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Home , Hypocrisy, Mark 1

The Roughneck of the Mark 1:1-11

Today we are officially starting our study of the even though we’ve read portions of chapters 11 and 16 the last two Sundays. If you were writing an account of the life of Christ, what would you include? I’ve told you that Mark’s gospel is short, sweet, and to the point. Which of ’ miracles, which of His teachings, parables, and conversations would you choose? I’m guessing we’d all end with His crucifixion and resurrection

Let me ask you this: How would you begin? Opening sentences make a difference. We remember well-written ones. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” A Tale of Two Cities. “The sun did not shine it was too wet to play, so we sat in that house on that cold, cold wet day.” The Cat in the Hat. “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Mark opens with this: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of .”

As I’ve said, Mark doesn’t beat around the bush. He immediately tells us what he is writing about: The gospel of Jesus Christ, the . The word of is an interesting English preposition. We use it to indicate possession, dependence, belonging – as in “this money of mine,” or “This is a box of chocolates,” or “We are in this time of waiting and wondering.” The second word modifies or qualifies the first. The gospel of Jesus Christ means that the gospel is all about Jesus Christ. He is the essence of the good news.

We talk about what is essential right now. These jobs are essential. Washing our hands is essential. Wearing a mask in public is essential. The essence of the gospel is the person and work of Jesus, the one whom God sent to give His life a as ransom for many … to restore our relationship with God … to undo the curse of in our lives and on this earth.

The essence of the gospel message is not about being good enough to get to . It is not about doing enough good things to offset all the bad things we’ve done. It is about the sacrificial death and resurrection of the only begotten Son of God for us; for our .

Right now, there are a of people doing good things for the physical well-being of others, and they are to be thanked and commended. The good news or gospel, has to do with what Jesus did for the well-being of our soul. He gave His life so we could have eternal life.

Let’s read all of the first 8 verses.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the : “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way; The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.’” appeared in the wilderness preaching a of for the of sins. And all the country of was going out to him, and all the people of ; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was and wild . And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the .” How does Mark begin his gospel account? He begins with about John the Baptist, the one I call the Roughneck of the Gospel. Let’s divide what we read here into three sections: The , the preacher and his proclamation.

We studied last November. This quote is a combo of Isaiah 40 and . The prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi let people know that God would send a messenger, a voice, one who would prepare the way for the Lord before He came to earth to bring righteousness and redemption. All four relate Isaiah 40:3ff to John the Baptist.

And John is a voice. He is like the MC at a banquet. He holds the microphone for a few moments to tell people what’s going on, then introduces the guest of honor. But if you read the prophecy of Isaiah 40, his voice is way more than an MC with funny anecdotes.

This messenger of God is doing spiritual road construction. He is filling in valleys of religious apathy. He is leveling mountains of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. He is bulldozing down all the denials and rationalizations people make about sin. He is preparing hearts for Christ Jesus, just as a road crew dynamites rock hills and cut paths through dense forests to make a smooth stretch of highway. That is Isaiah’s prophecy, and Mark tells us John the Baptist fulfills it. That brings me to the preacher. Look at verse 6.

“John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.” I haven’t seen anyone dress like that since the late 1960’s. Many times, when I read the , I think, “I can relate to this person, what they’re doing, what they’re going through.” And then there are times when I sit in my chair and think, “Wow, what a marvel this individual is. They are definitely cut from a different cloth.”

That’s John the Baptist. The life of a prophet in the Bible was not easy (just ask or ) and for most of them it was not plush. The Holy Spirit gave them insight into God’s plans and purposes and were to speak out, even if it meant disgrace. John was the first prophet God sent to the land of Israel in since Malachi. That’s 400 years.

John’s appearance fit his ministry. He didn’t wear soft clothes. His life wasn’t country club refined with weekends made for Michelob. He is a roughneck. He comes right out of the wilderness. I’ve spent time camping in the wilderness area of the Boundary Waters and the Rocky Mountains. I know what I came away looking like after just one week. My meals may have been sparse during these wilderness camping trips, but they were banquets compared to what John was eating, locusts and honey (bugs and bug juice).

