Jesus Is The One

[0:00] Luke chapter 7, please. We're going to be reading in just a minute.

[0:12] ! We realize that so many things in life often don't make sense.

[0:36] And we struggle sometimes to try to get those things to not make sense. And sometimes those things that don't make sense in life are things from the Word of God.

[0:50] And we don't know how to put those things together. Sometimes we interpret our life thinking we've got it all figured out. And something else happens and we just say, God, I don't know how that fits.

[1:07] And it can be difficult. What do you do when life doesn't turn out the way you imagine? When all you've worked for and all you thought you were called to do is put on hold?

[1:25] Sometimes at that point in our life, we begin to question some of the bedrock things in our life. And we turn to God and say, I don't understand.

[1:39] Let's look at John. Not the book of John, but John. John the Baptist in the book of Luke chapter 7. As he goes through a moment where things just aren't what he thought they were going to be.

[1:56] Luke chapter 7. Start reading at verse 18. The disciples of John reported all these things to him.

[2:08] And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord saying, Are you the one who is to come? Or shall we look for another?

[2:18] And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, Are you the one who is to come?

[2:30] Or shall we look for another? In that hour, he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits. And on many who were blind, he bestowed sight.

[2:42] And he answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up.

[2:56] The poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.

[3:13] What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?

[3:26] Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king's courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

[3:40] This is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John.

[3:56] Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

[4:12] But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. To what then shall I compare the people of this generation?

[4:24] And what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another. We have played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not weep.

[4:38] For John the Baptist has come, eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, he has a demon. The Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

[4:59] Yet wisdom is justified by all her children. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. And I am so thankful, Father, that you have in your word situations that first of all, bear out who you are, what you're doing.

[5:19] And then secondly, bear out the kind of God that you are. And I thank you, Father, that in doing those two amazing things, you're also meeting the needs of your servants.

[5:34] We have sung and been called to worship concerning the idea of this great king who meets our needs. And Lord, as we come to this passage today, I pray that we would see our king.

[5:51] And Lord, we would be moved to trust him. And I pray that you would give us foundations to stand upon when there are things like John faced that did not make sense.

[6:05] I pray that you would be with us and help us to be people who learn from these things. And then, Father, also, as the distinction is made at the end of the passage, I pray that today repentance and faith would be the key to people justifying God and declaring him right.

[6:27] I pray that you would be with us and that your spirit would open your word to us in Jesus' name. Amen. As we look at this situation, we're confronted again with John, John the Baptist.

[6:46] We haven't seen him for several chapters. There's a reason for that. So, let's just take a moment. Maybe you haven't been with us. And let me just take a moment and remind you, who is John?

[7:01] John is a man who was miraculously born to old parents. You remember the situation? Zachariah and Elizabeth were old and barren past childbearing years.

[7:11] And the angel appeared to Zacharias as he was offering incense in the temple, said, your prayer has been heard and you're going to have a son. And he didn't trust God the way he should and so he was silent.

[7:27] And so, this man, eventually, his wife did have a child and that child's name was John.

[7:39] You remember, there was a whole kerfuffle that took place when they were naming him. But his name was John. And when John was was born and his name by his father had been declared that it would be John, God opened his dad's mouth, Zacharias' mouth, and his dad prophesied.

[7:59] He prophesied about the Savior and he prophesied about his son. And he prophesied in that time and he said that his son would announce the one who would come.

[8:15] And he would announce what this son of his would do. And his son would be one who would announce that there is coming one who would save us from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

[8:33] And that son was John and that son was sent and he was a prophet sent by the Lord to prepare the way for the Messiah.

[8:46] Well, as I mentioned, we haven't heard anything about John in a while. Now, you might remember what happened to him. He had been preaching in and around, not in the Jordan, but around the Jordan.

[8:57] He'd been baptizing people in the Jordan. And Luke 3.3 says, And he went around all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

[9:12] And as he was preaching, a situation came up. You remember we mentioned that Herod Antipas had his brother's wife had caught his eye and he made her divorce his brother and come be his wife and John, the bony fingered prophet, points his finger at Herod's face and said, You're not supposed to have her.

[9:37] And because of that, Herod said, You're going to prison. And John was put in his most, his strongest fortress on the other side of the Dead Sea.

