Ryan King - Class 3: The Day of His Exhibition unto Israel

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

1. 0:01

   Welcome back everyone. As we continue our studies for this weekend on John the Baptist allowing God to speak for hearts, We now invite our brother Ryan to lead us in his third class for today, the day of his exhibition on to Israel. Brother Ryan. Good afternoon once again, brothers and sisters. So everybody’s refreshed for the the back half when John was asked by a deputation of the Jews that were sent to him, who are you?

2. 0:52

   It’s interesting to to see that the more John said, actually the less he said the Jewish leaders asked are you the Christ, his answer? I am not the Christ. Are you, Elijah? I am not. Are you the prophet? The Deuteronomy 18 No. Well. Well then, who are you? Nothing, Just a voice. And the very fact that John saw himself as nothing, brothers and sisters, is what allowed God to make him. A voice.

3. 1:28

   See, if there’s one thing that prevents God speaking through people, it’s when we insist on speaking for ourselves. It’s only when we’re able to. Divest ourselves of. Self that God can take our mouth and and. Use. That mouth for his purpose. If we don’t need brothers and sisters who go around the ecclesia speaking their mind, what we need is brothers and sisters who are going to speak God’s mind.

4. 1:55

   And we can only do that, as John is going to show us, when we empty ourselves of our own thoughts, that we might be filled with gods. I am not the Christ. I am not. No. Well, then, who are you? Just a voice, you. Know it’s interesting that he of whom it was said that he’s the greatest prophet born among women.

5. 2:19

   We have just one verse of scripture that spans 30 years of his. Life. I’d like you to just. Focus on that verse of. Scripture now with me in Luke chapter one and. At verse 80. You much like the testimony about our Lord Jesus Christ. We have just a glimpse of him there, don’t we? In the temple dazzling the the doctors of the law. But although this one verse spans 30 years of John’s life, it it really fits his purpose absolutely. Beautifully.

6. 2:50

   Luke won the very last. Verse. The child grew and waxed strong in spirit. His parents are probably have now passed off the scene and was in the deserts until the day of his showing unto Israel. And as as we’ve been repeating throughout the classes, he’s in the deserts. That’s where God’s voice can be heard. That’s where he can be understood. We have to.

7. 3:15

   Isolate don’t we ourselves from this world. You know, I don’t think that. God expects any of us, brothers and sisters, to live like John the Baptist. Yeah, we’re taught in the book of Ecclesiastes to live a a basic life, having contentment with food and raiment. He doesn’t expect us to live like John the Baptist.

8. 3:36

   But what he is saying is that we have to cut off ourselves from this world, go out into a desert, even if in our minds and they’re uncluttered from society, we can hear the voice of God. And that was his message He lived. His message? He was in the desert for all of those years, in a world that seethed an intrigue and all of its class distinctions.

9. 4:00

   The voice was crying. Come out here. Come out here and learn something about. God, but that first says something else. John the Baptist claimed to be just a voice. Now I understand that when you have a. Voice, you listen. But what does that verse say? He was in the deserts until the day of his showing onto Israel, so they were looking at something.

10. 4:32

    It wasn’t just that they were hearing a voice, they were seeing something as well. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about John, he said in Luke 7, verse 24. What went she out? To see. So it wasn’t just a voice. Although John claimed to be only that they were seeing something about, there was something they saw in his character that was impressive too, and we need to go down this morning and we need to have a look at him.

11. 5:02

    This was Vision in the Wilderness, his exhibition in the desert well. What do we? See, let’s come to Matthew chapter 3. Because Matthew. Gives us those details. What went she out to? See. Said the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here he is. And everyone would have seen him, you know, as we turn up that reference, let’s just have a look at the the layout of of the land where John was. John was in the wilderness, the deserts, until the day of his showing.

12. 5:34

    So he was here in the the wilderness of Judea, which is very inhospitable terrain, very difficult. To to to walk. Through because it’s just. Up and down and up and down and up and down. Very dry. He was in the wilderness until the day of his showing onto Israel. Now when John appeared on the scene to the to the nation of Israel, he moved out of the wilderness and he went down.

13. 5:58

    Here on the valley floor, which is we know is the lowest spot on the earth, just north of the dead. Sea on the Jordan River, and there he manifested himself to the people, and everyone would have been looking down on him, these hills. Where you see this, this rough part of the map, those hills are about 3000 feet above sea level.

14. 6:21

    John is down here on the valley floor, probably about 1400 feet below sea level. So everybody’s. Looking down on him, it’s like they’re in a grandstand and down there on the valley floor is this, this aberration? What were they all looking at? Everybody would have seen him looking down the valley floor, down the amphitheater of nature.

