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we're in Chapter three as we're continuing our
third third study through the scripture Matthew
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chapter three we get to we get to talk about John
the Baptist today you know we've been dealing with
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some really cool examples of just godliness
Joseph and now here we are dealing with John
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the Baptist so we're going to read through the
first twelve verses and then I'm going to open
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us up in prayer and then we'll see what the Lord
has for us it says in those days John the Baptist
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came preaching in the desert of Judea and saying
repent for the kingdom of heaven is near this is
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he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah
a voice of one calling in the desert prepare the
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way for the Lord make straight paths for him
John's clothes were made of camels hair and he
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had a leather belt around his waist his food was
locusts and wild honey YUM people went out to him
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from Jerusalem and all Judea in the whole region
of the Jordan confessing their sins they were
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baptized by him in the Jordan River but when he
saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to
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where he was baptizing he said to them you brood
of vipers who warned you to flee from the coming
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wrath produced fruit in keeping with repentance
and do not think you can say to yourselves we have
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Abraham as our Father I tell you that out of these
stones God could raise up children for Abraham the
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axe is already at the root of the trees and every
tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut
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down and thrown into the fire i baptize you with
water for repentance but after me will come one
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who is more powerful than I whose sandals I am
not fit to carry he will baptize you with the
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Holy Spirit and with fire his winnowing Fork is
in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor
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gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up
the chaff with unquenchable fire let's stop there
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and let's pray Heavenly Father open our hearts
to the Ministry of your word today and speak
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to us direct our hearts as you would have them
to go and enlighten us Lord to the the purposes
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that you have for this word and the Ministry
of John the Baptist we want to learn we want
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to grow we want to find things Lord from your
scriptures that we can apply to our lives use
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this time to speak to your children as a father
speaks to a child do this work we pray father God
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in Jesus name Amen you might have noticed as
this chapter gets underway it begins with the
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phrase in those days and that with that simple
phrase we jump about 25 plus years from Matthew
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chapter 2 into the ministry of Jesus Christ but
before that Matthew introduces us here to John
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the Baptist and to the the preparatory work of
John the Baptist and it's really important that
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we understand what John's ministry accomplished
and what it what the the basis of that ministry
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which is repentance and we'll get into that
still accomplishes in the life of believers
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I think there's a lot of Christians who have a
lot of misconceptions about repentance I think
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sometimes we we kind of think that repentance is
something we do before we come to the Lord you
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know we repent of our sin and then we come to the
Lord and then after that we're kind of pretty much
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done repenting you know it's like well I repented
you know it's kind of like you know a husband who
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says to his wife I said I was sorry last year you
know what do you know what do you want you know
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so everything and repentance though is an ongoing
thing and it continues to have an ongoing effect
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we'll kind of get into that you know Matthew
just kind of introduces John the Baptist for
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us and he just kind of opens the stage and here's
John the Baptist performing his public ministry
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baptizing people in the wilderness of Judea in the
Jordan River but it is Luke who gives us someone
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under full background about the person of John
the Baptist how he actually came to be in his
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conception you'll remember that John's parents
Zechariah and Elizabeth were a couple who were
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both godly people they were of the Levitical line
meaning that they were descendants from the tribe
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of Levi and that meant that Zechariah was a priest
or he had a role in the priesthood he was not the
