There Came A Man (Part 1)

I wonder if you've ever thought about what it means to have a surefire, successful ministry. How would you define that? What would that look like in your mind? What would a sensational ministry look like? As I was thinking about that this week, I came up with some principles that will help you define and articulate a successful ministry.

Number one, if you would like to have a successful ministry, make sure that you never go to where the people are.

You make them come to you. And when they come to you, they go to the most inconvenient spots possible. In fact, when they come to you, make sure that there are no conveniences.

So when they sit, they have to sit on the ground, or the asphalt, or the grass, or the sand, or the dirt. Make sure there are no chairs. Make sure there are no umbrellas, for when it's hot, you want them to experience the heat of the sun.

When it's cold, after all, they can always wrap themselves in something warm. After all, you don't want to minister to weak, impotent people. You want them to be strong.

If it rains, no big deal, they won't melt. Let the rain pour down upon their head. This is a surefire way to have a successful ministry.

Number two, deliberately wear things that are unattractive. Never wear the things that are truly in, and cool, and everyone adores. Make sure you wear things that are completely out of the ordinary.

In fact, the smellier they are, the better they are. Fill your clothes with animal skins, and the smellier, the better. And when you gather people together, and you have a potluck, make sure you take insects, and you wrap them in pure honey, and pass them out to everyone who is hungry. This is a surefire way of having a successful ministry.

Number three, make sure that when you speak, you always speak offensively. Make sure that you assault and insult all of your listeners. Make sure they are greatly offended every time you speak. A perfect sermon would be simply, what in the world are you doing here? Why would you even come here, you people who think you're better than everybody else? That's a surefire way of having a successful ministry.

And then make sure that you always expose and embarrass every top government official you know. Make sure you expose every hidden sin, everything they're trying to keep away from the public. Put it out there for everybody to hear it, and to know how wicked your leaders are, especially in private.

And then, make sure you only minister for a very, very short time. Don't go beyond 18 months. A year is good, maybe 18 months, but don't go beyond that.

And then, when it's all said and done, when all these people are coming to you, because if you follow these guidelines, you will have a surefire, successful ministry.

And because all these people are coming to you, make sure that you pass them off to another preacher down the road. That's a guaranteed great ministry.

And you would think that the elevator in my brain doesn't go to the top floor. You would think that your pastor snapped a twig. But that's not the case. Because, you see, that was the ministry of John the Baptist, of whom it was said, among those born of a woman, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

He may have been unconventional. He may have been strange. But he was extremely effective.

He wrote the book on successful ministry. Because there was never a preacher like him. There was never a prophet like him.

He was the best ever. And yet, we think of those things and say, who in their right mind would ever do what John did? And then we wonder why our ministries are unsuccessful and not successful. Interesting.

But what was it that made John great? Was it his methodology? No. No. It was the man himself that made the ministry great.

It wasn't the methods that he used. It was a call of God on his life. So the Bible says in John 1, verse number 6, there came a man.

And we're going to stop right there. We're not going to get any further in the verse. Just simply, there came a man sent from God.

What kind of man was he? He was not an ordinary man. He was an extraordinary man. He was a man unlike any other man.

He was a man that was unparalleled to any other man. And so over this week and next week and the week following, at least, I want to help you understand the identity of this man. And then I want you to understand the ministry of this man, the testimony of this man, and the legacy of this man.

After all, of all the men born of a woman, he's the greatest. So, best we know his identity, his ministry, his testimony, and his legacy. But before we do all of that, there's something else you need to know.

And that is the peculiarity of the man. What made him so peculiar? What made him the way he is? And I want to give you eight principles that will help you understand why this man, John, was so peculiar, so unique, so extraordinary. And then, if you're a man in the audience, I want you to match your life against his life.

Because after all, of all the men born of a woman, he's the greatest. So if you want to be great, match your life against John's life, the greatest man ever born of a woman. And then you can understand whether or not you are ever going to be great or whether or not you will ever have a successful ministry.

Because, you see, John is the barometer for greatness and the barometer for a successful ministry. And so you need to be able to compare yourself to the standards of the Scriptures. What does the Bible say about this man? We know what Jesus says about the man.

So how does the Bible describe him? And so as we look at this peculiarity of the man, we will see eight different principles.

Number one, the man was uncompromising in his message. Uncompromising in his message.

We get that from John chapter 1, which states these words in verse number 6, there came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, said all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

His whole life was about speaking about the light. In fact, the Bible says in John chapter 10, these words about John, it says, while John performed no sign. Isn't that interesting? A successful ministry is defined by the inability to perform a sign.

