Word of Salvation – Vol.24 No.05 – November 1977

 

The Beginning Of The Gospel

 

Advent sermon by Rev. H. L. Hoving, B.D. on Mark 1 1

Scripture readings: Isaiah 40:1 – 11, Mark 1:1-15.

 

It will soon be Christmas again.

Some Say: Awful..!  Others say: Beautiful..!

Awful..?  Yes..!  Most people will ‘celebrate Christmas’ as symbolised on the so-called Christmas stamps issued by Australia Post: the 15¢ stamp depicts a scared looking Santa on a surfboard; the 45¢ stamp depicts a statue of what is supposed to be Mary, the mother of Jesus.  But the baby she holds in her arms has no recognisable features.

Awful: Christmas without Christ.

Others say: beautiful!  For Christmas means a new confrontation with the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  And many people are blessed in commemorating the love of God in the giving of His Son.

And the Christmas season is also beautiful because it presents so many extra opportunities for witness.  By truly celebrating the feast of salvation in Jesus Christ, and by reminding people of the true significance of the birth of Jesus.

The first verse of the Gospel according to Mark is:
“The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

The beginning of the Good News that God saves.

The beginning: we find the same expression concerning the coming of Jesus to this world in the first verse of the Gospel according to John and of his first letter.  The beginning of the Good News may be traced back to God’s eternal plan: “In the beginning was the Word”… and the Word became flesh…!  We may also say: the beginning of the Gospel was when God spoke to fallen man in the mother of all promises: The woman’s seed shall bruise the head of the serpent’s seed.  And then we see how this first promise is repeated and expanded in the history of God’s dealings with His people in the Old Testament.

The beginning of the gospel can also mean: the earthly ministry of Jesus, for in Him all the promises of God are being fulfilled.

Most likely Mark meant it that way, as he begins his story with the ministry of John the Baptist in preparation for Jesus’ ministry.

When Luke writes the Acts of the Apostles he refers to the Gospel he wrote as an account of “all that Jesus BEGAN to do and to teach”.

So we could read verse one of our text as the title of the whole book.  The beginning of the Gospel is the history of Jesus’ ministry on earth.

And the continuation of the Gospel is what Jesus did and does in the sending of the Holy Spirit through Whose work disciples are made of all nations.  And the end of the Gospel will be the consummation of the ages, when Jesus will come again and complete the Kingdom.

ADVENT means: He is coming!

Of course we cannot celebrate Advent as if we expect Jesus to come for the first time.  We must celebrate Advent in the sure knowledge and consequent happiness that Jesus did come; and in the expectation of, and readiness for, His second coming.

The BEGINNING of the Gospel.

For some of us this beginning was the instruction we received from dedicated parents.  For others the beginning was later in life in confrontation with the Good News.  For others, by the Grace of God, Christmas 1977 may be the beginning of the Gospel.

But all of us must praise God that the beginning came from Him.  And all of us must praise God that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Without Jesus there is no Good News”.  In Jesus there is the abundance of Good News, for He came to save His people from their sins.  O come, let us adore Him!

It is said that Mark wrote the Gospel at the request of Christians in Rome.  They had heard Peter preach the Good News of the Lord Jesus in His sufferings and glory for their salvation, and they would like to have it in written form.  And Mark did write it all down as he remembered it.  A simple act, and, compared to the Gospels according to Matthew, Luke and John, a simple story.  Yet, the miracle is that God took this simple story in His service and through the Holy Spirit made Peter’s preaching, written down by Mark, the infallible Word of God; for us today, too!

Luke recorded a summary of Peter’s sermon in the home of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.  There we read: “You know the word… which was proclaimed throughout Judea, BEGINNING from Galilee after the baptism which John preached.”

So also Mark begins with the story of John the Baptist.  John, the first one to speak as a prophet for some 300 years; the one who came in fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi, the herald of the King; to prepare the way.  Like we do in our day, when we expect a royal visit, a lot of preparations have to be made.  Even more so in the days when there were no sealed roads, certainly not in the desert.  Preparing for the advent of a king then meant a lot of work: clearing roads, repairing roads, even making roads sometimes.

That was John’s task: the King was coming.  Prepare the road, make the paths straight.  Of course John’s task was a spiritual task.  He had to clear away, or make people clear away, the obstacles in the hearts and lives of the people so that the King at His coming would find a people well prepared to receive Him.

Mark summarises John’s message briefly: “Preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

Matthew, Luke and John give more details.  We learn then that John preached against the sins of his day as they were obvious in the lives of the people, the leaders, the Pharisees, the tax collectors, the soldiers.  The worst sin seems to have been the complacency, the ease with which people would say: “Of course we are God’s people.  Are we not Abraham’s children?  And are not God’s gifts for us, and for us only?”

Israel then, like the Church so often, maybe like we are today: eager to receive the promises of the Covenant; not eager at all to act on these promises in obediently living by grace alone.  That was, and still is, the greatest stumbling-block which has to be removed: the sureties built on any other consideration apart from the Covenant of God.

Therefore the preaching of John was not just the announcement of the coming of the Lord.  His preaching was that of a prophet who had to call the people to repentance, to conversion, to change their thinking and their life-style – before they could partake again in the love of God.

