One of a Kind! - Part B

For years the Jewish people have suffered at the hands of those who enslaved the Greeks Seleucids Ptolemies. Now the Romans before that they had been taken captive in Babylon and Assyria so that for generations suffered the enslavement of people over them crying out in historians tell us just about this time in history, messianic expectation reached fever pitch. Welcome to Québec was your weekend division.

There's a story told by Spanish Moore's about a king who, upon receiving word that his beloved home city of fallen marking the end of his rules. He decided that he wouldn't let it be true referred the messages and kill the messenger was doing all of that didn't change the reality one bit is the reason you probably heard the phrase don't shoot the messenger. Well today, here and correctly Skip weekend edition skip. Isaac examines one of the most unique passengers in all of Scripture.

He was a man who was assigned a very important task, one that made it easy for some to focus on his greatness, rather than the greatness of the message he was trying to deliver. But before we get started with our study today we have a faith building resource for you this month correctly skip.com stands between you and a more fruitful walk with Jesus health for prominent women in the Bible thinks they are struck with any new teaching theories from my comp Queens of the Bible on the Queen of Sheba hearing is the first step toward spiritual life right now, hearing that blessing because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God hear more from when she exploits the faith in the failings of four different queens in Scripture. The Queens of the Bible collection of teaching saying thank you $35 or more to support this Bible teaching ministry following Christ is to go wherever healing your copy of these unique teachings when you call 898 or give online securely connectwithskip.com/offer connect the skip.com/offer were in John chapter 1.

So if you turn your Bibles Skip exit begins by defining the term look up the word rate in the Webster's dictionary definition would be considerably above normal or above average.

Another definition would be remarkable.

A person who is great is someone who stands out from the rest of the crowd I was running a little article that said 92% of baseball players who sign a professional contract with a professional team. 92% never see a single major league game that I read Harper's magazine.

I do know how reliable that is.

But if that is the case that would mean that only 8% who signed the contract would be considered great baseball players sometimes will find the word great attached to a name as if it's a formal name like Alexander the great are in the Bible, Herod the great, and I discovered in searching 142 different people had the name great attached to them.

I'm so-and-so the great note.

Whenever a person adds that term to their own name connoting in denoting that they are graded also connotes that everybody else around them is not so great. I heard about Amanda went to a psychiatrist and said Dr. I have an inferiority complex.

Dr. read a bunch of tests on him and said well we ran the tests and it's not a complex you really are inferior. Most people would never think of John the Baptist in terms of the word great first word that comes to mind for a lot of people when they think of John the Baptist are words like eccentric odd strange out of the ordinary, unconventional, interesting, perhaps, but but not great yet it was Jesus himself who said I tell you of all who have ever lived. None is greater than John quite a statement because John's life wasn't very long affect was short. His ministry was not very extensive. It was in one small little Middle East region, but the way he lived his life and the choices that he made this man was great Marie. It comes from a business review New York insurance company business review great men it says happened a few hours to be great like the rest of us. They must dress bay and eat, and being human they must make visits to the dentist, Dr. and Barber and meet with their wives about domestic matters.

What makes men great is their ability to decide what is important and then focus their attention on that. That's exactly what John the Baptist does. He decides what is important and he puts all of his focus and attention on that and it's all summed up by what he's going to say the paragraphs we read this morning.

John says behold the Lamb of God. We've already touched on John briefly in the Gospel of John is mentioned in verse six and seven, when John says the author, John says of John the Baptist, there was a man sent from God's name was John. We also read about them in verse 15, but now the prologue is over. Now we come to the real story as it is told of John the Baptist, and I think over going to discover this morning. Hopefully the big lesson is how can we witness for Christ or how can we represent Jesus Christ before an unbelieving world. How can we make a difference. How can our life be an impactful life so that were were doing more than just breathing air and taking up space on earth I what can I significantly do that would promote Christ as a witness to do that we gotta do two things in there in your outline.

