The Legacy of John the Baptist, Part 3

Take your Bible and turn with me to John chapter 1 and we will

John 1 · chapter mention

continue to look at the legacy of of John the Baptist.

John's legacy lasted has lasted for over 2000 years and the

legacy that he leaves behind is the the life that he lived

before the people that he ministered to.

You can't leave behind that which you don't live before.

And so he is leaving behind a legacy that is summed up in 3

words. Word #1 is presentation, word #2

is preparation, and word #3 is proclamation.

And we spent the last two weeks looking at word #1 for John Kane

to present the preeminence of the light.

We showed you how he did that and why he did that.

That's in verses 6-7 and eight, as well as verse #15 of John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. John chapter 5, verse #35 tells

John 5 · chapter mention

us that John came to testify to the truth and that he was a lamp

that was burning bright. He was a a lamp that was shining

bright and there was something about John that was on fire for

the Lord that was able to illuminate all those round about

him. Because if you're going to leave

a legacy, then you do it because you present the preeminence of

the light in your life. We are the lights of the world.

We are the salt of the earth and we are to present to others the

beauty and splendor of the light of Christ.

And John said, I'm not the light.

I just come to testify about the light.

That's what I do. And six different times in John

chapter one, it talks about the fact that he came to be a

witness. He came to testify, He came to

make sure that people knew who the Messiah was.

You see, if you want to leave a lasting legacy, it's all

centered around the Christ. It's all centered around the

Messiah. If if you want it to be an

eternal legacy, a lasting legacy, it must be focused on

the Christ and not on yourself. And so John was, was prepared to

do that. And so he came to present the

preeminence of the light. That was the last two weeks.

Today we will see how we came to prepare the pathway of the Lord,

and then we'll see how He became to proclaim the Person of the

Lamb. You got your Bible verse #19 let

me set it in your heart and mind this morning down through verse

#34 It's more important than that.

We read the Word of God then that I explain the word of God,

right? My explanation is a far

secondary importance as compared to just the reading of the text,

says the verse #19 This is the testimony of John when the Jews

sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who

are you? And he confessed and did not

deny, but confessed. I am not the Christ.

They asked him, What then? Are you Elijah?

He said, I am not. Are you the prophet?

And he answered no, But they said to him, Who are you?

So we may give an answer to those who sent us.

What do you say about yourself? He said, I am a voice of one

crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the

Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

They asked him, and said to him, Why then are you baptizing, if

you are not the Christ or Elijah, nor the prophet?

John answered them, saying, I baptize in water, but among you

stands one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, the

thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

These things took place in Bethany, beyond the Jordan,

where John was baptizing. The next day he he saw Jesus

coming to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away

the sin of the world. This is he on behalf of whom I

said, After me comes a man who is mightier than higher in rank

than I, for he existed before me.

I do not recognize him, but so that he might be manifested to

Israel. I came baptizing in water, John

testified, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove

out of heaven, and He remained upon him.

I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water

said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and

remaining upon him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy

Spirit. I myself have seen and have

testified that this is the Son of God.

These verses sum up for us the the legacy of John the Baptist.

Not only did he present the preeminence of the light, but he

was the one who prepared the pathway for the Lord.

So think about the context. The Bible says in John chapter 2

John 2 · chapter mention

verse #13 that the Passover was near.

I'm not sure you understand the implications of that.

Jerusalem has a population of around 350,000 people during the

time of Christ, but during Passover it would swell

somewhere between 2 1/2 to 5 million people.

Why? Because there had to be a

sacrifice, and 1 lamb could be sacrificed for a minimum of 10

people, a maximum of 20. Now you have to think that if

you're coming to Passover and you live far away, it's a long

journey. It's not that you can get in

your car and drive there in a day or two.

No, you are walking from a a long way away to be at Passover.

And so you're going to leave early to make your journey.

You're not going to get there at the last minute.

You're going to get there to prepare everything for Passover,

and that's going to last you 7 days.

Well, after Passover is a feast of first fruits.

And then shortly after that comes Pentecost.

And if you you've traveled a long way, you're not going to

necessarily go back and come back again because you don't

have the time to do all that. That's just too much work, too

much traveling. They're doing this on foot.

And so people are coming and they are staying in Jerusalem

for a long periods of time. And so as they're there, they

are wondering, what are we going to do?

