The Resurrection of Jesus: John the Baptist | Pastor William Hixson

I trust everyone's had enough hot dogs

and July 4th fireworks to satisfy them

for another year.

So, I'd like to

welcome you all this morning as we enjoy

missionaries.

Well, since I'm subbing for Steve

Benson, when you're dealing with one one

Sunday school lesson, it's a little bit

of a challenge. Wow. What do I teach on

that would be helpful and beneficial?

So, uh, as I've thought through this and

prayed through this, I I thought about

doing something this morning on John the

Baptist,

the significance,

great significance

of John the Baptist.

Um,

I want you to think and I want to look

at it in reference not just to what

happened but in reference to the

resurrection of Jesus Christ

which is the major ev the major emphasis

in the Bible. The resurrection of our

Lord Jesus Christ is not an isolated

event.

It's preceded by many other events in

history and in uh but even in the Old

Testament as well as the history of the

three-year ministry of Jesus. And

there's a whole cluster of events

that accompany the revelation of Jesus

Christ and the resurrection of Jesus

Christ that are pro providential and

supernatural

and are recorded in the scriptures.

The ministry of John the Baptist is just

one

of other events. And often when we think

of the resurrection, we think about

defending the bodily resurrection of

Jesus against those who deny he rose

from the dead. But we don't always go

into these other

events.

And you know, there's direct evidence

and there's circumstantial evidence. In

the court of law, there's different

kinds of evidences.

And we have the direct evidence, but we

also have a boatload of circumstantial

evidence that cor that help us know the

reality of the resurrection of the Lord

Jesus Christ. And John the Baptist is

part of that cluster of evidences.

He's included in every one of the four

gospels.

Everyone,

you know, Luke, I mean, excuse me,

Matthew, Luke, and John record the birth

of Jesus.

Mark does not.

Now, the birth of Jesus is a major

event.

Mark does not record the birth of Jesus

that he records John the Baptist.

I mean, just think about that.

It's something to think about. Mark was

writing a gospel with an economy of room

and he he I'm sure he knew about the

birth of Jesus. He just chose not to

not to in in record it in his gospel.

But having said that, he recorded John

the Baptist. He couldn't start

he couldn't leave that part out. I mean,

been thinking about that. He left out

the birth of Jesus, but he didn't leave

out the ministry of John.

John the Baptist ministry is that

significant.

It could not be left out

and for many reasons.

And there's all kinds of evidences in

the Bible that I think

for the veracity of scriptures and the

veracity of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

some are direct evidences, some are

circumstantial evidences, but the

resurrection of Jesus does not come

alone.

And I'm not talking about the empty tomb

and the and the 500 witnesses. I'm

talking about other stuff, a

broaderbased stuff that we often don't

even think about.

uh and the ministry and message of John

the Baptist is one. How about the

destruction of Jerusalem in 40 AD after?

That's a that's another thing that went

on at that time in that cluster of time.

How about the speaking of tongues which

I believe was speaking in other

languages which you'd never learned. It

was a linguistic miracle

at the day of Pentecost. How about the

gospel going into all the gentile world?

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and

preach the gospel." And the New

Testament is clear. The gospel is going

to go around the world.

And it has already. As you've heard me

say, my dad was in Tonga, uh, in Guadal

Canal and places like that in the

Pacific. I said, "Dad, guess what?

You've been to the ends of the earth.

Jerusalem, you're on the exact opposite

of Jerusalem when you were there."

And so the salvation of Gentiles is

mentioned in Psalm 22.

Salvation of Gentiles is emphasized in

Psalm 22, which predicts Jesus's death

and his resurrection

and all of that kind of stuff.

uh the the uh the persecution and uh

first the scattering of the Jews, then

the persecution and return of Jews to

the land, the political resurrection

that is also I think part of this

cluster. The scale of it and the scope

of it is amazing

and we often don't get cast a wide

enough net to just think about this book

that tells us about Jesus that gives us

the gospel has collaborating

circumstantial

uh direct evidence all over the place

and you put it together and you say this

cannot be manufactured by Man,

this is not a man-made thing like the

cults have.

Now, all Christians in all local

churches have a clear responsibility to

proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ both

near and far.

