back to index2022-07-10 Ministry of John the Baptist
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Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 1, and I'll be reading from 00:00:25.040 |
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before 00:00:29.320 |
the Lord to prepare His ways, to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness 00:00:34.560 |
of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on 00:00:40.040 |
high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death, to 00:00:48.840 |
And a child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the desert 00:00:54.120 |
until the day of his public appearance to Israel. 00:01:01.680 |
Father, we thank you so much for being gracious and patient with us. 00:01:10.480 |
Help us, Lord God, to understand your word more than just knowledge, that you would convict 00:01:20.000 |
Bring us, Lord God, to peace, repentance, to great joy, celebration, and to worship. 00:01:35.080 |
You know, years ago, those of you guys who are on the seasoned fellowship, right, when 00:01:40.720 |
we were younger, Chinese medicine was almost considered a joke. 00:01:50.480 |
Like, if they said, "Oh, you eat raw fish," and now everybody stands in line to get the 00:01:59.240 |
It was like a, "Oh my gosh, you eat raw fish," right? 00:02:06.040 |
There's a lot of things like in the, in particular, Chinese culture, because there's 3,000 years 00:02:12.020 |
And so, you know, when we were younger, Chinese medicine is just like, "Oh," from a poor country, 00:02:19.480 |
And so they didn't take it seriously, but as now medicine has progressed, and the more 00:02:24.820 |
in the medical field, they're looking more deeply into the Chinese medicine, because 00:02:28.720 |
they know there's certain things that they may not have understood 30, 40 years ago, 00:02:34.000 |
So they're kind of trying to decide for what to take serious and what to not take serious. 00:02:37.840 |
And, you know, anything that you observe for thousands of years, obviously, that's something 00:02:43.080 |
that we need to pay attention to, because even if we don't understand it, clearly there's 00:02:46.960 |
some wisdom behind it that we may not be able to comprehend. 00:02:51.180 |
If it's been around for thousands of years, there must be a reason behind that, right? 00:02:56.860 |
In the same way, there's things that we observe, right? 00:03:00.220 |
Whether it's 10 years, 20 years, or maybe during our lifetime, there are certain principles 00:03:07.340 |
And I remember one of the things that my mom used to say when I was a young pastor, and 00:03:12.540 |
she would say, "You know, sometimes the people that are harder to get to know end up sticking 00:03:17.020 |
around in your life longer, and then the people who warm up really quick, they end up getting 00:03:24.140 |
You know, and when I was younger, I heard that, you know, you just kind of hear it, 00:03:29.580 |
But as time has gone by, you know, again, this is from her observation from many years 00:03:33.840 |
of ministry, and I can say, like, that's one of the truths that I remember, you know, that 00:03:38.540 |
sometimes we can give up on relationships easily because it's harder to get to know, 00:03:42.940 |
and sometimes some of the best relationships are relationships that take time to develop, 00:03:50.980 |
So there's all of you probably, as you get older, you have certain things that you may 00:03:53.580 |
have heard, and it's proven to be true, and you become more and more reliant on that as 00:03:58.700 |
I say all of this because there's things in the Scripture that we read that is like, "Seek 00:04:04.280 |
ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you," and when 00:04:07.640 |
you first hear it, you have a hard time believing that and practicing that because, you know, 00:04:12.000 |
there's consequences to this, but if you've lived by that principle for many years, you 00:04:22.400 |
And not just that, everything that God says, if you've been, the longer that you walk with 00:04:27.120 |
the Lord consistently, you know that what He says is proven to be true. 00:04:33.400 |
You know, so a lot of times we look at Scripture and it's like, "Well, what are the archaeological 00:04:38.080 |
You know, what are the fulfilled prophecies and, you know, the manuscripts?" 00:04:41.520 |
And we look at all of this stuff, but really the best evidence is the Bible itself. 00:04:45.840 |
The longer you gaze into it, the longer you walk in it and you practice it, you realize 00:04:50.840 |
like, "Wow, there's nothing more truer than what the Scripture says." 00:04:56.660 |
So the more we practice it, the more we observe it, the more we study it, the longer that 00:05:00.760 |
we've been walking with the Lord, it's not because there's some brand new truth. 00:05:05.160 |
It's just that the things that we've known, it's just proven over and over and over, and 00:05:11.680 |
there's no way a human being could have written this. 00:05:15.720 |
When we look at the fulfilled prospecy that what we talked about last week, we said, you 00:05:19.160 |
know, I don't know how much of you really understood what I was saying last week, but 00:05:23.520 |
again, even if you didn't understand it, it's important enough that hopefully that kind 00:05:27.920 |
of tickled your mind to cause you to look into it deeper because the promise that God 00:05:33.960 |
made to Abraham 4,000 years ago is the same promise that he is continuing to fulfill. 00:05:41.920 |
