Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Men of the New Testament: "John the Baptist" by Landon Bryant - Part 1

Transcript

Men of the New Testament: "John the Baptist" by Landon Bryant - Part 1 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

• 0:00
  Can you all hear me?
• 0:09
  Test one, two.
• 0:10
  Is that better?
• 0:15
  Okay.
• 0:20
  Good evening, everyone.
• 0:21
  My name is Landon Bryant.
• 0:22
  If you don't know me, this quarter here in the auditorium, various men are going to
• 0:26
  be going through different characters in the New Testament.
• 0:30
  I have the privilege of going first so I can make sure to set the bars as adequately as
• 0:36
  possible for everyone.
• 0:38
  As you can see, we're going to be discussing John the Baptist.
• 0:41
  So quick disclaimer, John the Baptist has an abundance of material to talk about, so
• 0:48
  I get to absolve myself of responsibility because we will not be able to cover it all.
• 0:53
  So there will be some things I skip over or some things that we don't go in-depth on,
• 0:59
  but hopefully you'll get a good summary here by the time we depart.
• 1:04
  So if you will, turn with me to Matthew chapter 1, and when you get there, back it up a page
• 1:12
  into Malachi.
• 1:14
  So Malachi 4, 1 through 6.
• 1:17
  I'll give everybody just a second there and then I'll read it aloud, but Malachi 4, 1
• 1:23
  through 6.
• 1:26
  For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every
• 1:30
  worker of wickedness will be chaffed.
• 1:33
  And the day that is coming will set them aflame, says Yahweh of hosts, so that it will leave
• 1:38
  them neither roots nor branch.
• 1:41
  But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you
• 1:48
  will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
• 1:52
  And you will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the sole of your feet
• 1:57
  on the day which I am preparing, says Yahweh of hosts.
• 2:01
  Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statues and judgment which I commanded
• 2:05
  him in Horeb for all Israel.
• 2:07
  Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and
• 2:13
  awesome day of Yahweh.
• 2:16
  And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of the children
• 2:19
  to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.
• 2:25
  So it's important to note here that this bit from Malachi is written roughly 400 years
• 2:32
  after the death of the prophet Elijah.
• 2:35
  But it says, I'm going to send you Elijah before the coming.
• 2:40
  And so by the time Christ rolls around, there is this strong conviction amongst the Jewish
• 2:44
  people that Elijah was coming back.
• 2:49
  We'll briefly see this at the crucifixion as well.
• 2:56
  So why was this expectation of Elijah's return?
• 3:01
  So if we go to 2 Kings 11-12, we'll see, most of us I'd say was familiar with this, this
• 3:06
  idea that Elijah never died.
• 3:08
  He was taken up in a whirlwind into heaven, there was no burial, there was no body.
• 3:13
  Maybe later in 2 Kings they even go on a search party looking for him.
• 3:19
  In 2 Kings 16-18 it says, then they said to him, behold now, there are with your servants
• 3:25
  fifty excellent men.
• 3:28
  Please let them go and search for your master, lest the spirit of Yahweh has taken him up
• 3:33
  and cast him on some mountain or into some valley.
• 3:36
  And he said, you shall not send.
• 3:38
  But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, send.
• 3:42
  They sent therefore fifty men, and they searched three days, but did not find him.
• 3:47
  So they returned to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, did I not
• 3:51
  say to you, do not go?
• 3:53
  So ever since that day that he was taken up in the whirlwind, the Jews have been looking
• 3:59
  for him.
• 4:00
  Prophets are saying he's coming back, the Jews continue to look for him.
• 4:04
  The expectation is still woven into modern day Jewish life.
• 4:09
  At the Passover ceremony that they celebrate, the cup is set out for Elijah.
• 4:13
  There's an actual cup they set out and fill with drink waiting for Elijah.
• 4:19
  They even go through the process at some point of opening the door to the house that they're
• 4:22
  celebrating in, waiting for Elijah's return.
• 4:26
  He's given a chair of honor at Jewish circumcision ceremonies.
• 4:31
  They even sing a song about him returning to usher in the Messianic age.
• 4:36
  And then again, even at the cross when Jesus began to call out, they thought it was him
• 4:41
  calling Elijah to return.
• 4:43
  So it's nearly as deep as you can get in the mindset of the Jewish people.
• 4:51
  And so it's important to pause here.
