All right, brethren, if you will,
let's turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. If we had to hang a picture up
of where this took place and the people that were there for
every message we've done since we started in John 9 verse 1,
we'd be looking at the same people. We'd be looking at the same area.
The whole time. The whole time. Same group. How
many chances they get to gospel preach to them? What a precious birthright. It
was despised. Same people from John chapter
9. That was there. The disciples were with them.
Those that stood around. There's probably some more that
walked in. Said, what are they talking about? And there's probably
several that walked away. Said, ah, just preaching stuff. I got something important to
do. I got some oxes I bought that
I've never seen. I got some land. Oceanfront property
in Arizona I bought. I'm gonna go check it out. It's
laughable, isn't it? Ain't no different nowadays.
Well, we're gonna finish it up, Lord willing, tonight. I'm gonna
go through this first part a little quick. What I've experienced
was at the end that stood out to me, but I want to make a few
comments. We'll begin in verse 31. Our Lord spoke to these Pharisees
again. And in John 10, verse 31, then
the Jews took up stones again to stone him. The Lord's going to give them some
holy, pure, upright, perfect sarcasm. I love it. He can do it in holiness. I can't. You have to be right to be sarcastic.
That's like a prerequisite for me saying, I told you so, was
I had to tell you accurately before. People say, I hate it
when you tell me that. Why don't you start listening?
Has that ever occurred to you? Our Lord asked him here, verse
32. Many good works have I showed
you from my Father. For which of those works do you
stone me?" Everything I've done has been perfect. Which one of
my perfect works from my perfect people that I loved before time
do you want to throw rocks at me for? And the Jews answered him saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, you liar. You're lying through
your teeth. Back in John 9 they said, oh
he's a sinner. He did this on the Sabbath. Let's
find him. They're stoning again. They're
trying to throw rocks at him again. They're mad at him. They say, we don't do this for
a good work for thee, but for blasphemy. And because thou,
being a man, makest thyself God. Nothing's changed. You ever met anybody that says,
I hate Jesus? At the grocery store. They love Jesus, don't they?
Everybody loves Jesus. Or at least they like him some,
or they ain't got nothing against him. Those that just like Jesus, they
are at war. They are enmity. They are war
against the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't mind Jesus. They don't
like the Lord Jesus Christ, who's God, who rules and reigns everything
on the face of the earth. They disagree with Him, and that's
called being at war with Him. Why I don't like who's in office?
Why I don't like the police? radaring people up and down my
road. I don't like the police. Don't come radaring people up and down
my road. You don't like God, who rules all things. Kevin,
that's hard. Thus saith the Lord. He's the
initiator of all things. This is beautiful too. Verse
34, And Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law?
I said, I got that underlined and highlighted in my Bible.
I love it. You know, that law you cling to so wonderfully,
so eloquently. I said, ye are gods. Is it not written in
your law? I said, ye are lowercase g gods. He's the lawgiver. The one speaking
to them gave them the law. What's he speaking of? Our brother
Asaph wrote in Psalm 82, speaking on the Lord to his people. He
said, I have said, ye are gods, lowercase g, and all of your
children of the Most High. He said, I made you that. Kings
and priests is what we read in Revelation, isn't it? The Lord's
made us that. He's made us joint heirs with
Christ. He's baiting them is what He's
doing. Didn't I say you're lowercase g gods? Well, yeah, He said that.
I guess that'll be okay. I can wear that suit for a while,
can't you? You can wear that hat. Verse 35, if he, he just
said, I said, if he called them gods unto whom the word of God
came and the scripture cannot be broken, you were all in agreement
up till now. Say ye of him whom the father
hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemist,
because I said I'm the son of God. Just because I said, I'm
God's son. He said, you're his sons if you're
his. They didn't enter into that. They just heard he was made one
with the Father. Isn't that good news? We're made one with Christ. That's why I go sleep, go work
in the morning. And they got mad. They didn't
bow, they bowed and picked up stones. They come back up real
quick, didn't they? What a preacher. He's preaching
right now to them. Short sermon, isn't it? What
a preacher it is. Look here. You ever heard this? Verse 37. If I do not the works
of my Father, believe me not. I can stand up and say because
my Lord did when he preached, if I'm telling you something
and it ain't according to this word, don't listen to me. Go
somewhere else. If you're sitting underneath
someone or someone listening to this down the road, well,
they say a lot of true things. If it's not according to this
word, pack up and move. We'll get to that in a minute.
