What is Baptism by Fire?

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Hey guys, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apology of Church. I want to first thank you all very, very much for watching all of our content, and in particular for watching our sermons.

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So thank you again, and we hope this next message blesses you. Praise God, right? John the Baptist, he's the hero of the faith.

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There's no doubt about that. There's lots of heroes in the Bible. You start from the beginning and work your way down, you start to forget as you get through halfway of the

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Old Testament, you start to forget how many heroes there are, giants of the faith. And you move down to the next part of the

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Old Testament, there's even more giants. Giants with warts, right? Giants with warts.

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And by the way, that's what the world is filled with, right? There's never been a giant of the faith that doesn't have warts, and parts of them that are broken and ugly, but that's because we live in a fallen world.

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But God still uses those giants with warts. He still uses those giants with flaws, those giants that are broken, that are fallible, that have a history of error, the giants that were once cowards, you know, that's the kind of people that God uses.

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And you look at a New Testament and more giants, more giants of the faith still have warts. The apostle

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Paul says he's the chief of all sinners. Peter is a guy that we know had this intimate relationship with Jesus, and yet he constantly sticks his foot in his mouth.

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Jesus says to Peter, get behind me, Satan. Peter is confronted by Paul publicly. He has a lot of these moments, right, where in public, like he thinks he's doing the right thing.

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He thinks that he's sort of going along well, walking with God, and then he gets stuck publicly, once by Jesus and once by Paul in Galatians chapter two.

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Publicly at a church gathering, the apostle Paul confronts him because his behavior is not in step with the gospel.

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So giants with warts. Giants in history, after the Bible's composition, after we have all the texts of the

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Bible, I would argue before 70 AD, you have more giants. Before even the turn of the first century, you've got amazing giants of the faith.

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You got Polycarp, you got Irenaeus, Ignatius, you got Tertullian, you have Augustine, and of course, you have more giants.

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Giants that fought against the entire world. You've got giants of the

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Reformation. And here's the thing about giants like those giants and a giant like John the Baptist, is that, like my friend says, we love our giants of the faith.

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We love our past godly troublemakers, and the answer is because they're safe back there.

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So we love like a John the Baptist. We have like in Sunday school rooms where we have like pictures of John the

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Baptist and flannel graphs and all that stuff like to highlight the heroes of the faith. Look at John the Baptist.

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Look at King David. Look at the apostle Paul. Look at Peter. Look at these people who turned the world upside down.

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We put monuments up to them, right? Like we have Athanasius, who's by the way the patron saint of post -millennialism,

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Athanasius. There was a time where the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity was so under attack, it was like Athanasius was the very last one standing for the doctrine of the

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Trinity. I mean, that's fundamental. If you have the wrong god, you have no salvation.

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Wrong god, no salvation, no gospel, no salvation. And Athanasius, hundreds of years after Christ, ends up being like one of the last people standing for the true doctrine of God himself, the

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Trinity. And so there was a saying that went about, Athanasius contra mundum,

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Athanasius against the world, fighting for the faith, fighting for the truth of the gospel.

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We built monuments to our heroes, to these giants with lots of warts. But we love, as my friend says, our living conformists.

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You see, here's a danger. Any study of John the Baptist and talking about his life and his kind of prophetic voice and his boldness and his weirdness, any study of John the

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Baptist runs the risk of not paying very close attention. Not to John, to me.

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Not to John, to me. Not to John, to you. Any study of John the

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Baptist runs that risk. Because you see, here's what we look at. We say, oh, it's obvious. Jesus says he's the greatest of all prophets.

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So what he's doing is godly, risky, good, true, lovely, beautiful.

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Yes, because Jesus says, the greatest of all prophets. So every Christian has the autonomic response.

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Was John the Baptist a good prophet? Yes. What kind of prophet? The greatest of all prophets. Was what

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John the Baptist did good? Yes. Why? Well, Jesus said as much.

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So should we uphold John the Baptist as a hero, as someone to be emulated? The answer for Christians is the autonomic response.

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Yes, because the Bible says as much. The danger is you see a hero and a giant like John the

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Baptist, and you say, good, yes, very good, and you hold him up, and you tell your kids about John the

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Baptist. You talk about his boldness, and his passion, and his martyrdom. But you never take the time to be introspective and ask the question, if God, who is the standard of all that is good, who is the one who is all -knowing, who is the one with perfect character and righteousness, says that this one right here is a hero.