• 4:54
  This quarter is supposed to be about New Testament characters, and we're spending a lot of time
• 4:57
  in the Old Testament.
• 4:58
  Spoiler alert, there's a little more time to spend there, but this idea of the return
• 5:03
  of Elijah is so rich in the Hebrew text, we're going to look at another example of,
• 5:09
  so we can get a good understanding of the significance of John the Baptist.
• 5:13
  So in Isaiah 40, verse 3, and surrounding, we see, a voice is calling, prepare the way
• 5:23
  for Yahweh in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
• 5:28
  And so this is written roughly 700 years before the birth of John the Baptist.
• 5:33
  Isaiah describes a herald who will prepare the way for the Lord, someone who will make
• 5:37
  straight in the desert a highway for our God.
• 5:42
  This should sound rather familiar to you because, let me back up here, so this should sound
• 5:47
  rather familiar to you.
• 5:50
  All four Gospels attribute this line of making the highway straight in the desert, a voice
• 5:56
  crying out in the wilderness, all four Gospels attribute this to John the Baptist.
• 6:02
  I do want to draw your attention though, so in this verse of Isaiah, it actually does,
• 6:07
  in the Hebrew it uses the word Yahweh, it uses the word, more or less referring to the
• 6:13
  Alpha and Omega, as the one whom Isaiah says they're preparing the way for, they're preparing
• 6:19
  the way for the creator of all things.
• 6:22
  And then all four Gospels come along later and apply this to John the Baptist.
• 6:28
  The implication being, who is John the Baptist preparing the way for?
• 6:33
  He's preparing the way for Jesus.
• 6:35
  By this verse in Isaiah, they're preparing the way for God to walk among us.
• 6:40
  I'll pause there because this is a pretty big thing, so are there any questions or thoughts
• 6:45
  about that, comments?
• 6:48
  Anybody have anything they want to share with us?
• 6:54
  Right, that intertestamental period.
• 7:04
  And he picks up right where Malachi leaves off, yeah, that's a great point.
• 7:09
  If you didn't hear what Chuck said, so there's this gap between Malachi and the New Testament
• 7:15
  and more or less that's exactly, you know, where the Old Testament leaves off is right
• 7:20
  where the Gospels pick up with the voice crying out in the wilderness being John the
• 7:26
  Baptist.
• 7:27
  Okay, so there's this expectation that Elijah is coming back.
• 7:35
  Do we think that he is Elijah?
• 7:40
  Well the good news is we don't have to worry about that because they ask him directly in
• 7:43
  Scripture and we get to work through that.
• 7:45
  So in John 1, 19 and following, you know, some folks like to say this is the Bible supporting
• 7:54
  reincarnation, but we'll see why that's not the case.
• 7:57
  So if we start here in John 19, it says, and this is the witness of John, when the Jews
• 8:06
  sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?
• 8:10
  And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ, and they asked him, what
• 8:15
  then?
• 8:16
  Are you Elijah?
• 8:17
  And he said, I am not.
• 8:19
  Are you the prophet?
• 8:20
  And he answered, no.
• 8:22
  Therefore they said to him, who are you?
• 8:23
  So that we may give an answer to those who sent us.
• 8:26
  What do you say about yourself?
• 8:28
  He said, I am the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness.
• 8:31
  Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.
• 8:36
  Now they had sent from the Pharisees and they asked him and said to him, why then are you
• 8:40
  baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?
• 8:44
  And answered him saying, I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know.
• 8:51
  This one is he who comes after me of who I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.
• 8:57
  So he tells us directly that he is not Elijah reborn or returned from the whirlwind that
• 9:03
  took him away, but he does say, I am the one who the prophet spoke about.
• 9:09
  I am the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness.
• 9:13
  And just to bring this home, later on in Matthew, just after the transfiguration, in
• 9:20
  Matthew 17, Jesus will actually confirm for us that yes, John the Baptist is the Elijah
• 9:26
  that had already come.
• 9:30
  Not as Elijah reincarnated, but one who came in the spirit and the mission of Elijah.
• 9:37
  I'll pause there.
• 9:38
  Any thoughts or questions up to this point?
• 9:42
  Okay.
• 9:43
  All right.
• 9:46
  So now we're going to talk a little bit more about John the Baptist's ministry directly.