He made this promise and a thousand years go by before the nation has ever developed, 00:05:49.800 |
And yet he shows up and he says, "I'm going to fulfill this," and gives a Davidic covenant, 00:05:53.360 |
and then another thousand years passes by, and then the angel said, "It's because of 00:06:01.680 |
Then 2,000 years have gone by since then, and then we see in the book of Revelation 00:06:05.400 |
how he's going to fulfill all of this and the glory that is coming. 00:06:08.840 |
And so for thousands and thousands of years, the promise that he made, he never forgot. 00:06:14.880 |
And over and over again, from generation to generation, hundreds and hundreds of years, 00:06:21.600 |
So every time, whether it's a hundred years later or a thousand years later, he continues 00:06:25.200 |
to repeat back, "Because I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because of the covenant 00:06:30.240 |
that I have made, that I will be faithful to myself, that I will seek my glory in keeping 00:06:38.760 |
And even though our life may be short, that we only experience maybe, if you live long, 00:06:47.040 |
But even if we live long during that hundred years, we see that. 00:06:57.480 |
God is not man that he should lie, nor the Son of Man that he should repent. 00:07:06.240 |
So if there's anything that I have more confidence today is in the Word of God, right? 00:07:15.020 |
We don't know what movement is going to come next. 00:07:17.240 |
You know, social justice movement, the gospel movement, the reform movement, the charismatic 00:07:22.680 |
The discipleship movement, the holiness movement, and we have movements that come and they go, 00:07:27.640 |
but the Word of God stays consistent, the same, today, yesterday, and forevermore. 00:07:33.820 |
And that's why we can have confidence that we can get involved with various things that 00:07:38.500 |
are coming in our generation, but I guarantee you, 10 years from now, you're going to look 00:07:42.960 |
back at that, it's like, "Oh, you got caught up in this." 00:07:44.960 |
And another 10 years from now, it's like, "Oh, it's gone and it's not in people's psyches 00:07:49.400 |
But we're going to stick to the Word of God, right? 00:07:53.480 |
Nothing that we say, nothing that we do from this Word, you're going to look back at it 00:07:57.480 |
50 years later, it's like, "I wish I didn't do that." 00:07:59.360 |
You're going to see how it's proven more and more and more. 00:08:03.560 |
All of this, again, is an introduction to the text that we're looking at, starting from 00:08:07.880 |
verse 76, because now God, 2,000 years after he made his promise, he is going to fulfill 00:08:14.700 |
The central portion of his promise through the Messiah that's coming, specifically through 00:08:23.040 |
And in this praise, this prophecy from Zachariah, there's two things that is clarified for us 00:08:38.560 |
So that's pretty much the outline of what we're going to be covering this morning. 00:08:47.200 |
One, he is the prophet, it says, of the Most High God. 00:08:52.240 |
Now today, 2,000 years removed, we had the New Testament written for us, we have prophecy 00:09:00.560 |
We read that and said, "Oh, he's a prophet of the Most High God." 00:09:03.080 |
But you have to remember, when this is prophesied, all the Jews who heard this knew exactly what 00:09:09.920 |
was going on because there were how many years of silence? 00:09:15.880 |
The last time God sent the prophet was 400 years. 00:09:18.680 |
So nobody in that generation ever heard a prophet before. 00:09:23.880 |
There's not a single person who is alive who heard directly from the prophet of God. 00:09:31.880 |
Book of Amos was warning the nation of Israel that if you continue to rebel against God, 00:09:37.920 |
there's going to come a famine in the land, but it's not going to be the famine of food 00:09:42.560 |
He said, "It's going to be a famine of the Word of God." 00:09:45.200 |
In other words, God's going to withdraw his spirit, he's going to withdraw his servants, 00:09:49.840 |
and you're going to be staggering from place to place looking to hear from God, he said, 00:09:53.120 |
but you will not hear it because as a judgment against Israel, he said he's going to withhold 00:09:58.360 |
Now, you may look at that and say, "Well, how does he withhold his word?" 00:10:02.960 |
Because they had the word, they had this transcription, right? 00:10:10.120 |
I mean, they might not have it the way that we have it now, but they had access to that. 00:10:14.920 |
So does it mean that God was going to hide his scroll so that people wouldn't know what 00:10:21.160 |
But when he says he's not, he's going to stop speaking, he's not simply talking about, 00:10:25.960 |
you're not going to have the written word to go and examine. 00:10:29.600 |
There's a huge difference between what a prophet does. 00:10:35.080 |
A priest is an individual who stands before God and before man, and he represents God 00:10:43.280 |
So he's a mediator in between through the sacrificial system to kind of stand in between 00:10:50.560 |
A prophet is a man who has been ordained to represent God to the people, specifically. 00:11:00.400 |
He's not an individual who simply studies the scripture and then interprets it. 00:11:11.680 |
That's just somebody who's regurgitating information that he gained through study. 00:11:15.880 |
In fact, one of the biggest rebukes during the time of Christ is to the scribes and the 00:11:20.680 |
