There Was A Man Sent From God: Part 1

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There Was A Man Sent From God: Part 2

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Part 1, there is a man sent from God, there was a man sent from God.
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Please bow with me in prayer as we open up the Word of God this morning, and that each and every one of us will be hidden under the shadow of the cross.
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Our Father and our God, how great You are, as we come to this time to hear from Heaven.
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And Lord, our prayer is this, Lord, Lord, speak, for Thy servant hears.
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Speak Lord, for Thy servant hears, in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. John chapter 1, beginning at verse 6 to 8, we're going to look at this next section is actually begins with 6 to 13, and it speaks of the witness of John the
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Baptist, that he testifies and bears witness of the true light, that he is not that true light.
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He was a light, but not the true light. There's a difference. So hear
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God's Word, and I just want to read just 3 verses, 6 to 8.
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John 1, beginning from verse 6 to verse 8, and I'm reading from the
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New King James Version. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
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This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
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Now, you don't have to turn there, but I've mentioned it, but Jesus said this in John chapter 8, verse 12.
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I've mentioned it already in this series, and it really calls for us to hear again.
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As the Bible says, then Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.
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And he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Now, if you go back to John chapter 1, look at verse 5.
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The previous verse, in which we looked at last Lord's Day, in conclusion of the first section.
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And I'm going to pick up right here. Verse 5 of John chapter 1,
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And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Did not comprehend it, did not overcome it, it's a better translation.
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Beloved, this is a clear reference to the coming of Jesus Christ to this dark and sinful world.
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A clear reference. A clear scripture. For the word of God sheds light on this, and there's going to be much shedding light, all the way through the gospel, this fourth gospel of John.
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Here he is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world, shining in darkness.
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But the darkness was not able to overcome it, or to extinguish the light. Now, as I was studying this,
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I could not help but gather from this wonderful quote from Pastor John MacArthur.
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He gives us some wonderful insight about light itself from a scientific level. So, bear with me on this, it has a little length to it, but there's a reason
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I chose this. And what he speaks of, and the message that he preached,
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I'm taking this quote from him because it's filled with great insight.
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It's filled with illumination to speak about the light itself. So, listen to what he has to say, and bear with me in this.
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Quote. He says, let's borrow you a little bit from science to get an understanding of why this idea of light is attached to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. When we think of light, we have to consider it in the simplest terms, and sort of take it for granted because we're so used to it.
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Life is full of darkness and light. We understand them without a scientific explanation, but whenever there is a term like this, borrowing, borrowed from life, used to describe the
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Lord Jesus Christ or God Himself, it behooves us to dig a little deeper into the concept to see if we can't see that what
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God is viewing far more than what we might see on the surface.
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So, we experience light in a static way. This is really good.
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It really gets good here. He says this. It is either dark or light or some degree in between for us.
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Light is on and off. It is present or it is absent.
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And we look at light as some kind of static condition. Nothing, frankly, could be further from the truth.
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To give you a scientific definition of light might help expand your understanding a little bit, and then we can apply it to what we're learning here about the
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Lord Jesus Christ. He says this. Light, in fact, is energy.
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Energy. Science defines light as luminous energy, as radiant energy, and as electromagnetic energy.
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And light is moving at the speed of 186 ,282 miles per second.
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It's incredible, isn't it? It is anything but static. It is anything but fixed.
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It is considered as a wave, as a corpuscular or quantum phenomenon.
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It is, in great measure, indescribable as the power and the source of that power.
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And the quantum idea is a testimony to the fact that it cannot be comprehended as to the source from which it draws its velocity and its very existence.
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Now listen very closely here. Light is a wave moving at 186 ,000 miles per second.
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This wave can hit the retina of the eye, and when it does that, it makes things visible.
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It shows you how incredible the power of light is. He goes on to say this. It illuminates things. All colors depend on light.
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Where there's light, we see. Where there's no light, we do not see. It is high -speed energy that hits the eye and makes things visible.
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When you think about light in that way, you are seeing it or viewing it in a way that is directly applicable to the
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Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the divine power and the spiritual rim making things visible.
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Now, in parentheses here, Pastor MacArthur gives an application to everything he says at the offset about what he has just said about light from a scientific level.
