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There Came a Man (Part 2) · CCC West Covina

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Gospel John, the 1st chapter, the sixth verse says there came
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a man sent from God. That's the verse we're looking
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at last week and this week. We are slowly making our way
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through John's gospel. This is week #10 and we're only
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on verse #6 so it's going to take us a while to get through
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the entire gospel. But that's OK.
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There's no hurry. And we're only going to take the
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first part of that verse. Verse 6, There came a man.
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The question is what kind of man came?
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What kind of man was sent from God?
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That's the question. And the unique thing about this
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is that Jesus answers that question by saying the greatest
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man ever born of a woman is John the Baptist.
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Greatest man ever, greater than Moses, greater than Elijah,
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greater than David, greater than Jeremiah.
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The greatest man born of a woman is the man sent from God.
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John the Baptist, the greatest of all commendations comes to
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John. Christ commends him extremely,
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extremely well in terms that we would never even think to
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describe someone, but Jesus does.
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And so this great commendation comes to to John the Baptist.
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And so we have to ask, to answer ourselves this question, what
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kind of man is the greatest man born of a woman?
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And the Gospels tell us about this man, John the Baptist.
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And so we want to describe him to you.
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We're looking at the peculiarity of the man we told you.
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We're going to talk about his identity, his ministry, his his
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testimony and his legacy. But we must first tackle his
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peculiarity. What makes him so peculiar?
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What makes him odd? What makes him so bizarre?
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What makes him so outrageous? What makes him so different than
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everybody else? What separates John from
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everyone else that's ever existed?
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For Jesus to say that the greatest man born of a woman is
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John the Baptist. Well, we began last week by
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telling you that we have 8 principles that will describe
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him for you. We covered seven of them last
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week. We'll cover the 8th 1 today.
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But that's not all inclusive. That's just the tip of the
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iceberg to help you introduce, introduce to you this man, John
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the Baptist, this forerunner to the Messiah.
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So as you recall, last week we told you that principle number
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one was this is that he was uncompromising in his message.
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That's principle number 1. He was uncompromising in his
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message. John never backed down, never
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backed away from the truth of the Gospel.
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The Bible says in John one verse #8 that he came to testify about
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the light. In John 1011, it says he came to
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talk about nothing but the truth.
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So John's whole ministry was to preach the truth about the
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light. He did it fearlessly, He did it
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faithfully, He did it forcefully, he did it fervently,
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but he always told the truth. He was uncompromising in his
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message. And if we are going to be men of
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God, men like John the Baptist, because he actually becomes a a
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model for biblical manliness. Think about that.
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If if he is the greatest man born of a woman, he becomes the
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quintessential example for manliness in the Bible.
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So it ladies, if you're looking for a man, look for this kind of
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man. If you're a man, you need to be
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this kind of man. If you're a father, you need to
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raise these kinds of boys to be these kinds of men.
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Then they might understand true biblical manliness.
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People that are uncompromising in their message.
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When Jesus said, when you went down to the Jordan, what did you
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go to see? A Reed blowing in the wind.
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Somebody tossed to and fro, somebody changes his message to
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whoever comes to talk to him. Nope.
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Same message, same person, never compromising, always speaking
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the truth. He came in the spirit and power
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of Elijah. They came to preach that truth
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uncompromisingly. So that was principle number
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one. Principle number 2 is that he
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was unorthodox in his mannerisms, completely
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unorthodox in his mannerisms, Different than everybody else.
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The way he dressed, the way he spoke through the things that he
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did. Remember John was in in line to
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be a priest. His father was Zacharias and so
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he was in line of the priesthood.
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But but his dress was the contradiction to the priesthood.
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The way he lived his life was was one of self denial, not self
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indulgence like the religious leaders of his day.
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His whole life was a contradiction to the religious
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business of the day. And that's why he ate locusts
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and and wild honey and and that's why the Bible says that
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in Luke one verse 17, that no wine would come up on his lips
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because he would take it. A Nazarite vow, a vow for life.
