Dale Partridge - September 27, 2026


John 1_19-28 - The Testimony of John the Baptist

Hosted by
Dale Partridge
Mentioned
Pharisees Elisha St. Luke Joshua Jesus Christ Essene Ruth Boaz Ahab Behold Malachi The John-Jesus Pastor Corbin Judea Elijah Zechariah Elizabeth Zacharias Baptists Gamaliel Halitza Absalom and 13 more
Is “Racism” a Biblical Sin？ No. John 1_35-51 - The Simple Evangelism of the New Testament

Episode Stats


Length

38 minutes

Words per minute

129.73

Word count

5,001

Sentence count

318

Harmful content

Toxicity

15

sentences flagged

Hate speech

87

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God our Father, from the Holy Spirit, and from
00:00:11 the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:00:13 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became for me a joy and the delight
00:00:18 of my heart.
00:00:19 And so, putting away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, receive now with meekness the
00:00:24 implanted word which is able to save your souls.
00:00:27 there's a fundamental question in the passage that pastor corbin just read for us
00:00:34 that we must answer it's a question of identity identity this is a question that has plagued the
00:00:43 post-modern world it's a question that might keep us up at night it's the question that your
00:00:51 computer is trying to answer when it asks you to check off little boxes with crosswalks or fire
00:00:56 hydrants. It is the question, who are you? Who are you? Who do people say that you are? Who do you
00:01:08 say that you are? The answer to this question is the testimony, the martyrdom, as Pastor Corbin
00:01:19 taught us last week, of John the Baptist. John the Baptist told Saint John, the author of the
00:01:28 gospel, who the disciple Jesus loved. He bore witness, and now John tells us.
00:01:38 And so, the Jews, in other words, as we're later told in verse 24, the Pharisees
00:01:44 had sent the priests and the Levites.
00:01:47 So we have here represented the entirety of the religious hierarchy of Israel
00:01:51 to ask this question, who are you?
00:01:57 Now usually I don't like to quote at length,
00:01:59 especially in the beginning of the sermon,
00:02:00 but I want to quote for you the Cambridge commentary on this
00:02:06 just to show you that even a relatively very liberal commentary gets this right.
00:02:14 It says,
00:02:44 almost always with this shade of meaning.
00:02:47 There you go.
00:02:49 Even Cambridge can see it.
00:02:51 And so John introduces us in the very beginning of his gospel
00:02:55 to the great haters of Christ
00:02:57 and in their rejection of him,
00:02:59 the great enemies and opposers of all mankind. 0.93
00:03:04 The Jews should have been holding down the fort as faithful stewards 0.99
00:03:08 until the coming of their master. 1.00
00:03:11 They should have been being a priest to the Gentiles. 0.90
00:03:14 But instead, at the first hint of a whiff of the true heir to the throne showing up, 0.94
00:03:19 they are on the attack, right out of the gate.
00:03:22 John calls them the sent ones. 0.90
00:03:24 They're sent by the Pharisees, though. 0.84
00:03:25 They're not sent by Christ. 1.00
00:03:27 They're counterfeit apostles sent by the Jews. 0.99
00:03:31 They're sent by the religious elite, 0.90
00:03:34 who don't want to go out to the wilderness where John is. 0.96
00:03:37 They stay hiding in Jerusalem. 1.00
00:03:39 And so, straight away, in our gospel, we have John's critique of the cowardly, snake-like Jews. 1.00
00:03:47 John is out in the wilderness, across the Jordan. 1.00
00:03:53 Bethany across the Jordan, notice verse 28. 0.86
00:03:56 Across from the promised land, a land which has become dark and re-inhabited by the demon giants of Canaan. 0.76
00:04:04 A land that actually needs to be reconquered now. 1.00
00:04:09 and these Jews, they come out of the city that is now basically a wilderness 0.99
00:04:16 to the relatively cleaner wilderness to ask, who are you, John? 0.87
00:04:23 It's the same question they're later going to ask Christ.
00:04:26 Who are you?