Go where the truth is being preached. Did you pay somebody to lie to
you? Did you get dressed up and wash your car and put the best
clothes you had on? To go to somebody that's just
going to tell you lies about what God wants to do? or trying
to do or whatever it is. That's foolish. That's not what
you need to do. Nonsense. It's a lie. Don't listen
to him. Christ said, if I do not the
works of my father, believe me not. But he said, but if I do,
though you believe not me, believe the works that you may know and
believe that the father is in me and I'm in him. You've seen people healed, and
y'all got mad about it. That man got up and walked, hadn't
walked 38 years. You saw a blind man, you've known
him your whole life. He ain't never seen nothing.
You used to throw rocks at him when you was a kid, because you couldn't
see him coming. Just make sure he's blind. You know he's blind.
Now he sees. He's looking you dead in the eye. He saw like
that shirt. I've never seen a shirt before.
It's a nice one. You've seen these works. You know man can't
do that. He's gone. God came in human
flesh, and they were so fighting mad, they wanted to kill him.
Verse 39, Therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped
out of their hand. How could he always escape? Walked
through the crowds, and they couldn't catch him. And they
throw stones at him. He was just throwing stones at
air. He was throwing stones at the shore. He wasn't there. How
did that happen? He's God! He's telling them over and over
and over again. And he's standing right in front
of them. I tell somebody that and I get so frustrated they
don't believe me. I'm a fool. God told him. He didn't give
him ears to hear. I tell people that, I sleep clean
through it. He didn't give him ears to hear,
did he? And went away, verse 40, again beyond Jordan to a
place where John at first baptized. There's a lot happened there,
wasn't there? And there he abode. to where this began, and those
people went with him. Those people went back where John first baptized
somebody. It's good to get back to the
basics. God blessed mankind where John
was baptizing folks, and that's where he went back to. It's good
to go back where the blessing is, not in a superstitious way.
People do that. Well, I wore a red shirt. People
go, I've never done that. Watch sports. How many people
do you think didn't wash their underwear for a month whenever
the Padres were playing in the playoffs? Yeah, that's a whole
lot of stitches, isn't it? Superstitious. Overly religious
is what the word means. I don't mean in an overly religious
way. Well, no, it was a Tuesday, whenever the Lord gave us a good
message, we will preach again on it. No! Where the truth is,
go there. That one that tells you what
the Father says and ain't lying to you, go there. That's good
advice, isn't it? Get back to the basics. Not going
to church, but if God saved you, you go where you can hear the
gospel preached. People say, well, I can't go
where the gospel is. I got a job. Who gave you that job? I can't
sell off everything I own because of my children. Who gave you
them children? That's four. Those are four that
might as well be Japanese to somebody, unless God gives you
ear to hear, unless He shows His love in your heart. Get back
to the basics. I had a good illustration for
that. We was in, some friends of mine were trained in close
quarters battle and urban warfare. And we did it for a living. Y'all's
tax dollars paid for me to go do that on a daily basis. And we come back from Iraq. We
went to Germany and was going to play paintball one weekend.
We went out to shoot them paintballs. And we got on this big old field
and they had these big blow up things all around. And there's
a bunch of 13, 14 year old boys put it to us. I mean, we lost
bad, and we started scratching our heads. We said, why is this
happening? Like, we've done this in real life. Not with paintballs,
with bullets. How are we losing? We're good
at our jobs. We just out running around willy-nilly.
What are we doing? We need to get back to the basics.
Let's get down to fundamentals. Like basketball, get down to
fundamentals. Baseball, get down to fundamentals. We went back
to fundamentals, and them little 13, 14-year-old boys didn't have
a good weekend. We was running like heads with their chickens
cut off. That's good to get back to the foundation. Paul wrote
that, 1 Corinthians 3, for no other foundation can no man lay
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Get back to him. Get
back to him. That's a good place to be. People
get off on tangents, and I hope it's only wood, hay, and stubble.