15. 6:42

    Matthew, Chapter 3 this is. What they saw. Verse 3 But this is he that was. Spoken by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of 1 crying in the wilderness. Prepare you the way of the. Lord make his past straight, and this same John had his raiment of camel’s hair and 11 girdle about his loins, and his meat was locust and wild honey.

16. 7:05

    Now that is the total of John’s possessions, one leather girdle and one camel’s hair garment. He had nothing. He was completely undistracted by this world. That was all he had. As we said, a camel skin doesn’t have to be dry clean too often, and grasshoppers don’t need much cooking. And because of that, he was available. God could get through to him.

17. 7:30

    God could speak to him. Now it’s interesting that there’s a fascinating difference. We saw the parallels, didn’t we, with Elijah? And Elijah was. Dressed in nature, you know, like a like a piece of granite that was just cut out of the the escarpment of Gillian. But of Elijah, it said that his clothing was the skin of an animal.

18. 7:48

    It doesn’t say what one, but of John, we’re told what animal it was because it says there in verse four that it was Camel’s. Hair. Now, why? Why would the scriptures note that? Well, you’re the camel of all creatures. Brothers and Sisters is made by the creator for the desert. It’s the ship of the Desert. You look at the unique features.

19. 8:15

    Of a camel. A camel has special foot pads which mold itself to the the sand of the desert. If you put a camel on rocky ground, he’s hopeless. But if you put him on the sand of the desert, he’s he’s absolutely sure he has a hump in which to store his food. The poor camel doesn’t know how long he’s going to have to be trotting, so he has a hump that stores food.

20. 8:38

    He’s got a massive 3 chambered stomach. In which to store water so that you can constantly have a a replenishment. Its nostrils are all pinched in. So you see the the blowing sands of of the desert can’t get in his nose because they’re pinched in. It has lips. That are like. Leather so you can eat cactus and all of the the plants that are that are in the desert. It sheds its coat just before the hot weather so it has a thick.

21. 9:09

    Coat in the winter. And it has a small coat. In the summer it can go 100 miles in 12 hours, and if it needs it can go for four. Successive days without a rest. Keeping going and keeping going and keeping going and keeping going and John’s clothes in him. Now you look at look at those characteristics. Doesn’t the word of God need to be in several chambers of our thinking?

22. 9:34

    Don’t we need to have special shoes to get through the terrain of the world? You don’t. We need to have food stored up in case of a a long trial that we’re going through. Don’t we need to have our nostrils, you know, pinched in so we we don’t. Get the, the, the. Degrading sands of criticism and and negativity in there. You know we need to wear warm coats in the winter to prepare for the the.

23. 10:00

    Trials of the Winter. And then when the hot weather is beating down on us, we need to have our our thin coats. He’s adapted to his circumstances. And John’s clothing. And that’s what God is saying to us in that camel. He is made for the desert, and so must we. We’ve got to be made not for this world and to be conformed to that, but to be made for the desert. And you know, the camel was unclean under the law of Moses. He’s a priest.

24. 10:30

    And John’s clothed in him What God has cleansed, brothers and sisters, no man was the dare call common or unclean. That message was reverberating out of John. What went you out to see was dressed in that, because that’s the way that we have to be adapted to hardship, adapted to the difficulties of the desert, having the word of God in in several chambers of our our thinking and what was his His energy bar his his strength. It was Locust now who would live on Locust, I’m told. They taste like almonds, which I’ve never put to the proof, but that’s what I’m told now.

25. 11:13

    This seemed like a strange thing to eat locust until the days in which we live and you can go to Whole Foods and and pick up yourself a bag of chirps which are. Sort of a. A. Cricket based. Potato chip now. But. Everything about this man is is linked. With the desert. He’s eating Locust. Now locusts were clean under the law of Moses, depending on what type you see if a creature, if a little locust could, could spring above the earth.

26. 11:46

    You could eat it. God didn’t authorize them to eat anything that groveled in the in in the dirt. But if a little creature could go doing like that, he’s clean. Now you think about the message of John the Baptist. What is he? Counseling us to do get above this Life spring above. By setting our affection upon what’s above. Get away from the world.

27. 12:08

    Get away from the earth, go out into the desert, and if you can spring above, you’re clean. And he’s eating those grasshoppers. That was his message. You. He wasn’t asking us to do any more than what he’s doing himself. He. Lived his message. You’ve got to get away from this world if ever God is going to to speak to you. And what were the locusts flavored? With.

