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Machu, chapter number 11, we will read beginning from verse number 1 to verse number 15. Machu, chapter 11, verse 1, the Bible reads, And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his two of his disciples, he reparted them to teach and to preach in their series. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that shall come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shoot John again those things which they do here, and see. The blind received their sight, and the lame walked, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whatsoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? I reached second with the wind, but what went ye out for to see? A man thought in self-reman, Behold, they that swear self-flowing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet, yea, I sent you, and more than a prophet. For this issue of fullness written, Behold, I sent my messenger before their face, which shall prefer thy way before thee. Barely I sent you among them that are born of women. There hath not risen a greater John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and the violence taken by force, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if he will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that had ears to hear, here left him here. Let us pray. All right, we're here in Matthew chapter 11. We're going to finish this chapter here today, just two sermons. In the first half we have here on John the Baptist. The second half kind of goes to another topic. And the name of the sermon is just John the Baptist, John the Baptist. And point number one is this, we see the concern of John the Baptist. Notice what it says here in verse number one. And it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do he look for another? Now when you're reading the Bible, this passage kind of stands out because it's kind of strange. You're looking at a great man, John the Baptist, and it sounds like he's saying, well, I don't even know if Jesus is the Messiah or not. And that is kind of what he's saying. But there's a lot of wrong applications that people make. People would look at this today and say, well, wait a minute, you can believe on Christ and become an atheist. You can believe on Christ and become a Muslim. And that is just not true. When you believe on Christ, the Bible says that you are sealed and you will never call God a liar. You will have the truth inside of you. You will always believe salvation is only in Jesus, that it's a free gift, and it lasts forever. That's what it says in John 3. That's what it says in 1 John 5. And so the question is, why do you see John the Baptist here making this statement? Now I do believe that when he sent his disciples, he sent them to ask that question. I don't think they went rogue and asked something different. I think he sent them from the context and said, hey, can you ask Jesus this question? But it's kind of a strange question for a great man of God to ask. Are you the one or should we look for another? Now go to John chapter 1. John 1. John chapter 1. Now you say, well, if John the Baptist questioned whether Jesus is the Messiah, I mean, cannot we question whether Jesus is the Messiah today and still be saved? And the answer to that would be no. Because there's a major difference between John the Baptist and us. My faith is standing on what does the word of God say? If the word of God says it, I believe it. And of course, John the Baptist is the same way, but specifically in John 1, he was told to look for a physical sign that Jesus was the Messiah. And what John the Baptist is doubting is not the scripture. He's not doubting what salvation is. He's not doubting whether or not we have to be baptized to go to heaven. He's not doubting whether or not salvation is forever. What he's doubting is, did he actually see what he thought he saw? Because notice what it says here in John chapter 1, verse 29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming on to him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man, which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water. Now if you read in the book of Luke, you see that Elizabeth and Mary are cousins, but just because you're relatives does not mean that you grow up around somebody. In today's world, you know, you can easily go on Skype or video call or Facebook, and you are, you know, seeing your relatives, you talk to them, you know what they look like at least. You can tell from this passage, John the Baptist was not growing up around Jesus. But right when he sees Jesus, he knows he's the Messiah. Immediately says, This is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. How is it that John the Baptist knew that Jesus was the Christ? How did he know that he was the Messiah? Verse 32, And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon it. