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

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Welcome back everyone.
As we continue our studies for

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this weekend on John the Baptist
allowing God to speak for

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hearts, We now invite our
brother Ryan to lead us in his

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third class for today, the day
of his exhibition on to Israel.

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Brother Ryan.
Good afternoon once again,

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brothers and sisters.
So everybody’s refreshed for the

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the back half when John was
asked by a deputation of the

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Jews that were sent to him, who
are you?

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It’s interesting to to see that
the more John said, actually the

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less he said the Jewish leaders
asked are you the Christ, his

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answer?
I am not the Christ.

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Are you, Elijah?
I am not.

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Are you the prophet?
The Deuteronomy 18 No.

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Well.
Well then, who are you?

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Nothing, Just a voice.
And the very fact that John saw

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himself as nothing, brothers and
sisters, is what allowed God to

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make him.
A voice.

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See, if there’s one thing that
prevents God speaking through

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people, it’s when we insist on
speaking for ourselves.

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It’s only when we’re able to.
Divest ourselves of.

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Self that God can take our mouth
and and.

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Use.
That mouth for his purpose.

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If we don’t need brothers and
sisters who go around the

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ecclesia speaking their mind,
what we need is brothers and

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sisters who are going to speak
God’s mind.

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And we can only do that, as John
is going to show us, when we

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empty ourselves of our own
thoughts, that we might be

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filled with gods.
I am not the Christ.

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I am not.
No.

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Well, then, who are you?
Just a voice, you.

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Know it’s interesting that he of
whom it was said that he’s the

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greatest prophet born among
women.

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We have just one verse of
scripture that spans 30 years of

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his.
Life.

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I’d like you to just.
Focus on that verse of.

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Scripture now with me in Luke
chapter one and.

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At verse 80.
You much like the testimony

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about our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have just a glimpse of him

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there, don’t we?
In the temple dazzling the the

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doctors of the law.
But although this one verse

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spans 30 years of John’s life,
it it really fits his purpose

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absolutely.
Beautifully.

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Luke won the very last.
Verse.

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The child grew and waxed strong
in spirit.

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His parents are probably have
now passed off the scene and was

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in the deserts until the day of
his showing unto Israel.

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And as as we’ve been repeating
throughout the classes, he’s in

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the deserts.
That’s where God’s voice can be

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heard.
That’s where he can be

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understood.
We have to.

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Isolate don’t we ourselves from
this world.

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You know, I don’t think that.
God expects any of us, brothers

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and sisters, to live like John
the Baptist.

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Yeah, we’re taught in the book
of Ecclesiastes to live a a

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basic life, having contentment
with food and raiment.

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He doesn’t expect us to live
like John the Baptist.

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But what he is saying is that we
have to cut off ourselves from

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this world, go out into a
desert, even if in our minds and

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they’re uncluttered from
society, we can hear the voice

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of God.
And that was his message He

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lived.
His message?

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He was in the desert for all of
those years, in a world that

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seethed an intrigue and all of
its class distinctions.

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The voice was crying.
Come out here.

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Come out here and learn
something about.

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God, but that first says
something else.

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John the Baptist claimed to be
just a voice.

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Now I understand that when you
have a.

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Voice, you listen.
But what does that verse say?

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He was in the deserts until the
day of his showing onto Israel,

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so they were looking at
something.

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It wasn’t just that they were
hearing a voice, they were

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seeing something as well.
When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke

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about John, he said in Luke 7,
verse 24.

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What went she out?
To see.

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So it wasn’t just a voice.
Although John claimed to be only

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that they were seeing something
about, there was something they

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saw in his character that was
impressive too, and we need to

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go down this morning and we need
to have a look at him.

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This was Vision in the
Wilderness, his exhibition in

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the desert well.
What do we?

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See, let’s come to Matthew
chapter 3.

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Because Matthew.
Gives us those details.

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What went she out to?
See.

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Said the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, here he is.

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And everyone would have seen
him, you know, as we turn up

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that reference, let’s just have
a look at the the layout of of

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the land where John was.
John was in the wilderness, the

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deserts, until the day of his
showing.

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So he was here in the the
wilderness of Judea, which is

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very inhospitable terrain, very
difficult.

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To to to walk.
Through because it’s just.

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Up and down and up and down and
up and down.

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Very dry.
He was in the wilderness until

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the day of his showing onto
Israel.

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Now when John appeared on the
scene to the to the nation of

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Israel, he moved out of the
wilderness and he went down.

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Here on the valley floor, which
is we know is the lowest spot on

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the earth, just north of the
dead.

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Sea on the Jordan River, and
there he manifested himself to

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the people, and everyone would
have been looking down on him,

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these hills.
Where you see this, this rough

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part of the map, those hills are
about 3000 feet above sea level.

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John is down here on the valley
floor, probably about 1400 feet

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below sea level.
So everybody’s.

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Looking down on him, it’s like
they’re in a grandstand and down

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there on the valley floor is
this, this aberration?

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What were they all looking at?
Everybody would have seen him

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looking down the valley floor,
down the amphitheater of nature.

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Matthew, Chapter 3 this is.
What they saw.

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Verse 3 But this is he that was.
Spoken by the prophet Isaiah

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saying the voice of 1 crying in
the wilderness.

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Prepare you the way of the.
Lord make his past straight, and

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this same John had his raiment
of camel’s hair and 11 girdle

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about his loins, and his meat
was locust and wild honey.

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Now that is the total of John’s
possessions, one leather girdle

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and one camel’s hair garment.
He had nothing.

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He was completely undistracted
by this world.

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That was all he had.
As we said, a camel skin doesn’t

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have to be dry clean too often,
and grasshoppers don’t need much

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cooking.
And because of that, he was

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available.
God could get through to him.

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God could speak to him.
Now it’s interesting that

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there’s a fascinating
difference.

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We saw the parallels, didn’t we,
with Elijah?

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And Elijah was.
Dressed in nature, you know,

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like a like a piece of granite
that was just cut out of the the

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escarpment of Gillian.
But of Elijah, it said that his

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clothing was the skin of an
animal.

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It doesn’t say what one, but of
John, we’re told what animal it

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was because it says there in
verse four that it was Camel’s.

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Hair.
Now, why?

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Why would the scriptures note
that?

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Well, you’re the camel of all
creatures.

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Brothers and Sisters is made by
the creator for the desert.

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It’s the ship of the Desert.
You look at the unique features.

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Of a camel.
A camel has special foot pads

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which mold itself to the the
sand of the desert.

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If you put a camel on rocky
ground, he’s hopeless.

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But if you put him on the sand
of the desert, he’s he’s

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absolutely sure he has a hump in
which to store his food.

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The poor camel doesn’t know how
long he’s going to have to be

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trotting, so he has a hump that
stores food.

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He’s got a massive 3 chambered
stomach.

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In which to store water so that
you can constantly have a a

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replenishment.
Its nostrils are all pinched in.

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So you see the the blowing sands
of of the desert can’t get in

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his nose because they’re pinched
in.

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It has lips.
That are like.

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Leather so you can eat cactus
and all of the the plants that

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are that are in the desert.
It sheds its coat just before

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the hot weather so it has a
thick.

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Coat in the winter.
And it has a small coat.

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In the summer it can go 100
miles in 12 hours, and if it

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needs it can go for four.
Successive days without a rest.

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Keeping going and keeping going
and keeping going and keeping

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going and John’s clothes in him.
Now you look at look at those

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characteristics.
Doesn’t the word of God need to

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be in several chambers of our
thinking?

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Don’t we need to have special
shoes to get through the terrain

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of the world?
You don’t.

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We need to have food stored up
in case of a a long trial that

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we’re going through.
Don’t we need to have our

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nostrils, you know, pinched in
so we we don’t.

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Get the, the, the.
Degrading sands of criticism and

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and negativity in there.
You know we need to wear warm

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coats in the winter to prepare
for the the.

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Trials of the Winter.
And then when the hot weather is

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beating down on us, we need to
have our our thin coats.

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He’s adapted to his
circumstances.

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And John’s clothing.
And that’s what God is saying to

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us in that camel.
He is made for the desert, and

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so must we.
We’ve got to be made not for

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this world and to be conformed
to that, but to be made for the

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desert.
And you know, the camel was

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unclean under the law of Moses.
He’s a priest.

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And John’s clothed in him What
God has cleansed, brothers and

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sisters, no man was the dare
call common or unclean.

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That message was reverberating
out of John.

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What went you out to see was
dressed in that, because that’s

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the way that we have to be
adapted to hardship, adapted to

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the difficulties of the desert,
having the word of God in in

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several chambers of our our
thinking and what was his His

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energy bar his his strength.
It was Locust now who would live

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on Locust, I’m told.
They taste like almonds, which

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I’ve never put to the proof, but
that’s what I’m told now.

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This seemed like a strange thing
to eat locust until the days in

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which we live and you can go to
Whole Foods and and pick up

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yourself a bag of chirps which
are.

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Sort of a.
A.

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Cricket based.
Potato chip now.

