In the midst of an indifferent and apathetic
generation was search in vain for passion.
There was something different about those heroes of
days gone by.
Something they had that many of us know
nothing about.
Abraham had something, his was a passionate faith.
You can't sacrifice Isaac if you don't have
a fire burning within your soul.
This man had let God down many a
time, but he had a fire for God
burning within his heart.
Passion marks the man of God.
We can think of Martin Luther in the
16th century.
That man of God was in constant pain
and torment, in self-affliction and constant tribulation
until he got that assurance of the new
birth from God.
He was a warrior.
He was a man who spat and snapped.
He fought with sweat and blood.
Luther was the exact opposite of indifference and
of apathy.
Passion fights like a drowning beast that refuses
to go underwater.
Faith puts fire in the belly of the
man or the woman of God.
It gives us steel in our bones.
It sets us ablaze for the gospel.
And standing high in the biblical account of
the pillars of passion is a man who
refuses to be written off as a mere
apathetic.
He was a prophet of truth, of righteousness,
of wholehearted obedience to Jesus Christ.
His name is John the Baptist, or as
I prefer to call him, John the Pentecostal.
Glory to God.
He transcends the ages as a monument of
what God's grace can do in a life
that is wholly yielded to Him.
This day and this night, we're going to
be talking about bond slaves of Jesus Christ.
And in this morning, we're going to deal
with this man, John the Baptist.
When I was a young lad, the teacher
told me in the school, William, there are
three things that are going to happen to
you in life.
Number one, you're born.
Number two, you live.
Number three, you die.
You're born, you live, and you die.
So what I want to do with the
help of the Holy Spirit, at the light
of God's word this morning, is talk about
the birth of John the Baptist, the life
of John the Baptist, and the death of
John the Baptist.
And may we catch something of this heavenly
flame that burned with inside his bones.
Why don't we open our hearts to prepare
our hearts for the word of the Lord
in this morning.
God, we give you thanks, Lord.
We praise you, God.
You're high and you're lifted up.
Your glory fills the temple, O God.
We hunger and thirst for righteousness, O God.
We long for your spirit to come this
morning, God.
Speak to your church, O God.
Give us eyes to see.
Give us ears to hear.
Give us a heart to understand what is
your good and perfect will, O God.
We need a movement, O God.
I pray that you take this useless preacher
out of the midst, O God, and that
it would be the Holy Spirit speaking, God,
that it would be a word from your
throne, a word from heaven, O God.
Shake us, O God.
Break us, O God, and fill us afresh
with the Holy Ghost.
Set us ablaze with the fire of the
Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name, we give you glory.
In Jesus' name, we give you praise.
Thanks be to God.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Glory to God.
We're going to open our Bibles in the
first chapter of the book of Luke, and
we're going to read from verses 5 to
17.
Luke chapter 1, verses 5 to 17.
Someone wants to read that passage out loud
there, please feel free to do so.
Luke chapter 1, verses 5 through to 17.
I'll be making reference to Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John, other passages of the Scriptures, but we're
going to use this as the base for
our study today.
Luke chapter 1, verses 5 through to 17.
Do you want to read that one?
Okay, Candice?
Praise God.
Thank you very much.
John the Baptist's passion of the loyal service
to King Jesus have been an example for
a multitude of preachers, of prophets, and for
the people of God.
John the Baptist was a man prepared to
go Christ's way regardless of the consequences for
his own life.
His life had brought forth much fruit, but
the irony is that he was born in
a barren and a stricken land.
The Scripture tells us there in verse 7
that Elizabeth was barren, and they were now
well stricken in years.
Stricken there in Greek is advanced, that means
they were in old age.
They were a personification.
Elizabeth was the embodiment of the spiritual state
of Israel.
Barren, past itself by date, fruitless, old, stricken
in years.
God belonged to a past generation.
Israel had the law, had the ordinances, had
the commandments, had the promises, but where was
the life?
Religion was well past itself by date.
There was no future for the things of
God.
They were dying off, all but gone.
A dying ember lay where a fire of
glory, a pillar of power once stood.
The people said the church has gone.
It's seen its best days.
The church has well and truly lost the
glory, and it's never the return.
But they've always said exactly the same thing
before any great moving of the Spirit of
God.
Elizabeth and Zechariah fed off the Scriptures.
They knew all about Sarah.
They knew about Rebecca.
They knew about Rachel.
They knew about Manoah.
They knew about Hannah.
So what did these five women have in
common?
They were all barren, but by the intervention
of God Almighty, they brought forth and gave
birth to a breed of rare man, champions,
liberators, great men of faith, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Samson, Samuel, men that changed and transformed the
history of God's people.
Elizabeth realized the God of Rachel, the God
of Sarah, the God of 2,000 years
before was her God, the God of Israel.
If God did it for Sarah, He can
do it through me.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He's the first and the last, beginning and
end, alpha, omega, author and finisher, perfecter and
consummate of our faith.
If God can move through Sarah and bring
forth birth to a barren woman, then God
can do it through me.
God has not changed.
God is just the same.
Elizabeth may have been barren, but her hope
was placed in the God of Israel.
Scripture says in Isaiah 44, verse 3, that
God was going to pour out floods on
the thirsty soul.
He was going to pour out water on
the dry ground.
And God many times brings us to that
place of barrenness to see if we are
hungry and thirsty for Him.
If you're satisfied living in a barren place,
if you're satisfied in the desert, you're never
going to get any blessing from on high.
God brings you to those places to see
if there's hunger and thirst for you.
And if there is, the floods are coming.
The water's just around the corner.
God brings you to the desert place to
see what's in your heart.
Are you hungry for God?
If there's any sign, if there's any symbol
of 21st century spirituality, it's that of a
desert place where the winding dizzy paths of
mysticism and the New Age cult have led
multitudes off into confusion and bewilderment.
But true biblical spirituality brings us to the
feet of Jesus Christ in worship.
It brings joy.
It brings a clearness of mind.