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God. So John the Baptist said, You know what? I was sent to go and baptize. I was sent to preach the gospel, to be the one to pave the way. And I was told that the one that I see, this Holy Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, that's the Messiah. And right when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he saw the Holy Spirit of God descending like a dove. Now that does not mean that the Holy Spirit was shaped like a dove. It was descending like a dove, like a dove would descend, like that type of bird would descend from the air, okay? But he sees the Holy Spirit, and it comes upon Jesus, and he knows, hey, there's the Messiah. I saw the sign. Well, you know, if you physically see something, isn't it very possible years later to kind of question, Did I really see that? Or is my mind playing tricks on me? He's not questioning what salvation is. He's not questioning whether or not there's a Messiah. He's not questioning whether or not salvation is by grace through faith or eternal security or baptism. What he's questioning is, Did I really see what I thought I saw? You say, Well, what's the difference today? The difference today is, I didn't see some light coming down from heaven when I got saved. When I got saved, I saw nothing. I didn't physically change. I didn't become better looking or smarter or taller or anything like that. I got saved, and I knew by faith that I'm saved and on my way to heaven. You know what? Ever since I got saved, I've known 100% I'm saved and on my way to heaven. And if you were to ask John the Baptist during this day, Do you know for sure you're going to heaven? Guess what? He still would have said yes. He knew he was saved, but what he's questioning is, Did I really see what I thought I saw? And that's why he sends his two disciples out to ask Jesus that question. Go to Matthew 11. Matthew 11. I mean, look, we cannot trust our personal experiences. They can be deceiving to us. I mean, if you remember Peter talked about this in 2 Peter. He said, You know, we didn't follow cunningly devised fables, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. He said, We saw it with our own eyes. We were there on the Mount of Transfiguration. But then what did he say? He said, We have a more sure word of prophecy referring to the Holy Scripture, referring to the Word of God. And look, you know, even though we haven't seen Jesus Christ with our eyes, even though we didn't see Him rise again, even though we did not see the Spirit descending like a dove, we have a more sure word of prophecy, and we can read what the Bible says and know for sure, 100%, I'm saved. I'm on my way to heaven. I believe by faith. Jesus is the only way to heaven because He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and we never have to question it. And look, as a saved person, I don't question my eternal salvation. I know I'm saved. I know I'm on my way to heaven. I don't doubt about it one bit. I know for sure that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and He's the only way to heaven. But with John the Baptist, what he saw was a physical sign. See, we're not trusting in a physical sign today. We're trusting in the Word of God that does not change. And when you get saved, you get indwelled with what? The Holy Spirit of God, which is also called the Holy Spirit of truth. I will always believe that Jesus is the way to heaven. Why? Because when you get saved, you get sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, and once saved, always saved, eternal life, it's forever. But see, John the Baptist was told, you're going to see a physical sign, and that's how you're going to know this is the Messiah. What he's doubting is his own eyesight and what he experienced. But there's also a big lesson we can learn because John the Baptist was in prison here. It was not his fault that he's away from the Word of God. It's not his fault that he's away from the Bible. It's not his fault that he's away from good fellowship. But that's just the situation he's in. And when he's away from good fellowship and hearing the Word of God, he starts to doubt and question some of the things. And mark my word, it doesn't matter who it is in this room, myself included, that if you quit reading the Bible right now, and you quit being around good, godly people, and you quit hearing the Word of God preached, you will start to doubt some of the things that you will believe. You will start to have worldliness creep back in your life. You will start to question stuff. You say, why? Because we get brainwashed 24-7 by a wicked world, and we need to get un-brainwashed and brainwashed with the Word of God each and every single week. And if you're wise, every single day you will open up this book and say, hey, you know what? I need to get the Word of God. I need to get reminded. I need to get renewed, like the Bible says. You say, why? Because we are getting brainwashed every single day. Look, whether you realize it or not, whether you try to avoid being brainwashed, every single day you're getting brainwashed. You walk into a grocery store and you are subtly getting brainwashed by the music you hear, by the way people are dressed, by the way people talk, and if you hear it enough and if you're rounded enough, eventually it's going to wear you out. The Bible says about the Antichrist that he will wear out the saints because he speaks against the Most High. And when people blaspheme God and people talk about ungodliness and wickedness, it wears you out. Eventually you lose the energy to fight against it. You say, well, what do I do then, Pastor? Try to