In an age when image and style are everything, can a man in a hair shirt, calling us to repent, have anything relevant to say? The answer is 'yes.'

This Sunday we will be looking at the ministry, message and master of John the Baptist, a voice that still speaks.

You can download sermon summary notes in English here and in French here.

Or you can read them below:

A Voice in the Wilderness

Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist bursts onto the scene – the first prophet in Israel for 400 years.

His Ministry

John came preaching. He described himself as ‘a voice’. He was a messenger of his master, a man with a message. Matthew quotes from Isaiah 40. When a king visited the roads would be repaired. John called the people to repair the roads of our hearts for the coming king.

But it wasn’t just his words that preached. His clothing did too. John knew that ultimately it’s not the external things that matter, but the internal things of the heart. But his clothes also reminded of Elijah – who would come before the Lord.

His Message

John declares two things. The first was a call to repent. Repentance means a profound change of life direction: from walking our own path away from God, to walking on his path towards God. Repentance is not a one-off event. If we want to draw near to God daily, every day must be a repentance day. We are tempted to put ourselves on a pedestal – repentance humbles us. We are tempted to criticise others – repentance reminds us we too need to repent. We are tempted to trust in things other than God – repentance reminds us that only God will satisfy.

But there are alternatives to repentance. The religious leaders put their trust in their religious and racial heritage. We can fall into the same trap. It’s the trap of taking pride in what we say we believe, or how much better than others we think we are, or of our tribal or national identities. But these are no substitute for repentance.

But why should we repent? That was the second thing that John preached: because the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. You cannot be a true citizen of the king and be a rebel. There are consequences if we fail to repent. If we choose to live our own way, hell becomes a place of our choosing.

His Master

It’s in Christ that the kingdom of God is breaking into the world. In comparison to Jesus, John saw himself as lower than the lowest. In quoting Isaiah 40 Matthew, and John, apply to Jesus something Isaiah applied to God. That was how they saw Jesus. God, the King of heaven and earth, has come.

John talked a lot about fire: was that the fire of purification or the fire of judgement? It was both. Whether we take God’s path or our a destination awaits us at the end. We must listen to John’s warnings. But John’s baptism was a picture of the true heart cleansing Jesus would bring about. How does he burn up the chaff of our lives? When we realise he went through a baptism of fire for us it changes our hearts. We love him more and our sin less. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and see him as he is, we become more like him – and the Spirit begins to burn up the chaff.