The Testimony of John the Baptist: Part 1

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The Testimony of John the Baptist: Part 2

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What a joy it is to come together with God's people this morning to worship our
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Lord and to open up the Word of God. I'd like to speak to you about the testimony of John the
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Baptist. The testimony of John the Baptist, and this will be a part one. Well, let's first bow in prayer and seek our
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Lord together and ask for His blessing upon us. Our Father and our
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God, O Lord, our prayer is with the psalmist.
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O God, be exalted above the heavens, above the earth.
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We thank You, O God, our Father, for Your Word this morning. For Your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
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And as the psalmist prayed in Psalm 119, Lord, deal bountifully with Your servant that I may live and keep
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Your Word. Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
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So then we will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.
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O Lord, we need Your blessed Holy Spirit this morning, the Spirit of truth, the true teacher.
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And any time Your blessed Holy Spirit is present, which we know
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You're present everywhere, Lord, but in a manifest, real way, we know
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He exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is our prayer this morning, that Christ would be lifted up, that Christ would be exalted.
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Hide us behind the cross, O God. May we decrease and may
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Jesus increase. O God, our prayer is that we would only see
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Jesus. Sanctify us this morning with Your Word, and we will be careful to give You all the honor and the glory.
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We ask this in Jesus' precious Holy Name. Amen. As we come to this 19th verse of chapter 1, as we are moving through the
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Gospel of John, in this 19th verse, as we will pick up, there is a transition that's taken place.
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We come to the historical section of the book. As we have seen in verse 1 to 18, it's all theological.
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Now we head into the historical section. The theological section, as we have seen, it presents, as we looked at it verse by verse, with God's help, not exhausted, of course, it's much, much deeper than what this preacher can actually present to you, but through the living and abiding
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Word of God, it speaks of the nature of Jesus Christ. That theological section is all about His nature, that Jesus is fully
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God and fully man. Holy God, holy man. Yet He is distinct from God the
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Father, but yet Jesus, the Son of the living God, is the
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Creator. He is the Word of the living God. He is the Logos. He is the very express image of God.
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He is the true life. He is the source of all that lives. He is the source of all light, because He is the light.
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He is the shining of the nature of God into the darkness of this world.
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And all this through the blessed Holy Spirit is revealed to us by the hand of the
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Apostle John. Now I say that because all that we have seen from verse 1 to 18 so far is foundational.
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It's like the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John has laid the groundwork. He's laid the foundation.
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He's poured the concrete. Now He's going to begin to build and we're going to see now the structure, the historical section as we come to this part in the
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Gospel of John. And again, verse 14 as we looked at, and we looked at this particular verse because it's a key verse for several lessons.
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The Word, the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ became flesh.
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He became flesh. He dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us.
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He pitched His tent. And now so John the Apostle has introduced to us the very nature of Jesus Christ in the theological terms.
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All this again is foundational. The Apostle's goal in this fourth
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Gospel, and I'd like to give a footnote on this here, is just not theological.
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It's as important as theology is. The study of God. But as you well know, we can know all about God and not know
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God. There's a great difference. There's many people in this world and there's many people in hell right now that knows all about God.
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But yet, they never come to know God. So as important as theology is, and sound theology is very critical, but the goal and the purpose of John the
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Apostle is evangelistic. This is why we love the Gospel of John, because he's mainly an evangelist.
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He's an apostle, but he's evangelistic. And John, take for instance, in the closing chapter, just about the closing chapter, there's 21 chapters, and in chapter 21, verse 31, chapter 20,
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I'm sorry, verse 31, he gives us his purpose and goal. And it is this,
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But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
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That's his purpose. That is his goal. And we know what he's talking about by believing.
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We're talking about what the heart, man, believes unto righteousness. We're not talking about just an intellectual ascent to know about God, that knowing that God exists.
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Again, the devils know that God exists and they even tremble.
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But they do not love God. They do not truly believe like John is speaking of here.
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Believing in faith. Now, again, as we come to this verse 19, at this point, we leave the prologue.
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The transition has taken place. And we begin a long section from this chapter 1, verse 19, throughout chapter 12, verse 54, of the historical section.