Pharisees who knew the scripture, but they weren't speaking for God. 00:11:25.640 |
A prophet is an individual who has a direct message from God to give. 00:11:30.400 |
So typically in our generation, when we say prophet, we think of somebody who's foretelling 00:11:34.840 |
the future, somebody who prophesies saying, "Tomorrow this is going to happen. 00:11:40.120 |
You should marry this person or that person." 00:11:42.520 |
And not to say that that isn't part of the definition, but the bigger definition of what 00:11:46.720 |
a prophet is, is simply an individual who's directly speaking as a mouthpiece of God. 00:11:53.520 |
So John, being the first prophet in 400 years, as he is saying, and the reason why this is 00:12:02.640 |
being declared is basically telling the people to listen. 00:12:15.060 |
And the whole reason why he's doing that is obviously for the reason why he's speaking, 00:12:22.680 |
But by definition of what a prophet is, a prophet must first know God. 00:12:32.520 |
And you know, you know the difference between simple interpretation versus proclamation. 00:12:40.640 |
Interpretation basically is if I spent enough time studying and expositing and dissecting, 00:12:47.400 |
You can dissect it and say, "Oh, that's what that means." 00:12:50.360 |
A prophet's call is not simply to represent the Word of God, but his heart. 00:12:56.400 |
See, if a prophet doesn't understand the heart of God, you can speak the Word of God to the 00:13:03.960 |
You can tell somebody, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. 00:13:10.840 |
And you can take that word and then apply it to people who may need rebuke. 00:13:16.420 |
Or you can take a passage in there where people need the grace of God, and you've taken the 00:13:22.000 |
Word of God and you applied it to the wrong people at the wrong time. 00:13:27.160 |
So a prophet is not simply somebody who is expositing the text. 00:13:30.960 |
A prophet, first and foremost, must know God. 00:13:35.520 |
That's why it says at the end in verse 80, right, after this proclamation happened, he's 00:13:40.400 |
born, and at the end it says he was out in the desert. 00:13:44.960 |
And this is a common theme that we see in the Bible when God is preparing people for 00:13:50.920 |
Whether it was Joseph, he wasn't in maybe literal desert, but he was in a form of a 00:13:58.160 |
Moses, right, he had to be prepared for the great work that God is calling him to do. 00:14:04.360 |
The nation of Israel wandered in the desert to prepare them to get into the promised land. 00:14:10.080 |
You see, Elijah, Jeremiah, Apostle Paul himself, after he gets converted, he's out in the desert 00:14:17.680 |
And so before God can speak through the man, God has to speak to the man. 00:14:26.440 |
Expository preaching isn't just telling you the words because I can just give you the 00:14:33.900 |
Someone who is speaking on behalf of God must also know the heart of God and be able to 00:14:41.420 |
know who he is to be able to speak on his behalf. 00:14:49.820 |
And the reason why they were highlighting who he is, he says, in order for him to prepare 00:14:57.620 |
And this was a direct fulfillment of that prophecy in Malachi chapter 3, 1. 00:15:01.100 |
It says, "Behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me, and the 00:15:06.100 |
Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant 00:15:11.020 |
Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts." 00:15:13.220 |
And again, this declaration of who he is, the prophet of the most high God, is a direct 00:15:20.300 |
Four hundred years later, four hundred years later, God is breaking his silence in order 00:15:30.300 |
In Mark chapter 1, verse 3, Mark declares about John the Baptist a little bit more specific 00:15:37.700 |
He says, "The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, 00:15:41.860 |
And that is a specific fulfillment of Isaiah 43 to 4. 00:15:47.300 |
Isaiah 43 to 4, in reference to John the Baptist, it says, "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way 00:15:53.500 |
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 00:15:56.660 |
Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough ground 00:16:01.860 |
become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley." 00:16:06.260 |
Now, when you don't understand the context of this, you read that and say, "Okay, prepare 00:16:16.180 |
John's call was to prepare the best road so that when Christ comes, the access to him 00:16:24.260 |
But there's something so much more going on here than just building right roads, because 00:16:29.000 |
any Jew at that culture would have known that this is in reference to the city of refuge. 00:16:33.300 |
The same language is used to describe how to prepare and set up these six separate cities, 00:16:41.460 |
And the whole purpose of these cities of refuge that God commanded the nation of Israel was 00:16:45.940 |
to set it upon a hill where everybody can see. 00:16:49.760 |
So if you were standing anywhere in Israel, you could look up and see one of these cities 00:16:57.140 |
And God said that the best roads, the best road in the nation of Israel, all are roads 00:17:08.460 |
Of all the things that God told them to do, I mean, think about the amount of time, the 00:17:13.420 |
energy, and money, and manpower that must have gone in building this city up on the 00:17:18.400 |
top and then cutting down mountains and hills. 00:17:29.340 |
He said specifically, if a man accidentally kills somebody, that one of their family members 00:17:39.060 |