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But.
Everything about this man is is

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linked.
With the desert.

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He’s eating Locust.
Now locusts were clean under the

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law of Moses, depending on what
type you see if a creature, if a

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little locust could, could
spring above the earth.

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You could eat it.
God didn’t authorize them to eat

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anything that groveled in the in
in the dirt.

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But if a little creature could
go doing like that, he’s clean.

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Now you think about the message
of John the Baptist.

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What is he?
Counseling us to do get above

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this Life spring above.
By setting our affection upon

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what’s above.
Get away from the world.

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Get away from the earth, go out
into the desert, and if you can

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spring above, you’re clean.
And he’s eating those

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grasshoppers.
That was his message.

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You.
He wasn’t asking us to do any

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more than what he’s doing
himself.

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He.
Lived his message.

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You’ve got to get away from this
world if ever God is going to to

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speak to you.
And what were the locusts

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flavored?
With.

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Well, they’re flavored.
There with wild honey.

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Now it doesn’t mean sort of
angry honey.

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That, that is.
Wild in In that sense, the word

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really means natural honey.
And where is it found?

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In the land of Israel?
It’s mostly found in the desert

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under a rock.
So Deuteronomy chapter 32 talks

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about how I gave them honey out
of the rock.

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Now this picture here is a
picture of Besada.

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00:13:00,020 –> 00:13:02,140
Which is one of the.
The places you can visit.

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00:13:02,140 –> 00:13:06,000
In the land of Israel today.
Now what happened when we went

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00:13:06,000 –> 00:13:09,800
to Besseto is in all of these
rocks that you see here, the

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00:13:09,800 –> 00:13:15,000
bees had made their nest and
they were making honey In

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00:13:15,000 –> 00:13:17,400
between all of these rocks here,
actually, there were so many

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00:13:17,400 –> 00:13:20,280
bees and so many Wasps, but we
actually couldn’t visit Besseta.

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00:13:20,320 –> 00:13:22,280
Because we would have, Yeah, we
would have been.

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00:13:22,280 –> 00:13:26,000
Stung.
So there was honey out of the

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00:13:26,000 –> 00:13:26,960
rock.
So.

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00:13:26,960 –> 00:13:29,800
But to get everything about
this, this man is connected with

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00:13:29,800 –> 00:13:34,830
the wilderness, with the desert.
And notes the context of

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00:13:34,830 –> 00:13:38,430
Deuteronomy 32.
Deuteronomy 32 talks about how

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00:13:38,910 –> 00:13:41,390
God.
In in His blessings upon upon

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00:13:41,390 –> 00:13:44,710
Israel, He gave them honey.
Out of the rock.

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00:13:44,710 –> 00:13:47,990
And you know what it says to
versus later it says, I have

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00:13:47,990 –> 00:13:54,510
brought you into a waste howling
wilderness that I might instruct

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00:13:54,670 –> 00:13:57,630
you.
And in that context, we read

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00:13:57,630 –> 00:14:00,150
about honey out of the rock.
Now what is what is John doing?

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00:14:00,970 –> 00:14:05,810
Come out into the wilderness and
learn something about God that I

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00:14:05,810 –> 00:14:10,530
might instruct you.
It was in the wilderness where

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00:14:10,530 –> 00:14:15,210
the instruction of the word.
Takes place, and we can’t do

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00:14:15,210 –> 00:14:19,850
that literally, but we have to
do it in our minds.

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00:14:19,850 –> 00:14:22,290
Close the door.
To our studies.

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00:14:24,770 –> 00:14:28,930
Go out, at least in our minds.
Walk out into the backyard.

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00:14:30,080 –> 00:14:31,680
And sit down and and open the
word.

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00:14:32,320 –> 00:14:34,480
But how we ever going to do that
where we sit down we open the

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00:14:34,480 –> 00:14:37,560
Bible and we read for 5 minutes
and then Ding.

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00:14:37,560 –> 00:14:42,960
And then we we we address
whatever the Ding is and OK when

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00:14:42,960 –> 00:14:45,200
was this first saying to me we
read another two minutes and

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00:14:45,200 –> 00:14:47,600
then Ding the.
How are we ever going to

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00:14:47,600 –> 00:14:48,880
understand the.
Bible like that.

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00:14:49,640 –> 00:14:51,280
How are we ever going to hear
God’s?

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00:14:51,280 –> 00:14:53,920
Voice.
You put those things away,

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00:14:54,680 –> 00:14:57,400
they’re being, they’re dragging
us away all, all the time.

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00:14:58,250 –> 00:15:00,450
Put the cell.
Phone away, turn the Wi-Fi off

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00:15:01,290 –> 00:15:04,490
and transport yourself to where
the voice of God is heard and he

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00:15:04,490 –> 00:15:07,770
will speak to your heart.
As Jose has said, I will allure

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00:15:07,770 –> 00:15:12,090
her into the wilderness and
there I will speak to her heart.

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00:15:12,890 –> 00:15:14,770
So you see, the point of these
studies, brothers and sisters,

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00:15:14,770 –> 00:15:16,810
is really not very hard to
grasp.

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00:15:17,650 –> 00:15:22,690
What’s very difficult is the
application, and it’s perhaps

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00:15:22,850 –> 00:15:26,130
harder now than any other age in
in human history.

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00:15:26,770 –> 00:15:29,570
You can read articles on, you
know, that have been put out by

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00:15:29,570 –> 00:15:34,130
people who have no connection
with the Bible, no belief in God

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00:15:34,130 –> 00:15:36,610
at all, and they’ll tell you
that the Internet destroys your

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00:15:36,610 –> 00:15:38,610
mind.
You know, they’ll tell you that

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00:15:38,610 –> 00:15:41,770
television damages the left hand
hemisphere of the brain.

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00:15:42,410 –> 00:15:46,890
Whether it’s a good program or
not, that’s what people in the

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00:15:46,890 –> 00:15:50,410
world say, you know, they’ve got
no connection at all with with

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00:15:50,410 –> 00:15:53,410
the Bible.
So we’ve got to put away those

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00:15:53,410 –> 00:15:56,360
things.
John had no possessions, he had

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00:15:56,360 –> 00:15:58,960
no status.
He had a very low opinion of

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00:15:58,960 –> 00:16:04,440
himself, but he lived what he
taught and God was able to get

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00:16:04,440 –> 00:16:06,360
through to him.
His clothing is desert, his food

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00:16:06,360 –> 00:16:07,840
is desert.
He lives in the desert.

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00:16:08,680 –> 00:16:11,240
So let’s come to have a look at
him now, in the desert in Luke

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00:16:11,240 –> 00:16:14,800
chapter.
Three the day of his exhibition

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00:16:15,320 –> 00:16:17,000
unto Israel.
What went she out to?

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00:16:17,000 –> 00:16:19,520
See to see ask the Lord Jesus
Christ.

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00:16:19,520 –> 00:16:23,240
Well, here, here it is.
Now good Bible study is is

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00:16:23,240 –> 00:16:25,440
always based.
As we’ve been taught on good

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00:16:25,440 –> 00:16:28,880
Bible reading, and here is one
of those passages of scripture

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00:16:28,880 –> 00:16:31,120
where all you have to do is read
it.

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00:16:31,720 –> 00:16:34,960
Because if the message is so
evident, first one of Luke

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00:16:34,960 –> 00:16:38,040
chapter 3, it lists all of the
world’s greats.

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00:16:38,360 –> 00:16:41,880
Now in the 15th year of the
reign of Tiberius Caesar,

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00:16:42,880 –> 00:16:47,400
Pontius Pilate being governor of
Judea, Herod being the tetrark

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00:16:47,400 –> 00:16:48,800
of Gala.
I mean, how’s this for a who’s

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00:16:48,800 –> 00:16:51,920
who of names and his brother
Phillip?

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00:16:52,470 –> 00:16:56,110
Tetrarkovichuria and of the
region of Trachinitis in

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00:16:56,110 –> 00:16:59,790
Licinius, the tetrark of Abalini
Aniston kaifus being the high

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00:16:59,790 –> 00:17:06,550
priest.
The word of God came unto John

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00:17:07,310 –> 00:17:13,510
the son of Zacharias, where in
the wilderness you see there’s

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00:17:13,510 –> 00:17:17,470
all the world’s grace.
Real prizes, some of them, And

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00:17:17,470 –> 00:17:20,910
there’s all their territory.
And it finishes up with the last

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00:17:20,910 –> 00:17:22,270
two.
The high priests of the God of

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00:17:22,270 –> 00:17:25,270
Israel himself.
And the word of God went past

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00:17:25,349 –> 00:17:28,950
every single one of them.
And it goes to John in the

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00:17:28,950 –> 00:17:30,430
wilderness, wearing a camel
skin.

300
00:17:32,630 –> 00:17:33,710
In the wilderness.
Really.

301
00:17:34,230 –> 00:17:38,870
Whose territory none of those
guys would have wanted you.

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00:17:38,870 –> 00:17:40,790
God can’t get through to
Tiberius Caesar.

303
00:17:41,310 –> 00:17:42,470
He couldn’t get through to
Herod.