• 9:52
  So during his ministry, there are several stories to cover here, but we'll begin with
• 10:01
  the baptism of Jesus.
• 10:02
  So John the Baptist is the one who baptized Jesus in Matthew 3, 13 through 17.
• 10:11
  This is where Jesus goes out while John is baptizing and says, you know, John, I want
• 10:15
  you to baptize me.
• 10:16
  So picking up in verse 13, then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John
• 10:22
  to be baptized by him.
• 10:25
  But John tried to prevent him saying, I have need to be baptized by you and do you come
• 10:31
  to me?
• 10:32
  But Jesus answered and said to him, permitted at this time for in this way, it is fitting
• 10:36
  for us to fulfill all righteousness.
• 10:39
  And he permitted him.
• 10:40
  And after being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were
• 10:45
  opened and he saw in the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.
• 10:50
  And behold, there was a voice out of the heavens saying, this is my beloved son and whom I'm
• 10:54
  well pleased.
• 10:56
  So there's several things to unpack here, right?
• 11:00
  So we see one Jesus reinforcing the importance of baptism itself.
• 11:05
  He's our example in so doing that he did it himself.
• 11:11
  And after the baptism, the heavens open, the spirit descends like a dove, you know, confirming
• 11:16
  for us if there was any doubt up to this point, this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased.
• 11:22
  It also, in this, embedded in the beginning of it is John protesting.
• 11:29
  And why does he protest?
• 11:30
  What does he say?
• 11:33
  I'm not worthy.
• 11:35
  This is a continual theme and we'll unpack this a little bit more as we go, but John
• 11:39
  makes a lot of proclamations about Jesus during his ministry that we as Christians should
• 11:45
  be repeating.
• 11:46
  We'll do an analysis of a few of those in a moment.
• 11:49
  But this idea of, you know, I am not worthy.
• 11:56
  Jesus is greater than I is something that we see.
• 12:00
  In this case, and in more cases as well, where John is always doing his best to point
• 12:06
  to the one that is greater.
• 12:09
  Right, right, and as they say, who takes away the sins of the world.
• 12:36
  So if you couldn't hear, Chuck, there's more than just the passages we quoted in the Old
• 12:42
  Testament that refer to the coming, the one of Elijah coming back, and there's several
• 12:48
  instances there, and we'll cover, we'll see references to a few of those as well as we
• 12:53
  go, but thank you for that, Chuck.
• 12:56
  And so just to reinforce that, John's entire ministry is really defined by proclaiming
• 13:05
  the one who is to come, and that's a similar message for us as Christians.
• 13:09
  We should always be proclaiming the one who has come.
• 13:12
  There's a slight difference, right, so Elijah never got, at least on his side of eternity,
• 13:19
  that his ministry existed on, the resurrection, all those things had not happened yet, the
• 13:25
  full story was not complete, but we'll see that he still, in those circumstances, makes
• 13:30
  a rather robust, if still incomplete, version of the Gospel.
• 13:36
  So some of those proclamations, in Matthew 3, verse 2, is where we see one of these famous
• 13:44
  verses, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
• 13:49
  This is important because, one, he's still proclaiming, but later on, in just one chapter
• 13:55
  later, Jesus will preach this same message in Matthew 4, reinforcing the kingdom of heaven
• 14:02
  is at hand.
• 14:07
  Next to one of those proclamations we see in John 1, verse 30, is where John the Baptist
• 14:12
  states, he who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.
• 14:18
  So this is a verse proclaiming the deity of Christ, right, he's saying, I may be older
• 14:24
  than him, but he is greater than I, and that's, culturally, that would be a very countercultural
• 14:29
  thing to say.
• 14:32
  A big, I guess, theme, you would say, is respecting your elders to a much more degree than we
• 14:37
  see in our society today, even though there's not much of a time difference between them.
• 14:44
  Another proclamation in John 3, verse 30, he must increase, I must decrease, and so
• 14:51
  we as Christians, every interaction should leave people with more of Jesus and less of
• 14:55
  us.
• 14:57
  That's something for us to remember, right?
• 15:01
  Every time you get a chance, people should know more about Jesus than they know about
• 15:04
  you, within the right circumstances.
• 15:10
  John 3, verse 36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
• 15:15
  Again this is a proclamation we as Christians should all be making, and believe as well.