I pray it is. I pray it's just wood, hay, and
stubble, those that we know. Oh, it's sad. Why don't you get
up and preach Christ for a while? And then every time, that's a
good way. Verse 41, and many resorted. That means go to in the present
tense. I mean, right then they went.
And also is in the imperfect tense. That means it's continual.
It happened in the past, it keeps happening. And many went to,
many resorted unto him. Many went to Christ. And they
said, John did no miracle. but all things that John spake
of this man were true." John, you didn't do a miracle, but
everything he said about the Lord Jesus Christ was true, and
many believed on him then. John didn't do a miracle, but
everything he said of this man... Well, that place to eat, that's
the best one in town. Maybe it isn't. John may not...
He's a man like we was. Everything he said about this
man, Lord Jesus Christ, was true. And many believed on him. My
pastor, the Lord gave me two pastors in my life, an interim
one for about a year while I was in college. I'm thankful for
those men, all three of them. They never lied to me. They sought
my good, not my harm, consistently. It may not have been sweet and
jolly. I know some folks that's mad at their pastor right now
because he ain't just the kindest thing on the face of the earth.
Well, how would you like to have Jonah? He'd pack him lunch, go
up on the hill, say, I'm gonna watch this city burn to the ground.
He didn't lie. He told them the truth. That
ain't good enough for some folks. They want hunky-dories and lollipops.
I don't know what to tell them. Pray for your pastor and sit
down and hear what God gives him to say to you. They may not
be pleasant, but they'll be profitable. I can promise you that. John
didn't do any miracles. He was a wild man, too, wasn't
he? If you bumped into that guy,
you'd say, he's going to ask me for five dollars, I'm leaving.
Here he comes through the wilderness eating honeycombs and bees probably
swarming all around him. When they said this, when they
went back to Horejaw and baptized the Lord, and they said everything
John told us was true, He ain't doing miracles, he's just a man.
But everything he said, just like that woman at the well,
is that what she run back? Come see a man, told me everything
about me. And they came, they heard Jesus speak. I want you
to see the same pattern here. They heard Jesus speak, and they
said, we believe what you said. Well, now we believe him. Now
we believe him. The death of John had already
occurred at this point. John was dead. His body was open. We read of the Lord feeding 5,000
and walking on the sea in John 6. We went through that. And
if we read over Matthew 14, there was the death of John and then
the Lord fed 5,000 and the Lord walked on the sea. So John's
dead. Did he have a successful ministry? I love it. I'm very, very encouraged
by this. Did John have a successful ministry?
He wasn't around to find out. That's a blessing of the Lord.
Everybody in this town, you ever heard of John the Baptist? Yeah,
I've heard of that guy. You ever think about it? They may not
know anything, but they've heard the name, haven't they? Did he have a successful
ministry? Well, let me ask you, or some
young man may listen to this one day if he's considering the
office of a bishop. The Lord spoke to you, or he
sent a man to you and said, you're going to have a ministry. It's
going to last about three or four years. That's it. That's going to be
the run of it. God's gonna drive the brook up.
He's gonna kill you. You get three or four years. You may
baptize a whole bunch of people, but many of the people you baptize,
you'll be the first one doing that. They're gonna be apostates. They're just playing religion.
There was 200 people that day. Maybe 198 of them was just there
because their buddies were. Mob mentality. You won't know
who's his and who ain't. Your job is to baptize them and
preach. You're gonna be penniless. You're not gonna have any clothes.
You're gonna live like a wild man. serving the Lord, and then
one day you're going to end up in prison. And all your friends,
if you had any, they're going to say, well, he couldn't be
God's prophet. He's in jail. He's a felon. He's committed a felony. And then you're going to give
some simple instruction of what God says about something wrong.
Don't you sleep with that woman. That ain't right. What you're
doing is wrong. Isn't that good? That's good
advice. It takes a loving heart and some
boldness to tell somebody what you're doing is wrong. that cut
his head off. Now you want to make it three
years, maybe. You don't know the outcome. Lord's going to
use that years down the road to save some folks. And then
you're going to die a horrible death. You game? You up for that? He had a successful ministry,
didn't he? Those people said he told us the truth. What did
John say? What did he say that these people said was the truth?
