Ryan King - Class 5: Exhortation - John the Baptist

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

1. 0:00

   At this time, brothers and sisters, I like to go forward brother Ryan King, who will be providing today’s word of exportation which he has entitled, of whom the world was not worthy for the. Thank you, Brother Roberto, and good morning, my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring with me the love and the fraternal greetings of your brothers and sisters who made the Petersburg Eclaisure in Richmond, VA, specifically.

2. 0:37

   Brother Paul and sister Donna Gatanas. I always believe in doing that. But you know, sometimes when I get home they say, well, we didn’t even know you were going. Well. Paul and Donna Gatanas told me to tell all of you and send you your love.

3. 0:55

   Well, the portable Shining hand lamp is now about to go out and it will leave behind it that phosphorus light, that permanent light. That nothing could ever put out. And the time had come now for John. And by a simple comparison of Matthew with the other Gospels, we learned that John was killed at the Passover season, just 12 months before our Lord Jesus Christ would suffer a similar fate. He was a forerunner, brothers and sisters in every sense of that word.

4. 1:35

   John the Baptist said come. And they had done unto him whatsoever they listed, you know, it was on the same day that 70 disciples came back to the Lord Jesus Christ, flushed with success. Lord, the spirits are subject unto us through thy name. And as they came from that direction, telling them all about the success they had had in their preaching, there came a man from the other direction who said, they’ve killed John the Baptist.

5. 2:06

   He knew that John would suffer, but although he knew it, it certainly did not detract from the pain and the sorrow that he would have felt. And so in that 31st verse of Mark Chapter six, he seeks solace on the other side of the lake. And he sat there on the other side of the lake, and he fed the multitude.

6. 2:27

   And it was the spring. So John was beheaded right at the Passover season. Just 12 months before our Lord Jesus Christ, when we left John imprisoned in Mccarris just below the banquet hall while Herod was celebrating this great feast on his birthday. The custom at that time was is that Caesar always had a great celebration in Rome on his birthday and because they all considered Caesar to be a God and all reflections of him. Every Roman Tetra in the land and all over the world would have on their birthday a similar celebration. It was the great recognition of he who was Caesar in Rome, and it being his birthday, we read in Mark 6 and verse 21. Herod now invites the Lords, the high captains, and the chief of states of Galilee.

7. 3:30

   So putting all that together, they were the high officials of the court. The legal system was there, the high captains, the captains. Over 1000 as the word means, the military was there, and the chief of states, the word means landowners in the province. And there they were, the gods of this world, the legal system, the military and all the landowners, the rich, all people who stood in the exact.

8. 3:59

   Opposite position to that man who is now down below in the dungeon. The crowd in verse 21 is the crowd of Luke chapter 3 in verse one that God missed when he sent out his word and he gave it to a man that they would not deign to spit on him to spit on. That’s the crowd who is here now. The Herod’s birthday, as I said, was meant to be a replica of. Caesar’s birthday and these parties that they had always ended the same way, that when men had imbibed very heavily and they’re beginning to see double they’re free and open with each other, they would bring it forth into the hall a woman, some loose, immoral woman who would excite them. And these women were not usually from the noble class. But this was different.

9. 4:59

   Who was the woman on this occasion? Well, verse 22 says it was the daughter of the said Herodius. Now that’s not usual. Typically they just drag some poor person up there. But here we have the daughter of the said Herodius. Now who is she? Well, she’s a Princess. She was born of Mary Amney, the wife of Herod the Great. A Maccabee, and she was a descendant of the High priest of Israel.

10. 5:32

    Now debasing herself in this manner, Josephus says that her name was Salome. Salome. Like Shalom, peace, it was anything but peace, brothers and sisters, on this day and putting all the Gospels together. Mark says that this woman danced, but Matthew says that she danced among them. She kind of whizzed her way between the tables, and that wasn’t usual either.

11. 6:02

    So they tell me. But the girl left the stage and moved amongst the tables. Imagine, no, don’t imagine that. That’s the world that we don’t understand. God be thanked. And so Herod the fox now feels like Herod the lion. The world is at his feet. And all these greats are here paying him homage.

