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Dr. Richard L. Strauss
April 13, 1980
Between the book of Malachi and the book of Matthew there were 400 silent years. We call them silent years because there was no word from God. There was no man who wore the mantle of a prophet to our knowledge, no man who stood as God's representative before the people and communicated the message of God, the Word of God. There was no man to tell people what God wanted them to do, to reveal God's will to men. They had the Scriptures but they had no voice from God.
Then the silence was broken:
"In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar...the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness" (Luke 3:1-2).
The Word of God came to him. That was something new and different. For 400 years there had not been a man to stand before the people and communicate a fresh revelation from God, and here he was. It came to pass that the Word of God came to John.
What's so different about that? God spoke to other people: He spoke to Mary, He spoke to Joseph. He spoke to Zechariah. He spoke to others. What's so different? Well He did speak to those people and He revealed to them something He was going to do and how they could fit into His plan. But this is different because now He speaks to a man who is to become His mouthpiece, His voice—to stand before a wicked and perverse generation and reveal His will and proclaim His Word to others. John was a prophet of God and that's what's different.
1. John the Baptist Was a Prophet
There had not been a prophet for 400 years. I know he was a prophet because Jesus called him one. Jesus was talking about John's ministry and said:
"But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet" (Luke 7:26).
Jesus said John the Baptist is a prophet. He's more than that but he is that. Now the Jews should have been looking for a prophet because Malachi predicted that one was coming.
"'I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the Lord Almighty" (Malachi 3:1).
They should have been looking. Yes, 400 years is a long time to look. Maybe they got discouraged and stopped looking. That's evidently what happened. But God said He would come. They should have been ready; they should have been watching.
"See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction" (Malachi 4:5-6).
Not only is a prophet coming, but that prophet will come with the appearance of Elijah. He'll have a ministry like Elijah. He'll preach in the power of Elijah. He'll be called Elijah the prophet.
When the angel predicted to Zechariah that he would have a son and told Zechariah a little bit about that son, he said:
"And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17).
John was going to be this one whom Malachi talked about, who would come to prepare the way and proclaim the message of God, and preach in the spirit and power of Elijah and get people ready for the coming of the Messiah.
The angel said he would be the one to fulfill that prophecy. Now see what the Lord Jesus said about it:
"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come" (Matthew 11:12-14).
"If you folks will believe that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and prepare your hearts through repentance and faith, and receive the message, then John the Baptist will have fulfilled the prediction of Malachi 4 5-6. He will, if you will receive it. Elijah is he who shall come."
"Jesus replied, 'To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that He was talking to them about John the Baptist" (Matthew 17:11-13).
Jesus said John the Baptist was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Now they did not receive the kingdom Jesus offered them. They did not repent as a nation. They did not turn from their sins and espouse their Messiah. Consequently, someone will come in the latter days before the coming of Jesus Christ to the earth His second time and fulfill this same prediction. But what Jesus is saying is if they would have received it—He said these very words: then John will fulfill that prophecy and he would have been that one predicted in Malachi 4.
He was the prophet, the messenger of God who would proclaim the word of God and prepare the way before the Messiah. As a prophet, he would not only predict the future but he would proclaim God's Word. That was the two-fold role of a prophet in the Old Testament: he would foretell and he would forth-tell and John the Baptist is one who emphasizes a forth-telling ministry. He is a proclaimed. He is a herald. He is a preacher.
2. John the Baptist Preached a Biblical Message
Look at it again in Luke chapter 3 where we started.
"During the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching" (Luke 3:2-3a).
Now I stopped right in the middle of a sentence. Forgive me for that because I want to spend a whole evening on the meaning of John's baptism so I'll finish the sentence then. All right? Tonight I want to talk about John the preacher. When we began this study we saw John the Baptist as the master of the unusual. Tonight I want you to see him as the prince of the preachers. We want to talk about his preaching ministry tonight.
What a ministry it was! He proclaimed the Scriptures. He predicted judgment. He presented the Savior. He promoted righteous living. Those, friends, are the essential elements of Biblical preaching. Let's look at them.
a. John the Baptist Proclaimed the Scriptures
We can see it in Luke 3 or we can see it in Matthew 3. I'm going to use Matthew.
