Ryan King - Class 1: The Voice in the Wilderness

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:02

   So, my dear brethren, friends, and young people, without any further delay, I’ll invite or beloved Brother Ryan to come and deliver to us his first class for our study or fraternal weekend, which is entitled The Voice of 1 Crying in the Wilderness, Brother Ryan. Thank you very much for the Nigel and good afternoon, brothers and sisters.

2. 0:42

   It’s nice to be here. And I thank you for the invitation to to join you and to share what I think is a wonderful study, one of the greatest characters that has ever lived and. I’m sure you’re thinking as I say those words. Well, you know, every speaker who gets up here starts off by saying that the study you’re about to hear or the study that he’s just done is the greatest whatever that you’ll ever hear. Let me let me give to you another statement among those born among women there have not risen. A greater prophet than John the Baptist. And that statement is given by our Lord Jesus Christ himself of all of the prophets.

3. 1:41

   And you think about the great prophets that God has sent to men down through time. He’s the greatest of them all. That’s the man that we have before us this weekend. There was never anyone like John the Baptist. It wasn’t just the statement of our Lord, but his own father, in describing him, called him the prophet of the highest in Luke chapter one. It’s in that same chapter where the Lord Jesus Christ is described as the Son of the highest. Now, has there ever been any greater son than that? Well, here’s his prophet, the prophet of the Highest. You know, his influence had spread far and wide. This man who was a nobody.

4. 2:35

   It is spread all the way down to Alexandria and Egypt. Alexandria was the great university city where the Ptolemys had collected all of the writings from all over the world. There was a man down there named Apollos, and Luke’s record and act says that he was skilled in what the teachings of John. The Baptist and the word skilled is a word that’s used of one of our pieces of literature catachesis. He had categorized John’s teaching, he was all the way down in Egypt, and of course later he made his way to Corinth.

5. 3:10

   An eloquent man mighty in the scriptures. And knowing what the baptism of John in the next chapter of Acts we read of certain disciples who had had separated themselves from the law and what did they know? They knew the teachings of John the Baptist in Asia Minor. In Ephesus, which was the capital of Asia Minor.

6. 3:31

   His teaching had spread all the way down there to the to the the far-flung regions of the empire at that time. And so you you look at those points and you ask yourself the question, well, who was John? You know? Was he a great man? Was he a CEO? Was he a millionaire? Lee was a nondescript living in the wilderness. And eating grasshoppers.

7. 3:57

   And if I if I said that to you and you didn’t know who he was, you would laugh. But that’s who he was. There was nobody like him, a man who came into this world as a monument of difference and a man who wore his message in his person. There was never anybody quite like John the Baptist, except for maybe one.

8. 4:23

   And that, of course, was Elijah. In whose spirit and power he came, dressed almost exactly like John in the the clothing of nature and living on sparse food in the wilderness. And there was a single message, brothers and sisters, that emerges from John the Baptist life. Here. The point of these studies is not really going to be hard to grasp.

9. 4:46

   It’s really just one single message that emerges from John’s life. So let’s begin in Luke chapter one and verse 17 and see the motivation and the reason why John was sent into the world. Luke chapter one and verse 17. Here’s a statement which helps us to introduce our study and this encapsulates really all that John the Baptist was about

10. 5:14

    verse 16 of Luke chapter one and many. Of the children of visual shall he turn to the Lord there God, and he shall go before him in the Spirit and in the power of Elijah. Now there is the principle of John’s life. If we can grasp the essence of what this is all about, then we will understand the purpose of John’s work. What did Luke mean when he said that he came in the Spirit and the power of Elijah?

11. 5:46

    We don’t turn some of these references up just to save our time, but you may remember that in Luke Chapter 9 the Lord Jesus Christ was making his way through the village of the Samaritans and they wouldn’t receive him. The two sons of Thunder, James and John, said, shall we not bring down fire from heaven and consume them like Elijah did?

12. 6:04

    And Jesus answer was, you know not what manner of spirit you are of, so the spirit of Elijah bells and sisters. Was not terrible awe inspiring. It was persuasive. Jesus said the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save. The spirit of Elijah is all about saving, not destroying. What about the power of Elijah?