• 15:25
  Luke 3, verse 16, he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
• 15:31
  So John the Baptist, his name, he's got it in the name, he's literally walking around
• 15:35
  baptizing people, immersing them in water, and he tells us, I may be baptizing with water,
• 15:41
  but there is coming one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
• 15:45
  So proclaiming the, let's call it the evolution of baptism to come.
• 15:51
  Mark 1, verse 7, I am not fit to untie the strap of his sandal.
• 15:57
  This is reinforcing the idea that we are the clay, he is the potter, and in every way he
• 16:03
  is superior to us, and we should look to him to be our example.
• 16:09
  Remember one of these proclamations, John 1, verse 29, like we were saying earlier,
• 16:14
  behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
• 16:17
  This should be our mission.
• 16:19
  We should be grabbing people by the shoulders and pointing them and saying, behold the Lamb
• 16:24
  of God who takes away the sin of the world, so that they can see what he's done for us.
• 16:29
  So just as a reminder, the entire ministry of John the Baptist is defined by pointing
• 16:34
  people to Christ in the same way that our walk in Christ should be that way.
• 16:41
  Constantly pointing people, saying this is the way.
• 16:42
  This is, not that you're the way, but you are showing people to the way.
• 16:48
  I'll pause there, any thoughts or questions or comments?
• 16:55
  Okay, and so as we mentioned, John departs before the crucifixion and resurrection, but
• 17:04
  we see that he has a remarkably robust gospel message.
• 17:08
  It's not complete, emphasis on that, it's not complete.
• 17:12
  We see later in Acts 19 where it's addressed, right, those people that knew only the baptism
• 17:19
  of John, that evolution of baptism, right, where they have to know the full story now
• 17:24
  that it's been revealed, but the framework is largely there in John the Baptist's ministry.
• 17:32
  And so with what we have so far, this all sounds pretty comforting and uplifting, and
• 17:38
  Jesus even calls John the Baptist the greatest of those born among women.
• 17:43
  So in Matthew 11, we see that.
• 17:46
  So just think about that, though.
• 17:48
  God walking among us, the incarnate Christ here on earth tells us that John the Baptist
• 17:54
  is the greatest of those born among women.
• 17:58
  So, born among women, that is what we would call a Hebrew idiom, and it just, it's emphasizing
• 18:04
  humanity.
• 18:06
  If you go to Job 14 verse 1, you'll see that, Job 14 verse 1, man who is born of woman is
• 18:13
  short-lived and full of turmoil.
• 18:16
  It's just this emphasis on his humanity, but it's saying, of those that are human, he's
• 18:22
  the greatest.
• 18:27
  And so this is saying, in no uncertain terms, that John the Baptist is the greatest that's
• 18:32
  ever drawn breath.
• 18:34
  They're all in line behind him, Moses, Abraham, the whole lot, right, the lot included.
• 18:43
  And one of the reasons for that is John has the immense privilege of pointing and saying
• 18:49
  there he is, that's the guy, that's the one.
• 18:53
  Not one is coming or, you know, there he is, there's an important difference, right, a
• 18:59
  lot of, well, not a lot, all of the Old Testament is pointing towards Christ, and John the Baptist
• 19:05
  gets the immense privilege of saying there he is, not he'll be here soon or anything
• 19:09
  like that, but behold, the Lamb of God, the one greater has arrived, right, there's this
• 19:15
  idea of one greater than Moses is coming, well, now he's here.
• 19:22
  Okay.
• 19:26
  And building on that, right, so Jesus declares, truly I say to you, among those born of women
• 19:34
  there is not anyone who is greater than John the Baptist, that's Matthew 11, verse 11,
• 19:39
  Hebrew idiom, okay.
• 19:43
  But then he does this 180 towards the end of it, he closes that statement out with saying,
• 19:48
  yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
• 19:52
  I think it's, you know, important to notice here, right, all throughout Scripture we see
• 20:00
  imperfect people getting used to serve the will of God.
• 20:05
  Abraham was a liar, David was an adulterer, like these great figures of our faith have
• 20:10
  their imperfections, and that should be, you know, should be very comforting to us, right,
• 20:15
  there's a lot to say there, right, there's a lot that you can learn from being used for
• 20:20
  these imperfect people.
• 20:21
  Don't ever think that God can't use you, you know, if you're willing.
• 20:26
  But this in isolation is pretty staggering, if you ask me, but I've purposefully skipped
• 20:31
  over the context of when Jesus gives this statement.