The opportunity to have a sensational ministry is not based on signs and wonders and the spectacular. We live in a world today where we want everything to be big and spectacular and awesome, incredible, thinking that that's going to attract people and draw people. But it does not.

Oh, it gets a crowd. Yeah, it does. But for John, the sensationalism was gone.

That's not what he was about. He was about speaking the truth. So it says in John 10, verse number 41, while John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man, the Christ, was true.

Everything John said was true. He had an uncompromising message. So his message was absolute.

His message was accurate. His message was authoritative. His message was even apocalyptic.

He said, why are you here? Who told you to flee from the wrath to come? I baptize you with water, but there's one coming who's mightier than I, who's going to baptize you with unquenchable fire. He spoke apocalyptically, because all great messages focus on the judgment, focus on the end, so people know how to escape the judgment of God. That was John.

He just came to testify about the light. He just came to be a witness. He became the person who spoke the truth.

He was certainly the last Old Testament prophet, and he is now the first New Testament preacher. No wonder he was the greatest man who ever lived. There hadn't been a prophet who had spoken in over 400 years.

And all of a sudden, John shows up in the wilderness, coming out of the wilderness like a locomotive, fast approaching. He came with all kinds of explosive statements. His message was uncompromising.

I love what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 11, verse number 8, when Jesus says this, verse number 7, what did you go out into the wilderness to see? What were you looking for? A reed shaken by the wind? Is that what you were looking for? And around the Jordan, there are all these kinds of reeds that were very bendable and would just go with the breeze and the blow of the wind. They would go to the left and to the right, front and back, always, always bending. And Jesus says, what, you go out to see somebody who would bend to the left and bend to the right, who took no stand at all? Is that the kind of guy you were looking for? Oh, that's not John.

He says this, but what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in king's palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who was more than a prophet. Here was one who came, and when he spoke, he never dumbed down the message.

Here was a man when he spoke, never backed down from the hard truths of the message. Here was a man who, for all practical purposes, was not sensational, was not spectacular, but Luke 1 says that when he comes, he will come in the spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah was the great Old Testament prophet.

Remember, it was Moses and Elijah who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses was the great lawgiver, and Elijah was the great law protector. In this one, John would come in the spirit of Elijah.

He would speak forcefully. He would speak faithfully. He would speak fervently.

He'd even speak ferociously because he was the great prophet of God, pointing people to the truth. This is a man who's uncompromising in his message. He was the one who embodies Proverbs 23:23, buy truth and never sell it.

Do all you can to obtain the truth because it's going to cost you everything that you have. And once you spend all that you have to obtain that which is the most priceless and valuable commodity this side of eternity, the word of the living God, buy truth, never sell it out, never compromise it, never back down from it, do all you can to obtain it. Wisdom, instruction, and understanding, Solomon goes on to say.

That was John, uncompromising in his message.

Number two, he was unorthodox in his mannerisms. Unorthodox in his mannerisms.

Over in Matthew chapter 3, it says this, now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. Very unorthodox in his mannerisms.

You see, his whole dress was the antithesis of the religious establishment. His whole mannerism of the way he lived his life spoke against the self-indulgence of people in leadership because he lived a life of self-denial. Remember, he's the son of Zacharias, the priest.

So John's in line to be a priest. He could have followed his father into the priesthood. He could have been in the temple.

He could have been wearing the robes of a priest. He could have been in the comfort of the temple, but no, not John. Oh, no.

His whole lifestyle screamed against that because he knew how hypocritical it was in the days of Jesus. So he made sure that everything about his life spoke against the self-indulgent society in which he lived in because he lived a life of complete and total self-denial. That was John.

His whole life was a visual protest to the religion of his day. He didn't care about fitting in. You know, today we have preachers who wear thousand-dollar sneakers and wear jeans with holes in them.

I guess that's still in style, I guess. I don't know. And those tight shirts that you can see their muscles bulging all the time, you know, and they want to get in front of the audience and be really cool-like, right? That's not John.

No, he wouldn't do that. In fact, even to be next to him, he'd smell to high heaven. That was John.

He wasn't looking to impress anybody because he had an audience of one, the Messiah. And he only wanted to please his God. So he wasn't interested in looking like everybody else. Fitting in was not important to him. Being a part of the society was not important to him.

That's why I love what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 4. He says in verse number 3, for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries, and all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you.