[9:53] And he was in prison for many months because he had told Herod that he wasn't to have his brother's wife. While John was still preaching, John was preaching, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

[10:12] And John had been instructed by his father and by the others of the Old Testament prophecies and had come to know that he was to preach.

[10:22] The Lord had instructed him for various means that he was to preach about this coming Messiah. And that in itself was a fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy.

[10:34] We pointed that out Malachi 3 in verse 1 and actually through the rest of the chapter and into chapter 4. Malachi, let me just read chapter 3 verses 2 and 3.

[10:49] What I'm getting at here is Malachi's preaching. What is it that Malachi is preaching? Well, there's a taste of it here. But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears?

[11:02] Now this is Malachi prophesying of what a prophet would say someday. And so, who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears?

[11:16] For he is like a refiner's fire. Burns up everything that is impure. He's like fuller soap who washes clean everything that's filthy.

[11:27] Verse 3, He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.

[11:39] And they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. And of course, Malachi goes on through the rest of chapter 3. And as I mentioned through chapter 4 to speak of the fieriness of this preacher.

[11:54] But not only of the fieriness of this preacher but the fieriness if I can say that word right of the one who would come. He was preaching of a Messiah who would come with a bold and strong message.

[12:12] Luke 3 verses 15 through 17 says this, As the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, John the Baptist, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all saying, I baptize you with water.

[12:33] But he who is mightier than I is coming. The strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

[12:47] His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and will gather the wheat into his barn but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

[13:00] And John is preaching this not only from Malachi 4 in verse 1 but he's also including prophecy that comes from Isaiah chapter 30 in verse 24. 4.

[13:13] Elijah is preaching of one who is to come and the one who is to come is a bringer of judgment. So just so you're clear on this it's John the Baptist saying that the Messiah will be a bringer of judgment.

[13:30] He will be a person who winnows people. He throws them in the air and the wind blows the chaff away so that that which is evil and no good is blown away and that which is evil and no good will be gathered up and burnt and that which is good the Lord of the harvest will gather to himself.

[13:52] and that's what John was preaching of Jesus. He's going to be one who is going to deal with all the wickedness and all the evil.

[14:06] He is going to be one who speaks out judgment you can almost picture him pointing his finger and lightning and fire falling and wicked people being burned up and people who are against him being put down and in situations just being made right.

[14:24] As John read scripture he preached this way. Was he wrong? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

[14:37] Did John see this? Just think through what we've seen so far. have we seen Jesus casting people into utter darkness with the word of his mouth to this point?

[14:57] Have we seen him burning up chaff to this point? We haven't. And John is beginning to be confused because remember we read in the beginning of verse 18 that John's disciples had been coming to hear Jesus preach and watch what he does.

[15:19] And sure Jesus spoke the truth and rebuked people but he wasn't casting off evil rulers he wasn't burning people with fire he was telling them to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand just like John did.

[15:34] But as John's disciples brought reports back to John they're hearing of miracles. They're even hearing of miracles amongst the Gentiles.

[15:47] Wait a minute those aren't God's people. They're hearing of people being blessed. They're hearing of a Messiah who is gracious who is loving who is kind.

[16:02] Wait a minute that's not what I was preaching. He knew his message had been given him by God and he didn't see Jesus doing that.

[16:15] John saw Jesus being merciful. And we can go from Luke chapter 4 and verse 31 clear up to the beginning of this chapter even partway through this chapter and all we see is Jesus being merciful.

[16:33] We never once saw a fire come down. We never once saw really the thing that's kind of in the background the thing that's on every Jew's mind is Rome.

[16:46] Rome is oppressing God's people. Rome is a heathen nation. And Jesus hasn't done a thing about Rome.

[17:00] And so in John's mind as his disciples have been going back and forth to him to bring him this news John's going is this the one?

[17:13] Because what he's been preaching is hellfire and damnation. A message from God. But what Jesus has been doing is grace and mercy.

[17:29] Yes truth from God. And so John says this doesn't make sense. let me send a couple of men to go and ask Jesus.

[17:40] And so he does. He sends two men to Jesus and they repeat the very exact question that he asked them to ask. And so here these two men appear and ask Jesus this question.

[17:59] what do do you do when you know what you know and it doesn't make sense with what you see.