13. 6:36

    What was the power of Elijah that John came in? We know in John chapter 10, verse 41 that John did no miracles. Not one. But he came in the power of Elijah, who did. 8 So it wasn’t that sort of power that John came in. The the power of John the Baptist and the power of Elijah was in his voice. It was his voice They asked him, Who are you, John? He said, I’m nothing, just a voice. So he came in the spirit and in the power of Elijah. It was the voice of Yahweh to save. And that’s going to be the reason why John was sent. He was nothing else but a voice.

14. 7:19

    But what a powerful voice that was the voice of Yahweh to save men and women, getting all of us to see, brothers and sisters, that the Kingdom of God is almost here and we need to be ready. Now, that doesn’t sound like the Elijah that I know. The Elijah that I know is famous, of course, for bringing down fire from heaven twice on a captain and his 50. So what we’ve got to do, brothers and sisters, and what we’ll do in this first session, is we want to go back to where Elijah learnt that lesson.

15. 7:52

    That it wasn’t about destroying, but rather it was about saving. Because that was the reason why John was sent to exercise this spirit and power that God fully intended Elijah to exercise but never did. In which we will see John will do as he goes forth to proclaim the voice of Yahweh to save.

16. 8:14

    First, King’s Chapter 19. Let’s see what it was that Elijah was meant to do but but never ever did, But which One day he will again come and stand on this earth to practice the voice of Yahweh to save. And 1st King’s Chapter 19. We know the story. Elijah thought the nation was converted. He saw the sacrifice consumed upon Mount Carmel. He heard them screaming in his ears his own name, the Lord, he is God.

17. 8:47

    He ran before the charity of Ahab, believing Ahab had been converted. As he followed or ran before Ahab into the gates of Jezreel, that imperious woman Jezebel said, God do more to me, God do so to me, and more also if I don’t have his blood by tomorrow. Elijah went away depressed. Dejected, he thought the nation had changed. He thought the nation was repentant as he saw the sacrifice being consumed upon Mount Carmel, but he just runs away from Jezebel.

18. 9:20

    Depressed, the man who had stood in Tribe upon Carmel was next found beneath the juniper tree, saying, I want to die, I’ve had enough and I want to die. And so he went, brothers and sisters, inexorably, to Mount Sunny Eye. It’s the only time in his life Elijah ever moved without that commandment. He’s going to tell God he’s been let down. He’s going to tell God he’s frustrated. And when he gets down here in First Kings 19, we’ll pick up the record.

19. 9:49

    Now he had to learn a tremendous lesson. First Kings 19 and verse 9. And he came, sit there unto a cave, and lodged there. And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him. And he said unto him, What doest thou hear? Elijah, now in that ninth verse, Frozen. Sisters, the emphasis in the Hebrew is on the word here. What are you doing here, Elijah, in this place in Sania? What is it that you associate with me here? And of course, Elijah had remembered that place, hadn’t he?

20. 10:25

    When when the mountain was all on fire, when the law was given, and the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words, which voice they that heard were unable to withstand. That even an animal approaching the mountain, they couldn’t, they couldn’t spear it with an arrow. They had to to stand back. And that was what Elijah associated with God. What are you doing here, Elijah?

21. 10:50

    And he came to a cave. You know the Hebrew has the definite article there in verse nine. He came unto The Cave. Now it was either in that cave or beside it. Then another man stood and said, Don’t destroy Israel, Block me out of the book. But save that. And of course Elijah had had totally missed that spirit, hadn’t he?

22. 11:18

    In his depression, in his despondency, he had forgotten the history of the man who had stood there so, so many years before, and when the question came from the Angel in verse 10. It all comes out, doesn’t it? Here is what Elijah was thinking. Here is why he went mount down to Mount Sonii. I have been very jealous, he says for the Lord God of armies. And there it is.

23. 11:46

    If he just said Lord God Yahweh Elohim, you know we would have said well the covenant name God writing his his name upon the hearts of men and women. But Elijah adds to it the word for. Armies. That’s only the second time the whole Bible that that name appears. The Lord God of armies.

24. 12:09

    You see, Elijah felt, brothers and sisters, that God should take Israel by the scruff of their neck, shake the lifeout of them, and wake them up to to see that they have to obey the truth. But what good is that, brothers and sisters, without the heart? What good is is, is shaking people. And forcing them to do what God wants. If they’re not doing it with their whole heart, what good is it?