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Completely unorthodox, completely unusual, but this is
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John the Baptist and he came baptizing Jews and what he did
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to Jews was what Jews did to Gentiles when Gentiles wanted to
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convert to Judaism. But instead these were Jews
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coming down to the Jordan River. These were Jews being convinced
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that they were separated from their God, that they, they
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weren't a part of who God really wants them to be.
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And even though they're descendants of Abraham, even
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though they, they are the seed of Abraham, they are, they are
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far from God. And they began being baptized by
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confessing their sins that they were separated from their God.
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Completely unorthodox in all of his mannerisms.
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Again, that was that was last week and then #3 was that he was
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unequalled among men, unequalled among men, unparalleled among
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men, unrivalled among men. Nobody like John.
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Why he he was filled with the spirit from his mother's womb
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that's unequalled among men. He came in the spirit and power
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of Elijah. He came as, as his father said,
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the the prophet of El Elian, the God Most High.
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He was, He was unequal to among men, so much so that Christ said
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he was the greatest born of a woman.
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Then #4 We told you that he was unlimited in his mission.
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In other words, he realized that he had a mission to accomplish
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and that was to be the forerunner to the Messiah.
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So whether he was speaking to Jews or whether he's speaking
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to, to to Herod, the king, who was an idiomian, who was the
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descendant of Esau. He was an Edomite and they hated
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the Jews. He he still in a very loving
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way, would, would reprimand the king.
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He would tell the king that he was living in an immoral
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relationship with his half sister, who was The Who was
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married to his brother, and that he committed all this
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wickedness. And, and John would confront
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Herod. Because in all reality, if you
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love somebody, you're going to tell them the truth about their
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sin and how they need to get right with the true and living
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God. So John didn't care about your
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ethnicity. He didn't care about your social
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background. He didn't care if you were poor
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or rich. He didn't care what it was.
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You needed to hear the gospel. You need to hear the truth.
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His mission was an unlimited mission.
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And then #4 he was uninhibited in his ministry.
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Nothing stopped him, not even the king.
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Or the king would silence his voice by having him beheaded at
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the request of his his daughter, which came through Herodias,
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Herod's wife. But the fact of the matter is,
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is that John was uninhibited. He didn't back down from
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confronting Herod, confronting anyone about their sin,
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confronting the religious establishment, you brood of
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Vipers who who told you to flee from the wrath to come.
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He, he was completely uninhibited.
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He would not back down even in the midst of of horrendous
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circumstances, the fear of losing his life.
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He was uninhibited in his ministry.
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And then we told you number six, that he was UN unpopular with
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the multitudes. Unpopular with the multitudes.
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And I'll be honest with you, I got some pushback from this last
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week from several of you. Well, how could it be unpopular
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among the multitudes? I mean, Herod wouldn't kill him
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because the multitudes knew he was a prophet.
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And and and there were scores of people coming from Jerusalem to
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be baptized by John in the Jordan.
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He he was the most popular person around.
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Why would you say he was unpopular by the multitudes?
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That's because Jesus said he was unpopular with the multitudes.
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Listen to what Jesus says in Luke's Gospel, the 7th chapter,
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verse 31. To what then shall I compare the
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men of this generation and what are they like?
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They're like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one
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another. And they say, we played the
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flute for you, and you did not dance.
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We we sing a dirge and you did not weep for John the Baptist
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has come eating no bread, drinking no wine, and you say
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John has a demon. I would say that's unpopular.
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If someone says you got a demon, you're not a very popular
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person. And so he was unpopular to the
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multitudes. You see that they got tired of
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his message. Yes, they were coming down in
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scores. The novelty of John would soon
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wear off. You know, they were coming down
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to the Jordan. They were being baptized and,
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and, and everybody got on the, the, the JB wagon and we're
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going down to be baptized there in the Jordan River.