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priest he was just one of the priests and so it
was his time to by lot to go in and burn incense
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in the in the temple and so he's in there and
the people are all outside and they're praying
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and they're kind of waiting for him to come out
as was the tradition but he kind of got waylaid
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inside the temple because an angel appeared to
him an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah
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in there and he started telling him things like
just want you to know hear Zechariah that God has
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heard your prayer and your wife who has never been
able to have a baby up to this point is going to
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have a baby now you got to understand that that's
typically good news for a couple and particularly
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back in those days when having a baby was such
an enormous thing and a woman who didn't have a
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baby was considered to be under the curse of God
but for Zechariah this was weird news because he
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and his wife were well past childbearing years I
mean Elizabeth was for all intents and purposes
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an older lady and getting pregnant by natural
means was completely out of the question and so
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he wonders about this whole message that the angel
is bringing and even doubts and I love what the
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angel says to him you know after Zechariah is like
how in the world I don't get this and by the way
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you say God's heard my prayer I stop praying that
prayer a long time ago you know but yet God says
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you know I'm going to do this for you through the
same and zachariahs like I don't know I'm you know
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so so the angel says to him he says dude well he
didn't say dude but that would have been a great
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thing to say don't you agree dude I am Gabriel I
stand in the presence of God and you know compared
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to me you're kind of like a dweeb II lose weight
but I got some really I have some really good news
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here for you but you didn't believe it so because
of that you are going to be unable to speak for a
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period of time so from that point on Zechariah was
unable to utter a sound until after John was born
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interesting the the circumstances around that are
that they were giving him his name and of course
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said that all the neighbors and friends relatives
are there and they say what's his name gonna be
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an Elizabeth says his name's gonna be John and
everybody's going John there's no John in the
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family why would you name the kid John isn't
he gonna be you know Zek jr. or something no I
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and the Lord opened up Zechariah's voice he says
his name is gonna be John and he begins to just
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praise the Lord it's just one of the most amazing
glorious effervescent just praises that you'll
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read in the Word of God it really is a very neat
thing so you know neat circumstances regarding
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you know John the Baptist and and how he how he
came about well now we we fast-forward in the
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chronology of events here in Matthew and they're
now both grown men and the ministry of john is
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going on and the ministry of Jesus is about to
go on and so it says to us in verse 1 that in
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those days John the Baptist came preaching in the
desert of Judea and saying repent for the kingdom
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of heaven is near your Bible may say at hand if
you have a different translation here this morning
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the repent the message of repent that was John's
that was John's message I mean he had basically
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kind of a 1 string guitar if you will it only
played one song you know one tune it was repent
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for the kingdom of heaven is near and I think once
again as I said before I think that there's some
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misunderstanding about what repentance is laz I
said some people think it's just something you
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do once at the very beginning others people think
that if the definition of repentance is basically
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being sorry for your sin but did you know that the
word at least in the the word that is given to us
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in the scripture which is Metanoia in the Greek
the word repent is not a feeling word it's an
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action word and so repentance is not about how you
feel whether you feel bad about things repentance
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is what you're doing right it literally means
a change of mind that follows with action all
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right actually the Apostle Paul talked about this
and gives us some great insights into this in 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10 up on the screen
it says godly sorrow brings repentance and that
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leads to salvation and it leaves no regret but