12. 6:28

    And poor John is downstairs hearing all of that. He would have heard the noise. He would have smelled the wine. And it was Harrod’s birthday. And John had been a NASA right from his birthday. He had never drunk wine at any time in his life. Here we ask ourselves the question, where would we have been on that day, brothers and sisters? Would we be with John down there in the prison, with the water leaking, because we had made a stand against the pleasures of this world, because we had denounced an unjust and unholy marriage?

13. 7:10

    Or we’ll be up there enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, Herod, now in inflamed with wine, says at the end of verse 22. In this ribe old voice, whatsoever you ask, I will give you to the half of the Kingdom, he says to Salome. Whatsoever you ask, that will give you to the half of my Kingdom.

14. 7:32

    And the crowd would just roar with approval. You know, half of my Kingdom was a proverbial expression, and no ruler would give up half of his Kingdom. What it really means there is something priceless. You have something beyond, beyond your thinking. You know, a gift that you wouldn’t expect Half of My Kingdom. You know where that comes from.

15. 7:57

    You know where that particular request is said elsewhere. Just keep your hand here and come back to Esther. Esther Chapter 5. What’s Herod doing quoting this? Esther Chapter 5 and verse 3. The half of my Kingdom. Well, here it is in Esther Chapter 5 and verse 3.

16. 8:23

    Then said the king, that is A has your ears under her. What wilt thou, Queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be given thee to the half of the Kingdom.

17. 8:38

    That’s what A has your ears said to Queen Esther, because he was so impressed with her beauty of character. She had access to all the the cosmetics that the Persian Kingdom could manufacture, and she wanted none of them, just those things that were necessary for godliness of character. And he has your ears. Loved her so much, he said.

18. 8:59

    I’ll give you to the half of my Kingdom. What is your request, Esther? And have a look at this girl in Mark chapter 6, debasing herself in that party. Well, she’s got the promise. Behalf of my Kingdom. And what she does is she goes back to her mom to Herodius. What shall I ask? Just come back to mark chapter 6. And the Bible is just so wonderful in the way it’s put. All you have to do sometimes is is read it to get get the feeling of the story.

19. 9:29

    There’s a brevity of words in the scriptures but you know that’s done by gods that we might think about what’s happening. Herodius has got no idea what request is coming. 1st 24 She went forth and said it to her mother. What shall I ask? I mean, half of the Kingdom. I mean, wow, what am I going to to ask? Herodious.

20. 9:51

    You know, she doesn’t say, Well, you know, I’d like a new Tesla or a new dishwasher. I might ask that. What do you want, mom? The head of John the Baptist? No hesitation. Whatever. What do you want? The head of John the Baptist? She doesn’t say I want John Kilt. She says I want his head. Because it was his thinking, his Nazarete thinking, his wilderness thinking that she despised, that she detested. What shall I ask the head of John the Baptist? That’s how much she hated him.

21. 10:27

    No hesitation at all. Didn’t really even know what question was coming. What do you want, mom? The head of John the Baptist and the word head appears four times in this section. 4 is the biblical number for righteousness. It was his righteous thinking that she despised because John had the audacity time and time and time again to say it is not lawful.

22. 10:49

    It is not lawful for you to be doing this. I want his head, says Hirodius. She instructs her daughter to go back in and straight way. She doesn’t want any time wasted. Straight way. Verse 25 and Mark adds these words with haste. Straightway verse 25 With haste I will thou give me by and by the word by, and by there means instantly she doesn’t want any time wasted. Straightway with haste instantly get me the head of John the Baptist.

23. 11:27

    The head The thinking of John is what she despised and what did she want to do with that head. And this reveals how how sick she was. She wanted that head in verse 25 on a charger. The word charger just means a plate. A head on a plate. Now why would she want that? Well, first of all, I think she wanted that head on a plate because she wanted to be absolutely sure it was him. You know, it wasn’t good enough to hear about it from somebody else.

24. 12:00

    Okay, we took care of John. Now you can move on, Hirodius. She wanted it on a head so that she could see it. There was no doubt it was him. Secondly, she wanted that mouth that had been chomping against John. She wanted that mouth shut so that everybody could see it there on the plate. Do you still think it’s not lawful for us to be married? Husband?

25. 12:26

    Do you still think it’s unlawful for us to be married? Now it’s shut. And there was, of course, in that. Something very very sick because it’s a head on a plate at a party and it would have been a gruesome joke. This was the dessert served up at a birthday party. What a woman you no wonder the Lord Jesus Christ. When he heard about that he left the area. He said I I need to be alone and he went went away in the wilderness when he.