And someone comes along and says, well, you know, let me

tell you something. I know that the mall isn't open

today, but you can go down to the to the Jordan because

there's a guy down there in, in camel skin tied around with a

leather belt who's telling people to get right with God.

And you need to go down and see what that's all about.

And so they did all kinds of people.

Matthew's account tells us that there were tax collectors, there

were soldiers, there were the common people.

Luke tells us there were Pharisees, or, excuse me, magic

tells us there were Pharisees and Sadducees.

We also know from this text that there are Levites and priests.

Mark tells us that all in Jerusalem and all from the

country of Judea were making their way down to the Jordan

where John was baptizing. That doesn't mean every single

person, but it talks about a majority of people who are

making their way down to the Jordan River to see what was

happening with this man who is proclaiming that the Kingdom of

heaven was was near and he was baptizing down in the Jordan

River. Now if you're going to go down

there, it's it's 1300 feet below sea level.

So you're going to travel down from Jerusalem to Bethany beyond

the Jordan, which is about 30 miles.

It's going to take you 2 days to get down there.

And they say, look, if you're going to go down there, you're

going to get baptized. Make sure that you realize you

take a change of clothes because once you get down there, get

baptized, you're going to be pretty dirty.

Now I have baptized in this location in Jordan, and this is

a place that where the water is like chocolate milk.

It's pretty nasty, but we had shower facilities so when we

were all done, we could shower. There were no shower facilities

for the people in those days, so they didn't have to take a

change of clothes to journey back up to Jerusalem.

Once again, this was not an easy journey, but scores of people

going down by the thousands, they were going down there.

And so they're going to send a delegation down to the Jordan.

That is the Pharisees are, it says in verse 26 that the

Pharisees sent a delegation, a group of Levi's and priests sent

them down to the Jordan to see who this guy is, what is

happening down in the Jordan today.

Everybody would be there with cell phones, videotaping all

that was taking place, taking snapshots with John, baptizing,

posting on their social media so everybody could see what was

happening. And, and if John was alive and

that was happening, he would say he would Nix that.

He never signed, no cell phones, no video take any place here

because John wasn't that kind of guy.

He didn't want any recognition. He wouldn't let people take

selfies with him. He wouldn't do that because John

was just a voice. That's all he was.

I've got to decrease. He must increase.

No videos of the baptisms, no pictures on social media.

We're not doing this here. It's not about that, see?

We don't understand that because that's what we're all about.

See, We don't get that. But John, no, he was different.

Why? Because he was a protester.

He protested the religiosity of the day.

He protested the hypocrisy of the day, he protested the

falsity of each and every day of the religious establishment.

And so they sent this delegation down to the Jordan to figure out

what's going on, who this guy is.

Now, I've told you before, and I do believe this, they knew John

the Baptist, they knew John. They grew up together.

They were Levites and priests. His mother was from a line of

the priesthood. His father was a priest.

And so they would grow up together in the streets of

Jerusalem. They play whatever games they

played in those days together. They'd run around together.

They knew John. So when they come down to the

Jordan River, the question is not who are you?

As if they don't know. The question is, who in the

world do you think you are? Do you think you're the Christ?

You think you're the Messiah? Do you think you're do you think

you're Elijah? Do you think that you're the

prophet? The prophet that's from

Deuteronomy 18 where Moses said that there will come a prophet

who is greater than him and you should listen to him.

That's the prophet of Deuteronomy 18A prophecy about

the coming Messiah. Are you Elijah?

Because they all knew about the coming of Elijah.

They knew in Malachi chapter 3 verse #1 that there would be a

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

forerunner to the Messiah. They knew in Malachi chapter 4

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

that Elijah was going to come before the great and terrible

day of the Lord. They knew that, and they also

knew that. I mean, that's why it passed

over. They had this empty chair for

Elijah, and they send the young one out to go see if Elijah's

there. Because if Elijah's there, that

means the great and terrible day of the Lord is there.

They do that at every Passover. So you know about Elijah?

Now? John did come in the spirit and

power of Elijah, but he wasn't Elijah.

So are you the Crichton? I'm not the I'm not the Messiah.

Are you Elijah? Do you think you're Elijah?

I'm not Elijah. Well, are you the prophet then?

Is that who you think you are? No, I'm not the prophet.

I'm not that one, but see, John's account of the situation

is a little different than Matthew's account situation.

