Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 28 – July 1989

 

Clearing Roads And Building Utopias

 

Sermon by Rev. John Rogers on John 1: 19-34.

 

Introduction

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, what on earth does the title of my sermon have to do with the text we have just read this morning?

Well, building utopias is something we are all very interested in.  Utopia is of course that imaginary place that all of us dream about.  That place where everything is rosy, where all is well.  Prosperity abounds.  We all have enough and to spare of all of life’s necessities and luxuries.  Peace reigns.  Nations respect each other’s sovereignty and boundaries.  Men and women live in faithfulness and marital bliss.  Children obey their parents and play happily together and parents love their children.

Castles in the sky?  For sure.  But we all make them, and we’re all looking for utopia, or in Christian terminology: heaven.  We’re all looking for release from the difficulties of this life.  Only problem is, we’re not so keen on clearing the roads in the desert first.

And the Jews in John the Baptist’s day were no different.  They were looking for the kingdom of heaven.  They were oppressed by the great Roman Empire.  Much of their land had been taken away from them.  They had to pay big taxes to the Roman government.

And all this when they were supposed to be the chosen people of God, and have a son of David reigning over them!

So they were looking for the Messiah to bring in the kingdom of heaven.  They had been promised for hundreds of years that he would come and bring them deliverance from oppression and give them great prosperity.

And then, all of a sudden, this fellow John came preaching, “The kingdom of heaven is just around the corner!”  Sounds like Mr Lange [NZ Prime Minister] at the last elections!

So this morning, let’s see…

            i)  Who was this John the Baptist?

            ii)  What did he do?

            iii) So what?

1.  Who was John the Baptist?

At first the Jewish leaders thought he might be the Messiah (the Greek/English word is Christ) Himself.  But he wouldn’t have anything to do with that.  He was horrified at the thought.

So next they asked him if he was Elijah.  Now why on earth would they ask him that?  Elijah had gone up to heaven in that chariot of fire 900 years before!

True, but the second to last verse in the Hebrew Bible promised that before the great day of the Lord was to come, the prophet Elijah would come to Israel first, to turn many back to God so that there would be a people ready to receive Christ when He came.

And John was preaching in about the same area as Elijah, many years before.  And he was so like Elijah in his dress and the way he lived.

But he also denied he was Elijah.  And here we have a bit of a problem.  Because on a later occasion Jesus referred to John the Baptist as the Elijah who was to come!  (cf.Mat.17:11-13).

Yet John denied being Elijah.  How come?

Didn’t John know who he was?

Well the Jews were looking for the old, literal Elijah to come again just before the Messiah came.  In just the same way as they were looking for the Messiah to set up a literal material, political kingdom on earth, rather than it being a spiritual kingdom.

So John denied being Elijah.  He was not the Elijah they were looking for.  And he didn’t want to encourage that wrong kind of thinking about the kingdom of God.

“Well then John, are you that prophet?  YOU know John, that one that Moses said would come, just like him, in Deut.18?”

“Oh, no,” said John, “I’m not him, don’t confuse me with Him!”

Actually “that prophet” that Moses was talking about was Christ Himself.  But at that time the Jews thought “that prophet” was going to be someone else.

See, before Christ came, they were expecting, first, Elijah, and then “that prophet” to come.  And then the Messiah would come.

“No,” said John, “I’m just the voice of one crying in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord!'”  “In fact, I’m a nobody really.  I wouldn’t even dare undo the strap of Messiah’s sandal!  That’s the sort of difference there is between Him and me.”

So John describes himself in terms of what he had been sent to do.  What exactly was it then that he had been sent to do?  That’s my second point.

2.  What Did John do?

Actually, although John was a very humble person, he had a very important task to do.

“The Christ is coming and I’ve been sent ahead of Him to prepare the way for Him,” he said.  “So clear the path.  Clear away all the obstructions so He can come right in.”

You all know the sort of thing John had to do.  If the queen or the prime minister comes to visit, and there are crowds of people all around, policemen and traffic cops clear the road and call through their loudspeakers, “Move aside, clear the road!”  Well, that’s the sort of job John had.

But what sort of a pathway in the desert was John going to prepare for the Lord to come to his people on?