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But, but soon they, they got tired of the, of the sin and,
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and the preaching that gets sin and repentance and, and, and
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judgement of God. They got tired of that, that,
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that, that war on them, that they wanted to hear the, the
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nice cushy, cozy sermons. They wanted to hear those things
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that made them feel good on the inside.
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And John didn't make anybody feel good on the inside.
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And they got tired of that so much so they, they would say he,
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he has a demon. Oh, his message was serious.
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His message was severe. His message was intense because
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he wanted people to know time was short.
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The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, so he was unpopular with
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the multitudes. Fitting in was not a part of
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John's modus operandi. He didn't care if you liked him
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or didn't like him. He wasn't out to make friends.
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He was out just to do. A gut called him to do.
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He wasn't out to, to, to, to socialite with all the, all the
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people of society. No, he was just there to do one
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thing and one thing only be a forerunner to the Messiah, to
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make sure people understood the way to the Kingdom of heaven.
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And then there were seven. We told you last week he was he
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was unforgettable as a man, completely unforgettable.
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Why? Because he's in the he's in the
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pages of the eternal word of God always to be commended.
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And Solomon tells us that that blessed, blessed are the
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righteous for they should be remembered forever.
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And that was John. He was an unforgettable kind of
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man. But note this, even though he
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was uncompromising in his message like Oliver should be,
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even though he was unorthodox in his mannerisms, even though that
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wasn't necessarily his his his push in ministry, he wanted to
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live a life contrary to everyone else in the world around him.
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And even though he was unequalled as a man, and even
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though he was unrivaled as a man, even though he was
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unlimited in his mission, even though he was uninhibited in his
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ministry, even though he was unpopular with the multitudes,
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he was a man that was completely unforgettable.
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There was one thing in his life that I think you need to know
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and that he was unimaginable for one brief moment.
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Unimaginable. And I say that because it's hard
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to imagine a man with these qualities would begin to be
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disillusioned. Turn me in your Bible to Luke
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Chapter 7. I know we're in John's Gospel,
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but we're looking at the man that came from the Lord, John
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the Baptist. In Luke 7, John's in prison.
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John's in prison at a place called Macarius, which is 7
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miles north and east of the Dead Sea.
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There are two dungeons at this summer palace of Herod's.
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They are deep, they're dark, they're damp, they're
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depressing, they're debilitating, they are
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discouraging. And John finds himself sitting
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in this location. But that's not the dungeon that
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weighs heavily upon him, because he's in a different kind of
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dungeon, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
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He's in the dungeon of disillusionment.
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Listen to what it says. Luke 7 verse #18 The disciples
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of John reported to him about all these things.
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What things? Well, the things that were just
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happening. He just raised the widow's son
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at name and Christ was doing all kinds of miracles.
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The the Bible never tells us that John ever heard Jesus
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preach A sermon. Bible never tells us that John
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ever saw Jesus do a miracle. He was the forerunner of the
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Messiah. He paved the way.
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We're 18 months into his ministry.
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He's now in prison. And so John's disciples come to
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him and say, look, I'm going to report to you the things that
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Jesus is doing. So John is caught at the speed
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as to this Messiah who's doing all these miraculous deeds.
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Then it says, summoning 2 of his disciples, John sent them to the
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Lord, saying, are you the expected one, or do we look for
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someone else? When the men came to him, they
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said, John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, are you the
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expected one or do we look for someone else?
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Now just stop right there for a second and think about that.
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John's the forerunner to the expected one.
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The expected one. The Eric O Mai is a is a title
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for the Messiah taken from Psalm 1/18/26.
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Psalm 40, verse #7 He is the coming one.
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In fact, when he goes into Jerusalem on that palm Monday,
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not Sunday, on that palm Monday, they quote Psalm 11826 saying
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blessed is the coming one who comes in the name of the Lord.