• 20:36
  So if we expand out in Matthew 11 there, 2 through 11, we see that John the Baptist is
• 20:43
  in prison, and he begins to wonder, right, his entire ministry he's been proclaiming
• 20:49
  the story, right, he's been telling everyone, he's been pointing them to the Lamb of God,
• 20:53
  and he's got to be thinking, he's in prison, he's got to be thinking, you know, I've done
• 20:57
  all the things the prophets say I should do, and yet here I am in prison.
• 21:01
  Have I been wrong?
• 21:02
  Is Jesus really the Messiah?
• 21:05
  And he sends his disciples to ask Christ directly, are you the one to come, or should we look
• 21:11
  for another?
• 21:14
  After all John has been through at this point, his entire ministry, you know, the locusts
• 21:18
  and the honey, everything he's been through, he has his doubts, or at least lack of certainty,
• 21:23
  let's call it.
• 21:24
  Some people don't like to call it doubts, but I think it's a doubt.
• 21:28
  And Jesus tells his disciples, Jesus tells the disciples of John, go and tell John what
• 21:33
  you hear and see.
• 21:37
  So he doesn't give them a simple yes or no.
• 21:42
  Why do we think that is?
• 21:43
  And we're going to unpack that in a minute here, but anybody have any thoughts about
• 21:45
  why he doesn't just give a simple yes or no?
• 21:54
  He says look at the proof, yes, okay, we're going to see that in just a moment.
• 22:00
  So what he does is he gives them a list of signs.
• 22:05
  These signs in particular are signs that in the Old Testament are reserved exclusively
• 22:10
  for the power of God.
• 22:12
  So if we look at the, we're going to have him broke it out here at the table, but he
• 22:16
  basically says, go tell John what you hear and see.
• 22:22
  And he says, tell them these things.
• 22:25
  Tell them that the blind receive their sight, something that's never done by the prophets
• 22:31
  in the Old Testament, but in Psalms and Isaiah we have verses telling us that the Lord will,
• 22:40
  the blind will receive their sight by the power of the Lord.
• 22:43
  Similarly, in Isaiah, the lame will walk by the power of the Lord.
• 22:49
  The deaf will hear.
• 22:52
  Lepers will be cleansed.
• 22:53
  Now we do see an instance where that happens, but it's in that context of 2 Kings where
• 22:59
  Naaman is purified of his leprosy.
• 23:03
  It's attributed to being a divine act.
• 23:05
  It's not something that the prophet did, it's something that God did in that case.
• 23:11
  Similarly, the dead are raised.
• 23:15
  While Elijah and Elisha do have a role in that, they are petitioning God to bring the
• 23:20
  dead back to life.
• 23:21
  It's not something they do of their own power.
• 23:23
  And then lastly, the poor hear the good news.
• 23:26
  This is the big one, right?
• 23:28
  Prophets do proclaim the good news, but we see if we go to Luke 4, 20-21, Luke 4, 20-21.
• 23:41
  Can someone read that for us?
• 23:44
  Yeah, and so this is the verse that Jesus gets up in the temple and reads and says,
• 24:02
  the poor have good news proclaimed to them.
• 24:05
  When he's done reading that from the scroll, he sits down and says, in your hearing, this
• 24:11
  prophecy has been fulfilled, essentially.
• 24:14
  So Jesus, if we look at this, when Jesus is answering the question to John's disciples
• 24:19
  of are you the one to come, instead of giving that simple yes or no answer, he gives an
• 24:25
  answer that says, let the evidence speak for itself.
• 24:28
  These are the things that are happening, these are the miracles that I'm working, this is
• 24:33
  what's going on in my ministry.
• 24:36
  Any learned Jew that was familiar with the scripture would know these are the things
• 24:39
  reserved exclusively for the power of God.
• 24:43
  We're talking about John the Baptist tonight, but this is Jesus in his Jewish way saying,
• 24:49
  I am God, I am a divine, I'm the divine.
• 24:56
  So this is an example of how Jesus does these things, he doesn't give simple yes or nos,
• 25:02
  he gives a more thorough and more robust answer of why it's yes, I am the one to come.
• 25:09
  I'll pause there, so any thoughts or questions around that, any comments?
• 25:15
  Okay, so as Gary mentioned, Jesus lets the evidence speak for itself.