And we should be involved near and far.

I saw a YouTube where a pastor was was

telling people that were wanted to come

to his church and join his church, if

you're not willing to go on a mission

trip every 3 years, you you can't be a

member of our church. Now, I think

that's a little that's a little radical,

but he actually said that. That's just

over a little bit over the top. But

obviously churches should be involved

not just with their money and their

prayers, but sometimes with their

presence

and uh not to the extent that that man

was expecting. Uh but I think he I don't

know I don't know the guy either way. He

had a vision for missions. Every church

should have a vision for missions

locally and internationally.

And of course, worshiping our God is the

core thing. But working for our God is

after that. We're not to make workers.

We make worshippers. And we worshipers

will be workers, right? The goal is not

to make workers. The goal is to make

worshippers. When you make worshippers,

you can get workers.

People aren't worshiping the Lord. They

won't be working for the Lord.

And that's kind of important.

Why am I not doing something for the

Lord?

Maybe

I'm not worshiping him to such a degree

that it will impel me to express myself

in love to him and to others in the

gospel.

Now, we're supposed to minister to one

another in the body of Christ, but we're

also to be reaching out to those outside

the body. These are all big things. And

uh we we we know we live in a world

where people have a do-it-yourself

salvation. Whether it's the eight-fold

path of Buddhism or the five pillars of

Islam, that's a do-it-yourself

autooteric system.

Our job is not to just confront them

with the errors of those things, but to

proclaim our Lord. Neither is it to

argue over much. I believe there's great

arguments, but our job is to primarily

proclaim

and let God do it. Because many people

say, "I don't know all this stuff about

John the Baptist. I don't know all this

stuff about I can't argue everything."

Well, you can proclaim the gospel

because God uses that.

We're not all apologeticists. We're not

all uh geared that way, but we can give

the gospel.

And it's important for us to do that.

One of the most fruitful times of my

life was before I went to seminary.

It I had 80 people in two different

Bible classes, 40 each. I was 22 years

old. I didn't know. I was learning as I

went.

It was really bizarre, but God used it.

So the point is uh God may God help us

to understand our responsibility to

proclaim the gospel and therefore our

responsibility to understand the Bible

that gives us a gospel to proclaim and

it goes beyond knowing the resurrection.

We should know these other things. I I'm

I'm one personally. I don't like to

argue about were Adam and Eve real

people or is evolution true or not or or

any of the other stuff people is God a

wicked God or a good God. I I I like to

cut through that and say, you know, all

those are good questions.

But here is the e this is the e the

issue. Did Jesus come out of the grave

or not?

He came out of the grave. Christianity

is true. The Bible's true. Everything

else is false.

If he didn't, if Christ isn't risen,

your faith is vain and our proclamation

is done. So, I think it for the unsaved

person, they want to jump all around and

ask 20 different questions on 20

different subjects, and you never get to

the right, you never get them to the

place they need to be.

Dr. Dr. Witkim in apologetics class in

seminary

gave this testimony about his time at

Princeton University

and he u he said there was a student

that didn't believe Jonah could come out

of the fish on the third day and

survive. He said so I I I researched it

all these places where somebody had been

swallowed by a fish and survived and I

had all these books on on Jonah and the

fish and I gave them to him. He didn't

even read them.

So I said he he told his spiritual

father, Dr. Donald B. Fullerton, who's a

very wise missionary and and campus

minister

later,

he said, "Would you go over and talk to

this guy? I can't get anywhere."

And so they did and knocked on the door

and uh the guy answered and everybody

else scattered like ants. Everybody in

the room took off fast, emptied the

room. He was standing there and the guy

said, "Well, I just don't believe Jonah

came out of the fish and was in the fish

three days." And you know what he said?

He Dr. Wickham learned something about

witnessing. He said,

Donald Fitrin said to him, "That's a

very good question. I'd love to talk to

you about that sometime, but right now I

want to talk to you about Jesus coming

out of the grave

and the gospel that comes from and he

led the guy to the Lord in 10 minutes.