avoid it as much as possible. Don't sit in the counsel of the ungodly. And make sure you're reading the Bible each and every day and coming to church and hearing the Word of God. Otherwise you're going to start to get deceived by the wicked and sinful world that we live in. It is not John the Baptist's fault that this is taking place because he was arrested and he does not have the access to be in church and hearing the Word of God preached. But you see that a man that was probably far greater than any of us will ever be and yet when he's not around preaching the Word of God and he's not around good fellowship, all of a sudden he starts to doubt. All of a sudden he starts to question. And mark my words, if you quit hearing good preaching and you quit reading the Bible, you will go the same exact route. Now, you're never going to question salvation because when you're saved you have eternal life abiding in you. You have everlasting life. You have the Holy Spirit of truth. You'll start to question some of the things that we preach. You'll start to question whether or not we're too extreme. You'll start to question some of the other things that are in the Bible. You need to be renewed every single day of your life. So point number one, we see the concern of John the Baptist. He sends two of his disciples and he said, Art thou the one or should we look for another? But number two, we see the confirmation to John the Baptist. Jesus gets asked this question and if you notice, Jesus does not rebuke John the Baptist or say, You're such a wicked, faithless person. He actually just gives him words to comfort him and to confirm that yes, I'm the Messiah. You're not wrong in what you saw. Notice what it says here in verse number four. Matthew 11, verse four. Matthew chapter 11, verse four. Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which we do hear and see. You know, when people start to doubt and question things and maybe get a bit backslidden, you know what they need? They need to be reminded of those same things. We go out soul winning, it reminds us that yeah, you know what, everything I'm doing, everything I believe, it's correct. You need to read the Bible and you see those things again in the Bible, it's like yes, I don't care that 99% of this world is insane. What I believe is correct. Because here's the thing, if you're not hearing the word of God preached and you're not reading the Bible, you feel like you're the only one in the world with your beliefs. I mean, I'm just being honest with you. You know, in America, there is not a lot of idolatry, of physical, literal idolatry. Even the Catholics don't really have much idolatry in the U.S. But then you come around here, we go soul winning in neighborhoods and you see idols everywhere. You go into a grab or taxi and they've got rosary beads and idols everywhere and everything and it's just like, you see it all the time and you start to get desensitized. And you know, you start to feel like, am I the only one that doesn't see a problem with this? Because every one of your relatives, all your Catholic family, they think it's normal to just bow down before Mary. And it's like either they're crazy or I'm crazy. And it's one or the other. And here's the thing, if you are living a life very isolated, away from other believers, you're going to start to just easily get fade out, get depressed. You need to be around other people, right? He says, show John again those things which you do here and see. He just needs to be reminded of those things. Here's what the Bible says, the blind receive their sight. That's a pretty big miracle. I mean, somebody who cannot see, they've lived their life as a blind person and then all of a sudden they're able to see. When you read a lot of the miracles in the Bible, you have to realize that in communities, you see this in the Bible. When somebody gets healed, it's like everybody knows that person, right? In Metro Manila, things are so packed. There's so many people that you don't know most people. But where I grow up in West Virginia, it's like we say, everybody knows everybody. Everybody calls you friend, right? They sing songs about that because everybody knows everybody. You know them, you know their uncle, you know their grandparents. Their family's been living there for four generations. And then if somebody in the community is blind, everybody knows it. They know their name, they know their family, they know where they live. And that's the way you see it. And then a person that was blind that received sight, and then when people say, well, how did this happen? I mean, was this person really blind? And then everyone in the community is like, yes. I grew up with that person. They could not see. And now they can see. I mean, undeniable miracles that Jesus did, and yet people still doubt. Right? The blind receive their sight. That's a pretty big miracle. The lame walk. Imagine someone that's been living in a wheelchair for decades, or imagine someone that does not have the ability to walk, and then they're miraculously healed, and now they can walk. The lepers are cleansed. Look, during Bible times, if you got leprosy, you would be living in a leper colony, away from the camp, away from everybody. You would be an outcast because it was a very