We're turning to Luke's Gospel, chapter 3, again this afternoon, Luke chapter 3, and we're going to start our reading at the seventh verse of the chapter, Luke chapter 3. and the verse number seven, we continue in our studies on the personality of John the Baptist, and we're continuing to do so until we exhaust what we have within the word of God, and then we'll get back again to our studies in God's will, and if it is his mind, to the doctrine of God, and to the attributes of God that we were considering quite some time ago before the summer break. Look chapter three, and we'll read from verse seven. Then said he, speaking of John the Baptist, to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And I also, as the axe laid unto the root of the trees, Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answered and said unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, But one mightier than I cometh the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to enlist. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand. And he will throughly purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner. But the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. and many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. Amen, and we'll end at the 18th verse of this chapter. Let's pray. Our loving Father, we come before Thee, before, O God, the preaching of the word, confessing our great need of Thee. O God, how we confess that the oratory of man is never, never sufficient, O God, for a hard work to be done within a life. And so we cry to Thee, for the blessed Spirit of God, whose work it is to reveal Christ unto men. We pray, O God, that he might be about his work, even in all of our hearts, from preacher to hearer and congregation alike. Help, O God, us not to preach, and then, having preached, we ourselves become a castaway. But let us, O God, bring our own body into subjection. Let us be found in subjection, not to the word of a preacher, but to the word of Almighty God. And so come and Encourage our hearts and aid, O God, us in and through the preaching, for we pray this in Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen. In the introductory messages that we have been conducting in this series concerning John the Baptist, we have on those occasions been focusing on the molding of God's servant. That molding was primarily accomplished by God. But can I say that outside influences also had a part in shaping John's character? We notice that his father and mother were used by God to fashion the character of God's servant in his informative years. That molding process continued outside the school of home, in the schools of God and the school of the desert into which John the Baptist was enrolled. Last day we thought about John's mandate. We saw that John was sent by God with a message from God. And we also thought about John's ministry, a ministry that was marked by witnessing and by proclaiming. I brought to your attention on that occasion that it is all our duties. God has called us to such a ministry ourselves. God has placed us in the world to be his witnesses and to be his proclaimers, to be a witness for Christ and to be a proclaimer of the gospel of Christ. Well, today we want to think about the message that John came to preach. It's sad to say that across the land today, There are individuals who will stand in pulpits who have no message. They have nothing to proclaim. They would gather up a few thoughts and pass some comment on them, some event that has happened in the world this week or something that has happened to them in the past, and pass a few brief comments on them. However, to be a messenger of God, as John the Baptist was, one needs a message from God to preach. And John had such a message to proclaim. With respect to the message that John the Baptist preached, there are a number of things. that I want us to think about today. The first of those being the themes within the message that John preached. The themes within the message John preached. If you read the scriptures and the gospel records concerning John the Baptist, you'll know that there were various strands to the message that John preached. But they all radiated out from a central core truth that really was the vital heartbeat of the message that God gave John to preach. That central, that core truth was the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We only have to stand on the banks of the River Jordan and listen to the camel hair cladded preacher to realize that to be the case. John chapter 1 we read of John's message, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. That was the message that John the Baptist preached. That message to behold the Lamb was a message that then was repeated by John the Baptist in his ministry because we read just on down from the initial declaration in the verse number 36 of John chapter 1 that John said to his own two disciples the following day, behold the Lamb of God. Same text, different setting. Now, if I came and preached last Lord's Day's message to you again this Lord's Day, I'm sure it would raise a few eyebrows, and I'm sure I would get maybe a number of text messages in the afternoon saying, did you not realize, brother, that you preached that message last Lord's Day? And yet, though not as obvious to you as it would have been to John's congregation, this is what I do from week to week, because it is the preacher's job ever to preach Christ. I am forever preaching Christ. Christ living, Christ dying, Christ rising again. The packaging may be different, but the content is the same. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. However, before we think of that part of John's message to behold the Lamb of God, There was a preparatory work that needed to be done in the hearts of those who were going to behold the Lamb of God by faith. John had to first preach a message that revealed to his hearers why they needed to behold the Lamb of God. He needed to show them their personal need to look to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And so in my reading of the Gospel records, chronologically, I find that John did not preach first about beholding the Lamb of God. Because before preaching about the remedy for sin, John the Baptist first preached about the reality of sin. John in his preaching did not put the cart before the horse. His preaching was logical, his preaching was systematic. Let me point you to a number of passages that clarify what I'm saying to you. Turn to Matthew chapter 1, or Matthew chapter 3 in the verses 1 and 2. Matthew chapter 1 verses, or Matthew chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. It says, in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That was the initial message that John preached. If you follow chronologically this chapter and you bring it to be set beside Luke chapter 3, you'll realize that chronologically that this message was the first message that John preached. He preached first of all about repentance, the repenting of sin, because of the reality of sin, and then having done that, he then presents to his congregation the remedy for sin in the Lamb of God. There was something logical about John's preaching. If you turn to Mark's gospel, it tells us in Mark chapter 1, it brings to our attention another passage With respect to John the Baptist preaching, Mark chapter 1 and the verse number 4, John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Now we must be very careful We must be very careful not to take these words that we have here in Mark 1 and the verse number 4 and use them as the basis for teaching the heretical teaching of baptismal regeneration. That a person is saved by the application of water by whatever mode in the Christian ordinance of baptism. The harmony of Scripture does not allow such an emphasis to be pleased upon the meanings of these words, and thus they must mean something else than a person being forgiven of their sins after being baptized, rather baptism was the evidence. Baptism was the proof that a man had already received the remission of their sins. It's not the means whereby their sins were remitted. Baptism is not the means whereby a man is forgiven or a woman of their sins, but rather it is the proof, it is the evidence that a man has already been forgiven and they are walking in obedience to God. Repent ye and be baptized is what Peter said. Luke tells us a similar thing within his gospel. He tells us that he came into all the country. We read it this morning. He came into all the country preaching verse number three, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And I say that if the remission of sins could be accomplished through baptism, then John the Baptist would have been preaching a different gospel than the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. They preach that repentance from sin is to precede baptism. You see, before any sinner comes to behold the Lamb, and before any trusting sinner then follows the Lamb, they must first put away that which offends the Lamb, and that is sin. The putting away of sin, from a human standpoint, is known to us as repentance. The word literally means a change of mind that leads to a reformation of life. Don't miss the second part, a change of mind that leads to a reformation of life. And thus, while John the Baptist, while he preached for his ears to repent, what he literally was doing was that he was calling them to a change of life. He was calling them to a reformation of conduct. Now, that requirement of repentance on the part of the sinner, if they are to know the remission, the putting away of their sins and of their coming into the blessings and the experience of God's salvation, that call to repentance does not sit well with 21st century sinful man. Because 21st century sinful man wants the best of both worlds. They want to live for sin in this world, and they also want to enjoy the blessings that are contained for the believer in the world that is to come. And therefore, unregenerate man vehemently opposes and resists the message that calls for an all-out forsaking of sin. They vehemently oppose the call for an all-out forsaking of sin. You know, there may be individuals in this meeting house and this message of repentance, it grates on you. It irritates you. It disturbs you, it annoys you because you love your sin, you delight in your sin, you revel in your sin, you enjoy your sin, and to have to break with your sin in order that you might become an heir of heaven and a possessor of eternal life is a wholly unacceptable proposition to you. But I want to remind you of this, that no human being No human being has ever entered heaven without first having repented of their sin. And so the choice for you, the sinner, is quite simple and stark. It's either your sin or God's salvation. Your sin or God's salvation. An all-out forsaking of sin and gaining heaven. Or an indulging in sin and a gaining of hell. That's the choice. I pray God that you'll make the right choice today and that you'll repent of your sin and you'll experience the salvation that Christ brings to the sinful soul. You see, it is only whenever a sinner obeys the first part of John's preaching, to repent, that they can truly then behold the Lamb of God Because at conversion, sin's blindness is removed. The veil of ignorance that exists upon the mind of the unregenerate is lifted, and the power of darkness is overthrown, so that the sinner is able to, by faith, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. There is no beauty in Christ for the sinner. There is no beauty, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, that we should desire Him. And that is true for the unregenerate, that is true for you, a non-Christian in this house today. There is no beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ, but at the moment of conversion, ignorance veil is lifted, the blindness is removed. And the sinner comes to, or the sinner, the trusting sinner comes to appreciate the beauty and the glories that there are in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance. is the preparatory work that must precede the coming of Christ into the life. Repentance