[18:16] I'm looking forward to Sunday school today. Pastor Tripp has told me what he's going to touch on and I think he mentioned it last week. the expectation of parents and I won't go any further than that.

[18:31] But what do you do when you know what you know and it doesn't make sense what you see. John knew what he knew. He knew he was preaching the word of God.

[18:45] And yet as he looked at Jesus he didn't understand what he saw. And so John sent to ask. And all of us have situations like this.

[19:00] We've had situations where we think certainly this is the direction God is calling me to go and it's within God's word and I'm not transgressing God's command.

[19:12] This is the desire of my heart and he gets cut off. Or even worse something that's opposite seems to stand in its way.

[19:25] The situations of our lives don't go as we planned. Maybe we think scripture promises one thing and it doesn't turn out that way.

[19:39] We don't see what God is doing. We don't see what God has already done. we don't understand why this generation is going the way it is.

[19:50] We don't see why they don't see the truth. We don't see why they mock God and what he is doing. And we know the promises of God and we just don't understand.

[20:06] It's easy to doubt God. Now I don't know as John doubted God. Some say that he did. Some say that he didn't. He just couldn't put the two things together.

[20:18] But in our lives it is easy for us to doubt God or be discouraged when our circumstances don't turn out the way we think scripture is pointing that they should turn out.

[20:35] And the first thing I want you to see about this situation is not only that this is a situation that we have that is common to us and common to John but I want you to see how Jesus treats someone coming to him with these thoughts.

[20:55] Jesus could have. Jesus is God. He could have said as John's disciples approached be gone men you should be believers. Go back and tell that teacher of yours that he should be trusting me and never doubting.

[21:11] God he doesn't do that. I'm so thankful that the Psalms is so full of people being able to not understand and speak to God and pour their hearts out.

[21:27] And God lets them do it. He doesn't cut them off. Where they need to be corrected he will correct them. But it's always gracious the person who doesn't understand who pours his heart out to God is doing what God would desire him to do.

[21:46] And brother and sister when we have situations in our lives that we do not understand it doesn't seem to fit. The right response is to go to Jesus and say I don't understand.

[21:58] and Jesus doesn't have these men come to him and say okay let me just define all the background doctrine and let me just reveal all the things that you could never have seen and I'll show you what I'm really doing in all this.

[22:18] He doesn't do that. But he lets John ask the question. Another thing I want to point out is remember where John is he's in the strongest prison in the area where he's imprisoned the other side of the Dead Sea.

[22:41] He was not able to bring his request to Jesus. So what did he do? He asked two of his disciples to do it.

[22:53] Now you and I don't have disciples. But there are times now I know I'm making a turn here. John didn't come because he couldn't.

[23:03] He was in prison. But there are times when situations overwhelm us and we have a hard time ourselves even crying out to God.

[23:18] And in those times we can have people come to the Lord on our behalf. So and so doesn't understand Lord. And maybe we don't either.

[23:32] But we come and we lay out what we understand to the best of our knowledge what that person is going through.

[23:43] We lay that out to the Lord and we have a God who's willing I don't think I'm demeaning this but willing to have second hand requests.

[23:59] Requests from someone other than the person who's actually going through this. We have a God who's willing to allow in fact joys to have people around the person who is suffering bring to him on that person's behalf the agony that what cannot be understood to the Lord seeking to be able to bring back to John to us as we pray for other people seeking to bring back those answers or maybe not answers but encouragement from the Lord.

[24:35] It's just an amazing situation. Jesus is willing to have these two men come and ask on behalf of John and he answers them.

[24:47] brothers and sisters I want you to be careful to be sensitive to the people around you and be willing to be people who will take your broken hearted brother or sister or your discouraged brother or sister or just fellow church mate be people who are willing to intercede be people who will go to God and say so and so doesn't understand John would have never known or never heard or never got what he got from the Lord Jesus if somebody hadn't interceded and that may be true of us here because God has put us here to be brothers and sisters to people to minister to one another to watch for one another to exhort one another to encourage one another to pray for one another so that we can help those who are going through circumstances where they have a difficult time being able to bring their agony before the