called the blood avenger, he would get angry because he wants to take vengeance, even if 00:17:46.260 |
And so in order to protect that person, they built the best road so that he can run to 00:17:53.240 |
So once he get into the gate, the high priest, who is the master over these cities, would 00:18:01.080 |
So the avenger of blood that is chasing after him cannot come into the city. 00:18:04.580 |
And as long as the high priest lives, he is safe. 00:18:09.540 |
And so all of these cities were made specifically for that purpose. 00:18:18.140 |
The best roads, all that time and energy was built. 00:18:21.740 |
How often do you think somebody killed by accident was running for their lives and that 00:18:27.220 |
for those people that he created these specific cities all over Israel? 00:18:34.780 |
So you can look at that and say, you did all of that? 00:18:39.100 |
Just so that every once in a while, maybe every few years, something might happen by 00:18:43.860 |
accident and you created this whole system for that purpose? 00:18:48.500 |
Clearly it wasn't simply to protect those people, even though that's what it said. 00:18:53.780 |
Imagery of the city of refuge is a clear reference to the coming of Christ, that he is our high 00:18:59.820 |
priest and the best roads that leads to Christ are the ones that lead to the city of refuge. 00:19:07.580 |
So when John is called to say to fulfill this, to cut down the mountains and fill the valleys, 00:19:14.740 |
it's a clear reference to the fulfillment of the city of refuge, that Christ is coming. 00:19:19.960 |
And that's exactly what he has been called to do, to prepare the way. 00:19:27.140 |
It takes those who are high and humbles them. 00:19:31.180 |
And it takes those who are low and then gives them hope. 00:19:36.720 |
I've mentioned this before, that the gospel of John chapter three begins by the introduction 00:19:43.420 |
John chapter three, Nicodemus comes and he is a member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee of 00:19:50.420 |
He's basically a superstar in the nation of Israel. 00:19:55.740 |
Scripture says that he comes to Jesus at night because he's concerned about his reputation, 00:19:59.880 |
because many of his friends are saying that maybe Jesus is not the Messiah. 00:20:05.380 |
And Nicodemus is curious because he thinks that this is not a normal man. 00:20:14.760 |
And he has this encounter with Jesus and Jesus basically, and you would think if he was Nicodemus 00:20:18.900 |
is that, you know what, I obeyed all the laws. 00:20:22.760 |
He probably thought that if he met the Messiah, that Christ would say, you know what, good 00:20:27.740 |
and faithful servant, you're going to have the first seat in the kingdom of God. 00:20:32.260 |
But Jesus says, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven until you are born again. 00:20:47.320 |
So if you look at that encounter, Jesus basically humbles this man because he thought he was 00:20:51.460 |
sitting on the top and he says, no, you have to start over. 00:20:55.600 |
The very next chapter, he runs into a Samaritan woman and the Samaritan woman is embarrassed 00:21:04.700 |
All the disciples are out and trying to gather some stuff. 00:21:07.540 |
And the Samaritan woman basically asked Jesus, how can you being a Jewish rabbi talk to a 00:21:14.820 |
And she was probably there because she was an adulteress. 00:21:21.460 |
Even her own Samaritan neighbors probably shunned her. 00:21:24.300 |
That's why she was there in the middle of the day. 00:21:30.740 |
And at the end of this encounter where Jesus reveals himself to her, she drops everything. 00:21:37.220 |
She forgets, she runs and she becomes the first evangelist, goes back home and tells 00:21:40.980 |
the other Samaritans, come here, man, who told me everything about my life. 00:21:45.060 |
It is not by accident that you have this Nicodemus who's sitting up on the top of the hill where 00:21:51.940 |
God just said, you're going to chop this down. 00:21:55.320 |
And you have this woman who's sitting in the valley thinking she's not worthy of even a 00:22:00.220 |
Jewish rabbi talking to her in the middle of the day. 00:22:05.740 |
You see, the gospel brings people who are proud. 00:22:10.020 |
We have a generation of people who think that when they die, that their good works is good 00:22:21.660 |
And I was a good citizen and raised good kids. 00:22:30.260 |
And so as a result of that, when I die, God's going to be fair. 00:22:33.800 |
The gospel humbles people who are thinking that their self-righteousness is somehow going 00:22:41.420 |
And then there's people who are so seeped in their mistakes and their sins that God 00:22:57.780 |
So that same path that leads to Christ is the same door for Nicodemus and the Samaritan 00:23:07.540 |
See, if our preaching only addresses the haughty and it only addresses the lowly, that's not 00:23:19.100 |
You don't pick a prophet just doesn't pick and choose and say, "You know what? 00:23:22.500 |
My whole goal in life is to humble people, so I'm going to preach harshness and judgment 00:23:40.740 |
You come to church, you always be encouraged. 00:23:44.180 |
Either is not from God because God lowers the mountain and raises the valley. 00:23:50.440 |
And that's what John the Baptist was called to do, to prepare the way. 00:23:53.640 |
That's why when the Pharisees came thinking that, "Oh, he's the Messiah. 00:23:58.840 |