26. 13:04

    He thought about what they had done to John. Well, Herod hears that request, and in verse 26, remember Herod likes John. Verse 26, the king was exceeding sorry. He was exceeding sorrowful. You know how intense that is, Those two words there in verse 26, you just flip over a few pages to mark chapter 14.

27. 13:32

    The same two Greek words are used here in March chapter 14, exceeding sorry, where the Lord bends his head, bows his head in Gethsemane, and verse 34 says, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. You know we know the agony, don’t we of Gethsemane, my will, your will, my will. You’re well. Well now.

28. 14:01

    Herod’s feeling that he was exceeding sorrowful, you know, he would have sobered up really quickly when that request came. And those those words of that girl would have just pierced him like a dagger he was exceeding. Sorry. But here’s the problem that Herod has. Everyone in the room heard him. The legal system had heard him, the military had heard him. The landowners had all heard him, and he can’t afford to lose face, can he?

29. 14:33

    He can’t go back now. And so he gives in to their request, and he takes the life of John the Baptist. And so John’s head, brothers and sisters, was sacrificed on the altar of pride, and in fierce opposition to the greats of this world, he could not have suffered a more fitting. And a bore honorable death. John’s head was sacrificed on the altar of pride and in fierce opposition to the greats of this world. Now wasn’t that exactly how John had lived his life? A man in a camel skin, living in the desert completely unencumbered with all the things that haired antipass in this world worries about John didn’t have those things. Everything that the world esteems is great. John had isolated himself from.

30. 15:30

    He’d isolated himself from possessions, just had the basics of what he needed to live, and he gave his mind to the wonderful voice of God’s word, until finally he sacrificed his life, his mind in opposition to the greats of this world. And his example now speaks to us brothers and sisters. John has gone before us this weekend, the voice that we all have to listen to, that we stand with God against the emotions and against the pleasures of mankind, and having enough to live a godly life with contentment to not worry about our four O1 KS our raises. All of those things will be taken care of just to give our minds to the wonderful voice of God’s worth and if necessary, to sacrifice our life.

31. 16:21

    In opposition to the greats of this world, you what God thought of that. You what God thought of what they did to John. It’s not written in the Bible, but the historians tell us very clearly what happened in a D39 about 10 years later here at Antipass appealed to Caesar. He wanted the title of King and Caesar, of course.

32. 16:49

    Knowing Haired Antipass’s dubious history was unwilling to do that. He was worried handing A haired Antipass might be a threat. And so he sent him where he sent Haired Antipass and his wife Herodius to a dungeon in Spain, and there he died. At the end of his life he had no more money, He had no more possessions.

33. 17:18

    It was all gone and he was down there 10 years later, at the end of his life in a dungeon with his wife. The justice of God is always poetic. As a man sows that shall he also reap. He finished up exactly where John finished up. But look at the difference. John will be in the Kingdom.

34. 17:36

    One day the Lord Jesus Christ will snatch that head back and put it on John and stand him on the earth again. There will be no future whatever for Herodana pass, or for herodious. You know what they did to Salome? Or what happened to her several years later? She was on a lake, a frozen lake. Some parts of the ice were thin.

35. 18:06

    So she steps out onto the lake and she begins to slide. She loses her balance and she starts moving along the lake to where the ice was thin. And she fell down through the ice. And as she fell down through the ice, you know what happened to her head?

36. 18:26

    Off it went. She had said, I want his head, the hair at Annie Pass. And she died going through the ice in a lake. And as she went through the ice, her head made contact with the ice, and off it went. God dealt. With this family, he rewards you exactly how you reward others, because they had treated John in that manner. They were dealt with like.

37. 18:59

    So we come down to the 7th chapter of Luke. John is gone, and just before that gruesome moment, he sends a question to Jesus Christ and Luke records for us what that question was. You know Herod would have been glad to allow communication between John and Jesus. He this is back during the days when he was trying to save John from his wife. So in Luke chapter seven, we read these words, verse 16, and there came fear on all and they glorified God saying a great prophet has risen up among us and that God has visited his people.

