John The Baptist - The Messenger — Luke 1

0:00 Father God, we do thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we desire that his name would be honored. I desire his name would be honored in this message, Lord, and we just pray that you guide. We pray for a blessing for each of us as we Recording in progress. And the wisdom of it. We ask you stand Jesus' name.

0:24 Amen. Okay. So my my message here is John the Baptist, the man with the message. The man with the message. So so the best assessment, I think, of the man, John the Baptist, is the Lord Jesus' own words.

0:44 And just listen to this. Among those that are born of woman, there is not risen one greater than John the Baptist. That's Matthew eleven eleven. What what if statement, what a wonderful assessment of a man, a man, John the Baptist. Among those that are born of woman, there's not risen one greater than John the Baptist.

1:08 I'd like to have an assessment like that. And then the next thing, was a man with a mission. So what was the mission of this great man? Well, I like to think of it as a twofold mission. The first one is to prepare the people for the coming of Messiah.

1:27 And it was a very specific message, even prophesied in the Old Testament. He was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. And the second part of it was that he was to point out the Messiah to them when he actually arrived. And so with that introduction, I would like to speak on John the Baptist. Okay, I had spent quite a bit of time pondering the birth of John the Baptist, which is in Luke chapter one.

2:01 I'm not sure that I'm going to go there. I found out that I had vastly over prepared and so I finally said, well, can't really spend any time, spend very much time on this miraculous birth of John the Baptist except just maybe a little sketch of it and then we'll go ahead and talk about his ministry which is what I really want to to spend the message on. So John the Baptist was the son of a priest. His name was Zacharias. And Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were were quite old, but they were childless, which which particularly in that culture was was not good.

2:48 So they they prayed to the Lord, what a novel thing. They prayed to the Lord that he would give them a child, he had this remarkable experience. So he's a priest, and he's serving in the temple and he goes behind the veil and he's offering the incense there on the altar of incense. And he looks up and there's an angel on the right side. Right side, guess that'd be right for you.

3:16 There's an angel on the right side of of the altar of incense, and and and he's scared half to death, you know? Angel's standing there, and and and then the angel makes this pronouncement to him of... That he's going... That the lord has heard his prayer, and the lord is going to give him a child, a son. And and he even specifically mentions that he's to name that that that son, John.

3:51 And forget what John, John means God is gracious. So then he gives a prophecy about John, he gives a prophecy telling the... Some of his characteristics and what's gonna happen with him. And then then then Zacharias responds, and and he he responds in kind of a doubtful way like... Well, I'll just I'll just read.

4:22 I think I'll just read that verse of how he responded. And so Zacharias said, how shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife well advanced in years. Now perhaps, I mean, he probably thought, well, I'm so old, this isn't very likely. How am I gonna know this is really gonna happen?

4:42 I think he was actually asking for a sign. At any rate, he wasn't just believing what he was told. And so he was rebuked for it, but he was given a sign, and I pondered this, and his sign was that he would be mute and not able to talk until the baby arrived. Now now you imagine this, you you just have been given a wonderful blessing from God. You you didn't think you could have a child.

5:15 Matter of fact, you were really doubtful about this matter. And and and yet God said you're gonna have it. And and so your rebuke for not believing was that you couldn't talk about it. You are mute. You you couldn't say anything.

5:30 And so here here is here is John. Here is here is Zacharias. He's he's the priest, you know, and he he would probably... Was used to ministering to people, you know, and talking to him, maybe even counseling him. He was the priest.

5:46 And and and here he was rebuked of God so he couldn't say a thing, and yet so totally blessed by God that... And so he goes through these... Goes home and they conceive, and and they... They're just... They they rejoice over it, but he can't say it.

6:09 And now I I I have a little bit of imagination going on in this, but I think John... I think Zacharias was about to burst by the time nine months was up. And so so so it it gets up, the baby arrives. Oh, this beautiful little child, and and there's a little conflict over what to name it. And and and he asked for a piece of paper and he writes down, his name is John.

6:35 And as soon as he wrote that, that... At that moment, suddenly, God just opened his mouth and he begins to praise. And I wanna just read a remark that's made here. It says, Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue loosed, and he spoke praising God, and fear came upon all those who dwelt around them. And all these things were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.