He says, "Repent and bear fruit according to repentance." 00:24:05.800 |
And then he goes to the sinners, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, people that have been 00:24:10.560 |
shunned, would have never been accepted into the Jewish society. 00:24:14.420 |
And he starts hanging with them and make some of them his disciples. 00:24:22.200 |
His whole purpose of ministry is to prepare for the coming of Christ. 00:24:29.360 |
His message is to proclaim the knowledge of salvation. 00:24:35.800 |
Now let me stop right here and to explain why this is so important. 00:24:40.960 |
Because you notice here he doesn't say he came to save people. 00:24:48.560 |
His job was to proclaim the knowledge of salvation. 00:24:54.000 |
Like people, part of the reason why we are timid in evangelism is because we think that 00:25:03.920 |
And so we end up targeting people that we think that we're able to save. 00:25:09.120 |
Weaker people, broken people, people who are lesser than us. 00:25:13.960 |
Even when we go evangelize, if they seem intimidating, right, they're older than us, so they're not 00:25:21.120 |
He's more educated, so he's not going to take me seriously. 00:25:24.400 |
And we go and we start to target people that where we see ourselves, well we know a little 00:25:28.800 |
better, we're a little bit more knowledgeable, maybe I'm a little bit richer than they are. 00:25:32.880 |
And so we end up targeting people that we think that we can somehow by our earthly influence 00:25:38.800 |
get them and sell Christ to them and bring them to Christ. 00:25:43.040 |
So we naturally avoid people that we think are richer, are in better position, or are 00:25:53.280 |
Because we have somehow convinced ourselves that God has given us the task to convert 00:26:07.280 |
Now when we say that, you say, "Well, Orange County doesn't need that because, you know, 00:26:12.640 |
everywhere we go, there's a mega church down the street. 00:26:16.280 |
I mean, you can drive 10 minutes in every direction and you'll find a mega church." 00:26:21.160 |
So clearly we're not in a place where that needs to be made known. 00:26:24.680 |
Do you remember years ago, we sent out the whole church out in the street for the purpose 00:26:29.560 |
of informing our church how many people actually know the gospel in Orange County, in this 00:26:37.120 |
We naturally would think, I mean, there's a mega church here, mega church there, and 00:26:42.160 |
Most of the people, even if they don't go to church, must know the gospel. 00:26:45.120 |
Do you remember those of you who participated? 00:26:48.240 |
Most of you were surprised to know how few people actually knew the gospel. 00:26:53.720 |
And we're not even talking about just non-Christians. 00:26:56.840 |
Do you know how often we have people who say that they were raised in the church all their 00:27:02.120 |
Some of them Sunday school for many, many years, Sunday school teachers. 00:27:05.640 |
And we asked them, "If a non-Christian asked you how to have assurance of salvation, what 00:27:23.320 |
And so the common answer that we get is, "You have to go to church. 00:27:36.200 |
And they'll give you all these answers, and we're kind of waiting for them to say, "Well, 00:27:38.960 |
you need to repent of your sins and turn to Christ, and the blood of Christ atone for 00:27:47.600 |
And I'm sure they may have heard that somewhere, but they can't articulate it. 00:27:52.520 |
And you know what percentage of people who go to church who can't articulate that? 00:27:57.960 |
Seventy, eighty percent of people who have proclaimed, have grown up in the church, can't 00:28:09.500 |
You may have friends, family members, co-workers, people, and I'm not even saying go and try 00:28:14.740 |
to bring them to church or try to have Bible study with them. 00:28:29.800 |
It's like, "Okay, can you explain what the gospel is?" 00:28:33.560 |
You'll be surprised how many people will tell you, it's like, "Do you have to follow Jesus? 00:28:42.640 |
Do unto others as you want them to do unto you?" 00:28:46.640 |
You'll be surprised what kind of answers that you get. 00:28:50.160 |
Now the reason why I say this is that God didn't call you and me to convert people, 00:28:56.640 |
but you and I have the responsibility to make sure that even if they reject Christ, they're 00:29:04.180 |
Many people reject the gospel without even knowing what the gospel is. 00:29:09.140 |
And we may be living among them, being around them all their life, and we may have a brother 00:29:15.800 |
or a sister, father or mother, a co-worker that you spend every day with, and they don't 00:29:24.940 |
At the minimum, you and I have been called to make it clear, as John has been called 00:29:32.460 |
And you'll find when you ask them that they don't want anything to do with church, that 00:29:41.260 |
I don't want to go to church because they're hypocrites. 00:29:43.980 |
I've known this Christian this many years ago, and I don't want to go for that reason. 00:29:52.060 |
See, John the Baptist was first and foremost called to make the salvation clear, so that 00:29:59.820 |
whether you receive or you reject, it's the clear knowledge of the gospel that they are 00:30:05.860 |
But what is this clear knowledge of the gospel? 00:30:10.900 |
The primary call of the church, and the reason why we desire people to come, is so that their 00:30:20.660 |
It's not so that you can have the best marriage. 00:30:22.580 |
It's not so that you can have godly children. 00:30:25.500 |