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Here's the spiritual application. When the light, the spiritual light of Christ hits the living soul, which would be equal to the open and functioning eye, everything is illuminated in the spiritual rim.
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The light, according to John, is none other than the life, that eternal life, who is the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word that comes from God. He is the
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Word because in Him, God speaks. He is the life because through Him, God gives life.
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He is the light because by Him, everything in the spiritual rim is illuminated.
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And apart from Him, there is no word from God. Apart from Him, there is no life.
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And apart from Him, there is no true understanding. All is darkness.
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I thought that was wonderful. I could not help but share that with you today at the introduction of this message because actually, this is what it's all about.
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Jesus Christ is that light of the world. What a wonderful statement.
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What a wonderful quote that helps us a little bit here to get going in what we're going to see through this wonderful gospel.
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Apart from Jesus Christ, everything is dark. Amen? Everything is dark. He is that light of the world.
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Jesus Christ is the true light. And this is exactly what John the Baptist bears witness of.
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We're going to see this. It may take us a few Lord's days to go through it but we will see it because the
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Scripture bears record of this. There was this one person, John the Baptist. He was a man sent from God.
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He was sent from God with a great privilege. He had a special mission to bear witness of the true light,
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Jesus Christ. And believe me, if John the Baptist were to come around today and preach in churches or even get into a church he would probably get kicked out right off the offset.
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He was a very different man. But he was God's man.
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We'll look at that from Scripture. John the
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Baptist. John the Baptist. What does the Word of God say about John the Baptist? Now, let's keep in mind
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John's sole purpose on earth was to witness and bear testimony of the true light who is Jesus Christ.
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John the Baptist was a mere mortal man. His purpose stands as dynamic example for all believers.
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And we're going to see this for each and every one of us. Especially ministers of the Gospel. But in one sense we're all ministers.
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There's a capital M, there's a small m and it doesn't mean one's greater than the other. One just has more responsibility than the other.
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We all have a great responsibility and a privilege to introduce this lost and dying world in darkness to Jesus Christ who is the true light.
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John the Baptist's purpose stands as dynamic for all believers and that purpose is to bear that same witness as John did to bear witness to who
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Jesus Christ is. This poor world out here has not the slightest idea who
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Jesus really is. They go to church and they hear stories about Him and a lot of churches do not even confirm, sad to say or believe that Jesus Christ is
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God in the flesh. That church should be closed down.
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Call it a church. Who Jesus Christ is to a lost and dying world.
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So twice we read here in this chapter 1 John the
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Baptist's witness here in chapter 1 verse 15 notice in verse 15
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John bore witness of Him and cried out He cried out
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He's a voice, remember This was He whom I said He who comes after Me is preferred before Me for He was before Me and then
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He also testified in verse 34 of chapter 1 And I have seen and testified that this is the
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Son of God Beloved, that's the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus Christ.
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Now there are three points to bring out concerning this man sent from God, John the
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Baptist We're going to get technically to two of them. The third we're not going to have time to get into but this is my outline here
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Verse 6 First First we see in verse 6 is a man sent from God We will see
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His commission He's a man sent from God, His commission Verse 6
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Verse 7 We see a man with a mission, His purpose His mission
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First His commission Second His mission His purpose And third,
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Lord willing we will embark on this next Lord's day because much is said about this
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Verse 8 A man sent from God with a privilege who was great but not the true light
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We will see His humility His commission His mission His humility
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Let's look at His commission His commission and mission
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First Verse 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was
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John Now keep in mind, John the Apostle never identifies himself as himself he never calls himself out by name
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When he says John, he's speaking of John the Baptist A few times he speaks about Peter's father,
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John That was Peter's father's name But most of the time when he's referring to John in the
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Gospel of John he's not speaking of himself As a matter of fact, when he speaks of himself he says about the disciple whom the