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So he is the expected one. That's the title for the
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Messiah. That's why there was this great
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anticipation around the arrival of the Messiah.
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But here's John. We, we would expect the crowd to
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ask this question, but not the forerunner to the Messiah to ask
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this question. And John comes and says to his
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disciples, go and ask Jesus, are you the Messiah?
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Are you the expected one? See, this is unimaginable that
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this man who would preach as he preached, lived as he lived,
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knew that he was a forewind of the Messiah.
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His Father had given him all the information that he needed.
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He knew who he was and what he was about.
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All of a sudden he is completely disillusioned as to what's
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happening in his life. Completely.
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So much so he begins to doubt that Jesus is who he said he
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was. And yet John was a forerunner to
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the Messiah. This is a very important passage
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of Scripture because you see, every one of us in the room at
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some time or another finds ourself in the same kind of
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dungeon, the dungeon of disillusionment, where we are
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taken back. We begin to question all that
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God is doing and why he's doing it now.
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This is the greatest man born of a woman, and he is disillusioned
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as to the activity of the Messiah.
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And so he begins to ask this question.
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It's perplexing to us, but it's encouraging to us because when
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we ask the question, Lord, what are you doing?
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Why are things happening the way they are?
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We find ourselves in this dungeon of disillusionment.
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John does the right thing. John goes to the Lord.
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He goes to, he goes to the source, he goes to the Christ
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and he asks them, are you the expected 1?
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He sends his men there. How?
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How did John get here? How did not?
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How did he physically get in the dungeon?
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We know how he got there. We know he's going to die soon,
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but how did he get here mentally?
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How did he get here spiritually, emotionally?
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How did he come to this place where he's doubting the fact
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that Jesus is the Messiah and he is the preordained forerunner to
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the Messiah? How does he get here?
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Four ways. One was simply because of
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personal affliction, personal affliction.
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When personal affliction arises in our lives, personal
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persecution arises in our lives. We can come to a place of
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complete and total disillusionment.
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John was a faithful preacher. John was a consecrated man.
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He was a courageous man. He knew about his mission in
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life. He knew about his calling in
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life. He fulfilled that calling.
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He didn't back away from it. He was very, very faithful.
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It wasn't like John was living in sin.
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Like John had had a, had a young girl in every little village
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that he went to and he he spent the night with her.
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No, it, it was not that way. John wasn't living a sin.
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It wasn't that he was sinless, but he wasn't living in known
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sin. He wasn't rebelling against the
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Messiah. He wasn't backing away from his
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call, so he'd be thrown into prison.
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No, he was faithful. He was true to the Lord.
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He was committed to his God, and now he's in prison.
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So is this what happens when when the Bible says he wants me
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for Samuel 2:30, I will honor? Is this the honor John gets?
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He's honoring the Lord with his life and now he's thrown into
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prison. Who does that?
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Why would God do that? It's it's like the person who
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says, you know, I'm committed to serving the Lord.
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I want to honor the Lord and, and live for the Lord and raise
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the godly family. And then and then all of a
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sudden one of my children dies said, well, wait, wait a minute.
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I'm not living in sin. I'm not rebelling against the
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Lord and and yet the Lord takes, takes my child.
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I don't understand or, or you're, you're, you're, you're
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living the life you're, you're obedient to the Lord, you're
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serving in the church and you're, you're glorifying his
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name. You're you're preaching the
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gospel to everybody you know, and you go to the doctor and
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says, you got an inoperable cancer.
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You got three weeks to live and then you're going to die.
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You're like, whoa, time out. I've been faithful to the Lord.
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I've been true to his word. I've been committed to Christ.
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And this is what I get death three weeks from now.
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This is what I get my child being killed in an accident.
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Or you're married for 4050, sixty years and God has brought
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you through your life together with your your your wife and and
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your husband. And all of a sudden your spouse
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dies. You're left all alone and you
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don't know what to do. You see.
