They're going to look like child's
trinkets and custom jewelry compared to the royal diadem that sits
on the king's head. And those throngs or those crowds
that go stand before the Pope and various ones that seem like
many will seem like a sparse little group compared to that
vast throng out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue on
this terrestrial ball, a number which no man can number, standing
before the King of kings, shouting, All hail! All hail the power, because that's
what it took to get us there. All right, let's look at Mark
chapter 1. Beginning this morning, we will
start studying through the Gospel of Mark, the Lord willing. I've
been wanting to do this, been thinking about it for some time, and been reading it personally,
and I was amazed, and I believe you will be too, by just what
all is found just in this first chapter. This is a short book,
16 chapters, but there's so much in here. And just one chapter
alone, the first chapter, we have John's ministry, we have
the Lord's baptism and temptations, we have calling out of the apostles,
casting out a demon, we have the healing of Peter's mother-in-law
and healing of countless others, just right off the bat, as you
would say, first chapter along. Wednesday night, just to help
you prepare, we'll be looking at our Lord's temptation, His
temptation. And it's just briefly mentioned
here, but we'll look at it in verses 12 and 13. All right,
Mark chapter 1. Verse 1 says, "...the beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Mark does not
waste words here. He says the very first words
out of his mouth. I'm going to begin with what everything has its
beginning with, and what everything is created for. the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is what the gospel
is concerning, the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is. The gospel
is concerning Jesus Christ, God's Son. The good news, the glad
tidings, which fill sinners with great joy, are of Jesus Christ. This is the good news, who Jesus
Christ is, that fact that he came, that God was manifest in
the flesh, son of man, to fulfill the law for his people, to glorify
God as a man, to pay for their sins, to lay down his life on
Calvary's tree and to rise from the grave to ever live to make
intercession for those, for the sinners, for the transgressors.
This is the beginning. We're going to start talking
about the glad tiding, the gospel. of Jesus Christ. That's what
the gospel is. It's the good news of a person,
who came and why he came. And this is all prophesied, verse
2, as it is written in the prophets. As it is written in the prophets.
This has all been prophesied long before in the prophets. Not just one. You notice he didn't
say it's written in the prophets. Malachi. No, he said, as it is
written in the prophets. Because what Malachi said, Moses
said. Moses wrote with me, Christ said.
He said the same thing Malachi did. Somebody's coming. Someone's
coming. This is written in all the prophets. Someone's coming. The Christ.
The Lamb of God. But first, God Almighty sends
a messenger, look at it, verse 2, as it is written in the prophets. All the prophets were messengers,
you see. But he's just quoting one of
them, Malachi, whom we read, verse 2, who wrote, Behold, I
send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. He'll be the voice of one crying
in the wilderness. This world is a wilderness. And
he'll be the voice of one crying like God told Isaiah to do. Cry
out. Cry out aloud. Spare not. Lift
up thy voice as one in the wilderness. Verse 3. This is what you're
to cry. This is what you're to do. Prepare
ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Verse 4. John. That's who he's
talking about here. That's who he's talking about
principally here, in context. John was this messenger of the
messenger. Did you read that in Malachi
3 with me? Behold, I send my messenger before
me, and the messenger shall come, the Lord, the messenger of the
covenant. So John is the messenger of the
messenger. John is the forerunner. The word
messenger means a forerunner. John was the last of the Old
Testament prophets. John was the last. There are
no more prophets. Why is that? Do you know why
that is? It's very important, very important,
because many still claim today that to be prophets. Why do we
know and why is it important that we know that John was the
last of the Old Testament prophets? Because Jesus Christ, you see,
is that prophet. He's that prophet to end all
prophets. And John, the very last one,
speaks of Christ. And now Christ comes. There's
no more need of prophets, you see. Christ is that prophet.
He is the Christ, like the woman at the well said, well, when
he comes, he'll tell us all things. He did. Nobody else needs to
tell us anything. You see, nobody else needs to
give us another prophecy. Mary Baker Eddy, or whoever that
woman is, Joseph Smith, Moroni, that so-called angel, we don't
need what they have to say. They're false prophets, I can
tell you that, because Christ is that prophet. They are they
which testify of him, and he testified of them, you see. to
testify of what the Word said, to reveal the Father unto us.
Prophets can't do that. They can tell about God, but
he came to reveal God. What need had we any more of?
Prophets. That prophet has come. He's told
us all things. And he put a seal on this book.