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Lord loved But here he speaks of John the Baptist There was a man sent from God This is a man that has a commission
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He has a commission The text now is not drawing attention to John the
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Baptist You would think it was, but it's not and drawing away attention from Jesus Christ That's absurd
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Actually, it's on the contrary How do we see this? Well, notice how verse 6 begins
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Notice how it begins Look at it very closely There was a man a man and only a man
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A very strong contrast, right? It's being made between what had been said about Jesus Christ and what is now being said about John the
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Baptist The first is
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Jesus Christ was in the beginning He is the beginning He is the beginning
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From the beginning From everlasting to everlasting, he's God He was with God as scripture says in John 1 verse 1 and 2 and he was
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God Second is John the Baptist was a man who had come into existence
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His beginning was at birth just like all the rest of us He had a beginning
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Jesus had no beginning He is the beginning And just as all men have a beginning of their existence at birth
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John the Baptist had a beginning There was a man A man
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Now we move now from the uncreated one the creator of the ends of the earth the eternal one, the pre -existent co -existent with God the self -existent who is
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Jesus Christ who is the light, true light and life in himself to a mere mortal man
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John was that man So John the
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Baptist emerges in history He's sent from God He's sent from God John's birth was a miracle from God We're going to look at several things just to show that he is sent from God This is a component to the fact that he is sent from God And actually
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Luke chapter 1 of his arrival, you can read this We'll go a little bit here to Luke chapter 1 after a while but I want to just paraphrase it for right now
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One basically tells of his arrival was announced to his father, Zacharias who was a priest
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And he was announced by the angel and he even gives the angel's name, doesn't he?
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Luke gives it to Gabriel who came from heaven as a messenger to speak to Zacharias And we even read later on that John the
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Baptist when he was in the womb of his mother Elizabeth after hearing the greeting of Mary Elizabeth was filled with the
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Holy Spirit in Luke 1 .41 even miraculous and even in Luke chapter 1
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I'm sorry, verse 41 his timing was of God's providence according to Luke chapter 1 as a matter of fact verse 80 says this there was a day for which for his public appearance there was a day for his public appearance and God has ordained that very day
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That's the sovereignty of God that is God's providence that is God's timetable just as it spoke about Jesus Christ and the fullness of time
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God sent forth with his son but God sent John the Baptist this forerunner of Jesus Christ to come into the world
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He was a man He was a man Don't you love that?
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Psalm 8 .4 as we're very familiar with Psalm chapter 8 it's a wonderful chapter to memorize
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What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit for him that word visit means that you give attention to him that you care for him what is man that you visit him you give attention to him a care for him even
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John the Baptist testified in John 3 verse 27 a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven now
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I want you to think about this as he's a mere man he's sent from God he was a mere man but he was a holy man and God raised this man up and made him and spoke to him in the desert that was the university for him and I tell you what this man, he would be like a hermit like a recluse, eccentric almost like a wild man and we'll see in a minute what his dress was and what his food was but scripture says a lot about John the
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Baptist go with me to Malachi this is the last book of the
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Old Testament after this is 400 years of silence and listen to what
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God himself says about John the Baptist he speaks about the coming messenger in chapter 3 look at what chapter 3 says verse 1 and I like to read a little bit further because there's wonderful scripture here behold
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I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the
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Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight behold he is coming says the
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Lord of hosts and then Malachi speaks but who can endure the day of his coming speaking about the
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Lord coming and who can stand when he appears for he is like a refiner's fire and like a laundry's soap and he will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of Levi and purge them with gold and silver that they may offer to the
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Lord an offering in righteousness but back to verse 1 speaks all about John the
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Baptist behold I send my messenger before the Lord comes before Jesus Christ was made flesh now if you jump to Malachi 4 this whole chapter just verse 6 only 6 verses speak of the great day of God almighty that it will come let me just read this whole chapter because we can read 6 verses very quickly for behold the day is coming burning like an oven now this is the day of the
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Lord right and all the proud yes all who do wickedly will be stubble and the day which is coming shall burn them up says the