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This is what is good. This is a boldness that is right before God. This is the greatest of all prophets right here.

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If God himself says that about John the Baptist, then we know there's a standard, a measuring line, which means that we can look and say, if God says this is good, how am

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I doing? Now, here's also the danger of studying John the Baptist.

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The danger is, say for a lady, a woman, a girl, you can say, well, that's

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John the Baptist. I'm a mom. Just a mom.

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Just a mom raising heroes. Just a mom raising other

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John the Baptists, right? Just a mom cultivating heroes for the next generation of the kingdom of God in the world where Jesus is going to put this world under his feet because of this one and that one, and then the one that comes after it.

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Just a mom. The danger of a woman looking at the life of John the Baptist, you can say, well, I'm not supposed to have that kind of boldness.

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I'm not about that life, right? I'm not about, like, the crickets and the locusts and the honey and the wilderness and the strange clothes, right?

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I'm not looking to dress like a hipster and eat like one. The point is, is there's a danger in a woman looking at the life of John the

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Baptist because you might think, well, I'm not supposed to have that kind of life, and to a degree, well, yes, but no, because what's good about John the

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Baptist wasn't necessarily simply the kind of ministry he had. God's not saying, he's the greatest of all prophets, and so everybody else, follow him into the wilderness.

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Everybody else start following his dietary restriction. Everyone else start dressing like John the

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Baptist. That's not what made him the greatest of all the prophets. The greatest of all the prophets part of Jesus' statement was that John the

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Baptist was faithful, that he was obedient, that he was bold, that he was confident, that he was truthful.

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John the Baptist and what makes him good is something that's defined by God, and so all of us are called ultimately to say, if God sets the standard, that's the standard we ought to follow.

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So again, we love our living conformists, sorry, yes, we love our living conformists, and we love our godly troublemakers as long as they're back there.

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But let's talk about John the Baptist first and foremost when he enters into the world and he has this bold ministry and he speaks to the religious establishment, calls them to repentance boldly, and he speaks to his civil government of the day and calls them to repentance boldly, we have to consider

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John the Baptist and his story. And first, go before Matthew to the last book of your

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Old Testament. We did this a little bit before, but I'm going to point you to it again to make sure that you understand really the beauty of his ministry.

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In the book of Malachi, in your Old Testament, just before Matthew, there's a statement.

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It's left sort of hanging before this 400 -year time period we call the intertestamental period, this period of essentially silence, waiting for the

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Messiah. Everyone's hanging with bated breath for the Messiah. And here's what they know,

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Malachi chapter 3 verse 1, behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.

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And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the

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Lord of hosts. So here's what you know about the timeline of history. Jesus hasn't arrived yet and they know that God says there is first the messenger who prepares the way and then it says the

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Lord, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.

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So the anointed one, Messiah, is going to come to his own temple, but not before the messenger comes first.

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And this is what you need to hear, verse 2, but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears for he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.

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He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver and they will bring offerings and righteousness to the

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Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

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Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner and do not fear me, says the

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Lord of hosts. For I, the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

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God says this, I don't change and here's what to expect. There's going to be the messenger of the covenant and then the

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Lord is going to come to his own temple and it's going to be followed by two things, one, a purification of the offerings of the people of God.

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They're going to come to God and there's redemption and purification and then it says God's going to come and he's going to bring swift judgment against the sorcerers, those who swear falsely and the adulterers.

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So what do they know from the Old Testament? Messenger, Messiah, judgment and purification, both things.

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Now here's the last words, chapter four of Malachi. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the evil doers will be stubble.

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The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

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But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings.

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You should go out leaping like calves from the stall and you shall tread down the wicked for there will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when

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I act, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of my servant

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Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all

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Israel. This is specifically to the people of God. Listen, to the covenant people of God, listen, remember my covenant, my rules, my statutes, people of God, Israel, remember and obey because what do we know about God's covenant?

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It came with blessings and what? Curses. Blessings and curses.

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You had sanctions for disobedience for the people of God in Israel. God says as a reminder under the old covenant, watch, knowing that he's promised a new and better covenant where he writes a law on our inward parts.