00:04:29 And so I might ask you, who are you?
00:04:35 Who do people think you are?
00:04:37 nice guy, solid dude
00:04:40 that's how we always
00:04:43 someone wants you to trust their friend
00:04:46 he's a solid dude
00:04:48 who are you?
00:04:51 are you a stay at home mom?
00:04:54 are you an electrician?
00:04:57 are you an influencer?
00:04:59 do you primarily define yourself
00:05:01 by your vocation or your hobbies?
00:05:04 is that how other people think of you?
00:05:06 What is your identity?
00:05:08 Can people tell?
00:05:11 At work, men, do people know that you are a serious Christian?
00:05:15 Or are you just kind of the socially awkward guy who doesn't really laugh at the crude jokes
00:05:20 and who doesn't really go in for all the partying?
00:05:25 John confesses in verse 20.
00:05:29 Sin? No, he doesn't confess sin.
00:05:31 He simply confesses the truth.
00:05:33 Confession is at its heart telling the truth
00:05:37 This is why we might say that as we recite the Apostles' Creed in our liturgy
00:05:41 That is confession, we're telling the truth
00:05:43 And John emphasizes the confession of the Baptists 0.95
00:05:48 He confessed, he didn't deny, he confessed, he says
00:05:51 There is zero ambiguity in the Baptists' answer 0.81
00:05:55 He says, I am not the Christ 1.00
00:05:57 as you can tell the Jews are on the lookout for the anointed one 0.96
00:06:03 listen for a minute for how St. Luke describes St. John's family
00:06:13 in the days of Herod the king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah
00:06:20 and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth
00:06:24 and they were both righteous before God
00:06:27 walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord
00:06:31 and I know that you guys know the rest of the story there
00:06:34 about the birth of John the Baptist
00:06:35 but my point is that the Baptist himself was of a priestly family
00:06:39 a righteous family
00:06:41 a law-keeping family
00:06:44 no doubt the miracle that attended his birth was well known
00:06:49 connected with the public ministry of Zacharias and the temple
00:06:52 but he doesn't overstep here
00:06:57 where he might have
00:07:00 he might have taken his shot
00:07:01 but he says I am not the Christ
00:07:06 and so in verse 21
00:07:09 the Jews are then cued for their chain of questions
00:07:13 who are you then? Elijah? the prophet?
00:07:18 who is the prophet?
00:07:20 We might think it would be Elijah, but he was just mentioned, so it's not him.
00:07:24 The prophet would have been the Moses-like figure from Deuteronomy chapter 18.
00:07:31 Remember, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, Moses said, from among you, from your fellow Israelites.
00:07:40 You must listen to him.
00:07:43 This is the prophet that they were expecting, and rightly so. 1.00
00:07:47 The prophet would have been a second Moses 1.00
00:07:50 A Joshua, if you will 0.70
00:07:53 A man who would stand as the successor to the great lawgiver himself
00:07:59 The Essene community at Qumran actually expected three messianic figures
00:08:06 They expected a prophet, a priestly messiah, and a royal Davidic messiah
00:08:13 And so, John the Baptist, he is out there toward the Essene wilderness, and so it kind of makes sense that they would be curious.
00:08:21 Are you one of those guys, John? One of those three?
00:08:26 But now here's the big exegetical puzzle of the passage.
00:08:31 Why does John not admit to being Elijah?
00:08:33 Behold Malachi says I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. 0.78
00:08:55 Jesus says later on that for those who have ears to hear, John is Elijah 0.79
00:09:03 Matthew 11, from the days of John the Baptist until now, Jesus says
00:09:08 The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force
00:09:12 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John 0.60
00:09:16 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, which is to come
00:09:22 And again, in chapter 17, Christ says,
00:09:25 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him,
00:09:30 but did to him whatever they pleased.