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It's very large. And it gives us the testimony for Jesus as the
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Son of God. The one in whom all should believe. So the rest of the chapter 1 presents the testimony of Jesus Christ, concerning Jesus Christ, and the one that is presenting the testimony is the forerunner of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, is John the Baptist. Now keep in mind, John the
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Baptist was, in human terms, a great man.
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He was the greatest man born of woman.
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Jesus said that. But he was not the greatest man, capital
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M, to ever live. Jesus Christ was the greatest. John the
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Baptist was great. Even though John never did a miracle, Jesus said, of all that's been born of women, he's the greatest.
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That's coming from Christ himself. He has a testimony.
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And this testimony concerns the Son of the living God. Commentator Andreas Kassenberger says this, and he points out two purposes.
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Quote, This section, number one, shows us that John's witness to Jesus at the inception of Jesus' ministry.
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Number two, to clarify John's relationship to Jesus as one witness rather than rivalry or antagonism.
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End quote. It's very important to realize this.
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That John's witness here and testimony shows Jesus at the inception of Jesus' ministry.
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So there is a transition from John the Baptist's ministry to Jesus' ministry.
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And this is, we will be seeing this later, but in chapter 3 of John, this is why he said that Jesus must increase and he must decrease.
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Very important for us to understand this. Because John the Baptist is an example for each and every one of us ministers.
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We're all ministers in one degree or another. We are an open book and a testimony.
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J .C. Rowe says, Throughout the week, your life preaches far more than any preacher's sermon can preach.
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You are a living epistle. You are a living sermon. And the way we act, the way we react, the way we carry ourselves, the way we live.
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So John the Baptist is an example for all of us, right? Now, if you look back in chapter 1, verse 6 through 8, we saw the three important aspects of John the
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Baptist's testimony concerning Jesus Christ. And this is an introduction here, but first of all was that he was not the light.
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John the Baptist said that. He's not the light. Second, he was sent to bear witness to the light.
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And third, his aim and goal was that all might believe through him. Those are three very important points in an outline that outlines for us what we're about to embark into.
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Because John chapter 1, verse 19 through 51, and John chapter 1, verse 19 through 28,
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John the Baptist testifies that he is not the light. And in verse 29 through 34, he bears witness to the light.
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And in verse 35 to 51, we see John's witness bears fruit as a servant of his disciples believing in Jesus Christ and begin to follow him.
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And if you studied this, there is a jealousy in John the
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Baptist's disciples because they loved John the Baptist so much that he was such a tremendous, powerful preacher.
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Jesus was hidden in obscurity, and then Jesus comes on the scene. And you will see time and time again that this was
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John's joy. John had no problem with it because John the Baptist said, this is my joy and this is the fulfillment of my joy is to point people to Christ.
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John the Baptist's disciples had a hard time with this transition. But as we see that, here is something great about John, and we see his humility, and this is what makes him great.
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He gives a testimony. And in this message today, we will cover and focus on really one particular point, which we can state as it applies to us.
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And that important point for us is this. We need to be absolutely clear on who we are in the kingdom of God and so that we can effectively point others to Jesus Christ for salvation.
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This is exactly what John's purpose and mission was. This is why he existed.
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This is why God put him on the scene in his generation and on the courtroom to give witness to who
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Christ is. He knew who Christ was. Now, this is all important because we will focus on this particular point today and we'll finish the rest of it,
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Lord willing, next week. But this is the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus Christ.
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And you will see that his testimony, his record, bearing witness of who
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Jesus is, is not about John the Baptist, right? It's not about a preacher, it's about Christ.
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And I'm telling you this, any preacher that's worth his salt, if he's up exalting, exalting himself, he's a perverted man.
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The church belongs to Christ, it's his church. No preacher's church.
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And by the way, C .H. Spurgeon said this, any man that exalts himself in his preaching, in his theology, he said, you flee from that man as fast as you can.
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That's a paraphrase, but he is absolutely right. Now, as I was studying this,
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I read a comment, and I say a comment, it's more than a comment, it's basically a paragraph.
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And I'd like to give to you from a late pastor, I believe he's still alive, in California, but his name is
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Stephen Cole. A very strong evangelical pastor. And I love the way he put this, in a very practical way, in a down -to -earth language, and brings the cookies low for us to understand in this introduction of where we're going about John the
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Baptist's testimony. And this is where he says, quote, to appreciate this section, you have to use some holy imagination to put yourself in John's sandals.
