Mar 19, 2012 | Matthew
I know that two weeks ago, we looked that this statement through the eyes of Asaph and Psalm 50. Tonight I’d like to consider it once again, but this time through the eyes of John the Baptist. This comment reveals things, perhaps conceals things, and also might...
Mar 18, 2012 | Matthew
I was surprised to find how complicated some Bible commentators want to make these verses. I don’t want to confuse you with all their jabbering, so I won’t go into their words very far. Considering the elements that we find here, for the most part this...
Mar 17, 2012 | Matthew
It is very likely that verses 5-12 are not one of John’s sermons but a summary of several sermons. When we compare this with the other gospels, the same information is sometimes set in different contexts, like diamonds in different settings. I think that...
Mar 16, 2012 | Matthew
We have been looking at this chapter for about a month now. As I was re-reading it for the umteenth time, it occurred to me that I have misquoted this verse many times. I’ve gotten it correct, but probably just as many times I’ve made a slight mistake...
Mar 15, 2012 | Matthew
Early in the week I knew that I wanted to preach on John’s statement about Christ – “He that cometh after me is mightier than I.” But I wasn’t exactly sure how to develop the idea – partly because it is so obvious and overpowering....
Mar 14, 2012 | Matthew
Here is something to keep in mind in regard to John the Baptist – despite the way that he might have appeared to these Pharisees and Sadducees, he really did have their best interests in mind. But unlike the Sadducean priests of the 21st century, he...
Mar 13, 2012 | Matthew
As I was thinking about these Pharisees and Sadducees coming to John, I noticed that their approach was different from the way that they later came to the Lord Jesus. With Christ, it was always adversarial – they came attacking – with arguments and...
Mar 12, 2012 | Matthew
I know that it would have been a little early, but what might have been the likelihood that Saul of Tarsus came to John down there in the valley of the Jordan? I can just picture the great scholar Gamaliel taking his little band of disciples down to hear the radical...
Mar 9, 2012 | Matthew
Amongst the common people of Israel who came to hear the preaching of John the Baptist, there were two specific groups – the Pharisees and Sadducees. History tells us that there were at least four sects, or groups, among the Jews in John’s day. There were...
Mar 8, 2012 | Matthew
I think that John the Baptist gives us a good opportunity to study the subject of humility. We all need to be more humble than we are, but it needs to be a Biblically-governed humility. It needs to come from within us, from the place where the Holy Spirit resides....
Mar 5, 2012 | Matthew
I foresee our Sunday study of Matthew becoming exceedingly long. If there are 13 messages from all 28 chapters then we will again take about 350 services in that study. Of course, I’m leaving the door open for the Lord to return and bring it to an end, but...
Mar 4, 2012 | Matthew
Last Sunday, a couple of people mentioned that they were blessed by the message on John the Baptist. And I was told that one person said that she had never before heard any lessons on John. I went home and checked my records and to my surprise that comment was quite...
Mar 3, 2012 | Matthew
Wednesday I picked up the mail at our box down the street, and as I walked home, I glanced through it all. Within that little bundle was an envelope from the Internal Revenue Service, Philadelphia, PA 19255. Immediately my heart skipped a beat. About five years ago I...
Mar 2, 2012 | Matthew
Back in 1972 I bought a book by S.E. Anderson, published by the church of M.L. Moser in Little Rock, Ark. It’s title was “The First Baptist.” Very surprisingly, the forward to the book was written by W.A. Criswell, pastor of the huge First Baptist...
Mar 1, 2012 | Matthew
Between chapters 2 and 3 we jump ahead about thirty years. The ministry of the Lord Jesus is about to begin, but first there is a forerunner, a vanguard, an usher. As we shall see, it was John’s divine commission to prepare the way of the Lord and to encourage...
