 Our sermon title this morning is Your Voice in the Wilderness, and this is part two in a brief sermon series here on the testimony or the evidence or the bearing witness, the example of John the Baptist, Your Voice in the Wilderness. And we are looking at John chapter one and looking through this paragraph beginning in verse 19 in the section that runs through verse 28. And as is our custom each week, we want to hear from the Word of God, and we want to be instructed by the Word of God. We want to learn more about God from His Word, and we want to obey the Lord more fervently from learning His Word. And the way to do that is just to work verse by verse by verse through text of Scripture. We hear from Him that way. We don't get the opinions of men. You don't want to hear my opinions. We want to hear what God has to say. We want to learn from Him. And that's the way frankly that we study our Bibles. When you study your Bible at home, you want to study verse by verse by verse through Scripture, looking at what the words mean, what the Lord intends to say through the text, and then how that text applies to us personally. This is not just information, right? This is information for transformation. The Lord intends to change our lives through the preaching of His Word and in accord with the work of His Spirit. And we need to be transformed by the truths that we find here. We're looking at John chapter one beginning in verse 19 at the testimony of John the Baptist. This is the first week, beginning in this narrative, the first week in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. And as we come to the beginning here at verse 19, this is the first three days of John the Baptist's testimony of Christ. There's much to be learned here from this testimony. We began last week in verse 19 looking at the many temptations, the many persecutions, the many circumstances that John the Baptist faced in his preaching of the Gospel. In these verses, we see what it means to be a disciple of Christ. We see in these verses what it means to bear witness of Christ, what it means to be a good evangelist for Christ. John was a man sent by God, and if you're a Christian here today, you're a man, you're a woman sent by God on a mission. That mission is to bear witness to Christ. As long as we're here, we're on this earth, we need to be preaching Christ. There won't be any evangelism in heaven. Have you thought about that before? We're going to be there with the saints worshiping God in glory, and that redemptive work of God is done. And the bride will be around the table together, will be worshiping and praising. But now is the time to labor in God's vineyard. Now is the time to labor for the Lord and preach Christ. And so that's what we see John the Baptist doing. And as we look at John the Baptist's example in being a good disciple, a good evangelist, a good testimony of Christ, we're to take his example and apply that to us in the same way that John was a witness for Christ, we're to be a witness for Christ. And so we see in John's example, several examples that were to follow. As we looked last week, we saw in verse 19 that John the Baptist, who called himself a voice of one who was crying out in the wilderness, that John the Baptist cried out in the wilderness in the face of great opposition, in the face of great persecution. When you open your mouth for Christ, you're going to draw opposition, you're going to draw persecution. And John the Baptist certainly did. It says in verse 19 that this is the testimony of John when the Jews and priests, ascent priests in Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? And when you're faithful to preach the gospel, you're going to draw persecution. John here, it says, is in the wilderness. Now he's physically in the wilderness, but he's also spiritually in the wilderness. And as he's in the spiritual wilderness, he's garnering a great deal of attention from his preaching. His preaching was bold, it was unafraid, and it was garnering a lot of attention from the folks in Jerusalem. In verse 19, the Jews in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, sent a delegation of priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John, who are you? Now as we talked about, this was no friendly visit. This was an ominous foreshadowing of the persecution that John the Baptist was going to face for preaching Christ. This was no friendly visit. John the Baptist faced great opposition for his witness. He was the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, though, in the face of that opposition. And that gives us instruction from the Word of God that we're going to face the same. When you preach Christ, you're going to face persecution, you're going to face opposition. Don't allow the opposition to silence you. You're to preach Christ. We must do the same. We must cry out in the face of opposition. But as we looked at point two last week, John also was a voice of one crying out in the wilderness in the face of great temptation. He says in verse 20, John confessed and did not deny, but he confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. So are you the prophet? And he answered, no. He said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? So John, it says in verse 20, confessed. He didn't deny, but he confessed, I am not the Christ. Now, woven into the fabric of these verses, there are two primary temptations that John the Baptist certainly had to face in his preaching of Christ. The first is that considering the multitudes that were coming out to him, considering the effectiveness of his ministry, the impact of his ministry, certainly John may have faced the temptation to pride, the temptation to pride. Secondly, there's another temptation that likely John would have faced, and this temptation would have come at the hands of the opposition, the persecution that came out