25. 12:35

    It’s not worth anything. You know. God will never brothers and sisters, forces, covenant or his ways upon any of us. It is neither his will nor is it his method. John came in the spirit and power of Elijah. It’s not that. And we know what happened here at Sania. In verse 11, Elijah was made to feel the the sting of the the power they’d hoped God would unleash upon Israel, and he would have been terrified. Go forth and and stand upon the mount, says verse 11. And the glory of Yahweh was revealed to him in wind, earthquake, and fire.

26. 13:14

    You know, Elijah would have been absolutely terrified as he as he felt the effects of all of those things, the earthquake, the wind. Of the fire. You know there. There’s nothing at Sinai Bros and Sisters. Really, that’s combustible. You can’t burn anything. It’s solid granite. But but fire burnt that granite as though it was temper, and Elijah would feel the steering heat.

27. 13:36

    You went back into The Cave, but you notice what it says there in in both in verse 11 and in verse 12 says God was not in those things. God was not in the wind. He was not in the earthquake. He was not in the fire. In other words, God doesn’t change, you or me, brothers and sisters, by dramatics, by miracles.

28. 14:04

    All that miracles can do is is tell you that you’re in the presence of divinity. But that’s that’s all they can do. He uses a different method. He was not in any of those things. He changes us by another method, and that method is there at the end of verse 12. After the fire, a still small voice, and it’s that voice we know that gets Elijah out into the open. It’s that voice that gets him to see what his problem was. A thin, crushed voice is what the Hebrew is. It’s that which changes us the unobtrusive influence of the daily readings.

29. 14:51

    The humble and and simple principles that are put forward by a brother at the Bible class. When we go home and we think about those things and we meditate upon them, it’s it’s those things that change. It’s not the dramatics, not the earthquake, wind and fire. But what fixes the heart, brothers and sisters, is the still small voice getting to the heart of the issue. That’s what Elijah had to learn.

30. 15:18

    And when Elijah saw that he was ashamed, you know, he he wraps his face, says verse 13 in his mantle. Now the mantle was a symbol of the prophetic office. He’s ashamed of it because he realizes now that that that still small voice that he heard there from the Angel was nothing like what he had been doing in Israel.

31. 15:39

    And it was the voice, brothers and sisters, that got him out in the open. It was the voice, the gentle whisper, as the Hebrew has it. It’s the gentle whisper of God’s word that perfects us, that changes us, that got Elijah out of that cave and made him realize that that is what God uses to save men and women. He’d gone down to Soni I to to bring judgment upon Israel. That look, if if they’re not going to do this willingly, then you should force it upon them.

32. 16:08

    God says no. I use a different method. I use the still small voice which gets to the heart of the issue. There’s a subtle difference here in the record. In verse 13 you see what the Angel does is repeats the same question as verse nine. You know in verse 9 the word of the Lord came unto him.

33. 16:29

    What are you doing here, Elijah? But in verse 13 the question comes again from God, but with a difference. And note that difference. Verse nine said the word of the Lord came, but in verse 13 there came at the end of the verse. A voice unto him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

34. 16:54

    And he’s absolutely shaken. And he repeats his prepared statement in verse 14, and I think he would have done so this time with a little bit less zeal and a little bit less fervor. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Host. It would have been said with with much less gusto.

35. 17:16

    Is verse 10 and the Angel doesn’t even answer him. The Angel says in verse verse 15 you go back on your way. You go back on your way to practice the spirit and the power of that voice. Elijah, I want you to return to Israel and practice a different spirit. Not a spirit that wants to call down 5 from heaven, but my voice. Still small voice.

36. 17:46

    Rotherham has the voice of a gentle whisper and speak to the hearts of your brothers and sisters. That’s what converts us, that’s what changes us. It’s the goodness of God, says the apostle Paul, that leads us to repentance, not law driving us to obedience, but the goodness of God. Romans 2 verse four that leads us to repentance. Yeah, What is it that’s more useful? Do this or I’ll belt you or, you know, we choose this principle, brother, because this is what happens. Here’s an example from the Bible, brothers and sisters. Or here’s an example young person of of of why we do what we do.