00:09:33 So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.
00:09:37 And then Matthew gives us this parenthetical,
00:09:40 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
00:09:47 Elijah is, after all, alive at this time, is he not?
00:09:51 He was caught up into heaven by the fire chariot of God.
00:09:55 He is not dead. 0.91
00:09:56 Why shouldn't John be Elijah?
00:09:59 Is St. John contradicting St. Matthew?
00:10:03 An inconsistency in scripture.
00:10:05 We found it.
00:10:07 We've destroyed inerrancy.
00:10:10 How do we reconcile this?
00:10:15 Maybe it's just that John's not literally Elijah. 1.00
00:10:18 You know, the Jews, they all want literal fire and wrath to overthrow Rome. 1.00
00:10:24 If Elijah can throw down lightning fire upon the altar of Yahweh, 1.00
00:10:28 he can certainly set fire to a few Roman legions, can't he?
00:10:34 Maybe the Baptist is just saying, hey, I'm not that sort of Elijah.
00:10:37 I'm like a nicer, gentler type.
00:10:41 Luke says that the Baptist comes in the spirit and power of Elijah in Luke 1.
00:10:48 So perhaps the Baptist denies because he merely fulfills the role promised.
00:10:54 He's not actually Elijah.
00:10:56 Maybe that's what he's trying to say.
00:10:59 Or maybe the Baptist is simply filled with humility.
00:11:05 The strap of his sandal, he says, I am unworthy to untie.
00:11:08 Verse 27.
00:11:11 John is humble indeed. 0.65
00:11:13 perhaps Moses is the humblest
00:11:17 but John is certainly up there 0.95
00:11:19 he says he must increase
00:11:22 I must decrease
00:11:24 but even more important
00:11:27 than his humility here
00:11:29 is something we might not catch
00:11:31 he needs two witnesses
00:11:34 John the Baptist will not
00:11:39 and cannot bear witness to himself
00:11:42 and so our Lord Jesus Christ
00:11:46 becomes the second greater witness
00:11:48 as to who John the Baptist is
00:11:52 even Jesus won't testify about himself
00:11:56 he says the father also testifies
00:11:59 and so the humility of both our Lord and the Baptist
00:12:02 is shown in their refusal to self-identify
00:12:06 they refuse to self-identify
00:12:10 which if you think about it, we could take a lesson from in our age.
00:12:15 We are all about self-identification
00:12:17 which is ultimately an extremely prideful
00:12:22 position. The Baptist is identified by
00:12:26 the witness of Jesus and Jesus is identified by the witness
00:12:30 of the Father. This is my beloved Son in whom
00:12:34 I am well pleased. Listen to him, the Father says.
00:12:37 and then the son turns
00:12:40 and identifies the Baptist.
00:12:49 According to the law
00:12:50 of Moses,
00:12:52 the law of God,
00:12:54 if a man died childless,
00:12:57 his brother,
00:12:58 or the next of kin,
00:12:59 was legally obligated
00:13:00 to marry his widow
00:13:01 and raise up for his brother
00:13:04 a family,
00:13:05 continuing on the family line.
00:13:07 If he refused his obligation, if he refused his duty, a public ceremony called Halitza took place,
00:13:15 in which the widow of the dead man would remove the sandal off of the man that refused his duty.
00:13:21 She would spit in his face and declare that he refused to build up his brother's house.
00:13:28 And that man's family would thereafter be known as basically the house of the unsandaled one.
00:13:35 That man in his refusal to do his duty 0.82
00:13:42 Would be signifying then
00:13:44 That he forfeited his marital and property rights
00:13:48 This is what's happening in the story of Ruth
00:13:50 If you remember
00:13:51 When Ruth's close relative refuses to act
00:13:55 As a redemptor, a redeemer
00:13:58 He removed his sandal and handed it to Boaz
00:14:01 This transferred the legal right of redemption and marriage and the property over to Boaz
00:14:10 When John says that he is unworthy to untie the sandal of our Lord
00:14:17 He is not only speaking in humility
00:14:21 Although he certainly is
00:14:23 Untying, taking off a sandal, washing the feet
00:14:26 As our Lord will show us later on in this gospel
00:14:29 is the most menial of the servant's tasks.