304
00:17:43,310 –> 00:17:46,470
John tried with Philip and Herod
and to pass.

305
00:17:47,390 –> 00:17:49,750
But God’s word just wouldn’t
find room in their life.

306
00:17:52,430 –> 00:17:55,270
But God could get through to
John because he was unencumbered

307
00:17:55,750 –> 00:18:00,430
with the things of this life.
He couldn’t speak through Herod.

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00:18:01,590 –> 00:18:05,390
He couldn’t speak through
Tiberius Caesar, because the

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00:18:05,390 –> 00:18:06,950
things of this world were too
important.

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00:18:06,990 –> 00:18:09,670
They had a position to protect.
They had riches to preserve.

311
00:18:10,470 –> 00:18:12,230
But when you’re thinking about
those things, brothers and

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00:18:12,230 –> 00:18:13,670
sisters, you can’t think about
God.

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00:18:13,870 –> 00:18:16,510
And so the word of God goes.
Past everyone of them.

314
00:18:17,840 –> 00:18:22,160
And it comes to John in the
wilderness, wearing a camel

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00:18:22,160 –> 00:18:25,840
skin.
He’s not asking us brothers and

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00:18:25,840 –> 00:18:28,880
sisters to do anymore than what
he’s doing himself.

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00:18:28,880 –> 00:18:31,880
There is his message.
We have to leave the world.

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00:18:31,880 –> 00:18:33,480
We have to leave our
possessions.

319
00:18:34,000 –> 00:18:35,960
We have to put.
Behind materialism, we don’t

320
00:18:35,960 –> 00:18:39,240
need those things.
All we need to live a godly life

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00:18:39,240 –> 00:18:42,840
with contentment is the things
which God provides, food and

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00:18:42,840 –> 00:18:47,370
raiment and and time.
To study the Bible.

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00:18:48,010 –> 00:18:50,850
So John was down here in verse
three and he was baptizing, it

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00:18:50,850 –> 00:18:56,090
says the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins now.

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00:18:56,570 –> 00:18:59,250
To a Christadelphian, of course
this is a very familiar concept

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00:19:00,330 –> 00:19:03,370
baptism we are all very familiar
with.

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00:19:03,370 –> 00:19:05,850
But you see, you have to
understand what the scribes and

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00:19:05,850 –> 00:19:08,850
Pharisees taught.
See, they thought they taught

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00:19:08,850 –> 00:19:12,490
there was a difference between
Jews and well, we’ll call them

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00:19:12,490 –> 00:19:14,530
Gentiles, but they called them
dogs.

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00:19:15,820 –> 00:19:19,300
And a Jew, when he came to the
age of 13, we know, was inducted

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00:19:19,620 –> 00:19:23,740
as a son of the covenant in a
very elaborate ceremony.

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00:19:23,740 –> 00:19:26,460
But but what if a gentile wants
to be a son of the Covenant?

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00:19:26,460 –> 00:19:29,100
What do you have to do?
You got to wash.

335
00:19:29,100 –> 00:19:34,660
Him baptism was something that
Jews reserved.

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00:19:35,180 –> 00:19:38,340
To wash filthy.
And unclean Gentiles.

337
00:19:38,340 –> 00:19:42,340
And what’s John saying here?
This is absolutely staggering to

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00:19:42,340 –> 00:19:45,130
them.
It’s not just Gentiles who’ve

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00:19:45,130 –> 00:19:49,530
got to get baptized.
You’ve all got to get baptized.

340
00:19:49,890 –> 00:19:53,530
Unless you’re prepared to all go
down into the money stream of

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00:19:53,530 –> 00:19:58,330
Jordan and confess that all
flesh is grass, then there’s no

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00:19:58,330 –> 00:20:00,770
way that you’re going to find
repentance.

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00:20:01,370 –> 00:20:05,570
You know, imagine, imagine a
Pharisee having to to lower his

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00:20:05,570 –> 00:20:08,810
his dignity to that you know,
with his his royal.

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00:20:08,810 –> 00:20:10,890
Robes and his broad
Philactories.

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00:20:10,930 –> 00:20:12,570
You’ve.
All got to get down.

347
00:20:13,330 –> 00:20:17,850
Into that muddy mess and confess
who you are.

348
00:20:18,450 –> 00:20:19,850
Have a look at what John was to
do.

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00:20:19,930 –> 00:20:22,090
Come back to John’s chapter.
Isaiah 40.

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00:20:23,250 –> 00:20:25,370
So we’ve said we.
We’re going to be here in every

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00:20:25,370 –> 00:20:28,930
session because this is the work
of John, all spelled out not

352
00:20:28,930 –> 00:20:33,490
just in the Gospels, but it’s
all predicted here by Isaiah in

353
00:20:33,490 –> 00:20:35,690
view of John’s.
Preaching the glory of Yahweh

354
00:20:35,690 –> 00:20:38,850
was to be revealed, says verse
5.

355
00:20:41,340 –> 00:20:45,820
The glory of Yahweh was to be
revealed, and all flesh verse

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00:20:45,820 –> 00:20:50,260
five of Isaiah 40 shall see it
together.

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00:20:50,420 –> 00:20:53,420
The word together there really
means to become alike.

358
00:20:53,820 –> 00:20:56,980
It’s the word Ekad.
Which means to be united, to to

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00:20:56,980 –> 00:21:03,300
become alike.
This glory will bring everyone

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00:21:03,780 –> 00:21:06,660
to a common level, whether
you’re rich, whether you’re

361
00:21:06,660 –> 00:21:12,030
poor, no matter your race.
Everything will be brought to a

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00:21:12,030 –> 00:21:15,270
common level by what John is
about to do.

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00:21:16,190 –> 00:21:20,910
All distinctions will disappear,
and it was the glory of Yahweh.

364
00:21:20,910 –> 00:21:23,030
It says that will that will do
that.

365
00:21:23,350 –> 00:21:25,870
Now in John chapter one and
verse 14 you needn’t turn to it,

366
00:21:25,870 –> 00:21:29,270
but it says the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we

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00:21:29,270 –> 00:21:32,070
be held as glory.
The glory is of the only.

368
00:21:32,070 –> 00:21:34,390
Begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.

369
00:21:34,630 –> 00:21:37,670
So there’s the glory of verse 5
being revealed.

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00:21:38,670 –> 00:21:42,290
That’s in John chapter one.
John chapter 3 deals with

371
00:21:42,290 –> 00:21:46,930
Nicodemus, a man who thought his
blood was blue and everybody

372
00:21:46,930 –> 00:21:51,130
else’s was red.
And John chapter 4 deals with a

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00:21:51,130 –> 00:21:55,490
corrupt, evil woman of Samaria,
the other end of the scale.

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00:21:56,570 –> 00:22:03,610
And God brought them together.
He met Nicodemus at night.

375
00:22:04,490 –> 00:22:06,570
He met the woman of Samaria at
the blaze of dead.

376
00:22:08,030 –> 00:22:12,070
He said to Nicodemus.
God so love the world, He said

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00:22:12,070 –> 00:22:14,310
to the woman of Simarius.
Salvations of the Jews.

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00:22:14,470 –> 00:22:18,270
He brought them together.
He narrowed Nicodemus’s

379
00:22:18,270 –> 00:22:22,590
perspective, and he sorry he
brought Nicodemus’s perspective,

380
00:22:22,590 –> 00:22:25,390
and he narrowed the woman of
Simarius.

381
00:22:25,950 –> 00:22:30,830
Because all status, all
positions, everything phase into

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00:22:30,830 –> 00:22:35,990
insignificance in the view of
that glory and every valley.

383
00:22:36,440 –> 00:22:41,640
Was to be exalted.
Every mountain hill was to be

384
00:22:41,640 –> 00:22:44,680
made low.
The crooked places shall be made

385
00:22:44,680 –> 00:22:46,040
straight.
And so those lives that were

386
00:22:46,160 –> 00:22:50,160
crooked in God’s sight would be
straightened out and the rough

387
00:22:50,160 –> 00:22:53,320
places smoothed over.
Now there are four classes in

388
00:22:53,320 –> 00:22:56,600
that verse.
There’s the valleys, there’s the

389
00:22:56,600 –> 00:23:00,240
mountains and hills.
There’s the crooked places, and

390
00:23:00,240 –> 00:23:05,120
then there’s the rough places.
And we come to the record of

391
00:23:05,120 –> 00:23:09,430
Luke Chapter 3.
There are only four classes of

392
00:23:09,430 –> 00:23:13,950
people who asked John questions.
There’s the common people that

393
00:23:13,950 –> 00:23:19,950
he elevated, the scribes and the
Pharisees that he leveled, the

394
00:23:19,950 –> 00:23:21,910
tax collectors with all their
their crooked.

395
00:23:21,910 –> 00:23:26,830
Dealings as tax collectors.
He straightened them out, and

396
00:23:26,830 –> 00:23:31,230
down came the Roman soldiers
with all of their brutality and

397
00:23:31,230 –> 00:23:34,910
he said do violence to no man.
He smoothed them over.