38. 19:40

    Now that’s exactly as your margin indicates what Zachariah said. When John the Baptist was born, he said, God has visited his people, and he had not only in the person of John the Baptist, but now in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so with Zechariah’s words now echoing before us once again in verse 19, John, calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for another?

39. 20:13

    So this is John’s question in the prison he sends a message to Jesus, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? You know, we sometimes try, I think in our sincerity and love for biblical characters to to skirt the obvious. You know, people say, well, John didn’t doubt it was for the IT was for the cause of the disciples.

40. 20:40

    That John asked that question, it wasn’t for his benefit. The brothers and sisters that that will not fit that context. John had been continually telling those disciples to follow Jesus. They’re hardly likely to then go to the Lord Jesus Christ to be convinced of him whom they saw as John’s opposition in contrast to what John was telling them all the time. They’re not likely to be convinced to follow him by going to the Lord.

41. 21:08

    No, that wouldn’t be the reason. The context of this chapter, Bros and sisters, demands that that doubt in verse 19, if we want to call it that, was John’s verse 22. Go and tell John what things you have seen and heard. If the answer is for John, that must mean that the question came from John. There’s no perfect character in the Bible. Except one.

42. 21:42

    All the great heroes of faith have their failings. John wavered on just this one occasion. You know, after everything that had happened, he says. Are you the one? Are you really the one? But before we we criticize John and start throwing stones, think of John down there in that dark dungeon. With all the rioting, he knows he’s about to die any moment and he just wanted some reassurance. Are you the one?

43. 22:18

    Please tell me he just wanted some reassurance. You know, don’t we all need reassurance, fellows and sisters in our lives? Let’s not criticize John. He’s human, just like all of us. I’ve seen miracles done in my life. I’ve seen God’s hand at work in my life. And I could all stirred up. For about 30 minutes, and I need reassurance every day of my life constantly to keep me going. If we need it, brothers and sisters, in our comfortable circumstances, then please be considerate of John down there in the prison who momentarily doubted in a cold, dark dungeon with an imperious woman there to kill him. He knows any minute he’s going to die. Wouldn’t you want reassurance if you were in that position? Let’s bear thought for that poor man. So how is Jesus going to answer him? He knows John is struggling.

44. 23:19

    He doesn’t say to John. But don’t worry John, I’m the one you know Jesus. He he always engages the mind of his followers. Look at his response in in verse 20 they asked the question, art thou he that should come? Or do we look for another? And Jesus says to the disciples of John, just stand over there, just stand over there.

45. 23:40

    And then he goes to work, and he heals like he’s never healed. Verse 21. The same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, And unto the many that were blind, He gave sight. So he goes into a fervor of activity. The lame are healed, the blind can now see, the lepers are made clean. And the disciples of John are watching this. And then he says, go tell John this, Go tell John this, Go your way, verse 22.

46. 24:08

    And tell John what things you’ve just seen and heard. How that the blind see the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the death. Here the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached. And that was Jesus’s answer to the poor. The Gospels preach. Go tell John that you can imagine those messengers, those disciples, going back to Mccarris and finding John.

47. 24:40

    You know John is down there in the dungeon, pacing back and forth with anticipation. John, you should see him. He’s giving sight to the blind. Layman stood up. Lepers are being cleansed. He went to work like you’ve never seen him go to work. And and when your dad said that God has visited his people, that’s exactly what’s happening.

48. 25:00

    They’re all saying that all over the land. And then he said to tell you, John, to tell you to the poor. The gospel is preached. Now there wouldn’t be have been a poor man on the earth at that time, and that poor man languishing in that prison. And that was his answer you noticed in verse 22, all of those things are physical.

49. 25:28

    The blind see the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, The death here, the dead are raised. And then this one is different to the poor. The gospel is preached, and that’s Isaiah 61. Let’s come back to that because Jesus here gives him his answer. Your John didn’t. Jesus didn’t say to John, yes, I’m the one, but he directed John to the answer himself. You know, it’s always the best way to deal with a person who’s got a problem is.

50. 26:00

    Send them to find the answer in the Bible. They’ll be richly rewarded and that’s what Jesus does here. To the poor the gospel is preached. Isaiah 61. Now John would have known that even even the the casual Jews recited scriptures. He would have known this scripture. Isaiah 61 It’s all about the good tidings of the Kingdom of God, the gospel being preached. Verse one, the Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me. Because Yahweh hath anointed me, Yes, I’m the one, John. And here it comes to preach good tidings unto the meek. The word meek there is poor to the poor the gospel is preached. You go tell John that here it is in Isaiah 61 to preach good tidings the gospel unto the poor. John would think, Ah, Lizzie’s down in there in the prison, good tidings to the poor.