[25:53] Lord they come they ask and God gives truth to stand on that's what Jesus does for John next he doesn't explain all that he's doing he just gives him truth and so Jesus' answer he hears the question and Jesus is already busy but even so continues to be very busy in the answer and I imagine it seemed pretty odd to begin with these two men come and they ask and they say John wants to know are you the one or should we look for another and Jesus has been healing people and he's been doing this and doing that and I don't know if he looks up at them or doesn't I don't know if he says anything to them or doesn't but in the midst of that moment Jesus continues doing the very thing John needs keeps healing people keeps casting out demons he keeps showing mercy he keeps ministering to these people why so that these men can go back to John and say you wouldn't believe what our Savior is doing the power the authority the compassion the wonder of our Savior as he ministers to these people and they bring back a report but it's interesting because

[27:39] Jesus isn't just doing miracles that they can report on Jesus is doing specific miracles miracles that correspond with what he pronounced he would be doing as he started his ministry in Luke 4 18 and 19 remember he said the spirit of Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives demon possessed people and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and he does other miracles but fit within the same same messianic prophecies Jesus takes passages from the Old Testament that point to Jesus being the Messiah now already we've mentioned that what Jesus does as far as miracles fits within the framework of

[28:42] Luke 4 where he declares he is the one come to fulfill this he is the one he not only does that but he he ties that in with messianic prophecies of the Old Testament such as Isaiah 35 5 and 6 where he talks about what Messiah does then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy for waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert John already knew that Jesus did a lot of miracles but it was important because Jesus framed his miracles in such a way that they were in the exact order of the prophecy he quoted at the beginning of his ministry from Isaiah 61 it also included the very things that messianic prophecies throughout the Old

[29:45] Testament pointing to what the Messiah has done Jesus is giving John proof he's the Messiah now remember John's problem is this doesn't fit with what I preached!

[30:04] so at first he's not answering John's question Jesus did not address this with the messenger of John John preached was not outside the scope he just didn't realize when it would take place so Jesus did not address this with the messengers but the fulfillment of what John spoke will come later 2 Peter 3 9 the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness what is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance so there is a reason

[31:09] John's preaching is not being what John preached that Jesus would do is not being seen yet why because the Lord is patient and he wants people to be saved but Revelation chapter 20 comes along thankfully it is still in our future thankfully it is in our future but as we pray for our children we pray for loved ones who are lost it is in our future and so we know that the Lord is patient not wanting any to perish but that all should come to repentance but the day is coming Revelation 20 11 through 15 then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence earth and the sky fled away and no place was found for them and I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened then another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged!

[32:12] by what was written in the! according to what they had done and the sea gave up the dead who were in it death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire this was prophesied after John it was prophesied by another John but all that is coming all that is the work of the Messiah and all that should cause people to be very careful to listen to this merciful patient and gracious Messiah who will still judge what is now right now being patient now as I said

[33:15] Jesus didn't address that he didn't tell John wait what you preached! comes later but what he did do was say see what I am doing is also prophesied of the Messiah trust me trust me but he goes on and the last sentence of verse 23 he gives what's what's basically called a beatitude and Jesus is showing sympathy to John he is not rebuking him but he's exhorting John to take the right action and Jesus gives this beatitude blessed is the one who is not offended by me now what's going on there what do you mean by offended by me it's the idea it doesn't turn away because they don't understand blessed is the one who doesn't turn away because they don't understand now does

[34:25] John have reason to believe that Jesus is the Messiah Jesus has given John a lot of reason and it's all based on the word of God John don't be offended if you don't see what you preached right now there is scripture to point to the fact that I am the one and so let me encourage you folks here at GFC blessed is the one who does not understand everything and yet is not offended in me your suffering may not fit your idea of what Christians should endure blessed is everyone who is not offended by what Christ is doing your job does not leave you with a financial standing that you hoped it would or the authoritative position that you thought it would or any number pastor trip is going to get into some of those things in the

[35:37] Sunday school any number of things that you thought for sure would be exactly what God's will is don't be offended at Christ he is doing good things he is doing kingly things he is doing gracious things he is carrying out his will now in this passage we'll come back to some more application on that but in this passage Jesus goes on the disciples of John leaves and I find that it's very interesting that Jesus lets these two men leave before he goes on I just find this amazing I can't give you a good answer as to why he does but he lets these two men leave and then Jesus turns I think the men you know go go encourage John he needs it but but they leave and Jesus turns to the crowd John has asked the question are you the one Jesus turns to the crowd with a similar question it's a question that people had been asking of