"In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near' (Matthew 3:1-2).
That, friends, was a Biblical message. Jesus preached the same message when He began His earthly ministry:
"From that time on Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near'" (Matthew 4:17).
Same message. What does it mean? What was John the Baptist saying? What was Jesus saying? He doesn't define what he means. The fact that he doesn't explain what he means will lead us to believe that his hearers knew what he meant. I'm persuaded of that particular principle. They understood completely what John said and what Jesus said. It was a Biblical message. These men were preaching to people who knew the Old Testament. They were saturated in the Scriptures. They grew up learning the Word of God as it was recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures, so they knew what the kingdom of heaven was.
Do you want to know what it is? You'll have to turn back to the Old Testament to get a little help. Let's start with Daniel. (If you're a regular attendee on Wednesday night, you've heard a number of these things before but I assume that many of you do not come for the Life of Christ studies on Wednesday night and so we'll take a few moments on this.)
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream in Daniel chapter 2 and nobody could interpret it. Finally, the finger was pointed to Daniel as a man who could probably tell him. So Daniel told him not only what the dream was but what it meant. The heart of it is revealed to us in verse 44.
"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever" (Daniel 2:44).
The God of heaven shall establish a kingdom. Now that's sounds strangely like, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The God of heaven shall establish a kingdom. That's the clearest Old Testament reference I know to that statement in the New Testament that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
What was Daniel talking about? He's talking about an earthly political kingdom of the God-man, the Messiah. God's going to establish a kingdom on the earth. God's going to rule over the earth. After all these human kings have made a mess of it, then God's going to send His Son to establish His kingdom of righteousness and justice and peace and purpose on the earth. The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom. It won't be given to anybody else but His people. And it shall break in pieces all these human kingdoms. And it shall stand forever.
Turn over to chapter 7 of Daniel where Daniel himself had a dream. Then God reveals the meaning of that dream and it's the same thing.
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man"—isn't it interesting that Jesus used that name as His favorite title for Himself?
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed" (Daniel 7:13-14).
"But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever" (Daniel 7:18).
"Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him" (Daniel 2:27).
Who do you think the Jewish people understood when they read those verses? They understood them to be themselves. They were God's chosen people, they were the people of the Most High God. This was to be a kingdom on earth—ruled over by the Messiah—in which the nation Israel would have a prominent place.
There are other Old Testament prophets that tell the same thing. For instance, the prophet Zechariah tells that in that kingdom people will flock to one who is a Jew because they want to get to know His God.
Now what do you think those people understood when John came in Matthew 3:2 and began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? If the Bible makes any sense at all, if there's any continuity in God's Word from Old Testament to New Testament, there is only one answer I can give you: They understood that very kingdom predicted by Daniel, described by Isaiah as a time of peace and righteousness and justice on the earth, revealed by Jeremiah as a time when there would be forgiveness of sins and the knowledge of God would cover the earth and when Israel would enjoy and experience her new covenant, that Zechariah described as a time when the Messiah Himself would be present, people would flock to Jerusalem to worship—what else could they understand except that that kingdom predicted in the Old Testament was about to be established.
There is a condition, however: Repent. Change your mind about yourself and your sin and your need of forgiveness, and your view of the Messiah—what He wants to do in your hearts and lives. This was a Biblical message John preached. The hearers knew exactly what he was talking about.
He was a prophet and he was proclaiming the Word of God. He was asking them to respond. I would imagine John had saturated his life with the Scriptures. In fact I have no doubt about it. Every Jewish boy did. Having a father like Zechariah, how could he have grown otherwise, than in the word day after day? He was trained in it. He loved it.
And now as his ministry begins, he's honoring it by proclaiming it. Evidently he believed what it said. In fact, he accepted those promises in the Old Testament in a very literal sense. It said God was going to establish a kingdom. He believed it. He didn't say, "That doesn't mean that it has to be interpreted figuratively and allegorically—and that means God's going to establish a church someday and all those promises just are going to be fulfilled in the church." No. He really believed that God was going to do what He said He was going to do, because it was His Word. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is imminent. It's about to be established." He believed the Word. He accepted the words in their normal sense.