worldly sorrow brings death now think about this
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if repentance is sorrow and sorrow is repentance
this verse doesn't make sense because then it
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would say it would basically mean godly sorrow
brings sorrow so you see repentance is not sorrow
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again repentance is action that results from godly
sorrow when you are truly sorry before God for the
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things that you've done it leads to repentance
which is a change of mind and the action that
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follows that change of mine notice though that
Paul says in this verse there's such a thing as
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worldly sorrow and you know what worldly sorrow
is is just being sorry that you got caught I'm
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sorry that I hurt your feelings I'm sorry that I
can't do this anymore sorry that you know you're
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such a wimp and you're so you know whatever I'm
sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry don't you
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see my tears but it's it's not a true godly sorrow
which understands that it's my sin that breaks the
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heart of God that leads to repentance which is a
change of mind and action all right so you need to
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understand that it's it's a very important thing
for us to understand he goes on here in verse
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three and it says this is he and this is speaking
now John this is he who was spoken of through the
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prophet Isaiah and then he goes on to quote isaiah
a voice of one calling in the desert prepare the
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way for the Lord make straight paths for him what
exactly does that mean to prepare the way for the
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Lord make straight paths we don't we don't really
use those terms today but they were used a lot
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back in John's day and here's here's here's what
it's all about you and I take for granted things
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like good roads for the most part we go out we get
in our car if I'm gonna go to Boise I know that
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I'm gonna hop on the freeway and that's a good
stretch of road and I can scoot along at the speed
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limit and just do you know it's gonna be it's good
a good road and and it's well-maintained and it's
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nice and wide with good shoulders and we just come
to expect that and when we don't get good roads
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you know we usually complain about it well back
in John's day good roads were a premium the Romans
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did put in some construction related to roads and
they did a fairly good job but they weren't well
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maintained and here's the deal whenever a king
was going to pass through an area on what they
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refer to as the Kings Highway they would put the
word out there would be a call that would go out
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among the people and they would say to the people
in that area listen the king is coming prepare the
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way prepare the road and that meant go out there
and do what you have to do to get the road fixed
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up so that the king can pass easily so there's
no problem for the king coming the way make sure
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that the way is prepared now what this is people
is a word picture about our hearts the road that
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he's talking about here preparing the road and
preparing the way means preparing your heart for
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the king you don't want there to be any barriers
for the king you don't want any problem for the
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king to be able to get to you and do that work
in your heart that he wants to do you know but
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there are things that do get in the way from the
king being able to come and do his work so the
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call goes out prepare the way make straight the
path for the king because he's coming well what
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kind of things do we need to do in preparation
well we're gonna see here in just a little bit
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exactly what those are in just a few verses and
and and I think you're going to be amazed at this
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construction this road construction that God wants
you and I to do and to maintain in our hearts to
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make sure that we are prepared for the Lord and
you know preparation is a huge thing you guys
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it's it's all--it's it remains it starts at the
beginning and it goes on have you ever thought
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about preparing your heart for like coming to
church on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night or
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have you ever thought about preparing your heart
to read your Bible I mean preparing your heart you
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ever thought about that one of my kids recently
said to me you know if I just take the time to ask
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the Lord Lord speak to me through your word today
when he when we you know when the Bible gets open
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just speak to me if I just take that little bit