28. 12:37

    Well, they’re flavored. There with wild honey. Now it doesn’t mean sort of angry honey. That, that is. Wild in In that sense, the word really means natural honey. And where is it found? In the land of Israel? It’s mostly found in the desert under a rock. So Deuteronomy chapter 32 talks about how I gave them honey out of the rock.

29. 12:57

    Now this picture here is a picture of Besada. Which is one of the. The places you can visit. In the land of Israel today. Now what happened when we went to Besseto is in all of these rocks that you see here, the bees had made their nest and they were making honey In between all of these rocks here, actually, there were so many bees and so many Wasps, but we actually couldn’t visit Besseta.

30. 13:20

    Because we would have, Yeah, we would have been. Stung. So there was honey out of the rock. So. But to get everything about this, this man is connected with the wilderness, with the desert. And notes the context of Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32 talks about how God. In in His blessings upon upon Israel, He gave them honey. Out of the rock.

31. 13:44

    And you know what it says to versus later it says, I have brought you into a waste howling wilderness that I might instruct you. And in that context, we read about honey out of the rock. Now what is what is John doing? Come out into the wilderness and learn something about God that I might instruct you. It was in the wilderness where the instruction of the word. Takes place, and we can’t do that literally, but we have to do it in our minds.

32. 14:19

    Close the door. To our studies. Go out, at least in our minds. Walk out into the backyard. And sit down and and open the word. But how we ever going to do that where we sit down we open the Bible and we read for 5 minutes and then Ding. And then we we we address whatever the Ding is and OK when was this first saying to me we read another two minutes and then Ding the. How are we ever going to understand the. Bible like that.

33. 14:49

    How are we ever going to hear God’s? Voice. You put those things away, they’re being, they’re dragging us away all, all the time. Put the cell. Phone away, turn the Wi-Fi off and transport yourself to where the voice of God is heard and he will speak to your heart. As Jose has said, I will allure her into the wilderness and there I will speak to her heart.

34. 15:12

    So you see, the point of these studies, brothers and sisters, is really not very hard to grasp. What’s very difficult is the application, and it’s perhaps harder now than any other age in in human history. You can read articles on, you know, that have been put out by people who have no connection with the Bible, no belief in God at all, and they’ll tell you that the Internet destroys your mind. You know, they’ll tell you that television damages the left hand hemisphere of the brain.

35. 15:42

    Whether it’s a good program or not, that’s what people in the world say, you know, they’ve got no connection at all with with the Bible. So we’ve got to put away those things. John had no possessions, he had no status. He had a very low opinion of himself, but he lived what he taught and God was able to get through to him. His clothing is desert, his food is desert. He lives in the desert.

36. 16:08

    So let’s come to have a look at him now, in the desert in Luke chapter. Three the day of his exhibition unto Israel. What went she out to? See to see ask the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here, here it is. Now good Bible study is is always based. As we’ve been taught on good Bible reading, and here is one of those passages of scripture where all you have to do is read it.

37. 16:31

    Because if the message is so evident, first one of Luke chapter 3, it lists all of the world’s greats. Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being the tetrark of Gala. I mean, how’s this for a who’s who of names and his brother Phillip?

38. 16:52

    Tetrarkovichuria and of the region of Trachinitis in Licinius, the tetrark of Abalini Aniston kaifus being the high priest. The word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias, where in the wilderness you see there’s all the world’s grace. Real prizes, some of them, And there’s all their territory. And it finishes up with the last two. The high priests of the God of Israel himself. And the word of God went past every single one of them. And it goes to John in the wilderness, wearing a camel skin.

39. 17:32

    In the wilderness. Really. Whose territory none of those guys would have wanted you. God can’t get through to Tiberius Caesar. He couldn’t get through to Herod. John tried with Philip and Herod and to pass. But God’s word just wouldn’t find room in their life.

40. 17:52

    But God could get through to John because he was unencumbered with the things of this life. He couldn’t speak through Herod. He couldn’t speak through Tiberius Caesar, because the things of this world were too important. They had a position to protect. They had riches to preserve. But when you’re thinking about those things, brothers and sisters, you can’t think about God.

41. 18:13

    And so the word of God goes. Past everyone of them. And it comes to John in the wilderness, wearing a camel skin. He’s not asking us brothers and sisters to do anymore than what he’s doing himself. There is his message. We have to leave the world. We have to leave our possessions. We have to put. Behind materialism, we don’t need those things. All we need to live a godly life with contentment is the things which God provides, food and raiment and and time. To study the Bible.