We need to keep the main thing the main

thing. Need to major on majors, minor on

minors. And but what I'm saying today is

John the Baptist ministry is part of a

cluster of evidence that helps us

proclaim the resurrection if we just

think about it. We don't always think

about it. And uh yet there's a cogency

and a viability and veracity of the

gospels as they present the indepth this

thing.

So may the Lord help us to do that. this

morning the enormous significance of

this subject.

So, as I said, all four gospels include

John the Baptist. In fact, they begin

with him in one way or the other in the

first few chapters. You're there.

Uh big big amount of material really.

And by the way, the book of Acts begins

with him.

Not just Jesus. They got Jesus in the 40

days and day and night. But remember

when they had to replace Judas

be what? We need another apostle to

replace Judas to be a witness of the

what? The resurrection.

So they looked at who was qualified and

they voted. They wanted 12 people out of

uh that 120. Uh there was 12 people uh

that needed to stand up called

Pentecost.

And what was the qualifications to be

one of the 12 after Judas was dead? You

had they started with what? John the

Baptist.

Did you you remember reading that in

Acts one? John the Baptist.

Turn there. Turn if you will there for

me just a minute. It's you sometimes we

need to ask some questions, right? Why

was that so important? Why? You could

any of the 500 that saw him, they could

witness. Any of the women that saw him,

they could witness. Why does it have to

be

beginning at John the Baptist? Because

there's a story that precedes

the death, burial, and resurrection of

Jesus Christ, of the public ministry of

Jesus. And that story of that public

ministry begins with Jesus's baptism by

John and the events that happened when

it happened. And so if let's see I want

a reader for this. Somebody uh pick this

up. Uh

let's pick it up in John Acts 1 verse 21

Acts 1:21–23

to 23. Somebody read it. Who wants it?

John

the Lord Jesus

now among us.

came from the baptism of John which is

the same day that he was taken up from

us

one or the witness with us of his

resurrection.

They appointed two

name justice and

they prayed and said, "Thou Lord, which

know the hearts of all men, show whether

of these truths thou hast

you may take part this ministry and

apostles

from which Judith by translation

that he might go to his own place.

They gave forth their

fellow upon

heaven.

Okay, thank you John. Now verse 22 is

the key beginning from the baptism of

John.

And so they want that was a

qualification beyond just seeing Jesus

or believing in the resurrection.

When Peter stood up and preached the day

of Pentecost, they wanted 11 11 other

apostles beside him. And the I believe

in some sense they saw the ministry of

John and the ministry of Jesus as

connected

and very important.

Not just the baptism and the voice

coming down from heaven, but the fact

that what John said and what he didn't

say about Jesus on that occasion.

Now, John the Baptist is therefore

important. And by the way, John the

Baptist has extra biblical confirmation.

The Jewish historian Josephus, who was

no Christian,

talks about John the Baptist. He

mentions Jesus, but he also mentions

John the Baptist.

So, we know there was a John the

Baptist, not just because the Bible says

it, but because a Jewish historian said

it. Now, actually, the Bible's more

accurate about some of the dates than

Josephus is, but uh John the Baptist

talked about, excuse me, Josephus talked

about John the Baptist. And so, the idea

that he's not historical or that Jesus

is not historical doesn't doesn't wash.

Okay, let's uh

think through the four gospels a little

bit.

Somebody open their Bible to Matthew

Matthew 3:7–17

3:7-17.

Matthew 37-17

besides John. Who wants to read Matthew

37-17?

>> Okay. Sue.

But

when he saw many of the Pharisees and

Sadducees under his baptism, he said to

them, "Oh generation of vipers, you have

Brats

is

therefore every tree

is down.

I indeed baptize you

that come back.

>> I think that's probably good enough. In

other words, he that comes after me,

right? So John was all about testifying

about Jesus. The Messiah is coming. I'm

here to prepare you for the Messiah's

coming.

And that's the emphasis there in

Matthew.

And basically he's John saying to the

Pharisees and the Sadducees

that are coming to his baptism, you're

not saved. You're not ready.

You got to bring forth fruit worthy of

repentance. Everybody does. and uh uh he

really laid into them. So that's

Matthew's account. Luke's account

amazingly starts not with the uh birth

of Jesus but the birth of John the

Baptist

and the conception and birth of John the

Baptist. Not that John the Baptist is

more important than Jesus but John the

Baptist is the one who introduced Jesus

to the nation.