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God has called you to preach. Even though you haven't had any formal training, to be honest, you're a bit different in how you dress, and in what you eat.
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Rather than the common linen tunic, you wear a camel's hair garment with a leather belt, and your diet consists of locusts and wild honey,
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Matthew 3, 4. You don't quite blend in with the mainstream of your culture.
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You don't go to the capital to launch your ministry, but are out, you're in the desert.
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And your message isn't exactly user -friendly or sensitive.
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Your opening line is, Luke 3, 7, you brood of vipers.
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Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? He goes on to say this, a ministry consultant might tell you that you need to improve your public image.
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That's the truth, isn't it? But surprisingly, thousands are flocking out to hear you preach.
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You're baptizing many who repent for the forgiveness of their sins, and then one day, a delegation of nicely dressed fellows from the religious big boys in Jerusalem arrives to check you out.
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They take you aside and they ask you, who are you? Who are you?
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And it could be a bit threatening, unless you weren't sure of your calling and your message.
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But John was clear on who he was not, and on who he was. And because of that, he clearly pointed the religious bigwigs to Jesus Christ.
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End quote. I thought that's well put. You have to put yourself in John's shoes somewhat to see what's going on here.
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To relate. Very well said. So we must be very clear on who we are not, and we must be very clear on who we are, if our witness is to be effective as we point people to Jesus Christ.
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We see this clearly demonstrated in the life of John the Baptist in his testimony as he points people to Christ.
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The witness, the testimony of John the
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Baptist is a dynamic example. For every one of us is a servant of the living
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God. So he was a man who knew who he was not.
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That's the first thing I'd like for us to look at. He was a man who knew who he was not.
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Look at verse 19 to 21. Now this is the testimony of John.
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When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?
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He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the
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Christ. And they asked him, what then? Are you
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Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? He said, what? And he answered, no.
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Now here we see clearly that John is confessing who he is not.
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Who he is not. And in verse 20 to 22, we see he was only a voice.
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He was only a voice. A forerunner for the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 23, he was a baptizer.
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And in verse 24 to 26, he was an unworthy servant of the Lord. And in verse 27, he was a man who brought honor to the
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Lord and to a place in his generation. In verse 28. So again, our focus is going to be on these first two points
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I've already mentioned to you. And God willing, we'll finish it next Lord's Day.
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But the first point is that to effectively appoint others to the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to be absolutely clear, beloved, on who we are not.
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This is a problem within the church of Christ today. It's sad to say this, but people have a clouded view of who they are not and who they are.
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Now this is within the church. It's sad. But the scriptures point us to the record of who we are not and who we are.
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That's not to mention the generation that we're looking at outside of the church. A lot of people have a serious identity crisis, don't they?
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They don't even know whether they're female or male. Now that's pretty bad. But we know why that's happening because judgment is upon this nation.
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And if there ever was a time for the church to know the people of God, when
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I say the church, I'm talking about God's people, God's called out people, who we are not and who we are, we need to know this today.
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God help us. And the scriptures makes this clear. Now let me mention that this particular section in which we're coming into, the apostle
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John sets up the tension, this tension that will mount between the religious crowd versus Jesus.
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This is where this is going. And His true followers.
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Again, verse 19. Now this is the testimony of John. When the
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Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him, who are you?
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Who are you? That's an interesting question.
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And it's to the point. But when the news reached to Jerusalem that a man by the name of John, speaking of John the
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Baptist, was preaching and telling the nation to repent because the
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Messiah was coming. This is His duty. This was His call. The Jews, basically who was the
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Sanhedrin, sent a committee. Let's put it that way. It was a committee of priests.
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Levite priests. Priests. Levites. To find out who in the world is this
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John the Baptist. Strange man. Very strange. But yet he was a powerful man of God.
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And in this verse, John the Apostle, first mentions the
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Jews. The Jews. Now, there's a reason I'm mentioning this because you will see throughout this
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Gospel, John the Apostle will use this term, the Jews, 70 times in his
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Gospel. That's pretty important, isn't it? There's a reason. Now, as I was studying this,
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I love Leon Morris. Leon Morris is a great commentator. Pastor John MacArthur uses him quite often.
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Leon Morris in his commentary of the Gospel of John says this of this text.