That's the believer. You've been saved from all that. You're not interested in fitting in to the world you were saved from.

You're not interested in being like the people you used to hang around with in your unsaved condition. And they see that you don't run with them in the same circles, and they malign you. That's what Peter says.

I'm sure that John was maligned on many occasions, not just because of what he ate or the way he dressed, how he smelled, but just because he was completely unorthodox in his mannerisms. He wasn't unorthodox just to be that way. No, there was a method to his madness. He wanted to make sure that his life was a total contradiction to everything around him.

Today, we love to be a part of the world. We love to fit in at work. We love to fit in at school. Nobody wants to be on the outside. Nobody wants to be the odd one out.

And then we wonder why our lives are not great. We wonder why our lives are the way they are. We're too busy trying to be like everybody else around us instead of trying to be like Christ and honor Him and glorify His name.

This is John, John the baptizer, which leads to the second aspect of what he was unorthodox about, and that was his whole baptism. People were flocking to the wilderness down by the Jordan River, which is down by the city Jericho and beyond in the wilderness. It was hot. Hot people were coming. They were coming. He wasn't going to them.

He could have ministered in the temple, but he wouldn't have been welcome there. So he ministered in the wilderness, the Judean wilderness. And if you've ever been there, it's hot, it's barren, it's dry. Oh, it's nasty. People came to him. He didn't go to them.

They came to hear John. They came to see John because he was completely and uniquely different than everything and everyone else around them. He challenged them, repent.

Repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he would challenge them to be baptized. And that's so interesting because we know what baptism is.

We know as believers that we are baptized because we are identifying with the Christ who was killed, buried, and rose again. That's why we go down into the water, because we are buried with him in the likeness of his death, and then we are raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection. Everything about baptism is symbolic.

And it's not what baptism does because baptism doesn't do anything. It's what baptism says. What it says about your life and your commitment to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we understand that about baptism. But Jesus hadn't died, and Jesus hadn't been buried, and Jesus hadn't been raised from the dead yet. So what is John doing? He's baptizing these people and challenging them to confess their sins.

And what he's doing is only done to Gentiles, Gentiles who want to convert to Judaism, Gentiles who realize that they're not a part of the covenant people of God, and they realize that they're separated from the true and living God, and they're not descendants of Abraham, and they're outside the national covenant given to the people of Israel. And they want to come into that covenant relationship, and they want to be baptized into all those things and confess that they are not a part of what Judaism represents. But John's not baptizing Gentiles.

He's baptizing Jews. And Jews weren't baptized. But they were all coming down to be baptized by John.

Because John's telling them, listen, I know that you're a descendant of Abraham. I know that you're into the rituals. I know you're into the circumcision.

But none of that saves you. I know that you're the covenant people of Israel. I know that you understand Abrahamic and Davidic covenants.

I understand all those things. But none of that's going to get you into heaven. You need to be prepared to meet the Messiah.

And therefore, you need to confess your sins. You need to confess the fact that you're outside of a relationship with God. For you to hear that is astounding.

That's why he was uncompromising in his message and unorthodox in his mannerisms. See? And people were confessing their sins and being baptized. Unfortunately, it was only temporary.

A lot of people, some people, not all people, but some people who get baptized are baptismal. They'll come, and they'll make a profession of faith, and they'll get baptized, and they'll want to identify with Christ. But next thing you know, they're walking away from the Lord.

They don't care about the Lord. And their commitment was a temporary commitment because the cares of this world choke out the trueness of their commitment. And the affliction comes, and persecution comes. They can't stand it, and they fall away. Matthew 13, the rocky soil and the thorny soil.

A lot of these people were temporary because when they met the Messiah, heard what the Messiah said, they didn't like the message. So they crucified Him. See? So unfortunately, it was only a temporary commitment on their part. It was a commitment of convenience instead of a commitment of conviction, a lot like people today in the church.

We have a commitment of convenience. I'm committed to church as long as it's convenient, as long as it's close, as long as I don't spend $5.50 a gallon in gas to get there, as long as it's at the right time that I wanted to be there, or I'm not on vacation, or I'm not doing this or that, something else more important on Sunday. I have a commitment of convenience, not a commitment of conviction.

These people had a commitment of convenience. Everybody else getting baptized, everybody else confessing to say, let's do this thing. But then when the Messiah comes, Messiah begins to speak and says, if any man came to me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

You mean like John denied himself? I'm not sure I want to do that. Really? And they crucified their Messiah. Here is John uncompromising in his message.