42. 18:48

    So John was down here in verse three and he was baptizing, it says the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins now. To a Christadelphian, of course this is a very familiar concept baptism we are all very familiar with. But you see, you have to understand what the scribes and Pharisees taught. See, they thought they taught there was a difference between Jews and well, we’ll call them Gentiles, but they called them dogs.

43. 19:15

    And a Jew, when he came to the age of 13, we know, was inducted as a son of the covenant in a very elaborate ceremony. But but what if a gentile wants to be a son of the Covenant? What do you have to do? You got to wash. Him baptism was something that Jews reserved.

44. 19:35

    To wash filthy. And unclean Gentiles. And what’s John saying here? This is absolutely staggering to them. It’s not just Gentiles who’ve got to get baptized. You’ve all got to get baptized. Unless you’re prepared to all go down into the money stream of Jordan and confess that all flesh is grass, then there’s no way that you’re going to find repentance.

45. 20:01

    You know, imagine, imagine a Pharisee having to to lower his his dignity to that you know, with his his royal. Robes and his broad Philactories. You’ve. All got to get down. Into that muddy mess and confess who you are. Have a look at what John was to do. Come back to John’s chapter. Isaiah 40.

46. 20:23

    So we’ve said we. We’re going to be here in every session because this is the work of John, all spelled out not just in the Gospels, but it’s all predicted here by Isaiah in view of John’s. Preaching the glory of Yahweh was to be revealed, says verse 5.

47. 20:41

    The glory of Yahweh was to be revealed, and all flesh verse five of Isaiah 40 shall see it together. The word together there really means to become alike. It’s the word Ekad. Which means to be united, to to become alike. This glory will bring everyone to a common level, whether you’re rich, whether you’re poor, no matter your race. Everything will be brought to a common level by what John is about to do.

48. 21:16

    All distinctions will disappear, and it was the glory of Yahweh. It says that will that will do that. Now in John chapter one and verse 14 you needn’t turn to it, but it says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we be held as glory. The glory is of the only.

49. 21:32

    Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So there’s the glory of verse 5 being revealed. That’s in John chapter one. John chapter 3 deals with Nicodemus, a man who thought his blood was blue and everybody else’s was red. And John chapter 4 deals with a corrupt, evil woman of Samaria, the other end of the scale.

50. 21:56

    And God brought them together. He met Nicodemus at night. He met the woman of Samaria at the blaze of dead. He said to Nicodemus. God so love the world, He said to the woman of Simarius. Salvations of the Jews. He brought them together. He narrowed Nicodemus’s perspective, and he sorry he brought Nicodemus’s perspective, and he narrowed the woman of Simarius.

51. 22:25

    Because all status, all positions, everything phase into insignificance in the view of that glory and every valley. Was to be exalted. Every mountain hill was to be made low. The crooked places shall be made straight. And so those lives that were crooked in God’s sight would be straightened out and the rough places smoothed over. Now there are four classes in that verse. There’s the valleys, there’s the mountains and hills. There’s the crooked places, and then there’s the rough places. And we come to the record of Luke Chapter 3. There are only four classes of people who asked John questions. There’s the common people that he elevated, the scribes and the Pharisees that he leveled, the tax collectors with all their their crooked.

52. 23:21

    Dealings as tax collectors. He straightened them out, and down came the Roman soldiers with all of their brutality and he said do violence to no man. He smoothed them over. What a remarkable fulfillment there is of Isaiah chapter 40. Those are the only four classes that asked him questions. The common people whom he elevated, the scribes, and the Pharisees, whom he leveled, the tax collectors.

53. 23:48

    He. Straightened out and the rough brutal Roman soldiers, they said what are we going to do? And he smoothed them over. What we want now want to consider is what he said. In fact to each class. Come back to Luke, Chapter 3. So the glory of Yahweh is revealed, and all flesh will be made alike.

54. 24:10

    So who comes there? Well, of course it’s the scribes and the Pharisees as. You can expect that that come for. First they make their presence known immediately. Luke, chapter 3 and verse seven, then set. He to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him a generation of Vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

55. 24:33

    You know in verse 7 where it says they’re the multitude. We know from the parallel account in Matthew chapter three that this in fact was the scribes and the Pharisees. They come first to be a baptized. Do you know what a Pharisee means? The word Pharisee. It means a separate one. It’s a separate one. Have a look at who they’re talking to. Who’s separate?

56. 24:59

    John the Baptist Or then? Down come the separate ones and and John doesn’t even let them open their mouth. The Pharisees who you know could talk, who make long. Prayers for a. Pretense. They don’t even get one word in this record. John just cuts them off before they even get there. He says, oh generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance, so in Isaiah’s prophecy.