7:04 And all those that heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, what kind of child will this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. And then we're told that Zach Zach Zacharias gave wonderful prophecy, and I'm not gonna go into that prophecy for the sake of time, but but it was a blessing of God. He didn't believe, but God was faithful. He'd said it was gonna happen, and it happened.

7:34 And perhaps perhaps we... A lesson we can take from Zacharias is is number one, we should believe, but let's face it, he was a real man of faith, but he failed in faith. And so perhaps perhaps we have been... Had real victories in faith in our life, but there comes this point where we sort of have a dud. We started failing our faith.

8:00 Is that the end? No. Gotta be faithful one way or the other. Gotta be faithful. If we've trusted in him, we're gonna we're gonna make it there.

8:08 But but we may have to we may have to have some consequences for our lack of faith. But he's still the faithful god. He's he's he's faithful even if we aren't. And and so so he's a good example how god blessed in spite of his failure and and and Zacharias can can serve that way in in encouraging us. I think it is encouraging to me to realize that that just because I had some doubts when I shouldn't have, that if I if I turn back in my heart will really trust the lord, he's faithful.

9:06 When did John start eating, the, Locuston Wild honey? Well, I'm gonna give you an opinion. I don't know that you'll find exactly the scripture, but but, the last verse of Luke one says this, so the child grew and became strong in spirit and he was in the desert till the day of his manifestation to Israel. Interesting verse because it it kind of implied that that that that they they weren't socialized. They were they were...

9:43 That that they kept this child kind of separate from the influences of the world back there in the desert, away from everything. And and while he was there, was developing character under the hand of God, and and I suppose part of that character was his very austerity of life, was he he he didn't care about the things of this world. I mean, I kinda like to have nice clothes. Look how wonderful I am. I've been criticized for my dress, my hair closer.

10:19 But but but but he he... Those things weren't important to him. So, Tim, I'm gonna I'm gonna make my don take guess that that was that was what he ate. He was eating that long before he actually appeared. No.

10:40 No. I don't have scriptural basis for that other than what I just said. Okay. So, let's go back seriously to to John the Baptist. So, there's gonna come this point where where he is going to take up a a public a public testimony.

10:59 He's going to he's going to do the thing that god gave him to do. We've already spoken about it, that he's going to be the one that prepares the people for when Messiah will come, and he's the guy that's going to point out the Messiah. This is the one. Point out the Messiah when the Messiah shows up. Okay.

11:23 So so we're gonna we're gonna start off with John's introduction. And so we're gonna turn to the gospel of John chapter one, and and we find John the Baptist introduced in the sixth verse. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. Quite a mission, wouldn't you say, and quite a message.

11:53 He came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of the light that was the true light that gives light to every man coming into the world. So so his introduction says that that he's gonna be a witness and he's going to be the one that causes the people to believe in this messiah. He's gonna direct them to him. I think the idea would be that he's that he's not the one, he's the one that's directing the people to the one, so he's gonna be pointing away from himself.

12:34 He's gonna be pointing to the light. Okay, so we might ask this question too about John, just what were his credentials? Why believe in John? I mean, maybe I'm taking a position of somebody back in his day. Who's this guy?

12:54 John, why is everybody going to him? And and so his his credentials were were valid credentials. They were the they were the credentials of the old testament prophetic scriptures that said there would come a messenger that would go before the face of Messiah. He would prepare the people and then he would point out the Messiah. Well, that's the very mission that John had, wasn't it?

13:20 And so what we're gonna do is we're going to go through three different prophetic passages. We're just gonna go through them briefly. So the first one, the first one is, it's found in Malachi three:one, but I'm going to actually look it up in Matthew where it's actually quoted. So turn with me to Matthew eleven ten and if someone needs a list of these prophecies later on there, I'm quite willing to give them to, but we're gonna keep pushing ahead. Matthew 11 verse 10.

13:54 Okay, so I'm going to start reading in verse eight, but what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? No, this is the Lord Jesus speaking and he's speaking about John. So he said, what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments?

14:11 Indeed, those who wear soft garments are in king's houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you.

14:32 Now, again, this comes from Malachi chapter three and verse one. It's quoted from there. But I'd like to point out the fact that in this one, John is called a messenger. A messenger is carrying a message from one person to somebody else. And so he's carrying a message from God that says, get ready, get ready, he's coming, be prepared.