I wonder if you as a man back down on the message of the gospel. I wonder if you as a man are ashamed of the gospel. I wonder if you as a man kind of are like the reed down by the Jordan River, sway back and forth, dependent upon what crowd you're with and what kind of associates you have.

And you'll say this in one crowd and that in another crowd or you always stand strong on the truth, never compromising what Jesus says. John the Baptist was uncompromising in his message and he was unorthodox in his mannerisms. But note this, number three, he was unequaled among men.

He was unequaled among men. Turn, if you would, in your Bible to Luke's gospel. As you recall, we spent nine years in Luke's gospel.

It was quite a journey. It took us a long time. But I want to give you the ultimate gender reveal story.

We're all into gender reveal today, right? Everybody wants to do something big on Instagram or on Twitter or some kind of mechanism by which I can get out to the world of the gender of my baby. Well, I'm going to give you the ultimate gender reveal. It's in Luke chapter one.

Here it is. Angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias. This is verse 11 of chapter 1.

Standing to the right of the altar of incense, Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son. Wow, going to have a boy.

She's just not going to be pregnant. She's going to have a boy and you will give him a name, John. They didn't have to even go to a baby book and figure out a good name.

They didn't have to even try to figure out what kind of name fits with our family. No, the angel, Gabriel, named him. The angel Gabriel told him that it's going to be a boy.

This is the ultimate gender reveal. You're going to have a boy. His name is John.

And it says this, you have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and he will drink no wine or liquor and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb, unequaled among men. No other man was filled with the Holy Spirit while in their mother's womb, but John was. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This man is unequaled among men. He had a very privileged calling.

Like Jeremiah, like Paul, he was set aside in his mother's womb for unique and special ministry. He would be the personal herald of the Messiah. He'd be the one that would point to the Messiah so that all would know who the Messiah is.

Nobody else had that privilege, but John did. He came in the spirit and power of Elijah. No one else did.

He was set apart personally by the Messiah. He would hear this later in life. The first father said these words, you child will be called the prophet of El Elyon, the most high God.

Wow. For you will go on before the Lord to prepare his way to give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. Wow.

That was John's ministry. That's how he lived his his life. It was so unique, so peculiar.

It was unequaled among men. He would see the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus. That is baptism.

He was the one who baptized Jesus. Talk about unequaled among men, seeing the Holy Spirit descend upon the Messiah, and then to hear the voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Unequaled among men.

This is John the Baptist, very peculiar person, very unique in his ministry. So he was uncompromising in his message. He was unorthodox in his mannerisms.

He was unequaled among men. He was unlimited in his mission. His mission had no limits.

Over in Luke chapter 3, verse number 18, these words were spoken. So with many other exhortations, he preached the gospel to the people. He didn't pick and choose what people, because his message was unlimited to everybody who came to him.

Didn't pick and choose whether they were the religious elite or whether they were poor blind people. Made no difference. It was the same message, same gospel about the same person all the time.

It was unlimited. He was unlimited in his mission. Verse 19 of Luke 3, but when Herod the Tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done.

Again, unlimited in his mission. He was willing to speak to an Idumean, a descendant of Esau, people who hate the Jewish nation. He would speak to Herod.

He would reprimand Herod. He would exhort Herod. He would reprimand Herod, the king, because his mission was unlimited. He wanted everybody to hear the message.

Which leads me to our fifth point, and that is this. John was peculiar because he was uninhibited in his ministry.

Uninhibited in his ministry. In other words, nothing kept him from fulfilling his call, even when it came to reprimanding the king, Herod. Remember Herod? He was Herod the Tetrarch.

He was ruler over four aspects of the kingdom, one of four rulers, and he would build Tiberias on a graveyard. He would honor it, give honor to it by naming it after Caesar, Tiberias Caesar. Tiberias is on the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus, by the way, never went to that city because it was built over a graveyard. But Herod was a man who was wicked. And Herod had married his brother's wife, who was really his half-sister.

And Herod knew that. I mean, John knew that and confronted him on that. And listen to what it says in Matthew's gospel, in Matthew chapter 14.

At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard the news about Jesus. John's gone off the scene now, and Jesus is preaching. He said to his servants, this is John the Baptist.

He thinks Jesus is John the Baptist. But in him, Herod is fearful of John. Remember what it says over in Mark's gospel, in the 6th chapter of Mark.

It says this, Herod was afraid of John, verse 20, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. Herod the king knew that John the Baptist was a holy man, separated unto God, living a righteous and pure life. And he kept him safe.

