#7 Lu 1:80 THE EARLY LIFE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Introduction:

In our text last Sunday Zacharias uttered a prophecy

which spoke chiefly about the Christ. He spoke very briefly

about his son, John, and said that John would prepare the way

for the ministry of the Christ. He said that John would

prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus by proclaiming the

way of salvation. John would preach repentance of sin and

faith in Jesus Christ.

Our text today does not deal with the ministry of John.

Rather it deals with his prior to his ministry. Luke does

not go into any detail concerning this period of time in

John's life. In one brief statement, he covers all of that

period of time from the infancy of John to the beginning of

his ministry. In this one brief statement, Luke

tells us three things about the early life of John the

Baptist.

I. The physical growth of John

Note the text, "And the child grew..." The first thing

that Luke said about John is that he grew. That is, he grew

physically. He began as a little infant and grew. His

growth must have been somewhat like the growth of any other

child. He went through all the stages of growth that any

other child would go through.

I do not mean that John went through all the behavior

patterns that other children go through. John was influenced

by the Holy Spirit from his infancy and so his behavior must

have been somewhat different from other children even from

the first. But he did go through the same stages of physical

growth as others.

This must have been a joyous time for the Zacharias and

Elisabeth. They had missed out on the joys of parenthood in

the earlier years of their life. It was almost certain that

this would be their only child. Therefore they cherished him

all the more. They poured out all their love on this one and

only child. They cherished every moment they had with him.

Even when he cried that must have been sweet music to their

ears. When little John took his first step, they must have

been just about the proudest parents in the whole land. When

he cut that first tooth, they must have again swelled with

pride. When he uttered that first "Momma" and "Dadda" they

must have thought that he was the smartest little fellow in

the world. And when they had him bathed and all cleaned up,

they must have thought that he was the cutest baby in they

had ever seen. Come to think of, they must have nearly as

proud of Little John as your were of your's when your first

child was small.

There might have been a few advantages of having this

child in their old age rather than in their young years, but

we can be sure that there were at least some disadvantages.

One of those disadvantages was that they did not have much

hope of getting to see any grand-children. Luke does not

tell us when Zacharias and Elisabeth died, but there is a

strong probability that they never lived to seen their son

begin his ministry.

What they would do in those early years that John was in

their home was to teach him about God and teach him the will

of God for his life. No doubt they told him about the visit

that the angel of God had paid to Zacharias while he was in

the temple of God at Jerusalem. They told him about the

special name that was given to him and what that name means.

The name, John, means "God is gracious" and they would want

him to know just how gracious God had been to them and how He

had been gracious to the whole nation of Israel in sending

another child by Mary, Elisabeth's cousin. They would want

him to know that he was to be a special servant of God who

would prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus. Zacharias

would tell John about the prophecy that he, himself, had

received from the Holy Spirit of God revealing that John

would preach repentance to the people and that he would

preach faith in Christ to them. They would tell John that

under ordinary conditions he would follow in the steps of his

father, Zacharias, and be a priest in the temple at

Jerusalem. When he reached his younger adult years as an

adult, he would go to school and learn to serve as a priest.

Then he would have to pass a test to see if he could qualify

before he would be approved to serve as a priest. But

because of the special calling of God, John would never serve

as a priest. Instead he would preach to the people and

inform them about the coming Messiah-king. He would preach,

"Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Or in other

words, he would say, "Repent for the King that God promised

through the prophets of old is at hand."

I said that the parents of John, at their age, would

have little hope of living to see any grand-children. It is

doubtful that they lived to see John get grown. I do know

this, if they lived to see him as a teenager they must have

been pretty feeble by then. It is highly doubtful that lived

to see him go beyond his teens.

II. The spiritual growth of John

Note the text again, "...and waxed strong in spirit..."