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Sometimes, quote, sometimes he uses it in a neutral sense, speaking of the
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Jews, sometimes in a good sense, but more often he uses it to refer to the
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Jewish people and especially the religious leaders from Jerusalem who are hostile toward Jesus.
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End quote. So most of the time, we will see that when he uses the term the
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Jews, it's always in a hostile way against Christ. You see this all the way through this book.
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The Jews. Speaking basically of the Sanhedrin that's behind these people.
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Now, John the Baptist was very clear who he was not. And he makes it clear here that he was not the
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Christ. We see him time and time and time again saying, I am not the
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Christ, I am not the Christ. We see this in verse 19 to 20.
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John was questioned by the religiousness who were very suspicious of him and these particular religious people were the fact -finding people.
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To put it in our terms today that people are very familiar with Facebook, they are the fact -finders.
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Right? They are the fact -finders. They are the ones that basically split hairs and they want to tear you apart like vultures.
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Fact -finding. They were commissioned from Jerusalem and they were sent from the headquarters, so to speak, to be the fact -checkers of that day.
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They questioned John the Baptist by the religiousness that was to be expected now.
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Now, why is it to be expected? Why? Well, if you remember, if we see in the Scriptures that John the
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Baptist's father is Zechariah. Who is Zechariah? He is basically a prophet.
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Right? He's a prophet and he's a priest. I'm sorry, he's a priest. John the
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Baptist was the prophet. But John didn't speak of himself as some great prophet.
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You notice that. But yet he was a prophet. Zechariah was a priest.
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This is his father. Luke chapter 1, verse 5 says this, There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judah, of Judea, I'm sorry, the king of Judea, a certain priest named
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Zechariah of the division of Abijah. So, in the eyes of the authorities, in that day, all the sons of the priests were automatically priests by descent.
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But John the Baptist, again, as I've mentioned, he is not a priest. He's a prophet. A strange prophet, but a powerful prophet.
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However, John the Baptist was not a priest like all other priests.
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Kind of like today. He's not like a run -of -the -mill preacher like the rest of these preachers.
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He stood out. As a matter of fact, if John the Baptist was here today preaching behind the pulpit, we would look at him awful strange.
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Could you imagine? A man, even in that day, was strange. Eating as his diet, locusts, wild honey, dressed in leather, and camel's hair.
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Very strange individual. He was most unusual, wasn't he?
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Because the way he lived and the way he preached was radically different, folks. It's almost like this man was
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God's alarm clock. You wake up, people. The message was repentance.
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And he came on the scene and he charged people and he preached repentance.
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There's a reason why he preached repentance. The king was coming. In other words, that repentance was for the outwardly to wash and purify and to get ready for the king.
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The king was coming. He was the forerunner and we will see in a minute.
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He didn't think of himself as a great man, folks. John the Baptist was truly a humble man.
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He didn't think of himself great and he didn't think of himself as a great prophet or a great theologian.
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It's incredible. We read a little bit more about him in Matthew chapter 3.
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Go with me to Matthew 3. I'm going to read this very quickly and we're going to come back to our text. But Matthew 3, and I've read this before as we looked at this, but I think it bears repeating again.
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Matthew chapter 3 and notice in verse 1 to 12. In those days,
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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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For this is he who is spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the
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Lord, make his path straight. Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey.
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In Jerusalem, all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the
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Jordan, confessing their sins. And when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,
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Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.
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And do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
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And even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
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And he says this, I indeed baptize you with water unto 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 the Holy Spirit and fire. And his willowing hand, and his winnowing fan is in his hand.
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And he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn and he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire.
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And it speaks of judgment to come. Now that speaks a lot about John the Baptist.
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Now back to our text. John the Baptist, time and time again, confessed he was not the
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Christ. And by the way, he was what you would say a non -conformist. And the authorities had to find out why.
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These religious groups of people was very curious. These priests, these
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Levites from Jerusalem, asked him, well who are you? Who are you? Verse 20. John the
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Baptist gives an answer folks. Notice what he says. He confessed and he did not deny but confessed.
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Don't you love that? He had a confession. And his confession was this. I am not the
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Christ. I am not the Christ. Basically what he's saying, I am not the
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Messiah. I am not the Savior of the world. I'm only just a voice to point you to Him.
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Beloved, that's what every preacher should be preaching behind this pulpit that calls themselves preachers.