00:14:33 The lowest servant of the house will do this job.
00:14:37 But John is also speaking in a legal, messianic sense.
00:14:42 He's saying, I am not the redeemer.
00:14:45 I have no legal right to untie his sandal
00:14:48 and claim the authority for myself.
00:14:52 John explicitly affirms this a few chapters later
00:14:55 in John 3 when he says,
00:14:57 the one who has the bride is the bridegroom.
00:15:01 The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him
00:15:04 rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.
00:15:07 Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete.
00:15:10 He must increase, I must decrease.
00:15:13 So Jesus is the ultimate bridegroom, of course.
00:15:16 He wears the sandal of authority. 0.54
00:15:20 Israel, true Israel, that is, is his bride.
00:15:23 and John refuses to usurp that redemptive right.
00:15:29 Even though he had a lot of the credentials to take a shot at at least some of the aspects of the Messianic title,
00:15:37 he certainly had the priestly and prophetic aspects.
00:15:39 If he had claimed to be a someone, a lot of people would have believed him.
00:15:44 He was popular, right?
00:15:46 Everyone was coming to be baptized by him.
00:15:49 He had a following.
00:15:50 Most likely, St. John himself was following John the Baptist and was there as one of his disciples.
00:15:56 That's why we have such details of the eyewitness account here in John's Gospel.
00:16:01 But the Baptist refuses to unlawfully seize the throne and take the bride,
00:16:08 like Ham did with Noah's wife, or like Absalom did with the concubines of David. 0.82
00:16:14 John instead is the faithful under-shepherd 0.90
00:16:17 Who doesn't touch his master's bride 0.63
00:16:20 He is the best man, not the groom
00:16:24 He is the cousin of Jesus
00:16:29 But it's his loyalty and devotion to his Lord
00:16:33 Which is why he is called the greatest of those born of women
00:16:37 And if John is the climax
00:16:43 of the Old Testament prophets
00:16:46 in other words Elijah
00:16:47 then Jesus is the miracle
00:16:50 working Elisha
00:16:51 who receives a double portion
00:16:53 of Elijah's spirit
00:16:55 and he's plowing with a yoke
00:16:58 of 12 oxen
00:16:59 and he's raising the dead
00:17:01 and he's multiplying loaves
00:17:03 and he's giving life
00:17:04 even in his death
00:17:05 but I'd like for you to consider
00:17:09 the connections between John and Elijah
00:17:10 Both of them have hairy garments, leather belts, the instantly recognizable garb of a prophet in that day, camel's hair. 0.99
00:17:28 Nonetheless, we should be expecting wedding bells then.
00:17:32 both are supernaturally sustained
00:17:36 in their wilderness asceticism
00:17:38 by bread and meat brought by ravens
00:17:41 or by locusts and wild honey
00:17:43 they have bread to eat that we know not of
00:17:46 the wilderness is actually sustaining them
00:17:48 instead of killing them
00:17:49 and we start to see a foretaste 0.94
00:17:52 of the end of the wilderness
00:17:54 they are both out in the caves
00:17:57 and wilderness in the desert of Judea 0.65
00:18:00 Elijah confronts Ahab and Jezebel for their wickedness 0.96
00:18:05 John the Baptist confronts Herod and Herodias for theirs 0.98
00:18:09 Both are preaching repentance and the discarding of idols 0.92
00:18:13 In preparation for the salvation of Yahweh that is coming
00:18:17 And they both pave the way for their greater successors 0.97
00:18:21 The John-Jesus relationship not only maps onto the Elijah-Elisha relationship
00:18:31 But also onto the Moses-Joshua relationship 0.75
00:18:35 To tie it full circle 0.93
00:18:36 The Law and the Prophets
00:18:39 Moses also confronts the evil king
00:18:41 He has spent 40 years in the wilderness
00:18:45 He calls down plagues on the land
00:18:49 and is miraculously fed by God in the Sinaitic wilderness.
00:18:54 But if we're really to see the pattern, the connections here,
00:18:57 we have to consider the heirs, the successors to these three,
00:19:01 specifically as it relates to the Jordan River.