57. 25:32

    The mountains are now going because they were the mountains of that. Day. In Jewish society they were the clergy. The mountains are now. John doesn’t even let them get a word in bring forth their forth fruits, meat for repentance and and what he’s actually doing is he’s really drawing on the the figure of the land. You see Jordan overflows its banks during the time of harvest every spring.

58. 26:02

    And if you’ve ever seen a, you know, a river flood and then recede, what it does is it leaves behind it all the the debris and the the trash and the. The. Sticks and the the leaves that leaves that behind it as it as it recedes. Then in the Land of Israel, it gets really, really hot and it bakes all of the debris and the bracken and the trash that the Jordan has washed up and it makes it really, really hard and it’s really caked. And in John’s day, you know who got down into into all that debris and all that bracken snakes. You know, when Zechariah, the prophet, in Jeremiah, the prophet, he warned people about the Jordan. There were Vipers down there.

59. 26:44

    There were lions down there. It was a dangerous place. And So what the farmers used to do is they would sometimes put the torch to that trash and all that bracken down there along the Jordan and out would come all the snakes flinging away. Most serpents and generation of Vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath of the comp, says John, bring forth therefore fruits meat for repentance to the mountains are being leveled.

60. 27:12

    Now the con chapter 4 and verse one said this. The day is coming that shall burn as an oven, and yea upon all that are proud and all that do wickedly, and he will leave him neither root nor branch. And the end of that. Chapter says, Behold, I send you Elijah. So here’s John drawing on the figure of the of the Times.

61. 27:34

    You know who hath warned you to flee from? The wrath to come, you generation of Vipers bring forth fruits, meat for repentance before I ever baptize you. They don’t even get a word in. They don’t even get a word in. You see there in verse. 7 Where it says, oh, generation of Vipers, the word actually is a little brood, A little brood of snakes. That would be fleeing from the this fire that the farmer would would use to to burn up all that. Trash the little little brood of. Of snakes.

62. 28:07

    Many years later, Jesus came along and he called them a generation of Vipers. But then he said, oh, generation of Vipers, he said. You serpents and he used a mature word. Therefore for serpents they’re just a little brood here. But by the time the Lord comes along in Matthew chapter 23, where he absolutely up Abraids them for. Their iniquity he calls them.

63. 28:30

    Serpents. Since this little. Brood and now matured in its iniquity and it become a full blown serpent. You have to change your thinking before I’ll ever baptize you. By the time the Lord came, they hadn’t changed and they had grown up. Now just to remind ourselves where we are, John is baptizing right here where this this arrow is.

64. 28:56

    At Bethabara. Bethabara, you may remember, was where the children of Israel crossed in the days of the Exodus. He’s not baptizing in the Dead Sea, he’s baptizing a little further north in the Jordan at Bethabara. Nobody says next says, Don’t think to say within yourselves that we have Abraham to our father, But I say unto you that God is able of these stones.

65. 29:24

    To raise up children unto Abraham. Do you remember? What Joshua did with the stones when they crossed. You see, there were stones in the Jordan, in the muddy filth of Jordan, that the priest had to pick up 12 of them and put them in the land, and then Joshua not the priest. Joshua took 12 Stones that were native to the land, native to the land.

66. 29:47

    He took those 12 Stones and put it back in Jordan, and Jordan washed him over Joshua. Did that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. So just because you’re native to the land, just because you’re Abraham’s natural descendants, that doesn’t mean anything. Joshua took the. Stones that were native to the land and stuck them in the Jordan, and then stones that weren’t native to the land. You could say gentiles.

67. 30:18

    Stones that aren’t native to land were picked up out of the muddy filth of Jordan. And put in glory in the promised land, God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. He just keeps on going. I mean the invitement, Just, just. You get a. Feeling here for the way John thought about these people, he. He knew they.

68. 30:38

    Absolutely needed a dressing down and he says the. Axe. Is laid verse 9. At the root of the tree. Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. You know, when Israel planted a fruit tree, they weren’t to touch it for three years. They were to leave that alone and give it to God. They did bear fruit in the fourth year. They chopped it down.

69. 31:12

    So John is here at the beginning of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, which lasted 3 1/2. Years. And he’s saying there’s an axe. At the root of that tree, you got. Three years bring forth, therefore, fruits, meat for repentance. Three years later, Jesus comes along and he gives a parable in Luke chapter 13, a parable of of a fig tree and a vineyard. It’d be going for three years.