[36:46] John we already read of it today a question that people had been asking of John was are you the Christ and John 1 19 to 23 says and this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who are you he confessed and did not deny but confessed I am not the Christ and they asked him what then are you Elijah and he said I am not are you the prophet and he answered no so they said to him who are you we need to give an answer to those who sent us somebody else sent them what do you say about yourself he said I am the voice of one crying in the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said and so Jesus is answering that question who is

[37:47] John because it was the buzzword through the whole nation who's John who's Jesus Jesus has just given testimony to John who he is now Jesus is going have testimony to the people assembled who John is and so he starts by asking a question he's getting people to recognize and admit because there were some people there were many who were willing to admit but there were some people who would not have wanted to admit who John was and so he's asking rhetorical questions so as to get them to basically admit who John was although it would not come out of their mouth in their mind they'd have to say it what did you go out to listen to him were you just going out for the scenery in the desert or were you going out to listen to a person who waffled to whatever you wanted somebody to say were you going out to listen to a rich man an important man someone in fine clothes no no you went out to listen to a prophet you knew he was a prophet

[39:04] John is a prophet but he's not just a prophet he is the greatest prophet he is the prophet that was prophesied about that's what makes him the greatest prophet that and his role he is the prophet who was prophesied about now they asked him if he was Elijah was he Elijah no he was John the Baptist but he came in the spirit of Elijah in other words the same kind of mannerisms he was dressed the same way he spoke boldly just like Elijah did he came he was like Elijah so you knew he was a prophet you could see!

[39:47] he was a prophet and he wasn't a wishy-washy person he was a person there to tell you a message and he was not only the greatest prophet he was the forerunner he was the one Jesus is saying John was the fulfillment of Malachi 3 and 4 that's what Jesus was telling them plainly he is the prophet that was prophesied about he is the one who was sent to prepare the way which in a sense Jesus is saying since John is the prophet who was sent to prepare the way I am the Messiah he would say I am the one who's come Jesus says greatest born of women greatest in his position and his work now I know you're probably saying what about Jesus how does Jesus fit in that Jesus is speaking about the old covenant and you can see this as we go on he's the greatest born of women up to this point with the exception of

[40:54] Christ and he was greatest in position and work he was to announce the Messiah is coming but Jesus goes on to mention something interesting he says whoever is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he whoever is least of those who trust in the work of the Savior after his death burial and resurrection is greater than John because they know more they have a much more privileged position the New Testament speaks about how all the Old Testament prophets were there to serve us they would receive prophecy they would speak prophecy but yet they were looking towards its fulfillment and we enter a great position because we have the other view the looking back view Jesus goes on to speak of the reaction of

[41:55] John and Jesus ministry but first of all Luke puts a note in here this is a narrator's note and that's verses 29 and 30 it's a note that shows what makes the difference what has made the difference as to whether people accept John as the prophet and Jesus as the Messiah as opposed to those who would not accept John as the prophet and Jesus as the Messiah and Luke goes on to mention the difference was made as he's mentioning in verses 29 and 30 the difference was made by means of who saw themselves to be a sinner and repented that's what John preached John preached how men were sinners and they needed to repent those that did that recognized that John was that prophet and that

[42:55] Jesus was the Messiah those who would not see themselves as sinners and would not repent were those who would not see John as that prophet nor Jesus as the Messiah and so Luke makes that distinction we'll make more of that in just a minute in our application Jesus finishes out by talking about the people of this generation now he's not talking about the whole group that's there he's talking about those who would reject John and reject Jesus he just to give you a kind of a summary look at it he calls them basically bratty children the kids you know the mean kids that gather in the marketplace and Jesus says they're like people who are in the marketplace the children in the marketplace who are mocking John for his asceticism and mocking Jesus for being willing to eat and drink basically saying you're not doing what we tell you to do we're not you're not jumping through our hoops so therefore you're illegitimate and