to confront him, and that's the temptation to fear. You have to ask yourself the question, as you study the Scripture and as you study this passage, why would the Holy Spirit take care to emphasize that John did not deny the confession that he made? You have to ask yourself that question. And well, in the face of both of those temptations, among others, you have to think about it. John might have withheld the good confession that he made, or lied with the purpose of protecting himself due to fear, a fear of man. He might have denied his own role. John might have made the decision to assume the role of the Christ. There were people that thought he was and do that for the sake of personal gain. There were prophets throughout the Israel's history that did just that, prophesied for personal gain. He might have responded with pride, prideful indignation. When they came out to ask him or to interrogate him, so to speak, John might have said, who do you think you are? Do you know who I am? I'm the greatest man born among women. He could have responded pridefully. He might have compromised his message so that they would have approved of him. Come out to question John. John might have caved so that they would have approved. He might have changed his methods to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the folks in Jerusalem. He might have reveled in the good attention that he was getting. And he was in doing that, fail to glorify Christ. He might have compromised in order to just go along with the status quo to avoid any problems altogether. He might have caved under pressure to the self-appointed authorities that came out of Jerusalem. He might have compromised his role as the forerunner, as the herald of the Messiah. He might have begun preaching for his own gain, his own interests, his own desires, his own fame, his own agenda. And there were prophets in Israel before that had done just that. It's interesting, in Jeremiah chapter 6, the prophets so-called to the people of Israel prophesied peace, peace when there was no peace. And the prophet Jeremiah, a true prophet, said they did that for personal gain, for their own gain. In Isaiah chapter 30, get this, in Isaiah chapter 30, it is said of the people of God that they desired the prophets not to prophesy right things. They said, don't prophesy to us right things. They said, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Can you imagine the people saying that? Tickle our ears. We don't want to hear truth. Just tell us what we want to hear. It's crazy, but not John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a true prophet of God. John wasn't going to cave into that pressure. He took the role that he was given. He was faithful to his God, given responsibility. John made the right confession. He preached the right message. And John the Baptist consistently denied himself. And although he consistently denied himself, he never denied Christ. So in the face of opposition, in the face of temptation, to pride or to fear, John just kept pointing people away from himself and pointing lost people to Christ. So now as we continue our study of this passage together, we come to point three on your notes. John was the voice of one crying out in the face of opposition. John was the voice of one crying out in the face of temptation. But number three on your notes, John was the voice of one crying out in humble submission. Crying out in humble submission. Hear humble submission to God. Look at verse 22. The Bible says, then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? And John said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. And those who were sent were from the Pharisees. So this delegation now from the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem wanted John to give an answer for himself. So that they could give an answer to the folks in Jerusalem. The good old boy network in Jerusalem wanted to know who John was, what he was doing. That phrase there in verse 22, give an answer is one word in the Greek and it carries the sense of making a judgment. They wanted John to tell them about himself so that they could make a judgment about him and go and report that to the authorities in Jerusalem. This is a move, if you will, of authority. And they're exercising their authority. So John answers them in verse 23. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. So now first, we see the humble submission of John, even in the way that he describes himself. John was a humble man and he's in humble submission to the Father. Even in the way that he describes himself, we see his humble submission. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word, the Word who was with God and the Word who is God. John here simply a voice, just a voice. A voice is simply the means by which a word is made known. Jesus Christ is the Word, John is just a simple voice. Now as a voice here, John is performing the function of a herald, a herald. He's just a mouthpiece for God. Now think about the job of a herald for a moment. The job of a herald was to announce a message that was given to him by a dignitarier, by a king. And John here is announcing a message of the king or proclaiming his coming. And God would certainly see to it, wouldn't he, that his son had a herald. There were angels that heralded the coming of the king, the coming of Jesus Christ. And here John the Baptist, the greatest man born among women, is a fitting forerunner, a fitting herald for the coming king. Now this word used for voice, that John was a voice, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. That word often refers to a very loud voice. As Isaiah chapter 40 says, a voice lifted up in strength. It was a crying out voice. That Greek word for voice there was the same word that was used to describe God's voice at Mount Sinai. And if you remember that account of God's voice at