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And you as a minister to the world and a witness to the world, it's not about us, it's to point them to Jesus Christ and Christ crucified.
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That was the Apostle Paul's message. I've determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
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Him crucified. Now, other men at this time, I want you to think about this, might have seized this opportunity for fame and riches, claiming to be the
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Christ, but John the Baptist was a faithful witness for his Lord. His testimony was that he was not the
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Christ, not the Messiah. Next we see, he was also very clear that he was not
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Elijah. He was not Elijah. Notice in verse 21a, verse 21a.
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And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? Are you Elijah? Now, this was a pretty good guess for these religious crowd.
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For John the Baptist, both in his rugged wilderness lifestyle and the way he was, so different.
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Elijah was quite a different prophet as well. He was rugged, a prophet of fire.
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John the Baptist preached a fiery message of judgment just the same. The prophet
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Malachi in the last of the Old Testament prophets, 400 years before, says this in chapter 4, verse 5, that before the great and terrible day of the
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Lord, God would send Elijah the prophet to restore the hearts of the fathers and to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
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That comes from Scripture. And this was taken to mean that before the Messiah would come,
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Elijah would come. Elijah would come on the scene, would appear. Again, John's answer was not open to more than one interpretation, right?
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He confesses this in three words. I am not Elijah, basically.
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He denies that he's Elijah. Now, does this contradict what
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Jesus says later? That John was Elijah of Malachi chapter 4?
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Because Jesus mentioned in Matthew 11, 14 and 14, 11 that John the
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Baptist was Elijah. Well, lest we get confused about this and see that there's no contradiction in Scripture, let me bring out some things.
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Scripture also says the angel that predicted John's birth to his father Zechariah cited the same prophecy and said that John would go as the forerunner before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah.
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But notice he said in the spirit and power of Elijah in Luke 1, 17. So the question is, why does
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John deny that he's Elijah here? Now, I'd like to give you some views on this and you could take it and search the
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Scriptures and I want you to search the Scriptures. First of all, what I see here, John the
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Baptist probably knew that some Jews were expecting the literal Elijah to come.
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In a literal sense. This, who did not die, we know that Elijah did not see death.
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God literally took him up, carried him up to heaven in a fiery chariot to return.
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Now, he is to return in such a fantastic, spectacular way from heaven.
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John the Baptist basically denies that he is this literal Elijah. And he's not the literal
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Elijah. He comes in the spirit and the power of Elijah. John the Baptist had a true, humble opinion of himself, folks.
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Now, I want you to think of this. To the Jewish people in which he's preaching to, they thought very highly of Elijah because he was a prophet of fire.
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And this is the way he's thought of. He may not have seen as much significance in his ministry as Jesus did, but Jesus spoke well of John the
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Baptist. Actually, I've got another quote from Leon Morris right here. He says this, he observes this.
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Quote, Jesus confers on John his true significance.
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No man is what he himself thinks he is. Now, listen to that.
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No man is what he himself thinks he is. He is only what Jesus knows him to be.
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End quote. That's a very good quote because that's who we really are before God.
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Because a lot of times we don't know ourselves unless the Holy Spirit, unless we search our own hearts and the
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Holy Spirit shows us who we really are, right? Through the Word of God. But John the Baptist here was not interested in building a following for himself.
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Let's keep that in mind. He is not about getting up a crowd and say, okay, you people just follow me.
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Actually, if you see once the transition's made and when Jesus comes on the scene, he says, behold the
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Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. He's basically pointing them to Christ, even his own disciples.
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And this is his joy. It's almost as if, think of this. You've got a minister that's very well known.
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Okay? Let's take, for instance, we love Pastor John MacArthur, right? And he would agree with this if he was here today.
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And he has a whole church full of maybe 8 ,000 disciples of Jesus Christ.
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And then here comes another minister, not necessarily competing against him, but preaching
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Jesus Christ. And their church, so -called church, packs it out to 15 ,000 to 20 ,000 disciples of Jesus.
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We're talking about true disciples. But there's no competition. There's no competition.
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As a matter of fact, if there is competition, there's a spirit of pride, and a spirit of envy, and a spirit of jealousy.
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A true disciple and a true apostle, and you see this in the Apostle Paul, and I believe it's in Philippians, how others came along and preached
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Christ with different motives. Right? And some out of conceit, some out of envy.
