Would you join me tonight in
the book of Malachi? Malachi chapter 3. I've been
overwhelmed by the overlapping that our Bible class has had
with the book of Malachi, particularly with what we're going to read
tonight. And Brother Mike has been back over here in the book
of Malachi, and we're going to be in the book of Luke tonight.
And it's just a back and forth as we look here at this messenger
that was going to be sent to announce the ministry and purpose
of the Savior, the Lord Jesus. It's amazing to me that John
is of the tribe of Levi. His mother and his father both
are of the Levitical descent. And we find that also that there
was something miraculous about the birth of John as has been
brought out in the Bible class. And that was he had the Holy
Spirit before he was born. And I did some thinking about
that, and I said, you know, every elect has some way that the Holy
Spirit has them before they're born. That we are sanctified
by the Spirit before the foundation of the world, sanctified towards
salvation, sanctified for salvation. There is so much eternality about
our salvation that we discover after we're born again. We have
the eternal righteousness of Christ appropriated. We have
the eternal sanctification of the Spirit appropriated. And
it is in the new birth that we discover what we have. And it
is such a blessing to discover what we have in Christ Jesus. So when God has in the womb of
a woman, conceived a child, and that child is one of his marked,
one of those that he has been given in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world, there is something about that
person that the Holy Spirit has attraction to and promise for,
and there is some way that the Spirit is given before they're
born. So as we look here in the book
of Malachi, Malachi chapter three, we're going to be doing some
studying, some conversation about the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.
Now it's interesting to find out that the time of the Lord's
birth was prophesied in the book of Daniel. The place of the Savior's
birth was shared with those prophets of old, and it was going to be
in Bethlehem. And we have a number of places
here in the Old Testament and brought out so clearly in the
New Testament that there was going to be someone to announce
the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his name is John. And if we looked at it, it would
be John the baptizer. I wish that Baptists today would
agree with what John preached. There would be no problem among
us, because he preached the sovereign grace of God. He preached the
Savior that saves. He preached a lamb that would
take away sin, and that is all dealt with. So he was a preacher
that preached the Lord Jesus Christ completely, and his death
was very close to the death of the Lord Jesus. Three, four,
six months. There was six months difference
in their age and he was out in the wilderness for a long time
and then we'll look tonight at that he's announced to go and
preach and say there's someone coming and there's someone here. The prophet says someone's coming.
I'm telling you he's here among us right now. So here in the
book of Malachi chapter three, I just want to read, I think
I'm just going to read the first verse. Please take time this
week to read this entire chapter. It's a wonderful chapter and
chapter four is just as wonderful in looking at this one that is
coming, the prophet John. I have to be reminded though
that Malachi as a prophet is in the days of Nehemiah. And
he is directed by God to give a message to a whole bunch of
corrupt priests practicing wicked practices,
their sacrifices were so blemished, and a false sense of security
that God will not do anything to us because we're Jews. Malachi is preaching to a group
of people that had recently come out of Babylonian captivity and
are there in Jerusalem and in Judah. And so as we have that
brought to our attention, it takes on, well, we're overlapping
the book of Ezra now. So this is all, and the entire
book overlaps. The Bible overlaps itself. Here
in the book of Malachi chapter three and verse one, behold,
I will. Malachi's speaking, but he's
speaking the word of the Lord. I will send my messenger. And he shall prepare the way
before me. What a prophecy that Malachi
brings out 400 years before John comes to the scene. Now this
word messenger is mentioned twice in this single verse. It goes on to say, and the Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant. Now that messenger is a different
messenger than the messenger that's mentioned in the first
part of that. That messenger is Christ. He is the messenger
of the covenant. Now this word messenger that
is mentioned here is translated three different ways in the Old
Testament. That word, 111 times it's translated the word angel.
And some places it's the angel of the Lord. And in the book
of Genesis, where there are two angels that come to Sodom to
converse with Lot, that's the same word. They're messengers
of God. And we find that 98 times it's
the word messenger, and four times it's the word ambassador.
So ambassador, messenger, and angel all have some kind of similar
meaning that this word holds. Now, I like when we look at this
verse of scripture, I like the term ambassador because a true
ambassador is representing the person that sent him. And that
ambassador is to know the language, to know the customs, to know
something about the people that they're going to. Now we make
great mistakes when we don't do that as a people. But this ambassador, he understood
the people. He understood who sent him. John
understood who sent him. He understood the people he was
dealing with. just like we do, that they are all dead in trespasses
and sin until they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And
we could not, he could not, he understood he could not, convert
one person to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He could only
declare this person. He was an ambassador for the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was a messenger. And in many
ways, to many people, It was like an angel that was sent into
a dark place. That they were among the pagan
land, even though they had all of the doctrine and they had
all of the stuff, it still was a pagan land without Christ.