And it brings refreshing and glory to God.
Deborah had said in the Old Testament, the
Judges 5, verse 6, I arose.
I arose as a mother in Israel.
Elizabeth had taught something of that same spirit.
You know, Peter, when he was preaching in
the day of Pentecost, he had referenced the
Jewel's prophecy.
And he says at one point, you know,
the old men will dream dreams.
And that word there, men, in Hebrew is
a generic term.
It means both men and women.
Not only were the men going to dream
dreams, but old women like Elizabeth too could
dream again.
You know, it seems like a paradox where
for us outside of Jesus Christ, old age
is a time of recollection, of reflection, of
the days gone by.
But in Jesus Christ, even old age, even
for a woman like Elizabeth, she could look
to the future in the hope of the
glory of God, awaiting the victory, awaiting the
outstretched arm of God Almighty.
She could dream dreams.
She had expectation.
She had hope.
She had anticipation.
She may have been barren.
She may have been old.
But hope had got a hold of Elizabeth's
heart.
In the barren land, there is hope.
In old age, there is hope.
Zechariah went into the temple.
Zechariah went into the temple to minister unto
the Lord.
He is a man of prayer.
You know, the first thing the angel says
to him, you know, your prayer is heard.
Elizabeth will give birth.
It says as well in Luke 1 verse
10 that when he was in there ministering,
the people were outside praying.
So here we've got Elizabeth, a woman of
prayer.
We've got Zechariah, a man of prayer.
We've got the people of God praying and
crying out to God, you don't need to
be a theologian to work out something's gonna
happen here.
When God's people start to pray, God's hand
starts to move.
God ignites that hunger for him in our
hearts to fulfill the hunger that he puts
within us.
Matthew Henry said, prayer is the appointed means
for obtaining what we need.
So go to God.
There was a time when the churches were
filled with people before the meeting.
They were all here in this altar crying
out to God.
And nowadays, it's all the people at the
altar after the meeting.
But Mr. Ravenhill said there on Friday morning,
it was listened to him.
He said when the people used to come
to the altar before the meeting started to
cry out to God for him to move,
then the glory fell.
You see, when the people were hungry for
God, something happened.
And if you're not hungry for God, forget
all about revival.
Forget all about depths in the river of
God.
Forget all about it.
You've got to be a people of prayer.
You've got to cry to God.
You've got to be thirsty and hunger for
righteousness.
Elizabeth was going to conceive.
Against all odds, new life was going to
come from an old barren religious couple.
Gabriel came.
Gabriel announced John will be born.
Gabriel himself was a foreshadowing of the ministry
of John the Baptist.
You know, the word angel in Greek and
the word messenger when it talks about John
the Baptist, it's exactly the same word in
Greek.
Gabriel stood in the presence of the Lord.
And that's why he could announce the word
of the Lord with boldness and assurance.
He had been in God's presence.
John the Baptist could preach and thus saith
the Lord because he'd been alone with God.
If you get up in this pulpit and
you haven't been alone with God, everybody knows
about it.
You can't hide it.
But when a man's been alone with God,
when a woman's been soaked in his presence,
there's a glory, there's a power, there's an
authority that they recognize.
When John preached, when Christ preached, if you've
been alone with God, you will enjoy that
divine back in every word that you say
from the holy righteous God who governs eternity.
The people marveled.
Zechariah, he's taken so long to come out.
No one had been in the temple that
long.
Why?
Because there was no fire.
There was no glory.
There was no spiritual life.
Religion was dead.
There was the people that waited and prayed.
Elizabeth waited and prayed.
Zechariah waited and prayed.
I know there's a time for faith.
There's a time for believing.
But the scripture says in Hebrews 6, 12,
we've got to be followers of them who
through faith and patience receive the promises of
God.
If you've got true faith, true faith holds
on.
True faith keeps believing.
True faith presses on.
The scripture says of Abraham, he believed in
hope against hope.
True faith believes on the patience, waiting, carrying,
or forgotten values in our microwave society.
The life that was birthed in prayer and
obedience to God produced holiness and fruit.
That lad that's about to be born when
he's older, he's going to tell people, you've
got two coats, you're a rich person.
He's going to tell the tax collectors, take
what you're allowed to, take the legal amount.
He's going to tell the soldiers, don't do
violence to any man, accuse no one falsely,
and be content with your wages.
When John started the preaching, give the word
of God, it says in Luke 35 that
the people were in expectation.
That's what happens when God starts to move.
The people of God feel a stirring within.
There's a moving of the Holy Spirit.
People start to believe maybe all things are
possible.
Maybe God does listen to my prayers after
all.
David says in Psalm 62, 5, my soul
wait only upon God for my expectation is
from him.
And if you have expectation in God, if
your hope is in him, then it will
be evident by your life.
You will live a holy life.
You will live a pure life.
You will bring your life into subjection to
the word of God.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7 verse
1, he says, having therefore dearly beloved such
promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of flesh and of the spirit.
The promises, the hope leads to a holy
life.
1 John 3 verse 3 says, he that
has this hope within himself purifies himself even
as he is pure.
If you're expecting in God, if you're waiting
in God, if you're hoping in God, it
will be evident because the fruits of holiness
will be seen in your life.
A holy man, a holy woman obeys God.
If you're a holy man, you will pray.
And if you pray, you'll obey.
And if you obey, you'll pray.
Yeah, there's no shortcut to holiness.
If you say your hope's in Christ, if
you say you're a son or a daughter
of God, it will be evident by the
fruit that's in your life.
Don't come telling me you belong to God
when your life contradicts everything you say.
The land was old and barren, yet through
prayer and obedience, there came life, joy, and
gladness.
The scripture that Candace read this in verse
14 says, thou shalt have joy and gladness,
and many shall rejoice at his birth.
You know, his birth gave great joy to
his father.
John was born.
There's life, joy, and gladness.
You know, our heavenly father also rejoices at
the new birth.