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And you know something? Paul was not jealous about it. He says, Christ is preached.
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Christ is preached. In other words, he joyed in it. And I believe Pastor John MacArthur would joy in it just the same.
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So, really what we see here, John the Baptist was not interested in building up a following for himself as a latter -day
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Elijah, so to speak. But rather his passion and his mission was in pointing people to Jesus Christ and Him alone.
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So John denied that he was this literal Elijah. Because Elijah had such a massive, huge personality, a well -known following among the
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Jews. And you know this, because at the Mount of Transfiguration we see the
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Apostle Peter. Moses and Elijah shows up, right? Jesus is there in the middle.
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And they're speaking about the Exodus. And then all of a sudden, Peter gets all caught up as a
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Jew with Elijah, with Moses. Just like we're going here.
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There's Elijah, and then next we're going to see they're speaking about the prophet, Moses, that speaks of the prophet to come.
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But Peter gets all caught up and these prophets, oh, let's make this a tabernacle for this
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Elijah and for Moses and for Jesus. And the father just interrupts and says, this is my beloved son.
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Hear ye Him. So, it's almost like the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11, right?
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By faith, it speaks of Abel. By faith, Moses. By faith, Abraham. By faith, all these men and women of God.
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By faith, by faith. And it's important, there's a great cloud of witnesses. And we get to chapter 12, and then it says, looking unto
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Jesus. See? Even though they are examples of faith, the writer of Hebrews basically points, the
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Hebrews, it's Jesus we look at. God help us if we get our eyes on men.
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Men are men. We are dirt. But look at the Christ.
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He's the one who came here in flesh. God in flesh. And as a man, sacrificed
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Himself as the Lamb of God and died to present Himself before the
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Father. And then became sin in a mysterious way and took our sin.
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And that the Holy God poured His wrath upon Him so that you and I can have salvation.
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Now that's the one we need to look at. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, next we see,
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John the Baptist, not only he denies that he's the Christ, he denies that he's Elijah, but he also denies that he was not the prophet.
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The prophet. Now what's he speaking of? Look at verse 21b. Are you the prophet?
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The prophet? Well, he was a prophet, but he's not the prophet.
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Here the delegation makes a third possibility. Are you the prophet?
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And John's answer keeps getting shorter, folks. You notice that? He says what?
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No. No. No. He wants to cut off all this misleading speculation about himself.
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The religious leaders were referring to the prophet that was prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 .15.
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And it says this, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you.
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This is Moses speaking. From your countrymen. You shall listen to him.
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So the Jews basically is distinguished between this latter day prophet and the Messiah.
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You see that in John 6 .14 and John 7 .40 and 41. But the early
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Christian preachers also equated the prophet that Moses predicted with the Messiah. Because the
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Messiah is the prophet. Is this the Messiah?
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Is this the prophet? Acts 3 .22 says this, For Moses truly said to the fathers,
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The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.
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And him you shall hear in all things whatsoever he says to you. And it also repeats the same verse in Acts 7 .37.
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So John the Baptist doesn't go there, does he? He's not the prophet. His reply is a simple no.
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And at this point the religious delegation has nothing positive to put in their report and to write down to the leaders and send back to the
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Sanhedrin in Jerusalem so they basically repeated their question.
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In verse 22, look at what it says, So they said to him,
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Who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?
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What do you say about yourself? Now, to this point we've seen and it is crystal clear that John the
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Baptist has made it very clear who he is not. Now he's going to make it very clear who he was.
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Who he was. Well, who is he? Well, let's see what he says.
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Look at verse 23, he gives the answer. And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
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Make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said.
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There is his answer. John was crystal clear on who he was not.
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He was crystal clear on who he was right here and on his role and who he was in God's economy, in God's kingdom.
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He quotes Isaiah 40 verse 3. And the point of this quotation is that it gives no prominence to the preacher.
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Don't you love that? The preacher is not the preeminent one.
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God himself is the preeminent. Christ is the one that is to be lifted up and exalted.
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No prominence to the preacher whatsoever, zero, zilch, none.
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And so it should be in the church? So it should be. Again, Leon Morris.
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I've been looking a lot at his commentary. He says this. He did not say
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I am a great voice. He didn't say I was a great voice referred to by Isaiah in the
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Scriptures. And he did not say I am the important voice. No, just a voice that will forever change the world history.