First is about your identity and the second is about your activity and will discover that using John the Baptist as the mirror we get John the Baptist identity and his activity. Let's go to verse 19 and will see the identity of John the Baptist. Now 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 Messiah same ideas the work Christ and they asked him, what then are you Elijah said I am not. Are you the prophet. He said no and they said to him, who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What you say about yourself and he said I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. So there's John the baptizer down at the Jordan River baptizing will get to that activity in just a moment, but delegation comes from Jerusalem to find out who this guy is and why he's doing what he's doing at the group responsible for sending the delegation is called the San Hendren you've heard that term may be the San Hendren was a group of 70 rulers in Jerusalem were in charge of the spiritual warfare warfare. I should maybe that is true welfare of the nation they wanted to protect the nation for many false Messiah that might arise only problem with that is in protecting the nation from all of the false messiahs they protected the nation from the real Messiah who would come in so they sent out a delegation because John the Baptist was getting quite a crowd following him.

Multitudes of people were going down and people were listening to him and watching him know. I doubt if anybody went out to the Rio Grande River and started baptizing people that they would draw that big of a crowd, but because of the times and they were living in. And because of the amount of people that drew interest now. The religious communities interested in.

There's a term I want you to notice in verse 19. You'll need to notice it now because you see it a lot in this book. It's the word Jews Jews that she was 71 times by John in this book more than Matthew Mark and Luke combined but when John uses the term the Jews. He is not speaking racially. He's speaking formally or legally is not referring to nationality as much as John is referring to the group of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who were hostile toward Jesus. After all, everybody around them and the baptism were Jewish but the Jews here occupies a specific meaning of those hostile toward Christ. You'll notice also in verse 19 priests and Levites, those of the people in the delegation. Find out who John was.

They were priests and they were Levites. Now that makes sense because John's dad was a priest Zacharias who worked in the temple.

John was of the priestly line. This makes John the Baptist a PK denoted PK is it's a priest kid in this context, he was the son of a priest. He was a PK, a preacher's kid, but John the Baptist was a preacher's kid gone rogue. He had left Jerusalem and he's now a preacher out in the desert and Levites and priests never preached they just perform rituals not John. They want to find out what his deal is. So they asked him a question.

Who are you and it's interesting that they asked him the question and John answers that by telling them first who is not before he tells them who is he answers it negatively and then he goes positively, so he wants immediately set their minds at rest, and he says I am not the Messiah, you know, I said that because they thought he was the Messiah. And the reason they thought John might be there Messiah their Christ is there was such a high level of anticipation that the Messiah would come eminently in their generation and his wife for years the Jewish people had suffered at the hands of those who enslaved them.

The Greeks, the Seleucids, the Ptolemies now. The Romans before that they had been taken captive in Babylon and Assyria. So they had for generations suffered the enslavement of people over them. They were crying out for a deliver and historians tell us that just about this time in history, messianic expectation reached fever pitch, quote to you a book that I found a little book called the history of messianic speculation in Israel, written by Rabbi Rob a Hillel silver.

Listen to this quote prior to the first century of the Christian era. The messianic interest was not excessive the first century, however, especially the generation before the destruction of the second Temple.

That's right here right now witnessed a remarkable outburst of messianic emotionalism when Jesus came into Galilee, spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. He was voicing the opinion universally held that the age of the kingdom of God was at hand. Listen to this closing statement, the Messiah was expected around the second quarter of the first century of the Christian era right at this time.

So he says just just to clear the air. I am not the guy the Messiah so that's another question will are you Elijah. Why were they asking that will one reason is the way he looked in the way he acted. He was so bold in his confrontation, and the way he dressed and if you remember Elijah's description and second Kings chapter 8 it says he was a hairy man who wore a belt, a leather belt around his waist so that was Elijah Harry with the belt around his waist.

John the Baptist comes wearing camel's hair, clothing with a leather belt around his waist a are you Elijah will Elijah has been dead. Why would they ask a guy. Now, if he's Elijah. Here's what the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament predicts that Elijah would come before the Messiah.