That's what was prophesied in Isaiah 40. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all of her sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make ye
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted. Those poor people, poor in spirit,
The Lord's gave that spirit to you. They're going to be exalted,
they're going to be lifted up. He's going to bring us out of the dung heap.
And every mountain and hill shall be made low, those high and mighty. Oh, hoity-toity religious folks,
you're going to get squashed. And the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall sit together, for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said,
What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and
the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon
it. Surely the people of the grass."
All the way down through verse 31, he goes on in Isaiah 40,
of the greatness of our God. Man's nothing, and God's holy,
and He's wonderful. That's what you're going to tell
them, John. Back in John 1, verse 20. John chapter 1. Was John really that special?
He was, wasn't he? I wrote that down wrong. Verse
22. Those Pharisees come to him, then said they unto him, who
art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us.
What sayest thou of thyself? Tell us what to tell them, who
you say you are. And he said, I'm the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. I'm that one, I'm just a voice,
that's all I am. He didn't say I'm the one that's
related to Christ, we're cousins. That one you're mad about, we're
family. I don't just know him, I grew up with him. I'm his family,
I'm his kin." He didn't say that. He didn't say, you know, I've
had the Holy Ghost from the womb. Whenever his mother Elizabeth
was pregnant with him, she hid it for five months, and Mary
went to go check on her. What's wrong with you? This birth
promised of God to an old man. She went to go see her cousin
Elizabeth, and whenever she walked in, he jumped in the womb. And the
baby leaped for joy, in the womb. How is it possible if the Lord's
had a remnant on this earth throughout the eons? Billions and billions
of people on this earth, and there's a handful. How could
it be a number that no man can number, and as the sands of the
sea, an unimaginable number of people in glory? People say,
well, those babies that are being aborted, the Lord can't save
them, they haven't been preached to yet, they haven't had an experience.
John jumped with joy and woe when his Lord came near, just
wiggling. Couldn't say nothing, couldn't do nothing. He just
wiggled. He didn't say that. He didn't say, well, I have believing
parents, both my parents. Oh, boy is blessed to God. They
believed him. He didn't say he was the last of the Old Testament
prophets. He didn't say he was the only one in human flesh born
of Adam ever that saw the spirit of God. He saw a spirit. Descending like a dove. Did he
have room to boast? Did Paul have room to boast when
he listed all his circumcised eighth day, tribe of Benjamin,
all those things he listed? Did he have room to boast? Do
I have room to boast? Do you have room to boast? I'm just a voice. He said, I'm
just a voice. Nothing without the breath of God. Crying in
the wilderness, he's saying, I'm nothing without the Lord.
This is a dry and desolate place and there's a whole lot of stuff
that's gonna kill you. Make straight the way of the
Lord. He's preaching the gospel, isn't he? I'm nothing, the world
is a wilderness, look to the Lord. He's straight, everything
else is crooked. Get that on the front of your
mind, it's so. That's what he said later on
in John 3. He must increase, but I must decrease. Make his
way straight. Make straight the way of the
Lord can also mean hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Preaching. John's about to preach. He's not about to debate. He's
not about to discuss. He's not about to hoodwink someone
into hearing the gospel proclaimed. We need to learn this. This generation
needs to learn this. We're going to have a movie night
in the park. He didn't say, we're going to
have a coloring contest, or we're going to have a pageant for pretty babies.
He didn't say, we're going to have a lock-in. That was real
popular when I was a teenager. Oh, all the kids from school's
going, we're going to have a lock-in. That's tactics. That's not what
he said. John said, make straight. Set
up straight. Pay attention. Open your ears and open your
eyes, as my dad used to say. Preaching is going to take place
about who God is. about what mankind is and the
wonderful, wondrous works the Lord's done. Make straight the
way of the Lord. That's not a rehearsed, pre-canned
thing that people just say. Well, that's what we say when...
Amen it. It's God's house, pay attention. Verse 24, John 1, 24. And they
which were sent were the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto
him, Why baptizest thou then? That didn't suit him, did it? Why are you baptizing folks?