Just as John grew in physical stature and physical strength,

even so he grew in spiritual strength. Just as his physical

growth did not happen overnight, even so his spiritual growth

did not happen overnight. He did not go to bed one night as

a weak spiritual baby and get up the next morning as a

spiritually fully matured strong young man. Little by

little, he grew in spiritual understanding. No doubt, the

things his godly parents taught him played an important part

in his spiritual understanding. They taught him about God;

they taught him about the coming Messiah-king. They told him

about the priesthood and all the spiritual lessons that could

be learned from it. They taught him the word of God as

written in Old Testament Scripture.

But there was more to the spiritual growth of John the

Baptist than just what his parents and others had taught him.

As John began to grow from one stage to another, he turned to

the Lord and sought the Lord for himself. Being taught about

Jesus by one's parents is great, but if that is all that a

child ever knows about the Lord, he will never be a spiritual

person.

One thing a child must determine for himself is whether

or not he believes what he has been taught about God. Does

he personally believe that God is real? Is he fully aware

that he is a sinner in the sight of Almighty God? Does he

repent of his own sin and seek pardon at the hands of a

gracious God? Let me tell you this about John: If John had

never seen himself as a sinner and if he had never repented

of his own sin, he would have never been able to preach

repentance to the people with such great conviction. I am

just as convinced as I can be that John had a personal

experience with God in that he turned to God in repentance

of his sin and he personally asked the Lord to pardon him

from all his sin.

Likewise, John must have placed his faith in the coming

Christ. If he was going to preach the message about the

coming Christ with any conviction he must have reached the

place in life when he personally trusted the coming Christ as

his own Savior. When John preached and said that Christ is

the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, I am

convinced that he had already trusted the Christ to take away

his own guilt of sin. John had a personal experience with

God in repentance of his own sin and a personal trusting

faith in the Christ.

It was his own personal experience of grace with God

that was John's first giant step forward in growing into

spiritual maturity. After that, he no doubt had many

experiences with the Lord. In the wilderness he walked with

the Lord. He talked with the Lord many times. He sought the

will of God for his own life. He began to grow in knowledge

of the work that God had in store for him to do and John was

surrendered to task of doing what God had called him to do.

He was willing to do what God had called him to do. He was

actually anxious to do it. Nobody could have been as zealous

as John in preaching if he had been unwilling to preach.

III. The separated life of John

Let us note the text again, "...and was in the deserts

till the day of his showing unto Israel." This speaks of the

separated life that John lived. Let me first point out to

you that the Greek work that here is translated "desert" does

not necessarily mean "a dry, arid place." Rather it means "a

deserted place," "an uninhabited place," or at "a sparsely

inhabited place."

That is exactly the kind of place that John grew up in.

John was not a city boy. John was small-town boy, a country

boy. Back in verse 39 of this first chapter of Luke when

Mary went to the home of Zacharias and Elisabeth, it was said

that she "...went into the hill country..." Actually she

went into a small city or village where Zacharias and

Elisabeth lived. But the point that I am making is that on

all sides of that little town or village, there was lots of

wilderness. John could go almost any direction from his home

and be in the wilderness and that is exactly what he did.

John did not go to the big city as a young man and get

involved in big city life. John did not go to Jerusalem and

attend the school of the priests. John did not indulge in

the night-life that many of his own age were involved in. To

put it in a modern setting, John did not join the local

football team or play tennis or any other sports that might

have been popular in his day. The closer John grew toward

adulthood, the more time John spent alone in the hills. In

Matthew 3:4 we read, "And the same John had his raiment of

camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his

meat was locusts and wild honey." He dressed in rugged

clothes that could stand the wear and tear of the wilderness.

He ate the foods that were available to him there in the

wilderness. He stayed many days in the wilderness eating

locusts and wild honey without returning to his home in the

village. I have no way of knowing but I strongly suspect

that after the death of his parents he never did return to

the city for any extended length of time.