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He's going to change the hearts of his people, Ezekiel 36, from stone to flesh. He's going to pour out his spirit.

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He's going to be in them. He's going to cause them to observe his statutes. They know what? A new covenant's coming.

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So God says to his old covenant people, he says, remember the law of Moses and here's what you have.

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It's the last words of Malachi, the last words. It says, behold,

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I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the

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Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

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Watch. They know, they know, Messiah, salvation, sons and daughters of Abraham as numerous as the stars, a new covenant, salvation, redemption, but not before Elijah the prophet, the messenger that precedes the coming

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Messiah and judgment and redemption are coming. Watch.

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Hey, I got to say this. We are so influenced by our culture that we've adopted as Christians sort of the mindset of the culture in so many areas, whether it comes to human sexuality, whether it comes to families, whether it comes to children, whether it comes to the law of God, we've adopted the mindset of the culture.

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We're influenced more by the culture than we are by the word of God oftentimes. We start to think like the world rather than thinking with the mind of Christ, and so we oftentimes create in Christian culture a picture of Jesus, a version of Jesus that is so far removed from the biblical

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Jesus. We talk about, you know, Votivakim has an amazing sermon, many of you guys have probably seen it, about the sissified

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Jesus, right? Jesus in our culture today for Christians in the evangelical

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West is sort of the hippie Jesus who doesn't ever confront people.

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He's just all love. He's wearing a dress and sandals, and you know, he just really, he just wants you to love one another.

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He doesn't have really many hard things to say, and here's what he would never do. He would never judge you. Jesus would never judge you.

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In this picture, Jesus isn't a wrathful being or person. Jesus would never crush people and their bodies like in a wine press so that the blood is so deep it makes it to the horse's bridles.

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He would never do that, like in the book of Revelation, right? The picture in the Old Testament of God is that he is perfect in all of his attributes, amen?

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So God is love, amen? Yes? Is God merciful? Yes. Is God just, righteous, blameless?

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Is he patient? Is he wrathful? Is he angry with sin? Well, you're a

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Reformed church, so that's not really fair, right? But right, here's the thing. We have a picture of God that he's not wrathful, but you know, it's amazing as you read the

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Psalms, you have pictures of God, God's the shield about me. I lift up my eyes to the hills.

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Where does my help come from? It comes from you, the maker of heaven and earth. God, you're my shield.

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You are my shepherd, Lord, leading me by streams of water. You have all these beautiful things of God as just your comforter.

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He's the warrior fighting in your midst. It says that God sings over you. I don't even know what that sounds like.

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It's gotta be amazing. God sings over me. I don't even know how to imagine that or comprehend that, but that's what it says.

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But it also says that God hates, that he hates the evildoer, that he hates sin, that God is angry with the wicked every day, that God actually crushes his enemies.

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That's the true portrait of God. And we were in Moscow, Idaho, and we get there Wednesday.

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We'd planned this trip for a long time, wanted to bring the team up there to get inspiration in Moscow. It's just, God has done big things out there with a single church that's transformed the city and continues to transform the city.

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So we get out there with the team. We get there late Wednesday night, and we were told, Doug said, hey, do you want to come to the elders meeting in the morning?

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I said, yeah, we want to come to the elders meeting. He said, great, look forward to seeing you. It's at 6 a .m.

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I kind of wonder, can you make wise decisions that early in the morning?

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But apparently you can. So anyway, I think we ended up going to bed about 12 .30 or maybe 1.

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Woke up at 5. Went over to meet with the elders while they did their elder meeting.

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Looked a lot like ours. Some parts a little more formal, yeas and nays and those sorts of things.

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But beautiful part of it, which I love so much, it was so inspirational. I was like, yes, God has his people all over the world.

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We come in there and we sit down, and before they started, they sang a song out of a hymnal. I can't tell you all the words because I don't remember it, but I remember it was 6 in the morning, and it was something like,

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God is mighty and will crush the teeth of his enemies and he will destroy them and there'll be a flood of their blood.

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It was like, wow, wow. It's amazing to see that for us and for others, part of the historic faith that actually read our

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Bibles, we see that God is both loving and merciful, yes, but he is also a vengeful and wrathful

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God against sin. And you see it in a text like Malachi, getting us into John's story, you see it in Malachi, that God is sending a

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Messiah to redeem the world, yes, to wash away our sins, but he's also, he also has what?