398
00:23:35,940 –> 00:23:39,460
What a remarkable fulfillment
there is of Isaiah chapter 40.

399
00:23:39,460 –> 00:23:42,020
Those are the only four classes
that asked him questions.

400
00:23:42,420 –> 00:23:44,980
The common people whom he
elevated, the scribes, and the

401
00:23:44,980 –> 00:23:47,980
Pharisees, whom he leveled, the
tax collectors.

402
00:23:48,140 –> 00:23:50,820
He.
Straightened out and the rough

403
00:23:50,860 –> 00:23:54,220
brutal Roman soldiers, they said
what are we going to do?

404
00:23:54,740 –> 00:23:57,540
And he smoothed them over.
What we want now want to

405
00:23:57,540 –> 00:24:01,300
consider is what he said.
In fact to each class.

406
00:24:01,340 –> 00:24:06,050
Come back to Luke, Chapter 3.
So the glory of Yahweh is

407
00:24:06,050 –> 00:24:09,370
revealed, and all flesh will be
made alike.

408
00:24:10,890 –> 00:24:13,050
So who comes there?
Well, of course it’s the scribes

409
00:24:13,050 –> 00:24:15,890
and the Pharisees as.
You can expect that that come

410
00:24:15,890 –> 00:24:18,290
for.
First they make their presence

411
00:24:18,290 –> 00:24:23,610
known immediately.
Luke, chapter 3 and verse seven,

412
00:24:25,250 –> 00:24:27,330
then set.
He to the multitude that came

413
00:24:27,330 –> 00:24:30,850
forth to be baptized of him a
generation of Vipers who has

414
00:24:30,850 –> 00:24:32,970
warned you to flee from the
wrath to come.

415
00:24:33,650 –> 00:24:36,210
You know in verse 7 where it
says they’re the multitude.

416
00:24:36,610 –> 00:24:40,090
We know from the parallel
account in Matthew chapter three

417
00:24:40,090 –> 00:24:43,610
that this in fact was the
scribes and the Pharisees.

418
00:24:43,610 –> 00:24:46,650
They come first to be a
baptized.

419
00:24:46,650 –> 00:24:48,810
Do you know what a Pharisee
means?

420
00:24:49,930 –> 00:24:53,530
The word Pharisee.
It means a separate one.

421
00:24:54,490 –> 00:24:56,490
It’s a separate one.
Have a look at who they’re

422
00:24:56,490 –> 00:24:58,810
talking to.
Who’s separate?

423
00:24:59,930 –> 00:25:06,110
John the Baptist Or then?
Down come the separate ones and

424
00:25:06,110 –> 00:25:08,630
and John doesn’t even let them
open their mouth.

425
00:25:09,190 –> 00:25:14,070
The Pharisees who you know could
talk, who make long.

426
00:25:14,070 –> 00:25:15,470
Prayers for a.
Pretense.

427
00:25:15,630 –> 00:25:17,750
They don’t even get one word in
this record.

428
00:25:18,110 –> 00:25:21,270
John just cuts them off before
they even get there.

429
00:25:21,270 –> 00:25:25,870
He says, oh generation of Vipers
who hath warned you to flee from

430
00:25:25,870 –> 00:25:30,310
the wrath to come, bring forth,
therefore, fruits worthy of

431
00:25:30,310 –> 00:25:32,270
repentance, so in Isaiah’s
prophecy.

432
00:25:32,590 –> 00:25:36,910
The mountains are now going
because they were the mountains

433
00:25:36,910 –> 00:25:37,590
of that.
Day.

434
00:25:37,910 –> 00:25:39,950
In Jewish society they were the
clergy.

435
00:25:40,230 –> 00:25:44,470
The mountains are now.
John doesn’t even let them get a

436
00:25:44,470 –> 00:25:49,390
word in bring forth their forth
fruits, meat for repentance and

437
00:25:49,390 –> 00:25:52,150
and what he’s actually doing is
he’s really drawing on the the

438
00:25:52,150 –> 00:25:57,270
figure of the land.
You see Jordan overflows its

439
00:25:57,270 –> 00:26:00,510
banks during the time of harvest
every spring.

440
00:26:02,180 –> 00:26:06,500
And if you’ve ever seen a, you
know, a river flood and then

441
00:26:06,500 –> 00:26:09,860
recede, what it does is it
leaves behind it all the the

442
00:26:09,860 –> 00:26:12,660
debris and the the trash and
the.

443
00:26:12,940 –> 00:26:15,060
The.
Sticks and the the leaves that

444
00:26:15,060 –> 00:26:18,020
leaves that behind it as it as
it recedes.

445
00:26:19,140 –> 00:26:23,140
Then in the Land of Israel, it
gets really, really hot and it

446
00:26:23,340 –> 00:26:26,580
bakes all of the debris and the
bracken and the trash that the

447
00:26:26,580 –> 00:26:29,220
Jordan has washed up and it
makes it really, really hard and

448
00:26:29,220 –> 00:26:32,180
it’s really caked.
And in John’s day, you know who

449
00:26:32,180 –> 00:26:35,140
got down into into all that
debris and all that bracken

450
00:26:36,420 –> 00:26:38,940
snakes.
You know, when Zechariah, the

451
00:26:38,940 –> 00:26:42,460
prophet, in Jeremiah, the
prophet, he warned people about

452
00:26:42,460 –> 00:26:44,820
the Jordan.
There were Vipers down there.

453
00:26:44,820 –> 00:26:47,700
There were lions down there.
It was a dangerous place.

454
00:26:48,580 –> 00:26:50,940
And So what the farmers used to
do is they would sometimes put

455
00:26:50,940 –> 00:26:55,420
the torch to that trash and all
that bracken down there along

456
00:26:55,420 –> 00:26:58,900
the Jordan and out would come
all the snakes flinging away.

457
00:26:59,950 –> 00:27:02,910
Most serpents and generation of
Vipers who has warned you to

458
00:27:02,910 –> 00:27:06,350
flee from the wrath of the comp,
says John, bring forth therefore

459
00:27:06,350 –> 00:27:11,310
fruits meat for repentance to
the mountains are being leveled.

460
00:27:12,830 –> 00:27:15,070
Now the con chapter 4 and verse
one said this.

461
00:27:15,670 –> 00:27:20,870
The day is coming that shall
burn as an oven, and yea upon

462
00:27:20,870 –> 00:27:23,830
all that are proud and all that
do wickedly, and he will leave

463
00:27:23,830 –> 00:27:26,750
him neither root nor branch.
And the end of that.

464
00:27:26,750 –> 00:27:28,710
Chapter says, Behold, I send you
Elijah.

465
00:27:29,660 –> 00:27:34,660
So here’s John drawing on the
figure of the of the Times.

466
00:27:34,940 –> 00:27:36,700
You know who hath warned you to
flee from?

467
00:27:36,860 –> 00:27:40,820
The wrath to come, you
generation of Vipers bring forth

468
00:27:40,820 –> 00:27:43,540
fruits, meat for repentance
before I ever baptize you.

469
00:27:44,580 –> 00:27:48,500
They don’t even get a word in.
They don’t even get a word in.

470
00:27:48,980 –> 00:27:51,420
You see there in verse. 7 Where
it says, oh, generation of

471
00:27:51,420 –> 00:27:55,260
Vipers, the word actually is a
little brood, A little brood of

472
00:27:55,260 –> 00:27:59,090
snakes.
That would be fleeing from the

473
00:27:59,130 –> 00:28:02,450
this fire that the farmer would
would use to to burn up all

474
00:28:02,450 –> 00:28:04,410
that.
Trash the little little brood

475
00:28:04,410 –> 00:28:05,770
of.
Of snakes.

476
00:28:07,130 –> 00:28:11,130
Many years later, Jesus came
along and he called them a

477
00:28:11,130 –> 00:28:13,970
generation of Vipers.
But then he said, oh, generation

478
00:28:13,970 –> 00:28:17,250
of Vipers, he said.
You serpents and he used a

479
00:28:17,250 –> 00:28:21,090
mature word.
Therefore for serpents they’re

480
00:28:21,090 –> 00:28:23,530
just a little brood here.
But by the time the Lord comes

481
00:28:23,530 –> 00:28:26,930
along in Matthew chapter 23,
where he absolutely up Abraids

482
00:28:26,930 –> 00:28:30,390
them for.
Their iniquity he calls them.

483
00:28:30,390 –> 00:28:32,550
Serpents.
Since this little.

484
00:28:32,550 –> 00:28:37,070
Brood and now matured in its
iniquity and it become a full

485
00:28:37,070 –> 00:28:41,270
blown serpent.
You have to change your thinking

486
00:28:41,270 –> 00:28:45,750
before I’ll ever baptize you.
By the time the Lord came, they

487
00:28:45,750 –> 00:28:49,030
hadn’t changed and they had
grown up.

488
00:28:50,110 –> 00:28:54,310
Now just to remind ourselves
where we are, John is baptizing

489
00:28:54,310 –> 00:28:56,150
right here where this this arrow
is.