And we don't need another book. We don't need secret books. Forget
them. Forget those lost books. Keep
them lost. Keep them locked. Malachi 3. Turn back there with
me again, would you please? Malachi 3. And hold your place
here. Turn back a couple of times.
You see, as with all the prophets before John, John had one message. It was of the coming Christ.
And as with the apostles. After John, they had but one
message. He's here. The Christ, and they
went to everyone. The Christ, of whom the prophets,
this is what they said on every hand, isn't it? Of whom the prophets
wrote, this is what Peter said at Pentecost, isn't it? David,
David not speaking of himself, he's speaking of Jesus of Nazareth,
who came. He's here, he came. And all true
preachers after him, if they're sent of God, they have one message,
too. That's how you know them. That's
how you knew the Old Testament prophets. They spoke with Christ. Someone's coming. Not the social
issues of the day, per se. And the apostles, how did you
know a man was an apostle? Christ crucified was his message.
And all true preachers after the apostles, how do you know
they're true preachers? They've got one message. And
not only do they say Christ came, but they say again, he's coming
again. He's coming again, the Lord whom
you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, his people. Yes, the messenger of the covenant,
the head of the covenant. Look at Malachi 3, verse 1 again. It says here, I will send my
messenger. I will send. The church won't
send him. I will send him. Men won't recommend him. I'll
send him. Seminary won't raise him up.
I'll raise him up. I'll send him. I will send him.
I've chosen him. Men don't choose him. I choose
my servants. Don't you? I choose my servant. I call them. I equip them. Don't you tell your servants
how you want things done? He don't leave it up to someone
else. Neither does God. He teaches them. They're all
taught of God personally. Every one of his servants go
to the same school. Same school. School of Christ.
They all have one master. Not many. They all hear the same
message, one message, one Lord, one faith. They all go out of
there preaching one message. That's how you know them, you
see. That's how you know the school they came from. Just as
you know someone comes from the South by the twang they have,
or from the North by the, well, you know how it sounds. You know
a preacher of Christ when you hear him. Why? Because that word
keeps coming out of his mouth. Words like grace, and mercy,
and sovereign, and holy, and just, and righteous, and propitiation,
and substitute, and satisfaction. You hear the same things all
the time out of their mouth. Well, you sound like you come
from the same school. I do. We all had the same teacher. John, three days running, he
had one text and one message. Three days running, the Pharisees
came to hear him. He said, Behold the Lamb of God.
Next day they came out. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God. And they thought, well, this
ignorant, unlearned fellow, you can tell he hasn't gone to school.
He's only got one text. He only knows one thing. We know
many things. We know the law. They came the
next day, and what did John say? the Lamb of God, of whom the
Law and the Prophets speak. And by God's mercy and grace,
even some of those Pharisees were baptized by John. An ignorant
fellow in the wilderness. I will send my messenger. You
see that? I will send my messenger. Let me read to you, you don't
have to turn, but in Romans 10, quoted by many, Romans 10 The
Lord says, how are they going to call on him, or God, whom
they have not believed, or Christ, whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? I sent my messenger. And look at the next line here.
He shall prepare the way before me." He shall prepare the way
before me. All right, you can turn back
to our text now. Now, back in olden days, back
in the days of kings and chariots, horses, and so forth, kings and
rulers who were traveling to make an appearance somewhere,
they sent out before them a fellow who was called a harbinger or
a preparer. This fellow went out before the
king on the very road which the king was to travel. And what
he did was to clear the way of any obstructions that might be
in the road, any obstacles that people might stumble, a stumbling
stone or a rock. and made sure that wasn't in
the way. Isaiah talked about if there were holes in the road,
you fill them up. If there are high places, you
bring them down to prepare the coming of the King. Now, Isaiah
said this. Let me read from Isaiah to you. Now, the preacher's job, the
preacher's job is not to help out the Lord, get somewhere.
That's not what he's saying here. You need to help the Lord, you
need to pave the way and make it easy for him to get to center,
so you put ten dollar bills on the street, or you do all sorts
of things to make it easy for people to come and make it easy
for the Lord to save them. Oh no, he's not saying that,
Doc. He's not saying help the Lord
get where he needs to get. No. That's a gross misinterpretation
of that. What he's saying is, you remove
every hindrance that would keep the people. See, there's going
to be people. The king's going to be traveling
through. He's got a destination to go to. And the people need
to see him. The people everywhere need to
get to him. If anybody has to ask anything
of the king, they need to be able to get to him. And you remove
every obstacle, every hindrance from them seeing him and beholding
him. Don't hinder them from coming.