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Judgment and wrath coming for the covenant breakers. And so you know, messenger, the

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Lord appears and then judgment and redemption. Now move into the story.

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Today we're just really moving into this now, story of John the Baptist. What does it say about him?

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His appearance, first go to Luke chapter 1. Now I thought about skipping this, but then

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I remembered Christmas. So we'll read it. Luke chapter 1, verse 5, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named

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Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was

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Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the

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Lord. Sound familiar? What did we just read from Malachi? God commanding his people to do what?

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Remember the law of Moses and my statutes, and what does God do in Luke? He blesses this couple who are doing just that.

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And it says, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Now, while he was serving as a priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the

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Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense, and there appeared to him an angel of the

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Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, obviously, and fear fell upon him.

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But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you should call his name

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John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the

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Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

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And he will turn, here it is, many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before them in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the

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Lord a people prepared. Pause. Are you hearing it?

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Are you hearing all the marks now of the story coming now into fruition, right? If you know your

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Old Testament, if you know your Bible, you're hearing the words of this angel. You're hearing the words of the angel, and you're hearing all of the same marks of expectation.

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And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this, for I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years?

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Now, haven't we learned our lesson, right? Wife's barren, can't have no kids, right?

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So like, by the way, Angel Gabriel, a very reliable source of information, angels tend to be that way, angels from God, he says you're going to have a son, call his name

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John, and the first remark is, how, I'm old, and my wife is advanced in years.

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We remember the story of Abraham, so watch, what is that, unbelief, not trusting God. And the angel answered him,

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I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news, and behold, you'll be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.

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Angels have a very, very rigorous commitment to God's word, isn't that amazing? These angels seem to really just trust, no, angels like,

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I'm Gabriel, I stand in God's presence, right? Like, how is this going to be possible, she's old, right,

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I'm old, she's barren, how's it going to happen? He's like, hey, I'm Gabriel, I stand in God's presence, and since you don't believe, you're not going to talk until the birth.

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Now, the story moves on, and Elizabeth is his wife, and I just want to point you to it, you have this amazing moment where Mary is also told she's going to have

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Jesus, so I just love the story, it's awesome, is it just me, or is that awesome?

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Gabriel goes first to the priest, says, John's coming, right, and it's in that, John's coming, then he goes to Mary, you're going to give birth to a son, oh, how's that possible,

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I'm going to have a virgin, and then you know, the story's happening, and then you have Mary and Elizabeth together, and this first moment,

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John the Baptist meets Jesus, he leaps.

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Here it is, verse 39, in those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted

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Elizabeth. So now watch, Mary and Elizabeth are pregnant, you've got John, you've got

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Jesus in the womb, and then, I'm hesitating to give the joke, but yes, they're womb mates, okay, and when

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Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the

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Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, and why is this granted to me that the mother of my

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Lord should come to me? So as the story moves on, you see that Zechariah has now his son, he calls him

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John, they raise him up. Now the entrance of John the

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Baptist is a powerful one, I want you to see it. When Matthew introduces John the Baptist, I want you to see the first thing he records him saying,

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Matthew chapter three, go to the text, here it is, verse one, in those days

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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, here's his first words, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet

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Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

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Lord, make his path straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

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Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river

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Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come?

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Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you

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God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees, every tree therefore does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

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Here it is, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals

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I am not worthy to carry, he will baptize you with what, fire.

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The Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

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There it is again, there's that part of the character of God that we don't often like to talk about today.

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We just want the loving God, the peaceful God, the gentle God, the precious moments Bible God, right?

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And here's the God who is mighty, who is wrathful, who burns with fire.

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By the way, John's baptism was of what? Water. But he says the one coming after me baptizes with the

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Holy Spirit and with fire. And we say that often, and it's always like, wow, that's terrifying.

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When you have Christians saying things like, God, bring your fire down God, give me fire

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God. It's like, I almost want to stand away when people say like they want the fire, because the baptism you don't want of fire is fire.

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You don't want that baptism, that is judgment, fire. That is associated with like God's wrath, his consuming fire is not what you want.

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You want the Holy Spirit baptism. So John now is introduced to the story in Matthew three, and the first words out of his mouth, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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Turn from your sins, God's rule is at hand. It's at the end of the fingertips, guys.