of time to pray I get so much more out of the text
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then just kind of randomly pulling my bio now it's
time for my morning devotions you know alright
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right now and I start reading and and and if you
ever come to church on a Sunday and and you kind
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of walk away and you're just kind of like unmoved
and then you come back on a different Sunday and
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you walk out you're like wow God just really
challenged my heart did you ever stop to think
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that maybe and I'm not trying to justify myself
maybe it wasn't me maybe is you maybe it was your
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heart because you know I've learned something over
the years that whether I do an okay job at sharing
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the Word of God or whether I do a really lousy job
of sharing the Word of God I've learned that the
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Holy Spirit is not limited by me I've learned
that when people come together and they have
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a heart that's prepared and ready to receive from
God the Holy Spirit's gonna provide what they want
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what they need you know despite the job that I do
particularly in fact I've I tell you I can't tell
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you in 21 years how many times I've walked off
this platform and I've just like I've gone well
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fire me god I mean I am that was the worst message
I've ever heard and I did it you know I preached
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it it was the worst one I've ever heard and it
never fails I'll get an email I'll get a note
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from somebody and it's so humbling somebody will
say oh ha you were reading my mail in Sunday's
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message it just flattened me I mean God just hit
me between the eyes that was the best message I've
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ever heard you know I'm going what did you go
to the wrong Church you know I don't think you
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were at Calvary Chapel because my message stunk no
but the Holy Spirit see when the heart is prepared
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when the heart is longing to receive when the
heart is open to receive don't you know that
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God is going to be faithful and so we're gonna
talk as we get into some of these verses about
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what that preparation is and kind of you know what
it looks like but first here in verse 4 it says
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John's clothes were made of camels hair and he had
a leather belt around his waist you're probably
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not going to find that at any stores today or his
food choices either locusts and wild honey do you
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know that that was eaten by poor people that was
kind of a poor man's diet and that was basically
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because John lived out in the wilderness he lived
on the land and there's another reason though
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Matthew is giving us this description of John the
Baptist in this way it's because he wants to make
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the connection for you and I that this man looks
very similar to the Old Testament prophet Elijah
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and there's a connection you see between John the
Baptist and Elijah remember I was telling about
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how the angel appeared to John the Baptist's
dad Zechariah well he made a statement about
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Zechariah excuse me about John and I'll put it
up on the screen here for you it goes like this
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it says Luke chapter 1 verse 17 it says and he
will go on he's telling Zechariah about his son
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to come and he will go on before the Lord in
the spirit and power of Elijah and here's what
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he's gonna do he's gonna turn the hearts of the
fathers to their children and the disobedient to
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the wisdom of the righteous and he's gonna make
ready a people look at this prepared for the Lord
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once again there's John's ministry to prepare the
way right for people to hear the word of God but
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notice here John the Baptist is going to come in
the spirit and power of Elijah well what's what
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is the spirit and power of Elijah these guys
were both confrontational men who stood for
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righteousness and weren't afraid to call it the
way they saw it I don't know if you'd necessarily
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want John the Baptist as your pastor necessarily
but I'll tell you one thing he isn't gonna mince
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words with you I mean this guy confronted the
common people this guy confronted the religious
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elite which we read here and we'll look at again
and he is also later on in his ministry going to
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confront Herod King Herod and he's going to end
up in prison because of it and eventually he's
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going to get his head lopped off because of that
same confrontational sort of a ministry that God
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gave this man to simply say to people that's wrong