I think that's essential in Biblical preaching, and so we stand for that in this church. We believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. We believe the Bible is God's Word, inherent and infallible. And we try to interpret those words in their normal sense. We take what they say and we believe it. We don't try to say, "Well, those words say that I realize, but it doesn't really mean that; it means something else."
Now, I know their problems in the Scripture and no method of Biblical interpretation or system of Biblical theology is without its problems. But we try to the best of our ability to understand the words of the Bible in their normal sense because we believe this message. We believe it's from God. We believe it is God's answer to the problems in our lives. God's way of eternal salvation is revealed in His Word. And if you're looking for a church that believes the Scriptures, here we are. We're glad you're here. We hope you stay around a while because that's what we stand for. John did, too.
b. John the Baptist Predicted Judgment
The prince of preachers proclaimed a Biblical message, but in Biblical preaching there cannot just be what we might call an intellectual exegesis of the text. There has to be also, to my way of thinking, a challenge to people's lives. There has to be something that that encourages them to do what God wants them to do. There has to be a message that motivates them. And there was in John's preaching.
If you study the Old Testament at all, you know that in the predictions of Messiah's coming it is said that He will come in glory and that He will come in judgment. I would imagine people studying the Old Testament had a difficult time putting those things together. They didn't understand that because they didn't understand that He's coming twice. He's coming once to give His life as an atonement for the sins of the world, and He's coming again to judge sin and to establish His kingdom of glory, majesty and might. But John is going to give us the aspect of judgment. Now that's a part of his message. That's not a happy part of preaching but it's an important part. He predicted judgment.
You begin to see that judgment when he sees many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism.
"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?' (Matthew 3:7).
Wrath to come. That's not a happy message. But it's an important part of God's Word. It's a message of judgment. He calls them vipers, snakes. Jesus did, too. Those Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes, they were like snakes. They thought, "Well if Messiah is coming, I sure don't want to get judged so maybe I better do something. Even if I had to get baptized here by this odd looking wilderness preacher, I've got to do something." And they were coming out of the desert like snakes when the desert was on fire. That's what the figure is. When the dry brush would catch fire, all of vipers would come out of their holes and scurry for safety. And here were these Sadducees and Pharisees scurrying for safety.
"Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Do you mean business with God or you're just coming down here because you think maybe the kingdom is about to be established and you want to get into the ground floor and avoid the judgment and share in the blessing?"
It was a rather bold statement but it was necessary. Sin brings judgment. John warns them that sin brings judgment and that has to be part of any Biblical preaching ministry, as unhappy as it may be. Adam's sin puts every member of the human race in jeopardy of God's wrath.
"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold back the truth and unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18).
There is that side of God's being as we studied in our attributes of God series, which is wrathful. God's wrath is exercised against sin and John knew about that wrath.
"The One who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them." (John 3:31-36).
There's a debate among scholars as to whether that is John the Baptist speaking or the Apostle John speaking. I'm a great fence rider! I think the Apostle John is telling us the essence of what John the Baptist really said. I think they're both there. But in verse 36, if that's true, then this is John's message:
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them" (John 3:36).
The wrath of God. There it is again. John the Baptist knew about God's wrath.
"The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 3:10).
That's not a happy thought. Judgment by fire. But it's part of God's Word and so John tells it like it is. Biblical preaching tells it like it is, happy or not. It's part of God's Word. People need to be warned that if they reject God's grace then they experience God's wrath.
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11).
There's a great misunderstanding today about what that really means. There are people who are praying for a baptism with fire, who feel that this is associated with Acts chapter 2 and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and speaking in tongues. I don't think that's what it means at all. When the Lord refers to a baptism by fire, He is speaking of judgment.
"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12).
That is a message of judgment when Messiah comes. He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Yes, that's for those who will trust Him and believe Him. But for those who will not, there will be judgment. There will be a baptism by fire. It's a message of judgment.
When He's speaking just to believers again, when the Lord Jesus is about to leave His disciples, they're gathered together and He tells them not to leave Jerusalem (Acts 1:4).
"For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5).
He didn't say "and with fire" because those men would not be baptized with fire. There would be cloven-tongues like fire on them when the Spirit of God came upon them, but that's not what that fire in Matthew 3 was talking about. When Jesus is speaking to believers He leaves out the fire because fire is judgment, folks. You don't ever have to pray for a baptism by fire. Please don't pray for that. That is judgment.