00:19:05 Joshua walks across the Jordan River on dry ground
00:19:09 in the wake of Moses to conquer Jericho.
00:19:13 Elisha walks back across the Jordan on dry ground
00:19:16 after Elijah is taken up, and then he goes on to make death water fit to drink for the men.
00:19:24 And Jesus turns the chaotic death waters of the Jordan into rivers of life in his Jordan baptism.
00:19:32 All these men have an enhanced spirit of the spirit of their forerunners,
00:19:38 and all of these wilderness prophets lay the groundwork for their successors to come,
00:19:44 to come and conquer and cleanse the land.
00:19:48 And that is exactly what Jesus is going to do.
00:19:55 What say you, they ask, verse 22.
00:19:59 We need to give an answer.
00:20:01 We need to categorize you, John.
00:20:07 Do you fit neatly into one box?
00:20:09 Or do you have the ability to make your own tribe angry or upset?
00:20:21 Are you a Republican to the core?
00:20:24 I'm MAGA.
00:20:27 I'm a Calvinist.
00:20:29 I'm Anglican.
00:20:30 That is who I am.
00:20:33 Can you see the problems with your own tribe?
00:20:37 Whose side are you on?
00:20:39 Neither? Wait, are you with us or are you with our enemies?
00:20:46 Wait, you can be both for us and against us at the same time?
00:20:51 That is the job of a pastor, by the way, to be both for you and challenging you at the same time.
00:21:00 But what then? We need to give an answer, they say.
00:21:05 John says, I'm a voice.
00:21:08 Just a voice.
00:21:09 I am the one leveling the way of the Lord
00:21:14 a few of you have been to my house in Prescott
00:21:20 we're still moving in up the road
00:21:22 if you've been to my house you know how bad my driveway is
00:21:26 it's like passable in my car
00:21:29 I can still drive it but it's all rutted out by the rain
00:21:32 I need to get it fixed
00:21:33 the driveway is not going to become straight
00:21:39 It's still going to wind through the woods, take it to my house.
00:21:44 But I need to fix all the ruts, right, so the car doesn't bottom out.
00:21:49 This is what John's doing.
00:21:52 He's making the way of the Lord level.
00:21:58 Is this way level?
00:22:00 Is the way to Yahweh?
00:22:02 Is the way to the messianic salvation level?
00:22:05 Is it straight? 0.99
00:22:07 Or is it gay? 0.95
00:22:08 Amos sees the Lord standing by the temple with a plumb line. 0.95
00:22:16 Now, a lot of us don't use plumb lines.
00:22:17 You may not know what that is.
00:22:18 It's just simply a line, a string with a weight on the bottom.
00:22:21 You put it on this side of the wall and then on that side of the wall,
00:22:23 and you can see if the wall is standing straight up.
00:22:26 You know, we might be more familiar with a carpenter's level.
00:22:29 Right?
00:22:29 Same idea.
00:22:31 Is this in line?
00:22:33 Is it straight?
00:22:34 I like to do a little bit of woodworking, you know.
00:22:37 And you do everything right.
00:22:38 You know, you take all your measurements, you square it up, you measure three times, you cut once, and you think it's good,
00:22:44 and then you hold the carpentry level up to the boy's bunk bed when I'm done.
00:22:47 It's like, it's quite, it's not straight. 0.98
00:22:50 It's just gay bunk bed. 0.99
00:22:54 Isaiah 28 says, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the Mason's level. 0.99
00:23:03 And so the Lord comes.
00:23:05 He is coming.
00:23:06 He has always been coming with a leveling line.
00:23:08 to inspect the fruit of the temple.
00:23:11 This is what he's eventually going to do as he cleanses the temple
00:23:14 because he's going to find it not level, not straight.
00:23:19 The straight way would have been a comfort to the people,
00:23:23 would have been for the people, 0.55
00:23:24 but the religious elite class has twisted it beyond all recognition.
00:23:29 Isaiah says, comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
00:23:33 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended.
00:23:38 that her iniquity is pardoned and that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her
00:23:43 sins. A voice cries. Here's where the Baptist gets his quote. In the wilderness, prepare the way of