490
00:28:56,580 –> 00:28:59,940
At Bethabara.
Bethabara, you may remember, was

491
00:28:59,940 –> 00:29:03,820
where the children of Israel
crossed in the days of the

492
00:29:03,860 –> 00:29:05,540
Exodus.
He’s not baptizing in the Dead

493
00:29:05,540 –> 00:29:10,780
Sea, he’s baptizing a little
further north in the Jordan at

494
00:29:11,220 –> 00:29:16,780
Bethabara.
Nobody says next says, Don’t

495
00:29:16,780 –> 00:29:19,700
think to say within yourselves
that we have Abraham to our

496
00:29:19,700 –> 00:29:23,540
father, But I say unto you that
God is able of these stones.

497
00:29:24,180 –> 00:29:26,780
To raise up children unto
Abraham.

498
00:29:26,780 –> 00:29:28,700
Do you remember?
What Joshua did with the stones

499
00:29:28,700 –> 00:29:31,700
when they crossed.
You see, there were stones in

500
00:29:31,700 –> 00:29:34,940
the Jordan, in the muddy filth
of Jordan, that the priest had

501
00:29:34,940 –> 00:29:40,820
to pick up 12 of them and put
them in the land, and then

502
00:29:40,820 –> 00:29:44,300
Joshua not the priest.
Joshua took 12 Stones that were

503
00:29:44,300 –> 00:29:47,420
native to the land, native to
the land.

504
00:29:47,780 –> 00:29:50,620
He took those 12 Stones and put
it back in Jordan, and Jordan

505
00:29:50,620 –> 00:29:56,380
washed him over Joshua.
Did that God is able of these

506
00:29:56,380 –> 00:30:01,420
stones to raise up children unto
Abraham.

507
00:30:02,500 –> 00:30:05,900
So just because you’re native to
the land, just because you’re

508
00:30:05,900 –> 00:30:09,540
Abraham’s natural descendants,
that doesn’t mean anything.

509
00:30:09,700 –> 00:30:11,700
Joshua took the.
Stones that were native to the

510
00:30:11,700 –> 00:30:15,140
land and stuck them in the
Jordan, and then stones that

511
00:30:15,140 –> 00:30:17,740
weren’t native to the land.
You could say gentiles.

512
00:30:18,060 –> 00:30:20,500
Stones that aren’t native to
land were picked up out of the

513
00:30:20,500 –> 00:30:23,650
muddy filth of Jordan.
And put in glory in the promised

514
00:30:23,650 –> 00:30:28,970
land, God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto

515
00:30:28,970 –> 00:30:31,930
Abraham.
He just keeps on going.

516
00:30:31,930 –> 00:30:33,130
I mean the invitement, Just,
just.

517
00:30:33,250 –> 00:30:36,290
You get a.
Feeling here for the way John

518
00:30:36,290 –> 00:30:38,210
thought about these people, he.
He knew they.

519
00:30:38,290 –> 00:30:42,730
Absolutely needed a dressing
down and he says the.

520
00:30:42,890 –> 00:30:44,850
Axe.
Is laid verse 9.

521
00:30:45,930 –> 00:30:50,780
At the root of the tree.
Every tree which bringeth not

522
00:30:50,780 –> 00:30:55,060
forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire.

523
00:30:55,060 –> 00:30:59,940
You know, when Israel planted a
fruit tree, they weren’t to

524
00:30:59,940 –> 00:31:03,860
touch it for three years.
They were to leave that alone

525
00:31:04,420 –> 00:31:08,620
and give it to God.
They did bear fruit in the

526
00:31:08,620 –> 00:31:11,420
fourth year.
They chopped it down.

527
00:31:12,380 –> 00:31:15,380
So John is here at the beginning
of the ministry of our Lord

528
00:31:15,380 –> 00:31:18,380
Jesus Christ, which lasted 3
1/2.

529
00:31:18,960 –> 00:31:22,720
Years.
And he’s saying there’s an axe.

530
00:31:23,440 –> 00:31:26,640
At the root of that tree, you
got.

531
00:31:26,640 –> 00:31:32,480
Three years bring forth,
therefore, fruits, meat for

532
00:31:32,640 –> 00:31:36,080
repentance.
Three years later, Jesus comes

533
00:31:36,080 –> 00:31:40,440
along and he gives a parable in
Luke chapter 13, a parable of of

534
00:31:40,440 –> 00:31:43,320
a fig tree and a vineyard.
It’d be going for three years.

535
00:31:43,320 –> 00:31:46,320
It hadn’t brought forth fruit
and he says cut it down.

536
00:31:47,040 –> 00:31:49,160
And someone says, well, let it
go a little further.

537
00:31:49,520 –> 00:31:51,360
Let let’s see if it if it brings
fruit.

538
00:31:52,000 –> 00:31:57,680
If it doesn’t, then cut it down.
Look at the correlation now

539
00:31:57,680 –> 00:32:01,080
between John and and Jesus in
their teachings and your

540
00:32:01,080 –> 00:32:02,720
brothers and sisters.
We don’t know how much longer we

541
00:32:02,720 –> 00:32:05,280
have.
Is it three years?

542
00:32:06,000 –> 00:32:08,640
I don’t know.
There’s an axe.

543
00:32:09,280 –> 00:32:13,400
It’s there if we don’t bring
forth fruits, meat for

544
00:32:13,400 –> 00:32:15,610
apprentice.
I like to think about that first

545
00:32:15,610 –> 00:32:17,530
because I think, you know, I
think I’ve got an unlimited

546
00:32:17,530 –> 00:32:19,930
amount of time in life.
You know, I always.

547
00:32:20,130 –> 00:32:22,570
One of my worst problems is I
think we’ll do it tomorrow.

548
00:32:23,690 –> 00:32:27,730
But there’s an axe if I don’t
bring forth fruit.

549
00:32:28,930 –> 00:32:31,130
We’ve got to do it now.
Today, if you will hear his

550
00:32:31,130 –> 00:32:34,210
voice said the song harden not
your heart.

551
00:32:35,210 –> 00:32:37,770
What a what a verbal blast this
is from from John.

552
00:32:37,770 –> 00:32:42,050
Who could stand up to that the
mountains not accepted.

553
00:32:42,050 –> 00:32:44,050
Don’t come here until your
attitude changes.

554
00:32:45,690 –> 00:32:48,170
What about the valleys?
What about the?

555
00:32:48,170 –> 00:32:50,490
Yous and mes?
What about the working class,

556
00:32:51,290 –> 00:32:53,770
verse 10?
The people?

557
00:32:53,770 –> 00:32:56,770
This is the common people, asked
him, saying what?

558
00:32:56,770 –> 00:33:00,770
What shall we do?
John, you know the common

559
00:33:00,770 –> 00:33:01,170
people?
They.

560
00:33:01,250 –> 00:33:03,570
They would have just.
Witnessed the Pharisees, you

561
00:33:03,570 –> 00:33:05,330
know, getting upbraid.
They’d have been a little bit

562
00:33:05,330 –> 00:33:07,650
more confident.
You know, John, we’re not like

563
00:33:07,650 –> 00:33:10,810
those guys, you know, we’re not
proud we’re not.

564
00:33:11,220 –> 00:33:13,220
Materialistic.
You know, we’re we’re just,

565
00:33:13,220 –> 00:33:15,180
we’re just common folk.
We’re not like those Pharisees.

566
00:33:15,180 –> 00:33:22,580
What what should we do?
He that’s got two coats, give

567
00:33:22,580 –> 00:33:28,340
one away and every eye in that
audience would have been on his

568
00:33:28,340 –> 00:33:33,620
coat.
And if he offered you his coat,

569
00:33:34,220 –> 00:33:35,620
brothers and sisters, you
wouldn’t take it.

570
00:33:38,100 –> 00:33:43,890
And he that has food.
Let him share it, and all eyes

571
00:33:43,890 –> 00:33:48,930
are looking at a handful of
grasshoppers, and if he invited

572
00:33:48,930 –> 00:33:52,370
you to dinner, brothers and
sisters, you’d feel sick.

573
00:33:54,610 –> 00:33:56,730
Those are the only two things,
in fact, that we know about

574
00:33:56,730 –> 00:33:59,890
John’s personal circumstances,
and they’re the only two things

575
00:33:59,890 –> 00:34:04,250
he tells the common people.
What he ate and what he.

576
00:34:04,250 –> 00:34:07,290
Wore.
You know, as I was going through

577
00:34:07,290 –> 00:34:10,090
these notes this morning, I was
thinking to myself.

578
00:34:11,310 –> 00:34:13,190
You know, I would love to be in
that position.

579
00:34:14,270 –> 00:34:18,310
You know, I would love to be
able to to tell you today to you

580
00:34:18,310 –> 00:34:20,630
know you need to do this in your
life and you need to do that in

581
00:34:20,630 –> 00:34:23,750
your life and and every one of
those things that I’m telling

582
00:34:23,750 –> 00:34:30,870
you I do in mind but but I don’t
But see John could say that you

583
00:34:30,870 –> 00:34:33,670
know without any.
Hypocrisy at all.

