Lenox Federated Church - Firm Foundations, Creation to Christ

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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 33 - God Sent John to Teach and Baptize;

John Baptized Jesus

Questions for the LFC Firm Foundations Coordinator may be emailed to firmfoundations@lenoxchurch.org

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What does the name Emmanuel mean? It means “God with us.” Jesus was God, come to earth to live with human beings.

2. In what country was Jesus born? In the land of Israel.

3. In what town in Israel did the prophets say Jesus would be born? Bethlehem.

4. Was it right for the wise men to worship Jesus? Yes, because Jesus was God the Son.

5. To which country did God tell Joseph to take Jesus in order to escape from Herod? Egypt.

6. To which town in Israel did Joseph take Mary and Jesus after they left Egypt? Nazareth.

7. Why was Jesus born into the world? To be the Deliverer of sinners— to save people from the control of Satan, sin, and death.

8. Although Jesus looked like other children, what great difference was there? Jesus was God as well as a human being.

9. Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? No, Jesus was born sinless, and He never thought, said, or did anything which displeased His Father.

10. Was anyone else sinless like Jesus? No, everyone else inherited Adam’s sin and disobeys God’s laws.

How do you get someone’s attention? One of the best ways is to mention something that is personally important to them. That’s exactly what God the Holy Spirit did through John the Baptist. He sent John to announce the coming of the Savior. And He made sure that John gave a message that would command the people’s attention.

John, who had been chosen by God to be the prophet to prepare the Jews to receive the Deliverer, was now an adult. It was now God’s time for John to begin teaching the people.

John taught the people that they must repent.

- John meant that the people must change their attitude toward God, about themselves, and about sin.

- He told them to change their minds in preparation for the coming of the promised Savior.

Here are the things they needed to understand and agree with:

- That God is the only true God and that they should serve and worship Him completely.

- That they had sinned against God by disobeying His laws and that they were unable to make themselves acceptable to Him.

- That all sin is against God and that God hates sin and will always punish it by separating the sinner from Himself in the everlasting fire.

These are the same things which God wants every one of us to understand about ourselves and to agree with.

- Recall:

Remember when we studied the Ten Commandments? How many of us have been able to keep these commandments perfectly? That’s right! None of us have. What does God call it when we break a commandment? Yes, He calls it sin. How many times do you need to sin in order to break all of the commandments?

What if you only told one lie? Would that count as sin? Of course it would. All sin separates us from God. And because God is holy and righteous, He hates our sin. The punishment for sin is death and eternal separation from God.

John was the one who the prophet Isaiah said would precede the promised Deliverer.

John was God’s prophet, but this did not mean that John was rich.

- John was very poor.

- He just ate the things he found in the wilderness, and his clothing was that of a very poor man.

- Consider:

Some people say that if you put your faith in God, then He has to give you all the money and possessions you want. They say that wealth and possessions are a sign of God’s blessing. They will even say that if you are not getting all the money and things you want, you probably don’t have enough faith. But God does not promise that a person will become rich if he believes Him and obeys His Word. Many of God’s greatest prophets and people who believed were very poor. Later you will see that even Jesus, God’s Son, was a very poor man when He was here in the world.

Locate the Jordan River on the Map below.

Many of the Jews believed God’s Word which John told them and went to him to be baptized.

- When a person was baptized, it was a sign to everyone that the person agreed with God that he deserved death for his sins, but he was trusting in God to send the Deliverer to save him.

- Note:

Baptism implies identification. The word “baptize” comes from the Greek word “baptizo.” One of the ways this word was used was to describe the process of dying cloth. When a piece of cloth was plunged into a vat of dye, it would take on the color of the dye. Just as the cloth was identified with the dye so that it took on that color, so also the Jews identified with John’s message of repentance. Their baptism was an outward act which illustrated inner repentance and belief in John’s message. They were identifying with the truth God was giving them through John. Baptism will not make us acceptable to God. Baptism on the outside will not wash away our sins before the eyes of God. Being baptized cannot pay God for our sins. The payment for sin is death. Baptism is just a sign to show to others that a person agrees with God’s message and that he is trusting only in God to save him

Most of the leaders of the temple were proud. Let’s take a look at these leaders and consider what the Bible tells us about their attitudes.

- Scribes

All that Moses and the prophets had written was now on scrolls. The men who copied the words of God onto these scrolls were called scribes. They were also called “lawyers” and “teachers of the Law,” because they were the men who were supposed to know and be able to explain the real meaning of the words of God. Many scribes were very proud because of their learning. They thought they were pleasing to God just because they could remember and explain the meaning of many parts of God’s Word. They didn’t realize that it is more important to God that we believe His Word and obey it.

- Pharisees

Some of the other leaders of the Jews were called Pharisees. The Pharisees tried to please God and be accepted by Him by obeying many different rules which they themselves had written. The Pharisees added to God’s Word. They did not think that they were sinners like other people. They kept themselves separate from anyone who was not a Pharisee. They were proud and thought that they were good enough to be accepted by God because of all the things that they were doing.