37. 18:36

    This is why this is the best course of action. And we entreat and we appeal based on that. We get to the heart of the matter. Elijah, I’ve got 7000 in Israel that desperately need your input. They could really use this council, the voice of God, to save. You know, Elijah, both and sisters never really did exercise that during his lifetime.

38. 19:00

    He struggled with that even after this point. But we know one day Elijah will. And how do we know that? Let’s come to the last words of the Old Testament. Malachi Chapter 4. Here is the still small voice now being practiced by Elijah. He’s now learned from his experience at Mount Sania what it is that changes the hearts of men and women. Not the earthquake, not the dramatics, but the still small voice.

39. 19:34

    Let’s just read this carefully. Malachi chapter 4 and verse 4. Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in hora for all Israel with the statutes and the judgments. Behold, I send you Elijah. Why send us, Elijah? To remember, Moses? Why not send Moses? Wouldn’t it be better that’s the one he’s talking about?

40. 20:03

    Well, for this reason, brothers and sisters, Elijah is far better educated. Remember he the law of Moses, my servant. He had gone to Sania to stand in Moses shoes. And God showed him what really changes the hearts of men and women, what what the law was really about, what God was driving at, the spirit of the still small voice. And so he doesn’t send the Moses when he goes back again to to gather the Jews out of all lands in in in the few coming years. Who does he send?

41. 20:37

    He sends Elijah. Because here is the man who now understands what really changes the hearts of men and women. And This is why John the Baptist was sent to speak to their hearts. It was the still small voice of God’s word. And the other interesting thing about this, this passage here, is that there are two keywords in verses 5:00 and 6:00, and we have them highlighted here on the the screen for you. He says, Behold, I send you a lie to the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Yahweh. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

42. 21:20

    And the two words that stand up there like monuments on the earth are before. And lest you know, Elijah went down to sonii. To procure a curse upon Israel. To bring that curse upon them because of their disobedience to God’s law. And Paul and Romans 11 picked that up and he said what she not what the scripture sent of Elijah, how he went to make intercession against Israel.

43. 21:49

    What’s he going to do in the future? God sends Elijah to Israel to prevent it. To prevent that curse, he went to Sania to bring the curse. In the future Elijah will come and. He’ll try to prevent it, and he will. All Israel will be saved. Despite a few rebels in the wilderness. Elijah will speak to their hearts. How ironic that he was the one who went down to Sunni eye to bring the curse.

44. 22:20

    The last words of the Old Testament say I’m sending Elijah back, not Moses. I’m sending Elijah back to prevent the curse. Now how is Elijah going to do that? Well, he’s going to speak to their hearts, isn’t he? You can imagine Elijah leading, leading that nation back as they they go up into the Judean hills to meet their Messiah with with all the eloquence that, you know, a man like Elijah could bring to bear to talk about the goodness of God that that leads people to repentance.

45. 22:48

    He says. I want to tell you, my people, about the Law of Moses. I’m going to tell you, not Moses. I’m going to tell you because I’m now equipped, because I understand really what the Spirit. Of the truth is all about it’s it’s talking to people. It’s appealing to them, it’s speaking to their hearts. And that’s what motivates them to change the goodness of God that leads men and women to repentance. You know, what is it that gets you to break an old habit in your life, brothers and sisters?

46. 23:17

    Is it when somebody reads you the Ryan act? I mean, that might get your attention. Is it when somebody gives you a lecture? Or is it when you think about all the things that God’s done for you? And he’s think about how good he’s been to you, how he sent his Angel to to guide your life.

47. 23:35

    And you think about all the things that he’s given you that you don’t deserve. Isn’t isn’t that which changes you. It makes you better. That’s what Elijah is going to do. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he’d gone to Sony I down there to bring it.

48. 23:54

    So all that was a real to Elijah as we saw in First Kings 19 by. The voice. It was the voice that drew him out into the open. It was the voice that let him move out of that cave and and wrap his face at his mantle, because he knew he could see the point that God was getting at.

49. 24:09

    It was the voice, and you win. John the Baptist voice sounded in the wilderness. Frozen sisters, the record of Matthew Chapter 3 says, and all Judea went out to hear him. They were drawn inextively to that man they came from. From Judea they came. From Galilee, they came from beyond Jordan. They all went out to hear him.