As for as the ministry of John was concerned, the

isolated life that he was living helped a great deal to

prepare him for the work that he was to do. John did not see

things the way most other religious leaders of Israel saw

them. He was not trained in the ways of the priests of that

day. He did not think like they did. The priests had a

tendency to think in terms of what was best for the cause of

the priests. John thought in terms of what was best in he

cause of Christ. John did not think like the average family

of his day. They would think in terms of family finance and

the physical well being of the family members. John thought

in terms of on's spiritual condition. John could see that

the salvation of one's soul is a lot more important than

bread on the table and a regular paycheck coming in. John

saw thing different than the socially minded of his day.

They would think in terms of one's standing in the community.

John thought in terms of one's standing with God. Many would

think of living their life to please others about them. John

would think in terms of living to please God.

Yet the time would come when John would no longer live

an isolated life. Not that John would leave the wilderness

and turn to city life. Rather the people of the cities would

turn to John. As people would pass through the wilderness

and come in contact with John, they would talk with him and

they were very much impressed by what he had to say. Pretty

soon great crowds of people would be flocking out of the

cities to go out into the wilderness to hear John preach. By

living an isolated life he was prepared for service to God

and service to the people. But it was in his contact with

the people that he was best able to serve both God and the

people.

IV. Some practical lessons for us from the life of John

Let me point you to a practical lesson for our own

lives from what we learn about John the Baptist and his life.

First, let me point out to you the importance of parents

teaching their children about God. We can take our children

to church and we should on a regular basis. We can enroll

our children in Vacation Bible School, and I hope that your

children or grand-children will be enrolled in our's starting

tomorrow. But there is nothing in the world that can take

the place of you as a parent telling your children about your

experiences with God and about your great faith in the Christ

as your own personal Savior. I hope that every week you who

have children at home will take some time to read the Word of

God to them and to teach them about the Lord from your own

lips.

Furthermore we can learn a very valuable lesson about

living a separated live. John lived a separated life. It is

in living a life that is separated from the world that we are

best prepared for service to God. We cannot serve God as we

should if we partake of all the ways of the world. If we

think like the people of the world, if we participate in the

things that the people of the world participate in, if we do

the same things as the people of the world, we cannot very

effectively serve God. We must not seek to be different from

the world just for the sake of being different. We must be

different because we seek to please God in our lives and we

must be different because we have a different set of values.

In I John 2:15 we read, "Love not the world, neither the

things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the

love of the Father is not in him."

There is another lesson that we need to learn from John.

We need to learn that when God calls us to a special work

that we are to surrender to that calling. Somewhere down the

line I am going to speak to somebody that God is calling to

preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do not know where or

when. I do not know who it is going to be. But I know that

somewhere down the line I am going to be preaching and

through the message that I preach God is going to touch the

heart of some young man and the call of God to preach is

going to be just as real to him as the call was to John the

Baptist. It is going to be just as real as if the Lord were

to speak out loud and say, "I wasn't you to preach my word."

Now let me caution you about one thing. I am certainly

not trying to persuaded you to preach if God has not

definitely called you. I would say, "Do not attempt to

preach unless you are sure that God has called you to

preach." I am just saying that if and when that time comes

that you know for sure that God has called you to preach,

then follow the example that John followed. Surrender to the

ministry, prepare for the ministry, and preach.

For most people, it is safe to say that you are not

going to experience a call to the ministry. Some of you

perhaps are not even saved. To each one of you who are

unsaved I can say, "God is calling you to salvation." It is

up to you to answer that call. You need to do as John the

Baptist did. You need to repent of your sin and trust in

Jesus Christ as your Savior. Then after you are save you

need to follow the Lord in Scriptural baptism and unite with

one of the Lord's churches.

There may be someone here this morning who is ready to

say "Yes" to God's call. You may be ready to say "Wes" to

God's call to salvation "Yes" to God's call to be baptized or

"Yes" to God's call to church membership or 'Yes" to God's

call to preach. We are going to have an invitation song at

this time and invite you to come. While we stand and

reverently sing, won't you come?