from sin is the preparatory work that is required before Christ comes into the life. You see, what would there be a need? Or what need would there be for the sinner to behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world If the sinner is not consciously aware that they are a sinner and that they need their sin to be put away, what need would there be for the sinner to look to Christ if they themselves do not realize that they need Christ? And that can only take place whenever a sinner gets a true sight of their sin and they come to appreciate the danger and the peril that they are in because of their sin. Sinner, you'll only look to the Lamb if you realize that you need the Lamb and you need the Lamb of God. For He alone takes away the sin of the world. I'm going to give you a little outline from John the Baptist's message here and move quickly on. I see a number of things within this Declaration of John the Baptist. We find in John chapter 1, we didn't read it, but to behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. In that statement I see three things. I see the sinner's contemplation. Behold. Look. Consider. Contemplate. Survey. calling the one to attention. Here's something to contemplate. Behold, and what an object, what a worthy object of contemplation the sinner has in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. His grace, His goodness, His love, His mercy, His justice, His wrath, His loving kindness, His personality, His work. His ongoing ministry in the glory land on our behalf. What a subject of worthy contemplation. Oh, the sinner's contemplation. Behold Him. Behold the dying Lamb, sinner. Behold the suffering Lamb, sinner. Behold the reigning Lamb, sinner. Behold the coming Lamb. Behold the Lamb. The sinner's contemplation. I see then the Son of God's humiliation. I see it in the phrase, the Lamb of God. Christ was God's Lamb. The sacrificial Lamb. And where was the Lamb going to? Well, the Lamb in the Old Testament was going to the altar. He was going to be slain. The life was going to be taken from the Lamb. The blood was going to be shed on another's behalf. Christ is the Lamb. And because He is the Lamb, He was subjected to humiliation. The humiliation in this life from birth, not just at the cross. Christ's humiliation came the moment that he stepped out of the glories and into the womb of the Virgin Mary. Our catechism says that he endured all the miseries of this life. And then the humiliation of death. And what a humiliating death he died. Naked on the cross. forsaken by all, even by the Father, his humiliation, in order that he might offer up himself as a sacrifice for sin. He is the Lamb. See the Son of God's humiliation. And then I want you to see not only the sinner's contemplation, the Son of God's humiliation, I see sin's annihilation, which taketh away the sin of the world. He taketh it away. As far as the East is from the West, He takes it away. Sins penalty, sins pollution, sins punishment, fully destroyed by the Son of God, by His death and blood shedding. It put an end to sin. Sin's annihilation. This was John's message. Unsaved one, today take time, take time to contemplate the Lamb and all of His glorious personage. Consider the humiliation of the Son of God, Consider that which he endured in order that your sins might be annihilated, put away, expiated, the theological word being, the putting away of our sin, thank God. Think about it, consider it, contemplate it, sinner. And as you do so, as you consider the Lamb, then run to the Lamb, then rest on the Lamb, repent of sin and rest upon his work to the saving of your soul. Sinner, behold the Lamb. But repent, repent ye, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Moving from the theme of John's message, can I say that, before we move on, just to say and to emphasize that John's message was Christocentric. It was Christocentric. The Lord Jesus Christ and sinful man's relationship with him was the sum and substance of all that John preached. He preached Christ. Christ. May God help us to preach the same. But moving from the theme, I want you to notice the nature of the message that John preached. A number of points I want you to consider. Firstly, can I say that the message that John preached, it was personal and pointed. Personal and pointed. John the Baptist did not use general, impersonal, non-specific language when he preached God's message to those who came to hear him. Instead, Christ, forerunner, endeavored to bring the message home to the hearts of all of his hearers, and thus we find him using the term, you, you. to alert his hearers that the message that he was preaching was a message that applied personally to them. Note the words in Luke chapter 3 in the verse 7. O generation of vipers, who hath warned you, you, yes you, to flee from the wrath? come. The verse number eight, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father for I say unto you, I'm saying it to you, you in the congregation this is who I'm speaking to, I'm saying on to you, I'm saying on to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children on to Abraham. Personal pointed preaching I'm sure that you have attended, at least those of an older generation, I'm sure you've attended enough funerals around this district and further afield to realize that very few ministers personally apply the gospel to the hearts and to the consciences of their hearers on such occasions. Vague, ambiguous, general broad stroke statements are made so that the listener is not brought face to face with their personal need of salvation and so that the preacher is still well thought of within that particular church. Don't get too close to the matter. Don't get too personal to the people within the pew in the application of the word of God, lest you cause trouble within the assembly, within the church eldership, within the church membership. Don't get too personal, be general in your application. Now I thank God that I do not have such a congregation. I thank God that I have a congregation, at least to what I know of, that does not mind the Word of