I mean, it'd be great if we had all that, but none of that is guaranteed. 00:30:32.500 |
But the main reason why he calls us is for the forgiveness of sins. 00:30:39.260 |
Orange County Christianity, and this is unique, and again, this is not just Orange County, 00:30:43.620 |
but we're in Orange County, so I'm going to pick on Orange County. 00:30:48.780 |
Because we live in a culture where we just assume like, "Oh, it's evangelized already, 00:30:53.020 |
so we spend all our time focused on our family." 00:30:56.180 |
That the primary call of the Christian is to have godly family, godly marriage. 00:31:02.500 |
And so one of the most popular seminars to give is marriage. 00:31:07.340 |
How to have a godly marriage, and you'll see people coming. 00:31:11.300 |
How to have godly children, and so you'll see people coming. 00:31:16.940 |
The call of the church, the call of the church, the primary call of the church, the primary 00:31:22.260 |
call of the pulpit, is to bring people to Christ. 00:31:27.020 |
To bring them to repentance and to meet Christ. 00:31:30.820 |
There are no separate set of rules and skills that you have. 00:31:35.020 |
This is what it means to be a good Christian, but these are the things you need to do to 00:31:44.420 |
The same calling to be a godly Christian is the same calling, same qualities, same character, 00:31:57.860 |
If you're not walking right with God, you can't be a godly father. 00:32:01.680 |
If you're not sacrificing in serving Christ, there's no separate set of tools that you're 00:32:08.380 |
going to gain so that you can be a better mother or better father. 00:32:16.940 |
When we are reconciled with the God of life, the author of life, the residual effect of 00:32:25.220 |
our sins being forgiven affects our marriage. 00:32:28.220 |
The residual effect of walking right with God affects our children. 00:32:35.220 |
I'm afraid that in Orange County, the focus has so much been put on families and people 00:32:40.500 |
are so eager to learn about being a godly husband, godly father, and not so interested 00:32:48.100 |
in being a faithful follower of Christ himself. 00:32:51.980 |
The primary promise of the gospel is forgiveness of sins. 00:33:06.060 |
Because we have a tendency to think that since God is merciful, we deal with people with 00:33:10.980 |
mercy and grace, which means that we're not ever harsh to anybody. 00:33:20.780 |
Well, the scripture said it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance. 00:33:26.060 |
If somebody is living in sin and they are not brought to repentance, that is not the 00:33:31.540 |
kindness of God because the only way to find true life is to be reconciled with this holy, 00:33:39.000 |
And as they can live in perfect peace the rest of their life, they can have a healthy 00:33:52.020 |
But if you're not reconciled with God, all of that was a smoke screen that leads to condemnation. 00:34:02.620 |
The primary call of the gospel is repentance and reconciliation and forgiveness of sins. 00:34:10.660 |
That's why if John the Baptist came in and said, "You know what? 00:34:13.020 |
I'm so concerned about the sinners," and he's constantly encouraging them, "God loves you 00:34:17.800 |
and has a wonderful plan for your life," and if that's all they hear, that's not from God. 00:34:23.740 |
If somebody who's walking haughty is like, "Oh, I don't want to be judgmental. 00:34:27.380 |
I never want to be one of those people," that's not from God either. 00:34:35.320 |
What brings people to repentance is the kindness of God. 00:34:41.080 |
That doesn't mean that God calls us to be jerks. 00:34:44.040 |
It doesn't mean that you need to be yelling at people all the time. 00:34:46.080 |
It doesn't mean you need to be preaching hell all the time. 00:34:48.680 |
But whatever brings people to Christ, that's the mercy of God. 00:34:56.120 |
That's the gentleness of God because that's the primary call. 00:35:00.280 |
That's why when John the Baptist first showed up, remember his primary message? 00:35:08.200 |
What was John the Baptist's primary message that he repeated over and over again? 00:35:13.200 |
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 00:35:17.800 |
Now you look at that and say, "Whoa, that's kind of harsh. 00:35:25.960 |
There are people who are selling their bodies just to make ends meet. 00:35:30.120 |
And here's a prophet of God, the most high God, who's been called to prepare the way 00:35:33.620 |
of the Messiah, and he's going to bring judgment upon them? 00:35:39.280 |
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand?" 00:35:41.120 |
And it turns some people off, especially the Pharisees. 00:35:46.280 |
It is the mercy of God to bring them to repentance because the only true life is found when we 00:35:55.200 |
And the only way that we can have peace with God is forgiveness of sins. 00:36:04.800 |
It is the most gentle and most merciful thing to do, is to bring a sinner to the loving 00:36:13.820 |
That's what John was called to do, and that's what he says of Jesus. 00:36:19.480 |
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away 00:36:26.440 |
And then he describes the coming of Christ as "sunrise from on high will visit us." 00:36:32.920 |
Now we know that in the book of John, Jesus himself said, "I am the light of the world." 00:36:39.240 |
Now the reason why Jesus says that, the context in which Jesus describes himself as the light 00:36:43.800 |
of the world, was during the Feast of Booths. 00:36:48.520 |