584
00:34:34,469 –> 00:34:36,810
You know, I’ve.
I’ve got a, you know, nice

585
00:34:36,810 –> 00:34:38,250
suits.
I’ve got a car.

586
00:34:38,250 –> 00:34:41,210
I live in a.
Better than average home, yeah.

587
00:34:41,250 –> 00:34:43,330
I wish I could stand up here and
say, you know, whatever you see

588
00:34:43,330 –> 00:34:45,409
me do, do the same yourself.
But.

589
00:34:45,409 –> 00:34:48,929
He could.
He wasn’t asking any of us to do

590
00:34:48,929 –> 00:34:52,889
what he hadn’t done himself.
Share your coat and share your

591
00:34:52,889 –> 00:34:55,530
food.
You know, hearts.

592
00:34:55,690 –> 00:34:57,890
Hearts would have melted.
You know, the common people come

593
00:34:57,890 –> 00:34:59,570
up confident.
They’ve just watched the

594
00:34:59,570 –> 00:35:02,530
Pharisees get blasted.
We’re not like those guys.

595
00:35:02,530 –> 00:35:05,850
Well, what would we do, John?
And then they all look at his

596
00:35:05,850 –> 00:35:11,810
coat and they all look at his
food and they think, well, now

597
00:35:11,810 –> 00:35:12,850
they have something to think
about.

598
00:35:14,090 –> 00:35:15,930
Now they have something to to
think about.

599
00:35:15,930 –> 00:35:17,930
John didn’t let anybody off easy
and.

600
00:35:19,770 –> 00:35:21,730
What he told the common people
that those are the only two

601
00:35:21,730 –> 00:35:24,530
things we know about him.
His food.

602
00:35:25,170 –> 00:35:27,250
And what he ate.
So they now have something to

603
00:35:27,250 –> 00:35:29,650
think about.
So the common people, as opposed

604
00:35:29,650 –> 00:35:31,450
to the scribes and the
Pharisees, the common people.

605
00:35:32,440 –> 00:35:34,440
Are elevated.
If they could take that advice

606
00:35:34,440 –> 00:35:36,920
and put it to practice, they
would be elevated.

607
00:35:38,560 –> 00:35:44,520
The Who’s next?
Class #3, The publicans.

608
00:35:44,520 –> 00:35:45,920
Now these, of course, are the
people.

609
00:35:46,040 –> 00:35:48,920
They are the crooked places of
Isaiah chapter 40.

610
00:35:49,160 –> 00:35:51,600
Look all their crooked dealings
as as tax.

611
00:35:51,600 –> 00:35:53,520
Gatherers.
And they’re going to be made

612
00:35:53,520 –> 00:35:58,480
straight, they’re going to be
smoothed over, you know, the tax

613
00:35:58,480 –> 00:36:01,130
system.
In that day was was known as the

614
00:36:01,130 –> 00:36:03,330
farming system, and it was.
Full of corruption.

615
00:36:04,050 –> 00:36:08,730
You had the the treasurer in
Rome who was at the head and he

616
00:36:08,730 –> 00:36:11,530
would say to his under
treasurer, you look, I don’t

617
00:36:11,530 –> 00:36:14,370
care what you charge, this is my
cut.

618
00:36:15,570 –> 00:36:17,690
And then the under treasurer
would say to the under under

619
00:36:17,690 –> 00:36:22,290
treasurer, look, I don’t care
what you charge, but the Roman

620
00:36:22,290 –> 00:36:26,490
treasurer needs this and I need
this and well, whatever you

621
00:36:26,490 –> 00:36:29,280
charge is your business.
And then the under under

622
00:36:29,280 –> 00:36:32,880
treasurer would go to the
Matthews and would go to the to

623
00:36:32,880 –> 00:36:35,680
the Zachiuses and say well the
Roman treasurer wants this and

624
00:36:35,680 –> 00:36:38,040
the Under Secretary wants this
and the under Under Secretary

625
00:36:38,040 –> 00:36:41,360
wants this and I don’t care what
what you get but.

626
00:36:43,080 –> 00:36:46,200
This is what we need.
And so people like Zachius and

627
00:36:46,200 –> 00:36:48,840
people like Matthew had to
charge exorbitant amounts just

628
00:36:48,840 –> 00:36:52,040
to get to get any.
Way to survive.

629
00:36:52,280 –> 00:36:56,760
It was called the farming system
controlled by the.

630
00:36:57,410 –> 00:36:59,410
The treasure in Rome they had to
charge.

631
00:36:59,410 –> 00:37:01,450
Incredible.
Amounts, which is why people.

632
00:37:01,450 –> 00:37:04,330
Hated them.
You know, I thank God that I’m

633
00:37:04,330 –> 00:37:07,370
not, as other men are,
extortioners, unjust adulterers,

634
00:37:07,770 –> 00:37:11,490
or even this public.
I mean, it’s.

635
00:37:11,490 –> 00:37:15,490
Hard to to overemphasize how
much these these guys tax

636
00:37:15,490 –> 00:37:18,210
collectors were despised.
So what does?

637
00:37:18,210 –> 00:37:20,850
John, say to them, Tegan, let
them off easy.

638
00:37:22,530 –> 00:37:27,510
Verse 13, exact no more.
Than what has appointed you.

639
00:37:27,510 –> 00:37:31,550
Oh, that really hurt.
I mean, there’s there’s no place

640
00:37:31,550 –> 00:37:34,390
that you can hurt someone in the
world more than hitting them in

641
00:37:34,390 –> 00:37:37,390
their pocket every time you hear
of a tax increase.

642
00:37:37,870 –> 00:37:39,790
You know, every time you get a
bill in the mail, I mean it.

643
00:37:39,790 –> 00:37:44,870
Hurts.
He says if the taxes say that’s

644
00:37:44,870 –> 00:37:50,150
how much you received and that’s
what you receive, only tax what

645
00:37:50,150 –> 00:37:54,330
you need exact, no more.
Than what is appointed to you?

646
00:37:55,050 –> 00:37:56,570
That would hurt.
Because you see, all the cream

647
00:37:56,570 –> 00:38:00,330
is gone.
All the, all the extra that that

648
00:38:00,330 –> 00:38:02,250
a tax collector would want,
that’s all gone.

649
00:38:02,650 –> 00:38:05,130
Only tax what you need.
I mean, he may get a little bit

650
00:38:05,130 –> 00:38:08,170
of Commission, but all the
cream, all the extra money is

651
00:38:08,170 –> 00:38:10,410
gone.
If you follow that advice.

652
00:38:11,690 –> 00:38:16,890
You know you live paycheck to
paycheck, just exact no more

653
00:38:17,330 –> 00:38:21,730
than what is required.
You only take what you need.

654
00:38:22,720 –> 00:38:27,040
And nothing more that the rough
places would have been

655
00:38:27,120 –> 00:38:29,800
straightened out, wouldn’t they?
The crooked places.

656
00:38:30,400 –> 00:38:33,320
They would be straightened out
in the view of of that advice.

657
00:38:33,320 –> 00:38:37,800
You know, one thing that
impresses me every day is when

658
00:38:37,800 –> 00:38:41,160
Paul said the love of money is
the root of all evil.

659
00:38:41,480 –> 00:38:43,560
There is not a crisis in this
world.

660
00:38:44,000 –> 00:38:47,760
There is not a crime that is
committed that does not have

661
00:38:47,760 –> 00:38:51,400
somewhere along the line to do
with money.

662
00:38:52,330 –> 00:38:56,730
Money is at the bottom of every
ill that we see in the world.

663
00:38:56,770 –> 00:38:59,090
And that’s where John hit them.
Exact.

664
00:38:59,090 –> 00:39:03,330
No more than what is appointed
exact.

665
00:39:03,330 –> 00:39:05,610
No more.
That would have really hurt.

666
00:39:05,690 –> 00:39:08,090
I mean, these are already people
who are ostracized, people who

667
00:39:08,090 –> 00:39:11,890
are hated, people who maybe need
to have needed to lift up in

668
00:39:11,890 –> 00:39:12,370
life.
He.

669
00:39:13,330 –> 00:39:17,330
Said you only take what you
need.

670
00:39:17,610 –> 00:39:20,370
He didn’t necessarily tell them
to to give up their vocation.

671
00:39:21,180 –> 00:39:27,780
He said only take what you need,
be content with what you have.

672
00:39:28,740 –> 00:39:31,660
The crooks were straightened
out.

673
00:39:33,060 –> 00:39:35,860
I knew who the 4th class was
that came down of all people.

674
00:39:36,940 –> 00:39:41,100
Down came the Roman soldiers in
all their brutality.

675
00:39:41,220 –> 00:39:43,460
And as they sent their delegate
to John, you know the guy would

676
00:39:43,460 –> 00:39:47,700
have plunked his spear in the
ground and say what do we do in

677
00:39:47,700 –> 00:39:49,460
a threatening manner.
Hey you, what do we do?