We read John's account. John is describing John the

Baptist as somebody who's pretty amiable, pretty kind, pretty

nice. But when you read Matthew's

account, it's a little different.

It says this Matthew chapter 3 verse #7 But we saw many of the

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism.

He says to them, many of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Now Please remember that Luke's account tells us that the people

were living in a state of expectation.

What were they expecting? Well, here's this, this guy down

by the Jordan River saying that the king is coming, the Kingdom

of heaven is at hand. You need to repent and be

baptized for the remission of sins because the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. And so people are thinking the

Kingdom of heaven is coming, no, that that must mean the Messiah

is coming and he is the expected. 1 Psalm 118 and in

Psalm 40. And they lived in the state of

expectation of the coming one. So Luke tells us that they were

all in the state of expectation. There had not been a prophet in

Israel in 400 years, 400 years. And now all of a sudden, scores

of people are going down to the Jordan River to hear this

prophet talk about the king and his coming Kingdom.

So now they're in the state of expectation thinking, well, if

the king is coming, he must be be right around the corner.

So let's go down and get prepared for the arrival of the

Messiah. So now come these Pharisees and

Sadducees. They're coming down.

They've already sent a, a group of Levites and priests down

there. Here come the Pharisees and the

the Sadducees, the the religious elites, the ritualistic people,

the ones who who Christ condemned over and over again

because what they did, they thought would be highly esteemed

before men, but that just was an abomination to God because they

would use their tradition to trump truth and they would

elevate their tradition over the truth of God.

That's why Jesus said in Matthew 5 that we're discussing on

Wednesday nights. You, you have heard that it was

said by the rabbis of old. This is what the tradition tells

you. But I say unto you, this is the

truth of the law of the, of the gospel.

This is the truth that I wanted to convey to you so that you

know the truth and you can set aside your traditions.

You need to know the truth. So the Pharisees and Sadducees

come down. It says this.

He said to them, you brood of Vipers, you pack of snakes, who

warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

This is how Matthew presents them, right?

They they, they want to say, who are you are?

Who do you think you are? He says, you pack of snakes

today They would say, well, you know, you shouldn't talk to

people that way, John. You know, you can be sued for

that. People would want to take you to

court because you called them names, you know, and today

people are so sensitive anyway and they'd be taken to court

over all kinds of things. But John didn't care about that

stuff. John want to call out the

religiosity. He wanted to call out their

hypocrisy. He wanted to call out the

falsity of the religion and all that the tradition stood for.

And they that's why he was a protester.

See, he was a priest. That they're coming down and

saying, John, what are you? What are you wearing camel skin

for? You should be in priest clothes.

You should be up in the temple with us.

What are you doing down here? Do you think you're Elijah?

You think you're the Christ? Do you think you're the prophet?

Who in the world do you think you are wearing?

The clothes you're wearing, saying the things you're saying,

doing what you're doing? And so John says you're a pack

of snakes. He says therefore bear fruit in

keeping with repentance. In other words, demonstrate the

fact that you're truly repentant.

You want to come down and get baptized, show you're truly

repentant. He says and do not suppose that

you can say to yourselves we have Abraham for our father for

I say to you that from these stones that could be referring

to Gentiles because stones were helpless and hopeless and that's

how they referred to the Gentiles anyway.

He says from the helpless and hopeless God is able to raise up

children. Abraham, you think you're a

child of Abraham, but I because you're circumcised.

Why? Because you were born a Jew.

You think you're going to go to heaven because of your

ethnicity. That's not the case.

John says, he says the axe is already laid at the root of the

trees. Therefore every tree that does

not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

If you are not willing to come and, and, and repent of your

sins and bear fruit and keeping with repentance, you're going to

be burned up. You're going to hell, you're not

going to heaven. That's that's preaching.

I said John the Baptist preach. You don't hear much of that

today. And that's unfortunate.

That's why we have so many, so many cotton candy Christians in

the in the Pew. They can't stand strong for

anything because they didn't have been taught anything.

And here's John the Baptist truly preaching the truth

because he's got to pave the pathway for the Lord.

He's got to make sure they understand the right way to the

Lord because they've been taught the wrong way all their lives.

And so they say, who are you? He goes, I'm a voice.

I, I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness.

We told you before, it's not just a location, the wilderness.

It's it's the, the condition of man's hearts.

I'm a voice. Crying in the wilderness,

preparing the way of the Lord again, taking two ways.