Mount Sinai, the Israelites didn't want to hear from God anymore. Moses, you speak to us. We don't want to hear from God. His voice was booming. It says even Moses was fearful to hear God's voice at Mount Sinai. It's a booming voice proclaiming a message of the king. Now a herald, remember the story from the Old Testament in Daniel, where King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a herald before him to announce the demands of the king that the people worshiped the golden statue. That was the role of a herald to announce the message of a king. It's interesting that Peter in the New Testament calls Noah a herald of righteousness. Translated there, a preacher of righteousness, but that word for herald. So we see the job of a herald, a role of a herald. And this is the role that John the Baptist is fulfilling. All right, so John, the voice in the wilderness, a herald in the wilderness crying out, boo-la-oh, booming in the wilderness, follow Christ, prepare, make the way straight. As we said last week, he's out in the physical wilderness, but he's in a spiritual wilderness as well. The way that we're to see this is that the Lord came to his own people, his own people did not receive him, and this was, still is, true today, that we're preaching in a wilderness ourselves, a spiritual devastation. But the spiritual condition of the people was like the wilderness that John was preaching from. It was a wilderness, a devastation. We're preaching in a devastation, a wilderness ourselves here today in Orlando. This herald, think again about the role of a herald, didn't preach to the people a message of his own devising. He didn't get to preach whatever he wanted to preach. He didn't preach the imaginations of his own heart, the imaginations of his own mind. He was given a message to declare. A herald then, if you think about it again, is just a voice, just a means of communicating a message and the exact message of the king. So what was the message that the king gave John the voice to herald? He says there, make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. This make straight the way of the Lord is a direct quote from Isaiah chapter 40 and I want you to turn there with me. Isaiah chapter 40, let's take a look at this message from the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 40, we're going to begin there in verse one. This is the humble submission of John and how he described himself. And now the humble submission of John in his calling to preach and the message that he's preaching and the way that he preached. John associates himself with the voice here prophesying in Isaiah chapter 40. Now if you look at the book of Isaiah, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are filled with judgment. The people have sinned and sinned greatly against God and their idolatry and they are going into captivity. And the prophet is prophesying their eventual captivity in Babylon. People of Israel are going to be carted away to Babylon and are going to spend 70 years in captivity. Chapter 40 is the first then of three sections where the Lord seeks to comfort his people in the knowledge that he is now going to restore them from captivity or deliver them from bondage. So beginning in chapter 40, we see the Lord's deliverance. We see the Lord preparing to redeem the people, bring them back from captivity, so to speak. And so these are, in light of judgment now, words of comfort. As we go through chapter 40 to 49, we see that deliverance. Beginning in chapter 49, we see as Mark discussed earlier, the coming of the suffering servant then and even greater deliverance that follows. But here beginning in chapter 40, we see now the comfort of God. Look at verse one. Comfort, yes, comfort my people says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now God didn't forget his people in captivity. When they were going through hardship, the Lord didn't cast off his people because of their sin, didn't reject his people because of their rebellion here. He judged them for their sin, judged them for their rebellion, but God did not forget his people. And here he's commanding the prophets in the land to preach words of comfort to the people, to preach words of deliverance, restoration to the people. Comfort my people, God says. He says tell the people their warfare is ended. That word there is a word that's best translated hardship. Their hardship in Babylon and their captivity was so severe it was like warfare to them. It's like being in a war, a constant war, a continual warfare. Their captivity in Babylon was devastating. But God now in restoring his people says that Israel has been forgiven. They've been pardoned and in part now they've been pardoned because the full measure of God's judgment against them has been fulfilled. To say that they have at the Lord's hand been given double for all their sins is not to say that God was unnecessarily or too harsh. It's a statement saying that they deserved a double hand of God's wrath from the Lord for their sins and they got exactly what they deserved. They received a full measure of God's wrath for their sin. And so God now after this has been fulfilled, so to speak, is restoring, delivering his people. So we come to verse three. In verse three Isaiah chapter 40 verse three. Now we read the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Here's this voice crying in the wilderness to make preparation for the Lord coming in the deliverance of his people. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. So notice here in verse three, the voice, the identity of the voice is concealed. We don't know who it is. Simply a voice, right? But the identity is concealed. It's just a voice crying. However, if you can picture with me, isn't it a glorious blessing to be a voice for the Lord? There's a glorious calling. He's got a glorious message. Here, this herald, this voice goes before the Lord to make sure that the way by which the Lord is to go is to be put in good condition. He's to make sure that the pathway, the highway for the king is prepared. Now we are to imagine this, this voice going out into a pathless desert. Think about it for a moment. The voice goes out from the people into a pathless barren wasteland into the desert and cries out to the people of God. Now God is going to deliver them, but he cries out to the people of God, come out into the desert, prepare a roadway for God. God is coming to deliver his people, make the paths straight. Chop down the high places, build up the low places, straighten out the crooked places, make the rough places smooth, prepare a path for the Lord. The Lord is coming. And so in verse four, these instructions are given for exactly what's to be done. And here's how we are to understand this. Every valley shall be exalted. Encourage those who are cast down. Every mountain and hill brought low. Humble those who are self-righteous and self-secure. The crooked places need to be made straight. Those who have been dishonest, be honest. Those who are liars, speak the truth. Those who are sinning, rebelling, repent. And it says, and make rough places smooth. Those who have been rebellious are to be submissive. This is repentance. This is the preaching of repentance. We're to encourage those who are cast down. Humble those who are self-righteous. The people of God are to take care here that the God who is coming to deliver them shall find them in such a state of heart that is befitting the Lord's return. That is befitting the Lord's deliverance. That is befitting the Lord's blessing in their restoration. We're to be in such a state of heart that is worthy of His purpose, worthy of His exaltation, worthy of His worship, worthy of His praise. The Lord is coming to deliver them. And that's what is to be expected. Now, do you see the connection there to John the Baptist's ministry? John saw himself as a fulfillment of this ministry, a fulfillment of this prophecy. It says in verse 5, The glory in all of this, The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The deliverance of God is a revelation of God's glory. The redemption of God is a revelation of God's glory. Rescue of God out of bondage, out of captivity is a revelation of God's glory. Christ, the great deliverer, the King, the promised Messiah, is a revelation of God's glory. And in all this, God's glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And it won't just be the Jews that see it, all flesh will see it. Gentiles will see it. You and I have come to see it. The nations, every tribe, every tongue, every nation, coming before the Lord to worship. The glory of the Lord has been revealed because the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The Lord has made glorious promises. And all of those promises in Christ are yes and amen. In chapter 40, verse 6, it goes on. The voice said, cry out. Again, lift up your voice and strength, right? And he said, what shall I cry? Cry this. All flesh is grass. And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers. The flower fades because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. And surely the people are grass. The grass withers. The flower fades. But the word of our God stands forever. The voice. The voice that has been given a message from the King, the herald that is to proclaim the coming of the King, is to preach the perishable nature of all men and the imperishable nature of God's word. Men are impotent. Men are weak. Men are frail. Men are perishing. God is omnipotent. God is sovereign. God is eternal. God is alone, wise. God with his breath gives life. God with his breath sustains life. And God with his breath destroys life. And the voice of one crying in the wilderness proclaims the forever-enduring words of promise. The word of our God stands forever. It was on in verse 9, O Zion. You who bring good tidings. Get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem. You who bring good tidings. Lift up your voice with strength. There's that word for herald again. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. This is interesting here. This is God's command out of the people. The Lord has come. The Lord is going to deliver his people, make a path straight for the Lord to come. And in God's deliverance then, he commands the people to do something very interesting. He commands them to bring good tidings. Get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem. You who bring good news. This is the command of God for the people of Israel to evangelize. In the Greek and the New Testament, this would be the word, You on Galizomai, sharing a preaching of good news, good tidings. So here are the people of Israel. They're to lift up their voice with strength. He says, lift it up. Don't be afraid. And say to the cities of Judah, to the Jews first, right? To Judah. To Judah. Behold your God. This is a herald. Again, the people now. Heralds of the coming Lord. Heralds of our God who delivers his people. This is a herald of the coming Lord. People of God are to be messengers of good tidings, were to be messengers of good news. This was evangelism, even here in Isaiah. The, as many say, the gospel of the Old Testament. This is preaching of good news. Look at verse 10. Behold. The Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. He is the Lord God. The incomparably exalted one. This is the consolation of Israel. Let me ask you now in light of this. As we look at Isaiah chapter 40, we see the ministry of the herald. The ministry of the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. In any of this, in any of this, is there any glory attributed to the voice? No. The voice here in all of chapter 40 is just swallowed up in the glory of God. Swallowed up in the glory of God's deliverance. The glory of the