70. 31:43

    It hadn’t brought forth fruit and he says cut it down. And someone says, well, let it go a little further. Let let’s see if it if it brings fruit. If it doesn’t, then cut it down. Look at the correlation now between John and and Jesus in their teachings and your brothers and sisters. We don’t know how much longer we have. Is it three years?

71. 32:06

    I don’t know. There’s an axe. It’s there if we don’t bring forth fruits, meat for apprentice. I like to think about that first because I think, you know, I think I’ve got an unlimited amount of time in life. You know, I always. One of my worst problems is I think we’ll do it tomorrow.

72. 32:23

    But there’s an axe if I don’t bring forth fruit. We’ve got to do it now. Today, if you will hear his voice said the song harden not your heart. What a what a verbal blast this is from from John. Who could stand up to that the mountains not accepted. Don’t come here until your attitude changes.

73. 32:45

    What about the valleys? What about the? Yous and mes? What about the working class, verse 10? The people? This is the common people, asked him, saying what? What shall we do? John, you know the common people? They. They would have just. Witnessed the Pharisees, you know, getting upbraid. They’d have been a little bit more confident. You know, John, we’re not like those guys, you know, we’re not proud we’re not.

74. 33:11

    Materialistic. You know, we’re we’re just, we’re just common folk. We’re not like those Pharisees. What what should we do? He that’s got two coats, give one away and every eye in that audience would have been on his coat. And if he offered you his coat, brothers and sisters, you wouldn’t take it.

75. 33:38

    And he that has food. Let him share it, and all eyes are looking at a handful of grasshoppers, and if he invited you to dinner, brothers and sisters, you’d feel sick.

76. 33:54

    Those are the only two things, in fact, that we know about John’s personal circumstances, and they’re the only two things he tells the common people. What he ate and what he. Wore. You know, as I was going through these notes this morning, I was thinking to myself. You know, I would love to be in that position.

77. 34:14

    You know, I would love to be able to to tell you today to you know you need to do this in your life and you need to do that in your life and and every one of those things that I’m telling you I do in mind but but I don’t But see John could say that you know without any. Hypocrisy at all.

78. 34:34

    You know, I’ve. I’ve got a, you know, nice suits. I’ve got a car. I live in a. Better than average home, yeah. I wish I could stand up here and say, you know, whatever you see me do, do the same yourself. But. He could. He wasn’t asking any of us to do what he hadn’t done himself. Share your coat and share your food. You know, hearts.

79. 34:55

    Hearts would have melted. You know, the common people come up confident. They’ve just watched the Pharisees get blasted. We’re not like those guys. Well, what would we do, John? And then they all look at his coat and they all look at his food and they think, well, now they have something to think about.

80. 35:14

    Now they have something to to think about. John didn’t let anybody off easy and. What he told the common people that those are the only two things we know about him. His food. And what he ate. So they now have something to think about. So the common people, as opposed to the scribes and the Pharisees, the common people.

81. 35:32

    Are elevated. If they could take that advice and put it to practice, they would be elevated. The Who’s next? Class #3, The publicans. Now these, of course, are the people. They are the crooked places of Isaiah chapter 40. Look all their crooked dealings as as tax. Gatherers. And they’re going to be made straight, they’re going to be smoothed over, you know, the tax system. In that day was was known as the farming system, and it was. Full of corruption.

82. 36:04

    You had the the treasurer in Rome who was at the head and he would say to his under treasurer, you look, I don’t care what you charge, this is my cut. And then the under treasurer would say to the under under treasurer, look, I don’t care what you charge, but the Roman treasurer needs this and I need this and well, whatever you charge is your business. And then the under under treasurer would go to the Matthews and would go to the to the Zachiuses and say well the Roman treasurer wants this and the Under Secretary wants this and the under Under Secretary wants this and I don’t care what what you get but.

83. 36:43

    This is what we need. And so people like Zachius and people like Matthew had to charge exorbitant amounts just to get to get any. Way to survive. It was called the farming system controlled by the. The treasure in Rome they had to charge. Incredible. Amounts, which is why people. Hated them. You know, I thank God that I’m not, as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even this public. I mean, it’s.

84. 37:11

    Hard to to overemphasize how much these these guys tax collectors were despised. So what does? John, say to them, Tegan, let them off easy. Verse 13, exact no more. Than what has appointed you. Oh, that really hurt. I mean, there’s there’s no place that you can hurt someone in the world more than hitting them in their pocket every time you hear of a tax increase.

85. 37:37

    You know, every time you get a bill in the mail, I mean it. Hurts. He says if the taxes say that’s how much you received and that’s what you receive, only tax what you need exact, no more. Than what is appointed to you? That would hurt. Because you see, all the cream is gone. All the, all the extra that that a tax collector would want, that’s all gone.