God being personally and pointedly applied to the conscience and to the hearts of their own hearts and in their lives. Because to be a faithful messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ is one who must apply personally God's Word to those who sit under their ministry. Whenever a free Presbyterian church is examined by the General Presbytery of this denomination, certain questions are asked. They're asked to minister, they're asked to session, and they're asked to committee. One of the questions that is asked to the elders, they have to answer honestly before God and before the General Presbytery is this question, does your minister endeavor to faithfully apply the gospel? to the consciences of those who hear. That question infers that it is expected, it is expected by our presbytery that every free Presbyterian minister applies the Word of God to his hearers and such requires then his preaching to be personal and to be pointed in nature. So whenever you hear me asking the sinner, Have you been born again? Whenever you hear me asking the sinner, have you sought the Lord? Are you a member of the household of faith? Have you a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ? It is an attempt on my part to personally apply the Word of God to at least the intellect of the sinner, aware that the Spirit of God must apply it effectually to the soul. I understand that. My theology isn't that. bad, that I do not understand that salvation is holy and truly of the Lord, but means are used, and God applies the word through the preaching of the word. Faith cometh by hearing, the preaching of the word, and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, the ramah, the preaching, the spoken word of God. I understand that the Spirit takes it, but it is my responsibility to apply the word to your heart, you the sinner. Are you a Christian? Has there been a point in your life that you turned from sin and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? When you hear me addressing the backslider and saying, how long? How long do you intend to remain at a distance from God? When will you arise and seek your Father's face? Do you not recognize the hurt and the damage that you are causing to the name and to the cause of Christ because of your backslidings? Whenever you hear me addressing a congregation like that, It is again my attempt to personally apply the Word to your heart. When you hear me saying to the believer, is it your desire to do the will of God in your life? Are you seeking to live a God-glorifying life? Are you in fellowship with your brother and sister in Christ? Is the Word of God read by you on a daily basis? Again, it is an attempt to personally apply the Word. No, brother and sister, we need vagueness. be extracted from our preaching. We need to be thoroughly personal and pointed in our preaching so that all would be brought face to face with what God requires of us, whatever our spiritual state would be. John said, you. It's about you. Not about the man beside you, but you in the congregation. It's about you. The second thing that I note about the nature of John's preaching was that it was fiery and fitting. Fiery and fitting. Look again at the verse 7 of Luke chapter 3. O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Vipers. John used Holy Ghost language in his preaching. He called the religious leaders of his day vipers. Surely that's fiery language indeed from a man that was full of the Holy Ghost. Charles Simeon, he said, remarked about the term vipers, it was a good characterization of this group because of the poisonous and infectious nature of their principles and the manifest relation which both in sentiment and conduct they bear to the old serpent, the devil. Let me add a little word of warning to all budding preachers. It should never be the preacher's intention to use offensive language when preaching. Never be the desire or intention to use offensive language when he preaches the Word of God, because such language can often damage the gospel and harm the gospel more than bringing any good to the gospel. However, in saying that, the preacher is to cause sin for what it is. John Butler wrote, you would do well today to be accurate in labeling conduct. Unfortunately, we are calling many bad people and bad things by good and respectable names and thus failing to properly condemn evil. It takes real courage to label things correctly and have this courage to buck the popular attitudes of the day and to bring upon themselves the wrath and rejection of men. J.C. Ryle said, well, would it be for the Church of Christ if it possessed more plain speaking ministers like John the Baptist in these latter days? morbid dislike to strong language, an excessive fear of giving offense, a constant flinching from directness and plain speaking are unhappily too much the characteristics of the modern Christian pulpit. We need to be wise in the language that we use, but we must still be bold in our denunciation of sin and of vice. It was fiery. It was fiery. And I say that the Lord Jesus Christ used these same words in Matthew, in the chapter number 23, in the verse 33. Now whenever the Lord Jesus Christ got up to stand that day, he didn't clear his throat and say, and by the way, you see that language that John the Baptist used that day? I want to apologize on his behalf, he should never have said that about you men. I want to apologize to you, I hope you weren't offended by what He said to you that day. I trust that you didn't go home and squirm because of what I said to you that day. No, Jesus Christ said, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? He added serpents to it. It was Christ-like, Holy Ghost language that He used. Now again, I hasten to add, brethren, those that stand in the open air, we must be careful in the language that we use. As wise as serpent and as harmless as doves, we do not go out to cause offense just for the sake of causing offense. The preaching of the cross, that's offensive to sinful men. Let's preach the cross properly. And if men are offended by the preaching of the