One is because he needs to prepare the way to the Lord.

Because people don't know how to get to the Lord.

They think they do. They think it's all about

rituals. They think it's all about

ceremonies. They think it's all about the

symbols they think about. It's all the things that they do

on the outside or that they don't do.

But see, we know that doesn't work.

Just look at the rich young ruler.

He comes to Christ. He says, what must I do to

inherit eternal life? You see, when you when you have

a works based system, you never have assurance of eternal life.

You never have any ironclad clarity about what it means to

be on your way to heaven. You don't have that.

So here's the rich ruler who believes that he is a

traditionalist who is keeping the traditions of Judaism, but

he knows there's something missing in his life.

So he goes to somebody who will, who will tell him or affirm that

what he's doing is good enough. But Christ doesn't do that.

Christ confronts him on his idolatry and he goes the way sad

because he realizes that there's nothing he can control to get

him into heaven. See, when you have a works based

system, it's all about you. When you have Christianity, it's

all about the Christ in his work and what he does in the life of

the unregenerated person. And so John says, I'm, I'm here

to, to clear out all the paraphernalia along the pathway

to the Lord. So people have a clear path.

They know where to go. There, there there is one name

under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved.

He is the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes into the Father, but through the Christ there was

1 mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

So here is John the Baptist preparing the way, the pathway

to the Lord, so people will have a clear understanding of how to

get to the Messiah. You see, that's a legacy that

lasts that that's the legacy you need to leave behind.

Do the people in your family, do the people closer to you know

that the only pathway to heaven is through Jesus Christ?

Do they know that the only pathway to glory is through the

death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord?

You see, our legacy lasts because not only do we present

the preeminence of the light, but we prepare the pathway to

the Lord. So people know what it means to

truly be born again, to truly be saved from their sin.

We erase the confusion from their minds.

We show them exactly what it means to be born again.

John says I'm a voice. I'm a voice crying in the

wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord.

At the same time he's going to help people understand how it is

they are to prepare their hearts, how to repent of their

sins. And that's why in Matthew's

account, he tells them what it means to to to repent and what

repentance looks like. So you can bear bring forth

fruit that bears the fact that you truly have been repentant.

This is what John does. He wants them to understand true

repentance and what it looks like so there's no confusion in

their minds. See, that's a legacy.

And and he says as he quotes from Isaiah chapter 40, he tells

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

them God's word is my authority. I'm going to share the word of

God. That's what John does.

That was his motivation. I'm just going to share what God

has has taught me what what God's word has said to me, and

how God has spoken to me that I might show you what God says.

You see, the only lasting word that you will ever invest in,

people are not your opinions and not what you think, because

nobody cares about your opinion or what you think.

It's the word of God that lasts. It's the truth of the Word of

God. Give people the truth of the

word of God. That's what John the Baptist

did. I am preparing the way of the

Lord. I am declaring to you what God

has shown me, that you might know the truth about how to get

to God. Because you see, they had been

so confused. They thought that it was all

about tradition, a works based system, that you do this or you

don't do that and and you'll gain a standing with God.

And that's why Christ condemned the religious establishment over

and over and over again because they were leading people the

wrong way. And people who are a part of a

false religion and lead people the wrong way need to be

confronted and condemned based on what they are doing.

Why? Because they're leading people

to hell, not to heaven, and Satan uses them in all kinds of

ways to disguise the truth. There's a pathway.

The road is narrow, Matthew 7 tells us.

Very narrow. The gate is very small.

Very small. And of the the smallness of the

pathway and the smallness of the gate, of the few that find it,

Luke tells us, even fewer ever ever get in.

Few people are really ever truly saved.

That's important to understand that the road is narrow, the

gate is small, and few there be that find it.

And the Luke tells us strive to enter because the few that find

it, even fewer will ever enter the Kingdom of heaven.

This is so important to understand this.

And John is just trying to take care of all the clutter that

people have been taught for years and tell them how to get

right with God. So he did.

He prepared the pathway to the Lord.

As a parent, you prepare the pathway to the Lord for your

children. Show them what's right, what's

wrong, what the Bible says. You don't give them your

opinion. You don't give them what you

think. You tell them the truth to those

of your unsaved friends there. There is so much confusion in

Christianity Today about what it means to truly be born again,

what it means to truly repent of your sin, what it means to give

your life to Christ, what it means to be a follower of

Christ, what it means to be a true child of the living King.