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It's within reach. It's right here, and he tells the leadership of his day, those who are part of God's covenant of the

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Old Testament, his covenant people. He says, who warns you to flee from the wrath about to come?

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Don't think that because you're born into this, that you have some special past.

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Don't think that because you were born Jewish, that that makes you descendants of Abraham. God can raise up from these rocks, heirs of Abraham.

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So he tells them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. So this is what repentance really is, by the way.

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Repentance is not merely feeling bad about our sin. It's not merely just saying that's uncomfortable.

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I feel really sorry about that. Repentance is a change of mind, it's a change of direction.

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It's going one way, turning the other, and here's how you know. This is the evidence of a change of heart, a change of mind, a turning around.

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The evidence is fruit. And so John doesn't just say, hey guys, please feel bad about your sin.

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He says, repent, and he says, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

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Demonstrate that you've turned from your sin to God, and bear fruit that shows it.

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And notice that he gives you the warning, you expect the messenger to give. What's he saying? That God's ax is already laid at the root of the trees, his wrath is about to come.

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What did Malachi say about the timeline? Forerunner, Messiah, and then what?

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Judgment and purification. John comes as the forerunner, and he says, everybody repent of your sins, turn your hearts back to God, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and he says,

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God's wrath is about to drop. It's about to happen. So now he's warning the people that God's wrath is about to come and to repent of their sins.

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Now here's what's amazing about John the Baptist. John the Baptist lived a life that was so mighty and so effective before God that he was actually renowned, not only in the

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New Testament being called the greatest of all prophets, but he was renowned in the first century. People knew about John the

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Baptist. We have details about John the Baptist's life from outside of the

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Bible. So I'm going to read you first Mark chapter 6, you don't have to go there yourselves, just mark it down.

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Mark 6, 17 through 19, more details about John the Baptist and his death.

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Mark 6, 17 through 29, for Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother

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Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

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And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

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But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.

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When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests.

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And the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.

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And he solemnly swore to her, whatever you ask me, I will give you even half of my kingdom.

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She went out and said to her mother, what should I ask for? She replied, the head of John the baptizer.

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Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

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The king was deeply grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.

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Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl.

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Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

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Now, that's more details about John the Baptist and his martyrdom.

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Two things I want to point out to you, then I want to read to you from Josephus, not in the Bible. He's a first century

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Jewish historian. Two things, watch. One, John the Baptist spoke with boldness, confidence to the religious establishment of his day.

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He was willing to be somebody who disrupted even the church.

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Now notice, he doesn't do it in a way that is sinful, that is self -seeking, that is abusive.

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He calls people back to what? Not him, but to the standards that God has laid down in his law.

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It's not about John the Baptist, it's about God's word. And so he calls people what? To come back to God.

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It's not about John and following John. He's not trying to amass followers simply to himself.

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He says, it's the one who's coming. It's the one who's coming. You see, a great prophet does that.

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Their life isn't about them. It's not about them amassing followers to themselves. It's not about them and their ministry.

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It's about Jesus constantly pointing people to Jesus. That's what made John great. But notice,

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A, John was willing to speak to the religious establishment of his day. B, John had been speaking constantly to the civil government of his day.

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And one question for you, what was the standard that John the Baptist was applying to his civil government of the day?

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What was the standard? What was John saying to Herod? It is not lawful for you to have your brother's what?

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Wife. Well, where's that written? John is pointing the civil governor back to what?

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God's law. What got John in trouble was that he was confronting the civil government of his day with the law of God.

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And so he spoke to the civil realm and to the realm of the church, and he got martyred for it.

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But here it is, Antiquities. Josephus was a first century

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Pharisee general in a Jewish army against Rome.

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When Rome came to attack Jerusalem, like Jesus said they would, before they had all died,

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Josephus was in that army fighting the Romans. When the Romans sacked the city and they broke in,

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Josephus hid under some bodies. They found him. They brought him to their leader.

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He was so impressed with Josephus' will to live, he took him under his wing and he commissioned him to writing a history of the

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Jews. Now if you didn't know this, Josephus' writings are preserved in some places almost as good as Scripture.

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So in terms of documents, manuscripts that are extant, it's preserved extremely well.

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In Scripture we have the promise that judgment is coming on that generation, and I think really in God's providence he provided for us a first century eyewitness of what took place.

