apparently self-destructive, doing damage to ourselves.

We can think of a whole list. We can think of things like addictions. We can think of lives of crime that put us in danger of deserved punishment. We think of all the damage that sin can do to us, but what we often miss is that an indwelling, constant resistance to submission to God is going to eat us up inside.

You see, sin always bears consequences. And it’s not always obvious. And the self-righteous are in danger of that very kind of self-destructive sin. But it’s not only self-destructive. Sin damages others. Sin damages others. Our sin causes us to hurt people. Our sin causes us to unleash our anger against other people. Our sin causes us to judge other people. Our sin causes us to covet other people.

That’s damaging. If you don’t care, by the way, about the way that your sin affects other people, that’s tragic. To throw out a popular term, that is complete narcissism, if you don’t care. You see, so there’s many good reasons to repent. Number one, it’s an offense to God. Number two, it damages other people.

But what John is doing is saying there is a remedy for sin. The remedy of sin is Jesus. And imagine this, John is looking at his cousin with the name Jesus. and he’s recognizing that he is Christ the Deliverer and that he’s the Son of God and the only one who’s able to secure salvation, the Son of God. He uses interesting phraseology, doesn’t he?

When he thinks about the person of Jesus, he says, I’m not even worthy to bow down and untie his sandals. Think about that. Isn’t bowing down to untie someone’s sandals or shoes or wash their feet or whatever, isn’t that already humbling yourself? John is saying, I’m not even worthy to do that before this Jesus. Clear recognition that he’s far more than just a man. He makes it clear that Jesus is the One. Jesus, the Son of God, the Christ, is the Savior.

It’s as if, John, we’re saying, I can help you see your sin. Sort of like a preacher, I can help you see your sin, but only He can save you. And he’s calling people to repent and be baptized with water. Lord willing, I’ll pick up on that next time. But he’s calling people, he’s saying, I can call you to repent. I can help you see your sin. I can tell you the way to readjust your life according to righteousness. I can baptize you with water, this symbol of cleansing, but I can’t save you. Only Jesus can save you. If you want to know how your sins can be taken away, look to Jesus.

And then John recognizes that his sense of purpose is now fulfilled, now that Jesus comes. Now it’s time, says the prophet John, for me to decrease, let Jesus increase. Fix your eyes on him. John had become extremely popular. But he’s saying, no, now it’s clear. It’s clear. I’m just in the bridal party. He’s the groom. He’s the Savior. He’s the Lamb of God. What’s Jesus’ view of John? Well, he knew his person. He himself says that there’s none greater than John, except for those who are in the kingdom of God. But Jesus concurs with John’s message.

You just have to look in Mark, where we are, down just a little bit in verse 15. Here’s what Jesus is saying. He’s proclaiming the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Here’s Jesus, repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus, unlike John, is able to say, believe in me. I am the one. Believe in me. And so he not only esteems John’s person, but he echoes the very same good news. Very good news.

Christians truly know the need for repentance and belief in Jesus. They also know that there’s a need for ongoing change. It’s an integral part of being a Christian is that we repent of original sin, but we live lives of repentance because we recognize that we are not completely there yet. Here’s what our shorter catechism says. Question is, what is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace. whereby a sinner of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ with grief and hatred of his sin turns from it unto God with full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience.

You see, it’s a whole package. I like our children’s first catechism. with regard to repentance. We have to make ourselves like children after all, don’t we? To believe the gospel. Here’s the children’s catechism. I’ll read the questions and the answers.

What must you do to be saved? I must repent of my sin and believe, believe in Christ as my savior. How do you repent of your sin? I must be sorry for my sin and hate and forsake it. Why must you hate and forsake your sin? Because sin displeases God. What does it mean to believe in Christ? To trust in Christ alone for my salvation. Can you repent and believe in Christ by your own power? No, I cannot repent and believe unless the Holy Spirit changes my heart.

How can you get the help of the Holy Spirit? God has told us to pray for the Holy Spirit’s help. You might be sitting there saying, what does John have to do with me? What does this message have to do with me? Is Pastor Klett really calling me to repent? Yes. Yes, indeed. I’m even calling those who have repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Like I said, I trust most of us have done.

I call myself to repent on a regular basis, even as a Christian, because of that indwelling sin. There’s no such thing, people, as an unrepentant Christian. If you claim to be a Christian and you’re not in a constant process of repentance over your indwelling sin, then my understanding is you do not have the grace of God and you do not have the Holy Spirit. Because if you have the grace of God and you have the Holy Spirit, you will see yourself.

But I trust that we are in this regular state of repentance. Make sure it’s true repentance that relies on the work of Jesus, on the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul says in one place, godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. But worldly grief produces death. You might want to see change in your life. But without Christ and without the work of the Holy Spirit, it’s going to end up being nothing and probably reverse at some point.

If you are resisting repentance, then you need to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be saved. And as the Children’s Catechism says, pray. Pray that the Holy Spirit would work in your life so that you would see that there is a holy God to whom we will all give account. And because he’s holy, there’s wrath hanging over the heads of all unbelievers and all the unrighteous. Understand that there is the need for repentance, but understand that repentance will bring life if it’s a repentance that trusts in Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. Pray the Holy Spirit would show you.

Well, John the Baptist, again, knew he needed to decrease and that Jesus must increase. Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, Savior of sinners. John’s concern. And every preacher’s concern. Ought to be. And every believers concern ought to be that all eyes are on Jesus. Jesus, who was crucified for our sins. For the wrath of God, dead and buried, rose on the third day. ascended into heaven, who lives even now, interceding on behalf of sinners like us. That’s all of our hope, people. That’s it. Let’s pray.

Lord our God, we don’t pause often enough to meditate on your attributes, let alone your holiness. and your hatred of sin, and the wrath that looms over the head of unrepentant sinners. We don’t think often enough of the reality of that. We often pay lip service, but may the reality of that truth come home. And may the reality of the truth that Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, according to your will and the perfect plan of redemption, willingly gave himself. The one who had no sin becoming sin for our sakes, the one who didn’t deserve anything to do with any wrath, bore the wrath of sinners like us. We don’t think about that often enough.

We don’t pray that your Holy Spirit would continually open our eyes to that truth. And not only how much we needed salvation, but how much we need the continued work of you in our lives through the Spirit and through your word. But we thank you for reminders from your word like we’ve heard today. May it be your word and your call to repent and believe. and to follow Jesus that would be burned into each one of our hearts this morning. Send your Holy Spirit. Exalt our Savior Jesus.