14:56 And the other part of them, and part of that being prepared is repentance. So John was continually speaking of repentance, repent, be ready when he comes. And the other one would have been to be the witness that actually says, here he is, this is the one. Okay, so that's the first of the three prophecies that John fulfilled. The second one is found in Isaiah 40 verses three through five, but we're going to look at it in Matthew three verse three.

16:10 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And so in this messianic prophecy, he's the voice of one crying in the wilderness. So, in one sense, to say he's a voice almost like moves him out of the way and there's just a message that's coming. He's a messenger, and and he's not the important one. It's the message that he's giving that's important.

16:49 Well, he's important in our... In in my message this morning, but but in the overall picture, it was the message he had. It's a message he had that was important. And and so he he's spoken of as just a voice in the wilderness. The wilderness?

17:07 Well, it's looking upon the world as a sort of a spiritual wilderness in which John was sent people that were away from God, and John sent with a message of repentance. Repent of your sins. Turn to God. The kingdom of God is at hand. So so it's the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the lord, make his paths straight.

17:34 Get ready. He's coming. Okay. That was the second of the three prophecies. The third one is Malachi four, five, and six and this is the message about Elijah.

17:47 Now, there's several places in there's several places in the in in the gospels that mention people will mention Elijah so Jesus, I think ask, who would people say I am? Elijah or one of the prophets. So so that would be referring to the same to the same prophecy. But we're gonna look and see this prophecy from the mouth of the angel in Luke chapter one. So I'm going back to Luke one and this...

18:22 That an angelic messenger that came down to Zacharias. And I'm just gonna go to Luke one verse 17 and he's talking about the the the angel is talking about this child, John and and he says this, he will go before him. He, John the Baptist, will go before him, the Messiah, in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn in the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make a people prepared for the lord. So, so this is the the New Testament assurance that those that that prophecy in Malachi four was actually referring to John the Baptist who would who would come before that great and terrible day of the lord. Some have thought that there probably will be a double fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy, one now and one before he comes the second time.

19:33 I'm not sure. I'm not sure about that, but but it would explain certain verses that we see. Okay. So, so that was the third prophecy and and all of these prophecies are mentioned multiple places in in the in the gospels or or in the different gospels. One of us mentioned in all four gospels.

19:58 Okay. So, when does John's ministry actually begin and and it's interesting and and Tim, this will help you in your question with with with John the Baptist. Thank you for stirring my imagination by what you have. So in this verse I'm about to read and we're going to turn we're going to turn to Luke three, if you wanna be turning there. This portion, tells us when John the Baptist came, and I think plus or minus a year, it's got it there, you know, and I'll show you how to tell.

20:36 Okay, and it tells us where he went to when he came and what his message was when he went there. Okay, so we're gonna start, we're gonna read the first three verses. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being the tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip, Tetrarch in Ituria in the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias, Tetrarch of Abilene, while Anas and Caiaphas were high priests. They've oftentimes say that Luke was a great historian, he was the one that pulled all natural references so that we could fit this account into this historical record, this available to us. And he went, and this is a third verse, and he went into all the region round about Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

21:43 Well, the first thing that we got here is a date. So it says it's in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Okay, so if you go and look up Tiberius Caesar, any of us can Google it, and it'll tell us that, I don't remember the month that it was in, but it was in the fourteenth year of Tiberius Caesar that... Or the four... Excuse me, I'm not saying that right.

22:16 It was in fourteen AD that Tiberius Caesar became... Or or Tiberius became Caesar. He was a great general and he was made into Caesar at at in in AD fourteen. Alright. So now it's it's in the fifteenth year of his reign, so we're gonna go forth forward fifteen years, right?

22:42 Not necessarily actually, because if you say it's in the fifteenth year, what you're really saying it was greater than the fourteenth. So it could be fourteen and one month, it could be fourteen and six months, or fourteen and eleven months. So you have a little range there, so you would have to say maybe plus or minus a year when you come to your actual determining of it. So we've got a date here and we know pretty close, probably around twenty eight AD, Probably about twenty eight AD. And that would fit with the date that's often times given of thirty three AD for the crucifixion of Christ.

23:26 Okay, so we're given a date. I know that's small change, but I think it's interesting that God has defined it even that closely. So in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, he comes and where where does he go to? Well, he he goes to the region around Jordan, okay? So so that makes a lot of sense actually because what was his ministry?