infectious disease that would spread to other people. And, you know, even in the Bible, when you read in Leviticus, when somebody got healed, there was a process to prove that you were healed because people would be very afraid that you hadn't been healed. Because when you got this, it's kind of given you're not going to be healed. You're going to be a leper until the day you die. Right? But he healed the lepers. The deaf hear. Someone who cannot hear, they've lost that ability, or they were born without that ability, and then Jesus healed them. I mean, miracles that Jesus are doing, the dead are raised up. Now, I cannot really think of a greater miracle than raising the dead. I mean, that's the greatest miracle you can possibly come up with. Because what Jesus was doing was things that nobody else was doing. Right? Now, look, I do believe that God can perform miracles today, but I don't believe that, you know, there's a pastor walking around and just like the shadow of his clothes are like healing people of diseases, like in the Bible times, like with the apostles and things like that. But imagine that you live during this day, and, you know, there's a multitude of different religious leaders. The Pharisees are saying one thing. The Sadducees are saying one thing. The scribes are saying one thing. And then you've got Jesus saying this. And then apart from what they're saying, Jesus is healing people of leprosy. He's healing people of blindness. You'd have to be an idiot not to realize who's the real deal. But, you know, a lot of people, they don't really care what the truth is. They just do not want to believe. The dead being raised up, I mean, that's the greatest miracle you could possibly think of. Now, is Jesus the only one who ever raises someone from the dead? No, he's not the only one, but he does it more often than anybody else, and it was an extremely rare miracle. Now, go to John 2 real quickly. I do want to show you something. And we'll go back to Matthew 11, then John chapter 2. Let me turn there myself. Now, raising somebody from the dead, I said, is pretty much the greatest miracle you can think of, but actually there is one greater miracle than that that I'll show you here in John chapter 2. Throughout the Old Testament, when it talks about the true God, if you'll notice it talks about, when it talks about the God we believe in, it'll talk about believing in the true God, believing in the living God. And when Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, the true God, the living God, I mean, he's declaring himself in that statement to be God. That's not the only thing he's declaring, but that's something kind of often overlooked because throughout the Old Testament, the true God, the living God, and Jesus said, I am the truth. Not a truth, I am the truth. And he said, I am the life. He is the living God. See, raising somebody from the dead is about the greatest miracle you can perform, but you know what's greater than raising somebody else from the dead? Raising yourself from the dead. Because notice what it says here in John chapter 2 verse 19. Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Now, of course, when you hear temple, you think of a building, right? But, of course, the Bible refers to our bodies as what? The temple of the Holy Ghost. And then notice what it says after this. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple and building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? I mean, it took 46 years to build this building, and you're going to build it in three days? And it's kind of like right over your heads. They didn't get it because notice what it says. But he spake of the temple of his body. When, therefore, he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. So what was Jesus saying when he said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up? He's saying, Kill me, and I will resurrect myself from the dead. Now, look, that beats resurrecting somebody else from the dead when you resurrect yourself from the dead. Now, there are verses that talk about God the Father resurrecting Jesus and God the Holy Ghost resurrecting Jesus, and we understand that God is a trinity, and how that all works together, I don't necessarily fully comprehend that. But Jesus said very clearly, he said, You kill me, and I will resurrect myself. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. So it's like they could crucify him, they could kill him, but you know what? He's going to rise again. And so not only did Jesus resurrect other people, but then eventually when he died himself and everybody was oh so sad, three days later Jesus resurrected himself from the dead. I personally cannot think of a greater miracle than that, right? Go to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11. I also kind of like how Jesus does the miracles sometimes. Like for example with Lazarus, he intentionally waits where everybody knows he's dead. It's like behold he's stinking. He's been dead for four days. You know, clearly he's dead. There's no doubt about that. And then when everybody thinks there's no hope, because what people figure is, before we know for sure he's dead, maybe he can stop him from dying. And Jesus is like, I'm going to make sure that he dies first, and then I'm