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Lord of hosts that will leave them neither root nor branch but to you who fear my name the son of righteousness shall arise this is speaking of Jesus here with healing in his wings and he shall go out and grow fat like stall fed calves you shall trample the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet this is going to happen on the day of the
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Lord at Jesus' second coming and on that day that I do this says the
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Lord of hosts in verse 4 remember the law of Moses my servant which
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I commanded him in horror for all Israel with the statutes and the judgments and notice what he says in verse 5 and 6 behold
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I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
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Lord and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse now there's some interpretive challenges here to this chapter and I don't want to go into that but you could basically say in verse 5 and 6 is speaking of John the
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Baptist coming on the scene of history in the earth when he sends the messenger before the great day of God Almighty you could speak of that being
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John the Baptist but some people interpret this as right before the second coming of Jesus how do you apply this is it speaking about the first before the first advent of Jesus or the second advent of Jesus it could go either way that's a very hard way that's a hard chapter to interpret that but in its context we do know he's speaking about the great day of God Almighty we do know that Malachi is speaking about the end of the time before the great and final day the consummation of all things the second coming the second advent of Jesus Christ but you can't apply it in verse 5 that is speaking of John the
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Baptist some say well Elijah will come back as one of the two prophets some people feel it's
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Enoch and Elijah at the end of the days and they will be killed in the streets and God will raise them up one says some people say it's
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Moses but Moses has already died right? Moses is the only two I know that has never had a physical death was
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Enoch and Elijah so you can say that this is Elijah come but at the same time you can say before the second coming of Jesus Christ and before his first advent as well behold
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I send you Elijah the prophet now how do we know listen very closely
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John the Baptist came as a man and they thought he was as Elijah he was spoken of as Elijah the scriptures even speak of that we're gonna see that but he is he is definitely a different man and he's a man sent from God and like I said now no doubt about it
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Malachi 3 .1 speaks no doubt about John the Baptist how can you apply verse 5 chapter 4 to John the
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Baptist that's exactly what his commission was was what he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers that was his commission well you can study that in your personal time there's different views on that but there was 400 years of silence nevertheless right?
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right after verse 6 400 years of silence no word from God to the Jewish nation to God's people silence
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God didn't speak nothing 400 years and all of a sudden
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I will send you Elijah the prophet and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to children to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers
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God's concerned about the family isn't he at least I come and strike the earth with a curse clear prophecy concerning John the
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Baptist I believe personally no doubt he was a man sent from God right?
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sent forth from men does it say he was a man sent from men no does it say he was sent forth from a seminary no
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God forbid seminary basically just gives men that are called to the ministry just tools to help them in the ministry it doesn't give no calling he's sent from God I like what
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Ravenhill says I got my Ravenhill book out last night I got several of them he only wrote just a handful why
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Revival Terry's is one of his favorite one of his best ones but there's another one he wrote before he departed to be with the
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Lord and he had a burden for America and he called it America's too young to die in parenthesis a call to revival and in chapter 8 chapter 8 is called he does a whole chapter on John the
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Baptist by the way and I'm not I promise you I'm not going to quote the whole chapter but he says this there was a man sent from God that's what he titled chapter 8
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Ravenhill says this about John the Baptist the people who had been to the temple that day and seen the high priest in his garments of glory and the beauty would find it difficult to accept this this bearded eccentric of chronic austerity and vulgar tongue as quote a prophet sent from God he goes on to say but Jesus said this unusual unpredictable uncompromising man among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the
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Baptist Matthew 11 11 Ravenhill says this and I love this the secret of this amazing
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John the Baptist is easy to discover he was a single man with a single eye to God's glory a single purpose to do
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God's will a single message to hail and introduce the Christ the anointed of God as the world's redeemer end quote
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I love that a single man with a single eye to God's glory and a single purpose to do
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God's will and a single message to hail and introduce the Christ the anointed of God as the world's redeemer that's the way that's what we should be doing as believers in Jesus Christ well
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John the Baptist his message was pure and simple wasn't it? Brother Keith touched on it this morning his message was repentance just as our
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Lord began his earthly ministry with repentance and then later on while he was glorified to the seven churches just about to every single one of them he said repent but we learn a little bit about John the
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Baptist he's a very he's a very unusual man but he's
