Mark 1:1-5
The Message Continues
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God;
2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I
send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight.
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach
the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of
Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan,
confessing their sins.
What we have here is a message being delivered through three
messengers. Mark, the first messenger, wrote about John the Baptist,
the second messenger, who came to reveal Jesus Christ, the third
Messenger, who came to reveal God.
Mark does not waste any time but jumps right into the life of Jesus.
So let’s do the same. Tonight three main thoughts:
I. The Man - John the Baptist
A. Last week, the man we talked about was Mark, the writer of
this gospel. This week, the man is John the Baptist.
1. Mark did not spend much time speaking about John the
Baptist.
2. In fact, most everything Mark told us about John was given
in the first 8 verses.
B. But we can say, "What a man!"
1. Both Matthew and Luke record the words of Jesus concerning
John the Baptist:
Luke 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that
are born of women there is not a greater prophet
than John the Baptist…. \\#Matt 11:11\\
2. God has used some men greatly before, but by God’s own
lips He said none had been any greater than John the
Baptist.
3. His life and ministry would not be very long.
a. He was cousin to Jesus \\#Luke 1:36\\.
b. He was 6 months older than Jesus. \\#Luke 1:26\\
c. He was arrested just after Jesus began His earthly
ministry \\#Matt 4:12\\, perhaps before Jesus ever
went to Galilee to preach.
d. He was beheaded well before Jesus died
\\#Matt 14:10\\.
e. He was probably 32-33 years old when he died.
f. But how brightly he burned for Jesus while he lived!
C. John the Baptist was definitely unique.
1. He broke every mold for a prophet and preacher that there
had ever been.
2. Some years ago, I wrote this outline for John the Baptist
that I think shows John’s uniqueness.
a. \\#4\\ His church - the wilderness
b. \\#4\\ His sermon - repentance
c. \\#4\\ His symbol - baptism
d. \\#5\\ His congregation - all Judea
e. \\#6\\ His clothing - Camels hair and skins
f. \\#7-8\\ His prophecy - Someone greater is coming
3. I do not believe John was different for the sake of being
different. I believe he was different so that he would
not get attached to this world.
a. He lived and preached where he did to stay away from
the temptations of this world.
b. He ate and dressed the way he did to stay away from
the temptations of this world.
c. He preached what he preached to teach others to stay
away from the temptations of this world.
d. And he marked those who separate from the world with
the mark of baptism.
4. If getting away from the temptations of this world was
that important to this godly man, maybe some of us should
try it for a while.
II. The Message
A. John had a message but it was not a new message.
B. John’s message was the continuation of a message that began
in the Garden of Eden.
1. The theme of that ancient message was, "God will send
Someone."
2. It began:
Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel.
3. In a nutshell, Someone was going to come.
a. That Someone was going to bruise the serpent’s head
while bruising the Someone’s heel.
(1) Just so you will know, it is same Hebrew word
that is translated bruise in that verse, but the
word can mean to bruise or it came mean to
break.
(2) You have to look at the context to see which
it means.
b. Since we are looking backwards in time, I think we can
say that the devil bruised Jesus’ foot at the bloody
cross, but Jesus broke the devil’s head at the empty
tomb!
c. He’s still alive and very dangerous, but whether the
devil knows it or likes it, he is a defeated foe.
4. The message that was begun in Gen 3 became more defined
and specific over time.
a. In the beginning, it is little more than a stick
figure with feet..
b. The Someone that would come was first noted as coming
through the line of Seth, then the line of Noah, then
the line of Abraham, then the line of Judah, and
finally through the line of David.
c. When the message began, we had nothing more than a
simple, stick-figure image of the One who would come,
but as time progressed, the message fleshed out into
His picture.
d. The Prophets and Psalms told us when He would come, to
whom He would come, how He would be treated, where He
would die, how He would die, what He would say while
He died, what would happen to Him after He died, and
most importantly, who He actually was.
e. By the time the Old Testament closed, we no longer had
an image but a photograph—maybe blurry and out of
focus in some areas, but still a clear enough picture
that one would have to be closing his eyes not to see
the similarities in that Someone and Jesus.
5. But then something happened.
a. The message stopped.
b. For 400 years it stopped.
c. If you have an old-fashioned printed Bible with study
notes, it probably gives Unger’s date of 397BC for
Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.
d. Jesus will be born around 3 BC.
(1) Some wonder why Jesus was not born in 0 BC.
(2) Apparently there an error was made when people
converted from the Gregorian calendar to the
Julian calendar.