23:52 It was a ministry of baptism. He he would... He was... It was a baptism of repentance and and so and and so he goes to the Jordan because there's plenty of water there in in one place in the gospel of John in one place, it says something like this. It says, now John was in Aenon, and we find if we look it up that Aenon was on the Jordan River.

24:17 John was at Aenon because there was much water there and say, oh, okay. So, John has this ministry of baptism and so need a good place to do it and Jordan was the place. So, that's where John was was was serving And what was his message? Well, he was preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. So it's a baptism of repentance.

24:43 So his message that he gave, I think, our Matthew three verse said that he was preaching, Repent for the kingdom heaven is at hand. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so the baptism of repentance means that when they were baptizing, it was to be an expression of the repentance that they felt. It was like an outward expression of repentance to them. And so he says, yeah, it's a baptism repentance for the remission of sins.

25:29 Was it the baptism that brought the remission of sins? No, it was the repentance that brought... And I was just pondering this, if we were to go through the New Testament scriptures, we'd find that there was preponderance of verses that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. We're saved by faith, through believing, and there's many verses that speak about that. So I'm thinking that if you say it's repentance for the remission of sins, that you never have true repentance without faith.

26:14 You never have true repentance without faith and so and and so, in in John's teaching, he taught repentance but they wouldn't ever really do it unless they believed, right? Okay. So, so so, John begins to preach and and I'm I'm estimating and it's based a little bit on that date, Tim. I'm estimating that that John probably was that John probably was doing this ministry maybe as much as a year before Jesus actually showed up on the scene to be baptized. Okay, so during this time, multitudes of people started listening.

27:08 I mean, the spirit of God was working and and and these people came in multitudes and they were baptized by John. Seventh verse, then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him. Notice the bluntness of John's preaching. Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear bear fruits worthy of repentance.

27:35 Don't say to yourself, we have Abraham our father. Don't... In other words, don't say I've got a Jewish inheritance... Heritage. I'm fine.

27:44 It's all okay. Don't say that, he said. You need to repent. You need to turn. And I just point out to you, it's rather fascinating to me the bluntness and the of the audacity of John's preaching, but it was of God, and God used it and multitudes came and were baptized and repenting.

28:35 I like the way Matthew describes it. Matthew 23 and we're going to start with verse 13. Then, Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him and John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you and are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now for thus it is fitting for us to be to fulfill all righteousness. Then, he allowed him and when he, Jesus, had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and alighting upon him and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

29:31 Now, I'm going to point out two things and then I'm not gonna talk about this for a little bit because we're gonna get to John one shortly and John rehearses the whole thing and gives his take on it. Okay. So so the two things I wanna point out is, number one, the spirit of God came down in a visible shape like a dove and alighted on John and and in one place it said, it stayed with him. I I forget the exact words. I've often wondered, was it just stay sitting on him, or did it sink right down in him?

30:17 That's what I think, because the Holy Spirit does come within us, right? So but anyway, remember the dove, and then the second thing is remember the voice. Suddenly a voice came from heaven proclaiming, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That was God's witness concerning his own son there. Okay.

30:44 Now, just historically, just chronologically, so if you look at the beginning of chapter four, you see that the Lord Jesus leaves John and he goes out, the spirit of God leads him out in the wilderness and he goes through the forty days temptation and then we know he had fasted for forty days, so we'll say we'll give him two or three weeks maybe to kind of recover from fasting forty days and then we're gonna find him back with John. We'll say maybe a couple months after after he had been baptized. Okay. And this this is described to us in the the first chapter of the gospel of John. So if you go with me back to John one, and we'll and we'll follow John through this.

31:40 Okay, so, we're gonna go to the twenty ninth verse. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me. I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water. And John bore witness saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on him.

32:24 I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. I love these verses. Matter of fact, if I were gonna say this, this would be our our high our highlight of of of my message is that John's pointing out Jesus as the Messiah. And so it starts off with John saying about Jesus, behold.

33:04 So if he says behold, he's saying, look. Had the other people listening. He's saying them, look, look, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of world. So Jesus is walking by there. And so, I suppose, what do we put on a title like the lamb of God?