00:23:51 the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up.
00:23:57 Every mountain shall be made low. The uneven ground shall become level and the rough places
00:24:03 a plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
00:24:10 for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
00:24:15 This is, in its original context, a message of comfort to Jewish exiles in Babylon, promising
00:24:23 a highway back, a way back to Jerusalem from Babylon.
00:24:26 but at this point in our story
00:24:30 as John makes clear in the book of Revelation
00:24:32 Jerusalem herself has become Babylon 0.99
00:24:35 it's crooked, it's full of potholes 0.99
00:24:39 it is wicked and evil
00:24:42 there are demons in the corners of the temple
00:24:46 it is not the straight and narrow way
00:24:48 which doesn't surprise us
00:24:53 but it really would have surprised them in that context
00:24:56 Especially because here we have people sent by the Pharisees.
00:25:01 Levite scribes sent by the Pharisees, verse 24.
00:25:05 The religiously, theologically conservative Pharisees.
00:25:09 The nationalists.
00:25:11 The great opposers of the globalism of the Roman Empire. 0.91
00:25:15 The followers of the law, the Pharisees.
00:25:17 They're not the liberal Sadducees.
00:25:19 They're conservative.
00:25:21 And we should be reminded here then that there is no hope for us
00:25:24 in mere theological conservatism
00:25:27 or mere Republican conservatism.
00:25:31 The Pharisees are conservatives, but they hate Christ. 0.64
00:25:35 We should be reminded then that there is no hope for us
00:25:39 ultimately in nationalism.
00:25:41 We're all nationalists here, 0.88
00:25:43 but without the Christian modifier, there is no hope.
00:25:46 The Pharisees were nationalists, but they opposed Christ. 0.58
00:25:50 We should be reminded as well that there's no hope
00:25:52 ultimately in simply the law.
00:25:55 We love the law.
00:25:56 The Pharisees were legal sticklers.
00:25:58 But they hated Christ.
00:26:04 And so they continue their line of questioning.
00:26:06 Verse 25.
00:26:08 Then why are you baptizing?
00:26:10 If you're not any of these people,
00:26:12 what do you think you're doing, John?
00:26:14 How dare you imply by your baptism
00:26:17 that we are unclean?
00:26:24 We have here religious credentialism at its finest.
00:26:32 And the question of identity, which stands at the heart of this passage, comes around full circle.
00:26:38 Who are you?
00:26:40 Just who do you think you are, John?
00:26:43 Have you studied under the right rabbis?
00:26:46 Have you gone to the right schools?
00:26:49 Do you have the alphabet soup of degrees in your signature block following your name, or at least an MDiv?
00:26:59 Did you by any chance maybe study under Gamaliel, or any other reputable, reformed academic figure, John?
00:27:08 Are you even a member of G3?
00:27:10 all of you by now know that you are about to be covenanting with a ministry
00:27:18 whose credentials will be constantly under attack by the religious bureaucracy out there
00:27:26 and it's not because they care about credentials per se
00:27:31 there are many uncredentialed pastors that they will either ignore or even welcome
00:27:38 The reason they care is because, like John the Baptist, they hate what he said.
00:27:47 They hate what he implies.
00:27:51 They hate him because he actually demands repentance.
00:27:57 They hate him because his ministry, like Christ's, is an ongoing repudiation and denunciation of their religious system.
00:28:06 which looks really good on the outside
00:28:09 but inside is full of dead men's bones. 0.85
00:28:16 Listen to what St. Luke says about the Baptists. 0.64
00:28:19 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God
00:28:24 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
00:28:28 to turn the hearts of fathers to the children
00:28:31 and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just
00:28:33 to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
00:28:43 They hate him because he's not attacking them out there.