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Wait, wait a minute. Lord, our marriage honored you.
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We are faithful for all these years.
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We are true to you. We served you together.
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We lived in in harmony together. We raised the godly family and
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and now you, you take my my husband from me and I'm all
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alone. You become disillusioned.
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This is the plan and purposes of God in your life happens.
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Here's John, he's going through a personal affliction.
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He's thrown into prison not, not because of any sins that he's
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committed, not because of his rebellion or disobedience to
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God, simply because he's been faithful to the Lord, true to
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his God, honoring his God. Now he's in prison.
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His responses, Well, maybe, maybe he's not the expected one.
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I mean, didn't he come to release the the captives set the
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set the prisoner free and here I am in prison.
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Well, what's the deal with that? How come things are the way they
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are? Why is it I'm a I'm about to die
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and I've been called to be the forerunner of the Messiah.
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I was, I was willing to step aside.
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I was willing to say he must increase.
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I must decrease. I was willing to do all that,
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Lord. And this is what I get Death.
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Is this a result of a faithful, courageous, true, committed
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ministry? You know, sometimes we go into
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those places in our lives and realize, realize that a lot of
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that's out of out of ignorance and unfortunately selfishness
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because somehow we, we, we think that there are certain things we
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do not deserve. And if we get them, what's wrong
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with God? That's why I would get it.
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I don't deserve this. And we would say John didn't
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deserve that. But you know, God has a plan and
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a purpose for everything. He's in charge.
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Which leads us to the to the next, the next element.
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Not not just personal affliction, but how about this
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popular misconception? John had a popular misconception
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about the Messiah. He had bought into the populist
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view of the Messiah. Even though the Bible taught
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that the Messiah would come and die, Old Testament teaches this,
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that he would rise again. Even though the Old Testament
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taught this, there was this misconception about the Messiah
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that was taught by the religious establishment that the Messiah
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would come as a as a military conquering hero.
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He would overthrow Rome, he would set up his Kingdom, he
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would rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem, and we'd all
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be at peace together and he would destroy the enemies.
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That was a popular misconception.
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And believe it or not, John to some degree bought into that.
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I mean, after all, Peter bought into that, right?
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Remember in Matthew 16 when, when Christ said to them that he
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was going to suffer and die? And Peter says, Oh no, no, Lord,
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no, no, you're, you're the Messiah, you're not going to
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die. And Christ said to him, get thee
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behind me, Satan. Why?
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Because Peter had bought into the popular misconception about
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the Messiah, his coming and how he would operate when he arrived
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and what he would do when he got there.
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He'd been sold the bill of goods.
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Habakkuk was the same way, was he not?
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Habakkuk's praying for, for revival in the, in the nation,
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praying that that God would raise them up and strengthen
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them. And, and so he's praying and God
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says, I'm not going to do that, Habakkuk.
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Habakkuk says, what do you mean you're not going to do that?
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No, no, I'm going to do something different.
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In fact, I'm going to send the the most wicked people I know
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that are going to take them into captivity and they are going to
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learn so much in that captivity and the back says why?
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Why are you going to do that? Why?
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He's completely disillusioned until God begins to explain his
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providential plan to backup to Finally he capitulates to the
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plan of God and realizes that God knows exactly what he's
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doing. But it's easy to buy into a miss
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the conception of the Messiah, His plans and purposes for our
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lives. Abraham did right.
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God says he's going to have a son.
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Well, years went by, still didn't have a son.
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So he and Sarah got together and conjured up a plan to have a son
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to Hagar the handmaid, because they had a, a, a, a
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misconception as to how God was going to orchestrate his plan in
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their lives. Getting that same thing hit all
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these men. And God wills him down to 300.
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And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, 300 men.
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We can't, we can't go against the enemy of 300 men.
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Completely disillusioned as to what God is doing.
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Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, the Angel Gabriel
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comes to him. This is your wife.