51. 26:57

    Yes, yes. But what does Jesus stop before he gets to? He doesn’t quote the rest of the verse, does he? What does the rest of the verse say? He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

52. 27:20

    And Jesus stopped short of that, saying he would say, yes, I’m the one. And John would hear those words. He would know where they’re coming from. But John, I can’t open that prison just yet. But that verse says that ultimately, one day it will be opened. Verse two, in an acceptable time, it will be opened. You’re not going to get out of this, John. Not now.

53. 27:53

    But one day I will open it for you. Now remember, when Jesus quotes a passage, he he’s not just quoting a phrase. Okay to the poor, the Gospels preach. That sounds good. He’s quoting from a whole context. Here’s the answer to John’s problem. One day I’ll open that prison for you, John, but but not now.

54. 28:14

    Look at verse 5 and strangers shall stand and feed your flocks. The sons of the alien, we could say. The Edomite. Shall be your plowman and your vine dressers. You shall be named the priests of Yahweh. Men shall call you the ministers of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles.

55. 28:36

    Now, what were they all doing upstairs? They were savoring the riches of the Gentiles. And he says, John, one day you’re going to do that. One day they’ll be serving you. One day you’ll be eating their riches. And in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. They’re all boasting. And mocking John, one day it’s all going to change, your Jesus had said back in Luke 7, verse 23.

56. 29:04

    And blessed is he whosoever shall not stumble in Me, verse 9. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yahweh hath blessed. Blessed is he who shall not be offended in me. And there was his answer. He sent him back to Isaiah 61 to allow that great mind to think about the Kingdom of God.

57. 29:38

    Look beyond the problem, John, to see the glory of the Kingdom of God. Yes, you’re in shame in that prison. Yes, you’re confused. But look at verse 7. For your shame, John. You shall have double. And for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land shall they possess The double everlasting joy shall be unto them. One day I will open that prison, John, and it won’t be just to give you mortal life.

58. 30:10

    It will be to bring you to immortal life. Everlasting joy shall be unto you, John. I can’t open that prison now. God’s not necessarily going to solve all of our problems, both and sisters now, but one day he will get us out. And just before we leave Isaiah 61 look at the verse 10 and see how appropriate this is in the light of of John the Baptist. I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.

59. 30:46

    You know the the the camel skin is gone now. The prison garments are gone. He had covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom deketh himself with ornaments. John had had to stand outside in John chapter 3 and hear the bridegroom’s voice. He wasn’t part of the bridal party, as we saw, but one day he is going to be decked with garments as a bridegroom, as a part of the glorious Kingdom of God to come. And there was the Lord’s answer.

60. 31:17

    It was a perfect answer. Because it set that great mind to work thinking about the Kingdom of God. And just with that one little phrase to the poor, the gospel is preached. John got a perfect answer. Jesus didn’t upbraid him. He knew what his need was. He gently had to rebuke him. Don’t be offended in me, John, but he set John’s mind to work thinking about the future.

61. 31:45

    That’s the answer we get in life, isn’t it, brothers and sisters? You come to me or I go to you and we say, here’s my problem. How often is it that you ever get a direct answer to your problems? You don’t. But what? What God does is He gives us enough to carry on.

62. 32:03

    He says, I understand your problem. I could you, I could relieve you. But not now. But he sends our minds to the Bible to help us think about what’s beyond the problem, the glory of the Kingdom of God. John wasn’t going to get out of it at that time. I can’t open that prison now, John. I’m sorry.

63. 32:22

    But one day he would. Every answer that you could find, really for John’s life is in that chapter. And when John made that connection, when Jesus took him back to Isaiah 61, I think the doubts were gone. The doubts were gone, and John would have walked resolutely to his death. We come back now to Luke Chapter 7. The messengers are going back to John with the message from Isaiah 61 that the poor have received the gospel and something happened in the crowd.