Scripture tells us heaven erupts in glee over
one sinner that repents, because God gives glory.
Christ has another vessel in which he can
manifest himself.
The new birth brings glory and joy to
God.
But now John heads off to the desert,
and we're not going to hear of him
for the best part of 20 or 30
years.
John, in the Greek, it means God shows
favour.
God shows favour.
Many people objected when Elizabeth said, I want
to call him John in Luke 161.
They said, well, you can't call him John.
No one in our family's been called John
before.
Well, it had to be that way.
Of course no one's been called John before.
No one's ever been like this lad before.
He's got something from God.
He's going to change things.
This lad's not going to be a doctor
when he's older.
He's not going to be a politician.
He's not going to be a lawyer when
John gets older.
He's going to be a fireman.
He's going to bring fire from heaven.
Glory to God.
This one's not going to be filled with
wine and drink.
He's going to be filled with the Holy
Ghost and bring a nation back to its
knees in obedience and submission to Jesus Christ.
Elizabeth said that the birth of her son
was to take away her reproach.
Luke 125.
Revival always works along those lines.
If you look back into the book of
Ezekiel, one of the great chapters on revival
in the Old Testament is chapter 36.
And there explicitly two times God says he
would send the revival.
He would send his glory that the reproach
would be taken from the people.
Where did God says in verse 15 of
Ezekiel 36, neither will I cause men to
hear in you the shame of the heathen
anymore.
Neither shall you bear the reproach of the
people anymore.
And then on down in verse 30, I
will multiply the fruit of the tree and
the increase of the field that you shall
receive no more reproach of famine among the
heathen.
God sends his glory to take away the
reproach of his people.
He said in the book of Joshua 5
verse 9, he says in Gilgal this way,
I have taken away the reproach of Egypt
from you.
God sends his glory to take away the
reproach of his people.
Glory to God.
But any moving of God is always a
moving of great mercy, of great grace.
You see, God, he doesn't have to step
in.
God doesn't have to change the thing.
He could just let the whole thing go
on down the way it's going.
But God in his mercy decides to step
in, decides to revive his work.
He descends from heaven and shows his glory.
He rises up souls.
He rises up warriors.
He touches men.
He touched John and John was different.
You know, when Moses was in the Sinai
desert, if he'd seen one bushfire, he'd seen
a thousand bushfires.
I mean, that's as common as muck out
there.
But just so happens one day he's walking
and here's a bush that's not consumed.
Here's a bush that burns with the glory
of God.
It's very interesting in Exodus chapter four or
Exodus chapter three, that God never said a
word to Moses until he started to draw
near to the bush.
You see, here's Moses.
He can spend, he's been spending 40 years
with those sheep of his father-in-law.
He can go off just taking care of
those sheep until he dies, no problem.
But God has him before the bush and
the sheep.
What is Moses going to do?
Is he hungry for God?
Is he thirsty for the reality of God?
Is he crannied for the glory of God?
And then when God sees that Moses starts
to draw near to the bush, then God
calls him not a moment before.
Are you hungry for God?
Are you longing for God?
The book of Exodus, where God used Moses,
shows God to be a savior, shows God
to be a liberator, shows God to be
a guide.
And John the Baptist was a guide for
the people of God.
You read the Old Testament.
Anytime there was an ungodly leader ruling that
nation, they always ended up in confusion and
ungodliness, worshiping idols.
But when there was a man of God
at the front bringing the things back to
God, that nation prospered, that nation went forth
in the blessing of Almighty God.
All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Luke 3, verse 6.
John showed the people that glory.
He led them to Christ.
He didn't come to lead them to John
the Baptist, no, no.
He came to lead them to Jesus Christ,
the one who is mightier than I, the
rock that is higher than I.
The prophet has no other task but to
lead people back to the path that leads
to God.
Get the people back to Jesus Christ.
Get the people back to the word of
God.
Get the people of God back to prayer.
That's the task of the prophet.
We're nobodies.
We're dust of the earth.
Jesus Christ is all in all.
He's everything.
Glory to God.
In the midst of a generation that was
barren and old, there came life, joy and
gladness because there were people prepared to walk
in prayer and obedience.
John's birth, John's life.
We'll touch on the preacher, his proclamation and
the prison cell.
Preacher, proclamation, prison cell.
John, first and foremost, was a preacher.
Scripture tells us time and time again that
he came preaching.
You know, when you read the scriptures, you
can feel his heat emanating from those pages.
He came preaching obedient to the impulse of
the Holy Ghost.
Scripture says there are three times John came
preaching.
John came preaching.
Very interesting.
He didn't come singing and he didn't come
dancing.
John came preaching.
All he had was a mighty voice that
broke over 400 years of prophetic silence.
He had absolutely nothing but a voice and
a pure dress sense that you would appreciate.
He wore clothes like those of Elijah.
Didn't come with a nice gel in his
hair, a little purple tie and a fancy
suit.
He came dressed in camelskin to call the
people back to God.
Like Elijah said, repent, repent.
John said, repent for the kingdom of God
is at hand.
He showed self-denial.
He called for self-denial and surprise, surprise,
he was a lonely man.
He was a lonely man.
Yet this loner in the desert became the
greatest attraction that everybody wanted to see.
What a strange sight it must have been.
All went out to him.
Matthew 3, 6 says, then went out to
John, Jerusalem and all Judea and all the
region round about the Jordan.
The synagogues emptied overnight.
He was a man who lived what he
believed and believed what he lived.
John, what is it that makes you preach
with such conviction?
What is it that gives you such boldness?
John says, because I preach what I live
and I live what I preach.
I believe every single word comes out of
my mouth and I live it.
I put it into practice.
You see, our great problem is in the
21st century, half the things we say here
in the pulpit, we don't believe them.
And if we do believe them, then we
don't live them.
I'm just sick of making people who preach
one thing in a pulpit, give a message
of holiness, and then midweek they're living like
devils.
God doesn't have time for people like that.