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Now here's what Josephus says about John the Baptist. Now some of the

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Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God and was a very just punishment for what he did against John called the

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Baptist. For Herod had him killed, although he was a good man and had urged the

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Jews to exert themselves to virtue, both as to justice toward one another and reverence towards God.

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And having done so, to join together in washing. For immersion in water, it was clear to him, could not be used for the forgiveness of sins but as a sanctification of the body and only if the soul was already moved, thoroughly purified by right actions.

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And when others masked about him, for they were greatly moved by his words, Herod, who feared that such strong influence over the people might carry to a revolt, for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise, believed it much better to move now than later, have it raise a rebellion and engage him in the actions he would regret.

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And so John, out of Herod's suspiciousness, was sent in chains and there put to death.

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But it was the opinion of the Jews that out of retribution for John, God willed the destruction of the army so as to afflict

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Herod. Do you hear that? Do you hear that? So the Jews of this day actually believed that what happened to Herod was judgment from God for what he did to John the

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Baptist. John the Baptist was such a giant, such a hero, that not only does

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Jesus call him the greatest of all prophets, but the Jews of that day thought that God was actually exercising divine justice upon Herod for what he did to this amazing prophet of God.

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So you have biblical witness about John the Baptist and extra -biblical witness in Josephus.

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And there's more, by the way, but I don't have time to go through all of that today. Just I want to give you some final thoughts on John the

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Baptist. His boldness. He was obviously faithful to God.

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He trusted in God's promises. He laid his life down. He was consistent. He was waiting for Messiah and he trusted

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God. But I want to point to John the Baptist's boldness. The Bible speaks about boldness constantly.

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Couple texts, Acts chapter 4 verse 31, and when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the

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Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness, Pentecost. 2

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Corinthians 3, 12, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 19,

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Acts 4, 29, Acts 4, 13,

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Because what? The confidence they were speaking with. The Bible speaks to us about having boldness.

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Acts 13, 46, We could go on for days about boldness.

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But what do you see? Watch. If you read the New Testament witness and you see that the church is turning the world upside down in the first century and the gospel is going to all creation, to every creature under heaven,

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Colossians chapter 1, you see this constant reminder of boldness, confidence, boldness.

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They speak the word boldly. They speak it trusting, confidence.

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They speak it trusting, knowing that it is God's word, that it is the truth.

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John spoke boldly. He spoke boldly to the religious establishment. He spoke boldly to his civil realm.

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He spoke boldly to the people he was ministering to. When the apostles were filled with the Spirit of God, as John was in Luke, when they are filled with the

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Spirit of God, they go out preaching in Jerusalem boldly. Paul in Acts 9 goes to the synagogues and preaches boldly, proving that Jesus is the

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Messiah. People are coming to Jesus. Cities are turning upside down.

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People are burning their old occultic works. Riots are breaking out in the city.

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Masses and masses of people are coming to Jesus. Here's the question I often ask.

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You guys have probably heard me ask this before. Think about it. Is God's Spirit able to move in our generation as he did in the first century?

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Yes? Is the gospel as powerful today as it was in the first century?

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It says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. We have the same God.

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We have the same gospel. What's missing? I want to suggest to you, of course, we have our own sins to deal with individually and collectively as a church.

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We have to confess to our sin, to our pride, to our unfaithfulness. Yes, to all of that,

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I want to suggest to you that we have the same Spirit of God able to raise the dead to life.

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We have the same gospel that's the power of God for salvation. What is missing in our generation?

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I would argue it's the kind of boldness you see in a John the Baptist. I would argue it's the kind of boldness you saw in the apostles.

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I would argue it's the kind of boldness you saw in Athanasius Contramundum. It's the kind of boldness that we saw in a

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George Whitefield and a Jonathan Edwards. What marked the ministries of these men?

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How did they change the world? Is it because they were such characters that people just seemed to like them?

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How many, watch, how many evangelical leaders have we seen raised up and then like the mighty fallen in the last 20 years?

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Can you think of one or two major sort of celebrity preachers that have been raised up and then fallen down?

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Have you seen them? You see, you can't carry a ministry and a message and a movement based upon a personality.

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You can't. It's doomed to failure. It is doomed to failure if you build your ministry upon a personality.

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It has to be built upon the truth, and it has to be built upon a bold proclamation of the truth.