64. 33:07

    Luke 7 verse 24 here was one of the greatest dressing downs that you’ll find in the Bible. That our Lord Jesus Christ performs and as the messengers of John were departing, it says the Greek is for verse 24. What happened was this. There are hundreds of people gathered around our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s talking to the two disciples, the messengers of John, and says, I want you to send this message back to John. The Lord has to mildly rebuke John because he he temporarily would have doubted and as the crowd heard that. A few Snickers went up in the crowd. People began to laugh up their sleeves. Well, you never would have believed that he would have doubted John the Baptist after all that, he told us. I suppose you know it.

65. 34:03

    Everybody’s got their weaknesses, and the Lord Jesus Christ heard that. And so that triggered off in verse 24. One of the greatest dressing downs that you find in scripture, the Lord really let go here and upbraids this crowd. Our Lord could get angry brothers and sisters, very angry. And he had a righteous anger as he heard the people laughing up their sleeves at this man. You know, the Lord’s heart would have been bleeding for John, you know, sympathetic to his, his weakness. And he just says, what went she out to see What was it you saw? And the crowd would stagger back. A Reed shaken in the wind at the end of verse 24 was he a man who who yielded his opinion, the popular appeal. He fronted up to the Pharisees.

66. 34:52

    He fronted up to the common people. He fronted up to the publicans. And when a Roman soldier stuck his spear in the ground, he fronted up to him too, and said, do violence to no man. And when the great Herod and to pass committed his great evil, he fronted him up, not once, not twice. But day after day until it cost him his life. Is that what you went out to see? The crowd would recoil.

67. 35:18

    Or did you go and see a man, verse 25, who was clothed in soft Raymond? The word is effeminate, A softy. It means a man dressed as a woman. Did you go and see an effeminate someone who’s one thing one day and another thing the next? Is that what you went out to see? Asked Jesus.

68. 35:39

    That are gloriously apparelled or in kings houses he wore a camel skin. Could any of you do that? A camel skin which which no one could wear. He didn’t live in a King’s palace, he lived in a desert where there was nothing and eating grasshoppers whilst others fared sumptuously every day none. None of you would have had the gumption to do what John did.

69. 36:04

    Or perhaps there was a measure of respect for John. Did you go and see a prophet? Verse 26. I mean, the record says that all men held John to be a prophet, but you know, they didn’t even have that right? He says, I’m going to tell you he’s more than a prophet. There wasn’t one person born among women that was greater than he. So even those who had a measure of respect for John, perhaps we’re looking to flatter John.

70. 36:30

    Their estimation was too low. Jesus says there’s not one born among woman that is greater than him. You think about Moses, you think about Elijah, You think about all the great prophets. They’re nothing, says Jesus in comparison to that man. And you know, he was so great, says verse 27, that the prophets actually prophesied of him.

71. 36:53

    He’s the subject of Malachi. He is the messenger that would go before me. He’s the greatest prophet there ever was. Because, brothers and sisters, he wasn’t just words on a page. It’s one thing to say something, and it’s another to to reinforce its power by doing it. What went she out to see? That was John.

72. 37:19

    That was a verbal blast for my Lord Jesus Christ. How how dare you criticize that man? Yes, he doubted and I rebuked him for the doubt. But look at his example. Is is that what you do?

73. 37:32

    Well, now the scene changes after that, that verbal blast from my Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord could sense some some contrition in the crowd. People were we’re now a little bit ashamed of, of thinking that way about John. And so the Lord said to everybody come here in verse 28. Among those that are born among women, there’s not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.

74. 38:03

    So as great as John was. And we’ve been staggered as at his example this weekend, as great as he was, you can be greater, said the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord would put his hands on on their shoulders, not apologizing. He would not apologize at all for what he had said. But but to tell them that he that is the very least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. You can all be greater than John. Jesus is not saying here that John will not be in the Kingdom. You know, I say 61 just said that he will. He’s not saying that he wouldn’t be there. But as John stood there born among women, the greatest of a transient system, as the phrase born among women means those born among women, people that are in the Kingdom of God and even lower places are greater than he is born among women as the greatest you can all be.

75. 39:03

    Greater than John. Brothers and sisters, you want an encouragement? That would have been for those who had previously underestimated John. Now they can see what the Lord is driving at in that man’s example, and they’re motivated to do something about it. Well, some did and some didn’t. Just look at verse 29, who did something about it and all the common people that heard him.