What does that mean? Can you explain that to people?

Can you prepare the way to the Lord for people?

That's the that's the lasting legacy that matters.

Nothing else really does because it's, it's eternal treasures.

People's eternal lives are at stake.

Their destiny with God or without God is at stake.

You want to explain that to them?

This is John's passion. Who are you?

I'm just a voice, just a voice, you know?

And I, I'm not even worthy to, to untie the, the sandals of the

ones coming after me #3 not only did he present the pre eminence

of the light, and no, not only did he, not only did he prepare

the, the pathway to the Lord, but he was the one who

proclaimed the person of the lamb.

He proclaimed the person of the Lamb.

Notice the text says this. Oh, John says, by the way, John,

as I'm saying, I baptize in water.

But among you stands one whom you do not know.

Note that, and most commentators don't.

Jesus is in the crowd. There's one among you that you

do not know. Now Jesus has already been

baptized by John. Jesus has already been in the

Judean wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil.

Now he's back. He's among the thousands that

are there around the Jordan River and John wants to know

there's there's one among you that you do not know, but he is

here. He is here.

It is he who comes after me, the thong on of whose sandal I am

not worthy to untie. And then the next day, the next

day, verse 29, he saw Jesus coming to him and said, behold,

the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Now he's going to proclaim, He's going to proclaim the person of

the Lamb. He sees Jesus and now he's going

to point to the Messiah. He's going to identify the one

they did not know that was in the crowd as the Lamb of God who

takes away the sin, not the sins plural, but singular, the sin of

the world. Why?

Because there's something that separates you from your God,

from the day you were born, conceived in, in sin, did your

mother conceive you. You were born in sin.

You were born separated from God and there is coming one who

deals with that essence of sin, that that concept of sin, that

one thing that keeps you from being reconciled to God.

There is one who is coming. He is the Lamb of God and He's

going to take away that one thing that's keeping you from

having a relationship with a true and living God.

Now they know about the sacrificial system because

they're all involved in it. It's passed over season.

They know about what the lambs coming in and being offered and

sacrifices for. But they also know that the

blood of bulls and goats can never take away the sin.

It can only cover the sin of man.

But they lived in anticipation and expectation of One who would

cleanse them of all of their sin.

That whole sacrificial system was set up by God to increase

the anticipation and expectation of the people of God, knowing

that there would be one who would come and remove them other

sin. That's the promise of the new

covenant. Remember what it says in in

Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 25. Then I will sprinkle clean water

Ezekiel 36:25

upon you and you will be clean. I I will cleanse you from all

your filthiness and from all your idols.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit

within you. I will remove the heart of stone

from your flesh and give you a of flesh, and I will put my

spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you

will be careful to observe my ordinances.

That's a new covenant promise. And that's what they were living

in expectation for. That's what they were

anticipating. And here comes John and says,

look, and here's the Lamb of God.

They, they, they know about the sacrificial system.

The temple is built on Mount Moriah.

They know about Genesis chapter 22 and the great substitute that

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

the Messiah would bring, that Abraham called that place Yahweh

Yuray. God will provide.

What will God provide? He will provide a substitute so

you can have your sins taken away.

That that's why the temple is on Mount Moriah.

That's why it's there, so people will always be reminded of the

great substitutionary sacrifice of the one who would come and

take away their sin. So incredibly important.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus,

says the songwriter First Peter 118 and 19.

It's the precious blood as of a lamb that cleanses us from all

of our sin. It's Jesus Christ alone and John

is saying you are going through all these rituals, you're doing

all these things, but I want to point to the one who's going to

take away your sin. It's the Lamb of God.

He came to take away the sin of the world.

And then he says this. This is he on behalf of whom I

said after me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for he

existed before me. He's going to describe the

person of the Lamb as one who existed before him.

And John is older than Jesus physically because Jesus was

born six months after John. But he says he emphasizes the

eternality of the sun. He emphasizes the pre existence

of the sun. The same thing that John has

already said in John one verse #1 in the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Speaking of the pre existence of God, the self existence of the

Word as well as the coexistence of the Word with God.

And so therefore John the Baptist is testifying to that

which John has already spoken about by virtue of his testimony

that the one coming after me, He existed before me even though I

was born before him. He existed in the eternity past.

Speaking of the eternality of the of the Son of God.

Now this is interesting. This is what it says.