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When you look at the ministry of a John the Baptist, the greatest of all prophets, what do you see as a mark in all that he did?

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What do you see? Boldness. Faithfulness. He spoke the truth. And I want to argue that what's missing in our day is a boldness.

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We cower. Oh, do we ever cower this day when we're confronted with an opportunity to bring godly controversy?

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All of you know. If you're on social media, you have to have seen it. You know, and yes, I'll use the name because it's important.

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Carl Lentz, going on The View, pastor of Hillsong Church in New York.

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He had a premier opportunity to preach the good news of Jesus Christ in the area of abortion.

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He was sitting surrounded by women asking him about abortion.

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Is abortion a sin? Now this is not a new believer. This is not somebody that you would say, well, give them a little grace.

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They're new at this. Maybe they can't articulate themselves. This is a person who pretends to be a shepherd of God's people, and he has the opportunity to proclaim the gospel in the area of abortion.

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And this is not boldness when asked, is abortion a sin? To say, well, it's really, you know, everyone has their own thing.

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You know, it's really between you and God. I just want to listen to her story. You know what that is?

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It's cowardice. That is not boldness, and that is not world changing.

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It changes no hearts. What happens to the woman who is grieving over her sin of abortion?

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God is tugging at her heart. He's showing her her sin, drawing her. She sees it as sin.

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She's grieving over it, and she watches a man who's representing Christ say, no, it's not a sin.

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It's really between you and God. I just want to get to know your name and hear your story.

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How do you give the good news of salvation and forgiveness to that woman to know she can be cleansed of all of her sin unless you first tell her, yes, it was sin, honey, but God is a much better Savior than you are a sinner, and Jesus died on that cross to take away the wrath of God and the place of His people.

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If you turn from that sin, all your sin to Jesus, you can be rescued and receive forgiveness and salvation.

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Do you see? It's a bold message and proclamation of the gospel that actually changes the world.

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But I do want to address this last point. You see, we hear about a man like John the

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Baptist, and we tend towards, okay, he's a giant, and he's bold, so if I'm to be faithful and like the greatest of all prophets,

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I need to be bold. And what it tends to look like is a big wooden sign with generally a really brightly colored shirt that says something like,

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God hates fags, right? Or God hates

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Mormons, or fill in the blank. We oftentimes don't seem to know the difference between a prophet and a jerk, right?

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And there is a distinct difference between being a prophet of God and a jerk.

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You see, somebody who's truly being used by God and being bold in a way that glorifies

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God, watch, they have humble boldness. Humble because they recognize the grace of God that brought them to a place where they know

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Jesus. Nobody knows God apart from God's own gracious will.

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What does Jesus say? No man can come to me unless the

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Father who sent me draws him. So watch, for all of us, how do any of us know

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Jesus? We were drawn by the Father. Did any of us deserve this?

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No. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the what?

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Gift of God, not according to works lest any man should boast. You see, biblical boldness is a humble boldness.

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It recognizes at the heart of it, at the center of it, it is the grace of God that brought me and it is the grace and power of God that's going to bring anybody else.

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The confidence, the boldness, is the speaking with truth, confidence.

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2 Timothy 2, 24 through 26 says this, the Lord's servant must be patient when wronged, able to teach in humility, correcting those who oppose themselves, watch, if perhaps

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God may grant them repentance.

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If perhaps God may grant them repentance. You see, boldness doesn't mean anger.

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Boldness doesn't mean necessarily shouting. Boldness doesn't mean hostility, necessarily.

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That might come from boldness. Boldness is confidence in what?

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In God, in His ability to change hearts and minds. It's confidence in what?

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In God's word. 2 Timothy 3, 16 says what? All Scripture is theanoustos.

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All Scripture is breathed out by God. Biblical boldness is humble boldness.

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You see, watch, John the Baptist was bold because he spoke the truth no matter the consequences, no matter the realm.

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But have you ever stopped to think about the practical parts of this? Even Josephus records that John the

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Baptist was a celebrity preacher. He was. John the

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Baptist was a celebrity preacher in the first century. Now how does

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John the Baptist have so many people following him and being in love with him, being passionately committed to his message?

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Of course, we know it's because it was the truth of God and God was working in hearts. But on a practical level, do you think that John the

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Baptist is going to get all of Jerusalem and Judea to follow him if he is just an outright jerk to people, if he's abusive to the people who are following him?