that's wrong you know you shouldn't be doing that
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well Elijah had much the same ministry during
the Old Testament it was very confrontational
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and so forth well we read here in verse 5 if
you look with me there the people who went
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out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the
whole region of the Jordan and confessing their
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sins they were baptized by him in the Jordan River
now let me just explain a little something about
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water baptism first of all water baptism the word
baptism comes from a Greek word which goes like
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this baptise oh it's kind of similar but the word
actually has a meaning and it means to dip or to
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immerse okay sprinkle baptism which has made its
way into the church over the centuries really has
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no biblical foundation because the word baptize
means to dunk okay that's literally what the word
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means it was used in many applications for just
dunking something in the water baptism was not
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unheard of at this point in Israel's history
they did have many ceremonial washings as you
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know but water baptism by immersion was frankly
something that the Jews practiced for Gentiles
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who were wanting to join Judaism in other words if
a Gentile who was referred to as a God fear wanted
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to be considered a Jew from a religious standpoint
that Gentile would be baptized by immersion in the
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water and it was usually something they did by
themselves and then they were and of course they
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got to keep the law and all these other things
they weren't able to be considered a a god-fearing
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Gentile who practices Judaism so here comes
John the Baptist and he's asking people to do
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something that they only really did with Gentiles
okay so he's coming along and he's saying hey the
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kingdom of God is at hand repent believe the good
news turn from your sin and then be baptized whoa
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stop the train here be baptized that's what we do
to dogs that's what they call Gentiles by the way
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the Jews refer to them as dogs we baptize the dogs
when they want to come and get saved but we what
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are you talking here John Kerry Don do you know
to to be baptized by John in the Jordan well as
00:22:21
a Jew now think about this you're a Jew right
yourself in their position that to you is like
00:22:28
admitting I'm no better than a Gentile that is a
very humbling sort of a posture for you to take
00:22:37
because Jews are basically raised with the idea
that God made Gentiles to stoke the fires of hell
00:22:44
he uses them as kindling and if he wants to heat
up the fires well that you just make a few more
00:22:50
Gentiles throw them in there that's all they're
good for for the most part truly that's the way
00:22:55
essentially the Jewish mind said was and so for
them to humble themselves and submit to this Rite
00:23:06
of water baptism was a powerful statement that
they are making about themselves I'm no better
00:23:13
than that Gentile over there and I need to be
forgiving all right well so that humility that
00:23:24
contrition that brokenness is what John's ministry
was attempting to accomplish that's what he was
00:23:34
doing and it was that attitude of brokenness and
humility that effectively allowed John's ministry
00:23:45
to be accomplished because we read an amazing
Scripture and I've shared this with many of you
00:23:51
several times along the years but it's just it
really is amazing I'll show it to you here it's
00:23:55
from Luke chapter 7 look at this it says that
all of the people all of the people even the
00:24:03
tax collectors and they were considered probably
even a little bit lower than a Gentile but when
00:24:07
they heard Jesus's words they acknowledged that
God's way was right on why because they'd been
00:24:14
baptized by John but the Pharisees the religious
elite the experts in the law what did they do
00:24:20
they rejected God's purposes for themselves and
again why because they had not been baptized by
00:24:29
John isn't that an amazing passage but you know
what it tells us it tells us what humility does
00:24:36
to the human heart listen people the the the
waters of baptism do not have some mystical
00:24:42
magical properties to make you open to God it's
not water that makes the difference it's the
00:24:47
attitude of the heart going into the water saying
I need forgiveness I am lost I need a Savior i I
00:24:58
need God in my life okay well these people the the
people that were willing to walk in that attitude
00:25:06
they were baptized by John and as a result they
when they heard Jesus speak they were like yeah
00:25:11
absolutely he is right on but the people who
refused water baptism or shall we say who
00:25:19
refused to humble themselves to break their heart
before God and did not confess their need of him
00:25:28
they were like yeah this Jesus character he's a
jerk yeah you gotta kill the guy that's literally
00:25:34
the position they took because pride held them
fast and pride was the issue Christian's do you
00:25:42
know that pride can continue to be the issue even
with a born-again Christian I mean we can come to
00:25:49
the place of accepting Jesus as our Savior we can
come to a place of humbling ourselves and saying I
00:25:56
need forgiveness I need Christ in my life I need a
Savior and I can be born again I can be saved and
00:26:02
then I can be walking with the Lord for a period
of time and I can still harden my heart you know
00:26:07