So here John is spoken of 400 years before he comes on the
scene and he says, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare
the way before me And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come
to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight
in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. So John shall
come, the Lord shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Now, as we
look at this passage of scripture, would you turn with me to the
book of Luke chapter 16? Luke chapter 16. Now, I realize
Mike's going to replow this, but it's okay. It is good to
have all the scriptures reminded to us, brought to our attention
again. So here in the book of Luke chapter
16, we have this statement made with regard to John. And it's
an interesting verse of scripture because we don't have many Levites
that are prophets. We have some other people that
are prophets, but here, in the days of John the Baptist, it
tells us here in the book of Luke chapter 16, verse 16. Luke chapter 16, verse 16, it
says, the law and the prophets were until John. Now he is the
last Levitical prophet. He is the last Levitical oracle. He is the last Levitical messenger. This is it. When he's gone, it
will be over. And so it says here, until John,
since the time of the kingdom of God is preached and every
man presses into it. Now John, it says in the law
and the prophets were until John. So John holds a very special
place in the church. He is the one that was called
on after 400 years, that there was no prophets as we knew it
in the Old Testament. And then the, flame, the light
of heaven opens up before us, and here is one whose parents
are Levites, he is brought to the forefront, and his job is
to announce the coming of Christ, the very presence of Christ.
And then we have him saying, I must decrease. He must increase. And it's not long after he makes
the announcement that he's standing before a guy that demands his
head. So he truly did decrease. But the Lord of glory, when he
went to the cross, increased. He increased all the prophecies
of the Old Testament brought to head in one person at one
time of Christ and Him crucified. And we look at Him as the increaser,
the one that increases our faith, gives our faith and increases
our faith. He's the increaser of all the purposes of God, that
is, in mentioned throughout the Old Testament. So the law and
the prophets were until John. Now, not only is he mentioned
here in the book of Malachi, and we're going to look at another
verse in just a moment in chapter four, but he's mentioned over
in the book of Isaiah. Would you turn there with me?
The book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40. He is the announcer. He is the angel. He is the messenger. He is the ambassador. He's the
one that has been called by Almighty God, purposed by Almighty God
to take the message. The Messiah is here. And God
fulfilling the promise, the time, the place, and the announcer. Here in the book of Isaiah chapter
40, Isaiah chapter 40. I love verse one of this chapter.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Well, it goes on and tells us
here in Isaiah chapter 40, beginning with verse one, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. And I don't know about you, but
I say hallelujah at that moment. Our iniquity is pardoned. and
she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Now verse three, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God, every valley. Now this prophet Isaiah is alluding
to the cities of refuge and the transportation to get to the
cities of refuge. It is not written in scripture,
but it is among the historians that it was the responsibility
of the people who lived close to those cities of refuge to
keep the roads open, that nothing would detain anybody from getting
there because they had the manslayer on their backside. They had the
one who could kill them if they caught him on the backside. So
it says, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and
hill shall be made low. Now this is metaphor speaking.
God is going to get rid of every hindrance. There is nothing that
will be in the way of his people. As it tells us, all that cometh
unto me, I will in no wise cast out. I will be welcome, open
arm. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise
cast out. There won't be one hindrance.
I will not make one requirement upon them. I will not require
baptism, church membership, that they live a godly life. I will
not require any of that. The requirements are fulfilled
in the person of Christ Jesus. He's the one that laid down his
life, a ransom for his people. So, he puts no requirements on
anybody. The road is straight. The valleys
have been exalted. All the things that would hinder.
The mountains have been cut down so that there would be no hindrance
to getting to Christ. There is nothing that prevents
anybody from coming to Christ except their own depravity. Now,
when God deals with that, nothing prevents them from coming. As
we look at this, it goes on to tell us in verse 5, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And the voice said,
cry. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. What's he
preaching? Ruined by the fall. John did
a lot of that. Ruined by the fall. That was
his ministry. And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. Everything he had a whole group
of folks come to him says boy. We'd like to be baptized by you
He says who warned you Oh generation of vipers who warned you to flee
from the wrath to come Bring forth works meet for repentance
He told him get out of here now there were some that came as
he says there therefore as every one of our works is like the
flower of the field and Worthless you'll die. There's no life in
it plucking. It's dead The grass withereth
the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon
it surely the people is grass The grass withereth and the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever Never cease
never stop will always go on now The only Difficulty in escaping
to a city of refuge was not following the path. And we find there's
a whole bunch of folks, me included, that wanted to, quote unquote,
get to the city of refuge, wanted to get to Jesus, but didn't want
to follow the path. I wanted my works to amount to
something. I wanted my works to be of value. I wanted all the things that
I was doing to be of value. I wanted this to be of value.