00:28:50 He's attacking us in here.
00:28:53 He's attacking our tribe.
00:28:55 He's going after the good old boy club. 0.99
00:28:58 He's attacking our women. 0.90
00:29:01 He's attacking our children.
00:29:03 He's going after our sacred cows.
00:29:06 He's not preaching against the Romans.
00:29:09 Look, there's plenty to preach against with the Romans.
00:29:12 But he's preaching against us.
00:29:15 Us!
00:29:16 How dare he?
00:29:17 They hate him because he's a servant of Christ.
00:29:20 And he's going to be saying the same thing that Christ says.
00:29:23 And Christ told you that they hated me, so they're going to hate you.
00:29:27 They will hate the servants of Christ.
00:29:29 And they always have, and they always will. 0.94
00:29:32 As credentialed Ahab told uncredentialed Elijah, he asked, 0.91
00:29:38 Is it you, you troubler of Israel? 0.82
00:29:40 I remember. 0.99
00:29:41 And Elijah says, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house, 0.99
00:29:49 because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. 0.81
00:29:53 now look we affirm the good order and excellence of laying hands in ordination
00:30:05 and apostolic succession if you are a pastor you must be ordained by an ordained man
00:30:13 and if you can trace your ordination back to the apostles themselves that's very good
00:30:19 We would all be in favor of bishops, local, hierarchical, ecclesial accountability.
00:30:26 All very good.
00:30:27 But this is not everything.
00:30:30 This is not the most important thing, even.
00:30:33 If the religious establishment is corrupt, the call to repentance, then, has to come from outside the system.
00:30:41 From the office of the prophet, who is not a part of the class of the religious elite.
00:30:49 It comes from Elijah in the desert, not Obadiah in the king's palace, although they both have their place. 0.66
00:30:59 Ultimately, the Jews make a fatal theological error in splitting the offices of Elijah and Moses and the Messiah. 0.87
00:31:10 They're pretty much dispensational in their reading of the Old Testament. 0.94
00:31:14 In reality, Moses equals Elijah equals John
00:31:21 And Joshua equals Elisha equals Christ 0.88
00:31:26 Just like the Egyptian plagues is another Babylonian exile 0.96
00:31:31 Which is another cleansing of the temple
00:31:33 Which is AD 70, a day of the Lord
00:31:38 Which is the final coming of Christ
00:31:41 these things are all covenantally one event 1.00
00:31:46 and the Jews should have recognized the pattern by now 1.00
00:31:50 the Baptist was the final warning before judgment fell
00:31:53 but they're too concerned about theological minutia 0.90
00:31:57 and credentialism to notice
00:31:59 besides which of the prophets did their fathers not kill
00:32:03 these connections will be made explicit
00:32:08 in the transfiguration of our Lord.
00:32:13 In the Mount of Transfiguration,
00:32:15 we have Moses, Elijah, Christ,
00:32:19 and Deuteronomy 18 re-echoed.
00:32:23 You must listen to him.
00:32:28 If you'll notice,
00:32:29 John never answers their question directly,
00:32:32 much like Jesus doesn't answer
00:32:35 many of their questions directly.
00:32:38 Instead, he says in verse 26, among you stands someone you don't know.
00:32:44 He's right there. 1.00
00:32:46 Calvin says he indirectly charges them with stupidity. 1.00
00:32:51 In other words, you should know better. 1.00
00:32:54 You guys are the teachers of Israel, and yet you don't know these things.
00:32:57 He's right there in your midst.
00:33:00 He's standing right there.
00:33:02 As he'll say later on, he's standing there knocking.
00:33:07 Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock.
00:33:12 And this, contrary to the way most evangelicals will preach it,
00:33:16 is not kind, gentle Jesus begging you to please just let me into your heart.
00:33:22 No.
00:33:24 This is Jesus coming to inspect the temple, coming to inspect your life.
00:33:30 He stands at the door and knocks, and he expects you to open it to him.
00:33:34 and he expects to find faithful servants there.