Don't put anything in their way to keep them, to make it hard
for them to come. Are you understanding that? Don't
make the people climb Mount Sinai to get to see the king. No. Don't
make them climb Mount Sinai. Don't make them swim Jordan.
Don't make them have two or three baptisms. All they need to do
is see the King. Don't make them join the church.
Don't make them do this. Don't make them talk funny. Don't
make them do this. They need to see the King. They just need to see the King. They just need to hear his voice.
Listen to Isaiah here. He said, This is the voice of
one that crieth in the wilderness. Same message. Prepare ye the
way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill made low, the crooked places made
straight. Don't confuse them. Don't give
them intellectual talk. Don't fill them with their theology
so they can't understand what you're saying. Don't do that. Make it plain. Therefore, see, we have such
hope, one hope, and it's a good hope, and it's grace. So we use
great plainness of speech. crooked places. Make them straight,
rough places. Make it plain. Don't make it
rough on them. Don't make them have to go through
this condition and that condition. Here it is. And if you do that,
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh will see it together.
All they need to do is When Moses hung up that serpent
on the pole, what did he tell the people? Everybody get on
your knees and crawl! Repeat after me, say so many
words, go through the pitfalls, serve ten years of—look! Didn't I? Look. His glory shall
be revealed by just looking. Everything needs to be removed
so that men and women will see the glory of Christ alone." John. Here stands John. Great man. Great man. I would have loved
to have known John. I would have loved to have talked
to John. Oh, he could expound so much wisdom and glory. Wouldn't
you love to talk to John? or Moses, or any of that. Here
stands John. Wouldn't you have loved to have seen John? He was
quite, evidently, he was quite a character. A man. I'd like to know, I'd like to
shake his hand. I'd like to stand down and hear John speak. Well,
here stands John. Here are two of his disciples.
Here comes Christ. He gets out of the way. But he,
behold, the light. And Scripture said in that one
place that those two disciples quit following John and followed
Christ. And John was thrilled. He had
two church members. He lost them both, and he was
happy about it. He said, Revival's here. Well, John, I lost two members.
Well, I don't understand. They quit following me. They
now see Christ. The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. Get everything out of the way. The Lord's coming. They need to see him. They need
to hear him. You see what that's saying? And
that's what John did. Look at our text here. Verse
4. This John did. John did. John
did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. Now, don't let anybody confuse
you on this, okay? Understand that. What is baptism? What is baptism? Come on. It
never was before. John was the first one to start
practicing baptism. What is it? It's a confession
of Christ. Is it not? What is the very act
of baptism? Death, burial, resurrection in
Christ. That's what John was doing, people.
That's what John was doing. It wasn't something different.
Not at all. Not at all. Christ hadn't died
yet. Maybe everyone didn't fully understand
what that was saying, but John knew to do it. And John was preaching
Christ. You understand that? It's not
something different than the apostles did. Not at all. Not
at all. John was baptizing unto the remission
of sins, or that is, people confessing the same thing we confess when
we are baptized. I want to be dead and buried.
My sins remitted. My sins placed on Christ. Did
not John know about the scapegoat? Did not John know about the lamb
which taketh? Yes, that was his message. Why
did he baptize? To confess the Christ who takes
away sin. It's not something different.
Don't let anybody tell you that. And so that's what John did,
the messenger. Now, let's look at John just
for a moment. John did baptize, to read on,
verses four through eight, and preached the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins, unto the remission of sin. And there
went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem,
and were all baptized of John in the river of Jordan, confessing
their sins. Who were they confessing them
to? Not John. He wasn't a pope. He wasn't a
priest. He's the baptizer. He's John the baptizer. That
wasn't his denomination. I had a fellow, Lord, I had a
fellow argue nose-to-nose with me about that one time. John
was a Baptist, you see, and that's why I'm a Baptist. That's not a denomination. It's what they're doing. That's
what he did. He baptized. That's how he was
denominated, if you will. are distinguished John from the
other Johns. There were other Johns, you know.
This is not the Apostle John, this is John the Baptist, or
Baptizer. That wasn't his denomination.
Anyway, he was baptizing, and they went out unto him all the
land of Judea, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan,
confessing their sin. Confessing them to God, not John.