cross, let them be offended. But let us be wise. Let us be wise in the language we use. Now the message was also fitting. I've said it was fiery, it was fitting. What I mean by fitting was that it was tailor-made for his hearers. We have examples of the suitableness of the message that he preached in the chapter. When the congregation heard John the Baptist preach, they asked the question, look chapter 3 in the verse 10, what shall we do then? Now John in his reply does not give some sort of broad stroke answer, some sort of general answer on what they should do, but rather he gives a suitable answer to various groupings within that congregation. Because to the common people who were guilty of being selfish, being self-centered, he gives this counsel, verse number 11 of the chapter. He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. And then he sees the tax collectors, and these tax collectors, they were guilty of stealing, taking that which was not rightfully theirs, Zacchaeus being the prime example of it. And John now gives this response to their reply, what shall we do? Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And then he sees some soldiers within his congregation who were guilty of the savage treatment of others, and making up of slanderous accusation about other people, and a general discontentment about their salaries. And so John gives him verse number 14, this instruction, this counsel, do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. There was a word of counsel, a word of exhortation in John's message for every grouping within that congregation that was suitable just for them. Suitable, fitting just for them. Can I say that on a human viewpoint and on a human level, that required and took something on John's part. That required John to know who was in his congregation. It required him to know their sin, their weaknesses, their circumstances, their trials and their troubles. It required God's man. Now I know that it was a Holy Ghost sent message, I understand that. But he was at least aware of different people within the congregation, soldiers, tax collectors, common people. who were selfish and self-centered, and instead of just applying the Word of God broad stroke, he applies it pointedly, personally, to each of those groupings within the congregation, because he knew his congregation. I know that God would help me as your minister to know this congregation, your needs, your trials, your valleys, your troubles, your sins, your backslidings, that God would give me a discerning spirit. And having then known the congregation and seeking God's face, that then God would furnish me with messages that will help you and bring you challenge in whatever spiritual state you are. Now, can I say something? If I do that, you're going to get mad with me sometimes. You're going to get angry from time to time because you're going to feel the sword of the Spirit going in and wounding you and discomforting you. But that is God applying the Word of God to your life. Never resist a child of God. Never resent it because God is wanting to conform you to the image of His own dear Son. And so if you feel the Word personally apply to your heart today, thank God for that. God's given me a message for you. The third thing to note, we need to go very quickly about the nature of John's preaching, was it was convincing and convicting. The repeated question in the verse 10, 12, and 14, what shall we do, clearly demonstrates that John's hearers were convicted by his message, by his preaching, and they were also convinced, they were convinced that they had to do something. In order to put right the wrongs that God's servant had exposed in their lives by the preaching, they realized that they needed to do something. It was convicting, first of all, and then it was convincing. I'm convinced by what God has said through his servant John that I do have sinned. This is wrong in my life, now I need to do something about it. See the response of John's ears. It's a response that every minister craves for. As he delivers his soul from week to week, as the minister of God's gospel labors in the Word of God and study, and then in the presentation of it, it is the desire of the minister, of the pastor, for his congregation to leave the house of God asking this question, what shall I do? What does God want me to do with respect to what I have just heard in light of all that I have heard in God's house today? What must I do? I wonder, is that my response? Is that your response? The messages that are preached from this pulpit, is it your desire to put things right? God has shown you that things are not right. Is it your desire to put right that which the Spirit of God has shown is not right in your life through the preaching of God's Word? Do you ever leave God's house wounded, hurt, challenged, convicted? Or have you reached a stage in your Christian life where the Word no longer convicts you? Oh, that the cry would go up more from this place and from all of our hearts, what shall we do? What shall we do? But I suppose that happens when the Holy Spirit is upon a man. May God be so pleased to put His Spirit on this man so that you leave and say, what do I do? God has spoken, what do I need to do? Tied up with that last point is our final point for today. We thought about the themes within John's message. We thought about the nature of the message. I wanted to think about the response to John's message, the message that John preached. It wasn't John's message, it was God's message through John. Was the response well with any message? There's always varying responses. There was an indifferent response. Many flocked to hear John. What went you out to see? Christ asked. I read shaken in the wind. Many flocked to hear the Baptist because we read in Matthew 3 verse 5 that there went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan. Thousands flocked to hear John the Baptist and yet we do not read that they all responded to the message. Like every congregation, an indifference to the truth resulted in many being unchanged by the truth. I pray you're