I can still do that so can you to continue to
have that openness to hear God's voice we need
00:26:16
to continue to humble ourselves before God have
you ever have you ever wondered why God allows you
00:26:21
sometimes to really fall down and skinned up your
knees and your hands and I mean scrape your nose
00:26:29
in life metaphorically speaking because God knows
that when we Biff it and I mean really bad and we
00:26:40
humble ourselves because we've messed things
up we are going to be so much more open to his
00:26:46
word you know I've got this weird thing I need to
confess to you probably some of the most intimate
00:26:53
times of fellowship that I've had with God are
right after I've made some of my worst mistakes
00:26:58
truly I mean I've absolutely done the dumbest most
ridiculous things that you can imagine one person
00:27:06
doing and just really royally mess things up and
you know came to realize it came to God and said
00:27:19
I am such an idiot and it's like the Lord just
rushes he rushes to your side and just wants to
00:27:28
have fellowship with you and suddenly there's this
connection with the Lord that I've been missing
00:27:33
because I've been walking through life acting
like I got life kind of dialed in you know I
00:27:38
kind of got this thing all worked out and sorted
and so forth and and here we go you know sort of
00:27:43
a thing well you know what a lie we just need to
constantly stay soft don't we before the Lord we
00:27:49
need to constantly just stay humble say God you
know everyday we ought to say to the Lord I can't
00:27:55
do it but you can I am unable to accomplish
this life that is that you want me to live but
00:28:01
you can do it in me and through me and and and
so forth that's how it's gonna get accomplished
00:28:08
and so forth so along come the Pharisees and the
Sadducees look at verse 7 he says that it says
00:28:15
that when he saw these Pharisees and Sadducees
coming where he was baptizing he said to them you
00:28:20
brood of vipers that's that's like saying you know
you snake in the grass you know who told you to
00:28:29
flee from the coming wrath do you know that to the
Pharisees and the Sadducees that idea of fleeing
00:28:36
from the coming wrath was as foreign to them as
any possible thought could be foreign they didn't
00:28:45
think there was any wrath to flee from you know
why they were that prideful element we've been
00:28:50
talking about who were comforting themselves with
the law I have the law of Moses and I keep the law
00:28:58
of Moses perfectly and I what's what what wrath
why would God his wrath on me I am the righteous
00:29:08
of God I mean that was the attitude of these guys
you know and John recognizes it well yeah so you
00:29:17
asked the question what are they doing what are
they doing where John is then why did they come
00:29:21
out where John was baptizing that was just the
mo of the Pharisees and religious leaders they
00:29:27
love to do things for a pretense and if there
was an if there was a crowd and they were gonna
00:29:32
be there and if there if there was something
that God was genuinely doing they're gonna come
00:29:37
and they're gonna pretend like they're getting
involved because that's what we do we're all
00:29:41
into PR and we're the religious and righteous of
God and so you know and so they thought well you
00:29:46
know there's these huge ginormous crowds that are
coming out to hear John and get baptized we better
00:29:51
get out there too so they come out and they're you
know plodding along and John recognizes him I mean
00:29:57
right off the bat he goes what are you doing here
you snakes and then believe me that's what they
00:30:05
were I mean they were snakes they were venomous
snakes and then he says this listen if you're
00:30:14
here I just want you to know what's going on here
there's repentance going on here in this place
00:30:19
and if you're gonna come you can't just play the
game and then he says to them this bear fruit in
00:30:27
keeping with repentance in other words don't come
and just repent in words let's see it in your life
00:30:34
let's see a genuine work of the change of mind and
moving toward God moving away from sin let's see
00:30:44
it because remember what I said repentance is
an action word it's not a feeling word so John
00:30:51
is challenging them let's see some actions behind
your words well they don't have any of that going
00:30:58
on in their lives and and so these are the kind
of guys though that John went around defending
00:31:07
you know and they were really not the people you
wanted to offend you know the religious leaders
00:31:11
had a lot going for him the Pharisees were kind
of the religious authorities the sadducees held a
00:31:23
more political role in israel and they were kind
of the movers and shakers along those lines and
00:31:30
these were not the kind of guys you really wanted
to upset but John just comes out and lays it out
00:31:35
because he knows something he knows that they are
trusting in a false hope and that false hope is
00:31:42
this people that you can be good enough to go to
heaven how do people go to heaven how do they get
00:31:50
to heaven how do they qualify to go to heaven
you know the Pharisee would have said keep the
00:31:56
law well if you translate that in today's language
that is be a good person how do you get to heaven
00:32:05
well you'd have to be a good person and you better
just hope that on you know in the day of the God
00:32:09
ways your good deeds with your bad deeds you
better hope that the good outweighs the bad and
00:32:15
if they do wonderful you're in you know and it's
all a good thing and and if you're not well then
00:32:20
sorry Charlie you're heading the other direction
do you know how popular that view is today do you
00:32:25
know many Pharisees there are in the world today
and they're not Pharisee there and I have long
00:32:29
cloaks and they don't do all the things that the
other Pharisees did but they still believe that
00:32:34
you have to be good enough and so they go around
and they try to live the Christian life they're
00:32:41
trying to be good enough they're trying to impress
God so that at the end of days hopefully the good
00:32:48
will outweigh the bad do you know that's a false
hope and John confronted it listen your only hope
00:32:56
he said is to repent and turn to God and trust
him for what he wants to do in your life forgive
00:33:04