- Sadducees

There were other Jewish leaders who were called Sadducees. The Sadducees also went to the temple and claimed to worship God. However, they did not believe many things which God had written in His Word. The Sadducees took away from God’s Word some of the truths which were in it. For example, the Sadducees did not believe in the existence of angels, nor did they believe in the resurrection of the dead. They rejected everything except the first five books, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. They were interested in keeping in good standing with the Roman government and making sure that they kept their own position as leaders of the Jews. They did not really trust in God from their hearts.

Many of these religious leaders would not admit that they were sinners.

- They thought that they were good enough for God to accept them.

- Because the Pharisees and Sadducees were so proud, John’s words to them were very strong.

- Explanation:

When we talk about being proud of ourselves, we are talking about an attitude that says, “I think my way is best, no matter what God says.” Pride means selfishness, self-centeredness, and boastfulness. Many people think that they are always right. Even when they know they are wrong, they hate to admit it. They want everyone to think they are great when they really are sinful, like everyone else. If we find ourselves disagreeing with what God says in His Word, or thinking, “This doesn’t apply to me,” we are probably thinking that way because we are proud.

God’s words are very strong to those who are proud and resist Him and refuse to listen to His message.

James 4:6 says, “...God resists the proud....” God sets Himself to fight against people who are proud and who will not agree with Him. But He promises to help and deliver those who agree that they are sinners and who acknowledge that only He can help them.

John told the Pharisees and the Sadducees that, if they really accepted God’s thoughts about them, as spoken through John, then they must show it by their actions.

Many of the Jews were proud that Abraham was the father of their nation. They thought that God would accept them because they were the descendants of Abraham.

- Consider:

- Some people think that they are automatically accepted by God because of their parents’ faith.

- Or a person may think that because he was raised in a church and has gone through all of the church ceremonies, God will accept him.

No one is accepted by God because of his parents or his church background. God judges everyone individually, not by his family, and not by his works nor by his church affiliation.

John told the Pharisees and Sadducees not to be proud nor to trust in the fact that they were Abraham’s children.

- God can do anything He wants to do.

- He could even make children for Abraham out of the stones if He wanted.

- He was telling them bluntly that in themselves they had nothing about which to boast.

John was God’s prophet sent to prepare the people to receive and trust in the Deliverer.

- John was just a man.

- But the coming Savior was the Son of God.

- Explanation:

Back in John’s time, men of high rank had servants to do all of their work. The important man would not put his own shoes on or take them off. That was the work of the servants. John said that he wasn’t even worthy to be the servant who would take off the Deliverer’s shoes. The Deliverer was the Son of God. He was the Creator of the world—the one who had given John his life.

In Luke 3:23 the Bible says that Jesus was now about thirty years old.

Although Jesus came to be baptized, it was not because He was a sinner and needed a Savior like all the others who were baptized by John.

- Jesus was born perfect.

- He lived in full agreement with God.

Jesus came to be baptized because this was God’s command to all Jews who accepted John as God’s prophet.

- If Jesus wasn’t baptized, people would think that He did not obey God’s commands.

- Or people might have concluded that Jesus did not believe that John had been commanded by God to baptize.

The Holy Spirit came to be with Jesus to enable Him to do everything that God the Father had planned for Jesus to do. Jesus was also Almighty God, but when He became a man, He chose to depend on God the Holy Spirit for power to do the work of the Deliverer here on earth.

God the Father called Jesus His Son.

- Jesus was a man.

- But He was also God the Son who had come down from Heaven.

God was fully satisfied with Jesus.

- Jesus was the only man who did everything that pleased God.

- God knew that Jesus was absolutely without sin.

- Jesus was completely holy and righteous, perfect in God’s sight.

When John saw Jesus, he said that Jesus was the Lamb who was given and sent by God.

Later, we will see exactly what John meant when he called Jesus the Lamb of God.

John did not know who the Deliverer would be, but when he saw this sign from God, he was sure that Jesus was the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

What about us? Do we need signs like this one which God gave to John to prove that Jesus was the Son of God and the promised Deliverer?

- No, we do not need miraculous signs.

- We have the Word of God, the Bible.

Are we like the religious leaders who thought their good works and their religious background were enough to make them acceptable to God?

- Every one of us needs a Savior.

- And God has given only one: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

- He is the only Savior for the whole world, and the only Savior for you and for me.

QUESTIONS:

1. What did John tell the people?

2. What does it mean to repent?

3. Whom was John getting the people ready to receive?

4. Who were the scribes?

a.

b.

c.

5. Who were the Pharisees?

a.

b.

c.

6. Who were the Sadducees?

a

b.

c.

7. Why didn’t the priests and other religious leaders accept John’s teaching?

a.

b.

8. Do we have to be baptized to be saved from the control and the punishment of our sin?

9. Who was always helping Jesus in everything He did here on earth?

10. What did God the Father say when Jesus was baptized?

a.

b.

c.

11. Did anyone else ever please God like Jesus?

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 161: 2 Kings, Chapters 8 and 9

Day 162: 2 Kings, Chapters 10 and 11

Day 163: 2 Kings, Chapters 12 and 13

Day 164: 2 Kings, Chapters 14 and 15

Day 165: 2 Kings, Chapters 16 and 17