not indifferent to the Word of God, but instead, that Lord's Day by Lord's Day, you're intent. If you have tuned your ear before even coming to this house, through prayer and through the reading of God's Word, and you're going to be like Mary, you're just going to sit at His feet, and you're going to hear His Word. And then you're going to respond to that word. Manny came, she responded. There must have been an indifferent response to the message. What will your response be to this message? And then secondly, there was a positive response. We have already seen evidence for that because we read that those heard it, they said, what shall we do? But also notice in John chapter one and the verse number 35, John has two disciples. John has two disciples. Again, the next day after John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, behold, the lamb of God. One is later identified as Andrew in the verse number 40. These were men, individuals who heard God's message through God's servant. They had heeded it. They had identified themselves with the Baptist. And later, whenever the Messiah appears, they leave the Baptist and they join the ranks of Christ and they become disciples and followers of the Savior. They positively responded to the message. and they become followers of Jesus Christ. And every servant of God desires a willing reception to the messages that they preach, not to make their hearers followers of them, but to make them followers of Christ. Followers of Christ. Oh, that your response would be positive. Take counsel that Mary gave to those servants at the marriage feast in Cana. Whatsoever he saith to you, do it. What he says to you, do it. As we hear God's voice through the preached word. And then the third response, and finally, there was a negative response. I suppose the greatest example of such a response is provided in the life of Herod Antipas. He was the great grandson of Herod the Great. You'll recall that I said that John's preaching was fiery and fitted, as well as convicting and pointed and personal, well, When John the Baptist found himself before higher powers, he did not mince his words, he did not water down his message, he did not cut the cloth to suit the crowd. Instead we find God's servant pinpointing with hairline precision the sin of Herod, Luke 3.19. We read that Herod had been reproved of him for Herodias, the brother of his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done." What was Herod's response to such pointed, precise, and personal preaching? Did he repent of sin? Did he thank John for showing him the air of his way? No, look, 3 verse 20 tells us his response. He shut John in prison. He shut up John in prison. You can't get a more negative response to preaching than that. imprisonment of the preacher. The faithful preacher of the gospel soon comes to realize that not everyone who hears the word, heeds the word. Sometimes what we preach is a savor of life on to life, others death on to death. But the preacher who is honest with his congregation, biblical in his presentation of the gospel and faithful to God must come to expect a that some will turn from the truth to their own peril and to their eternal destruction and damnation. It is the thing that grieves a preacher's heart the most, to preach messages and see people both saved and unsaved as they stubbornly dig in their heels and refuse to change their behavior and conduct. And while you may not shut up this preacher in prison, you do shut your ears to what he preaches. You stay away from God's house or you refuse to listen to what he says. May God help us. May God help us not to be negative in our response to the word. But that from today that we would yield to the instruction and the counsel from God's word. John the Baptist was a man, and that's all he was, but he was a man who came from God with a message from God, a message that would center on the person and work of Jesus Christ. And we have the same message to proclaim, a message concerning Christ. May God enable you and I to proclaim boldly this timeless message. And may we not see an indifferent or a negative response to it, but may the message reach into the hearts of Andrews. May God's message reach into your heart and you positively respond to it. And then you become a follower, not of this denomination, not of this preacher, but primarily a follower of Jesus Christ, to follow the Lamb, having beheld the Lamb. This was John's message, mandated from God. ministry that was blessed by God that would only be six months in length. May God give us such a period in ministry that things happen for the glory of God. May God bless His Word to our hearts. Let's unite in prayer. I wanted to finish off the message We thank you for your hearing and your listening. May God help us always to be wise in the preaching of the gospel. May God help us to be wise in the handling of the word and help us to be faithful in its exegesis. Our loving Father in God and heaven, we come before thee. We rejoice, O God, in this timeless message that we have to proclaim. To point men and women away to the Lamb of God, how easy it would have been for John to gather up a crowd to follow him. And yet, whenever the sun of righteousness arose, the day star disappeared. All eyes were focused on the Christ, and on the coming Lamb. And, O God, that all eyes would be taken off preachers and evangelists, and, Lord, that all eyes would be ever placed on the Lamb. May men and women in Portland alone Free Presbyterian Church follow the Lamb. Help us, O God, in our preaching. O God, help us to be wise in all that we say, the language that we use, Help us not to be going out in coming weeks and thinking that we can just go about and call everyone, whatever we care, and comes into our mind. Help us to be Holy Spirit guided. Guide us, Lord. Help our ministry to be effective. And may, O God, we see others follow Christ. Bless thy word to our hearts. And may each leave this place with this question on their hearts today, what shall I then do? Answer prayer, for we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.