And yet, we find from the very beginning to the very end, there
is no value in it. It's dead. It's worthless. It's
just powder. It's presenting nothing to God.
And yet, we find the city of refuge, every valley shall be
exalted and every mountain shall be cut down. There's nothing
that hinders except if you get off the road. And we, by nature,
just can't find that road. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction. Narrow is the way. Every mountain
has been cut down and every valley has been lifted up and it's a
straight line to Christ. Our problem is we can't find
straight lines. And John is going to be presenting
that during his ministry. Turn with me if you would to
the book of Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter three. As we look at this messenger
before the coming of the Lord Jesus. before he's going to announce
the ministry of the Messiah. In Matthew chapter 3 verses 1
through 9, Matthew chapter 3 verses 1 through 9, And in those days came John the
Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent ye. Now that is, that's a term that
most people don't want to deal with. We want to have all kinds
of repentance and sadness and mourning and mourning benches
and going forwards and all that stuff but the true meaning of
this word repent is to have a different attitude towards God and guess
what we can't do it on our own repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand is right here close by for this is he that was spoken
of by the prophet Isaiah this is John. Matthew wants us to know. Matthew
wanted the readers to know at that day and time. This is the
fulfillment of Isaiah, chapter 40. Here he is, right here. There is so much evidence given. But when we don't have a mind
of Christ, the evidence means nothing. We're not held back from salvation
because we don't have the words explained to us or we don't have
enough evidence. We're held back from salvation
by our own innate desire to stay away from God. It's called we
have an inclination not to love Him, in fact, to hate Him. So
it's not the evidence. There was a multitude of evidence
given by God throughout the Old Testament in the 400 years between
the Testaments and in the New Testament, and right here is
one of those. This is him. This is he that was spoken of
by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his path
straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair,
and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts
and wild honey. And he went out to him, and then
went out to him Jerusalem, and all of Judea, and all the region
round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in the Jordan,
confessing their sins. Here's the issue. I'm a sinner
saved by grace, I need this. I know it's not going to give
me salvation, but I'm declaring there is something about me that
is a sinner saved by grace. were baptized of him in the Jordan,
confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come, religious folks, they hadn't changed their
mind about God. They hadn't changed their mind
about Christ. They hadn't changed their mind about salvation. They
hadn't had no change at all. They were still their Pharisees
and Sadducees. And if they sat down together
in a room and didn't have anybody in there to be the overseer,
They'd argue and bite and fuss at each other over several points
of doctrine, but when it had a common enemy, they could unite
over that. They went out, came to his baptism,
and said unto him, he said unto them, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth
therefore fruits, meat for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham our father. Or, we don't need What you say
we need, we just want the symbol of it. For I say unto you that
God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
I heard a sermon one time and it really affected me that John
was probably baptizing on the Jordan right where the children
of Israel crossed over and there was a monument of 12 stones and
he's saying, these stones cry out. When your children ask you what
happened, what's these stones right here? You tell them God
Almighty permitted you to cross that river dry shod. These stones cry out. All right,
would you turn with me back to the book of Malachi. Malachi
chapter four. We have another passage here
that deals with John. Malachi chapter four. Oh, the
good parts. Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and
6. Here the prophet is used to hone
down just a little bit from just a messenger to a person. He's going to be like Elijah. Elijah wasn't here to please
people. He followed what God instructed him to do. John's
not going to be here to please people. He's gonna lose his head
over saying what he believed. All right, here it says, behold,
I send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord. Now, I've had people say that
is at the end. This is the time of Christ that
they're talking about. What's that great and dreadful
day? As we heard Sunday, to some, the coming of the Messiah was
the most wonderful news they'd ever heard, and to other, it
was dreadful. This guy is messing with our
comfortable religion. And if you've ever had your comfortable
religion messed with, it makes you mad and you say, I hate that
guy. This, as it says there, is a
dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Well, let's follow this over in the New Testament, if you
would, into the book of Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17,
we have again, I was just amazed at the number of places in the
New Testament that John and his ministry are mentioned because
the Lord gives us many mighty testimonies about the one that
was going to precede the Messiah. And he was going to precede him
by a very short time. But he was going to declare the
Messiah. He was going to declare one who
could take away sin. Behold the Lamb of God. who taketh away the sin of the
world, the people of his world. Take away sin. Nobody had ever
been able to do that. Only God could do that. Well,
here in the book of Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17, and it
says, after six days, verse one, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and
John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain
apart and was transfigured before them. We have by faith, we have
by faith exactly what those disciples saw. They saw exactly what we get
to see. They saw it in the flesh, we
get to see it by faith. That the Lord Jesus Christ was
transfigured before them in a glorious, glorious, glorious manner. Like unto he had before the world
began. And then, as they come off that
mountain, it says, verse 7, and Jesus came and touched
them, after this had happened, arise and be not afraid. And
when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, tell the vision to no
man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. Now this
is some time before that's going to happen, but you keep this
quiet, what you saw. We have Peter talking about it
over in the book of 1 Peter. You keep it quiet about what
you saw. Now, and his disciples ask him saying, why then say
the scribes that Elijah must come first? Now this was common
teaching among the scribes, that Elijah must come first. Why do
they say that? Well, we say, don't they know
the Bible? Well, there's a whole bunch about
the Bible I don't know. And I'm so thankful at times
that the Holy Spirit reveals something to me and to us. Jesus doesn't reprimand them
for it. He just goes on to say, Jesus answered and said unto
them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things.