So the Feast of Booths took place right before the Passover. 00:36:53.240 |
And so Feast of Booths basically was Israelites commemorating when they had to leave in haste 00:37:00.680 |
And as God was leading them through the desert, through the pillar of fire, they would set 00:37:05.520 |
up pillars of fires at the temple, huge pillars of fire. 00:37:09.080 |
And so every, during the Feast of Booths, as they were remembering how they were nomads 00:37:13.880 |
out in the desert, sleeping in tents, they would look to the fires and say, "One of these 00:37:17.680 |
days the Messiah is going to come as a light and he's going to lead us into the promised 00:37:23.360 |
It was as they were celebrating the Feast of Booths, Jesus stands there and says, "I 00:37:31.040 |
So when they say, "John the Baptist is going to declare the sunrise is going to come and 00:37:36.680 |
visit us," they knew exactly what they meant. 00:37:38.480 |
That Jesus is going to come and he's going to fulfill that promise. 00:37:43.160 |
In Malachi 4, it says, "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise 00:37:47.920 |
with healing in its wings and you will go forth and skip about like calves from a stall." 00:37:54.360 |
You will experience this joy of being able to see the light. 00:38:00.280 |
The sunrise is going to come and open your eyes and you're going to be able to see the 00:38:04.520 |
In Isaiah 9, it says, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. 00:38:08.840 |
Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." 00:38:12.680 |
And that's exactly how the Bible describes a Christian and a non-Christian. 00:38:17.160 |
Non-Christian is an individual who has been blinded so that they do not see the light 00:38:23.600 |
So a Christian is the one who's opened his eyes. 00:38:28.760 |
And so because the light was turned on, we're able to live. 00:38:34.440 |
You know, one of the greatest benefits of going out to India is seeing the byproduct 00:38:44.600 |
You know, when we first started going out, we didn't know exactly what to emphasize. 00:38:48.480 |
So we had, you know, nurses and doctors and we're going to do wound care and all of a 00:38:52.800 |
sudden we realized that it's very difficult to do way out in the village. 00:38:55.560 |
So there's still wound care going on, VBS and crafts going on. 00:38:58.840 |
But the main stuff that we kind of honed in is eye care because you don't have to have, 00:39:05.400 |
you know, you're not doing any kind of surgery. 00:39:06.920 |
And most people who are 50 and over have cataract because they've been working out in the sun 00:39:12.940 |
So you can see there's kind of a white haze on them. 00:39:16.840 |
So that's why we give them sunglasses so everybody looks like movie stars by the time we leave, 00:39:26.660 |
Every once in a while we'll meet an individual who's maybe 50 or 60 and they, the only reason 00:39:33.880 |
why they can't see is because they don't have glasses. 00:39:37.560 |
And you know, some of you who've been with us there, you know, they know exactly what 00:39:43.000 |
So our eye doctors would do the care and then find out what their dosage is and obviously 00:39:47.720 |
they have pretty bad eyes and almost surprised that they were able to function. 00:39:52.600 |
Obviously if you don't have any other choice, what can you do? 00:39:54.200 |
So they're barely functioning, they're barely seeing. 00:39:58.920 |
And literally in minutes they figure out the dosage and they find the right glass and they 00:40:03.480 |
put it on them and you can see them starting to tear. 00:40:08.520 |
We don't know how long, how bad their eyes were, but as soon as they put the glasses 00:40:17.920 |
They functioned the way they did because they had no other option. 00:40:21.400 |
But as soon as that simple eyeglass was put on them, all of a sudden, can you imagine 00:40:25.120 |
not being able to see and all of a sudden, boom, just like that, you're able to see and 00:40:33.400 |
They're like holding your hands with tears, hugging us and just the reward of seeing that, 00:40:41.140 |
And that's probably why so many people who've been to India want to keep going back because 00:40:49.680 |
I've never seen anybody who's experienced that and then take off their glasses and say, 00:41:02.400 |
Like I know it's great that I can see, but my friends are making fun of me. 00:41:07.000 |
And I go to school and I say, "Ooh, Bollywood. 00:41:20.400 |
It may look them silly because the glasses that they got were like huge on their face. 00:41:24.480 |
And I remember one particular old man, the glass that they put on him was literally like 00:41:28.760 |
twice the size of his fit, but not one word of complaining. 00:41:42.280 |
Because they gain sight for the first time they are able to see. 00:41:47.440 |
See, an individual who has his eyes open in the middle of living in darkness can never 00:41:57.340 |
Just like that individual can never take his glasses off and say, you know what, I prefer 00:42:05.600 |
It doesn't match my dress or it doesn't match my shirt. 00:42:09.560 |
But once that person put that glasses on, no matter how silly it may look on his face, 00:42:19.760 |
See the Bible says once our eyes became open by the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:42:25.120 |
you can't close it because you remember what it was like in the darkness. 00:42:29.220 |
How can an individual who sees for the first time look at this previous life and say, you 00:42:34.000 |