Remember, John was in prison down in Makarios, which is seven miles northeast of the Dead Sea. It was the palace of Herod. It was his summer palace.

He had two dungeons in it. And that's where he kept John the Baptist, kept him safe. But note this, and when Herod heard John, he was very perplexed, but he used to enjoy listening to him.

That's just an incredible verse. Herod was perplexed. Herod was attracted by the message that John would give until the message attacked the way Herod lived.

And then it was a different story. It's like people in the church, they're very, they're attracted to the message until the pastor says something about their personal lives. And they're very offended by that and confronted by that.

And they no longer want to go to that church because their life has been exposed. Not that the pastor knew anything, just that they didn't like what he said. That was Herod.

He was taken back. He was moved by John because of the message. But when the message attacked Herod's relationship, his incestuous relationship with his brother's wife, well, that didn't go over so well.

So back in Matthew's gospel, it says these words, when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his wife, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had been saying to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd because he regarded John as a prophet.

But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked, having been prompted by her mother. She said, give me here on the platter the head of John the Baptist. Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and because it was dinner guests.

He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl. She brought it to her mother.

His disciples came and took away the body and buried it. And they went and reported it to Jesus. Here's a man who was uninhibited in his ministry.

He had no inhibitions about anything. Who he talked to, what he said, because he was interested in righteousness and holiness and godliness. He only spoke the truth.

In fact, he did the most loving thing he could do, confront Herod on a sin. The most unloving thing he could do was just allow him to live in sin without ever being confronted on it. That's the most unloving thing anybody can do.

But the most loving thing you can do is to call out the sin, call it what it is, and demand that they repent of their sin and follow the Lord. That was John, uninhibited in his ministry. So he was beheaded.

The voice of John could be silenced, but the truth that John spoke would carry on through Jesus, through the apostles, and all those who would hear the gospel. So here was John the Baptist. He was the kind of person who was uncompromising in his message, unorthodox in his mannerisms, unequaled among men, unlimited in his mission. He was uninhibited in his ministry.

Number six, he was unpopular before the multitudes. The Bible says in Luke chapter 3, verse number 20, these words, Herod also added this to them, and he locked John up in prison.

John was antisocial. He was politically incorrect. He was insensitive.

He was bothersome. He was irritating. He was an outcast.

He had no wealth. He had no social prominence. He had no education.

He had no worldly status, no achievements, backed by no organization, wrote no books, held no office, had no physical prowess that we know of, all the things that are completely different than what we would determine as a great and successful man. He would never win a Pulitzer Prize. He would never win an Oscar.

He would never win an Emmy. He would never win a People's Choice Award. He would never win a Lifetime Achievement Award.

He'd be no MVP. He'd have no all-star honors. He'd have no military medals.

He had no literary honors. He would have no educational honors. But he was the greatest man ever born of a woman, not because I said so, not because the Jerusalem Post said so, but because Jesus said so.

And number seven, he was unforgettable as a man. He was written in the annals of Scripture, in the eternal Word of God to be remembered forever. He truly lived out Ecclesiastes 7:1, that the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.

And everyone rejoiced at his birth. The angel Gabriel said so. He'll be filled with joy and everyone will rejoice.

Ah, but the day died. Talk about heaven's rejoicing. Talk about his home in glory, his reward in heaven, an unforgettable man.

The Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs, the memory of the righteous will last forever. And yet there is one more point. I told you I had eight.

I've given you seven. There's one more point that is extremely relatable to everyone in the room that you need to understand about John. It's a point that is unimaginable, because it was John who had an unimaginable moment, unlike any other moment in his life, that marked him, that caused Jesus to say, there's never been a man born of a woman greater than John.

And that unimaginable moment, which is point number eight, I'll talk to you about next week. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for today and thank you for the ministry of John the Baptist.

Matthew records it. Mark records it. Luke records it.

John records it. Four Gospels highlight the ministry of this man.

Extremely peculiar. Extremely different. Nothing that we would deem successful in this day and age for sure. Nothing that we would want to put up as a model for others to follow, but you did.

And I pray that we would look at John and realize the impact that he made in just an 18-month ministry. That's it. And then you took him home.

And yet, Lord, the man's life was incredible. May we learn from him. May we learn to model him, because you said he was the greatest man born of a woman.

And so, Father, we just ask that you'd go before us. You help us to live in light of your word until you come again, as you most surely will. In Jesus name.

Amen.