God chose John to what I call “dirty work.” Dirty work is a that no one likes or wants to do. His job is to get people to face their sins and repent. He is a roughneck preacher with a rough message: Boil it down to one word: Repent!

That brings me to John’s proclamation, his message. “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Most of us want to hear about how much God loves us, and He indeed does. He loved us enough to send His son to die in our place. But who is it that truly understands the depth of God’s love? It’s those who know how much they have been forgiven.

This is wonderfully illustrated in Luke 7. Jesus accepts a dinner invitation from a Pharisee named Simon. A woman with a tarnished reputation shows up, and coming near to Jesus begins to weep. Her tears fall on Jesus’ feet and she wipes them away with her hair, then anoints His feet with oil. Simon thinks, “If Jesus really was sent by God, He’d know about this woman.” Jesus, aware of what Simon is thinking, tells him a parable with a question at the end. A money lender had two debtors. One owed about $500,000 and the other about $500. He forgave them both. Who do you think loves him more?

Simon answers that the one who was forgiven more will love more. Here is what Jesus then says to Simon: “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:44-47.

What is the lesson Jesus wants us all to take to heart? Those who understand the gravity of their sins, understand how good it feels to be forgiven and are filled with gratefulness to the one who has canceled their debts.

John the Baptist’s message is a very serious one: “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In other words; “You are about to meet your Maker. You better make sure your heart is right.” And this message or proclamation to repent called for a response; a water baptism, an outward sign that you were calling upon God to cleanse you of your sins.

The word repent simply means to turn; as if you’re driving the wrong way down a one-way street and you pull into a drive, turn the car around, and go the right way. In the context of our relationship with God, to repent means to change our mind and our heart so that it is in tune with what God says about the sin in our lives and our need for His forgiveness.

John is baptizing those who acknowledge and repent of their sins. It’s no wonder that even though the and are curious about what John is doing, most were not coming to be baptized. They didn’t sense their need for forgiveness. That’s a problem with many of us. We see the sins of others and look past our own. I see this occurring in news interviews quite often these days. It is all too easy to finger point at others and look right past our own culpability.

John’s baptism was a physical immersion in the Jordan River. It pictured the spiritual cleansing that came to all who confessed their sins. But this water baptism foreshadowed how Christ would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. Look at what he says in 1:7-8. “After me One is coming who is mightier than I and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John is letting people know that the is just around the corner. This roughneck preacher is also dealing out a message of spiritual hope: The Messiah is near.

I am going to talk some more about John in a moment. But first, I want us to read what Mark records next. It is about John baptizing Jesus. Let’s read verses 9-11. In those days, Jesus came from in and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

Why does John baptize Jesus? Christ doesn’t need to repent of sin. He is the Son of God. Here is my explanation as to the significance of Jesus baptism.

First of all, Jesus’ baptism marks Him as the Son of God. All four gospels mention what Mark writes in verse 10. That the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove. Mark, Luke and Matthew tell us about the voice from heaven, “This is My beloved Son …” The tells us that when the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus, that John the Baptist knew immediately that Jesus was the who takes away the sin of the world.

Second, Jesus’ baptism inaugurates His ministry. Look at what follows in Mark 1. He is tempted. He begins to preach about the kingdom of God and teach in the . He chooses His disciples. He casts out . He heals the sick and those with leprosy.

Third, Jesus baptism displayed His commitment to all righteousness. Matthew tells us in his gospel, that John actually tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You.” Here is how Jesus answered John. “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” His baptism reveals one more example of His submission to God’s plan for our redemption.

Jesus said that He came to fulfill the righteousness of the Law (:17) and He did it perfectly. In all ways He is our representative, our example, and our substitute for righteousness. He identifies Himself with us; born of a woman, tempted by the devil, He will know hunger, He will shed tears, He will grow tired, He will suffer pain and death bearing our sins on the cross. His baptism shows His identity with us – as our baptism shows us identifying with Him.