And Luke dates with precision the

ministry of John the Baptist in Luke

Luke 13:1

13:1.

So Luke uh in his gospel doesn't start

with the birth of Jesus like Matthew and

and uh and John do. Uh he he starts with

the birth of John the Baptist and then

the birth of Jesus. He puts them

together. He connects the dots on it

with John rejoicing in his mother's

womb. John's six months older than the

Lord as far as our Lord's humanity.

It's interesting. The more you think

about this,

the more

powerful it is.

Here's John the Baptist who was such a

powerful witness to the Lord Jesus

Christ.

that Jesus could say when the his

enemies said, "What sign are you showing

that you're doing these things? You're

coming to this temple. Who do you think

you are?

What sign do you show?" And Jesus said,

"Well, I'll ask you one question.

The baptism of John,

is it of heaven

or of men?"

Now, they could have answered that,

but they knew it'd get him in trouble.

They believed it was from men.

And they said, "We can't answer. They

weren't honest."

And so, they would not answer that

question. And Jesus said, "If you're not

going to answer my question, I'm not

answering yours because you're not

honest.

You're not being honest with yourself or

with me. And that's why a lot of people

aren't saved. They're not honest with

themsel or with Jesus.

But Jesus went back to John. It's a

fascinating business in Luke, isn't it?

And uh and uh in John's account, it's

the same thing. John the Baptist is

mentioned in the introduction

in John chapter 1, that 18 verse

John 1 · chapter mention

introduction to the whole gospel. And

John the Baptist says, "He must

increase, I must decrease. He that has

the bride is the bridegroom." John knew

who he was.

I I'm not the Messiah. I'm the best man.

And so very important stuff really if we

just stop and think about it.

Now

in Acts 19,

you find some of John the Baptist

converts

in Ephesus.

That's how far he reached himself.

Not that he ever went to Ephesus, but I

mean the the people from his ministry

out there wandering around

and the Christians found some of them.

So it's a fascinating thing. And Paul

said, 'Well, to whom are you baptized?

And to John's baptism, we hadn't even

heard if there was a Holy Spirit. He'd

missed all the kind of stuff afterwards,

but they had what they had. So his his

it's kind of like Athens Bible Church.

We got people all over the world from

here from our ministry here uh and

scattered and John's ministry went it

scattered

and people were in other places. So all

this is fascinating stuff. He had a vast

influence.

He was the forerunner. He was the best

man. And the more I ponder John, the

more I'm stunned by the whole thing, his

whole ministry. So go with me to Mark's

Gospel and we will try to work at Mark

who skipped the birth narrative but did

not skip John the Baptist.

Mark one. in the time we have left.

Mark chapter 1,

Mark 1 · chapter mention

the beginning of the gospel of Jesus

Christ, the son of God.

As it's written in the prophets, behold,

I send my messenger before thy face, who

shall prepare thy way before thee. Where

has that come from? There's he's quoting

a a collection of Old Testament verses

there, right? This is the only time Mark

quotes the Old Testament himself.

Now others refer to the Old Testament in

his gospel but this is a this is the

only time John Mark himself quotes the

Old Testament

and it's a collection of verses here.

Malachi 3 is in here. Isaiah 40 is in

here. Exodus 20 is somewhere in here.

There's a collection of verses that he

puts together

as it's written in the prophets.

As it's written in the prophets,

behold, I send my messenger before thy

face, who shall prepare thy way before

thee. The voice of one crying in the

wilderness, prepare ye the way of the

Lord, make his paths straight.

It's a fascinating verse. I did my

master's thesis on that verse. I've been

fascinated by this unique

um quotation of Mark. Obviously, he felt

this was very very important.

And Mark's writing in 64 to 67 AD about

35 years after the event.

Now, I'm old enough to remember things

35 years ago.

I've got children in their 40s

and late 30s.

I remember it. That's there's events

very very clear to me.

I forget a lot of stuff. I am very

absent- minded. My wife will tell you I

forget a lot of stuff. I remember

everything about the birth of every one

of my children.