678
00:39:50,700 –> 00:39:54,100
What do you have to say?
To us, did John shrink back in

679
00:39:54,100 –> 00:39:58,700
in fear?
John told them three things.

680
00:40:00,180 –> 00:40:06,700
He said do violence to no man,
don’t accuse anyone falsely, and

681
00:40:06,700 –> 00:40:10,580
be content with your wages.
Now the three things really all

682
00:40:10,580 –> 00:40:13,820
have to do with one thing, and
that’s money.

683
00:40:15,180 –> 00:40:17,860
Do violence to no man.
What they would do is the Roman

684
00:40:17,860 –> 00:40:21,690
rations were very, very small.
And So what would they do to

685
00:40:21,690 –> 00:40:24,530
make extra money?
Get extra rations?

686
00:40:24,650 –> 00:40:27,290
They would threaten people.
They would do violence to them

687
00:40:27,410 –> 00:40:31,930
and take their rations, he says.
Do violence to no man, nor

688
00:40:31,930 –> 00:40:35,530
accuse any man falsely if they
wanted to get in the good

689
00:40:35,530 –> 00:40:36,570
graces.
Of a of a.

690
00:40:36,570 –> 00:40:40,010
High-ranking general.
Or or or.

691
00:40:40,010 –> 00:40:42,730
Legion in the in the Roman army,
a legionaire.

692
00:40:43,490 –> 00:40:46,410
They go to him and say well, he
you know so and so is plotting

693
00:40:46,410 –> 00:40:48,400
against you and.
There’s this.

694
00:40:48,800 –> 00:40:50,880
There’s this.
Aim to to take down your

695
00:40:50,880 –> 00:40:53,000
position.
I’ll tell you all about it if

696
00:40:53,000 –> 00:40:57,440
you pay me and be content with
your wages.

697
00:40:57,760 –> 00:41:02,400
The Roman soldiers did not make
very much all three of those

698
00:41:02,400 –> 00:41:04,800
things.
Actually have to do with one

699
00:41:04,800 –> 00:41:05,840
thing.
Money.

700
00:41:07,360 –> 00:41:10,120
Brothers and sisters, how much
did John have in the bank?

701
00:41:12,760 –> 00:41:15,360
Think money worried him?
How diversified was his

702
00:41:15,360 –> 00:41:21,350
portfolio?
Are we content with our wages?

703
00:41:23,870 –> 00:41:27,110
If I was to tell you that you’re
going to get a 20% pay cut

704
00:41:27,270 –> 00:41:29,350
starting next month, how did you
feel?

705
00:41:31,150 –> 00:41:36,270
A 25% pay cut, a 30% pay cut,
how would you feel?

706
00:41:38,030 –> 00:41:40,590
Would you still be content?
I mean, it’s one thing to say I

707
00:41:40,590 –> 00:41:42,430
don’t have a problem with money
when you got plenty.

708
00:41:43,040 –> 00:41:44,720
But what if?
What if someone started started

709
00:41:44,720 –> 00:41:46,800
poking you and started taking
more and they’re taking more

710
00:41:46,800 –> 00:41:48,800
now?
How would you feel?

711
00:41:50,520 –> 00:41:52,880
Be content with what we have,
and I think what that means at

712
00:41:52,880 –> 00:41:54,320
the end of the day, brothers and
sisters, is.

713
00:41:54,320 –> 00:41:56,120
That we always live within our
means.

714
00:41:57,040 –> 00:41:58,560
We should always live within our
means.

715
00:41:58,560 –> 00:42:02,160
We don’t rack up credit cards,
You know, we don’t spend beyond

716
00:42:02,240 –> 00:42:06,240
what is necessary.
We live within our means.

717
00:42:07,010 –> 00:42:09,490
Before a wife, we learned to
live within our husband’s

718
00:42:09,490 –> 00:42:11,890
salary.
We don’t spend beyond it or or

719
00:42:11,890 –> 00:42:15,690
look for ways to to get around
the the barriers that he has

720
00:42:15,690 –> 00:42:21,290
set.
We’re content always with what

721
00:42:21,290 –> 00:42:24,210
we have.
John says.

722
00:42:24,250 –> 00:42:27,810
Take the salary you’ve been
given, Roman soldier, and be

723
00:42:27,810 –> 00:42:31,250
happy with that.
The rough places were made

724
00:42:31,250 –> 00:42:34,410
smooth, You know, I wonder how
you could have been a Roman

725
00:42:34,410 –> 00:42:37,270
soldier after.
Implementing those three things.

726
00:42:38,310 –> 00:42:39,230
I mean, I don’t know if you
could.

727
00:42:39,230 –> 00:42:41,550
I mean, this is a verse that
back in the days of the Vietnam

728
00:42:41,550 –> 00:42:44,910
War, our brethren would be
getting hit with, you know, So

729
00:42:45,150 –> 00:42:48,550
John doesn’t say give up their,
their job as soldiers, does he?

730
00:42:49,070 –> 00:42:52,030
Well, if you put into practice
that advice, I don’t know how

731
00:42:52,030 –> 00:42:56,110
good of a Roman soldier you’d be
because that was their lives.

732
00:42:56,110 –> 00:43:00,910
That was how they survived.
But he smoothed.

733
00:43:01,470 –> 00:43:03,870
Them over.
And so there is.

734
00:43:04,590 –> 00:43:08,910
The summary Every valley shall
be exalted, the common people

735
00:43:08,910 –> 00:43:11,790
were elevated, every mountain
and hill the scribes and the

736
00:43:11,790 –> 00:43:15,870
Pharisees were leveled, the
crooked places were made

737
00:43:15,870 –> 00:43:19,630
straight, and the rough places
plain.

738
00:43:19,630 –> 00:43:22,470
Or, as Isaiah 40 put it, the
glory of Yahweh shall be

739
00:43:22,470 –> 00:43:27,350
revealed, and all flesh shall
become alike everybody’s on one

740
00:43:27,350 –> 00:43:32,670
level after that exhibition.
The crowd would have gone home

741
00:43:32,670 –> 00:43:35,650
and.
Not only would they been,

742
00:43:35,650 –> 00:43:37,050
really.
Struck with what they heard,

743
00:43:37,050 –> 00:43:41,010
brothers and sisters, but it
says in verse 15 that all men

744
00:43:41,850 –> 00:43:45,930
mused in their hearts whether he
was the Messiah.

745
00:43:46,850 –> 00:43:49,330
Or not if they’re thinking, oh
boy, I hope he’s not the

746
00:43:49,330 –> 00:43:51,770
Messiah.
Because if he’s the Messiah boy,

747
00:43:51,770 –> 00:43:55,490
if I got to clean up my life
because his his example was so

748
00:43:55,490 –> 00:43:58,530
unhypocritical.
Everything he said he did in his

749
00:43:58,530 –> 00:43:59,130
own.
Life.

750
00:44:01,020 –> 00:44:03,900
And you can imagine the common.
People you know, heads down.

751
00:44:03,900 –> 00:44:08,500
Low and thinking well you know I
really wanted a vacation and you

752
00:44:08,500 –> 00:44:11,700
know I I really wanted to live
in prosperity like a Pharisee.

753
00:44:11,700 –> 00:44:16,820
But you know I guess it’s best
that I I share what I have the

754
00:44:16,820 –> 00:44:18,940
Pharisees would have the
Pharisees would have murmured in

755
00:44:18,940 –> 00:44:20,580
themselves.
You know who is he to call us

756
00:44:20,580 –> 00:44:22,660
those names in front of the
people.

757
00:44:22,660 –> 00:44:25,500
I mean we came down here with
with good intentions we thought

758
00:44:25,500 –> 00:44:28,900
we were serious and and he said
all those things about us about

759
00:44:28,900 –> 00:44:30,540
fleeing from the wrath to come
and.

760
00:44:31,750 –> 00:44:35,190
You know, the publicans would
would go away and you know,

761
00:44:35,190 –> 00:44:38,550
they’d say, well, you know, if
it’s one thing for him to say

762
00:44:39,270 –> 00:44:43,630
not to charge more, but, you
know, I’ve got to make a living

763
00:44:43,630 –> 00:44:45,110
and and I’ve got to do what I’ve
got to do.

764
00:44:45,110 –> 00:44:47,550
And well, the truth may be
important and I may need to get

765
00:44:47,550 –> 00:44:50,110
down to my Bible study and I may
need to go visit those who are

766
00:44:50,110 –> 00:44:51,590
sick.
But, you know, I got to earn a

767
00:44:51,590 –> 00:44:54,710
living too.
And if I.

768
00:44:54,790 –> 00:44:56,990
If I do what he does, if I play
it straight, then I’m not going

769
00:44:56,990 –> 00:45:01,050
to get the things that I want.
And the soldiers might say,

770
00:45:01,050 –> 00:45:03,850
well, you know, it’s it’s one
thing for him to be living in a

771
00:45:03,850 –> 00:45:06,490
desert, but but how can we do
this occupation if we’re not

772
00:45:06,490 –> 00:45:08,010
violent?
If I, if I’m not rough, if I

773
00:45:08,010 –> 00:45:11,570
don’t, you know, mess people up
and and hurt them, then how can

774
00:45:11,570 –> 00:45:14,330
I make a dollar?
And and and all that.