God knows we need a little fire sometimes. When I look out over this congregation I say, "God, set us on fire. We need some fire in our singing; we need some fire in our burden for lost souls, and in our witness to a lost world. We need some fire." But we don't need a baptism by fire. That's judgment.
The Messiah is coming back someday and He's going to judge sin, and those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ are going to experience the fury of God's wrath. That's the message the prince of preachers was proclaiming to Israel. That's part of all Biblical preaching.
c. John the Baptist Presented the Savior
Well it's great to preach judgment because it's part of God's Word and it's necessary, but it doesn't really solve the problem, does it? It may show people their need but it doesn't reveal to them the solution to their need. We need something more.
John had it. He presented the Savior.
This is John's account of what Matthew and Mark and Luke have told us:
"There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that Light, so that through Him all might believe. He himself was not the Light; he came only as a witness to the Light. The true Light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world" (John 1:6-9).
Why did he come? He came to bear witness of the Light? Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus.
A man sent from God to bear witness to another. He knew about Him. Oh, he had some questions—even had some doubts—but he knew about Him.
He knew of His pre-existence before His birth.
"(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, 'This is the One I spoke about when I said, "He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me"')" (John 1:15).
John was older than Jesus by at least six months. He began his ministry before Jesus. Jesus was the One who came after John, yet He's surpassed John. Why? Because he knew that he Existed previously.
He didn't only know of His pre-existence, he knew of His Sonship.
"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known" (John 1:18).
He even understood His deity.
"I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One" (John 1:34).
As we've seen in other passages, to be God's Son is to share God's nature. He was God the Son. John understood His deity.
He understood His authority and His superiority. Again, we're in that same passage that I think was probably the Apostle John's recollection of the of the ministry of John the Baptist.
"He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all" (John 3:31).
He is to be exalted above all because He is the Son of God.
Yes, John knew His pre-existence and His Sonship and His deity and His authority. But most important he knew that salvation was in Him.
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
How could salvation be found in this One? John the Baptist revealed that to us. It's probably one of the shortest and yet most potent Gospel texts in all the Bible:
That day when John was ministering to a multitude of people and out on the fringe of the crowd he saw the Lord Jesus moving toward him (John 1:29), he stops what he's saying and he points his finger to that One. He cries out to that multitude of people:
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29b).
He's the One who provides God's salvation because He is God's Lamb. He's the One who will die in our place and bear the death and penalty of our sins. He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was our sin bearer. He provided eternal salvation. And now He calls on us to appropriate the benefits of what He's done by simply acknowledging our need and trusting Him.
That's the message of salvation: the substitutionary death of God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus. And that, dear friends, is the heart of all Biblical preaching: the cross of Jesus Christ. The gospel which is Christ. who died for our sins according to the Bible. He was buried and rose again the third day, according to the Bible. And the prince of preachers had at the heart of his message the death of God's Son.
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
He proclaimed the Scriptures. He predicted judgment. He presented the Savior.
d. John the Baptist Promoted Righteous Living
There was another principle—a very important principle in John's ministry—that has to be a part of all Biblical preaching. It is the principle that faith—true saving faith—always produces ultimately a changed life. John promoted righteous living.
He preached the message of repentance and faith. Then he goes on to say to those coming to him to hear his message:
"Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3:8).
You're going to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. You're going to put your confidence in Him as the Lamb of God who died for your sins and paid the penalty for your forgiveness. Then God's going to take up His abode in your life and He's going to begin to bring about some changes.
God wants to see the evidence of that faith—that change of mind and heart, that repentance. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. I think this is a message we need in our day. You probably know that because I do say quite a bit about it, don't I? When you trust Jesus Christ to save you from sin, then He expects to see some changes.
As the Apostle James said, "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:17). As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "By their fruits you shall know them" (Matthew 7:16).
People who have trusted Christ as their Savior give evidence of that fact by living for Him, by growing in His likeness, by demonstrating Godliness and holiness. There's a change—fruits in keeping with repentance.
Yes, there's preparation for God's kingdom. It begins in the heart by repentance and faith, but it continues in a life of Godliness. Of course, they didn't understand that. They were thinking to themselves, "Oh, wait a minute. Now we don't need any changes—why we're children of Abraham."