And this baptism was, I want to be dead and buried. I want
my sins put away. I want to be raised to walk in
newness of life. That's what baptism is. Is that
clear? And repentance. Repentance is
toward God and faith in Christ. You can't have one without the
other. Can you? God won't accept our repentance
except through Christ, will He? No, God won't accept repentance
except... There was another preacher one
time that said we need to repent of three things, and unless you've
repented of three things, you haven't repented. He said, number one, we repent
of our sin. That's what we are. We repent
of what we are, not what we've done. What we do is a product
of what we are. We repent like Paul in Romans
7 when he said, In my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I abhor myself,
Job said. Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean
lips. Daniel said, My tumbleness melted
into corruption. That's repenting of what you
are, your sin. sin dwelleth in me." Then you
repent of your sins, what you've done against me that I've sinned
and done this particular evil in thy sight. My sins. But then he said, this old Puritan
preacher said, you haven't really repented unless you've repented
of your righteousness. That is your best deeds, your
religion, those things which you think God will accept as fruit of your repentance. Isaiah said, Our righteousness
is filthy rags. Didn't repent of our righteousness. Paul did that in the Philippians
3, didn't he? He said, Oh, I was a Hebrew of
Hebrew, I was baptized, I was circumcised, I was kept the law,
I was blameless, and so forth. You said, oh, I renounce all
that. I repent of all that. That was
self-righteousness. That was my doing. And I don't
want to be found dressed in my own righteousness. I want to
be found in His. I repent of mine. It's not good
enough. It's not holy enough. I need Christ's righteousness. So see, there's no repentance.
John preached the baptism of repentance. Brother Dan, he didn't
preach repentance unless he told them, repent of your righteousness.
You need another righteousness. Behold, the Lamb of God. No matter what you do, it's not
good enough. Behold, the Lamb of God. Be baptized. He kept right on baptizing after
he said that, Stan, didn't he? Huh? Yes, sir. When John pointed
to Christ, he kept right on baptizing. He changed his message? He said,
I didn't do it wrong, let's try it over. No! Same message. All right, the man, John. Turn
to Matthew 11 with John the man. It says he was clothed with camel
hair and a girdle of skin about his loins and ate locusts and
wild honey. This is a man. This man's a man. No man on this earth would call
John anything less than a man. Now, he's a preacher. I know that's a misnomer today.
That's a misnomer to call most preachers a man. You understand what I'm saying? My wife was talking to a fellow
one time and asked him where he was attended, and he said,
such and such place. And this fellow knew my pastor. He'd heard him many times. He
attended there, and he quit and was going somewhere else. And
my wife was asking him about her preacher. What does he preach?
She kept asking him, what does he preach? He couldn't tell her.
He never could tell her, could he? Never could. But he did say
this. This is the only way you could
think that. He said, well, he said, he's no wimp. You see what he's, he understands. He understands that most of these
fellas are not men at all. John was a man. Matthew 11, verses
7-10, Christ began to say unto the multitudes concerning John,
What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the
wind? Do you think some fellow is going to back down You know, that you're going to
be able to scare him off or toss to and fro and going to change
positions here and there and doesn't know where he stands,
a reed shaking with the wind, you know, that one that bows,
you know, a reed shaking in the wind bows whichever way the wind
blows, doesn't it? Huh? What do you go see? What went you out to sea, verse
8? A man clothed in soft raiment? I think that, I know that's why
John was dressed as he was. About as rugged as any man could
possibly dress. Nobody was, nobody could come
to John, the roughest man on earth, you know, could come to
John and say, oh, he's more of a man than I am. You understand? Read on. Kings
wear soft clothing. Kings' houses. Verse 9. What
did you go out to see? A prophet. That means a preacher.
What did you go out to see? A preacher? Yea, I say unto you,
more than a preacher. You know, when people use that
term, it's in derision. Preacher. It really is. I don't like the
term. I don't like people that call
me that. Preacher. I don't want you to call me that. Old Brother
Scott Richardson, bless his heart, disconfide in you a little bit.
He said he hates it when people call him that. Preacher. Because in this day and age,
it's absolutely, it makes the man not a man. He's a wimp. Preacher. Had a
fella at the post office one time come up to me, an insurance
fella. Preacher. I didn't say it, but I wanted
to say, insurance man. Some call people that, do you?