But I say unto you that Elijah is come already. And they knew
him not. but have done unto him whatsoever
they listed, likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John
the Baptist." He's here. He's been here. The
announcer has been here. The messenger has been here.
Whoa! What a glorious thing to have,
as it was promised. The announcer has been here,
the messenger has been here, the ambassador has been here.
I just feel how caught up were
they in those words, and what a thing they had just seen on
the mount, and yet they were caught up in those words. My
goodness, the Old Testament has been fulfilled in our eyeballs. We have, some of these disciples
had been the disciples of John. And he said, oh, go right over
there. Go over there. There he is. There's the Messiah. There's
the Christ. There's the Savior. There's the
one that's going to take away sin. Follow him. He must, I must
decrease. He must increase. And you know
what those disciples did? They says, okay. They were thankful for the messenger
that had been brought to them to point the way to the real
messenger of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples
said, oh my goodness, I understand now that Malachi was teaching
about John. Malachi chapter four, last two
verses. Elijah must come. Elijah must come. Now, he came
in the spirit of Elijah, the message of Elijah, the power
of Elijah, the God of Elijah, all these things that Elijah
had, the authority of Elijah. And here he is, John, a Levite,
born in a miraculous way, announced to his mother and his father
in such a special way, born, lived out in the desert, and
when it came the right time, the word of God came to him.
And he began his ministry and announcing the Messiah is here. The Messiah is here. The promised
one is here. Matthew, would you back up with
me to Matthew chapter 11? Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter
11. It came to pass, verse one, that
when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples,
he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now
when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another? Have you ever been despondent? Depressed? I get that from John. Now the
Lord doesn't upbraid him, he comforts him. He says, I want
you to know, I want you to know. Jesus entered and said unto him,
go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. John's in prison and it's not
long before he's going to be executed. He's in prison for
criticizing one of the most heinous rulers that had ever been in
that area. There are five or six of them
at one time that's mentioned in the book of Luke chapter three,
right at the beginning. We may get there tonight. But
it's that time, exactly the right time. And now it says here, go
and tell him, the blind receive their sight. Now there were some
people that were physically blind, but the Lord Jesus is speaking
far greater of spiritual blindness. And now they see. The lame walk. By nature, we're
like Mephibosheth. We can't take a step towards
God, but he gives us legs. The lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached unto them. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the
wilderness to see? A reed shaken in the wind? Look
at verse 10 now. For this is he of whom is written,
behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare
thy way before thee. Jesus acknowledged that this
was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 40. John is
the fulfillment of that, and guess what he did? He preached
Christ. He was the forerunner. He came
before. just as had been promised throughout
the Old Testament Scriptures. This is he of whom it was written,
Behold, I send my messenger. In the book of Mark, Mark chapter
1, Mark chapter 1, there in verses 1, 2, and 3, the beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written
in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger. Before thy face,
which shall prepare the way before thee, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight. And then it starts, John did
indeed baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. He was a preacher, began with,
ruined by the fall. Redeemed by Christ regenerated
by the Holy Spirit I want to go back Or excuse me go ahead
just one book to the book of Luke and I want to read three
verses out of that first chapter three verses out of the first
chapter Luke chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 and This is the message that was
given. and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This is
the statement made about John before he's born, about what
he would do, and then in that same chapter, in verse 76, Luke
chapter one, verse 76, and it says, and thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest. My goodness, can there be any
other greater statement about a preacher? Prophet of the highest,
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His
way. Prophet of the highest, a preacher
of grace, a preacher of God Almighty, and His wonderful Son, the Lord
Jesus. Now, go one more book to the
book of John, if you would. John chapter 1. John chapter
1. John chapter one, verses six
and seven. Verse six, and there was a man
sent from God whose name was John, and the same came for a
witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him
might believe. Bear witness of the light. We
have John's ministry described in several different ways. He
is a prophet of the highest. He will witness of the light.