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Elizabeth's going to have a son. He's like, whoa, she's 80 years
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old, 80 year old women don't have kids.
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And God made him deaf and dumb for for nine months so he could
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not speak or hear. Why?
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Because he was disillusioned as to the plan of God in his life,
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even though he was told his wife would conceive the forerunner of
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the Messiah. See, we get there because there
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there is this, this conception that we have with the Messiah
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that unfortunately has been sold to us by TV preachers and books
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that have been that have been printed today.
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We we've been told, hey, yeah, you give your life to Christ,
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man, your marriage is going to be great, man, just give your
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life to Jesus and, and marriage will be great.
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I give my life to Jesus and my marriage is in shambles or give
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your life to Jesus and your children will be obedient to to
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you because now you love the Lord and and they're going to
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follow the Lord and they're going to serve the Lord.
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And I give my life to Christ and my wife gives the life to Christ
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and my children rebel like nothing else.
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Give your life to Christ. Got to give you a great job,
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best job, more money. What give my life to Christ.
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I lose my job, I lose my money. Well, why is that completely
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dissolution? Because there's this popular
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misconception that if you if you come to Jesus and you give your
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life to him, everything is going to be a bit of roses.
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You're going to be walked into the primrose path of success and
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everything will be fine. That's you didn't read that in
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this book. This is only a book that
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matters. Jesus said if you give life to
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me, I'm going to I'm going to divide your family.
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I'm going to separate the father from the mother.
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I'm going to separate the husband from the wife.
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I'm going to separate the daughter from from the father.
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I tend to bring a sword, not peace.
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If they hate me, they're going to hate you.
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If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you, right?
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It's been granted to you. Not just to believe on his name,
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but to suffer for his sake. Philippians tells us, See, we've
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been sold the bill of goods. We have this popular
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misconception of the Messiah and what he does and how he works
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that when it doesn't meet the standard that I think it should,
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I completely disillusioned as to his working.
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This is John the Baptist, it's where he is.
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It's like, I don't understand. I don't get it.
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So go ask Jesus if he's the expected one because I'm
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expecting things a little bit differently than what I'm
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getting right by now. And so just just go ask him,
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right? And then another one is, is
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partial revelation because we don't have the full revelation
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of of all that God is doing. Here's John.
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He only has the Old Testament. Although the Old Testament
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taught about the coming, the Messiah, the death of the
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Messiah, the resurrection of the Messiah, that the Messiah was
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divine, even though it's clearly taught in the Old Testament, not
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all that was, was, was connected together in his mind.
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See all the pieces of the puzzle.
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We're not fitting together perfectly for John.
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So he's disillusioned and that's because he only had partial
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revelation didn't have all of the truth didn't have didn't
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know anything about the second coming.
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I mean, there's two comings. What do you mean the second
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coming didn't know anything about the church age knew
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nothing about the the mystery of the church, nothing about the
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mystery of the lawless one. Second Thessalonians said the
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two knew nothing of the mystery of 1 body Ephesians, yet the two
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knew nothing of the of the mysteries of of Christ in you
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the hope of glory didn't know any of that because they had
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partial revelation. We can become very disillusioned
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when we only know parts of the Bible and not all of the Bible
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like we should. We know bits and pieces here and
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there and we glop on to those verses, but there are so much
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more in the Scripture that explain to us our God.
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That's why that's why theology is the greatest study, the study
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of God. You need to know your God,
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right? What did Daniel say?
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Those who know their God will do great exploits and take great
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courage. But if you don't know your God,
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you can't. You got to know him.
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And so we, we come to to life and we have a little bit of the
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Bible here and a little bit of the Bible there.
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And then all of a sudden things begin to go haywire and we're
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like, whoa, what's going on here?