50. 24:34

    It was the voice that drew them, the golden voice that drew them just like like bees on honey. Now, where is the great prophecy in your Bible about John the Baptist? And the voice, of course, it’s it’s Isaiah 40, Isaiah, chapter 40. Here it was a voice. In the wilderness. And of course, where did Elijah hear it? It was at the very apex of the the wilderness in in Mount Sonia.

51. 25:04

    Here is the voice. Of course John had quoted this, didn’t he, About his own work? He said, I’m the voice, They said, Who are you, John? And he quoted the 40th chapter of Isaiah to say I’m the voice. And what kind of voice was it? Was it the voice that Elijah went to Sonia with the verse one says. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Here’s the voice.

52. 25:32

    Elijah didn’t go to Sinai to say comfort ye, comfort ye my people, but this is what the voice will do. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Now if you have a margin, the margin of the the Authorized Version says, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, getting to their hearts, speaking to them in in comfortable words.

53. 25:55

    Just like you do in a thin, crushed voice, which is is the the Hebrew meaning of that voice at Sonyeye. It’s a thin, crushed voice. That’s how you change men and women. That’s how you change hearts. This is what John the Baptist, Coming Brothers and Sisters was all about. But where is the voice heard?

54. 26:21

    Where do we hear that voice? Do we hear it out on the streets here today? Where is the voice heard? Well, Josea said. I will allure her and bring her where into the wilderness, and I’ll speak to her heart, which is the same expression in the Hebrew as Isaiah 40. Now Josea too is all about Gomer, you know, the the unfaithful wife of Josea, who’s really a symbol, isn’t she of.

55. 26:54

    Wayward Israel. And how did Jose I get her to come back? Wasn’t by reading or the riot act, was by alluring her and speaking to her heart. The persuasive voice of God is what changed Gomer, and that voice was heard where it was heard in the wilderness. We’ve got to get out into the wilderness, brothers and sisters, if we want to hear the voice of God.

56. 27:23

    God or Hosea took Gomer. Or God took Gomer, but he did it through Hosea took Gomer out into the waters, where she had nothing. No distractions, no cell phones, no Wi-Fi, none of that. And when she was out there, isolated and alone, God was able to speak to her. And that’s the great message of John the Baptist life.

57. 27:48

    That is the point of these studies. We’ve got to get out into the wilderness, pros and scissors. If we’re ever going to hear the voice of God, because it’s not heard anywhere else, you know we can’t escape our society, can we? You know, we we’re all like rats caught up in a trap. But unless we can create within our minds a wilderness atmosphere, then we can never hear God speaking to our hearts. But hear it we must.

58. 28:19

    And Gomer stood in the wilderness, where she had nothing and God was able to get through to her, that illegitimate, wicked woman God was able to get through to her by speaking to her heart in the wilderness. And that’s why John is in the wilderness. That’s why he wore a camel skin. That’s why he ate grasshoppers.

59. 28:37

    Because he’s telling us, Clear your mind. Come out here and listen to the whisper. It’s only in the wilderness. Where the voice of God can be heard. Simplify our lives, narrow down your influences and open the word in peace and in quiet. You know many, many years ago at Shippensburg Bible School whether John Martin was there and after the Class A bunch of us young guys went up to him and and we said, you know.

60. 29:17

    Brother John, you know, where do you find all these amazing points that you’re sharing in your classes? And he said, boys, they’re not down at the mall.

61. 29:30

    Well, this is back when we had malls in the late 90s. They’re not down at the mall, he said. They’re in the wilderness. That’s where you find the voice of God. You’ll never hear him in the hustle bustle of this world. You have to go out into a wilderness. And when we get out into a wilderness where there’s nothing, it’s remarkable When you get out there, how clear God’s voice is and it’s comfortable. Words, it’s soothing words.

62. 30:01

    It’s not the the gong of this world. It’s soothing. It’s peaceful. It filters the heart. And when there’s no incessant dinging, it’s absorbed. They said to John, who are you? They said, well, I’m the voice in the wilderness. Prepare you the way of Yahweh. If the people wanted to hear John, where did they have to go? They had to go out into the wilderness. John wasn’t in the Judean Hills going shopping. He wasn’t mingling on Mount Garazine with the Samaritans. He was in the wilderness.