That's why John said:
"Do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones" (Matthew 3:9).
Translated into our day, it would say, "Well listen, I mean I was born into a Christian family. Of course I'm a Christian. And my father was a preacher; my grandfather was a preacher. Certainly you don't think for a moment that I'm not a Christian." Friend, your ancestry isn't going to get you into heaven.
Somebody said God doesn't have any grandchildren. You need to be born into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ. And then you need to give evidence of that fact that you've been born again by a transformed life, by fruits in keeping with repentance. The fruit of a Christian character—those things listed in Galatians 5 [mp3]: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control. The fruit of praise to God. The fruit of witnessing, sharing your faith with others. That's the fruit God wants to see. That's what gives evidence of our salvation.
Well, these people coming to John said, "Well great, John. You want us to repent but what then shall we do? What kind of fruit are you talking about?" That's a great question! You know John was getting through. You know he was a great preacher because people were listening and after he got finished they were saying, "Great. We want to do that, John. Just tell us what to do and we'll do it."
Luke tells us something about this that Matthew didn't say:
"He answered and said to them, 'He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise'" (Luke 3:11).
Take an interest in the needs of other people. We were talking about that last Wednesday night—something we evangelical Christians really don't give a lot of emphasis to, do we? Maybe we've withdrawn from it and we hesitate to emphasize it because the liberals have taken it over and their social gospels become the gospel to them, so we've backed away so far that we get totally uninvolved in the needs. I'm talking about the practical physical needs of the people around us.
Jesus was interested in that, folks. So was John the Baptist. It's part of the fruit of salvation. If Jesus Christ lives in you, then His love should be reflected toward people in need. When we look around us at a starving world, and then look at our own affluence and then read "he who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none," that gets right down where we live, doesn't it?
Let's move on, shall we? That's too convicting.
"Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Collect no more than what is appointed for you'"(Luke 3:12-13).
Be ruthlessly honest in every one of your daily dealings. That's a fruit of repentance, you see. God's power that now dwells within you—clean up the way you live. Make yourself totally honest with everyone around you.
"Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, 'And what shall we do?' So he said to them, 'Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages'" (Luke 3:14).
Wow! This whole thing is convicting, isn't it? How do we get into this passage tonight? Do violence to no man, don't accuse any falsely—be careful what you say about other people—and be content with your wages. Now, I don't know all the applications of that in our day, but I do know the Bible says a great deal about contentment: satisfaction with what God has given to us, and where God has placed us in life. Oh, there are things in God's Word that that allow us to use the limits of the law to get what is rightfully ours. Paul did that; he escaped a beating by pleading his Roman citizenship. Nothing wrong with using the law rightfully. But there is a great deal in God's Word about contentment. It's part of the fruit of salvation.
You see, our faith in Jesus Christ should result in a transformed life, in obedience to God's Word. And we need to tell people. That's part of Biblical preaching: promoting righteous living.
There's a message for every heart here, isn't there? Are you hungry for a word from God? There are churches where God's Word is taught preached and proclaimed. You need to be a part of one because it's the Word that helps us grow and become strong in God's grace.
Trusting Jesus as Your Savior
If you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, there's a warning. It is that God gave His Son and unless you trust Him and receive God's gift of grace, you'll have to be the object of God's wrath. An infinitely holy God could not do otherwise. But there is a Savior who gave His life's blood for your eternal redemption, to deliver you from God's wrath, from the penalty of your sins. Trust Him. Receive Jesus as your own personal Savior from sin.
Once you've received Him, let Him renovate your life. Let Him fill you and empower you, and bring you into His very likeness. There's so much profession and pretension in the world today. What the world needs to see is some Christians who are real, who have let the indwelling Christ change their lives and make them like Him.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask You to seal the message of John the Baptist, the prince of preachers, to our own lives tonight. And help us to respond in whatever area You dealt with us. Lord, we pray that You'll break down those rationalizations, those desires to go on living like we've always lived, because it's really not so bad and not nearly as bad as others are living. But Lord, help us not to be satisfied, to keep moving on and keep growing, as we allow you to bring us daily more and more into conformity to the image of Your dear Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Continue to JB-3: Lowest of the Low