I mean, there's things that are so

significant, there's just no forgetting

it.

And for John Mark,

uh, these events were very, very real to

him. Whether he saw them or was with

other people who saw them, there was

enough that he could collect from others

that knew about it 35 years later where

it was very clear. So the gospel is

what? It's the gospel is the good news.

If you want the bad news, read the

newspaper or watch YouTube. You'll get

bad news. Uh, but we got good news. And

the Bible's not all good news. There's

some bad news for sinners,

but the gospel itself is good news. And

part of that good news is God demands

100% perfection 100% of the time over

100% of the people.

And although none of us have done that,

there was one who did, and his name is

Jesus.

and he's the one that died for us and

rose again. Now, as we know, the gospel

of Jesus Christ, the son of God, Jesus

is his personal name. Uh Christ is his

public office. Uh people call me Pastor

Hixon, but pastor is not my first name.

That's a title, right? And so, Christ is

a title.

It's office. He's the anointed one.

He's publicly chosen and equipped.

So uh

it starts off the beginning of the

gospel of Jesus Messiah the son of God.

The son of God

and that is not describing derivation

that is describing identity.

son of in the in the Old Testament

scriptures refers to often being the son

of so and so or the son of so and so

derivation but it also refers to your uh

group to which you belong

and we have a fine thing from Dr. best

my Hebrew prophet on the son of God in

the Old Testament idiom. And so son of

God means he's God.

That's the bottom line.

So John the Baptist comes and uh he he

the be the beginning of the gospel was

really the beginning of the preaching of

John even before Jesus had had uh hadn't

died yet. It was the beginning.

So John Bra Baptist cut through

everything and proclaimed Jesus as the

son of God. And that term is used

several times in Mark. I think about

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

times or eight. He's the eternal son of

God. That's metaphysical, not messianic.

And praise God for our Lord.

Now, if your message isn't about Jesus,

your message isn't the gospel.

People use that word gospel very

loosely.

Some 30 years ago were using it of

Marxism

and they they they use that word gospel.

You leave Jesus out, you're leaving the

main thing out. The good news is about

Jesus Christ, the son of God.

Now let's remember something else. Mark

was not writing this gospel alone.

Papius, one of the church fathers, tells

us that John Mark wrote under Peter's

direction.

So the gospel of Mark is really a gospel

of Peter

and Peter was behind it.

Peter was directing it and John Mark was

writing this gospel maybe possibly to

for Peter to use in evangelism and so

forth. Uh but it was Peter behind the

writing of the whole thing.

And John's known for his brevity. He's a

man of few words. His gospel is shorter

than the others. He's brief. He's

compact. He's concise.

But

he includes what's necessary.

Martin Luther said a a preacher stand

up, speak out, and stop short. And and

Mark did that. He nothing long- winded

about Mark.

And

it's very interesting what he's doing

here.

So this is important. He he left out a

lot of stuff. uh he made it very concise

but he didn't leave out the important

stuff he kept the important stuff in.

Now the other stuff's important as well

or the others would not

um have done it.

So Mark here does something interesting.

Uh it's definitely Matthew 3:1 and

Matthew 3:1

Isaiah 43. some see see something from

uh I believe it's Exodus in there 20 or

something but definitely Matthew 3:1 and

Matthew 3:1

Isaiah 43 he marries them and puts them

as a composite quotation

and this was a marriage made in heaven

uh God takes something from Isaiah God

takes something from Malachi

and these quotations are queuing us in

to the Old Testament scriptures as a

whole speaking about Jesus. So John

didn't stand alone. There was a book

written before he even came.

And what a wonderful thing. How many

like the book of Malachi? It's one of my

favorite books.

I remember I think that was the first

Old Testament book I ever taught.

wanted to pick a little one.

And so I picked Malachi. And I learned

to love the book of Malachi from an

early age as a young preacher. And I'm

glad I did. And I still enjoy teaching

it. I've taught it here more than once.

I also love Isaiah, but I've only taught

through that one time. That's not a book

you preach to too much. You don't live

long enough to do that.

I've taught from it many times, but I've

only taught it from beginning to end

once.

If I live long enough again, if we ever

get through Jeremiah again, which I'm

working on now, I'm now Isaiah's on my

list.