63. 30:38

    And if they wanted to hear that whisper, they had to go out and listen to him. I just come back a few pages to to Isaiah 32. While we’re in Isaiah here, this is the same sort of of idea about getting out into the water, and it’s getting away from society. There is the the great lesson of this man’s life.

64. 30:59

    Verse 13 of Isaiah 32, upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars. Yeah, upon all the houses of joy and the joyous city. Because the palaces shall be forsaken, this this 14th verse is talking about the cities of our present world. Okay, New York, Philadelphia, This is what’s about to happen. The cities will be forsaken, The multitude of the city shall be left, the forts and the towers shall be for dens forever a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, until the spirit be poured upon us from on high and the wilderness. Become a fruitful field.

65. 31:42

    You know, that verse isn’t just saying that one day God’s going to change this world to be an Agricultural Society, whereas now it’s an urban one. You know, it’s saying that people that live in these concrete jungles like New York, like Philadelphia, where the whisper of God’s word today is never picked up. One day God will shape this world. Brothers and sisters with an earthquake, you know, they say in that 14th verse there that.

66. 32:07

    You find every single Hebrew word for a city that you can have. Every single word for a city or tower is in that 14th verse. Every conceivable thing you can think of when you think about a city is there in that 14th verse. But what’s it going to be? Soon? It’s going to be a joy of wild asses. They’re all going to be empty.

67. 32:29

    When Zechariah 14, when the earthquake of that chapter happens, there is not going to be a city on this earth. Left standing, and that’s not my opinion, That’s the opinion of seismologist in Australia. They have said that people that don’t believe the Bible have looked at the earthquake of Zechariah 14 and said if that happens, there will not be a city on this earth left standing.

68. 32:51

    Well what? What’s it going to be? What are people going to do when their cities are gone? Well, verse 15 says they’re going to go out into the wilderness. They’re going to go out where God’s spirit has been poured upon high. And the wilderness will become a fruitful field. And when that earthquake levels every city in this world, and it becomes a joy of wild asses, people will drag themselves, and they’ll have their families and their children, and they will go out into the wilderness where there’s nothing, and there God will speak to their hearts. That was why John the Baptist was sent to get people out of this world where there’s nothing. And there he will speak to our heart. Now, what generation that has ever lived in human history has got to hear this lesson more than ours. There are so many distractions today. The attention span of people is only until they hear the next Ding.

69. 33:50

    We’ve got to get out of that. We’ve got to create a wilderness atmosphere in our minds. close the door, turn the Wi-Fi off and open this book and allow God to speak to our hearts. And we’ll leave Isaiah 40 for now. But in each session this afternoon we’re going to have to come back here because this is John’s chapter all the way back in the prophecy of Isaiah. I’d like to just end this first session where we we started off coming back to Luke, chapter one and verse 16. So the spirit and power of Elijah was the the still small voice of Yahweh to save men and women to to speak to their hearts.

70. 34:34

    Isaiah picked that up beautifully in chapter 40. A voice crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of Yahweh at the end of his life and on the mouth of transfiguration. Elijah learnt that. And now John is going to go forward in front of us in our studies over the next two days and show us that still small voice, Luke, chapter one in verse 16 and many. Speaking of what John would accomplish, many will he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the Spirit and the power of Elijah.

71. 35:14

    Let’s just solidify the Elijah John connection, because this this is incredible. Both men came at a time of extreme wickedness, a time when the fathers had had filled up the measure of their iniquity. Ahab’s father means to fill up. Amra means to fill up and Ahab means his father’s brother. So they had filled up the measure of their fathers.

72. 35:39

    So had the men of Israel when John came. Both men, as we’ll see, were dressed in nature, very, very similar in appearance. He was. Elijah raced down the the valley of Jesreel in front of Ahab, believing Ahab had been converted. So John raced before the royal majesty of the Kingdom, our Lord Jesus Christ. Elijah had to give way to the gentler Elijah and John, as we’ll see, had to decrease.

73. 36:11

    He had to stand outside. As John chapter 3 uses a description, he had to stand outside as he made way for the greater Jesus. Elijah means the salvation of God. Jesus means the salvation of God. They had very similar names. And the mantle, as we’ll see, change in exactly the same location. Elijah’s career, you could say as an effective career, was brought to an end when he dared to denounce the unholy alliance of Ahab and Jezebel.

