The Book of Luke: The Ministry of John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-9)
In Luke, we see the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke 3:1-2 “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”.
In verse 1 we see political leaders but then we see religious leaders in verse 2. The Book of Luke gives a very detailed account of events which is why it is giving us specific information. Luke 1:3-4 “3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”. The purpose of the Book of Luke is to give a certainty of the things which we have been instructed. Luke is giving very detailed information about the leaders and people involved during that time period. It mentions all of these powerful people but then it mentions John the Baptist.
Matthew 3:1-6
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
In Luke 3, Luke gives us the leaders of these various areas and the reason it does is because the ministry of John the Baptist effected these leaders and areas.
Matthew 3:6
6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Multitudes came to John to hear him preach the word of God. John had a very impactful ministry that accomplished much for the Lord. This is a great story for us to learn as a Church because we want to be a Church that has a great impact and reaches lots of people.
Point 1 – He emphasized scripture.
Luke 3:2 “
…the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”. The Bible tells us that the word of God comes to John the Baptist. Luke 3:3 “3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;”. We see that the ministry of John the Baptist emphasized the word of God and emphasized preaching. Modern day Churches aren’t spending lots of time on their sermons and through passages of the Bible. In today’s world, there is a famine for the word of God. What would happen today if Churches would actually preach the word of God?
Luke 3:4
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Why did John come before Jesus? What was he doing? John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord.
Luke 3:5
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
Back in this time, going on a long trip could be a dangerous thing. In today’s world, it is pretty easy to just get in a car and drive somewhere. Back in that time you could encounter large rocks or mountains that could make it difficult to travel. Before Kings and world leaders would travel, they would send men to go out ahead of them and to prepare the way for them to travel safely and conveniently.
Isaiah 40:3
“3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”.
Who was Isaiah preparing the way for according to this verse? He was preparing for the LORD. Who did he prepare for? Jesus. This proves that Jesus is God.
Luke 3:5
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
People would know that when a King or a ruler was coming, someone would come ahead of time to prepare the way. Was John the Baptist physically building a road? No. He was preparing a group of people to meet the Lord, to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 1:76 “76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;”. Luke 1:17 “17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”. The purpose of John the Baptist was to come and prepare the way for the Lord. Why was John emphasizing scripture? He was preaching the word of God to prepare people to meet the Lord. We are not waiting for the 1st coming or advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are waiting for the 2nd coming. We should do the same thing as John the Baptist and try to prepare people to meet the Lord. There are some very proud people that need to be brought low. There are some people whose lives are rough and need to be made smooth.
Jeremiah 23:29 “29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”. Hebrews 4:12 “12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”. I am here to tell you something. The greatest thing we have is the word of God. At our Church, there are a lot of things that we don’t have to offer that other Churches have. What we do have though is the word of God. What do we do at Verity Baptist Church? We sing some hymns and preach the word of God. We don’t have lights or a fog machine or the things that other Churches have. John didn’t have a nice building or programs but he had the word of God. I’m here to tell you that John’s ministry was impactful because of the preaching of the word of God.
Sometimes people come to our Church and they say that my preaching makes them feel bad. Did you ever stop to think that maybe you aren’t ready to meet the Lord? Maybe you have some things in your life that you need to get right with God.
Not only do we see John’s impactful ministry mentioning scripture. We also see that his ministry emphasized separation. Luke 3:4-5 “4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;”.
Notice that John went to the wilderness to preach. He separated from everyone. I don’t think that we have to have a ministry far away from everyone. However, I believe the physical separation symbolizes the spiritual separation that we need to have. Matthew 3:4 “4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.”. What John wore and what he ate was different than other people. He was peculiar physically to some people. The application is that we are to be a peculiar people spiritually. People say that if we change things around here then we will have a bigger crowd. Look, what you win people with is what you will win them to. We aren’t trying to get a big crowd of worldly people here.