But, uh, Isaiah 43 is a key section,

right?

Some of you that are listening online,

Isaiah, the book of Isaiah divides up

into two parts.

Chapters 1-39 is a message of judgment.

Chapters 40-6 is a message of comfort.

Comfort, comfort, my people is in Isaiah

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

chapter 40.

And Dr. Witkin pointed this out to us.

And of course, chapter divisions are

man-made, but he pointed out to us that

Isaiah 40-6 has 26 chapters. You divide

26 by two, you get 13. You add 13 to 40,

you get Isaiah 53.

So in the middle

of the comfort section

is the death, burial, and resurrection

of Jesus prophecy.

And I remember Isaiah 53 is not just a

prophecy of the first coming of Jesus to

die. It's the prophecy of Israel getting

saved at the end of history, finally

believing that they were wrong

and reflecting on what happened before.

The middle is a fascinating thing, the

middle of that comfort section.

There's no comfort apart from the cross.

There's no comfort apart from the fact

that sins are paid for and death is

defeated.

And that's a so all that's very precious

and John preached it. That that

reference to Isaiah 43 is a reference to

that one verse, but it's also a

reference to everything else in that

section

of scripture.

Um,

now

I know you know these verses. I'm not

turning to him for time sake cuz well

turn go back go to Isaiah 43. Let's new

turn to him. We got enough time I

believe.

So hundreds of years before Jesus was

born, the prophet Isaiah

is given this this wonderful prophecy.

And the prophecy starts with the

iniquity of Israel being pardoned and

have and having received double for all

her sins. And then it says, "The voice

Isaiah 40:3 of him that cries in the

Isaiah 40:3

wilderness, prepare ye the way of the

Lord, make straight in the desert a

highway for our God. Every valley will

be exalted, every mountain and hill be

made low, the crooked will be made

straight, the rough places plain, and

the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together. For

the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

This is introducing not just the death

of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus,

but the return of Jesus and all of all

of 40 to 66 is comfort.

It's a bigger message than we know.

And of course, Malachi 3:1 is the same

Malachi 3:1

thing. And Malachi Isaiah 40 is dealing

with sinners that have sinned and are

under judgment for their sins and and

for idolatry and spiritual adultery.

Malachi is dealing not with idolattors,

but formalists.

Oh, what a weariness is it? We're tired

of working in this temple.

People who go through the motions but

are dead.

And the message of Malachi 3:1 is to

Malachi 3:1

formalists, not idoltors. The message is

not comfort but judgment. The message is

God's coming.

God's coming. Look at Malachi

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 verse one.

So while Isaiah deals with idoltors,

Malachi deals with formalists. Where

Isaiah talks about comfort, Malachi

deals with judgment.

Isaiah was the older prophet. He came

earlier in history. Malachi was the

younger. He was the last. But behold, I

will send my messenger, and he'll

prepare the way before me. And the Lord

whom you seek shall suddenly come to his

temple. Even the messenger of the

covenant whom you delight in. Behold,

he'll come, says the Lord.

So Malachi and Isaiah, their books are

married and they're put together

uh so that we get both pictures.

And so

um let's go back to Mark.

Mark chapter 1, beginning of the gospel

Mark 1 · chapter mention

of Jesus Christ, the son of God. As it

written, behold, I'll send my messenger

before thy face who prepare thy way

before me.

That's Malachi 3:1. The voice of one

Malachi 3:1

crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the

way of the Lord, make the path straight.

That's Isaiah 40:3.

Isaiah 40:3

So Malachi 3:1 is the helpmate of Isaiah

Malachi 3:1 Isaiah 40:3

40:3.

they're married

and u so may God help us as we come

through this section very important

thing now after he quotes these verses

he refers to John the Baptist he's the

voice in the wilderness he's the priest

that left the temple area could had a

nice life in the temple went out into

the wilderness to pre preach

excommunicated the whole nation

you ever think about what John did.

He had communicated the whole nation.

You're all apostate. You all need to be

saved. That's what he was saying.

None of you are ready.

That's what his baptism was all about.

Calling a nation to repentance who were

formalistic and dead.