your sins and give you a new life a new hope do
you remember the Apostle Paul was once a Pharisee
00:33:10
here's the man who wrote the majority of the New
Testament and he is such a man of grace such a
00:33:18
man understanding the mercy of God and yet he was
once a Pharisee he was one of them he was a man
00:33:24
who believed I can be good enough I can keep the
law but guess what he ran into Jesus one day on
00:33:32
the road to Damascus and this is after Jesus's
death burial resurrection and ascension but he
00:33:38
still meets the glorious Jesus and he's blinded
by that meeting and from that day forward Paul has
00:33:45
a whole different understanding of where the law
comes into play and he realizes I can't keep the
00:33:54
law and neither can you and he wrote about it he
actually wrote about it in the book of Romans let
00:34:00
me show you a passage from Romans chapter 3 love
this verse or this passage now we know Paul says
00:34:07
that whatever the law says it says to those who
are under it under the law so that every mouth may
00:34:14
be silenced and the whole world held accountable
to God there for look at this and don't miss it
00:34:20
no one will be declared righteous in his meaning
God's sight by observing the law rather through
00:34:31
the law we just simply become conscious of sin why
was why did God give the law so that we would know
00:34:37
how much we fall short of it that's why he gave
it it's like I've mentioned this to you guys many
00:34:43
many times the law is like your bathroom scale
you hate that little device don't you but have
00:34:50
you ever noticed that it can do nothing to help
you lose weight all it can do is tell you how much
00:34:56
weight you have to lose right and in some rare
cases how much you need to put on but we don't
00:35:04
want to talk to you people you just go off and
be by yourself but the scale can't do anything
00:35:13
to help it's just a measuring stick just helps you
figure out how far you have to go the law of God
00:35:20
that is given in the Old Testament is to be used
that way as a measuring stick so when you read the
00:35:26
law when you read the Old Testament I hope that
you come away with the attitude of whoa no can
00:35:33
do I can't do that you know I just can't I know
that I'm gonna mess up I know it I look at the
00:35:39
law it's man that's perfection I can't I can't
do that perfect the largest did exactly what it
00:35:45
was supposed to do in your life and that's what
Paul is saying to the Romans nobody is going to
00:35:50
be declared righteous in God's sight by being
a good person nobody the only way that we can
00:36:01
be forgiven of our sin is to receive what Jesus
did on the cross for us when he paid that penalty
00:36:12
that's the only way it's the only possible way
that you can be saved all right okay he goes
00:36:21
on here verse 9 and do not think to yourselves we
have Abraham as our Father I tell you that out of
00:36:31
these stones God can raise up children for Abraham
you know what he's saying here the Jews believed
00:36:37
that because God considered Abraham a righteous
man and because they were his descendants they
00:36:43
thought that God would view them as righteous
people - because they were sons of Abraham and
00:36:48
they actually trusted in that it was kind of their
spiritual get out of hell free card and they waved
00:36:53
it around whenever anybody talked about him I
gotta get out of free card and it's because I
00:36:57
am in the lineage of Abraham you want to translate
that today it's somebody who comes to you and you
00:37:02
start talking to him about the things of the Lord
they go well I was raised in a Christian home that
00:37:07
means nothing as far as your eternal salvation you
can be raised in a Christian home and still reject
00:37:15
what Christ did on the cross the point isn't how
you were raised necessarily the point is what are
00:37:23
you doing with Jesus right here now today have
you received him as your Savior there are no get
00:37:30
out of hell free cards that you and I can flash
apart from accepting the work of Jesus Christ on
00:37:36
the cross on our behalf and so he says don't rest
in the fact do you know that the Jews actually
00:37:44
believed that Abraham himself would stand guard
at the mouth of hell and would turn away any Jew
00:37:52
who might have gotten lost and was wandering down
around that area and say no he's one of mine they
00:37:57
really believed that they thought just by virtue
of being a Jew that they would be snatched from
00:38:04
hell that was that was their ticket out so John
is confronting that and then he says in verse 11
00:38:10
he says i baptize you with water for repentance
but after me and this is john's focus he's always
00:38:19
putting the focus on Jesus but after me will come
one who is so incredibly more powerful than I am
00:38:26
I am not even worthy to carry this guy's shoes
and you know what yeah sure i baptize you in the
00:38:35
Jordan wonderful you know what though this one
coming after me he's gonna baptize you with the
00:38:41
Holy Spirit when I dunk you in the Jordan I'm
baptizing you in water yeah but just wait the
00:38:48
one who's coming after me is gonna baptize you
with fire and and so John is using the words of
00:38:56
comparison to exalt the Ministry of Jesus it's
kind of John's Way of saying guys don't make a
00:39:04
big deal about me I'm just the forerunner that's
all don't go looking at me look at Jesus I am just
00:39:12
sitting here baptizing people in water the one
who will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit
00:39:16
is coming after me he is so amazing so powerful
I I you know I don't even deserve to this this
00:39:24
role that God has given me and so he makes this
mention here about how Jesus will come and he
00:39:38
will immerse people remember that's what baptism
means he will immerse people in the Holy Spirit
00:39:43
and he will immerse people in fire and you
know fire is a symbol for the Holy Spirit do
00:39:51
you remember when the disciples were all together
on the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit fell
00:39:56
upon them and they began to speak in languages
they'd never learned before and praising God and
00:40:01
so forth well it says that the people who looked
upon them saw these little flames of fire above
00:40:07
their heads that would have been a strange look
I mean it's like everybody kind of had their own
00:40:11