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You ever seen like kids around like a grouchy, crotchety old man?

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They're not climbing all over the guy, right? They're not hopping up into his lap saying, hey, let's talk, right?

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Children tend to stay away from crotchety, grouchy old people, right?

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No offense to anybody who's more mature in here, but something to think about, right? Why?

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Watch, we're drawn to people that image God and you're not imaging

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God when you are a flat out, rude, mean -spirited jerk. What was

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Jesus? Truthful, bold, righteous, right? But he wasn't a jerk.

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People love Jesus. In final word here, in this instance, in Matthew 14, John the Baptist, the story of his death and then

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Jesus, he hears it. He departs apparently to grieve over it and while he's gone, the crowds hear he's there and what happens?

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They flood, they flock towards him and it says what? He had compassion and he healed them.

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He sacrificed himself for others. So watch, being bold does not mean being a jerk.

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Being bold does not mean being rude. Being bold does not mean being mean -spirited.

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Being bold is having confidence. Confidence in God and his ability to raise the dead to life.

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Confidence in God's word that it is theonoustos. Confidence in Romans 1, 16 of the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

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My prayer is that God would challenge you right now in the area of boldness, humble boldness.

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God has to grant people repentance and faith, but he uses you as the means to do it, to preach the word, to tell the truth.

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So here's my question, here's my question, because there has to be the so what, right? There has to be the rightly dividing the word of truth.

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There has to be applying it to your lives, not just the proclamation of God's word. You saw the hero,

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John the Baptist, you know his life, you know what Jesus says about him. You know what the Bible says about humility and boldness, confidence.

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So here's the question, where is God challenging you in your life to be bold?

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Where? In what context? Is it the context of a mom and your kids?

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Maybe you feel like you've failed in some way as a mom in not discipling your children in a certain way.

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Maybe you feel as a mom in not speaking the word of God and truth to your children.

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Maybe you feel like it hasn't worked the way I want it to, and so maybe you've given up, but don't you know that you're just as much of a miracle as your kids would be if God changed their hearts, that you were just as hard -hearted before the word of God penetrated you.

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Confidence in your case is, watch, believing that God has the ability to change even my child's heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

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Confidence means in your case believing that God's word is still mighty enough to turn your six -year -old to Christ, and your eight -year -old, and your nine -year -old.

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Where are you struggling with boldness and speaking the truth? Is it with your family? Maybe some of you guys weren't raised in a

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Christian home like me. Maybe you guys come from a Mormon family, and the holidays are going to be very difficult for you because you know the kind of conflict that happens at Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner, and so maybe in the past you just have kept your mouth shut.

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Maybe as conversations sort of swirl around the table, you've sort of kept your mouth shut and not ministered, because maybe you thought, well, if I say something here,

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I might look like I'm trying to cause conflict, or maybe you were just straight away, you were afraid to say anything.

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Can I encourage you to ask God for the courage, the strength to say the right thing? Or how about in whatever context in your business, you get the opportunity to stand for what's right?

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You can do that without being rude and mean -spirited. Or maybe some of you guys have thought for a long time, man,

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I'd love to go to the abortion mill. I'd love to go to the abortion mill and save lives.

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I'd love to go to the abortion mill to love on these women, but I'm just afraid. I'm afraid

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I don't have all the answers. I'm afraid I'll fail. Let me just say that what made

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John the Baptist amazing and great wasn't John the Baptist. It was the Spirit of God within him, the same

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Spirit of God that you have within you. What's the difference between you and John the Baptist? Well, perhaps it's just one thing, ready?

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Obedience. Maybe it's just obedience. Maybe it's just a willingness to say,

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God, I submit to you and I will be obedient. I will speak the truth in love.

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I will trust your word. I will be a light to the world and my circumstances and the people around me.

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My challenge to you is this, and please think about it. Where is God calling you to be more bold, to have more confidence in him and his word?

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Where is God calling you to speak the truth with boldness? Where? Where? I reminded you at the beginning that a danger in the study of a giant like John the

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Baptist, the danger is this, is that you'll just give the typical Christian response that, yes, he's a hero.

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Yes, he was the greatest. Yes, he was bold. But you and I won't be introspective to say, how am