If thou be not the Christ and you're not Elijah, and neither
that prophet is to come, why are you baptizing folks? And
John answered and said, I baptize with water, but there standeth
one among you. God in human flesh is in this
generation whom ye know not. You don't know him. He preached
the truth. He did what he's told. He said,
I baptize with water. He baptized with water and in
truth because of who that represents and what that represents. The
person and the work of Christ. That's why he immersed in water. We observed the Lord's table.
with unleavened bread, because Christ was without sin. And he
told us to. We observed the Lord's table
with wine, well off the lees. That means lees is dead yeast.
It had yeast in it. There's alcohol in it, because
he said so. We do it in truth. This is just
waters, what he's saying, but it's a token that points to my
Lord. And I'm going to do it. John
said those religious folks, this one that it points to, you don't
know him. Whom ye know not. Boy, what boldness that takes.
Look men and women in the eye that's eternally bound. They
think that they just, they got God painted in a corner and got
the bull by the horns and everything's right because they've been doing
it for their whole lives. And to say, you don't know God. Whom ye know not. What is there
to know about someone that's coming? He's holy. sin of God
and is God. Verse 27. He it is who coming
after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latchets I'm not
worthy to unloose. Remember that was when we went
through the washing of the feet. The lowest servant in the house,
the brand new, the greenhorn, is the one that washed people's
feet. Here's a strapping man that's looking these people dead
in the eye, taking them head. Young too, 30 years old. I've been doing this longer than
you've been alive, boy. Young fella. Didn't despise his youth,
did they? He squared up to him shoulder
to shoulder and said, you listen to me, you don't know God, I'm
here to tell you about him. He's holy. He's preferred before me. And remember that little servant
you treat me like? I'm not even worthy to be the servant that
takes his shoes off to wash his feet. Boy, this man's something. If I get baptized, Why observe
the Lord's table? Why? Why would somebody do that?
He is preferred. Those that do it prefer the Lord
Jesus Christ. That doesn't just mean like,
well, I'd like to have that. You have to have him. Nothing else
will do. I like children. I prefer my
children. You get that? You like children.
You prefer your children. We do, don't we? The Lord Almighty,
God the Father, prefers his son. That's the only one He prefers.
That's the only one He's loved, the only one that's ever been
accepted of Him. And that's who I prefer. I obey Him. Look up at verse 14, John 1,
14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. John, bear witness of Him. What
was it John said? He just told about Christ. And
cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He cometh after
me, is preferred before me, for He was before me." This is the
eternal holy God. John, that's just a man. Yeah,
I know. And He's God. Cry to Him. Cry to Him. Who is
this one that's preferred and why? Verse 29, John 1, 29. The
next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. What did John say? What's that? That's a whole lot there in one
verse. Boy, we could spend ages on it. Naked sinner, you must
be clothed just like Adam and Eve. They were naked, you're
naked. You must be clothed to be in
God's presence. And the only covering that'll
do, the only covering that'll suffice is of an innocent lamb
that's perfect. God's Son's the only Lamb, the
one that was slain before the foundation of the world. If you're
not clothed in Him, it will not do. It will not do. He said, Behold the Lamb. There
it is. That's that Lamb that was from… that's what we read
in Genesis, wasn't it? That Lamb that was slain all throughout
those years, and all those feasts, and all those sacrifices. That
seems so easy for us to… You ever seen a Lamb on TV? Go look
up a picture of them. They're cute as all get out,
ain't they? They're tiny and precious. Oh, they're just so
fuzzy looking. They ain't never growed their hair all the way
out. It's just so white and pristine. Now take that sweet little thing,
hold it. Oh, it don't hardly weigh nothing. Now get you a
good sharp knife and cut its throat. Let the blood go all
over. It's slippery. Slippery, have
a knife with some neurals on it. And then you turn it up and
you gut it from stem to stern and you disembowel that thing
and rip its skin from its meat. Tan the hide. And take that and
you go robe yourself. That's violent with a little
tiny lamb, isn't it? God Almighty came down here and
died for his people. Behold the Lamb of God. What's
that Lamb of God going to do? Take away. He taketh away the sin of the
world. First, who in this world are
going to have their sin? And that's singular, isn't it?