He was a priest, the son of a priest. He

could add a respectable ministry, but

that priest became a prophet and lived

on what was it? Honey and forget what

all other stuff he was eating.

>> Yeah. Wasn't doesn't sound very doesn't

sound like a good diet to me, but he

lived on it.

So the gospel that John's talking about

came from someone who was willing who

was an insider

who is willing to become an outsider.

If you're not willing to become an

outsider and you have to be an insider,

you're not going to be a successful

Christian.

What's the book of Hebrews say?

Go outside the camp.

Did you realize when he says that and I

in Hebrews chapter 13 that's something

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

that's extremely significant. The whole

book of Hebrews is cocking of the pistol

and go outside the camp is when he fires

the gun.

Everything he's writing to those Hebrew

Christians is to tell get outside the

camp.

don't feel you have to be continuing in

that apostate system. And John's got

something very similar. He's totally

upset with the established system.

And he's not going to work within it.

His protest. There's no protest like

getting out. That's the difference

between fundamentalist and new

evangelicals. The new evangelicals,

we're going back in. That was a

disaster.

There's no protest against evil like

going outside the camp.

John went outside the camp. Darby went

outside the camp. Wesley went outside

the camp. Martin Luther went outside the

camp. John Calvin went outside the camp.

Alriwley went outside the camp. The

Puritan fathers kind of went halfway and

halfway. But the pilgrims went outside

the camp.

Uh,

very important stuff to just think

about.

And John is an outside the camp guy. And

when you're baptized by John, you're not

just confessing your sins. You're

confessing that the system that you grew

up in is corrupt and people need to

repent.

So fascinating.

business.

I think it's I think um

I think

I've said this often, not often, but

over the years, I'm pretty sure I could

make double the money if I was a pastor

of a church inside the camp,

a bigger building.

uh if they tolerate me.

But being outside the camp cost you. You

could be inside the camp and have half

the workload and double the salary. What

point is that? God says, "Come out from

among them and be ye separate, says the

Lord."

And so may God help us to just hear John

the Baptist and be willing to go outside

the camp

and be willing to go outside the camp in

such a way that we are not promoting

oursel as holier than thou or better

than you or anything like that.

The whole point of John's baptism was

what? To confess your sins.

to recognize I've got sins that need to

be forgiven.

And there's an emphasis on separation.

He's out in the wilderness. He went 20

miles outside of Jerusalem. Uh and he

was an insider who became an outsider.

He's a priest who became a prophet. He

was a somebody that became a nobody.

He paid the price,

a locust and wild honey. He was no reed

shaken in the wind.

Jesus said, "What went you out to see in

the desert? A reed shaken in the wind?

If if not, what did you go out to see? A

man dressed in fine clothes? Those who

wear fine clothes are in the king's

houses."

But there was a steady stream of people

who came out to see John. A mighty

protest against the apostasy that the

whole nation was involved in. And Jesus

was baptized by John.

Jesus began his ministry

with John's baptism. Jesus identified

with John's message. John identified

with Jesus

by baptizing. And John said, "I need to

be baptized, but you know, let it be so

to fulfill all righteousness." Okay? And

he baptized him. And then the Holy

Spirit came down and all the rest of

that. And a great picture of the Trinid

triune God there. And the father said,

"This is my son in whom I'm well

pleased." God the father was well

pleased with Jesus being baptized by

John.

The water baptism is a public

confession.

And um

Jesus didn't have to any sins to

confess, but he there was a public

entrance into

his ministry by John the Baptist. In

fact, that's really

John was simply preparing a nation to

receive the Messiah. And he knew from

the beginning who he was. Don't you love

John the Baptist when he said, "He must

increase

and must decrease.

He that has the bride

is the bridegroom."

I hope that's our attitude, right? We

don't go outside the camp so we can

promote oursel. We're better than the

people inside the camp. we go outside

the camp so we can promote Jesus and

prepare people for him.

And uh John the Baptist was murdered

because he was against sin.

He was very bold.

His very presence would arouse a sense

of sin in people.

Uh and

he had a consistent message.

Behold the lamb of God

that takes away

the sin

of the world.