86. 38:02

    Only tax what you need. I mean, he may get a little bit of Commission, but all the cream, all the extra money is gone. If you follow that advice. You know you live paycheck to paycheck, just exact no more than what is required. You only take what you need. And nothing more that the rough places would have been straightened out, wouldn’t they? The crooked places.

87. 38:30

    They would be straightened out in the view of of that advice. You know, one thing that impresses me every day is when Paul said the love of money is the root of all evil. There is not a crisis in this world. There is not a crime that is committed that does not have somewhere along the line to do with money.

88. 38:52

    Money is at the bottom of every ill that we see in the world. And that’s where John hit them. Exact. No more than what is appointed exact. No more. That would have really hurt. I mean, these are already people who are ostracized, people who are hated, people who maybe need to have needed to lift up in life. He.

89. 39:13

    Said you only take what you need. He didn’t necessarily tell them to to give up their vocation. He said only take what you need, be content with what you have. The crooks were straightened out. I knew who the 4th class was that came down of all people. Down came the Roman soldiers in all their brutality.

90. 39:41

    And as they sent their delegate to John, you know the guy would have plunked his spear in the ground and say what do we do in a threatening manner. Hey you, what do we do? What do you have to say? To us, did John shrink back in in fear? John told them three things.

91. 40:00

    He said do violence to no man, don’t accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages. Now the three things really all have to do with one thing, and that’s money. Do violence to no man. What they would do is the Roman rations were very, very small. And So what would they do to make extra money? Get extra rations?

92. 40:24

    They would threaten people. They would do violence to them and take their rations, he says. Do violence to no man, nor accuse any man falsely if they wanted to get in the good graces. Of a of a. High-ranking general. Or or or. Legion in the in the Roman army, a legionaire. They go to him and say well, he you know so and so is plotting against you and. There’s this.

93. 40:48

    There’s this. Aim to to take down your position. I’ll tell you all about it if you pay me and be content with your wages. The Roman soldiers did not make very much all three of those things. Actually have to do with one thing. Money. Brothers and sisters, how much did John have in the bank?

94. 41:12

    Think money worried him? How diversified was his portfolio? Are we content with our wages? If I was to tell you that you’re going to get a 20% pay cut starting next month, how did you feel? A 25% pay cut, a 30% pay cut, how would you feel? Would you still be content? I mean, it’s one thing to say I don’t have a problem with money when you got plenty.

95. 41:43

    But what if? What if someone started started poking you and started taking more and they’re taking more now? How would you feel? Be content with what we have, and I think what that means at the end of the day, brothers and sisters, is. That we always live within our means. We should always live within our means.

96. 41:58

    We don’t rack up credit cards, You know, we don’t spend beyond what is necessary. We live within our means. Before a wife, we learned to live within our husband’s salary. We don’t spend beyond it or or look for ways to to get around the the barriers that he has set. We’re content always with what we have. John says.

97. 42:24

    Take the salary you’ve been given, Roman soldier, and be happy with that. The rough places were made smooth, You know, I wonder how you could have been a Roman soldier after. Implementing those three things. I mean, I don’t know if you could. I mean, this is a verse that back in the days of the Vietnam War, our brethren would be getting hit with, you know, So John doesn’t say give up their, their job as soldiers, does he?

98. 42:49

    Well, if you put into practice that advice, I don’t know how good of a Roman soldier you’d be because that was their lives. That was how they survived. But he smoothed. Them over. And so there is. The summary Every valley shall be exalted, the common people were elevated, every mountain and hill the scribes and the Pharisees were leveled, the crooked places were made straight, and the rough places plain.

99. 43:19

    Or, as Isaiah 40 put it, the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall become alike everybody’s on one level after that exhibition. The crowd would have gone home and. Not only would they been, really. Struck with what they heard, brothers and sisters, but it says in verse 15 that all men mused in their hearts whether he was the Messiah.

100. 43:46

     Or not if they’re thinking, oh boy, I hope he’s not the Messiah. Because if he’s the Messiah boy, if I got to clean up my life because his his example was so unhypocritical. Everything he said he did in his own. Life. And you can imagine the common. People you know, heads down. Low and thinking well you know I really wanted a vacation and you know I I really wanted to live in prosperity like a Pharisee.

101. 44:11

     But you know I guess it’s best that I I share what I have the Pharisees would have the Pharisees would have murmured in themselves. You know who is he to call us those names in front of the people. I mean we came down here with with good intentions we thought we were serious and and he said all those things about us about fleeing from the wrath to come and.