76. 39:32

    And the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John. They justified God when we explained that yesterday. Let me put it to you another way. All flesh is grass, and my father is right. And they all did that, as we saw yesterday in Luke Chapter 3, in the Baptism of John, all flesh is grass. There’s nothing in me that’s good. And they justified God.

77. 40:00

    My father is right in putting me to death, in requiring the death of human nature. But then, as we read in verse 30, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God. Among themselves or within themselves, you see the margin for against themselves, the margin has within. Themselves, you see, Here’s group number two. Group number one accepted those principles and declared who they were.

78. 40:33

    But group #2, there’s a battle going on inside. They’ve been pricked in the heart by John, but they just can’t do it. They can’t give up their comforts. They don’t want to give up their houses. They don’t want to give up all their money, all their position, all their honor, and they refuse to be baptized. You know, as we face the table now, brothers and sisters, we have to ask ourselves, are we in any way like these people in verse 30, how many people walk away impressed with John the Baptist?

79. 41:07

    Like here at Antipass, they’re struck with him. They think, wow, that’s, you know, I really should be doing that in my life, but when it comes time to doing it, they just can’t do it. Because to do that means I’ll, I’ll lose this or I’ll have to give up this comfort or I might be taken down a peg or two. They frustrated the council of God within themselves. Which group are we having heard the studies on John the Baptist, having seen his example, what are we going to do? Let’s come back to Matthew 11, because Matthew just adds one detail that that Mark doesn’t here is Jesus. Final testimony to John and to the greatness of the man that we have seen this weekend, Matthew, Chapter 11, verse 11. Barely, I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there have not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

80. 42:14

    You can all be greater than John. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets in the law prophesied till John and if you will receive it, this is Elijah which was for it to come.

81. 42:30

    And verse 15 is a statement which is universal. When we read this statement in verse 15 it means this is a message for all time. So Jesus is not just speaking in verse 15 to the people listening that day. Here is a message for all generations. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

82. 42:51

    In other words, the choice now comes down to us on the very eve of the Kingdom. What are we going to do? Well, verse 12 tells us what we have to do. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven, suffereth, violence, and the violent take it by force now. The word violence, of course, is, you know, triggers all kinds of things.

83. 43:14

    But really what the Greek is, is men of determination. Men of determination grasp their opportunity and didn’t let it go. Let’s not go away from these studies and say, well, what a marvelous character John is. Let’s go away from these studies with a determination that almost borders on violence to grab this Kingdom and never let it go.

84. 43:37

    That’s what John was telling men to do. And that’s what Jesus is saying here. Take it by force, grab it and never let it go. That portable light had flared up for a moment and people saw themselves for who they really were. I think we all feel a little embarrassed looking at John, don’t we? Because we know that our lives are are not at all like his. We see how great he was, but but let that, let that motivate us now to go forward, brothers and sisters, to to. To make the changes that we need to make in our lives to grab that Kingdom before the light goes out and the parallel parallel record in Luke, Jesus said press into it. He said the law and the prophets were until John Luke 16, verse 16.

85. 44:24

    But now the Kingdom of heaven suffer with violence and men press into it with energy and with force they press into that Kingdom. It’s only a determination like that that’s going to succeed. Whatever the brotherhood needs a determination, it needs it now. Press into it with all your might. Half hearted life, half hearted approach is just not going to work in this day and age.

86. 44:48

    So John now is passing off the scene in front of us. A man who had no money, no coke, nothing, and yet had everything.

87. 45:03

    But he’s nothing alongside of Jesus Christ, is he? Now is our opportunity, brothers and sisters, to grab that Kingdom, to allow these men to to show us the way and to fall in behind, like those disciples in John chapter one did. Let’s conclude our studies on John with some very fitting words. And no more fitting words, I think, could ever be recorded of him, they say, and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings.

88. 45:36

    Yay, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins, and we could add camel skins. Being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered about in deserts. And in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

89. 46:08

    And we could add in the dungeon of Mccarris, these all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise God having provided some better thing for us, us God leaves that man where he is for 2000 years for us, that his example might motivate us to be there with him. Let that motivate us now, brothers and sisters, as we renew our vows before the table, God having provided some better thing for us that they without us, should not be made perfect.

90. 46:46

    Brothers and sisters, let us hear the voice.