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And not knowing that that God is sovereign and God is all
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authoritative and that God, God's Providence is at work and
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that God is orchestrating every event in life to bring about his
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great glory. And the reason God answers
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prayer is not to meet my needs, but that the Father will be
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glorified in heaven. John 1413 But I'm, I'm going to
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prayer thinking he's going to meet my needs and, and my needs
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aren't being met. And I'm praying fervently.
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And it says the affectionate, fervent prayer of a righteous
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man, the faith of much and nothing's happening in my life.
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That's because God answers prayer not for your sake, but
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for God's sake that he might be glorified.
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That's because we only have partial revelation.
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That's why you need to be in the book.
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You need to be in the Word, studying the Word, learning the
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Word, growing in the Word all the time #4 that's this.
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A perceived expectation. A perceived expectation.
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Whenever you expect the expected one to meet your expectations,
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you will always be in the Dungeon of Disillusionment.
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Whenever you expect the expected one to meet your expectations,
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you will always find yourself in the Dungeon of Disillusionment.
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That's John. John had expectations.
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He's coming with an axe, with a widow and fork in his hand.
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I baptize you with water. He's going to baptize you with
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fire. And he's healing everybody.
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He's letting the blind see. He's raising the dead.
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He's curing everybody. Where's the fire?
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Where's the axe? Where's the judgement?
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Where's the throne? Where's the military prowess of
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the Messiah? Where is all that?
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And Jesus is just showing the kindness of his mercy, His love
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to those all around him, eating with tax gatherers and sinners,
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presenting the Kingdom of heaven to them.
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So many times we have expectations, do we not?
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We expect God to do this or do that and he doesn't like, why?
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Why wouldn't you do that, Lord? Why won't you answer this or why
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won't you do this for me? You know, you know, I, I, I, I,
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I grew up at home and I, I expect to get married.
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But now I'm 35 and I'm not married.
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Those are my expectations. I I grew up and I grew up at
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home and I get married and I expect to have children, but I'm
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barren and I have no children. And I find myself in the dungeon
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of of disillusionment wondering, God, what are you doing?
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How come? How come my expectations are not
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being met? Here's John the Baptist asking
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his disciples to go and say to Jesus, are we supposed to be
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looking for somebody else or are you the guy?
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Because if you're not the guy and we need to know now, but if
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you are the guy, why is it that our expectations are not being
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met? So look at the next verse.
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If you're still in Luke 7, verse 21.
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That very time he cured many people of diseases and
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afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who
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were blind in one motion, in one word, in one wave of the hand.
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However he did it, everybody that was there instantaneously
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totally healed from any disease they had.
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They were blind. They could see, they couldn't
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walk. They could walk if they had a
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demon, demon, demon in them. That demon was cast out.
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Just a one moment, one brief moment, boom, everything's gone,
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every sealed. And he says this.
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He says go and report to John what you have seen and heard.
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The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
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cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor
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have the gospel preached to them.
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You go tell John that everything I said in Isaiah 35, everything
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I said in Isaiah 42, everything I said in Isaiah 26, everything
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I said in Isaiah 61 just happened before your eyes.
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Because all this is a preview to the coming Kingdom of God.
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And I'm showing you how it all happens instantaneously.
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In a moment. You go back, you tell John that,
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and then as you go back, you tell him that.
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Tell him this too. He says this verse 23.
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Blessed is he who does not take offence at me, or blessed is he
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who does not stumble over me. Or better translation, blessed
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is the one who doesn't quarrel with me about the way I do my
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business. That's the blessed person.
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Stop questioning me. You want to be blessed?
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Stop questioning the way I do my business, the way I operate.
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I'm in charge. I got a plan.
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It moves perfectly. It moves exactly as it designed
38:35
it to function. So just trust me.
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Wait upon me. Tell John to trust and wait upon
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me. Tell John to just just wait.
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The plan is an operation exactly as it designed it.
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And blessed are all those who do not take offense at the way I do
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my business. This is this.