We’ve just learnt that John was not the old literal Elijah of the O.T. whom Elisha saw go up to heaven in a chariot.

We’ve also noted that the Messiah wasn’t going to bring in an earthly military/political kingdom that would overthrow the Romans.

Was John then talking about a literal sandy road in a literal dry sandy desert?  After all he’d just spent a few years in just such a place.  Had he been out there all that time with a pick and shovel making some secret road?

No, of course not!  The Bible loves using figurative language.  It loves to talk of spiritual things by reference to physical things.  And that’s just what Isaiah did when he wrote that prophecy in Is.40.

He wasn’t talking about a literal desert, nor a literal road.  John was talking about the desert that Jewish religion had become and the road of repentance by which Christ would have to come into the hearts of his people whom he had come to save.

What do I mean by the desert of Judaism?

In Is.5 God talks about His people Israel as beautiful vineyard that he had planted and looked forward to receiving fruits of righteousness from.  But Israel sinned and sinned against the Lord.  So what did he do?

Listen:

            Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard:
            I will take away its hedge, and it will be trampled.
            I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated,
            and briers and thorns will grow there.
            I will command the clouds not to rain on it. (Is.5:5f).

So, because of their sin, Judaism, the true worship of God in the O.T. days, instead of being a river of spiritual life to the rest of the world which it was supposed to be, became a dry and useless desert of selfishness and sin.

See, God had always wanted to live right close to His people, right in the hearts of His people.  But how was God to live in sinful hearts?  There’s only one way.  The sin has to be removed.

But before people are willing to have their sin removed, they have to repent of it.  They have to be sorry for it and turn away from it.

That was John’s task.  The great king was coming to His people, to save them, to live among them, to set up His kingdom, His rule in their hearts.  But do sinful people accept God’s rule in their hearts?

So John came preaching repentance, preparing the road into the hearts of Christ’s people by clearing the obstructions of sin.  Then Christ could enter His people’s hearts and establish His kingdom there.

But how does all this tie up with what I said earlier about getting to utopia or heaven or whatever you want to call it?  Even more, what does it have to do with us today?

Well I said that we’re all looking for utopia, for heaven.  People of God, the only real utopia is the kingdom of heaven, God’s rule in our hearts.  That’s the only solution for all the troubles of this world – to be united with our Maker and enjoy living in His gracious law.

The trouble is, we’re all like those Jews in John’s and Jesus’ day.  We’ve all got our own idea of what heaven is, what the good life is.

Most Jews weren’t interested in a spiritual Kingdom.  They wanted heaven on earth now in terms of a great earthly, military Roman emperor-type of Messiah.

More than that, not only did they have their own ideas about what the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven should be like, they were also not the least bit interested in John’s kind of road-building.

Yes, many of the humble people, the mere sinners in the land repented.  But the ruling classes?  Not on your life!  After all, they were the rulers in Israel.  Did they not know the law, and administer the law?  Did they not operate the temple and its worship?

Repent?  Come on!  The suggestion was insulting.  And as for baptism!  If a Gentile accepted the Jewish religion he would have to do three things; be circumcised, offer a sacrifice and be baptised.  And this baptism for repentance and acceptance of the true faith had probably been administered to proselytes for a number of years by the time John came on the scene.

But now John was baptising Jews!  Jews didn’t need to repent.  They already were God’s people.

And they had thought like that so often before.  The O.T. prophets had berated them for their unrepentance for hundreds of years.  And it always took some great catastrophe to make them even realise they had sinned.

3.  So What?

But you say, “What has this got to do with us here in Australia/N.Z. in1989?

It’s got this to do with us:

            i)  People in Australia/N.Z. in 1989 are still basically the same.
                        And their needs are still, at root, the same.

            ii)  Our task in Australia/N.Z. in 1989 is, in principle, the same
                        as that of John the Baptist in Israel in 30 AD.

Ah, but you say, John’s task and John’s baptism was to reveal the Messiah to Israel.  See there in vs.31.  Sure…!  But then what did vs.7 say?
            “There came a man sent from God; his name was John.
             He came as a witness to testify concerning that light,
             so that through him all men might believe.”