775
00:45:14,450 –> 00:45:16,890
That really hurts.
So they’re all.

776
00:45:16,890 –> 00:45:20,690
Amusing in their hearts whether
John is the Messiah.

777
00:45:20,690 –> 00:45:24,370
Do you know why?
Because all of them.

778
00:45:24,530 –> 00:45:29,730
Pharisee, commoner, publican.
And soldier would would have to

779
00:45:29,730 –> 00:45:32,330
say in their hearts, finally,
that that however difficult it

780
00:45:32,330 –> 00:45:35,010
may be for me, I cannot say.
That guy’s A hypocrite.

781
00:45:36,410 –> 00:45:40,330
What winch you out to see?
Ask the Lord Jesus Christ.

782
00:45:41,170 –> 00:45:43,650
Yeah, that tells us, brothers
and sisters, about the power of

783
00:45:43,650 –> 00:45:46,130
an example.
The name of John became a

784
00:45:46,130 –> 00:45:47,770
household word.
All.

785
00:45:47,770 –> 00:45:51,210
Over the world, as we saw in our
opening point, they knew him in

786
00:45:51,210 –> 00:45:52,810
Asia Minor, they knew him in
Egypt.

787
00:45:52,810 –> 00:45:56,550
He was all over the land.
Not because he broadcasted how

788
00:45:56,550 –> 00:45:57,830
great he was, but.
Because it was.

789
00:45:57,990 –> 00:46:00,190
Awe.
Inspiring example of singleness

790
00:46:00,190 –> 00:46:02,110
of mind.
He lived what he said.

791
00:46:02,110 –> 00:46:07,110
Now, do we?
If we say something, do we do

792
00:46:07,110 –> 00:46:08,870
it?
If we say we’re going to do

793
00:46:08,870 –> 00:46:10,150
something?
If we say we’re going to fulfill

794
00:46:10,150 –> 00:46:12,670
a commitment, do we do it or do
we drag our heels?

795
00:46:13,910 –> 00:46:16,030
You know, heads would have been
hung in shame on that day.

796
00:46:16,030 –> 00:46:18,510
But you know, Luke doesn’t leave
it there.

797
00:46:19,110 –> 00:46:21,070
I’d like to finish with verse
18.

798
00:46:23,520 –> 00:46:25,480
You know, the people would have
all gone away in their hearts,

799
00:46:25,480 –> 00:46:29,080
and all that that hurt, and how
am I ever going to apply that?

800
00:46:29,080 –> 00:46:34,680
But that’s not all John did on
that day when verse 18 it says,

801
00:46:34,680 –> 00:46:40,120
and many other things in his
exhortation preached he unto the

802
00:46:40,120 –> 00:46:41,080
people.
I’d like to just give.

803
00:46:41,080 –> 00:46:45,040
That to you from from the dye
block, and exhorting many other

804
00:46:45,040 –> 00:46:51,200
things, he proclaimed glad
tidings unto the people.

805
00:46:52,200 –> 00:46:57,520
Glad tidings.
That’s Isaiah 40 unto the

806
00:46:57,520 –> 00:46:59,400
people.
So you pictured on John down

807
00:46:59,400 –> 00:47:02,120
there on the on the valley, for
he had left them with with

808
00:47:02,120 –> 00:47:06,200
stinging rebukes advice that
that would have been really

809
00:47:06,200 –> 00:47:08,840
really hard to implement.
It would have hurt.

810
00:47:10,000 –> 00:47:12,960
I mean to tell to tell the
public and you got to you got to

811
00:47:12,960 –> 00:47:13,840
only.
Charge.

812
00:47:14,280 –> 00:47:16,600
What is necessary and what the
system says?

813
00:47:17,520 –> 00:47:21,270
Would have been very difficult.
You’re telling the.

814
00:47:21,270 –> 00:47:24,150
Soldiers, you essentially have
to give up your jobs if you want

815
00:47:24,150 –> 00:47:25,870
to survive.
Would have been very, very

816
00:47:25,870 –> 00:47:28,070
difficult.
But you know the strength of

817
00:47:28,070 –> 00:47:31,710
that beautiful golden voice
didn’t just dwell upon the

818
00:47:31,710 –> 00:47:33,670
negative, he also went to the
positive.

819
00:47:34,150 –> 00:47:36,150
He would have said to the
Pharisees, he would have said to

820
00:47:36,150 –> 00:47:37,750
the people.
Let me tell you what the Kingdom

821
00:47:37,750 –> 00:47:41,030
of God is going to be like.
He gave them encouragement.

822
00:47:41,630 –> 00:47:44,310
Yes, yes, I know I’ve had some
hard things to say.

823
00:47:44,310 –> 00:47:47,070
Yes, I know I’ve had some some
difficult things to say.

824
00:47:47,070 –> 00:47:48,790
But.
But let me tell you what the

825
00:47:48,790 –> 00:47:49,790
Kingdom’s.
Going to be like.

826
00:47:50,790 –> 00:47:54,750
See, he gave them an incentive
to press on.

827
00:47:56,430 –> 00:47:59,110
He gave them motivation to
continue.

828
00:47:59,110 –> 00:48:02,430
And yet whilst to bark at
people, they have its place.

829
00:48:05,710 –> 00:48:09,110
We have to supplement everything
we say that’s hard with some,

830
00:48:09,430 –> 00:48:13,470
with some kind of encouragement,
and make people in our number

831
00:48:13,470 –> 00:48:16,070
feel like it’s worth carrying on
like the Kingdom is.

832
00:48:16,070 –> 00:48:20,230
Worth fighting for, Otherwise
we’ll never really change.

833
00:48:20,780 –> 00:48:24,140
Anyone.
So verse 18 says there that, you

834
00:48:24,140 –> 00:48:26,660
know, yes, John had some hard
things to say.

835
00:48:26,660 –> 00:48:29,260
And we have some hard things to
say at times too, especially in

836
00:48:29,260 –> 00:48:32,540
this age where, you know, we can
see the world making inroads

837
00:48:32,540 –> 00:48:34,900
into the brotherhood.
You know, we can see that that

838
00:48:34,900 –> 00:48:36,900
things are challenging and we
have to point out those

839
00:48:36,900 –> 00:48:39,060
challenges, but but let’s make.
Sure that we’re.

840
00:48:39,060 –> 00:48:42,380
Also giving people a reason to
carry on.

841
00:48:42,980 –> 00:48:45,780
That’s what John did with many
other things.

842
00:48:46,220 –> 00:48:49,900
In his exhortation he preached
glad tidings.

843
00:48:50,490 –> 00:48:54,450
One to the people you know, it’s
it’s the majestic and and

844
00:48:54,450 –> 00:48:59,730
powerful expositions that have
changed me far more than getting

845
00:48:59,730 –> 00:49:03,370
a lecture from someone you know.
It’s those positive things that

846
00:49:03,370 –> 00:49:05,770
we hear from the word.
Even the most simple

847
00:49:06,010 –> 00:49:10,130
exhortations have been the most.
Powerful because they encouraged

848
00:49:10,130 –> 00:49:13,490
me that yes, it is worth going
on.

849
00:49:14,570 –> 00:49:16,490
So what went we out to see?
Brothers and sisters?

850
00:49:16,490 –> 00:49:18,650
Look at those.
Four classes put yourself there.

851
00:49:19,320 –> 00:49:22,400
How are you going to apply that
advice?

852
00:49:24,000 –> 00:49:27,840
It says we lay in bed tonight as
we we go to bed, you know, let’s

853
00:49:27,880 –> 00:49:30,760
let’s try to get a mental
picture of that of that day as

854
00:49:30,760 –> 00:49:34,600
John is down there on the valley
floor exhorting all of these

855
00:49:34,600 –> 00:49:38,040
people.
You know, let’s let’s say in our

856
00:49:38,040 –> 00:49:41,680
prayers before our God that we
will try to make the most of the

857
00:49:41,680 –> 00:49:44,240
time that we have left.
Let’s take away those things

858
00:49:44,240 –> 00:49:47,360
that in our lives are not
necessary.

859
00:49:48,680 –> 00:49:52,240
To say that, you know, I’m
sorry, Lord, for the the time

860
00:49:52,240 –> 00:49:54,480
that I’ve wasted in my life.
And I and I want to use it

861
00:49:54,480 –> 00:49:58,520
better and grind on in this
wilderness and help me to make

862
00:49:58,520 –> 00:50:03,000
time to hear the voice, that the
voice that kings and Queens and

863
00:50:03,440 –> 00:50:06,240
and prime ministers and
presidents will never ever hear.

864
00:50:06,840 –> 00:50:08,840
And that’s the wonderful.
Voice of God’s Word.

865
00:50:10,040 –> 00:50:14,800
And let me never cease to be
impressed with the power of what

866
00:50:14,800 –> 00:50:18,940
I went out that day to see.
I’m not.