going to resurrect him from the dead. I don't for the life of me understand how somebody could live during that time period, and see these things, and hear these things, and say well you know what? I just don't believe. Show me a sign. What sign do you want? I mean he showed the greatest signs. And yet people still didn't believe. But what you need to understand is there is a lot of power in the word of God. Now Jesus literally was the word of God. He was walking around preaching the word of God. But there is power in the word of God more so than what somebody physically sees with their eyes or what they hear. People say I would believe if you just gave me a sign. And yet the word of God is what has the power. In fact I was going soul winning yesterday in Pampanga, and I preached to a group of three people. And at the beginning one of those people told me that he was an atheist. Now when he told me he was an atheist, the others said they were Catholic, I was like are you really an atheist? Because most people that say they're atheists aren't really atheists. And I'm being honest, he was not completely like there is no God. But he definitely questioned whether God is real. He doesn't know if he believed the Bible or whatever. We had a long conversation, 45 minutes, and he had a lot of questions. I was bouncing back and forth. I showed him some stuff on science and went back to the gospel, bouncing back and forth. He had a lot of questions. I went to a lot of unique places. I don't normally go. And after 45 minutes I said do you believe this? Do you believe this? It's interesting, the one who was the atheist was the one who was interested, and the Catholics had no interest whatsoever. They didn't listen at all. They didn't even care. They're playing on their phone and everything, not really caring about what's being said. And I said do you believe this? And he said actually I do. And I asked him several questions to make sure he gets it. He's like no, you can never lose your salvation. It's a free gift. He's like that makes more sense than anything I've ever heard in my life. He's like that makes perfect sense. And then he believed and he got saved. And then I asked the other people, I said well, because this guy was interested in coming to church, I said you guys are welcome to come with your friend. No, we're busy. But this person, it's just like, because here's the thing, I mean people hear false things. They see false religions and it causes them to become distant from the word of God. Like maybe it's all false. I don't know if I believe. But the word of God is what has power to convert people. When I go soul winning, I don't bring a creation evolution seminar as I go out soul winning. When I talk about science, I show what the Bible says and then I go right back to the gospel. And that is what actually has the power. The word of God is what has the power. When people are saying, oh, if you just show me a sign, I'll believe. Translation, even if you show me a sign, I will not believe. That is the reality. Because look at all these signs that are given. The dead are raised up and then it says, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Now, the poor having the gospel preached to them is not a miracle, but it's unique. You say, why is it unique? Because generally, what do churches want to do? Let's bring in all the rich people, right? Bring in the rich people, the tithes will increase, the donations will increase. We can convince them to give their first fruits offering, their first month's salary to church, go way past 10%, and we'll have everything, right? You know, at our church, where do we go soul winning? The most receptive areas. We go everywhere. We've talked to everybody within this village and we'll talk to them 50 times more in the future. But where do we primarily go? To the areas where people are going to listen. You know, in Pampanga, we don't have as many parks, but one of the parks in Pampanga is CDC Park, and we've done a couple soul winning marathons there. But you know what we realized? Because that's in Clark. And Clark is a very nice area. And you know what we found? It's usually people with a lot of money that go to that park. And guess what we found? People don't want to listen. So guess where we go soul winning? Usually to the parks where people are not rich. Why? Because they listen. Look, I'm happy to have anybody at our church if they love God. I don't care whether they're rich. You don't have to be rich to serve God. You don't have to be rich to be a soul winner. You don't have to be rich to read the Bible. Look, anyone who wants to serve God and love God, we are happy to have them at our church. And so what Jesus was doing was unique because other religious leaders, they want to convert the rich people, the wealthy people. But Jesus said, you know what? I'm going to go to the people that listen to me. Where the poor have the gospel preached to them. And so of course when John the Baptist is hearing this, it reminds him, okay, yes, Jesus is very unique. Yes, he's the Messiah. He's the Christ. Now one thing you notice is this, that Jesus allows his works to speak more than his words. And what I mean by that is his actions prove that he's the real deal. Now yes, you can find verses where Jesus