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God's man go with me to Luke chapter 3 we'll see a little bit about him here
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Luke chapter 3 he comes on the stage his stage is the world his message is to repent and by the way when he enters we'll see this in a few minutes as he enters the stage of the world this is the courtroom because he's bearing witness of Jesus Christ but notice in Luke chapter 3 let me begin with verse 2 and just read it on you can hear what
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God's word says about this man the forerunner of Jesus Christ a man sent from God Annas and Caiaphas were high priests the word of God came to John that didn't say that the word of God went to the high priest the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness in the wilderness and he went into all the region around the
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Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet saying and I quoted this this morning from Isaiah 40 the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the
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Lord make his path straight every valley shall be filled every mountain and hill brought low the crooked places shall be made straight the rough ways made smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him brood of vipers listen to this preacher brood of vipers he calls them snakes then he gives them a question who warned you to flee from the wrath to come he's religious hypocrites he throws a question right at them first he says you're snakes and then he says who warned you to flee from the wrath to come don't hear that preached much do we therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves we have
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Abraham as our father we hear it all the time people leaning on their coattails their family coattails religion we have
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Abraham as our father for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones and then he goes on to say this in verse 9 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 black and white his preaching is powerful it's bold it's simple he gets to the point he preaches repentance he basically tells them to repent now listen what happens here as he's preaching verse 10 so the people ask him saying what shall we do then good question he gives them an answer verse 11 he answered and said to them he who has two tunics let him give to him who has none and he who has food let him do likewise verse 12 then the tax collectors versus people now the tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him teacher what shall we do everybody's asking what shall we do verse 13 he gives them an answer to the tax collectors and he said to them collect no more than what is appointed for you wow that gets to the point doesn't it stop robbing people stop collecting more than you should be honest these are the fruits of repentance amen verse 14 likewise now the soldiers first the people then the tax collectors and then the soldiers this man had a powerful ministry of preaching the truth and repentance and people were pierced to their hearts cut to their hearts verse 14 likewise the soldiers the military ask him saying what shall we do and he gives them answers so he said to them do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely and be content with your wages wow treat people right there's the fruits now as the people were in expectation they were in expectation all reason in their hearts about John whether he was the
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Christ or not John answered to saying to all of them
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I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than I is coming and listen to what he says about Jesus and about himself whose sandal strap
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I am not worthy to loose folks that's humility he will baptize you with the
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Holy Spirit and fire whose winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn but the shaft he will burn with unquenchable fire this is what he told the people and with many other exhortations he preached to the people and then from there on out it basically says
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Herod and as John the Baptist rebuked him concerning Herodias his brother
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Philip's wife for all the evils which Herod had done also added this above all that he shut up John up into prison trying to shut him up couldn't shut him up he even preached in prison until later on he was beheaded he lost his head for preaching repentance powerful powerful man of God but he was a man he's not the true light he's bearing witness of the light he was a light though Jesus said of that that he was a burning and a shining light but Jesus is the light the source
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John's commission now we also see before John was born go back to Luke chapter 1 let's read a little bit about his his birth being a miracle which it was his parents
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Zacharias and his father was Zacharias the priest and his mother
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Elizabeth they were probably in their 80's folks just like Abraham and Sarah Isaac was born it was a miracle birth it was
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John the Baptist was a miracle birth his parents were very up in age could you imagine today having a couple of 80 year old elderly people having a baby but this is what happened this was a miracle
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God had a reason for John the Baptist and his purpose and we're going to see that John was a mere man but he had a great privilege now notice what it says and let me just read in chapter 1 verse 5 to 25 tells us a lot notice what it says there was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named
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Zacharias of the division of Abijah his wife was of the daughters of Aaron did
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I say Luke chapter 1 I think so verse 5 her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the
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Lord blameless but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years listen to that so it was and while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division according to the custom of the priesthood his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the
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Lord and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense then the angel of the
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Lord we know it was Gabriel because he names him later angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense and when
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Zacharias saw him he was troubled and fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be afraid