Excuse me, that's getting in the flesh there, isn't it? What'd
you go out to see, a preacher? More than a preacher. a man's man, a man, a preacher,
more than that. Go back to the text, Mark 1.
Now, John did not preach himself. He preached Christ the Lord. John would even tell his name. That's one way you'll know a
true one from a false one. He doesn't speak of himself. Listen, people, really, use this
Use this test. Use it carefully. Because a man
draws attention to himself. I was praying the other day,
and the Lord said to me, I read my Bible. I was reading
my Bible. I read my Bible through last
year. I was witnessing to a fellow wanting to, who's getting the
glory here. The only thing John said about
himself was, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. As a matter of
fact, they kept asking him his name. Who are you? Tell us your credentials. He
wouldn't tell them, Wesley. He wouldn't tell them his name. No man's name is important. No
man's name is going to live on, except one name that's above
every name. And the man who is interested in that name being
declared and honored and magnified will preach that name, not his
own. That's how you know him. He doesn't speak of himself,
but he truly, truly points men and women to Christ, truly, not
just in theory, truly, and in practice, truly. He will be a humble man, truly.
not just in word. John preached repentance, as
did all the prophets. It says he preached repentance,
as did Christ. You know what? Christ preached
repentance. That's what Christ came preaching, Margaret. Repent. That's what John preached. That's what Isaiah preached.
That's what all the prophets preached. That's what the true
preachers are still preaching. Back there in Malachi 2, the
last verse in chapter 2, right before what we read, God said,
You weary me with your words. He's talking to the false prophets.
He names them by name in verse 1 of chapter 2. These priests,
they're supposed to be priests. He said, You're wearying me with
your words. And they said, How did we weary
you? He said, When you tell everybody, everything's all right. When
you tell those that I'm going to judge that God's not going
to judge. When you tell sinners that it's not sin, that God overlooks
it. Where is the God of judgment?
That's the question God asks there in verse 17 of chapter
2. Where's the God of judgment? And that's what Malachi preached
in chapter 3. The Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple. What's he like? Well, he's not
standing outside the door, hoping you'll let him in. He's a refiner's
fire. What's he like? Well, he's sweet
Jesus, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, as the Catholics say. No,
he's not. He's like butter soaked. He's going to purify silver.
He's going to purge the sons of Levi like he purges silver
and gold. Doesn't sound like the Jesus
being preached today. You'll know their message. Let's
hear your Jesus. What's he like? Refiner's fire
and fuller soap. And you bow to him. You repent
to him. He doesn't have to save you.
He's not trying to save you. He came to save his elect. There's a promise. There's a
preacher sent by God. There's the messenger of the
messenger. You see? You see? Try them. Try these spirits, whether or
not they be of God. That's how you try them. And
you preach repentance. And look at verse 7. He said,
There cometh one mightier than I. When have you ever heard a preacher
say this? There's another preacher that's better than me. Have you ever heard one say that? There's a preacher that's better
than me. I'm not worthy to tie his shoe. The lats of whose shoes
I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose. That was John's
message. I'm nothing. He said he must
increase, I must decrease. Verse 8. Look at it. He's talking
about his baptizing. You know, he's baptizing. And he's going to say something
about his baptisms. All right? What does he say?
It's just water. I baptize with water. In other
words, Lord, he's saying, I'm not doing anything. I'm sticking
people under the water. I can't do anything. It's just
water. I'm nothing. That's nothing. What I'm doing, I'm doing is
nothing. You understand? But now He shall
baptize you with the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Ghost. All I can
do is put you under the water. It might wash away a few germs,
but no sins. That's all I can do. He can put
away all your sins. I put you under the water, he
puts life in you. I can ask him to save you, he
saves. I can immerse you in water, he
can immerse you in himself, in the Holy Spirit. You see? They asked Paul one time, Paul,
how many did you baptize? How many did you baptize? Modern
preachers love to hear this. Paul says, well, let's see, I
baptized, who did he say, of the house
of Fortunatus, was it, and Timothy, I think, and he said, I can't
remember. He really could not remember
who and how many. He really couldn't. How many
did you baptize? I don't know. I'm not coming
to baptize. Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel of Christ. John, what are you doing? I was
just putting people in water. Look to the Lamb. How many? How much? How big?
I don't know. I'll tell you how big my Lord is. I'll tell you about Him. I can
tell you that. Paul said, I'm determined not
to know anything among you. Forget everything. Forget in
the past. Everything we do, forget it. I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I'm determined
that everyone hears me, know nothing else. Not me, not any
other preacher, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. I want them
to know that. And that's what they're determined
to do. That's all they do. Like I said, John had one message.
