There was nothing polished about John the Baptist. In Mark chapter one, he's described as a wild-looking preacher who appeared in the barren Judean wilderness. No fine clothes, no refined presentation, just an uncompromising message about sin, repentance, and the one who was coming. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll recreates this scene in Mark's Gospel and explains how this unlikely character came to deliver some very good news—the kind of hope that continues to this day.
So settle in as Chuck picks up the story of the man they simply called the Baptizer. We read, John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness. He's preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. He's telling them that they've fallen short of the standard of a holy Creator who made them. And those who are believing his message and placing their faith and trust in the one he's predicting will soon come, why?
He's saying, "Get in the water. I'm going to baptize you. It's going to be the beginning of a whole new. It's come. You'll come into a whole newness of life.
Really?
Well, what does he look like? Hmm." Glad you ask. Verse six.
Now, here is not a guy that got his clothes tailored in Paris.
Okay, let's start there. He's clothed in camel hair. I mean, have you ever seen a camel? You like? I mean, unbelievable.
And how do they be clothed in what they've been wearing all their lives? Clothed in camel hair, wore a leather belt. I had an uncle named Jake. Who was about as big as this pulpit?
So there was no belt that would fit around Jake's waist.
So he wore a rope. I still remember the rope. He'd sometimes say, "Little Charles, tie the rope. I can't reach it." So I'd tie the rope in front of him. He had a rope belt.
John, old leather belt. And by the way, his idea of eating out was to catch a few grasshoppers and visit the local beehive for dessert. How's that for breath? Eight locusts, wild honey. Stop!
You're sitting there in a shop in Jerusalem, hearing this thing about this weirdo out in the wilderness. What are you going to do?
Well, chances are good if you're honest enough to admit you are a sinner. Nobody in Jerusalem is telling you. You know, honey, it might be worth a ride into the wilderness this weekend. Understand? There's an unusual guy taking people into the water and baptizing.
You know, one scholar I examined said there were as many as three hundred thousand who went into the wilderness to be baptized. Tell you something interesting about John is, it wasn't about John. Give me that kind of messenger. Lead me to that messenger.
So when I'm through listening to the message, I forget the messenger, but I can't forget his message. In fact, look, there were some. If you read the other Gospels, who said this? This is Messiah. Anyone like this has to be Messiah.
By the way, you know what drew them to him? Authenticity. He wasn't interested in what you thought of him. He didn't care about the custom of the day. He didn't mind that you heard sin for the first time.
As a matter of fact, he knew it was life changing for you if you'd only believe it.
So some out of curiosity, some out of deep need, others out of out of word of mouth said, "Let's let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go." And when they came, they didn't find some pompous soul standing on a soapbox saying, "Follow me, we'll build a bigger building." He said, "Let me tell you about the one I, I'm preaching." He's mightier than I, and I'm not fit. The way it's written in the Greek is beautiful. I am not fit, having stooped down. It does a process of downward trail.
Now I'm not fit, having stooped down to untie the thong of his sandals. You read John's Gospel, you'll get these contrasts. John says, "I am a voice, but he is the Word. I am a messenger; he is the message. I am a flickering lamp, but he is the light.
I am going to die, but he is life. I am not qualified to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He is the Savior. He must increase; I must." Decrease. You know what drew them to him?
Authenticity. Authenticity. They were not looking for health and wealth. They were not looking for entertainment. They were not looking for someone to tell them what they wanted to hear.
They, in fact, found themselves in the presence of one who looked altogether different from how they looked. But that didn't turn them away. This penetrating, piercing message that told the truth and said, "Don't focus on me. We're going to all be focusing on Him, on Him." And wouldn't you know it? One day, one day, still standing him waist deep in the Jordan, baptizing, he looks up.
And there he is. Imagine, there he is. We come upon it in the text so so quickly. We don't have time to gather the moment in our minds. I want you to do that right now.
In those days, Jesus. Came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John the Jordan. Oh, there's so much more to it. I must take a brief excursion, just a little sidebar. Hold on here and go back to Matthew three, Matthew chapter three.
Oh my, it's a great story.
Okay, we got John wet in the water. We got Jesus on his way down to the banks of the river. Look at John's words in John three eleven of Matthew. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he is coming after me. Is mightier than I.
I'm not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with with the Holy Spirit and fire. Those words were scarcely out of his mouth. Verse thirteen. Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John and to be baptized.
Look at the next verse. But John isn't that great? That's that particle of contrast. He came to be baptized, but wait, wait. John tried to prevent him.
Saying, "I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" I love it. John has a congregation of thousands of people. This is his moment to go. Have you seen how fast we've grown? In just a short period of time, some of these are Jerusalem businessmen.
Some of these are very wealthy, capable women. All of these are very bright people. They're all following my mess. None of that. By the way, learn to have nothing to do with those who will turn your attention to them.
Stay away from them. John is no false prophet. Standing in the presence of a Messiah, he says, "I I can't do this." David McKenna writes wise words when he says, "Think of it: if you were asked to choose the dominant symbol for our generation, what would it be? A flag, a cross, a missile, a television." A dollar sign, a test tube, an oil barrel, a bloated belly, a handgun, an automobile, a peace symbol. My choice would be, writes McKenna, the sight of a forefinger pointed into the air and accompanied by the chant, "We're number one.