Who in this world are going to have their sin taken away? First,
they must be sin. Well, you don't need the Lamb
of God if you ain't got... if you ain't sin. I've done some bad things. You don't need Him. I used to be bad. You don't need
Him. He taketh away sin. Sin. You must be sin. Second, God's
provided Lamb must do the taking. Well, give your... lay your sins
on... give your heart to Jesus. He's got to do it. He's the accepted
sacrifice, and he's the one that does the work, and it's of the
world. That means everybody without
any... No, it doesn't mean that. Worldwide, throughout time, this
is consistent. It doesn't matter if you're male
or female, if you're bond or free, if you're a Jew or a Gentile.
Those that came first, you come second. It don't make a difference.
Don't matter who you are. He taketh. If they are made to
know their sin, then the Lamb of God taketh, present tense.
That means He took their sins away. He takes the sins away
of this very moment, the sin you're committing right now that
will send every one of us to hell in your mind and heart right
now. He takes that, and any sins you're going to commit, He takes those sins, and He bore
them in His body on the tree. Every sin we're going to commit
in this body of death until He makes us like His Son, He bore
them in His body on the tree. He has, He is, and He shall save
their people from their sins. Past, present, and future. How
could somebody get mad at that? If they could take up stones,
they'd have stoned me over this, mad as a wet hen. How could they
be mad? I'll tell you how they could
be mad. You know how it makes somebody mad? It gives Christ
the lamb slain, all the preeminence and glory. That's how they got
mad. Now that's hard. It's so. It's
so. My heart burns. for the person
and the work of my Lord." It burns for His work and His person.
Turn over Matthew 3, and I'll hurry. Matthew 3. And you can leave a marker here,
Matthew 3. We'll come back to it. Matthew 3, verse 1. In those
days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
saying, Repent ye. Turn, lay down your shotguns.
Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent today,
right now. For this is he that is spoken
of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and leather and
girdle about his loins, and his meat, his food, was locust and
wild honey, eating bugs. Then went out to him Jerusalem
and all Judea and all the region around about Jordan, and were
baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." I'm a sinner. I need to die with Christ or
I'll die forever. But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Has anyone ever told you this before? Bring forth therefore
fruits, meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham as our father. For I say unto you that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And
now also the ax is laid into the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which bringeth not good fruit is hewn down and cast
into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water
unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than
I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand." That
means he makes the fire grow as he sees fit. and he will thoroughly
purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the gardener, and
he will burn up the chafe with unquenchable fire. Whenever those
that are baptized with fire are not burnt by unquenchable fire."
What is that? What is that baptism of the Holy
Ghost? Well, I grew up, too, there's a lot of talk about that.
Like, well, I was baptized, well, you weren't baptized in the Holy
Ghost. Let me tell you what that means, baptism by fire. And it
also means you had a real rough time. That's slang in our day,
isn't it? That's not what the Lord meant by that. Those that
He baptizes with fire. David wrote this, Psalm of David,
Psalm 39, verse 3. My heart was hot within me. Oh, my heart was burning while
I was musing the fire burned. My heart was hot within me. That's
the same thing Jeremiah said, wasn't it? He said, Lord, you've
deceived me. I got preaching. Oh, everybody's gonna kill me.
Ain't nobody comes and listens to me Worship God, they come
to pick me apart and say, I said something wrong. I ain't saying
your words no more. He said, I will not make mention
of him nor speak any more of his name, but his word was in
my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary
with forebearing and I couldn't stay quiet. I'm gonna go down
to a false church and I'm gonna listen to him preach and I ain't
gonna say a word, I'm just gonna listen. I want to say something. I can't. I'm lying about my God. I'm going
to be mad about that. And then to say something, I
quit. I ain't preaching no more. And I read something. I got to tell
somebody about that. You ever seen this before? Oh,
it's precious. He's precious. There's a fire burning in you.