He says I did not recognize him twice.

It says that once in verse #31 I did not recognize him.

Once in verse #33 I did not recognize you.

How did John not recognize him? Did weren't they cousins?

Yes, they were cousins. You know, Drew's family is here

from from Indiana and, and all the cousins that haven't seen

each other for over a year are greeting one another in in the

parking lot because they're cousins.

They, they, they know each other, right?

And even though they might not see each other for a while, they

by virtue of family know one another.

Wait, wait. Here is here is John the

Baptist, the son of Elizabeth. And Elizabeth and Mary are a

part of the same family. They're cousins.

They grew up together. They played together just like

the priests and Levites. They knew John.

John the Baptist knew Jesus. So what do you mean he didn't

recognize him? Why did he say that twice?

Didn't recognize him. Didn't recognize him?

No. He knew him as Jesus, but he did

not recognize him as Messiah. He did not recognize him as

Lord. He did not recognize him as God

in the flesh. See, he only recognized him as

cousin Jesus that he grew up with and played with, but he did

not recognize him. He didn't come to a full

comprehension, a full recognition of the identity of

the Messiah himself. How do we know that?

Read on. It says I did not recognize him,

but so that he might be manifested to Israel.

I came baptizing in water, John testified, saying, I have seen

the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and he remained

upon him. I did not recognize him, but he

God, who sent me to baptize in water, said to me, He upon whom

you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is

the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

So John is saying, look, I didn't recognize him in terms of

his full identity as the Messiah of Israel until God said to me,

when you see, the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.

The Spirit of God is not a dove. He's not a please.

The Spirit of God is a person. He's not a dove.

So take the dove off the back of your windshield.

He is not a dove. He descended like a dove.

The person of the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon upon

Jesus and his baptism. And that's when the Lord said,

Behold, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. And God told John while he was

in the woods, and as he said, look, when you see the Spirit of

God descended upon this one. This is the Messiah and that

Spirit will remain upon him. Remember in the Old Testament,

the Spirit of God came upon different individuals to perform

different tasks. That's why David after his sins

said, do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Why did you say that? Because the Spirit of God came

upon him to perform his kingly duties right in a special and

unique way. But the mystery of the, of the,

of the Old Testament revealed in the New Testament is that Christ

in you, the hope of glory. And so the Spirit of God comes

with, comes within you and envelops you.

This is very important. Why?

Because there's one who is coming.

I baptize in water. He's going to baptize you with

the Spirit. Now this is very, very important

because you need to understand the baptism of the Spirit.

It it's very confusing in a lot of Christian circles today.

It need not be. It's very simply explained.

There are 7 occasions and only seven in the New Testament that

speak about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Six of them all say the same thing.

There's one that doesn't. That's First Corinthians 12/13.

We are all baptized by 1 Spirit in the body of Christ.

The one who does the baptizing is Christ.

He baptizes you with His Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit is

God's method by which He puts you into the body of Christ and

seals you unto the day of redemption.

That is the baptism of the Spirit.

And oh, by the way, just in case you don't know this, everybody

in the room is either going to be baptized by the Spirit by

Jesus, or you will be baptized by fire by Jesus.

So everybody in the room is going to receive a baptism from

Jesus. How do we know that?

Matthew chapter 3. Let me read it to you.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

It's getting hot in here, isn't it?

Whoa man, it's getting hot in here.

Anyway, Matthew chapter 3, Listen to what John says, verse

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

11. As for me, I baptize you with

water for repentance, but He was coming after me as mightier than

I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Whoa, his women fork is in his hand and he will thoroughly

clear the threshing floor and he will gather his wheat into the

barn. Those are believers.

But he will burn up the chaff. That's the unbeliever with

unquenchable fire. So listen, everybody in the

world is going to be baptized by Jesus.

He's going to be baptized by the Spirit of God into the body of

Christ. That is salvation or you'll be

baptized by the Lord with fire in unquenchable fire and you

will burn in hell forever. Those are your only two options.

Only two. There's nothing in between.

That's it. And John makes it very clear.

John says I, I came to baptize in water.

Why? Because the water symbolically,

This is why the, the the Pharisees were so upset with

John. What are you doing?

Well, what authority do you have to baptize people?

You're not the Christ, you're not Elijah, you're not the

prophet. So John, tell us you're just a,

a protester in a priestly line. Who's the prophet who thinks

that he has authority to baptize people in water?