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That is my exalted role, end quote. Well said.
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No, you see, he's a voice. He's an example for us, folks, and that's all we are.
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We are just to be a voice to point people to Jesus Christ.
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And actually, John says I'm crying out. I'm not giving attention to myself.
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He wants all exaltation given to Jesus Christ, to the coming
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Christ. Now, I'd like to conclude and move to my conclusion.
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The imagery here was that before a king would visit a town, a messenger, a forerunner would go before him to announce his coming.
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The town's people would hurry out and clear the way and clear the obstacles and fill in the washed out parts of the road and the places that were in the valley and to smooth the way for the king's coming.
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The messenger didn't call attention to himself. He was a herald.
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And his message was this. The king is coming. The king is coming.
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And John here makes it crystal clear that the coming king is none other than the
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Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. How do we know this? Well, if we read on, we're moving in that direction.
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Look at verse 29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
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Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is
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He whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me for he was before me.
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I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore, I came baptizing with water.
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And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon him.
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I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
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Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, remaining on him, this is He who baptizes with the
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Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.
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You know, that was a revelation that was given to John the Baptist, folks. And we see this.
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Now, he quoted Isaiah 40. Go with me to Isaiah 40.
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Let's just see it for ourselves. Isn't it wonderful that we can see these Scriptures and fulfillment of Scriptures and the
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Scriptures interpreting the Scriptures. Isaiah 40. Look at verse 3.
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What does it say? Let's read to verse 5. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
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Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. By the way, that highway is the highway of holiness, folks.
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Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low. What's he talking about?
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Jesus said it. He that humbles himself shall be exalted, and he that exalts himself shall be, what? Humbled.
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The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. And the glory of the
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Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the
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Lord has spoken. If we really desire and to see little redeeming grace church to flourish healthy, just not numerically, but healthy and godly, the way
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God would increase us. Let us decrease and let Jesus increase.
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Hide behind the cross of Christ, and just be a voice crying in the wilderness.
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Humble yourself. This is what John the Baptist did, and his humility was great.
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John MacArthur called this the first law of ministry. The first law of ministry. That's a sermon
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I highly recommend everybody to hear. Especially to God called pastors.
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But we need this today. Now there's another
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Old Testament prophet. Malachi chapter 3. The last
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Old Testament prophet, and he speaks of this in chapter 3.
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Behold I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.
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Behold he's coming says the Lord of hosts. And it's amazing right here.
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You almost see a cross over, a transition of the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ in verse 2.
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But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?
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For he's like a refiner's fire and like a launderer's soap. And he will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.
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And he will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the
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Lord an offering in righteousness. That's true worship that's acceptable. But isn't it amazing that there you see in verse 1 of Malachi 3, this is the coming messenger and he speaks of, no doubt,
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John the Baptist. Well beloved,
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Christ's word is true. Because Christ is the word.
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He's the living word and all of the written word points to him. And John the
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Baptist was just a voice. And that's to what we are. So my closing application is this.
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When pressed to identify himself, John the Baptist claims his fulfillment in Isaiah 40 verse 3.
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That I am just a voice. I'm just a voice. I'm crying in the wilderness.
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Should not we be the same? Should not we be the same? Crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the
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Lord as we look forward to the second coming of Jesus. And it's urgent folks.
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We see people dying all around us. This is the valley of the shadow of death, right?
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And time is so short and our life is like a sigh. Just a couple of weeks ago,
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I didn't know this. My supervisor was going to go into heart surgery.
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No one expected him to die, but as he was about to undergo heart surgery, come to find out a blood clot got loose and went to his brain stem and he was on a ventilator machine, then they had to pull the plug, now he's in eternity.
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And I saw him just a few weeks ago, talking to him. We never know.
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Talked to him the other day and I was telling him about my supervisor. How tragically and sure and how quick he died.
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And the guy told me, he said, he almost got very uncomfortable. He delivers for mission, tortillos and tacos, shells and stuff.
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And as I was speaking to him, I said, you know, what's really important is being ready to meet
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God. I said, well, you must be ready. And next thing I knew, what came out of his mouth.
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And I wasn't intentionally just trying to preach to him. I was just speaking to him about the death of my supervisor.
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And death came up and it's like this man didn't want to hear about this. You know why? Because death is a reality.