102. 44:31

     You know, the publicans would would go away and you know, they’d say, well, you know, if it’s one thing for him to say not to charge more, but, you know, I’ve got to make a living and and I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do. And well, the truth may be important and I may need to get down to my Bible study and I may need to go visit those who are sick. But, you know, I got to earn a living too. And if I.

103. 44:54

     If I do what he does, if I play it straight, then I’m not going to get the things that I want. And the soldiers might say, well, you know, it’s it’s one thing for him to be living in a desert, but but how can we do this occupation if we’re not violent? If I, if I’m not rough, if I don’t, you know, mess people up and and hurt them, then how can I make a dollar? And and and all that.

104. 45:14

     That really hurts. So they’re all. Amusing in their hearts whether John is the Messiah. Do you know why? Because all of them. Pharisee, commoner, publican. And soldier would would have to say in their hearts, finally, that that however difficult it may be for me, I cannot say. That guy’s A hypocrite. What winch you out to see? Ask the Lord Jesus Christ.

105. 45:41

     Yeah, that tells us, brothers and sisters, about the power of an example. The name of John became a household word. All. Over the world, as we saw in our opening point, they knew him in Asia Minor, they knew him in Egypt. He was all over the land. Not because he broadcasted how great he was, but. Because it was.

106. 45:57

     Awe. Inspiring example of singleness of mind. He lived what he said. Now, do we? If we say something, do we do it? If we say we’re going to do something? If we say we’re going to fulfill a commitment, do we do it or do we drag our heels? You know, heads would have been hung in shame on that day.

107. 46:16

     But you know, Luke doesn’t leave it there. I’d like to finish with verse 18. You know, the people would have all gone away in their hearts, and all that that hurt, and how am I ever going to apply that? But that’s not all John did on that day when verse 18 it says, and many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. I’d like to just give.

108. 46:41

     That to you from from the dye block, and exhorting many other things, he proclaimed glad tidings unto the people. Glad tidings. That’s Isaiah 40 unto the people. So you pictured on John down there on the on the valley, for he had left them with with stinging rebukes advice that that would have been really really hard to implement. It would have hurt.

109. 47:10

     I mean to tell to tell the public and you got to you got to only. Charge. What is necessary and what the system says? Would have been very difficult. You’re telling the. Soldiers, you essentially have to give up your jobs if you want to survive. Would have been very, very difficult. But you know the strength of that beautiful golden voice didn’t just dwell upon the negative, he also went to the positive.

110. 47:34

     He would have said to the Pharisees, he would have said to the people. Let me tell you what the Kingdom of God is going to be like. He gave them encouragement. Yes, yes, I know I’ve had some hard things to say. Yes, I know I’ve had some some difficult things to say. But. But let me tell you what the Kingdom’s. Going to be like.

111. 47:50

     See, he gave them an incentive to press on. He gave them motivation to continue. And yet whilst to bark at people, they have its place.

112. 48:05

     We have to supplement everything we say that’s hard with some, with some kind of encouragement, and make people in our number feel like it’s worth carrying on like the Kingdom is. Worth fighting for, Otherwise we’ll never really change. Anyone. So verse 18 says there that, you know, yes, John had some hard things to say.

113. 48:26

     And we have some hard things to say at times too, especially in this age where, you know, we can see the world making inroads into the brotherhood. You know, we can see that that things are challenging and we have to point out those challenges, but but let’s make. Sure that we’re. Also giving people a reason to carry on.

114. 48:42

     That’s what John did with many other things. In his exhortation he preached glad tidings. One to the people you know, it’s it’s the majestic and and powerful expositions that have changed me far more than getting a lecture from someone you know. It’s those positive things that we hear from the word. Even the most simple exhortations have been the most. Powerful because they encouraged me that yes, it is worth going on.

115. 49:14

     So what went we out to see? Brothers and sisters? Look at those. Four classes put yourself there. How are you going to apply that advice? It says we lay in bed tonight as we we go to bed, you know, let’s let’s try to get a mental picture of that of that day as John is down there on the valley floor exhorting all of these people. You know, let’s let’s say in our prayers before our God that we will try to make the most of the time that we have left. Let’s take away those things that in our lives are not necessary.

116. 49:48

     To say that, you know, I’m sorry, Lord, for the the time that I’ve wasted in my life. And I and I want to use it better and grind on in this wilderness and help me to make time to hear the voice, that the voice that kings and Queens and and prime ministers and presidents will never ever hear.

117. 50:06

     And that’s the wonderful. Voice of God’s Word. And let me never cease to be impressed with the power of what I went out that day to see. I’m not.