know what, that was better because my friends are making fun of me. 00:42:39.160 |
It's very difficult to be a Christian in my work. 00:42:41.620 |
So I'm going to take these off and I'm going to go back. 00:42:51.080 |
How does somebody who gained sight for the first time return back to their old life? 00:42:58.220 |
That's why we believe in the perseverance of the saints because the Bible teaches that 00:43:01.680 |
once your eyes have been opened, you can never shut it again. 00:43:12.720 |
He creates a position where we can't but worship. 00:43:17.840 |
I don't remember a single person gaining sight like that and then in tears and then we have 00:43:23.560 |
to tell them, hey, make sure you're thankful. 00:43:28.900 |
Make sure you thank these foreigners who are here. 00:43:33.900 |
We actually have to kind of push them out of the door because we have other patients 00:43:53.140 |
There's a reason why the Bible, the book of Hebrews concludes by saying fix your eyes 00:44:04.100 |
Maybe you've forgotten what it is that we have. 00:44:11.340 |
The child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit and he lived in the deserts 00:44:16.380 |
until the day of his public appearance to Israel. 00:44:20.620 |
You would think after hearing this great prophecy that he's going to give the knowledge of salvation, 00:44:28.140 |
the forgiveness of sins, that you would think that right after the prophecy, John the Baptist 00:44:34.420 |
is going to pop out of his mom and then start walking and repent for the kingdom of heaven 00:44:48.380 |
Now, you have to understand who his parents were. 00:44:52.940 |
They were people at the end of their life and miraculously God allowed them to experience 00:45:00.780 |
So humanly speaking, he probably lost his parents pretty early. 00:45:05.500 |
Because they were already at the tail end of life. 00:45:08.580 |
If he experienced parenthood, maybe until he was six, ten, most likely he was orphaned 00:45:17.460 |
So most likely, part of the reason maybe he was out in the desert was because of his financial 00:45:24.620 |
We don't know for sure, but we know that most likely he lost his parents early. 00:45:33.140 |
I mean, desert is not where you go to be comfortable. 00:45:38.100 |
Desert is a place where you struggle to eat, community. 00:45:43.020 |
Thirty years later, after this grandiose prophecy about him, he's wandering on the desert and 00:45:48.740 |
then he shows up six months before Christ to prepare the way to come. 00:45:55.820 |
And he experiences the fulfillment of this prophecy probably for no more than six months 00:46:02.820 |
And then as soon as Jesus shows up, that's the man I've been referring to. 00:46:07.340 |
And then as soon as Jesus comes on the scene, he says, "I must decrease and he must increase." 00:46:14.460 |
He doesn't die with veneration and people celebrating him. 00:46:19.180 |
In fact, if you don't read the Bible carefully, you're just like, "What happened to John?" 00:46:24.940 |
He's just like, "Oh, this happened and the hair didn't like him, got his head chopped 00:46:32.220 |
So if you look at that, it's like, "Wow, he was chosen. 00:46:36.960 |
He's going to go ahead and he's going to bring the mountains low and then fill up the valley 00:46:43.780 |
And then experiences hardship, poverty, desert. 00:46:49.020 |
And then even when he starts to proclaim, Israel begins to treat him weird and then 00:47:02.760 |
If the reward for John the Baptist is honor during this life, he didn't get it. 00:47:11.140 |
If it was a large crowd for a long period of time, he didn't get it. 00:47:39.220 |
If because we're faithful that God gives us honor during this life, that honor isn't worth 00:47:50.100 |
To live a little bit longer than other people, it's not worth it. 00:47:52.300 |
So that we can have a better retirement, it's not worth it. 00:47:55.240 |
So that we can have more people know our name. 00:48:03.860 |
But that was not the fulfillment of his promise, and neither is it ours. 00:48:15.360 |
Because you preach the gospel, friends will shun you. 00:48:19.900 |
Because you're faithful to the word, your family will think you're weird. 00:48:27.220 |
Because you're faithful to the word of God, you may not be able to live the American dream. 00:48:33.740 |
You may not fit where you fit in, even within your own family. 00:48:42.220 |
Not during this lifetime, but when Christ comes. 00:48:48.820 |
It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. 00:48:54.860 |
The life which you now live, you live by faith in the son of God. 00:48:59.300 |
And when he comes, we will experience that glory as he comes in glory. 00:49:05.900 |
John the Baptist, though he was a unique prophet of God, the path that he took and the calling 00:49:13.300 |
that he had is a calling that you and I have. 00:49:18.340 |
To live our life aligned with the purpose of God, to prepare this sinful world for the 00:49:25.180 |
coming of Christ, to preach the word, preach the gospel in season and out of season. 00:49:39.420 |
Gracious, merciful, loving, patient, holy, and faithful God. 00:49:50.100 |
You know how easily we get entangled with this world. 00:49:52.700 |
You know how easily we get anxious, Lord God, because we do not have what the world offers. 00:50:03.380 |
Whether we are up in the mountains or whether we are in the valleys, that we would run to 00:50:12.700 |
That we would know you and to make you known. 00:50:16.440 |
And for that purpose, help us, Lord God, to live.