You know what happened? On that road to Emmaus, we don't
have time to turn there, but you can look it up in Luke 24. They walked
with the Lord, and He began at Moses and the prophets, and He
expounded them all the scriptures concerning Himself. Christ was
preached. Christ preached Christ. His person and His work, everything
He's done. And they got close to that village, and He acted
like He was going to keep on going. They restrained Him. Please,
stay with us. We will do anything it takes
to have you with us. And He went into Terry with them.
And it came to pass those eaten, and he took bread and blessed
it, and he break and gave it to them, and right then, their
eyes were open. That's him! The one that broke. He gave his body to be broken
for us. That's him! Their eyes were open,
they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And one said
to the other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked
with us by the way? We've talked about these religious
experiences that seem so fancy and ornate and dandy. Have you ever heard Christ preach
and just said, hey man, I'm gonna keep going. Prayer come up here
and preach. Yes, tell me something simple and plain. Tell me that
old, old story one more time. Go read John 1. In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. Yes, tell
me again. Does that get old to you? You get tired of reading
that? I don't. Those that have a fire lit in them don't. The
Lord does that. Those that He does this to, they
see He's the one that's worthy. There in Matthew 3 verse 13,
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized.
But John forbade him, saying, I have need to baptize of thee.
You've got to baptize me and you're coming to me. And Jesus
answered and said to him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered it. He suffered
him. John, there's going to be a thief
on a cross. He's about to be baptized. Confess
Christ and believe his baptism and you're going to do it right
now. Because I made one with him. And I'm going to live his
life that he could not live. I'm going to die for him. And Jesus was baptized, went
up straightway out of the water and lo, the heavens opened. He
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon
him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased." We read over in John 4 that Christ
had the Spirit by measure. And the Father loved the Son,
gave Him all things at hand. Or, I'm sorry, He had the Spirit
without measure. There was no measure to the Spirit that He
had, the Spirit that descended on Him. We have it in measure.
Believers do. Those that have that fire burn
in them that's been baptized by fire. We have the Spirit of
God in us, the fruits in measure. There's some long-suffering,
there's some kindness, there's some meekness. We have those
things. But only because He has them
without measure. Has anybody ever been as long-suffering
as Christ has been to His people? I can't say it about other people,
I can say it about me. That's without measure. Is there any
love Did I get 20%? No. I got 90%? No, that's without
measure. It's without measure. We don't
look to our fruit, our measure, if we have the Holy Spirit abiding
in us. We look to Christ, who's one with Him. That's what that Holy Spirit
is to the baptism by fire and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
It speaks of Him. We read that in John 16. That
Spirit come, come. He won't speak of Himself. But
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He shall glorify
me. That's a fire burning in you.
Back in John. John 10. John the Baptist also said, he
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Those that
have a burning desire for him, their mouths pant like those
deer that are dying of thirst. John 10 verse 40, And they went
away beyond Jordan unto the place where John first baptized, and
there he abode. And many resorted to him, and
came to him, and said, John did no miracle, but all things that
John spake of this man were true. You're him. And many believed on him there. John Brog cast seed every day
from daylight till dark. God's coming. He's holy. Man ain't. Bow to Him. If you're
going to be accepted of the Father, it's going to be because He died
for you. He's the Lamb. Believe on Him. Believe on Him. Then John got his head chopped
off. A year or so later, these people said everything that man
said to us was true, and they believed God. Why'd they do that?
Because the Lord just preached to them. They heard Him. John
could have talked until he was blue in the face. It wouldn't
have done him no good. Unless the Lord's pleased to speak through
him. The foolishness of preaching. People could have went and read
all the books they wanted in the world, unless God's pleased
to give them eyes to see Christ in the scriptures. It ain't gonna
do no good. And they believed. You think if they saw John, they
could hug him? Thank you for looking out for me. I know God
made you, but I'm gonna hug you anyway. Thank you. They said, just as John the Baptist
said back in John 1, he said, of his fullness we have received
and grace for grace. Lord's been gracious. They saw
his providence in this. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. I'm here to tell about
him. He'll come after if he sees fit
and water and make it effectual and give life. My job is to tell
of him. I pray waters. I pray he gives
life, makes it to grow. Amen. All right, brethren. Let's turn to hymn number 126.
We'll close in song. Rockabye.