33:31 Well, it's... It implies the sacrificial nature of the Lord's of the Lord's life here, or perhaps even his death here in the world. He's the lamb of God. He's the one that God... It's a reference back to the old Jewish sacrificial system where they would take the little animal in and the person who brought his sacrifice would lay his hand on the animal's head, then they take the lamb and they would kill the lamb and the lamb would die, and and the lamb bore the sins of the person and and and that was the way the sacrificial system worked.

34:20 Well, the the lord Jesus be is introduced to us as our lamb. He's the lamb of god. He's the one that that God has provided for us so that our sins can be taken away. He's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What a wonderful thing the way that John introduced him here as sacrificial lamb.

34:45 Then he says, after me comes a man who is preferred before me. This is he of whom I said afterwards, after me comes a man who is preferred before me, he was before me. That's a reference by the way to verse 27, you can glance up in your Bible and see it, he's saying, he's the one I was talking about when I said that. And then he says in the thirty first verse, I did not know him, which I thought that was an interesting statement, I didn't know him. He's a relative of his actually, relative of Mary and Elizabeth were relatives, probably cousins, something like that.

35:26 And so what does he mean he doesn't know him? Well, I'm not sure it means that he didn't know him at all, I've never seen him. I'm not sure that it means that. What it may mean is that he didn't know that he was the Messiah. He didn't know who the Messiah really was and that would be the least it could be, it might be that he really had never met him before because John's off in the desert and Jesus is up there in Nazareth.

36:01 So it doesn't make a whole lot of difference except this, the time had come to recognize that John didn't know who it was that was gonna be the Messiah. I thought that was fascinating because I think without this I would not have known, I would have thought, oh yeah, He he knew it, but he didn't. I did not know. But but he that revealed... I did not know, but that he should be revealed to Israel.

36:34 Therefore, I came baptizing with water. That that the Messiah would be revealed to Israel, that's why... That's what it was all about. So so so quite obviously, the Lord had made clear to John ahead of time exactly what his mission was, that he was the one that would introduce the Messiah. He was the one that would do that.

36:54 Okay, then the thirty second verse, thirty second and thirty third are really great because they make a big point of that baptism that John saw. John says, I didn't know him, but he who sent me to baptize said to me, now this is some revelation that John had from God. He that sent me to baptize said to me, upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the holy spirit. So, in in your imagination now, take yourself back to that baptism and John takes Jesus, John takes Jesus down into the water and then he he comes back up and and it says, heavens was open. Something that I suppose would have made John glance up.

37:48 Some something and and and what did John think when the dove comes fluttering down and lands upon Jesus and he says, remaining on him. Again, what did that actually mean? I I think that it it went just something down into him. It remained on him because it was the holy spirit, but but it doesn't... Scripture doesn't make it exactly clear what what what happened there.

38:18 But but I will say this, that when John saw it, I'm... I bet his heart was thumping because because that's what God said. That's what God told me. That It must be him. This must be the one.

38:36 This is him. And he saw the spirit of God come right down on him. And I just think it's a precious moment to think about. And because John was a person just like you and me in a sense, that is he had the same feelings, same experiences, and there comes this moment when he says, there it is, there it is. The thing I've been wanting to see, I see it now.

39:01 He's the one, and so then John... Then John says in thirty fourth verse, and I have seen and testified that this is the son of God. I've seen and testified that this is the son of God. I suppose that this is simply this is simply John recalling that when that when the holy spirit came down on him, that there was a voice from heaven. And what did it say?

39:38 This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Oh, he said, I have seen and testify that this is the son of God. I think it's great. I think he's... The witness of John concerning who the Lord Jesus was, he was the great Messiah.

40:53 But Jesus has his disciples down there and they're baptizing and everybody's going over that way. Someone comes to John and say, hey, multitudes are coming to him, implying that they're all leaving you, and they're going to him. I suppose this person was trying to build up jealousy in in John. John's answer is beautiful, and and and I'm just gonna get the summary verse of it since I'm out of time. John said, concerning Jesus, he said, he must increase and I must decrease.

41:26 So we see the ministry of John of waning off, sort of tailing off, and then it comes to an abrupt stop because Herod gets mad and he puts him in prison. And and now I'm out of time to read this, but this the the the account of it was given by Jesus himself in Matthew chapter 14, the first few verses, and and so I wanna stop there. But what I want to mention is that while John was in prison, we're told and I'm gonna instead of going to Matthew 14, I'm going to go to a verse in Matthew 11 and you may want to turn to that and this will kind of be my last point to make here. Matthew 11, I'm going to read I'm going to read verses two through six. And when John had heard in prison, so John's in prison, I'm gonna guess this was John was in prison for probably about a year and a half, pushing that anyway, and sometime probably halfway through that year and a half, John sends to Jesus and and he he he says to him, are you the coming one or do we look for another?