Let me say, if you're going to preach
a message in holiness, you've got to live
in holiness.
You're going to preach on prayer.
Make sure you're a man of prayer.
You're going to preach in obedience to God.
Make sure you're a woman of obedience to
God.
John came preaching.
They didn't come singing.
They didn't come dancing.
They didn't come eating.
They didn't come drinking.
John had no friends, no social life, no
social security.
And of all the places he goes to
preach, he goes out to the wilderness.
He goes out to the backside of the
desert.
Everywhere I go, I find people when I
travel around Europe and especially Spain, oh William,
you know, we've just such hard ground here.
Oh, it's ever so hard.
Oh, the work.
Oh, dear me.
Let's have a little pity party.
I'll play our violins and have a little
cry.
You know, listen, go study John the Baptist's
preaching tactics, and then come and tell me
about hard ground.
Here's a man who goes out to the
desert.
Spirit of the Lord comes upon him.
Just starts to preach the gospel of God.
All these people from Jerusalem today and all
the region about the Jordan just start to
show up.
I mean, that doesn't make a speck of
sense, but the wonderful thing is it doesn't
have to make sense because it's God.
God sends the revival.
God quickens the people.
God brings them out to the wilderness.
John didn't go to Jerusalem to run a
preaching crusade or a priest convention.
He stayed back in Jerusalem.
He stayed back in the wilderness, never went
to Samaria city center.
The people went to John, just like the
people came to Jesus when he went to
Matthew's house.
Matthew, you know, people say, well, you know,
in the name of sinner friendly evangelism, I've
met plenty of people that say, well, William,
why didn't you come with us?
Let's go and evangelize in the clubs and
the pubs.
Let's go there and dance with them, take
their pranks and then tell them how wonderful
Jesus is.
You know, I was about 19, 18 years
old when he invited me to that.
Every single one of them, now they're knee
deep back in the world.
They're deeper than they ever were before.
That doesn't work.
You see, when Jesus went to Matthew's house
to eat, the scripture tells us that Jesus
sat down at Matthew's house to eat and
then all the people came on to him.
He just didn't go to their discos.
Jesus didn't go and take a little pint
with them.
Jesus didn't smoke their joints and sleep with
their women.
He just lived the gospel filled with the
Holy Spirit.
No jokes, no guitar, no little tricks up
his sleeve.
Just preaches the gospel.
Lives in communion with God.
All the people start to show up again.
Doesn't make sense.
Doesn't have to make sense.
God does the work.
The truth was being proclaimed in the Jordan.
People repenting.
People being baptized.
All was going according to plan.
All was going ever so gloriously until the
religious lukewarm showed up.
Oh yeah, you're going to know that.
You're going to know that's true.
You're going to experience that.
Then come the lukewarm religious.
Repentant people were the only one who heard
John's message.
There were Pharisees and Sadducees.
People who had the appearance of godliness.
People who were hypocrites.
Who said something that they didn't live.
They were just interested in numbers.
All those Pharisees and Sadducees wanted was little
John's pulpit.
Oh he's got the influence.
Oh he's popular.
We've got to go and find out about
this guy.
John didn't take a moment's notice of him.
John never been a day in Bible school
in his life.
And these guys, you see them coming towards
him.
Oh no, we would say, we would say,
oh here comes the establishment.
Here comes the religious system.
Oh no, what am I going to do?
They're going to confine me.
No, John didn't twitch an eyelid.
I tell you, I've read the scriptures.
I believe I've captured something of the heart
of God.
I believe I can, of the heart of
John.
I believe I can almost, can understand his
character.
And I can see him that day in
the Jordan.
When the Pharisees and Sadducees start to draw
near.
I just see that man standing at attention.
Flexing those own muscles.
Points his finger.
Says you've got no time for me.
And rest assured I've got no time for
you.
Off you go you bunch of venomous vipers.
Slither your way back to Jerusalem on your
stinking filthy bellies.
Here's a man never a day in Bible
school in his life.
And he tells the religious two things.
Number one, what they've got to do.
And number two, where to go.
John had no time for them.
John didn't get messed up with a theological
debate or argument.
Just proclaim the word of God.
If you're not here in Christ's terms.
If you're not here to repent.
If you're not here to lay your heart
down before Christ.
Then off you go home.
You're not needed here.
Got no time for you here.
God doesn't need you.
God doesn't need me.
If you're not here because you mean business
with God.
Then off you go.
Stay at home Sunday morning.
Don't waste your time playing religion.
Come on.
Get right with God.
Seek God.
Be repented.
Be baptized in Jesus name.
He told the experts what to do.
You're obviously not doing a very good job
Pharisee.
You're obviously not doing a very good job
Sadducee back in Jerusalem.
Because the first sign of spiritual life.
Everyone's right here in the wilderness like a
click of a finger.
You've obviously haven't got something from God.
Well people have got something from God.
People are people long for reality.
We live in a society that's sick to
the back teeth of all the tradition and
rubbish that we've accustomed ourselves to.
We need life.
We need men and women that have heard
from God.
We need people that are going to be
free and preach the gospel regardless of the
consequences.
Repent.
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
Will you be such?
Will you be that man?
Will you be that woman?
The messenger of the necessity brings a message.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.
Matthew 3 verse 3.
Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.
Matthew 3 verse 2.
His was a baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins and his message was Christ
centered from day one.
He said that then there's coming one greater
than me.
There's coming one mightier than I.
I've baptized in water.
This guy he's going to baptize with the
Holy Ghost and with fire.
You think I've been tough going.
Wait till he comes along.
You think I've been rough.
Wait till you hear what he's going to
say to you.
There's coming one greater.
There's coming one mightier than I.
I must decrease.
He must increase.
I am nothing.
He is all in all.
Repent.
That's imperative.
When someone preaches that you know where they're
at.
He didn't bring an argument.
Didn't bring it to be it.
Just a command.
Repent.
You don't want to repent and be baptized.
That's no problem.
Off you go.