74. 36:50

    And John was brought tragically to death, as we’ll see in our expectation, God willing on Sunday when he dared to denounce the unholy alliance, the unholy marriage of Herod. To A Rhodius, his brother Philip’s wife, you imagine just, you know, doing that with some sort of fictitional book. You’re just taking bits and pieces of it and and lining it all up. This is the word of God.

75. 37:13

    He will go before him in the spirit and in the power of Elijah. You know, it’s a remarkable parallel, but but it’s also a really interesting difference because verse 16 here says and many of the children of Israel shall he turn. To the Lord their God. You know Elijah turned nobody to the Lord their God, I mean true he he left an indelible impression upon that nation.

76. 37:40

    He shook them to their foundations. They didn’t know what hit him, but apart from the widow of Xerafath, there wasn’t even a Jew. Elijah turned nobody to the Lord, their God of John. Here it said in verse 16 that he would turn many. He would turn many to. The Lord their God, so none in the first instance, when Elijah came the first time.

77. 38:07

    Many in the second instance, when John was sent at the first Advent, and then his equal 20 and Malachi force, say that Elijah shall turn the hearts of the fathers to their children when he sent before the Lord at his second Advent. And what would he do? He would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the heart of the children to their fathers. Now what’s that saying?

78. 38:30

    Well, the heart of the fathers there is. The fathers are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If they were around today, and if they were around in Christ day, and they look at their children, they would be ashamed. When Abraham sees that disgusting display at the Western Wall of of an open show of righteousness, he would be totally ashamed of his children. But what?

79. 38:54

    Elijah And what John would do is he would turn the heart of Abraham to his children and in turn the heart of the children who really don’t understand their fathers. They don’t really know what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob taught. If they did, they would accept the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart of the children will look up to their fathers.

80. 39:13

    They will go out to their fathers, as Luke says, the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. They’ll see that their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were wise. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. And one day they will see that, well, it’s John now who’s going to be sent forth to make that happen, That the heart of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will will be proud of his children, and the heart of the children will look with honor upon their father and see that in being justified by faith, he was wise. That is the work that John.

81. 39:52

    Is now going to do And he said, don’t you tell me you’ve got Abraham as your father. You bring forth fruits meat for appentance like he did that’s exactly what John is going to do to make ready a people prepared for the Lord And and I don’t know brothers and sisters of another study that is as relevant to us. We’re on the edge of the return of Christ. We’re about to gaze into the blue eyes of divinity very shortly.

82. 40:23

    And John was sent right on the very edge of the Lord’s appearing to get the people ready for his coming. The disadvantage for you and I is, is that we don’t have a John to walk in that door and to tell us he’s coming. So what we’ve got to do is we got to tell ourselves, we’ve got to tell ourselves he’s coming, he’s coming, and we’ve got to be ready for it. So what are we going to do?

83. 40:53

    Well, we’re not going to learn really many new lessons in this study. I just want you to learn one. And it might be the most difficult of all ages to learn it. But learn it we must, and that is we have to learn to listen to God’s voice. And in order to do that, in order to allow it to penetrate our hearts, we have to make, brothers and sisters, the circumstances of our lives conducive to it, Conducive to hearing the voice. To go out there where there’s nothing to turn the Wi-Fi off or or even better, get it out of our house so that we have a calm and quiet atmosphere in which to to give ourselves to this book and allow his voice to speak to our hearts. That is the great lesson of John the Baptist life and it’s really the only one allowing that voice to speak to our hearts and and making our lives conducive so that we can hear it. And hear it very, very clearly.

84. 41:51

    Now God doesn’t ask us to leave house and home. He doesn’t ask us to to go out and and to to buy a camel skin and live like John did. But what he is saying in that man is that we’ve got to get out of this world. We’ve got to leave our environment and listen to the voice of Yahweh, which we’ll make ready a people prepared for their God. Well, the good news is, brothers and sisters, there’s still time. It’s not too late.

85. 42:20

    And to that end, this weekend we had before us the example of He who is the greatest prophet born among women, and in stark reality, he’s going to lay U.S. Open. He’s now going to be brought forth before us as we see His spirit and power, the voice in the wilderness which will speak to our hearts.