Who gave you that authority? Who says that you have this

authority to do this? Why would they say that?

Because Jews were never baptized.

These weren't only Gentiles were baptized.

And that's when they wanted to convert to Judaism.

So if I, I'm, I'm a Gentile and I want to convert to Judaism,

number one, I'm going to go through the the art of

circumcision and #2 I will, I will be baptized.

Listen. And no Gentile proselyte was

ever baptized by anyone. They baptized themselves.

They went into a mikvah, which is a cleansing bath, and they

would go in after having been circumcised.

They would go down into the mikvah.

They would go down into the water.

Why? Because they were symbolizing

their cleansing from their idolatrous life, worshipping

other gods, that they would serve the one true God, the God

of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But nobody baptized them.

They did that themselves. See.

But here is John baptizing Jews, you know, like what authority do

you have, John, to do this? Who do you think you are,

especially as smelly as you are? And camel skin and then getting

it wet on top of that. The stench would be horrendous.

But thousands were coming. Thousands because he was

proclaiming the Messiah, the Lamb of God who would take away

the sin of the world. People are coming down in droves

to hear this man, this, this wild protester in the in the

wilderness proclaiming the gospel about the coming Messiah.

John says I baptize you the water, but there's one coming.

You see, John's baptism was symbolic.

There's only one who baptizes the water.

That's me. And there's only one who

baptizes you with the Spirit of God, and that's the Messiah

himself. Jesus is the one who does that.

No one else does. And when you're regenerated and

you're born again, the whole part and parcel to regeneration

is that you are baptized by the Lord Jesus Christ or through

through the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God into the body

of Christ. You were immersed in his Spirit

and you are born again. That's the baptism of the Spirit

of God. Then John says in verse 34, I

myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son

of God. Wow, this is the Son of God.

He's already listen, he's already testified to the light,

He's already testified to the Lamb.

He's already testified to the Liberator takes away your sin.

Now he testifies to the Lord, he is the Son of God.

The phrase used 10 times in John's Gospel.

It's a theme of the Gospel, John 2031.

These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is

the Son of God, that he's the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of

God. And John says, the one coming

after me, who existed before me, he's the light of the world.

He's the Lamb of God. He's the Liberator of man, the

one who releases us from our sins.

That's according to Revelation chapter one verse #5 He loves us

and has liberated us or released us from our sins.

And he is the Lord. This is the Son of God.

This is John's legacy. He presented the preeminence of

the light. He prepared the pathway to the

Lord, and he proclaimed the person of the Lamb, the Son of

God, the Liberator of man, the light of the world.

This is his legacy that he has left.

And you know what? We preach that same gospel, that

same legacy over and over again. This legacy that's lasted for

2000 years, it continues today because it was a God centered

legacy. What legacy will you leave once

you leave this planet? It'll be similar to that.

I would trust that it is. And if you hear today, today,

and you've never given your life to Christ, my friends, there's

only one who can take away your sin.

Only one. It's not by works of

righteousness which you have done, it's by the washing of

regeneration. It's by the renewed of the

Spirit of God that one is born again.

You cannot save yourself. You cannot earn your way to

heaven. All the rituals, all the

ceremonies, all the symbols, all the things that you think you

can do to get you there will never be enough.

The rich young ruler testified to that.

What must I do? I need eternal life.

And Christ said, sell all that you have and follow me.

You have to stop being an idolater.

You don't want to do that because he loved himself too

much today. I just want to let you know that

if you're here and you've never given your life to Christ, you

need to come to Christ today. Today is the day of salvation,

not tomorrow. Today's the day.

Roger Flores is right down here to my right.

He'll be glad to introduce you to Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today.

We thank you for the legacy of John the Baptist.

Thank you for his testimony, his life.

What a man, what a man. You said he was the greatest of

all men ever born of a woman after that time, greater than

David, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Malachi, the list goes

on and on and on. He was the greatest.

And Father, he left a legacy behind for all of us to follow

our prayers that that would be us.

We would be just like John the Baptist.

We'd be bold like John the Baptist, courageous like John

the Baptist, committed like John the Baptist.

That we would. We would present you as

preeminent. That we'd shine forth the light

of the glorious gospel of Christ, so others can see you

and who you are. Oh Lord, if there's someone here

today who does not know you, may today be the day of their

salvation. May they not leave, not knowing

the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world in Jesus

name, Amen.