Matthew 3:11-12, Mark 1:7-8, Luke 3:15-18, John 1:24-28 (John's Messianic preaching)

Rachel Workman:

Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”	7 John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. 8 I baptize you with[d] water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”  I enjoyed reading the different gospels here. The first thing that stands out to me here is John saying I'm not worthy to even be his slave. If John the Baptist is not worthy where does that leave me? The second thing that stands out to me is the baptism of fire and Luke and Matthew states that it's never-ending fire. Can you really imagine in your human mind how horrible that would be? We have a choice we can repent and believe or we can choose to not believe. We will either be baptized with the Holy Spirit or with never ending fire. I choose the Holy Spirit.	15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with[d] water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.[e] 17 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” 18 John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.	24 Then the Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?” 26 John told them, “I baptize with[k] water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 27 Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” 28 This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

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John Burnett:  Mark was short and sweet but I prefer more context of the story.  In all four versions, John says he is not worthy to be a slave or unbuckle Jesus’ sandal.  Considering John was the greatest born among women, where does that me.  This goes to show how amazing God’s grace really is. 

Being baptized by water is just an outward sign of obedience that you have repented of your sins and put your trust in Jesus.  You are already baptized by the Spirit when you are baptized by water.  The sad thing is that easy believism does not include repentance of sins like the four gospels here state and many people believe thinking they are saved, but they are not born again and thus have not been baptized by the Spirit.

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Krista Cook:  - John is again seen preparing the way for Jesus. 

We see 2 different sets of contrasting words in these accounts:  baptize with Holy Spirit/ baptize with fire and wheat/chaff.

Those baptized with the Holy Spirit are the same as the wheat - the righteous, the saved ones and those baptized with fire are the same as the chaff - the unrighteous and unsaved.