I was preaching there last Saturday in a
conference down there in southern Spain and Michael's
dad was at the meeting and he asked
me to preach in London this Sunday.
So I forgave the message on Sunday night.
He invited me to go to a man's
house.
Said he'd been saved 29 years but he
said he just didn't want to be baptized.
So he said to me you know I
love Jesus.
I love him.
I just don't want to be baptized and
I said well what you've just said to
me is a complete contradiction.
Word of God says he that loves me
is he that keeps my commandment and obeys
him.
I'm not making that up.
That's John 14 verse 21.
If you love God it will be manifest
in your obedience to God and if you
don't obey God don't come telling me you
love God.
You're telling me a lie and then he
says I know but I would never deny
the Lord.
Someone puts a pistol in my head says
deny Christ.
Deny Christ or die.
Well I wouldn't deny Christ when you're just
telling me another lie.
You say you expect me to believe that
at the moment of your death you would
have denied Christ and for these 29 years
you've been living and you're denying him every
single day.
He says repent and be baptized.
If you're not going to obey him don't
tell me you love him.
Don't tell me that you're not going to
deny him.
Don't tell me that that's contradiction.
That's not in the scriptures.
If you love God you will obey God.
Jesus never says in the scriptures oh by
their profession you will know them.
Oh because they attend church on a Sunday
morning you will know them.
No no no.
You'll know them by their fruits and if
there's no fruits there's nothing.
If there's no sanctification there's been no justification.
The kingdom of heaven is coming and it
only it only has a place for people
who are walking in wholehearted obedience to Christ.
Christ-centered people.
Are you one of them?
John jumped in his mother's womb at the
presence of Christ.
His whole being was caught up in the
glory of God.
He knew that Jesus was going to bring
separation but he knew which side he was
on.
He was with Christ to the end.
He knew where his loyalties lay.
In Luke 3 verse 1 and verses 1
and 2 we'll have several political and religious
authorities that are mentioned.
Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Annas, Caiaphas
but then the scripture says in verse 2
that same passage but the word of God
came on the John son of Zacharias in
the wilderness.
The authority wasn't with the political regime.
The authority wasn't with the religious crowd.
The authority was with the little old preacher
right there in the wilderness.
The word of God came on the John
in the wilderness.
John was kept apart in the wilderness.
It had to be that way.
If John started to preach his message in
Jerusalem he would have been killed in half
an hour.
Would have cut his throat in five minutes.
Same thing happened with Jesus.
You know what's amazing?
Jesus wasn't born in Egypt or in Cairo,
the center of world culture.
He wasn't born in the center of world
religion.
Jesus was born in a little place called
Bethlehem in a little stable that stunk of
animals.
There he was born outside the establishment.
John was kept in that wilderness outside the
establishment.
Did the same thing with Moses.
Kept him for 40 years in the desert.
Why?
Because if Moses spent 40 years with those
people he's going to be as enslaved as
they are.
God has to keep you in the wilderness
to let your mind be free.
To let you dream for God.
To let you say God sent the Lord.
God kept John the Baptist in the wilderness.
And if you're going to rise up in
God's name somewhere along the line you're going
to be called away there too.
There's your fella Philip in Acts 8 preaching
revival.
Conversion after conversion.
Healing after healing.
Devil cast out again and again.
And then all of a sudden of all
the things God says to him.
Off you get now Philip.
Out you go to the desert.
For what?
I'm here preaching revival.
I'm here giving the gospel.
People converting left right and center.
And you want me to go to the
desert?
No Philip.
You're not needed.
Off you go.
You're my servant.
I'll take care of what's going on in
Samaria.
You just get out to the desert.
God will take you apart.
God many times has to take his faithful
servants apart outside of the system to have
a bowl to speak in the name of
Almighty God and righteousness.
John wouldn't have survived half an hour in
Jerusalem.
The people felt the fire.
It was an aggressive heat.
It hit them hard.
The people said what shall we do?
They asked exactly the same thing in the
day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost started
convicting souls.
People lay their heads low and bow in
humility to Jesus Christ.
It must be the Holy Spirit that brings
conviction.
We can't manipulate men's feelings.
We try to do God's work.
God was telling me there's people here in
Ireland in their meetings and they're teaching people
how to talk in tongues.
My God what is happening?
What a decadent generation.
When you get that low where it has
to be man manipulating everything.
God when he steps in.
It's like God said to Ezekiel, preach to
the dry bones.
Preach to them and all the prophet has
to do.
You're a prophet of the Lord.
I'm a prophet of the Lord.
We're called to preach the gospel.
Our responsibility is proclaim the word and Ezekiel
if you preach the word, God himself takes
care of giving life to the army.
You can't manipulate that army.
You can't give new life to that army.
You just preach.
You just be faithful.
You just give the gospel.
God will take care of the rest.
Leave it in his hands.
Not the might.
Not the power.
By my spirit saith the Lord.
Common folk felt the fire and were prepared
to walk in the ways of the Lord.
John the preacher.
John the proclamation.
John the prison cell.
Men and women heard him gladly.
The true disciple rejoices when the truth of
Christ brings him to his knees.
But the lukewarm couldn't stand him.
The indifferent keep the flame of fire.
It's the same in every single generation.
John was a messenger.
John had a message and it led him
to prison and prison to death.
That's the thanks you're going to get for
being a spokesman for God in this generation.
That's the thanks you're going to get for
saying, thus saith the Lord.
He told Herod, he says there in Mark
6 verse 18, he says, it's not lawful
for you to have your brother's wife.
I believe 95% of our church, we
would have just said, we would have just
let Herod's sin go unnoticed.
He's an important man.
We would have given him a little pat
on the back, invited him to our carol
service and then thank God in the mean
for having such a wonderful person to be
with us.
No, no.
John called sin by its name.
Cut sin by the throat.
John knew what he had to preach.
The gospel message has a stain to it.
And if your message hasn't got stained, it's
a pretty good indication that you're not preaching
the gospel.