The last paragraph, God says, I will send my messenger Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord is why even to this day. You can go to a Passover feast, a Seder feast, but that you won't see an empty chair for Elijah just in case he shows up at your Passover, which would indicate the Messiah is here or coming now. He says I am not Elijah, are you Elijah I'm not Elijah. Now we have a problem if your Bible student, you know what the problem is because in Matthew 11 Jesus said of John the Baptist, this is Elijah who is to come see you got Jesus saying of John the Baptist. That's Elijah and you got John the Baptist saying I'm not Elijah. Moreover, before John the Baptist was ever born, his father Zacharias got a message from an angel saying you can have a son named John and he will come in the spirit and in the power of Elijah that we resolve it. Well that's see how this go turn back to Matthew chapter 17 briefly keep a marker where you are and go back to Matthew chapter 17 I wanted to bring this up because I knew I would get questions about it afterward. So to avoid that.

I'll just answer them right here. Matthew chapter 17 verse 10 and his disciples asked him, saying, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first watches Jesus answered and said indeed.

Elijah is coming first and will restore all things is future tense.

He saying Elijah as predicted by Malachi is going to come.

That's the prophecy says but I say and do you verse 12, that Elijah has come already and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wish. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands and then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist see what's happening. John the Baptist came not as the person of Elijah, but as the angel said in the spirit and power of Elijah.

He was in Elijah -like forerunner of Christ. And so Jesus is saying. He partially fulfilled that, but he didn't totally fulfill the real person of the prophet Elijah is going to, when is he going to come will the prophecy says in Malachi 4 before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. That's future.

That's the great tribulation and I submit to you my opinion that one of the two witnesses recorded in Revelation chapter 11 is Elijah the prophet you just read what he does and what he says and it's very much like what Elijah said and did in the Old Testament so John denies that I am not the Messiah back to John chapter 1, I am not Elijah Bascom. The third question, are you verse 21 are you the prophet.

What profit answer. The prophet I do know which one it is the prophet, and he answered no. I say I don't know who it is that I can like I can give you couple gases.

According to some of the ancient Jewish writings, there was this idea the right before Messiah comes. Jeremiah the prophet, or Isaiah the prophet, would be resurrected and show up in Israel and restore the ark of the covenant to its proper place of worship in the temple.

Maybe they were referring to one of those profits is the prophet there's another stab at its meaning. Deuteronomy 18 verse 15 Moses said the Lord God will send a nether prophet like me, him shall you hear that, we believe that the disciples knew that meant the Messiah himself, the prophet who would be the Christ, but these Jewish leaders that the prophet was some other prophet who would come before the Messiah. So by this point, they're just frustrated at John's very short negative answer in Messiah note Elijah the prophet note so they pressed him little bit verse 22 they said to him, who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us.

What do you say about your self. Now he'll answer the question you want. Ellen, who is not, he'll tell them who is I love his answer. I love it. Verse 23 said to them, I am the probably move forward like you have and gives him the answer. I am the voice said I'm the voice I'm not the word he's the word I'm does the voice of the word. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I'm a nobody, but I'm telling you about somebody.

I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, quoting Isaiah chapter 40 reaching back 700 years make a straight the way of the Lord, don't you love that I'm just a road worker. John said I'm I'm helping get that path straight that you need to walk on to get your life straight with God. That's all I am white. John could answer that question in a number of ways. Good me based upon what we know about him. What Jesus said about him because that you want to know I am tell you who I am. I am the son of the great priest Zacharias whom you know how that's pretty cool. Zeta he could've said mate who I am.

I am the child who is filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb of you can say that it is why junk is that you want to know who I am. I am the greatest guy who ever lived in Uniden right. Jesus said that about.

I'm the Herald of the Messiah, but in humility says I'm just voice. I'm not the message I'm just the messenger.

The message the word is Jesus. I am the messenger. Well, the one who delivers the message is not responsible for the contents of the message.

Hence the old saying, don't shoot the messenger. In this case, it also means that the one delivering the message is greater than the one whom the message is about. It might've been easy to look John the Baptist is a powerful important great man, but He Understood His Pl. in God's great plan will continue to explore the importance of John's encounter with Jesus.

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