• 25:22
  We're not discussing the deity of Christ here, but I would encourage you, if you do like
• 25:29
  this topic, this is a very rich subject to go through, this idea of these things being
• 25:34
  reserved exclusively for the power of God.
• 25:39
  Back to John the Baptist, directly anyways.
• 25:43
  And yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
• 25:46
  So we see this line at the end of Matthew 11 that we just went through there, where
• 25:51
  John is just proclaimed, John is proclaimed to be the greatest of those born among women,
• 25:58
  and then Jesus tells us he's the least in the kingdom of heaven.
• 26:01
  So that 180 that Jesus just gives us there, where he is the least in the kingdom of heaven,
• 26:08
  some people have taken that to mean that John is actually not in the kingdom of heaven,
• 26:12
  so I think we should put that to rest in case you've ever heard that before.
• 26:17
  What this is, this is saying that those that are in the kingdom are in a superior position
• 26:23
  to those on the other side of the resurrection.
• 26:27
  It's not saying John is excluded from heaven or anything like that.
• 26:33
  What it's saying is up to the point where John was ultimately beheaded in prison, John
• 26:39
  only got to stand up to the edge of the completion of what the prophets had foretold.
• 26:44
  So it's this tension that gets introduced by saying John the Baptist is the greatest
• 26:49
  among born of women, at least in the kingdom.
• 26:55
  Any thoughts, questions, comments there up to this point?
• 27:00
  Moving a little faster than I anticipated.
• 27:06
  So in the next section here we're going to unpack that a little more.
• 27:13
  Throughout the scripture, the kingdom of heaven is referred to in this Jewish wedding type
• 27:19
  of language.
• 27:21
  So we see things, you know, there's examples, there's numerous weddings where they're attended,
• 27:28
  there's a lot of language about Jesus being the bridegroom.
• 27:35
  And if we look in Matthew, I'm sorry, if we look in John 3, 29, John the Baptist calls
• 27:41
  himself the friend of the bridegroom.
• 27:44
  And so in John 3, 29, he says, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend
• 27:51
  of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's
• 27:55
  voice.
• 27:56
  So this joy of mine has been made full.
• 28:00
  So to reinforce this idea that John is in the kingdom, the friend of the bridegroom
• 28:07
  is not going to be standing at the gate, he's going to be inside the feast.
• 28:13
  John was invited, so he's definitely invited to the feast to come in the next age.
• 28:20
  Not only was he invited, he prepared the table, he announced the host, pointed other
• 28:28
  guests towards their seats, he just didn't get to sit down before his earthly departure.
• 28:35
  That's what this sort of tension that Jesus introduces.
• 28:40
  And we should see that similarly, right, we, as we've discussed a few times, we should
• 28:45
  be following this pattern that John the Baptist lays out in his ministry where we're proclaiming
• 28:50
  the one to come, we're pointing people to the table, we're telling them who the host
• 28:54
  is, trying to get other people to their seats, this idea of our ministry should mirror most
• 29:01
  of the things, or a lot of the things that John the Baptist did and is something important
• 29:06
  for us to take into account.
• 29:11
  What this means for us, so that those of us that are on this side of the resurrection
• 29:15
  have access to a greater revelation, a greater certainty than John and all the prophets before
• 29:21
  him.
• 29:22
  And we have a responsibility, right, with that greater knowledge, we have a greater
• 29:28
  responsibility to do something with it.
• 29:32
  Building on that, so his entire ministry is defined not by who he is as a person, he's
• 29:39
  continually proclaiming that the one greater than he is here, and that should be a constant
• 29:45
  reminder for us.
• 29:46
  It should never be about us as an individual, it should always be about what Christ has
• 29:50
  done for the individual and for the whole.
• 29:57
  Just a reminder of some of those proclamations that John makes about Christ, repent, the
• 30:02
  kingdom of heaven is still at hand, he must increase, I must decrease, every interaction
• 30:09
  should leave more of Jesus, less of us, behold the Lamb of God, again we should grab people
• 30:15
  by the shoulders and point them to the one who paid the debt we could never pay.
• 30:22
  And just to reiterate, we get to proclaim more than John could.
• 30:26
  He didn't get to see the crucifixion, the resurrection, he didn't get to see those things
• 30:31
  that come to total completion that he was foretelling.