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Zacharias for your prayer is heard and your wife he was praying about this your wife
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Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John it's amazing that even his name there means gracious gracious of God comes from heaven the angel basically said this is what you name him and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the
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Lord this is the spirit of God this is what God said about John the Baptist he is great he's not the greatest we know who the greatest is right that's the
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Lord Jesus Christ but he is great and notice what it says and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink he will be separated he will be a different man he will also be filled with the
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Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb so he was filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother's womb and notice what it says and I just spoke about this from Malachi chapter 4 and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the
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Lord their God and he will also go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready a people prepared for the
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Lord and Zacharias said to the angel how shall I know this now he's in doubt okay remember
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Mary when the angel came to her as a messenger she said be it unto me Lord now here he is questioning now
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Mary had a question how can this be because she didn't know a man she was a virgin that was that conception was super miraculous but this is miraculous but not like the virgin birth folks
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John still was a mere man with Adam's sin he needed a savior Jesus enters into this world through Mary through the virgin two separate completely not with Adam's sin that's why the virgin birth is so critical but here it will be a supernatural birth and Zacharias says to the angel how shall
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I know this for I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years the angel answered and said to him
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I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings and then he says this because of his unbelief listen to this but behold you will be mute and not be able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time and the people waited for Zacharias and notice what it says and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple and when he came out he could not speak to them for they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple and he beckoned to them and remained speechless so it was so as soon as the days of his service was completed that he departed to his own house and after those days his wife
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Elizabeth conceived regardless of his unbelief folks she still conceived and she hid herself five months probably because she was been an old lady and said thus the
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Lord had dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people and then you see it shifts from Elizabeth then it goes to the angel
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Gabriel was sent by God to the city of Galilee named Nazareth to the virgin now he goes as a messenger and goes to Mary now incredible his birth was miraculous he was the forerunner he's the forerunner of the king and this is why his mission his commission is so privileged there was a huge responsibility behind this to be a herald of the king there was a man sent from God whose name was
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John his commission and his commission is found in that one word sent sent three significant points here the servant and the messenger of God number one is he's not sent forth by men but by God this is his commission he's sent forth as an ambassador of God as God's representative and second number two is he's sent forth from God from the very side the heart of God and three he's a man of a high calling and a mission and of enormous responsibility and accountability to God I love what
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Jesus said to the disciples in John 15 16 you did not choose me but I chose you and notice what he says and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain
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I love that word remain because that word remain means your fruit should continue your fruit should persevere your fruit should endure it continues it endures it perseveres that's the
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Greek meaning of that word remain and then he says whatever you ask the father in my name he may give it you now he's talking about according to the will of God nothing physical but spiritual what does
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God will and then Jesus basically finishes that verse 17 these things
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I command you that you love one another that's the command the apostle
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Paul says in 2 Corinthians 18 -21 go with me there please wonderful wonderful text 2
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Corinthians now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation this is what we are to preach folks just as John pointed people to Jesus Christ we point people to Jesus Christ and then
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Paul says now then we are ambassadors that means a representative we represent Jesus Christ ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us listen to that language that as God is pleading through us we implore you on Christ's behalf there seems to be urgency here it is it's a matter of eternal life and eternal death and what's our why do we exist what do we say when we evangelize be reconciled to God that's the message be reconciled to God and how is this to happen verse 21 this is our message this is what believers are to tell the lost and dying world
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Jesus Christ behold the Lamb of God for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him folks that's the hope that's the message that's the gospel that we are to preach to a lost and dying world and what did
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John say in John 1 29 the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and then he points and you can see it in that time period hot dusty and Jesus comes and he sees his face and he says behold all these people around hearing
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John preach preaching repentance and remission of sins and the powerful message and then he says all of a sudden behold the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world we will see this more about his humility later on and he basically there is a transition that all of his disciples go to be follow