I love that illustration of the coach driver back a few hundred
years ago who drove a coach for the old preacher. I think his
name was Law, the preacher's name. He was visiting a town
and he had a meeting to attend in the county of Bath. was the name of a county, Bath,
a county in England. And this preacher hired this
coach driver to take him there. And so he got in the coach and
was riding along, and the beautiful countryside was going by, and
the preacher every now and then would say to the coach driver,
Sir, excuse me, what might this estate over here be? And the
fellow had his mind on the road, and he said, he looked at me
and said, I don't know. And they drive on. Mr. Law, I think was his name, he
thought that was strange. And they went on a little further,
and in a minute he saw something else that interested him, and
he said, oh, sir, he said, and what might this body of water
be over here, what is it? And in fact, this is a true story,
Roy. He said, uh, I don't rightly know, sir. He kept going. And the fellow said, uh, excuse
me, sir, what do you know? He said, uh, I know the way to
Bob. That's where he's going. See? What do you know? I know
where salvation is. What's this? What do you think
about super-lapsarianism, infer-lapsarianism? What do you think about the ominous?
I don't know. And they don't either. I do know
the way to God. There's one way. And I'm on it,
Paul said. Get in the coach. If you want to ask me something,
Ask me about him. The boy, the bop. Well, John
said that's what John wrote. See, he's the messenger. What
is the messenger sent to do? To deliver the message that the
king sent him with. What was the message? Behold
the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. And I've got
to quit. Now, and it came to pass, now
John said someone's coming, Moses said someone's coming, Joshua
said someone's coming, Isaiah said someone's coming, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Neal, Malachi, Zechariah, Malachi, Zephaniah, I'm leaving out a
few. They all said, John, the last
one, said someone's coming. look at verse 9, and it came
to pass in those days that here he came from Nazareth of Galilee. He
came, just like they said. And I stand here this morning
and say he came and he's coming again. And so did Luther, and
so did And so did Calvin, and so did Zwingli, and so did Huss,
and so did Spurgeon, and so did Newton, and so did Watts, and
so did Flavel, and Bunyan, and he's coming again! The Lord, whom you seek, is going
to suddenly come to his temple. He's going to split the skies
over you. The messenger of the covenant, the head of the covenant.
He's coming again. And in due time, Just like he said, just like
prophesied. And I got to show you this, all
right, and I'll quit. Verse 9, it says he was baptized
of John in the Jordan. And straight away, right away,
immediately when he came up out of the water, John, this is John,
who saw the heavens opened. like the sky split open, and
the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending upon him. Whether or not this was truly
a little dove or not is not important. What it was, was John saw the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the Shekinah glory of
God shining out of heaven. on his son, on God's son. He
saw the Holy Spirit of God resting on Christ, bearing witness of
Christ and Christ, he saw his glory. And if you see Christ,
you'll see that the heavens will be open. This book will be open. Your heart will be open. The
mysteries will be open to you. The Holy Spirit will be sent
to teach you things of Christ. And there came a voice from heaven
saying, now look at this, this is wonderful. This is the first time God has
spoken out loud. I don't know how long. I don't know how long. Hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of years, God did not speak. It's the first time God speaks
out loud. You know who he spoke to? Look at it. Thou art my beloved son. He's not even speaking to us. He's speaking to his son first. What does that tell you? I'm
going to speak to you. And then you're going to go speak
to them. Thou art, but we heard it, and it's recorded. Do you
understand the significance of that, Sheriff? It's as if he's
saying, I won't speak to anybody else. I won't speak to them except
through you. Thou art my beloved son. Huh? What would you do? You're
a child. You're proud. You love your child.
And they've done something just wonderful. They just make you
proud and all that. Who's the first one he's going
to say it to? Huh? To them. Honey, I'm proud of you. I love you. I'm well pleased
with you. Then the next time he spoke,
he said, hear this. From heaven they all got offended.
He said, this is my beloved son. and whom I welcome." Hear him?
Hear him? Hear him? My boy, what a book
that we've started in. Bearing witness of him. All right, let's sing, what was
it, John 46? Is that what you had picked out? Hymn number 46. If you'll come
lead us. Let's sing the first, second,
and last verses, okay? First, second, and last verses. Stand, stand.