Ecumenical religion, alternative worship centers, worship centers play
down the concept of sin.
The whole cry nowadays is positivity, self-esteem.
Tell people how wonderful they are.
Seven steps to success.
Man called me in his office back in
February, March time.
Had a national ministry there in Spain.
Says to me, William, he says, I've got
your CD.
I've got a CD of your sermon and
I want to put it online.
But what you're going to have to do
if you want me to put this sermon
online is two things.
He says, number one, stop preaching against prayerlessness
in the church.
And number two, stop giving such a hard
time to pastors that don't see God, the
preachers that don't live with the preach.
I said, thank you very much for this
invitation.
Keep your little CD to yourself.
There's no deal.
Just walked out the door.
That's Satan incarnate sitting there before me.
Just calm it down.
Just take it all easy.
Don't be so hard on those that don't
pray.
Don't be so hard on those that don't
love God with all of their hearts.
Just calm it down.
Just play the whole thing down.
That's all they ever wanted.
You know, John Bunyan, he, they were about
to release him from prison.
Guy goes through hell and high water for
the gospel.
Stands before his prosecutor, Mr. Justice Winsgate, and
they say, well, John, you know, you spent
these months and years in prison.
You know, 16th, 17th century prisons aren't 21st
century prisons.
Our prison's 21st century.
You go there to have holidays and have
a good time.
Back in those days, people suffered in prison.
Rat infested, water everywhere, people being killed left,
right and center.
The man, Mr. Justice Winsgate, stands before this
great man of God, great Puritan soldier, John
Bunyan, says, well, John, will you have freedom
or will you go back to the prison
cell?
They wouldn't let him preach.
And he says, if you release me today,
I will preach tomorrow.
That's the way it is.
If I go back into prison, don't care,
couldn't care less.
Put me there, I'm going to preach in
prison.
I can't lose.
You release me, I'm going to preach in
the streets.
You put me in prison, going to preach
in a prison.
You can't kill a man like that.
That's the fire of God.
That's the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon
a preacher, upon a man, upon a woman.
Jeremiah preached and they threw him in the
prison, threw Joseph in the prison, John the
Baptist in the prison.
If you end up in prison, let me
tell you something, you're in mighty good company.
The religious can't stand it when they can't
silence someone.
And if they can't control you, if they
can't manipulate you, then they're coming to slay
you.
Mark my words.
I'm not just saying it from the scripture.
I'm telling you from your own experience.
This is the truth.
A man in the establishment can never preach
like John the Baptist.
Our preachers nowadays are walking in eggshells in
the pulpit, scared stiff of offending anybody.
Don't want to mention sin.
Don't want to talk about hell.
They're scared of the people.
They're birds without wings and little cages that
don't give the word of God, that tiptoe
about everything.
Acab said of Micaiah, the great prophet and
first king, 22-27, he said, thus saith
the king, put this fellow in prison, give
him the bread of affliction, give him the
water of affliction until I come in peace.
Why did Acab put Micaiah in prison?
Because Micaiah told Acab where he was with
God, revealed his sin.
He said, you're a rebel.
God's abandoned you for your sins.
That's the thanks you're going to get if
you tell people where to stand up for
God.
No Pharisee could ever preach like John the
Baptist.
When the people walked in obedience to God,
there was no problem.
But when those new gods started coming into
the nation, then there were problems.
Judges 5 verse 8 says, when there were
new gods, then there was war in the
camp.
Then there was war.
We've got our gods of prosperity, of self
-importance, and then there's war.
You see, if John would have preached that
message to a repentant people, there's no problem.
But when you're preaching the word of God,
the pure doctrine of the scripture to men
and women that aren't right with God and
that don't want to get right with God,
well, persecution's your lot.
If you preach the word of holiness, the
seed of God will bite down and give
thanks to God.
But if you preach the obscene word of
holiness and someone there doesn't want to let
go of something they've got in their heart,
you are a dead man.
They're coming after you.
They can't stand that because you're revealing something
that's inside of them that they won't let
go.
You will be upset and you will face
persecution.
John's birth, John's life, and finally, John's death.
The messenger's message leads him to prison and
prison to death.
If everybody tells you how wonderful you are
after you've preached the sermon, I'd say it's
a pretty good indicator that you haven't spoken
from God.
Wherever I find that God speaks through men
in the scriptures, I always find just around
the corner comes persecution and rejection.
Great man of God, John Wesley, once went
two days without suffering for the gospel.
He got off his horse, bowed down in
the crowd and said, God, what have I
done wrong?
Why am I not suffering?
The gospel reaps suffering and persecution.
Adam Clarke, a great Bible commentator said, there
are few who preach the gospel faithfully that
do not lose their lives by it.
John was passed into prison, lived like a
poor man, ate like a poor man, drank
like a poor man, dressed like a poor
man, but he preached like a possessed lion.
When he spoke, there was all you had
to take notice.
You know, when you looked at John, wasn't
much to look at in the physical realm.
But when that man of God opened his
mouth, all else disappeared into the distance.
It was the preacher and the listener.
It was one on one.
Everything else lost importance.
They were caught up in the voice of
the man of God.
John's preoccupation was Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we hit out at John a bit
hard and would say, well, in prison, you
know, he had a moment of doubt.
You know, he said, is this the Messiah?
But you see, John in that prison cell,
he wasn't concerned about his liberty.
He wasn't concerned about getting his freedom.
The only thing he was concerned about in
that prison cell when he's about to give
his life is Christ, is the person of
Jesus.
And whenever Jesus answers, I'm going to believe
with all my heart.
You know, most people that criticize John there,
I find them to be people from our
Western society who've never been through a suffering
in their lives, don't understand anything.
Jesus, when they came to him and said,
John's asking, are you the Messiah?
Jesus is only too pleased to offer, pleased
to answer the cry of his servant.
There's going to be times when you need
consolation.
There's going to be times when you're going
to need comfort.
You and I, we're not supermen.