Lord in Christ. What a glorious calling to be a voice for God. But does any glory go to the voice? Just a mouthpiece. Just a messenger. And you've been given the message. What a glorious, glorious message. What a glorious, glorious calling. You imagine the blessing, the privilege of being a voice for God that way. You are. You are a voice for God that way. You've been given that glorious privilege. A glorious blessing. Did we despise that? And the way that we live and the way that we neglect that ministry? Now, take joy, rejoice in that blessing from God. In all of that, there's no glory for the voice. We have faithfully discharged our service. When we have done all that we have been commanded to do, we must admit at the end of the day that we are unworthy slaves, as Luke says. We've done only that which we ought to have done. The voice is only a useful means and only useful as a means of declaring the majesty and wonder of the exalted Lord. Our Lord, who alone is worthy of worship, prays glory, honor, majesty, dominion. We're just the voice. Praise God that wicked sinners like you and I get to be a voice for the king. In their context now, in Isaiah chapter 40, this prophecy was a prophecy for them and their physical restoration, their physical deliverance from exile in Babylon. In their context, this passage meant their deliverance from Babylon. However, in Isaiah 49 and following, again, we begin to see the coming of the suffering servant. And in the coming of the suffering servant, we see pointed to a prophecy of an even greater deliverance, a greater deliverance of God's people from their sin. And one day, that great deliverance will be consummated in the new heavens and the new earth. We see that at the end of Isaiah. But here in Isaiah, we see a foretelling, a prophecy, if you will, of a future and greater deliverance, and that is the deliverance that comes when Christ comes. In that context, Isaiah 40 prophesies the ministry then of the forerunner also of Christ. And it's a ministry in chapter 40, in verse 3 with the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, that John the Baptist himself sees as himself being the fulfillment of that. But also, Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the Evangelist all see John the Baptist as fulfillment of this prophecy. And for one example of that, turn to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. This is in all of the gospels. To the book of Acts, that John the Baptist is a fulfillment of this prophecy in Isaiah chapter 40 of a greater deliverance, a greater fulfillment of this prophecy here with the coming of Christ. And that John the Baptist fulfills this ministry or this prophecy of the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Look at Luke chapter 3 and look beginning in verse 1. And here, testifying of this, the Bible says, Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip, Eurya in the region of Trachonitis, and Lysinias, tetrarch of Abilene, while Anas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, and here's what he did. Preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet saying. Now, as we looked at Isaiah chapter 40, that passage and the message that John preached was a message then of repentance. And here we see this affirmed in Luke chapter 3. This was a message of repentance for the remission of sins. He says, So, preparing the way of the Lord, making his paths straight, we need to see this, is preaching repentance. Preparing for the coming of the Lord, preparing your heart to hear from Christ, preparing your heart for the coming of the King to rule and reign over it, is the preaching of repentance. It was heart preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The hearts of the people are a barren wasteland. The hearts of the people are a desert, a wilderness, a devastation through which a straight path needs to be made. There needs to be repentance. The proud heart must be brought low. The self-righteous heart must be made humble. Obstacles that keep people from coming to Christ must be removed. And sin is the great obstacle. And with sin as a great obstacle, there must be the preaching of repentance. That's why often when we evangelize to someone, we begin with the law. That hard, prideful heart needs to be humbled by the law of God. That self-righteous heart needs to come to grips with the fact that they are unrighteous before God. There must be the preaching of repentance. Repentance is the royal road. It is the royal highway through the wilderness. And faith is the vehicle that runs on that highway. The Lord saves us by grace through the vehicle of faith. Faith being the flip side of the same coin with repentance. It is a faithful repentance or a believing repentance, and it is a repenting faith or a repenting belief. Faith and repentance. There must be preaching against sin. Our wicked hearts need it. We live, think about it for a moment, we live in the most decadent and most self-indulgent time in the history of the world. We live in the most decadent and most self-indulgent country, place in the world in all of history. We need the preaching of repentance. And the preaching of repentance is so seldom heard. It is often abandoned, forsaken in churches all over the world. Very seldom we hear preaching of repentance. But continuing on, if you're in Luke chapter 3, John continues preaching in verse 7. Listen to what he preached now, listen to his message. John said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him. Listen to this. Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore, John says, bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. John here in Luke chapter 3 is correcting the idea that baptism could save them. They needed to repent and then bear fruits worthy of repentance. Being a descendant of Abraham was useless apart from genuine repentance. John calls them, they say to themselves that they're offspring of Abraham, descendants of Abraham. John calls them the offspring of vipers. You brood of vipers. It's basically equivalent to calling them children of Satan. That's what he meant by the phrase. And just like snakes that scatter before a fire, John sees all these coming as just attempting to run from hell, flee the wrath of God. That's interesting, I want you to get this in verse 7. That word there for warned. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? That word there for warned refers to revealing something that is hidden. It is to show or to indicate. So now the meaning, if you take that word there, the meaning would be closer to who showed you how to flee from the wrath to come? John the Baptist is preaching. It's like who showed you how to flee the wrath to come? And the assumed answer is John saying, certainly not me. I didn't say that you could be saved by your baptism. I didn't say that you could be saved by your descendancy from Abraham. You're not going to hear me say that you can be saved by keeping up your hypocritical, fake, ritualistic religiosity. This is John being harsh with them to wake them up. These men are guilty before God. All men are guilty before God. And John is saying basically, it's not me that told you to flee the wrath of God that way. They need to repent. Their greatest need wasn't simply to be washed with water. Their greatest need was the inner heart cleansing that baptism symbolized. And he says, verse 9, listen, the axe is about to fall. Repent now and believe in the gospel. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. If John's hearers really wanted to escape hell, then let them show the appropriate fruit. That's what John was saying. If they want to escape hell, then go and let them show the appropriate fruit of genuine repentance, the appropriate fruit of a heart change wrought by God. Their actions, their conduct, their life, all of that is to be evidence of a change in heart, a change in nature that only comes from God. And that is the preaching of John the Baptist. It's interesting that incidentally, back to John chapter 1 in verse 24, that those who were sent out to him, hearing John preach this message, it says we're from the Pharisees. That word for Pharisee translates an Aramaic word that means separate or separated. These Pharisees, many of the Jews at that time, thought that they were separated, that they were true Israel because of their devotion to the law of God. They thought that they were separated, true Israel, because of their obedience to the law of God, and they thought that they were safe from the wrath of God because of their obedience to the law of God, because of their works, because of keeping the law. They knew nothing of genuine repentance. They knew nothing of that from the heart that John was preaching. They knew nothing of the grace and mercy and power of God in Christ to save. The glory of his person, his work, his love, his forgiveness. They just didn't understand the gospel. This was works righteousness that they believed in, works righteousness that they preached, and it would be works righteousness that they would be judged by on judgment day. All John did, as Jesus would later do, is describe them as of their father, the devil. By the way, if you have a voice as John did, which you do, you've been given one. If you have a voice as John did, and you are to preach repentance as John did, this world needs that preaching. This world needs preaching of repentance. So, preach Christ crying out in the face of opposition. Preach Christ crying out in the face of temptation to fear, to compromise. Preach Christ crying out in humble submission to his calling on your life, in humble submission to the message that he's given you to preach. Don't be silent. Don't be silent. And when you preach, point four on your notes. Cry out on the authority of God's word. Cry out on the authority of God's word. That's what John did here. This was an issue of authority, verse 25. They asked him, this delegation from the Pharisees in Jerusalem asked him, saying, why then do you baptize if you're not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? The questioning simply revealed an issue or a problem of authority. They're basically saying, listen, on what authority do you do these things? What is the authority to stand out here and preach this way? John wasn't recognized as a part of the establishment. He didn't get trained in their schools. He was outside their religious system. He wasn't a part of the good old boy network. He wasn't one of them, right? And they expected that he should be. Today, you might hear the same kind of thing from people within even the church or evangelicalism. You might hear, don't ordain those men without our approval. Don't practice discipline in your church without running it through us first. Don't practice discipline without us. Everything should be run through us. That is absurd pride. We stand on the authority of God's word as John the Baptist did. And that's what we're to do. You're to stand on the authority of God's word. Furthermore, they would have taken great offense that John was baptizing, that he took it upon himself to baptize. Now listen to this. The baptism of John was different than the baptism of Christians. Christian baptism is a symbol of our identification with Christ, with his death, with his burial and resurrection. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, right? A baptism of repentance. John's baptism basically flowed out of proselyte baptism in Judaism. When someone outside the covenant community of Jews wanted to be a member of the covenant community of Jews and worship the one true and living God of Israel, that person had to basically become a Jew. They became a Jew one by getting circumcised but also in addition to that by being baptized. They practiced baptism in Old Testament Israel light history. So they were to be baptized. Now, the Jews at this time accepting John's baptism were basically acknowledging that they were outside the covenant community of the children of God, the people of God. They had been behaving like Gentiles and that they needed a repentance from the heart to be the true people of God. That is an amazing acknowledgement on the part of the Jewish people. The Pharisees that came out to, you know, the Inquisition that came out from Jerusalem to John would have seen this as undermining their position as the chosen people of God. They would have seen this as ignoring their descendancy from Abraham. They would have taken great offense at this. So this was an amazing acknowledgement for a Jew and all of that in anticipation of the Messiah's coming. This would have been offensive to the Pharisees. Now additionally, proselytes when they came into Judaism would have baptized themselves. But here John is in the River Jordan baptizing them, administering this right of baptism. So this is no light matter. No light matter. Combine all that with the fact that John insisted on faith, insisted on repentance. You've got a recipe for a showdown over authority. The authority of those in the religious elite who were self-appointed authorities and the authority of John the Baptist standing on God's word, crying out in the wilderness. This is no light matter. Baptists throughout history have upheld the fact that there is no ecclesiastical authority outside of Jesus Christ, the head of the church, who administers his authority through the Word of God. This is the autonomy of the local church. There is no higher authority. In faith and in practice, we stand on the Word of God and we're to stand on the Word of God alone. When you take a stand on the Word of God, you're going to draw what? Persecution. That's right. You take a stand for God, you're going to face opposition, get used to it. The Good Old Boy Network is alive and well today just as it was back then. And if you don't look, act, and play like the rest of the boys, you're going to hear about it. And listen, that's when, in the light of that, in the face of that, you must stand on the authority of God's Word and be faithful. When they don't evangelize, when they don't preach it, when they don't lead it, when they don't exhort it, when they don't do it themselves, and they sit back in their disobedience and hurl false accusations at you because you do, that's when you stand on the authority of God's Word, you rebuke them for their error, you keep being faithful in evangelism. When they don't practice church discipline, when they ignore it, when they undermine it, when they make themselves some kind of appeals court over it, when they play the fool, when they listen to one side of the story and they get sucked in by the wicked, you stand, we stand on the authority of God's Word, we rebuke them for their error, and we keep being faithful in church discipline. When they don't preach on sin, when they don't preach obedience, when they don't act because you do, you stand on the authority of God's Word, you rebuke them for their error, and you keep being faithful to preach the whole counsel of God. We must do this. We cannot compromise. This is an age, today's an age of biblical compromise in the name of tolerance, in the name of unity, in the name of so-called Christian fellowship. In any unity, any Christian so-called fellowship on compromise with the Word of God is a sham unity. It's no unity at all. You cannot compromise. Many of those churches that you walk into are dead. Their lampstand has been removed long ago if they ever had one to begin with. They are dead churches. And here, John, we just see a stalwart example of a prophet of God who stood independently on the authority of God's Word and it seemed like all the world was opposed to him. And he just stood. He was a man under authority, and under the right authority. We need to take heed to John's example and stand on the authority of God's Word. But point five on your notes, in addition to standing on the authority of God's Word, John the Baptist was crying out as one under the authority of God's Word. He was under the authority of God's Word. John said in verse 26, John answered them saying, Listen, I baptize with water, there stands one among you whom you do not know. It is he who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loose. And these things were done in Bethlehem beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. These Pharisees, the priests, the Levites were all preoccupied with John. However, there was one that they needed to be preoccupied with that was coming after. And there's a contrast implied here. John baptizes with water, but there stands one among you. And the contrast implied there is that he baptizes differently. And we saw this back again in Luke 3, where John says of Jesus. He says, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming whose sandal strap I'm not even worthy to loose, he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. The contrast here implied is the contrast between John, a baptism of repentance, and the baptism of Jesus Christ, a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire. And this was a baptism of judgment. There's coming, a great division among men. And you must make a straight way in your heart to prepare for that coming division, where the sheep will be separated from the goats, the wheat will be separated from the chaff. If you've ever seen wheat separated that way, got a guy with a shovel. He scoops into the wheat and chaff, he throws it up in the air, you've got someone off to the side with a fan, blowing a current of air that blows away the chaff and the wheat falls to the ground. The wheat then is gathered into the barn, the chaff is collected and