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When the message of John had left, he began to speak to the
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crowds about John. What did you see, or what did
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you go out into the wilderness to see?
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A Reed shaken by the wind. But what did you go out to see?
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A man dressed in soft clothing. Those who are splendidly clothed
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and live in luxury are found in royal palaces.
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But what did you go out to see? A prophet.
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Yes, I say to you, and one who was more than a prophet.
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This is the one about whom it is written.
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Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare
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your way before you. I say to you, among those born
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of women, there is no one greater than John.
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It's in this context when John's in the dungeon of
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disillusionment, when John had that unimaginable moment in his
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life when he began to question the way God did his business.
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Is it that moment that Jesus says that this is the one, the
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greatest man born of a woman, John the Baptist?
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Jesus didn't condemn him. Jesus didn't RIP on him.
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Saying what a what a lousy prophet this guy is.
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He doesn't even believe in who I am.
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Who chose him to be the forerunner?
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What was my father thinking? I don't know.
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Oh, Jesus responds. This is what you go out to see?
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Reach shaking the wind Guy dressed the soft clothing.
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You kidding? Camel's hair?
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Smelly body, no brush, teeth, hair all dishevelled, eaten
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locusts and wild honey. What do you think you went out
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to see? I'm going to tell you this guy.
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This guy is the one who prepared away in the wilderness.
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Here's the guy. And this man is the greatest man
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born of a woman. But the next phrase says this.
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Yet he was least in the Kingdom of God is greater than the
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greatest man born of a woman. John the Baptist.
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Whoa, what? How can that be the least in the
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Kingdom any of us? The least in the Kingdom of God
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is greater than the greatest man ever born of a woman.
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Not not greater in character, not greater in influence, the
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greater in terms of a revelation because of what we know, because
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of what we have, we got the the entire New Testament.
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We know all about the rapture of the church.
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John didn't we preach Christ crucified.
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John never did that. We preach the fullness of the
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Gospel itself, that Jesus came and and and lived and died and
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rose again and it's coming back again.
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John couldn't preach that. He didn't know about that.
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John knew nothing about how God wouldn't dwell you.
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He knew about God with us, God above us, God among us, but he
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never heard about God in us. That's a mystery reveal in the
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New Testament. We preach Christ in you, the
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hope of glory. And Jesus says, let me know this
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guy is the greatest man born of a woman yet.
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Yet those in my Kingdom, the least in my Kingdom, the very
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least in my Kingdom, is going to be greater than John because of
43:11
the revelation you will receive about who I am.
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Wow, what a great passage of scripture.
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For I know that everyone of you, including myself, have all
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experienced the dungeon of disillusionment and ask
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ourselves, what are you doing, Lord?
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Why are you operating this way? And and God is patient.
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He is so kind, He is so loving, doesn't rag on us or RIP on us,
43:50
beat us over the head. He's very kind and gentle, just
43:55
leads us to a greater understanding and knowledge of
43:57
Himself that we might fully come to grips with the plan and
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purposes and Providence of the living God.
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And so they would go back and they would tell John what took
44:11
place and John would die. He'd lose his head.
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But you know what, I bet you, when John died, he couldn't
44:23
wait. He couldn't wait to be in glory.
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And that's where he is today, in the presence of Almighty God.
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And so we come today to realize that that there is a man sent
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from God. What kind of man?
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Well, we described him a little bit for you.
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And next week we'll move on to the next phrase.
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There was a man who was sent from God.
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As we make our way slowly through the Gospel of John,
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let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today.
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We thank you for what you've done and our doing.
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We are a blessed people. You've given us the knowledge of
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the Scriptures. You've given us your word that
45:11
will allow us to understand the blessedness and the beauty of
45:16
your character and your plans. We thank you for that.
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For everyone in the room today, Lord, I pray that you do a
45:25
mighty work in their heart and life.
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Draw them closer to your presence until you come again,
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as you most surely will, in Jesus name, Amen.