We're not superwomen.
There are going to be times where we
go through the fight, where we go through
the battle and we're going to need consolation
from the Lord.
And Jesus gave that word to John in
his final hour.
I am that I am.
Go and tell John the poor have the
gospel preached unto them.
Go and tell John the sick are healed.
Go and tell them the lame are walking,
the dumb are praising, the blind are seeing,
and the deaf are hearing.
Go and make sure you tell John, give
him that consolation.
Give him that comfort.
I comfort those that love me.
I put my balm upon them that faithfully
follow in me.
Jesus was only too pleased to give John
encouragement in his final hour.
Christ was John's all in all.
He said, behold the lamb.
His love for Christ brought a great humility
to his life.
He said that Jesus in the Jordan, but
surely you should be baptizing me.
All for him was the greatness and glory
and splendor of the person of Jesus.
Well, what about you?
Well, I kind of hear the day in
churches.
Well, my car, my new house, my favorite
football team, or it can even be more
subtle than that.
Well, my ministry, my name, my church's importance.
Very, very subtle.
No John, no time for none of that.
The glory of the person of Jesus Christ.
I'm living for him.
I'm giving glory to him.
I'm not mine.
I'm his.
I must decrease.
He must increase.
John the Baptist's faithfulness in public and private
ought to put a good part of us
to shame.
His testimony burned for Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself said in John 5 verse 35,
he was a burning and shining light.
Burning in Greek means set on fire.
It means a consuming flame.
It's the same word where Jesus says, you
know, uh, let your loins be good advice
and your lights continually burning.
It's the same word in the Greek.
That's Luke 12, 35 and Luke 24, 32.
Did not our heart burn within us?
And Revelation 21 verse 8, the leak which
burns with fire and brimstone.
John burned.
John burned for Christ like that leak burns
with fire and brimstone.
It's passionate.
It's zealous.
It's sold out for Jesus Christ.
When Herod promised Herodias' daughter that he would
give her up to the half of his
kingdom, she goes off and asks her mom
what she wants.
Of course, her mom is Herod's wife.
And of all the things that woman asked
for, she's in a party.
Her daughter's been there dancing, you know, in
that carnal atmosphere of emotionalism, of glee, of
happiness, of drinking, of debauchery.
And of all the things that woman wanted
and not being caught up with all that
atmosphere.
The only thing that woman wanted was the
death of a little itinerant preacher out there
in the backside of the wilderness.
Nothing else mattered to her.
She could have asked for pearls, could have
asked for jewels, could have asked for social
status, academic privileges.
The only thing that was on that woman's
mind was the death of that man that
tells me I'm living in sin.
I want him dead.
I want his head in a plate.
Kill him.
Cut his neck off.
That's the only thing I want.
A little lone preacher out there in the
wilderness doesn't seem to make any sense.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees were only too
pleased to see John off.
Why so?
Because John told them where they were at.
He didn't look at them through their social
privileges.
He didn't look at them through the academic
attainment.
He just held up the myrrh of the
holiness of God.
And those wicked wretches didn't like what they
saw on the reflection.
John was faithful to God and paid with
his life.
Disturb the religious elite.
And pretty soon you're going to find yourself
in trouble.
John came in the spirit and in the
power of Elijah.
That's all we want nowadays.
Oh, give us the spirit.
Oh, give us the power that John had.
Well, if you want the spirit of John,
if you want the power of John, get
ready for persecution.
Get ready for prison.
Get ready for death.
If you're not prepared for that, don't waste
your time praying for revival and the fire
of God.
But in spite of that powerful spirit that
laid a hold on John, he kept his
head low.
I must increase.
He must increase.
The only thing that mattered to him was
fulfilling his purpose that God had called him
for.
The reward for spiritual power, the reward for
being a spiritual firebrand is death.
But it's worth it all to face the
hatred of the lukewarm.
The one thing I read about in Revelation
that Jesus said he would do with the
lukewarm was to spew them out of his
mouth.
You can translate that verb two ways in
Greek.
You can translate that as spew, or you
can translate that as vomit.
No matter what way you want to translate
that verb, I can guarantee you one thing.
It's going to be an ugly ending.
It's going to be an ugly ending for
the lukewarm, spewed or vomited out of their
mouth.
Jesus says, blessed are you when men shall
hate you, when men shall separate you from
their company, when they shall reproach you and
cast out your name as evil for the
son of man's sake.
Rejoice in that day.
Leap for joy, for behold, the prophets did
the same thing to the prophets.
And then he adds in Luke 6 verse
26, woe, woe unto you when all men
speak well of you, for so did they
unto the false prophets.
Thomas Watson said, how many people have been
blown into hellfire by the applause of popular
acclamation.
It's very easy to get caught up when
men tell you how wonderful you are, but
be very careful when a flattering tongue comes
near.
When someone's flattering you, it's a pretty good
sign that they want something out of you.
They're there, says the scripture, they'll lay a
trap before your feet.
Keep your head low, keep yourself humble, keep
yourself in humility before the king of kings.
The greatest reward that the enemies of the
cross of Christ can offer you is persecution,
because it shows that you're not one of
them, that you're of a different spirit, that
you are hungry for God, that you do
long for him.
John died for the gospel.
John died because he was faithful.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of the saints.
Christ said there was none greater in the
kingdom.
He was the prophet of the most high,
great in the sight of the Lord.
One thing to know what the religious think
of you, it's another thing to know what
Jesus says about you.
That's worth it all.
They kill me, I don't care, as long
as Jesus loves me, as long as Jesus
names upon me.
One man came up to Martin Luther one
day, says to him, Martin, Martin, the whole
world is against you.
Martin says, not so.
I am against the whole world.
God is for me.
Who can be against me?
John did good to all men, showed men
where they stood out with God, and you
can do no greater service to humankind.
The word of judgment is a word of
mercy.
The word of truth is a word of
grace and a word of love.
The man that loves you is the man
that tells you the truth.