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Jesus and he gladly accepts that he gets put in prison for preaching repentance he accepts that he knows his existence he knows the reason why he's living he knows his purpose he's commissioned and beloved that's what we are we are as John representatives we are representative we are an ambassador of Jesus Christ not ashamed of the gospel right to tell people about the
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Lamb of God beloved this was John the Baptist's commission he was sent from God chosen of God sent from God but a mere man
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God chose John and God chose John for a good reason it makes me think of 1st
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Corinthians the things that God chooses we're familiar with this go with me to 1st Corinthians very quickly
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I cannot help but go here because this is the message and Paul the apostle brings this out very clear in 1st
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Corinthians chapter 1 I got a few verses from 1st
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Corinthians this is God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise doesn't he doesn't he look at look at verse 18 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God for it is written
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I would destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this age has not
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God made foolish the wisdom of this world for since in the wisdom of God that the world through wisdom did not know
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God for ever learning and ever come to the knowledge of the truth right it pleased
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God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe it must come through a preached word it's not this faith to yourself that's no
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Christian at all a Christian is not ashamed of Christ and he confesses
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Christ to the world it's not a public private faith I'm sorry it's not a private faith it's a public faith verse 22 for Jews request a sign the
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Greeks seek after wisdom notice what Paul says but we preach who
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Christ crucified we preach Christ crucified to the Jews of Stummba to the
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Greeks foolishness but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men and it goes on about glory in the
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Lord because it is all about Him that's the commission that's the same commission
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John the Baptist had this is why God sent John to testify and bear witness of the true light next is we see in verse 7 his mission there's a commission then we see his mission there is slightly a difference but they're closely linked together this man came in verse 7 for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe that's the purpose that's his mission he's just a voice we can't make people believe but the power of God does the work through the word the terms witness and bear witness receive special attention as I said earlier it reflects a courtroom language in which the
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Old Testament speaks of that the truth of a matter was to be established on the basis of multiple witnesses and you know what the word of God says about this
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Jesus said it in John 8 17 it is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true verse 18
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Jesus says this I am one who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me
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Deuteronomy 17 6 we're going through Deuteronomy but we've already read, brother
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Ben's already read this but Deuteronomy says this whoever is descending, I'm sorry who is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness it must be two or three witnesses
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Deuteronomy 19 15 one witness shall not rise against the man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established this is
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God's word he just doesn't believe in one witness he believes two or three or even more witnesses beloved not only did
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John the Baptist witness regarding Jesus as the Messiah but there are many many many other witnesses
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Jesus had more than two or three witnesses let me just name a few that he is the very son of God, the
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Samaritan woman was a witness and she went into Samaria and told everybody, the whole city about who
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Jesus was, she was a witness the disciples of Jesus Christ was a witness even the works of Jesus was a witness to who he was as we read,
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Jesus himself said the Father in heaven is his witness how about the
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Old Testament the Old Testament scriptures is a witness the crowd was a witness, the
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Holy Spirit is a witness all these witnesses Jesus has multitudes of witnesses that he is the very son of God what purpose?
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that all through him I believe to believe isn't that what we desire for our lost loved ones?
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to believe the gospel to believe it go with me to Romans 10 we see this
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Romans 10 this whole chapter is remarkable and what
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I love about it, I tell people this all the time notice where Romans 10 is it's between Romans 9 obviously and Romans 11 what does
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Romans 9 speaks of? Israel's rejection of Christ, right? Israel's rejection and God's purpose that God rejects
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Israel and God's justice is brought about but there is a God's elect a lot of people don't like Romans 9 because of that, and God chooses to elect whom he wills and then you go into Romans 11
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Israel's rejection is not total and it's not final but it's the sovereignty of God and God does whatever he pleases but right sandwiched in the middle of that is an evangelistic chapter and notice what it says look at verse 8 what does it say?
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Paul says, the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith which we preach, that if you confess with your mouth the
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Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved do we believe that?