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And then next thing he told me was, well, I'm going to be ready, but not today. Not today.
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Isn't that the way people live? I'm going to procrastinate. Did you know that's, one
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Puritan said, that is one of the biggest lies from hell. Put it off.
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Put it off the next day. Put it off the next day. And next thing you know, you could die in your sleep. You could die tragically of a heart attack.
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You have an eternity, folks. We have to be like John the Baptist. We must cry in the wilderness.
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Prepare you the way of the Lord. And what was his message? Repentance. Have you noticed that this is what people do not want to hear?
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Even in the church. Even in the church. Don't preach repentance.
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Don't preach judgment. Don't tell me about appointed time for me to die. No, I don't want to hear that.
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Tell me things I like to hear. Paul calls it itching ears. I like what
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Ravenhill said. He says, and God has not given me no commission whatsoever to scratch itching ears.
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If we are going to be true and faithful, as a pastor and a preacher, to be true and faithful in feeding the
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Word of God, I must present to you exactly what the Scripture says about the judgment to come, but also about the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
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Scripture puts it all in balance. There's the negative and the positive, right? There's the warning and there's the remedy.
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There's the disease, there's the remedy. Luther said it like this.
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He said, the law is really for the proud, and the gospel is for those that are broken and poor.
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But don't we have a lot of proud people? They need to hear the law and the gospel.
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Paul said it. The whole counsel of God. Present the whole
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Jesus, the whole gospel, to the whole world. Amen? Folks, that's the application.
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That's what we need to do. And as John the Baptist was on the scene here, he was all about the glory of God.
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He wasn't about the glory himself. That's why he said,
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Christ must increase. I must decrease. He must increase. I must decrease.
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He said must. That's the axiom. And the word must is operative.
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It means that must happen. And Jesus said this in John 5. Without me, you can do nothing.
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This is a stewardship to us. Given to us. I like what MacArthur said in the first law of ministry.
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He said, ministry is a mercy. A stewardship. It's given to us freely by the sovereign grace of God, but it can be forfeited.
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It can be forfeited. That's why Paul warned about being a castaway, being disqualified.
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May we be like John the Baptist, to herald the gospel, to preach the gospel. One more verse.
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Mark chapter 1. And I close with this. Now, I want you to think about this for a second.
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Look at verse 14 and 15. Mark 1. When Jesus began his
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Galilean ministry. I want you to think of this.
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This is the king himself. What does he preach? Look. Verse 14.
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Now, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
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Here is the king himself. The king.
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In flesh. And what does he say in verse 15? And saying, the time is fulfilled.
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The time is fulfilled. And the kingdom of God is at hand.
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Repent. Repent. And believe in the gospel.
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You cannot separate those two. Repentance and believing in the gospel.
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The time is fulfilled. And the kingdom of God is at hand.
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Should not this be our urgent cry? Should not this be our message? May it be.
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May it be. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, as the psalmist says, and as he prayed, and as he sung, not unto us,
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O Lord, not unto us, but to your name, give glory.
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Because of your mercy, because of your compassion, because of your truth, all glory, all honor, is to you,
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O Lord, our prayer today is what John the Baptist said,
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Lord, over 2 ,000 years ago, and may this be burned within us. O Lord, may you forever increase, and may we decrease.
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O God, this is a must. It must happen.
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O Lord, thank you for your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. May he be lifted up and exalted because he's the one that died on the cross and he was lifted up.
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Now he's exalted in heaven. Above all. Above all names.
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And every knee one day will bow. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Lord, as Whitefield said, may
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Jesus' name forever shine, and may our name perish.
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O God, like the star that came on the scene in the night, so was
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John the Baptist. And so he faded away so that the sun, the
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S -O -N, would shine forever. And O God, burn this within us.
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We're like fading stars. We're like fading stars. So that the sun of the living
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God will shine forever. Shine, Jesus, shine. Lord, work through us a work.
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Revive us again, O God. Humble us, O God, it need be.
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O God, help us as we look to your grace. Change us forever.
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May we go forth in the name of Jesus, so that Jesus Christ will be all in all to us, and may
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He be exalted. And we give Him the glory, the honor, and the power, because it belongs to You, O Father, and the
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Son, through the Holy Spirit. In Your name we pray, Amen.