• 30:37
  We get to tell people Christ died for our sins, rose again, and the gift that he offers
• 30:42
  us is eternal life.
• 30:45
  As a reminder, this is no matter how imperfect we are, God can still use us if we are willing
• 30:52
  to proclaim that message, to build on the ministry framework that John the Baptist laid
• 30:59
  for us.
• 31:02
  With the time we have left here, I'm just going to go through a couple of comparisons
• 31:07
  and contrasts between Elijah and John the Baptist.
• 31:12
  So we'll start with a couple of shared ideas.
• 31:15
  Again we didn't cover everything about John the Baptist here, but some things that Elijah
• 31:21
  and John the Baptist have in similarity.
• 31:26
  They're both sort of described as being out in the wilderness wearing this clothing of
• 31:31
  camel skin with belts, they're a very distinct figure, you're not going to miss them, they're
• 31:36
  going to stand out like a sore thumb, if you will.
• 31:41
  Just walking down the road between cities, everybody would know who that is in both scenarios.
• 31:47
  They both lived and ministered in the wilderness, like we said, and if we look at a parallel
• 31:52
  of their ministry, they're calling the nation to repentance.
• 31:58
  That's some key themes, right, so not only do they look alike, but they actually have
• 32:01
  similar ministries as well.
• 32:04
  In both cases they confronted the ruling power of their day, so in both stories we'll see
• 32:11
  examples where Elijah and John the Baptist have these run-ins with the rulers of their
• 32:17
  local area, some drama that comes up, obviously John the Baptist is ultimately beheaded, and
• 32:25
  then similar to the nation to repentance, their ministries are tied to Israel's spiritual
• 32:33
  renewal.
• 32:36
  Some distinctions, as we mentioned earlier, so John foretold and introduced the Messiah
• 32:42
  in person.
• 32:46
  It's important that we understand and emphasize that as much as it's great that we have these
• 32:52
  prophets saying, one is coming, we cannot overemphasize that he's here now.
• 32:58
  He's already done what he has to do, there he is, and we should be just as eager to share
• 33:03
  that with people as John was.
• 33:07
  John did not perform any miracles, so if we go to John 10, verse 41, if someone wants
• 33:14
  to read that when they get there, John 10, verse 41.
• 33:27
  Thank you for that, so we see here this emphasis that he did no signs, that he did no wonders.
• 33:35
  The thing I take away from that is, you don't do any signs or wonders either, but John had
• 33:40
  an incredibly important ministry.
• 33:42
  His mission was just as important without any of those signs, and that should be a lesson
• 33:47
  for us as well.
• 33:50
  As we mentioned, he baptized with water and tells us, he starts pointing to the spirit
• 33:55
  baptism, the holy fire and spirit that baptism is to come.
• 34:01
  He called himself only a voice, not a prophet, just an interesting emphasis on what I would
• 34:07
  say is his humility.
• 34:09
  Never do we see him trying to build himself up, he's always trying to point us to the
• 34:13
  one greater.
• 34:14
  Personally, I got to identify Jesus as the Lamb of God, and then again as we've said
• 34:20
  a few times, we get to proclaim an even greater or even more complete message than John did
• 34:25
  because we're on this side of the crucifixion and resurrection.
• 34:30
  Pause there, any thoughts or questions that come to mind?
• 34:39
  Okay, let's see here.
• 34:44
  So what we see in his ministry culminates, if we look through a couple of just a summary,
• 34:54
  if you will, of his ministry, it even begins in the womb.
• 34:57
  So there's the story of Jesus and John the Baptist, if you will, meeting while they're
• 35:05
  both in the womb.
• 35:06
  I think there's a lot that we could draw from those stories, right?
• 35:11
  Everything from, literally from womb to grave, he's been excited about Jesus.
• 35:16
  I think that's something that we should all reflect on, have we always been excited about
• 35:21
  Jesus?
• 35:22
  Literally in the womb he gets excited because there he is, he's here.
• 35:29
  And, you know, again, important to emphasize, as much as he does these wonderful things
• 35:37
  and has his ministry, he has his doubts, and he still ends up being the greatest of those
• 35:43
  born of women.
• 35:45
  I think we should all take from that, you know, we're going to have our seasons that
• 35:49
  we're on a high for Jesus, we're going to have our seasons where we're on a maybe not
• 35:53
  so high, and that's okay, right?