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for with the heart one believes unto righteousness not with the head, the heart and with the mouth confession is made into salvation he's basically saying you confess it you believe it with your heart, you confess it with your mouth but also you confess
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Christ as Lord for the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same
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Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him and whoever calls on the name of the
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Lord shall be saved and I really believe in context that calling on the Lord is repentance and believing they're equally the same then he gives questions listen here, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher how shall they preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things and I'll stop right there that's our message isn't it and that's our mission and commission you know in the old testament it basically says come and see now we go and tell does that mean we don't invite people to church
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I don't believe that because the church itself is a beacon light the gospel is being preached here so please invite people to come not to just hear this poor preacher but to hear the word of the living
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God it's a beacon light to hear the word of God we're planted here as a beacon light
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I like what R .C. Sproul says you know the church is just not a facility it's the people of God and the minister brings sheep food right this is sheep food right here the word of God not goat food and I assure you if you invite anybody here they're not going to hear goat food even though they're goats they're welcome to hear the gospel because it's an evangelistic tool it's a mission we are a mission
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I like what Spurgeon said the purpose of the church us is a soul winning station redeeming grace church is a soul winning station so this is another evangelistic tool to bring people to hear about Jesus Christ you know
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John the Baptist he didn't preach about himself did he he said I'm just a voice of one crying in the wilderness this is a wilderness wow we're not ashamed of the gospel
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Paul says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel Christ's word is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes must believe for the
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Jew first and also for the Greek for in the righteousness and for in it the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith let me give a conclusion just because my time is gone
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John the Baptist shows us that it is very possible to both know and accomplish our purpose folks this is an exhortation for each and every one of us here as small as we are but we have a purpose a purpose of God and the reason that God has us existing and brought us together to evangelize and tell people about the
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Lord Jesus Christ go and tell go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is
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Lord this is our mission this is our mission Charles Spurgeon said this your business is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
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God's business is to draw his own to himself John the
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Baptist knew this that this was his mission to point people to Jesus Christ and say behold the
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Lamb of God I don't have time to go there but if you read 2
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Corinthians 4 the light of the Christ is gospel but I do love verse 5 for we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the
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Lord and ourselves your bond servants for Jesus sake that's the message we do not preach ourselves we preach
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Christ the Lord we preach Jesus Christ Paul said that he had a passion I know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified we need this burned in us beloved we need every day to focus on the cross and tell people about the good news it's good news they can be saved from the wrath to come and John says who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come
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John the Baptist reflected the light just like the similar to the moon that reflects the sunlight the moon gives light and darkness that's the way we are folks it reflects from the sun and as the sun is the source the
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S O N is the source amen the great commission the great commission you know the great commission
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Jesus said it go therefore and do what make disciples make disciples and of all the nations just not one nation all the nations all people need to hear about this the world needs to hear about it and he says baptizing them in the name of the
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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and then what else did he say teaching them that's how we make disciples as Christ brings them in and converts them and we are just a means to them we are just a vehicle folks we are just the channel
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God's power and his word and let his word go forth teaching them to do what observe all things that I have commanded you we teach people all things that Jesus Christ has commanded and then he gives a wonderful promise
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I am with you always even to the end of the world even to the end of the age amen as follows of Jesus Christ my exhortation to each and every one of you today that we need to reflect the light just as the moon reflects the light from the sun in a dark world and proclaim the gospel the good news to a lost and dying world and when all is said and done beloved what could be more important outside of knowing
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Jesus Christ ourselves than telling others about Jesus Christ what could be more important than that again
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Spurgeon said this every Christian is a missionary or an imposter that gets right down to it doesn't it let me close with this missionary
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Nate Saint you know him he was martyred along with Jim Elliot and other men and for Jesus sake in Ecuador years ago the end of the spear
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I believe they made a movie about it this is what Nate Saint said I love this quote by Nate Saint he was the pilot that took him there to Ecuador he said this people who do not know the
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Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries this almost makes me want to really weep because I'm telling you it really gets down to the nitty gritty why we are here folks this is such a serious matter listen to what he says they forget that they are spending their lives and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted folks we don't have time to waste there is a dying world and we must tell them about Christ Jesus Christ and Him crucified amen amen may
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God help us by His grace to do this and strengthen us that we may not be discouraged and tell this lost and dying world about the living hope that is only in Jesus folks it is
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Jesus and Jesus only without Christ people perish you know that this should put fire in our bones
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God help us and God forgive us for not doing as we should we are on the stage just like John the
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Baptist and this stage is the world this is the court room folks this whole world is the court room and with a bare witness of the king amen let's pray our heavenly father we thank you for the commission and the mission and for the purpose and that is for your glory this is why
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John the Baptist was sent from you and this as it was his mission and commission it is ours and father right now we thank you we thank you and thank you for the witness of your holy word we thank you that it's true we thank you for sending the lord
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Jesus Christ into the world to be the light of the world hallelujah the light the true light as lord and savior for there is none other oh
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God help us by your grace by your spirit to walk in the light as your word says as he is in the light and let the light of your wonderful love shine through us and let it shine on others that our lives would be a true testimony to the lord
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Jesus Christ just as John the Baptist prayed lord may we decrease and may