The result of John’s preaching is remarkable.  The Jews had known baptism before; but then it was for gentiles who desired to become members of the community.  But now John preached that they, too, would have to be baptised.  That they, too, needed something more before they could enter into the Kingdom of the Messiah.

And many came: all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem.  Maybe many of them came to hear a man who preached like the prophets of old, and who looked like Elijah in his clothing, food and methods.  But they responded, confessed their sins, were baptised, and so prepared to receive the King in His coming.

John made such a tremendous impression, that many people asked whether he himself was the Messiah.

When Jesus came and later began His preaching with the same words as John used: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!”, many people followed Him and were impressed with His word of authority.  No doubt many of these followers had repented through John’s preaching and were prepared to follow the Messiah.

We also know, of course, that most of these people stopped following Jesus when He made it clear that His Kingdom was different from their expectations.  They were willing to accept a kingdom which was announced with signs and miracles.  They were not willing to accept a King Who had to die on a cross before He carried the crown.

Now we may ask: When this was the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, what does that have to do with us today, in Advent 1977?  We are living after Pentecost.  Not in the beginning but in the fulfilment of the Gospel.  We don’t live in the time of John the Baptist, when the way had to be prepared for the coming of Jesus; we live in the time that Jesus, after His ministry on earth, has taken His place at the right hand of God where He now prepares for His second coming.

And these are the preparations Jesus makes for His coming: He prepares for Himself a people ready for the day of His coming by sending His Holy Spirit so that the Gospel is being preached and applied.  And He prepares a place for His people.  And when all is ready, He will come again.

So we live in Advent expectation: Jesus is coming again.
Yet, how important to us is the beginning of the Gospel?

For the preaching of John in the wilderness marks the greatest turning point in the history of God’s dealings with His people.

NOW the promises are going to be fulfilled.
NOW the Old Testament time is past and the new is coming.
NOW Good News will not only come to Israel.
NOW all who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
will be heirs of the promise of the Covenant:
I will be your God and you shall be My people!

We may read the story of John the Baptist and regard him as a historical figure only.  Yet, his ministry is the beginning of the Gospel.  That was John’s burden.  NOT that people would come to him and accept him as a preacher of the kingdom, but that people would accept the Good News that Jesus was coming.  And get rid of all other considerations, and all that was in their hearts and lives that would keep them away from Jesus.

No, John is not important; Jesus is!

As John himself said, that he was not worthy even of performing the most humble task of a slave: to untie the sandals of the Master at His coming home.

Surely, John wanted people to respond to his preaching.  He wanted them to confess their sins, to repent and to be baptised as a sign of the washing away of their sins.  And many did respond.

But this was only the beginning.  Far more was to come.  John was only the forerunner, the herald.  The coming King was all-important.  And the King, says John, will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.  The water-baptism by John was preparation for the Spirit-baptism by Jesus.

That is what it is all about.  That is how John summarises the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus: “He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

It is as if John sees the purpose of all that Jesus came to do, all His sufferings and glory in Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit with power.

Yes, indeed: how could Peter have preached the Gospel as he did without being baptised with the Holy Spirit of Pentecost?

And how could.  Mark have written this record of the Gospel without the baptism with the Holy Spirit?

How could John perform his ministry without the knowledge that the Holy Spirit was to be poured out as a result of Jesus’ ministry?

And so we today; how can we believe in the beginning of the Gospel without the fulfilment in the Holy Spirit through Whom we have been born again to enter the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Jesus came to save His people.

So Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and confirmed it with many signs and miracles.

Therefore Jesus died on the cross to take away the sins of His people.  And therefore He was raised for our justification and now sits at the right hand of His Father.

But how would we know, and how would we believe, and how would we be saved if Jesus had not sent His Holy Spirit, to open our hearts too?

Without the baptism with the Holy Spirit we would stand condemned.  Because of this baptism, administered by Jesus, we are free to enter this Kingdom.

You who believe in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, you should not allow yourselves to be disturbed by the claims of those who say that they have more than faith; who say that they have a second baptism.  For the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the outcome of Jesus’ work to save His people.

When John the Baptist pointed away from himself to the One Who was to come after him, he made it clear that his baptism was no more than a preparation for the baptism to be administered by the Messiah.

That is the application of the whole of Jesus’ work of salvation to the hearts and lives of sinners.  So that they will believe the Gospel, the Good News concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This month we are going to celebrate Christmas again.  To remember that our salvation is from God Who so loved us that He gave His only Son.

How will we celebrate?  Conformed to this world, with a lot of romantic sentimentalism about a baby in a manger and shepherds in the fields, and a lot of man-made good will in giving presents and parties?  Then Christmas will be awful and our witness will be negative.

By the grace of God we will celebrate Christmas as people who have been transformed by the renewal of our mind as people who have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit.  Then Christmas will be wonderful; as a celebration to the glory of God and as a witness to those who do not accept the beginning of the Gospel and do not share in the blessings of the Gospel.

ADVENT 1977: Jesus has come and Jesus is coming!

ADVENT 1977: if Jesus would come back on Christmas Day, would He be welcome?  Would the way be prepared and the path straight?

How awful if Jesus would come again while we were having our Christmas celebration without believing the beginning of the Gospel!

How glorious if Jesus would come again while we are celebrating the love of God for sinners in the coming of His Son, for the first and for the second time!

AMEN.