We're number one. We're number one." Number one has come to symbolize the personal and national self-interest of the me generation, which gave rise to the cult of narcissism, and it's infiltrated the church of Jesus Christ. Breaks my heart to see it happening. Where are the godly messengers who, if they were standing waist deep in the Jordan and looked up to see Jesus, would quickly take their place, saying, "You baptize me, please"? Back to Mark chapter one.
Go back immediately. We read, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opening. And the spirit, like a dove, descending upon him, and a voice came out of the heavens. Are you seeing these main characters? We've seen the prophet, the old preacher in the wilderness.
Then we saw the carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus Christ. Then we are here in the presence of the voice from heaven. Surely the voice of the Father who says, "You are my beloved Son, and you I am well pleased." You know what, folks? This is one of those rare moments in all of Scripture where you have a a convolution of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in one setting. Great!
Don't miss it. The Father's voice, the Son standing in the water, the Spirit descending as a dove. Think of it. What a moment! Let me ask: What if you had been standing on the banks and you witnessed all of this?
Let's say we were all there, all of us there, standing and staring, and we realize we're looking at the one John's been preaching, and and we hear John's words and realize if John doesn't feel he qualifies, think of us, and so we're watching the Son of God come up quietly out of the water. Hair drenched with the water from the Jordan, the dove, the Spirit of God coming in. What would we do?
Now you know what the average place would do. Start applauding. I mean, if there is one sound that's everywhere, it's applause. I remember Billy Graham saying, "Used to be in my meetings, they'd say 'Amen.' Now they applaud." I got a friend who says, "If we're allowed to applaud in church, can we say boo regarding things we don't like?" Good question. Nothing wrong with applause from time to time, but please train yourself to restrain applause when it's appropriate.
You'll know. You'll know. You know what I think, because not a word is said of applause. You know what's here in the text: silence, because that's what happened.
Sometimes the worst thing you can do in an epical moment is to talk. You talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Wow! Look at that. Wow!
Got his hair messed up. Wow! Look at that. You know, dumb things. I wonder how John feels right now.
Shut up! I don't care how John feels right now. This is a moment. In a moment like this. In the awesome presence of the living God, you stay silent.
So, mark a maturity. Of course, you you you wrestle as I did when I began to study sections like this. Why in the world would Jesus need to be baptized? He's no need for repentance. He knew no sin, did no sin, had no sin.
He's a perfect Son of God. Thought it was a baptism for wait. In his case, it wasn't a baptism of repentance. He doesn't say, "I'm coming to repent." He had nothing to repent of. Four things, don't miss them.
Initiation. He moves from a private world to a public world, and his ministry begins. Initiation. Second, identification. He is now among the people.
This is genuinely Emmanuel, God with us. They've been baptized. I'm being baptized alongside them. Third, authentication. The Father said, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased." Here is this divine appointment and approval.
Authentication. Fourth is enablement. The Spirit of God enables him with power to face what is right now before him and would be before him for the next three and a half years of ministry. And what is that? Enduring the temptations of the enemy, verses twelve and thirteen.
Now pause for a moment and let it in. Immediately the Spirit impelled him. To go. I'm not going to let you go any further until we look at that verb. It's too important a verb.
Ekbalo is the word. It means to cast out. In fact, look at verse 34. Just a quick look. He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and ekbalo many demons, and he was not permitting the demons to speak.
There's the same word. Verse 39. He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and expelling the demons. That's the word to cast out. I can just see the spirit of God with His hand on Jesus' back, if you will, pushing him, pushing him.
Why? Because he would, he would never want to go. This is Satan. This is the visible presence of the adversary. We have so cheapened it all by turning it into movies and video games and all kinds of fun stuff.
Used to be just a Ouija board, and that was about it.
Now it's all kinds of things that smack of Satan, and we have our kids play with them. Play with them. You want to see the perspective on him? See here, he was pushed out into the wilderness. Why?
Because he is going to be there forty days, being tempted by the word has the hiss of a serpent, Satan, Satan. Don't know the last time you were all alone, probably not even for overnight. I have a friend who spends a little time in a monastery every year. He says the main reason is to get away from all outside contact, so I can just be quiet, be alone. He's even said after about the third day, you start to get a little stir crazy.
Isn't it interesting that the worst kind of punishment in our prison system is solitary confinement? Why? Because that kind of aloneness is torture. For forty days, he heard no other human voice. For forty days, he encountered the attack of the enemy.
For forty days, he was there, face to face. The other gospels tell us he fasted, so he's weakened by a loss of food, little water. Remember, this is the wilderness, and here he is. In that setting, and we read at the end of verse thirteen, he was with the wild beasts. Take comfort in the fact they weren't wild to him.
I think they nuzzled up alongside him. They aren't snarling and clawing and biting now. He's their sovereign creator. At least they know who their creator is, and he's with them. The word "with" is significant, and the angels.