We don’t get baptized just to show others we are repentant for our sins, although that is true. We get baptized in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit to show that our faith is in Christ alone for forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. We identify ourselves with Christ in His death and resurrection, and as we come out of the waters of baptism are testifying to others that we desire to walk in this new life He has given us.

Let’s go back to Mark’s opening sentences about John. Let’s spend our final moments together learning a few lessons from the Roughneck of the Gospel. We may not be called to copy or imitate the uniqueness of John’s dress, diet, or demeanor. But we should take to heart the attributes he displays in his unyielding devotion to the Lord and his keen desire to connect people with Christ. And though I’ve said that John is one unique dude, it wouldn’t hurt for some of what he was made of, to rub off on us, including these character traits.

First, John is humble: He does not promote himself. He points people to Christ.

His diet, his clothes, his comment about being unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals, reveal his humility to serve God and do whatever dirty work the Lord has called him do. When his disciples tell him that way more people are following Jesus than coming to him, he replies. “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. I am not the Christ, but, I have been sent ahead of Him. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Second, John is credible: He knows God’s truth, speaks God’s truth, lives God’s truth.

What is it that makes a person credible, believable, and trustworthy? They tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – and their life matches their message. As God’s preacher, his message doesn’t change from day to day or group to group. John does not play favorites or give preferential treatment to the in crowd. His message is the same to all.

That is true about the gospel of Christ. The gospel is not a message about some sort of self-actualization. It confronts us with our spiritual depravity and desperation. If you want to talk about pandemics, sin is the worst pandemic of all. We are all infected with sin, and its curse, death. But like Mark, we know more than just the beginning of the gospel. We know the middle and the end. Jesus Christ has the cure for the infection of sin in our souls.

One other thing: Being credible in our character and our witness for Christ does not mean we will always do what is right. But it does mean that hypocrisy will not rule our lives.

Third, John is faithful: He does the work that God has called Him to do.

John is ready, willing and able to be God’s roughneck, to do God’s dirty work. He knows that when you confront people with moral absolutes and tell them that a day of reckoning is coming, you will make enemies. Yet even Herod couldn’t intimidate his devotion to God.

Faithful does not mean that we are immune to discouragement or doubt. We all have feet of clay at times. When John is locked up in Herod’s prison he sends his disciples to ask Jesus if He truly is the promised One. Jesus answers John by letting him know the prophecy of Isaiah 35 is being fulfilled: “Report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

Fourth, John is bold: He does not compromise or back down with God’s message.

John doesn’t mince words. He calls the self-righteous Pharisees a brood of vipers. When asked by the people being baptized what they should do, he tells them to share their food and coats with those who have none. He tells the tax-gatherers to collect only what has been ordered and the soldiers not to take money by force or accuse anyone falsely.

Bold does not mean obnoxious or arrogant. It means unashamed of Jesus and always ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us about our hope in Christ. So right now, in this time of waiting and wondering, let’s be zealous to do what is good, kind, generous, and sacrificial, so that people will ask us about our eternal hope in Christ.

John was a bit of an earthquake. His ministry was to shake hearts and souls; to call people to look straight at their sin and repent … But his message of repentance also included a good news message of spiritual hope. “One is coming …” As Christians, we get to tell people just who that One is – and how He died on the cross so that we might have eternal life.

Here is my point: Like John, every believer is to be a voice that introduces others to Christ Jesus. Let’s follow John’s example of humility, integrity, faithfulness, and boldness in preparing hearts to receive Jesus and place their eternal hope in Him.

The voices that prepared my heart to receive Christ included my mom, my sisters, a Sunday school teacher and few others who like John the Baptist, were gospel roughnecks.

I guess when all is said and done, the reality is this: As believers, we are all unique like John. And we all have a voice to preach the gospel. And I pray that God will use our voices to invite others to trust in Christ Jesus, the one who forgives repentant sinners.