[44:05] Jesus says in the end or Jesus says in the end the proof is in the pudding or as he talks about wisdom is justified by her children he's telling these people you will see it's as if he's pointing to John's preaching and saying there's coming a day when the Messiah will be that judge and will be that winnower and will be that refiner who burns away the chaff of course then it will be too late all right a couple of things to note as we wrap this up it's an interesting parallel I think between John's situation and Job's situation remember remember the Old Testament Job neither Job nor John understand what was going on both of them looked at it and said this doesn't seem like it's the way it should be

[45:08] I didn't do anything wrong why am I suffering Lord I want to talk to you help me I don't understand why I'm here things don't make sense and both of them rightly went to the Lord and in both cases God pointed to who he is and what he's doing to reassure them that he is who he said he is and both were challenged not to be offended by the Lord but to continue to trust him and we saw some of Job's recompense for what he suffered that's nothing sure he got double sure he got all that that's nothing compared to him being with his savior for all eternity

[46:15] John his suffering ended he no longer knew of any suffering when his head was separated from his body by Herod at the behest of his wife but John knows now it was all worth it he'll know in a fuller way yet when Jesus does judge the nations and does make right what was wrong and the wisdom will be justified by their children and I just thought it was just a very interesting parallel between John and Job secondly I want to point out I want you to notice how Luke makes sure to point out the important difference between those who justified God and said yes God's ways are good and those who resisted

[47:19] God Luke was important to point that out and he wants us to note that the big difference was again that they saw their own sin and they repented at the preaching of God's servants it was their seeing their sin and their repentance that made all the difference it's what made all the difference in what they understood it made all the difference in their outcome and Christian I want to remind you that that's such an important principle for you and I God generally works in our lives when we have heard the word of God and we hear the truth and our response should be like those who heard John and said yes I am indeed a sinner I turn from that sin and I trust my Savior that's what we as Christians are to be doing all of our days we get up in the morning and maybe before we even hit the bathroom we stub our toe on the bedpost have to repent have to confess it stand on the blood of

[48:33] Christ even there where we've said or thought things that shouldn't be said or thought Christians we we are people where repentance and trusting the Savior makes all the difference it's it's it's going to be the thing that's supposed to be happening all the time we are not told how John reacted to the words of Jesus but our impression is that since John trusted the Lord and now had been encouraged from God's word that John did exactly that and I don't know is that he sinned some say he doubted some say he didn't but if he did he repented and trusted the Lord if he hadn't doubted he trusted the Lord and so that should be what is important for us as Christians remember to do every day we need to be seeing the word of

[49:35] God and what it says to us we need to recognize where we stand in relation to that word and where we sin we need to repent and we need to trust Christ and that's exactly what Job did in his situation because he had sinned in some of the ways he had spoken!

[49:54] to God friend I just want to repent at the preaching of John the Baptist now they had more opportunity maybe they repented at the preaching of Jesus maybe they repented at the preaching of Peter maybe they repented 40 years later at the preaching of someone else praise God if they did and that made all the difference but if you hear the truth of God and you fail to acknowledge what it says about you and your unwilling to say I was wrong I need to turn from my sin and trust the Savior you're going to have the end that these who if they did never turn what they would face and that is a Messiah who indeed will separate the chaff from the wheat and will burn the chaff in the eternal lake of fire that will never end and he will gather his people to himself so let that be the difference in your life if you've never come to trust

[51:11] Christ as Savior if you don't know how you stand before God that's the response you want to take you want to let the word of God show you that you're a sinner you want to recognize that I need to turn from that sin and I am!

[51:27] helpless without Christ and then you need to turn to Christ and so if you're here I don't care if you're seven or hundred same thing is true we need to be people who recognize that we're sinners and our only hope is Christ and we can rest in that as our only hope and so I urge you today to be one who is quick to repent and believe the word of God let's pray thank you father for your kindness to us I thank you that now we have although we've seen judgments now we have seen 2025 years thereabouts of you being gracious because you're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and I thank you that you will be patient until the last person who is to be your child will indeed trust you

[52:30] Lord we praise you for your patience I pray that you would be with any here who have been putting off who have been resisting who have been refusing to repent who have been refusing to acknowledge who Jesus is and what is required of them I pray that you would continue to be patient and open their eyes and draw them to yourself be with us as Christians that we be people who are quick to bow the knee quick to repent and quick to trust Christ I pray that you would be with!

[52:59] us in Jesus