He has some knowledge about this one whom he was speaking about.
I read one commentary how sad it is for a preacher to never
be regenerated. They don't have anything. There's
nothing there except doctrine. Sadducees and the Pharisees,
same boat. Jesus, it said about him, he
spoke with authority and not as one of the scribes. He believed
what he was saying. I appreciate what I heard about
Ben Franklin, at least. I've yet to find it in print,
but someone told me he was going to go hear George Whitefield.
And someone says, do you believe what he preaches? He says, no,
but George Whitefield believes it. So anybody that was around
John the Baptist could walk away and say, he believes what he's
preaching. I may not believe it, but he believes what he's
preaching. He's preaching about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the promised one, the one that was promised in the Garden of
Eden. to deal with the problem of sin. And in verse 15 of this
first chapter of John, verse 15, it says, John bear witness
of him and cried saying, this is he of whom I speak. He that
cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before
me. From a genealogical standpoint,
from a historical standpoint, John was older than Jesus. But
from an eternal standpoint, he was before me. And of his fullness
have all we received. Grace for grace. Preacher of
grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. What a statement. He's
the last prophet. The law and the prophets were
until John, and when John preached about the law, he said, Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. Law made no one whole. The law
changed no one. The law only made Pharisees out
of people when they tried to practice it. It wasn't given
for that intent. And then in verse 23 of that
chapter it says, he said, I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet
Isaiah. Make straight the way of the
Lord. Every valley shall be exalted. Every mountain shall be brought
down. Everything shall be straightened out. God expects nothing from
us. There is no hindrance. He makes
no requirements on the people. The only thing we do is we take
the wrong path. It is Christ that puts us on
the path, and that is upon Himself. In Luke, once again, would you
turn with me to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. Luke chapter
3. Now in the 15th year of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar, Luke chapter 3, verse 1, Pontius Pilate being
governor of Judea and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his
brother Philip tetrarch of Athenaria, and the region of Trasonitis,
and Lysanias, the tetrarch of Abilene, and Ananias, and Caiaphas
being high priests, the word of the Lord. Now, it's interesting
that if we were able, some of these folks were able because
they lived there. If we were able to say, on the 29th day
of George Washington's first term, on the 16th day of Ben
Franklin's birthday, and on and on, we could pinpoint an exact
day when this started, when all of these people were in the right
place at the right time. Now, these guys are not good
guys, not one of them. They are real ruffians, particularly
to God's folks. These guys are villains. Every one of them. They have got to their position
by lying and cheating and killing. They've done away with some of
their own family to get to the place where they could be. But
the point is, here, right here, drive it down. At this very moment,
in God's eternal purpose, At this very moment, in God's
eternal purpose, the word of God, verse 2, came unto John,
the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And it is written
in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, the voice
of one cried in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his path straight. And then it goes on with the
rest of the prophecy. But at that very moment, The word of
the Lord came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in
the wilderness. What a statement is made here.
Now there's a number of other places in the scriptures that
he is mentioned. Ye yourselves bear me witness
that I said I am not Christ, but I am sent before him. He
had the opportunity of being a king. No, no, no, you got it
wrong. I am not the Christ. He's brought
out in the book of Acts two or three times as it's describing
the very ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to be
aware that God sent through his prophet Isaiah, through his prophet
Malachi, a promise that someone is coming and that person is
John. And he bore witness of the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christ that is on Christ himself. So how wonderful it was, how
wonderful it is. Those folks were not without
excuse. He gave them the time, he gave
them the place, and he gave them the messenger that would come
and announce it. And yet through all of that,
Only those who the Holy Spirit gave the understanding and belief
in the new birth, they were ever able to say, we have found the
Christ. They were without excuse. Nobody
will have an excuse in that day and say, well, there just wasn't
enough and I didn't understand enough. No, no, no. There'll
be without excuse. But those who have knowledge,
They have a knowledge about the Messiah that was revealed to
them. Just as we find throughout all the scriptures, the Messiah
is a revealed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.