2nd Corinthians 6:17 “17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”. The Bible tells us to be separate spiritually. John’s ministry was impactful because of the emphasis on scripture and separation. We aren’t changing out stand in 2022. We are still preaching against wickedness and drinking and Hollywood. Why? We are trying to prepare people to meet the Lord. The Bible says “Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.”. We see an emphasis on scripture and separation from John.
Thirdly, John emphasized salvation. Luke 3:3 “3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;” People will take this and say “John taught you must repent of your sins to be saved.”. The Bible says that he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The word “for” can mean to obtain or “because you have”. For example, “wanted for murder” = “wanted because you committed murder”. They were baptized because they had the remission of sins but not to get the remission of sins.
Acts 19:4 “4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”. Notice that repentance is linked here to believing. Isn’t that consistent with the entire Bible? Youi don’t have to quit smoking or change your lifestyle to be saved. That is a works salvation. He preached to them “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. The reason some people get confused about the ministry of John is that many of his disciples did change their lifestyle and repent of their sins after they got saved. As a result, people assume they had to do that to be saved.
We teach people that salvation is by faith alone. All you have to do is believe on Christ to be saved. Then we teach them after they are saved that they can never lose their salvation no matter what. Then those that become members of our Church often make major changes in their life. It’s interesting that those who believe salvation is by faith alone are the ones who make major changes in their life. On the other hand, many who believe a works salvation have many vices and sins in their life.
Luke 3:6 “6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”.
John was teaching salvation. Luke 1:77 “77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,”. My prayer for our Church family is the members of our Church who haven’t gotten into soulwinning or gotten out of soulwinning will get back into it. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings but I’m just being honest. Some of you have never led a soul to Christ before. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings but I’m trying to encourage some of you to become soulwinners this year.
What was John doing? He was emphasizing scripture, separation and salvation. He also emphasized sanctification. Here we have John having an impactful ministry. Let’s see what he says in Luke 3:7 “7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”. This doesn’t sound like the Mega Church Pastors today. Sometimes people think I am too rough and too mean but that is the style of preaching in the Bible.
Luke 3:8 “8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”. John the Baptist was not a Zionist. He is saying that their pedigree means nothing to getting them to heaven. Judaism is a false religion that rejects Jesus Christ. People say we are racist if we preach against their religion. It has nothing to do with racism. We preach against all false religions.
Luke 3:9 “9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”. He talks about in parables that he will take the kingdom of God from them and give it to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. John realizes that these people are phonies showing up. He doesn’t want people who believe a false religion there. He is saying that if you are here then he wants them to be serious about it.
Look, we want to have a lot of people at Church. However, our Church is not for everyone. If you want to live a sinful life and don’t want to learn but want to feel spiritual, this is not the Church for you. We want as many people here as possible but this is not the Boy Scouts. This is the Special Forces. We are preaching the word of God in heavy doses. We are preparing people to meet the Lord. If you are not serious about serving God, you can find a Church that has a rock concert. John looked at these Pharisees and Sadducees and knew that they were phonies. We are looking for serious people at our Church just like John was in his day.
John mentioned to them the fruits. We don’t have to do good works to be saved but once you get saved, God wants you to start working. We should teach people to observe all things. Matthew 28:19-20 “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”. Our goal is to teach everything that the Bible has. John’s preaching was comprehensive.
John’s preaching was also direct. People wonder why we preach about the things in the news and things that are controversial. The reason why is because you have to preach on the things that are applicable in your day. Luke 3:19-20 “19 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20 Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.”. In prison, Herod has the head of John the Baptist cut off. John the Baptist’s preaching was direct against the sin of Herod and Herod didn’t like it.
As a Church, we have suffered persecution as a result of our preaching. People say “You know how powerful the LGBT is so why do you have to preach about it?”. Because the Bible mentions it. We preach directly against the sins that exist just like we see done in the Bible. Let us get serious about serving God this year. Let us get the sin out of our lives.
Let’s pray.