So I'm glad that we could just kind of

think through this a little bit. And uh

uh remember what John did in verse 5.

There went out to him all the land of

Judea and the Jerusalem and were all

baptized by him in the river of Jordan

confessing their sins. And John was

clothed with camel<unk>s hair and a

leather belt about his waist. And he did

eat locust and wild honey and preached,

saying, "There comes one mightier than I

after me, the latchet of whose shoes I'm

not worthy to stoop down and loose. I

indeed have baptized you with water.

He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

And it came to pass in those days Jesus

came from Nazareth of Galilee and was

baptized by John in the Jordan. And

straightway coming up out of the water,

he saw the heavens open and the spirit

like a dove descending upon him. And

there came a voice from heaven, thou art

my beloved son, in whom I am well

pleased. Um,

may God help us as we think about this

text.

I I want to look at this not in a

prophetic way or uh but in a prophetic

way, not a nostalgic way.

Um,

we we believe the Bible not because it's

old.

We like to look at the old days.

I like to go to Amish country. I enjoy

it up there. I like thinking about way

life was lived in the old days. But we

don't live we don't believe the BL we

want to live in the past. I often tease

my wife and say she asked she asked me a

question. I said, "Well, what did you

say?" I said, "I'm 2,000 years away. I

got to come back to the year 2026.

I'm back here. Hold on a minute." But uh

uh we we don't want to be nostalgic.

Uh for the Old Testament, I just like to

study what was going on back then.

Uh John was prophetic.

He had a job to do with people in his

day in his time. And he knew the Old

Testament and he was applying those

prophecies and promises and pictures of

the Lord Jesus. He was evangelistic, not

legalistic or exclusivistic.

He had a gospel and he proclaimed it. He

had separation without isolation.

That's important. Separation but not

isolation.

And

uh when he confronted legalists, he

confronted their legalism.

And when he confronted when he's

confronted by opportunist, oh Jesus is

baptizing more people than we are. We're

jealous of that.

He that has the bride's the bridegroom.

Jesus pointed him away from himself.

When someone pays a price like John pray

paid, it's easy to maybe try to draw

people to yourself as if you're

something. John didn't do that.

Walt Sanders has a name for John. He's

the man who lost his congregation.

He lost him to Jesus.

He pointed everybody to Jesus.

Behold the lamb of God. He didn't point

to himself. Behold the lamb of God that

takes away the sin of the world. Oh be

to us if we ever point people to

ourselves as if we're something.

May we point them to our savior

because that's our role.

And John's a good example in that. Well,

I hope this has been a little bit of a

challenge to you and a blessing to you.

But how's it relate to the resurrection?

John Jesus was officially recognized

by a prophet who was officially

recognized

by God.

And God used the baptism of Jesus by

that prophet to give a verbal

declaration of the identity of Jesus.

And um remember people said

everything John said about him is true.

Better be thinking be we better uh we

better rethink all this.

And so may God help us not to point to

ourselves

but to our blessed savior. make a strong

stand, but not in a isolationist or any

kind of proud individualistic way as if

we're better than others, but in a way

that will bring glory to God

and the gospel. Father, we thank you for

some of the things we've looked at from

John the Baptist.

Just touched touched it a little bit

this morning. Not trying to do a book

study or verse by verse study, but just

think about the fact that Jesus

entered his public life

being baptized by a public prophet. And

not just

a public prophet, but one that was more

than a prophet.

The forerunner.

the forerunner that Malachi 3:1 and

Malachi 3:1

Isaiah 43

said,

the forerunner of God coming

to the nation.

So, Father, we thank you for this.

Challenge us by it. Help us to be about

your business

in proclaiming the resurrection of our

savior.

And if if we we we're not we can't be

one of the 12 apostles. We can't be one

of the 500, but we can know the Bible

and put it together as it's written so

that we

might

be maybe more effective

in our ministry

to those that know him not.

We don't just believe anybody was raised

from the dead. We believe Jesus Christ,

the son of David, was raised. We don't

just believe anybody was raised from the

dead. We believe the bridegroom of the

church,

Messiah of Israel, the God man from

heaven was raised from

in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

As we go from this place,

loving you more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin, darkened

world. As we go from this