personal a little bit you know third about sort
of a going on you know above the head sort of a
00:40:16
thing but it was it was a supernatural thing that
was going on because God was making a connection
00:40:22
between the Holy Spirit and what was happening
there on the day of Pentecost but you see fire
00:40:28
is also a picture of purification and judgment
God uses fire in our lives too doesn't he it's
00:40:35
the fire of purification and that's what you know
that's what the Holy Spirit's doing in your and
00:40:41
my life there are things that you're going on
in our lives that aren't as they should be and
00:40:45
what does he do he sends the fire of his wonderful
glorious presence but you know what they what that
00:40:51
fire does it burns it burns and it burns away
the garbage and the chaff and and and and the
00:40:59
stuff like that in fact that's the next picture
that John gives here in verse 12 he says his
00:41:07
winnowing Fork is in his hand and he will clear
his threshing floor gathering his wheat into the
00:41:13
barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable
fire now this was a word picture that the people
00:41:19
of his day would readily understand but today
I don't know if anybody here has ever thrashed
00:41:23
wheat I at least in the way that they used to do
it back in those days I sure haven't let me show
00:41:29
you a picture though I actually found a picture on
the internet of someone from you know they didn't
00:41:34
have cameras back then so this is a recreation
but in fact I think this guy has tennis shoes on
00:41:40
but anyway forget that is this is it's a fairly
accurate picture of what threshing did because
00:41:46
they would take this winnowing fork which was very
similar to a pitchfork and they would stab it into
00:41:53
the the the grain which included the stalk and the
husk and everything else and they'd throw it up in
00:42:00
the air and they would usually by the way get up
onto a hilltop to do this where the winds would
00:42:03
blow and the wind would take the lighter chaff and
blow it in the wind it would kind of blow it away
00:42:10
and the heavier wheat kernel would just fall to
the ground until after he had winnowed or thrashed
00:42:17
this this wheat he'd have sitting down here just
the the kernel of wheat now Jesus is using this
00:42:24
word picture to describe separation and you know
in the kingdom of God there's always separation
00:42:31
he says there's a separation that is not unlike
a man threshing the wheat allowing it to go up
00:42:39
in the air so that the the kernel falls but Jesus
used other stories or parables of separation he
00:42:46
said the kingdom of God is like a man a fisherman
who goes out and throws his net out in the water
00:42:51
and he pulls the thing in and then he separates
the good fish from the bad and he throws this
00:42:56
away but he brings in the ones he's going to use
separation Jesus told about the fact that the Good
00:43:02
Shepherd will one day separate the sheep from the
goats the Sheep who are the children of God those
00:43:09
who have embraced the work of the Cross to those
who have rejected the work of the cross again the
00:43:15
idea of separation okay this thing is going to
be going on but the picture of fire comes into
00:43:21
this - because what would happen after threshing
was they would burn the rest they'd burn the part
00:43:28
that was unusable it was fuel it was you know
the husk and the stock and stuff like that it
00:43:35
was burned in the fire now we're not talking about
pruning here we're talking about destruction true
00:43:43
destruction I want to I want to end this morning
with by showing you a wonderful prophetic passage
00:43:53
that actually in one prophetic view gives you
a picture of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ
00:44:00
written you know of years before either of them
were born upon the earth it really is but again
00:44:09
it speaks of this idea of fire and judgment and
so forth it's from Malachi chapter 3 it goes like
00:44:17
this see I will send my messenger that's John
first of all who will prepare the way before
00:44:26
who me then he says suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple the messenger
00:44:38
of the Covenant that's now Jesus remember he came
to inaugurate a new covenant whom you desire will
00:44:45
come says the Lord Almighty but then it asks this
question but who can endure the day of his coming
00:44:51
who can stand when he appears for he will be
like a refiners fire or a launderers soap once
00:44:58
again some interesting sort of metaphoric pictures
word pictures of that process of separation that
00:45:07
process of cleansing and so forth now I want to
just end by answering this simple question that
00:45:14
is posed in this prophecy for Malachi and that is
who can endure the day of his coming who can do
00:45:21
that who can endure the day of Christ's coming I
mean let me answer that now for you all those who
00:45:29
are in Christ and what I mean by that those who
have embraced the cross the work of the cross what
00:45:36
Jesus did on the cross for you he died in your
place and if you will embrace that call it your
00:45:45
own receive it as your own you can stand the day
of his coming because you are going to be forgiven
00:45:53
do you know it's it boggles people's minds but
do you understand Christians that when the Lord
00:45:59
returns he will not bring up one single solitary
sin in your life not one if he even lifts up one
00:46:11
sin mentions one thing you ever did wrong then his
death on the cross wasn't enough to cover it all
00:46:17
but when he said on that cross it is finished he
meant it it was finished completely totally 100%
00:46:26
and it is such a glorious wonderful thing to be
able to say I can stand the day of his coming I
00:46:33
will stand the day of his coming not because I'm a
good person not because I am virtuous not because
00:46:39
I've done things right I've been a mess up from
the word go but I am gonna stand in the day of
00:46:45
his coming because Jesus Christ has cleansed me
of all my sin he has washed me he has renewed
00:46:52
he's filled my life with every good thing why just
because I received what he did on the cross that
00:47:01
is the essence of what it means to be a born-again
believer it's not a person who does things that
00:47:11
are good it's a person who has accepted the
only one who is truly good let's stand together
00:47:50
you
