TOPIC:‌“The Preacher of the Desert”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌John 1:1-8

 

‌‌“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John” (John 1:6)

 

‌High among the representatives of this group of God-called and God-sent men stands this strange and fascinating figure whom we know as John the Baptist. We speak of him as the forerunner of Jesus. He bridged the gulf between the Old Testament and New Testament. He was both a prophet and a preacher. He was a fresh voice from God.

 

‌I have always been fascinated by this dynamic and dedicated man of God. He has been described as tall, unkempt, lean, blackened by the sun and strong as a giant. He was severe in his denunciation of sin and his ministry was marked by fiery indignation against every form of evil. Quoting from one unknown source: “He took religion out of the mothballs where the priests had ceremoniously laid it away, exposed it to the sunlight of honesty and reality, and brought people low before the living God who calls men to repentance and the forgiveness of sins.”

 

‌Yes, “there was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” His ministry took him about 150 miles in and around the Jordan Valley. And while today's preachers ride to their appointments on rubber, John the Baptist tramped the hills of Judea in sandals to introduce Jesus as the Messiah.

 

‌Let us consider some of John's distinguishing qualities that made him such a forceful figure upon the pages of the Word of God. For even Jesus said of him: “Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).

 

I.

 

‌Think, first of all, of the CALLING of this man John. I am concerned that the verb in our text gets the underscoring it deserves: “There was a man sent.” To hear some people talk you would think that a preacher is some self-appointed busybody who goes around snooping into the private lives of people. Such is not the case! The call to be a minister must come from God. John had a supernatural call. He entered his vocation with a compelling conviction that a higher hand than his own, higher indeed than any human hand, had lifted him into the ministry.

 

‌Listen to me any of you who are considering the ministry as a profession. The minister who will do honor to the profession of the ministry is the minister who knows in their heart that they have been divinely called and commissioned by God. This passionate desire to respond to the call of God is what Paul was talking about when he proclaimed: “Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel” . . .