(3) But for 400 years, the message was quite.
e. A lot happened during the 400 years.
(1) When the Old Testament closed, the Jews were
under Persian occupation. When Jesus was born,
they were under Roman occupation. In between
the two, the Jews were under Greek occupations.
(2) When the Old Testament closed, worship was only
conducted at the temple. When Jesus was born,
sacrifices were only offered at the temple, but
there was regular worship in most every city and
village at the local synagogue.
(3) When the Old Testament closed, Israel was
backsliding; but when the New Testament opens,
they have backslide.
f. 400 years is a long time.
C. But then John the Baptist picked that message up again.
1. But notice WHAT John said:
Mark 1:7 And preached, saying, There cometh one
mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
a. It was the same message.
b. Someone is coming.
2. John not only repeated the theme that had been silent for
400 years, but he added to the message.
a. The very fact that John was giving that message again
after 400 years was an indication that the arrival of
the Someone was close at hand.
b. But John added to the nearness of the Someone’s coming
by telling the people that he was sent to get them
ready.
Mark 1:2 As it is written in the prophets,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight.
(1) That was a mixed quote from \\#Malachi 3:1\\
and \\#Isa 40:3-4\\.
(2) John was telling them that He was that messenger,
and that they better start getting the roads
ready for the Someone was coming.
(3) And it would appear that the people believed him.
Mark 1:5 And there went out unto him all the
land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem….
(a) We will find out later on that Mark really
mean "all the land."
(b) Even the non-repentant scribes and Pharisees
come out!
(4) Isn’t it amazing how history is repeating itself?
(a) Of course, I cannot say for sure that Jesus
is coming in our lifetimes.
(b) That is not what the Bible says.
(c) The Bible says that Jesus could come in
our lifetimes.
(d) However, I feel that Jesus’ return is so
close that we better start breaking out the
picks and shovels and get busy fixing the
roads!
c. And John added to that message by telling the people
they must repent.
Mark 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and
preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins.
(1) I trust you know what the word "repent" means.
(2) It and faith are two of the most important words
in English language.
(3) It means to turn around, do a 180 degree turn, an
about face.
(4) It means the best you know how, to surrender
yourself to Jesus Christ.
III. The Mark
A. God did not give John the Baptist the gift of miracles, but He
did give to John the Baptist a mark, baptism.
Mark 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and
preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of
Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan,
confessing their sins.
B. Beginning with John, baptism became an outward manifestation
of an inward change.
1. I say beginning with John.
a. Some think that there was a form of baptism in the
Old Testament, but I do not see it.
b. It looks to me like baptism is something completely
new.
2. Those who were following in John’s baptism were saying
that they were different, that they were not going to
be a part of the world system any longer.
3. It was a way of publically declaring that you had
surrendered to and belonged to God.
4. That is STILL true of baptism today.
a. Every believer should be baptized.
b. It is a command of the Bible, but it should be the
desire of the believer.
C. Notice. Even though all baptisms may look the same, they are
not the same.
1. How do they look?
a. You go down into a stream, river, or body of water,
get immersed—that is put under the water—and then
you come back up.
b. That is what baptism looked like no matter who was
administering it or when it was administered.
c. I do not have the time tonight to explain it, but
sprinkling does not fulfill that.
2. What kinds of baptisms are there? There are two:
a. John baptized "unto repentance." \\#4\\
(1) These people were being baptized as an outward
picture that they were inwardly turning from
the world.
(2) There baptism was not a picture of the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
(3) It was more of a picture of the washing away of
the filth of the world.
b. Our baptism is in the name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost \\#Matt 28:19\\ and is a picture of
death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
\\#Rom 6:4-5\\.
3. There was nothing wrong with John’s baptism. It just is
not the same as ours.
a. \\#Acts 19:1-4\\ Paul came to Ephesus and found 12 men
who were preaching what they knew of the gospel.
b. They did not know about the Holy Ghost and had not
believed on the death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus.
c. Paul told them about Jesus’ completed work, baptized
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, and laid hands on them to receive the Holy
Ghost.
d. Why did they need to get baptized again? Because
John’s baptism is not the same as ours.
As I say often, you and I are links in a chain that goes back to the
beginning. The message that was begun in Genesis 3:15 has been
committed to our hands. What will we do with it? What we will do I
do not know; but what we should do, that I know. We should pass that
message on to others. God has sent Someone to brake the devil’s
head. That Someone is Jesus. Let’s make Him known.
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