Sure, John’s task was to reveal the Messiah to Israel – but that was only so that from Israel, the Gospel might go out into all the world.

Then also what does John say in vs.29?
            “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Sure, John had a very special place in the history of salvation.  That’s quite true.  But the message he brought is the very message you and I must believe and the very message you and I must preach if we are ever to help our fellow men and women find utopia, find heaven, fill that great aching hole in their hearts.

And what is that message?  John preached repentance and he revealed Christ to Israel.  And that’s exactly the message we must preach.  Preach repentance and point to Christ.

People of God, there are a lot of people out there in the world who have great big aching holes in their hearts.  And they’re trying to fill it.

They’re looking for the real thing, for freedom from fear and arguments, for happiness.  For utopia in other words, for heaven on earth.

And the great news is that they can have it!

Problem is, most of them are looking in the wrong places.  Trying to make millions.  Trying to be a great cricketer, to be in the team to beat the West Indies or some such thing.  Trying to find the ultimate pleasure in sex.  In the bottle.  Lurching from one weekend party to the next.  In drugs.  Sniffing at a paint can or a glue tube.

And why do the poor kids do it?  Because, like those Jews, they’re looking for the kingdom of heaven – their own version for sure, but it’s the same basic longing in the heart.

And only Christ can satisfy that longing.  But they must turn away from their sins, and their own searchings first.

And people of God, we must tell them that.  It’s not enough to tell only our own children.  We must do that, and we must do that first.  John came to point out Christ to Israel – but Christ is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  And John pointed out Christ to Israel so that they would take it to the rest of the world, “so that all men might believe.”

People of God, we have a commission; “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

But I wonder.  Are there any here this morning who still have that great aching hole in the heart?  Who are still searching for answers?  Who are still looking for the real thing, that something that will bring peace, satisfaction, contentment?

Are there any here still restless in their hearts?  Who still haven’t got it all together?  Well Christ is the answer.  He’s the filler of big holes in the heart.  He’s the great utopia- builder.  It’s He, and only He who can bring heaven to you and take you to heaven… give you that contentment that you’re looking for.

And Christ is the only one I can point you to, or need to point you to for that matter.  Don’t go looking to some great man.  John the Baptist was a great man but He came only to point to Christ.

“Look”, he said, “I only baptise with water, I only prepare the way, but if you want the real thing, go to Christ.  He baptises with the Holy Spirit.  And when He does that He really unites you to God.  Also, He’s the Lamb of God who really takes away the sin of the world.”

But maybe you’re still trying to short-circuit the system.  Are you trying to get the kingdom of heaven without repenting of your sin first?  Like those Jews.  Is it possible that there are some here who think they don’t need to repent, who think that because they are of such a good covenant family, you know, like Paul, a Benjaminite of the Benjaminites, that they don’t really need to turn away from their sin?

But what sin?  I don’t do this and I don’t do that.  Man, I live a really good life and if it wasn’t for me, lots of things in the Church wouldn’t get done.  God couldn’t possible keep me out of the kingdom of heaven.

And right there I’ve got you!  That’s just exactly how the Pharisees thought.  They didn’t do this and they didn’t do that.  In fact God owed them salvation, they were so righteous!  It’s just that pride, it’s just that thinking you can make it on your own that is your greatest sin.

Other parts of the N.T. say that Jesus came baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  And if you don’t clear away the obstructions of “do-it-myself” from the dry desert that is your self-righteous heart, you’re not going to be baptised by the Holy Spirit and be united to God and have your sins carried away by the Lamb of God and have peace on earth and reach heaven at last.

If you don’t repent of just that sin – of thinking you can enter the kingdom of heaven on your own or making your own heaven – you’ll receive a baptism alright.

But I’m afraid it will be the baptism of fire “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.” (2Thes.1:7f).

Dear friends, I want you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, not the baptism of fire.  I want you to find utopia, the place of real and full contentment, happiness and peace.  But there’s only one way for you to have it.  To turn away from your sins (repent in other words) and run to Christ to have your sins taken away and be joined to God by the baptism of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ.

Don’t be a fool and reject that offer.

AMEN