43:00 It almost seems as though John's faith is is faltering, and I think perhaps it was. I don't think he failed completely in faith, but I think that it was faltering. And Jesus answered and said, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see, the blind see, the lame walk, the leopard are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And then Jesus said, And tell them, blessed is he who's not offended because of me. So hang in there, John.

43:40 Hang in there. Things are still still going on. Hang in there. And and perhaps perhaps... Remember I told you about the crowds going to Jesus instead of John, and how John said, he must increase, and I must decrease.

44:01 Well, this is part of that decrease. John's in prison now, and and in in a sense, it was the will of god, at least it was the purpose of will of god that John was in prison. And and though John probably didn't know it at this time, John was destined to be a martyr for Christ. And and not necessarily graciously going there, but still, I believe he remained faithful. And I would say there's probably many a martyr that would just soon not be.

44:43 A few a few maybe chose to be, but but I would say this, that John had learned a lesson there. He must increase and I must decrease, and now he's learning... Still learning the same lesson. And and and so Jesus says, John, I'm still increasing. Everything's going on out there.

45:06 The work of God's still going out here. John, just just bear in there. And so and so John John is how will you say it? So John John is having to endure something that he really didn't want to have to do or endure. You know, I I was pondering myself, so so so so there's so many questions in life that come up, and we don't know the answers to those questions.

45:42 They're hard. Why? Why? And and so that's that's kind of where John was. Why why lord?

46:10 So I'm here, enjoyed an unusually healthy life. Now I get to the point where I'm kind of struggling a little bit, and things aren't going... I'm getting older, my mind doesn't work quite as clear as I wished it would work. And I struggle a little bit, which on which one of us don't and which which one of us, even if we don't, we won't. I mean, we will.

46:35 That it that that that there's there life is this progress that where you where you're taking, you you get into healthy fruitful life, then you get to this end, there's an ending to it. It's like John's tapering off, know. And and and you say, Lord, does this have to be quite like this? And there's something in your heart that struggles a little bit with where you are in life. And yet, think about John now as John approaches the end.

47:11 John is being... He's being requested to remain faithful where he is in in his circumstance. His request is to remain faithful there and and and and don't let circumstances shake your faith. Just remain faithful. So John's down in prison.

48:01 And the the... We call the disaster of life or whatever. Was it a disaster? Anything but. Anything but.

48:10 John goes down to the execution, and heads chop right off, and just... That's it. That's it. That's the end. Was it the end?

48:22 I I I I I... In in my soul, try to I try to think of of that. I've tried some days, said, what would it be like when we get to heaven? What will it be like? Do you ever try to go through the, was the, obviously, the imagination station?

48:41 Do you ever try to think of what it would be like? I think, so I'm going to think for John a minute. So John, it happens, John's gone, but his spirit, we know, goes directly up to heaven to be absent from the bodies, be present with the lord. So, John steps into heaven and and and a guy comes and taps him on the shoulder. Come with us.

49:09 You know? So John is led to the very front, and he's right in front of God. And this is Don's imagination, Don's. So God puts out his hand on his shoulder and says, good job, son. And John the Baptist.

49:24 Okay. So so that's that's Don's imagination. But still, I think I think that we need to get the broader picture. Don't happen with... Even when we step through that door from from from Earth into heaven.

49:41 Even when we step through that door, it's just the beginning, folks. Just the beginning of of of a life that's going to be so wonderful. Praise the lord. Please remain faithful. Remain faithful in our circumstances.

49:55 Let's just try to honor the lord. Let's pray. Father god, we thank you for the lessons from John the Baptist. We thank you lord that that John wasn't perfect because we wouldn't see him as an example if he were but lord, we we think of John as being a man just like us. Struggling with the same struggles that we struggle with but remaining faithful to you.

50:19 Thank you, father, for this example. Thank you for your word that reveals so much to us and thank you for the promise of everlasting life with yourself. We praise your holy name. Amen.