says that he's the Messiah. But usually he doesn't walk around saying, I'm God, I'm the Messiah. Now he lets people worship him, which obviously shows he's the Messiah, the Christ, he's God. There's a few verses, but you know usually what it is, what he tells John the Baptist, is I'm just going to proclaim my works because those prove that I am the real deal. Those prove that I am the Messiah. So point number one, we see the concern of John the Baptist. Point number two, we see the confirmation to John the Baptist. Point number three, we see the commentary on John the Baptist. Now look, if you were around Jesus at this time and John had sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, are you the one or should we look for another? The normal reaction in your flesh is probably to think, you know what, I'm better than John the Baptist. I didn't doubt whether Jesus was the Messiah. I mean I'm sure a lot of people could have thought that because in the Bible you see the apostles trying to compare themselves, right? It's like, well, I'm better than so and so. And I'm sure that during that day people are hearing this and thinking, I thought John the Baptist was a great guy and then he's questioning whether or not Jesus is the Messiah? And so you know what, Jesus is going to speak about John the Baptist and say, hey, you know what, no, he is the real deal. I mean he is the best guy that's been born. Okay, notice what it says in verse seven. And as they departed, Jesus began to stand in the multitudes concerning John. What went ye out in the wilderness to see? I mean people traveled a great distance to hear John the Baptist preach and they didn't know what they were going to eat. They didn't know what they were going to drink. I seriously doubt they could book a grab or a taxi. I mean travel was hard. Travel was difficult. One thing that is a constant amazement to me is that we have people that come to our church that come from a long distance away. We have people this morning that traveled maybe two hours to come to church. Now we have our monthly Laguna church service today so they're not here with us today, but we have 20 plus people that come from Laguna on a weekly basis. I mean that is a long distance away. You say, why? Because of the fact it's very hard to find churches that actually preach the word of God. And look, I'm by no means trying to compare myself to John the Baptist here today, but I would say that if you come from a very long distance away to come to this church, what you're basically saying is there's something different about this church compared to other churches. And notice what Jesus says, a reed shaken with the wind. What is he saying when he says a reed shaken with the wind? He's saying this, if you were to step outside and the wind is blowing really heavy, you're going to see the reeds and the grass and the flowers just kind of sway as the wind just carries them everywhere. You know what you find with most pastors in 2024? That the wind just kind of carries them in every direction. It's like, well, I'm losing church members, I'm going to change the music. I mean, people don't like the King James Bible. Okay, we can switch to the New King James. Oh, people think that we're too strict on salvation. What kind of be in the middle where, yeah, we believe both things. They change. They're a reed shaken with the wind. Let me ask you this. For those that have been here from the beginning, in the six years this church has been here, what major doctrines have I ever changed on? Nothing. I believe the exact same things I have always believed. You say, why? I am not a reed shaken with the wind. We will always teach salvation is by grace through faith. We will always teach once saved, always saved. We will always teach repentance of sins is work salvation. We will always teach Calvinism is a massive heresy that inherently teaches a work salvation. We will always believe the things that the Bible teaches. We're not going to change. You say, well, what if everybody leaves the church? Then everybody leaves. And I'll preach to the people that actually want to hear the truth. Because my job here on earth is not to get everybody to love me. That's not my job. Look, I want to be friends with the men at our church, but my job is not to be your friend. And the reality is sometimes I'm going to have to be the one that says those words during the sermon where it hurts. At times, I'm just going to be honest with you. It can be kind of frustrating as a pastor because I want to be a nice person. I don't go around in my life fighting with people. I get around. I'm a non-confrontational person in my personal life. I try to be nice, try to be friendly. It's my job to preach the word of God. And the reality is sometimes the word of God steps on your toes, doesn't it? I've said this before, but I think it's a great example. The Bible says the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. And basically sermons are like spiritual surgery. It's very difficult to just, it's like, you know, I'm not trying to offend you. I mean, when you say certain things, it's going to hurt them on the inside no matter how you say it. I can say it as nice as possible. We go soul winning, and of course we have to tell people that they're unsaved