00:33:39 This is not a kind and gentle knock.
00:33:41 It's a knocking of reckoning, and he is coming quickly.
00:33:45 He's about to throw the gate wide open.
00:33:51 The Baptist at this point has already seen the Spirit of God
00:33:54 descend upon Jesus at his baptism,
00:33:56 and he knows that the time is short.
00:33:59 And so he offers the inhabitants of Jerusalem 0.96
00:34:02 a way out of their sin and their misery and their corruption and wickedness. 0.99
00:34:07 He offers confession and repentance at his baptism.
00:34:11 He offers white robes and trimmed wicks.
00:34:15 Jesus is coming, and he offers the people a way to be able to say,
00:34:20 actually in good conscience,
00:34:22 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
00:34:26 Instead of, you know, crucify him.
00:34:29 His blood be upon us and our children.
00:34:32 but of course most of the Pharisees
00:34:37 will reject the baptism of John
00:34:38 as we learn in Luke 7 0.99
00:34:41 and they will crucify our Lord 0.54
00:34:43 there are many baptisms in scripture
00:34:49 and in one way they're all connected
00:34:51 in other ways
00:34:54 these washings are all different
00:34:56 John's baptism is not
00:34:59 the Christian baptism, per se, the baptism of the Spirit,
00:35:05 but a baptism of entry, or really re-entry, into the land.
00:35:12 Joshua leads the Jordan baptism, like the Red Sea is a baptism.
00:35:19 He leads into the Promised Land. 0.68
00:35:22 Elisha is baptized as he enters back into the land through the Jordan River.
00:35:28 And then he has Naaman wash in the Jordan, if you remember, to enter the service of Yahweh.
00:35:34 So John's baptism is a baptism of re-entering the land, rightly, when the land itself is defiled. 0.99
00:35:43 His baptism places you, even in the midst of a corrupt and perverse and twisted generation, 0.99
00:35:49 his baptism places you back on the side of the Messiah, instead of on the side of the evil Hamitic Canaanites. 0.99
00:35:58 And so, repent. 0.97
00:36:03 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
00:36:06 He is at the door.
00:36:09 If there is sin in your life, do not leave it alone.
00:36:14 Do not wait until next week to repent of it.
00:36:19 Do not say that I will get to that next month.
00:36:22 the Lord offers you one last opportunity
00:36:27 in the baptism of John 0.54
00:36:28 before Jesus steps on the scene
00:36:31 do not decline that offer
00:36:34 be humble like John
00:36:38 don't grasp at the gift
00:36:41 grasp at the throne 0.97
00:36:43 we have a lot of type A men
00:36:48 personalities in this room
00:36:50 we have a lot of people who want to achieve different things
00:36:54 and sure, go after it
00:36:57 but ultimately remember it's God that's going to hand it to you
00:37:00 do not take what is not yours
00:37:03 model the Baptist in this regard
00:37:06 and God says if you are humble
00:37:09 he will exalt you in due time
00:37:12 and finally boldly proclaim the truth
00:37:16 even if, particularly if
00:37:19 it makes the religious elite uncomfortable.
00:37:23 Boldly, lovingly, but boldly proclaim the truth.
00:37:28 And not just online, guys, not just online.
00:37:32 To the people we know, to our friends and our neighbors.
00:37:36 It's easy, relatively speaking,
00:37:39 to give a bold shot of truth out there into the void of the online world.
00:37:44 And there's a time and a place for that, and that's extremely important.
00:37:47 But it's much harder to look at someone square in the eye who you know, who you know you're going to see tomorrow, who is going to be forming opinions about you, and speak the truth there to your family, to your co-workers, to the other moms at the park.
00:38:03 That is difficult.
00:38:05 That is your work of gospel preaching.
00:38:10 That is how you are calling the wicked to repentance, the same way John was.
00:38:14 this is difficult
00:38:17 but you have been given the spirit
00:38:21 for just this purpose
00:38:22 let his words abide in you
00:38:27 and come out of you
00:38:28 in the name of the Father, the Son
00:38:31 and the Holy Ghost, Amen