John turned the hearts of the children of
Israel back to God.
John turned fathers back to their children and
vice versa.
Our unbridled age witnesses one broken family after
another.
I'm the fruit myself of a broken marriage.
I know what it's like.
I came from a family that had a
broken marriage.
I know the pain, I know the misery,
I know the heartbreak, but I'll tell you,
in those situations, I've seen the most hardened,
better people against their own parents, who go
years without speaking to them, and then years
down the line, they read of their death
and the obituary, and they rejoice, and they're
happy about it.
I mean, this hatred, this bitterness, this venom
that we sense in our generation, but it
says John turned the hearts of the children
back to their fathers.
His gospel of holiness broke the carnal, broke
the hatred, broke the bitterness.
The gospel forgives, the gospel forgets, the gospel
brings liberty.
John's gospel preaches repentance and forgiveness.
Jesus says, love your enemy.
Stephen fell with the Holy Ghost, about to
die, says, Lord, don't lay this thing under
charge.
I know they're killing me.
I know I'm done for.
I know I'm going in the glory, but
don't lay this thing under charge.
The gospel forgives, the gospel presses on, the
gospel promotes humility and holiness.
Our kids today don't even know who their
parents are anymore.
Things I used to joke about when I
was a kid, I've seen them come to
pass.
Teacher says to kid, well, where's your dad
today?
Why is he not collecting you from school
anymore?
Well, miss, daddy ran off with the next
door neighbor, but your next door neighbor's a
policeman.
Yeah, daddy's a homosexual.
Things I used to joke about as a
kid, I've seen him come to pass with
his own two eyes.
We don't even know the difference between a
man and a woman anymore.
You think I'm inventing this?
This is where we're at.
Apostasy, decadence.
We need men like John the Baptist.
We need women filled with the fire of
God to bring the nation back to their
knees.
Get back to God.
Get back to prayer.
Get back to the Word of God.
There is hope, but will you let hold
of God?
Don't spend your time weeping about the state
of things in our streets if you're not
prepared to be a man or woman of
prayer.
Get a hold of God.
Believe God.
Press on.
Seek Him with all of your heart.
The prophet turns the foolish to wisdom.
Listen to wise counsel.
Listen to Christ.
Listen to the Word of God.
John put all in place and then the
glory came.
Moses in the book of Exodus put everything
into place.
Then the glory filled the tabernacle.
John filled every valley.
John laid low every mountain.
John made that crooked place straight.
He made the rough smooth and then the
glory came.
Jesus Christ, God manifested in flesh.
God of glory revealed in humanity.
Praise God.
John puts the thing in its place and
God comes forth to a decadent generation.
John saw the glory of Christ and John
in this moment 20th of July 2009 is
in glory with Jesus.
You can't kill a man like John.
He lives on.
John's not dead since.
He's just changed his address.
John lives on the day.
John's in the presence of Jesus Christ.
He's gone on home.
He knew he was a stranger on this
planet.
He knew he didn't belong here.
Many men interpreted his passion for pride but
you can't shake a man that's heard from
God.
I've read the book of Ezekiel.
Those opening chapters.
I've read the vision he saw of God
and I said God I want to know
what he saw.
Oh God would you show me what Ezekiel
saw.
I've tried to imagine it.
I've tried to draw it out and I've
never seen what Ezekiel saw.
But if there's one thing that when Ezekiel
saw what he saw, when Ezekiel saw the
manifested glory of God, he was never the
same again.
He was prepared to give his life for
God.
On that mountain of Transfiguration, Peter, James and
John saw the glory of Christ.
Very interesting.
Judas Iscariot didn't get up the mountain.
Those three that got up there were ready
to shed their blood for the gospel.
When you've got a vision of Christ, you
can't be shaken.
You can't be moved.
You cannot kill John the Baptist.
I conclude this message by saying that John
the Baptist sealed in his death what he
had lived in his life.
His blood burned for the glory of God.
If your heart is fixed on earthly things,
you are not of the same spirit as
John the Baptist, as these great men of
God.
John stayed faithful unto death.
The consuming fire of the Holy Ghost possessed
him.
This zeal ate him up.
Passion was the seal of God upon his
life and his name is synonymous with zeal
and fervor and fire.
I propose to you that there is no
hope for our contemporary churches except we get
fire back in our pulpits and a flame
again in our pews.
We need the fire of God.
I'm not here promoting some little empty emotionalism
that'll disappear at the first sign of trouble.
I'm talking about a solid substantial work of
the Holy Ghost that will give us fire
in our bellies and steel in our bones.
John was born into a barren land, an
old land stricken in years, yet his name
today speaks of life, joy and gladness, because
there was a people prepared to walk in
prayer and obedience.
John was hated.
John was an outcast of outcasts.
John was murdered, but John, like those great
saints of old, being dead yet speaks.
His legacy is nothing else but a love
for the God of the gospel and the
gospel of God.
If we are to experience revival in this
21st century, I suggest to you we need
a revival of John the Baptist ministries.
It's time to give back the prayer.
It's time to seek God.
It's time to cry out to the Father
that he would reign the heavens and come
down.
Blessed be the name of God Almighty.
Blessed be the glory of the Lord from
this place.
Why don't we just cry to God to
finish off, and then our brother will come.
Glory to God.
You're worthy of our praise, O God.
You're high and you're lifted up.
Your glory fills the temple.
O God, for fire in these bones.
O God, for steel in these spurs, God.
Make us a people of prayer.
Make us a people of obedience, O God.
We're sick of the barren land.
We're sick of the old crowd.
Give us revival.
Reign the heavens.
Come down again in our generation.
Rise up a people hungry and thirsty for
righteousness.
Come, O God, new and great God.
Let your hand be strong upon us, O
God.
Raise up prophets.
Raise up preachers.
Raise up evangelists.
Raise up pastors for Jesus' glory.
And in Jesus' name, we give you praise.
We give you honor.
We give you glory.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
Glory to God.