burned. And it says here, burned with an unquenchable fire. That means an eternal fire, eternal torment, eternal judgment. This is a great division among men. And the chaff is separated by means of the wind. There's often a reference in Scripture to the Spirit. Those who fail to respond to John's call to repentance will face a baptism of judgment which will devour the adversaries. And John, under authority, on the authority of God's word and a man under authority, just preached that message. He preached it to his death. Just a humble man. He says in verse 20, just another amazing statement of his humility in verse 27, it is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not even worthy to loose. It was a teaching among the rabbis in Israel that a disciple was to be in all ways to his teacher as a slave with the exception of one form of service. And that was one of removing the sandal. There's a rabbi in 8250, Rabbi Joshua B. Levi who wrote this. He says, in all manner of service that a slave must render to his master, the pupil must render to his teacher accept that of taking off his shoe. That was considered the lowliest duty for a slave, taking off the shoe, washing the feet of his master. It's a great statement of humility on the part of John. John was saying, listen, I'm not worthy to be a disciple. I'm not even worthy to be the most menial, the lowliest of slaves. I'm just a voice. That's an awesome thought. I'm not worthy to be the lowest slave, but I can be a voice for the king. Here you have the greatest man born among women, the son of a priest, indwelt with a holy spirit from his birth, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, born by a direct and miraculous work of God, drawing multitudes out to hear him in the wilderness, and yet he looked up to Christ in great humility. I'm not even worthy to be a slave, and just in all of that, in all of his words, bringing out the divine glory of the son that he heralded. That's the faithful herald, the faithful forerunner. Not worthy to lose a sandal strap. Not worthy to lose a sandal strap, but enabled by the grace of God to march out into the wilderness and preach the gospel. It would be an awesome privilege to lose a sandal, but what an awesome privilege to preach Christ, amen. It says in verse 28 that these things were done in Bethlehem beyond the Jordan. Many of your Bibles say Bethany. There's some speculation about that. Bethany was a town that was very near Jerusalem where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived, but there was another Bethany across the Jordan, and this is where these things took place. The word Bethahem in your New King James possibly refers to the region that Bethany was in, but there were two Bethanese. It clarified for us where Christ would be born. It wasn't just Bethlehem, it was Bethlehem Ephrathah, right? Two Bethlehems. There were two Antiochs. There was an Antioch in Syria, and there was an Antioch toward Pisidia. Just two cities of the same name, and all this took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan. It was about 20 miles, a good hard day's walk from Jerusalem. So two separate locations here. This is the testimony of John the Baptist. This is the testimony. And follow his example. If you're not a Christian, you've never submitted yourself to the Lord, you've never turned from your sin, put your faith in Christ. Will you heed what John is saying this morning? There is a divine judgment coming. Now is the accepted time. Now, today is the day of salvation. In John chapter 10, verse 41, the evangelist says that John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about Christ were true. And it says there that many believed in him there. Will you believe in him this morning? Isn't he worthy to abandon this wicked life that you've led and follow Christ and earn an inheritance in glory to be a child of the king? Will you heed John and believe? Will you heed John and repent? Turn from your sin. You can do it now. Isaiah chapter 55, we looked at this morning. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come. Buy wine and milk without money, without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? Why do you spend your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live. Take an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David. That's the heart of the Lord toward you. The Lord desires that all men are saved. That's what Paul says to Timothy. The Lord wants you to be saved. Turn from your sin. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Turn to the Lord and live. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. In the unrighteous man his thoughts. Return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Many who think God is a God of judgment. God is rich in mercy and abounding in grace. And if you do not turn, God is a God of judgment. Turn to the Lord and live. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for the example of John the Baptist. Lord, thank you, God, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for this teaching. I pray, God, for my brothers and sisters here, for myself, Lord, that this word, your word, Lord, would find deep root in fertile soil in our hearts and that we would God, reinvigorate our fervor, our zeal for you, for the gospel. We are voices for the king, God, and that we would be faithful heralds to preach your word. Lord, if there's someone here who isn't saved, who's never repented, their heart is just full of high and low places and crooked places and deceit. God, I pray that you would break their heart over their sin in a rebellion. God, that you, by your grace and mercy to them, Lord, would bring to their understanding that wicked, terrible condition of their heart and that you, Lord, would grant repentance and faith and save their soul for your glory. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.