• 35:58
  We still have our examples to look to in Scripture that walk us through those high
• 36:02
  points and those low points and ultimately get us to the cross.
• 36:08
  Again, we have the privilege of proclaiming a more complete and robust message for John,
• 36:17
  John the Baptist, than he ever did.
• 36:20
  We get to tell everyone that the lamb has came and the price has been paid and that
• 36:26
  our sins can be forgiven if we're just willing to accept the gift that he offers us.
• 36:33
  Oh, yes, Andy?
• 36:35
  Yeah, no, that's a good point.
• 36:42
  We see in the, at some point they come to him and ask, you know, why do your disciples
• 36:57
  not fast?
• 36:58
  And Jesus says, why would they fast when they're supposed to be here celebrating with me?
• 37:03
  There'll be a time for that later, right?
• 37:05
  So it's another emphasis on the importance of, there he is, we've got to be doing this
• 37:12
  the right thing, because there he is.
• 37:15
  Okay, any thoughts, questions, comments before, yes?
• 37:24
  Yeah, no, for those of you who couldn't hear, you know, this idea of there is no greater
• 37:37
  mission than to proclaim the Savior and we should be doing the same, and the guy that
• 37:42
  probably did that the best dies in a prison cell and gets beheaded.
• 37:46
  And so we should never think that, oh, I'm doing all the right things, why is it not
• 37:50
  going that great for me?
• 37:52
  Well, I'd say this, Jesus did all the right things and at least in an earthly sense it
• 37:58
  didn't go that well for him in the end either.
• 38:01
  But you know, we do have this promise, this proclamation that those of you that have accepted
• 38:07
  the gift and followed the mission that was laid out for us will have an eternal reward,
• 38:12
  an eternal life that will far exceed anything we could ever imagine here on this earth.
• 38:19
  But no, it's a great point, it's a good reminder for us, right, if you look throughout the
• 38:24
  ministry of John the Baptist, it's always, like we said, it's always pointing towards
• 38:28
  someone greater than he, he's never really trying to build himself up, he's trying to
• 38:32
  tell everyone how great this one that's here is.
• 38:36
  It's never, it's not about him.
• 38:39
  Okay, just this idea, just as a closing thought, right, just building on that, he must increase
• 38:45
  but I must decrease.
• 38:46
  This idea that everything in our lives should be about getting more of Jesus into it, getting
• 38:54
  it into our lives, getting it into the lives of those around us, those we encounter.
• 38:58
  He must increase but I must decrease.
• 39:01
  No matter what we're doing, no matter what interaction we have, no matter if it's one
• 39:06
  of those high points of life, whether it's one of those low points of life, he must increase,
• 39:11
  I must decrease.
• 39:13
  We see that in John 3, verse 30.
• 39:17
  There is no greater mission on this side of earth than increasing the message and reward
• 39:23
  that Christ offers us, right, we should take that mission very seriously, just like John
• 39:29
  the Baptist did.
• 39:31
  No matter what we do, right, it's our job to proclaim, right, it's our job to point
• 39:36
  to other people but just as it was in the ministry of John the Baptist, some people
• 39:41
  aren't going to listen, some people are not going to believe and that's not anything we
• 39:47
  can influence, right?
• 39:50
  We see in the New Testament that I planted a pious water but God gave the increase.
• 39:55
  He's the one that will change their hearts.
• 39:57
  It's just our job to keep time and time again proclaiming the message, making sure that
• 40:01
  we are grabbing them by the shoulders and saying, there he is, he's here, he came and
• 40:08
  he's offered you this tremendous gift, right, that is yours for the taking.
• 40:15
  So with that, thank you for your time and we'll get out of here five minutes early.
• 40:27
  1
• 40:28
  1
• 40:29
  2
• 40:30
  3
• 40:31
  4
• 40:32
  5
• 40:33
  6
• 40:34
  7
• 40:35
  8
• 40:36
  9
• 40:37
  10
• 40:38
  11
• 40:39
  12
• 40:40
  13
• 40:41
  14
• 40:42
  15
• 40:43
  16
• 40:44
  17
• 40:45
  18
• 40:46
  19
• 40:47
  20
• 40:48
  21
• 40:49
  22
• 40:50
  23
• 40:51
  24
• 40:52
  25
• 40:53
  26
• 40:54
  27
• 40:55
  28