We're ministering to him. How magnificent! I speak today to people who understand spiritual wilderness. I know I do. I'm too closely aligned with many of your lives to know otherwise.
Some of you are going through almost demonic hell on earth in your situation.
Well, I have. I have some simple applications for all of us in the wilderness. Number one, the story is still good news. It's still good news. It'll still help you sing your way home at the close of the day.
It'll still help you sing your way home and drive the shadows away. It'll help you smile every mile for wherever you roam. It'll brighten your road. It'll lighten your load. It'll give you song in the night and hope in the morning.
The story is still good news. These characters that we read of here, the one who writes from the Old Testament, Isaiah, Malachi. John's life and ministry, and people who model that life, the obedience of the Savior, the the voice of the Lord God, the characters are still reliable, still reliable. I hope you're not missing time in the Word of God. I hope you're not doing that.
God gives us in His Word great recipes. But we have to fix the meals ourselves. This is the recipe. Good recipes. Good guidelines.
You'll never follow the teaching of the scripture and find yourself saying, "Shoot, wish I hadn't done that." Never. It's laughable. Oh man, I trusted God, and look at what I got. No. He still speaks truth.
His word is in your language. Take your pick, any size print. Red letter, black letters, unred letters. It's reliable. Let me tell you.
Finally, the enemy is still the enemy. May I warn you again about playing with him? May I warn you about films like Legion? You look at the trailer of that; it'll put a chill up your back. God is the enemy in Legion.
First time it's happened. He is now the enemy. The angels are what we fight. You say, "Man, Chuck, you're getting really old, talking like that." You know what? I'm right.
I'm right. I'm right. I'm right. Because that's what His Word teaches. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
If you don't resist him, he will not flee, and he will look for channels to come into your life. Unrestrained anger is one of them. Temper fits another one. Extended sexual perverted lust is another one. Relationships that drag you down is another.
He's looking for channels to find his way in, and you think you've known wilderness. You yield to those temptations, and I'll tell you, it'll be unbearable. I like Beth Moore's reaction. To the enemy, I hate that devil. Good for you, Beth.
I hate him with a passion. Why? Because I deal with people who played with him, and I try to help them get back on their feet. And many of them can't. Every one of them says, "I regret the day all that started." He's still the enemy.
Let's bow our heads together. If you've never submitted your life to the person of Jesus Christ, believe it or not, it all starts with a gift. You don't have to make ten promises and show up at church every day for the next year. You don't have to give up your sins. Don't waste your time.
You couldn't if you tried. You don't have to write out a big check and mail it to the ministry.
So that somehow that money is going to get you in on God's good side, don't insult God. He doesn't need you to pick up the tab. Jesus paid it all. His payment was a complete payment for our sins on the cross. You trust Him.
Simple prayer. Lord God Almighty, I am sinful. I know my sin has separated me from you, because you are holy. I come to you through Christ. I believe His death cleanses me from sin and forgives me of my past, and will keep on cleaning up my life.
Thank you for coming into my life.
Now, Lord, help me as I live for you in a world that's lost its way. Make me different. Change me, Lord. We're ready for some good news, and you never disappoint us. Thank you for it.
We love you, Father, and we submit ourselves to you once again. Ask you to give us strength in decisions that we must make, in determined commitment to time in your word and prayer, and find in us willing hearts to adapt and adjust our lives to your will, whatever that may entail. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, and for his sake. Everybody, sit. Amen.
No matter how dark your circumstances may feel today, the message of the gospel is still good news. It reaches back before the beginning of time, and it's able to transform your entire perspective right where you are. Whatever you're facing, don't let it eclipse this good news. You're listening to Insight for Living with Chuck Swindoll. Chuck titled today's message with a question: Are you ready for some good news?
It's one of the first messages in a brand new study for the Gospel according to Mark. The whole series is titled "Jesus, the Servant at Work." Because of the enormity of Mark's gospel, Chuck has divided the series into three volumes. All three Bible study workbooks for Mark are available today, well in advance of their release on this daily program.
So, for personal or group study, we invite you to purchase all three Searching the Scriptures workbooks for Mark. Just go to insight.org/offer. You can also call us at eight hundred seven seven two eighty eight eighty eight. And now a special word about Chuck's latest book. Most memoirs are written to impress.
Awakened by Grace was written to reveal, not Chuck Swindoll, but the God who has held him every step of the way. With remarkable candor, Chuck pulls back the curtain on his own life—the doubts, the detours, the disappointments, and the seasons when he couldn't yet see what God was doing. He doesn't write to earn your admiration. He writes so you'll recognize the same faithful hand at work in your own story. Chuck's book is honest, humble, and deeply personal, and it just might change how you see your own journey.
Awakened by Grace releases in just a few days. Learn to trust the hand that's been holding you all along, and purchase your copy today. You can call us at eight hundred seven seven two eighty eight eighty eight, or go to insight dot org slash memoir. What does it really mean to say yes to the call of Christ? I'm Bill Meyer.
Hear Chuck Swindoll answer that question Tuesday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, "Are you ready for some good news?" was copyrighted in 2010 and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