and on their way to hell. What nice way is there to tell somebody that if you die right now, you're going to go to hell? Now, we ought to try to say it, you know, with the right attitude and the right way and the right spirit, but there is no way that you can tell someone they're on their way to hell and just in a nice way. No, it can very easily offend people. Now, certain people believe and they get saved, like the guy I talked to yesterday, but then there's other people that hear what we say and they get mad about it. It's like, you know, we preach the gospel to other religions. You talk to someone who's Muslim and you try to tell them Jesus is the only way to heaven. That's going to make them mad, but here's the thing. Our job for all of us is to preach the word of God, but specifically me as the pastor of this church, my job is to preach the word of God, and you know what? Sometimes it's popular. Sometimes it's unpopular, but when it comes to our church, if you've been here from the beginning, you can attest to the fact, you know what? We teach the exact same things that we did since the start of this church, and it will not change, because my beliefs in what I preach is not founded on emotion or what's popular. It's founded on what does the Bible say? John the Baptist was not a reed shaken with the wind. Now, go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Now, just about any object, if the wind is really heavy, is going to blow away, and pretty much the only thing I can think of that's incredibly stable is a giant rock, which, of course, Jesus is the rock. The Lord's the rock. We sing songs like that. But John the Baptist, even though he showed unstability in the fact that he's away from the word of God, and he has that question he asked to Jesus, he was as stable as they came. He was firmly rooted in the ground. This is what I believe. He did not bounce back and forth in his beliefs. Ephesians 4, verse 14. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sight of men in cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. See, the Bible says that we should not be people that get tossed to and fro with the wind. It's like you hear a new doctrine, oh, yeah, you know, I believe that. That makes sense. And then you hear somebody preach the opposite, oh, no, I believe this now. It's like you've got to figure out what you believe and stick with it. Figure out what does the Bible say and say, hey, thus saith the word of God, this is what I believe, this is what the Bible says, this is what I'm going to stick to. You know, one thing in the Philippines people do is they will often listen to Brother Elie debate other people. It's like what good information are you going to get from Elie Soriano debating some Catholic? It's like, well, you know, I'm smart enough, I can just eat the meat and spit out the bones. There is no meat in that conversation, my friend. It's all bones. What are you going to learn from them? And it's like, you know, what we need to do is just say, hey, you know what, I'm just going to read what does the Bible say. Search the Scriptures daily whether those things are so. Look, I encourage you to read the Bible and check me for yourself. Check me for yourself. Find out if what I'm saying is true. Find out if what I'm saying is correct. When we start the new year, our normal program in January is to try to motivate everybody to read the entire New Testament in the month of January. And when we've done that the last several years, most people in our church have read the entire New Testament in one month. We will give you a chart. You can mark it off. You say, well, why do you do that? Because I'm not afraid of you reading the Bible and coming to a different conclusion than me. You know why? Because the Bible is pretty clear on things that are important. Now, are there topics that people can have different opinions? Of course, but on main topics? I mean, it's not like you can read the Bible and say, you know what, pastor, I came to the conclusion that you've got to be baptized to go to heaven. It's like, what Bible are you reading? I mean, if you read the Bible, it's only going to confirm the things that I'm preaching to you. And all it's going to do is make you a better church member. The thing is, our faith should be founded on what does the Bible say. And so if you hear some new doctrine, it's like, well, wait a minute. I don't believe that because this is what the Bible says. We need to be people that know our Bibles and stick to what the Word of God says. Go to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Let me turn there myself. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. I had someone that I was friends with in college. He's my roommate, my freshman year of college. And the day I got saved, I told him, well, the next day I told him, you've got to talk to this guy. He will tell you how to get to heaven. Because the guy who got me saved, we were sort of friends. I had met him in college, and we had class together, so we were studying together. And then I told my roommate, you've got to talk to this guy. And so the guy who got me saved gave him the gospel the next day. Now, we thought this guy got saved, although time has proven that not to be the case. But, you know, we would talk about the Bible at college, and he would go home over the weekend, and he would come back. He's like, you know what? I was talking to my dad, and he was showing me in Greek that you've got to be baptized to go to heaven. And we're like, no. It's like, the Bible says, whosoever believeth in him. And every weekend he would come home, he'd come back with a new doctrine. And, you know, one of my friends said this very appropriately. It's like, he's like a tennis ball. He's getting, like, smashed, you know, to both ends. It's like, on this side is like, salvation by grace through faith. Boom. And then he would talk to his dad. It's like, oh, I've got to speak in tongues to be saved. He would just bounce back and forth. He never knew what he was going to believe. I mean, a couple of years later he started studying Islam. It's like, and you've got to figure out, and obviously that's with someone who's unsafe, but you know what? Even as a saved person, you need to have stability in your life. And the way you get that stability is with the unchanging word of God, because the word of God never changes. Find out what you believe, this is what the Bible says, and stick with it. Here's what it says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It says in verse 1, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. So this is referring to Jesus coming back. Right? And it says this, That ye be not soon shaken in mind. Paul warns them, don't be shaken in mind. Don't be like, you know, the wind tossing you back and forth. It's like, you need to know what you believe. You need to be stable, because this is what he says in the rest of the verse. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us as the day of Christ is at hand. Paul's saying this, hey, it wasn't the spirit of God. It wasn't the word of God. It wasn't a letter or an epistle that we wrote you as that the day of Christ is at hand. Now what does at hand mean? It does not mean already taken place. It means about to take place. It's like five minutes before you eat lunch. Lunch is at hand. Right? It's about to take place. What he's saying is, do not let anybody deceive you into thinking that Christ can come back at any moment. Is that not what he says? News flash, Jesus cannot come back before the end of the service. One thing that amazes me about churches that are like, you know, Jesus can come back at any moment. They'll say things like, you know, you need to send us all your money now because, you know, you might not even need it because Jesus can come back at any moment. I just think to myself, well, if Jesus is going to come back at any moment, why do you need the money? Right? It's like, you don't need your money because Jesus can come back now, so just give it all to God. It's like, well, why do you need their money if you really believe Jesus could come back at any moment? It sounds like hypocrisy to me. But see, there's a major event that must take place before Jesus comes back. And notice what it says here in verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means. Let no man deceive you is that Christ could come back at any moment. Because it says this, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. You know what the Bible says? The man of sin, the antichrist, must first be revealed before Jesus comes back. Let me ask you a question. Who's the antichrist? Does anybody know? No. Now, if you grow up in the United States, every new president that comes up, people say, I think he's the antichrist. There are plenty of people, I'm sure, that think Donald Trump is the antichrist. And there are plenty of people that thought Joe Biden was the antichrist. And then, you know, people with a lot of knowledge would say Kamala Harris is at least an antichrist, even though she's not the antichrist. But it's like, people will always say, well, maybe it's this person, maybe it's this person. Nobody knows who the antichrist is. You say, why? Because it has not been revealed. And that will take place at the abomination of desolation midway through Daniel's 70th week, three and a half years in, where he's going to declare himself to be God in the temple of God over in Jerusalem. Has that taken place? No, it hasn't. So don't let somebody shake you, shake up your mind and think, well, maybe I'm wrong. No, because if your beliefs are found in what the Bible says, because look, the vast majority of sermons that you hear preached are going to tell you that Jesus can come back at any moment. But here's the question. What does the Bible say? Because in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, very clearly it says the antichrist is going to be revealed first. So it does not matter how convincing those words are. What does the Bible say? Right? Turn your Bible to Matthew 11, Matthew 11, Matthew chapter 11. You see, if somebody asks you, you know, well, you know, what do you believe about this? You know, brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so, you know, what do you believe about this doctrine? And your answer is, you know, I believe this. It's like, well, why do you believe this? Well, that's what pastor said. Wrong answer. You know why you believe salvation is by grace through faith? It's not because of me teaching that. It's because of John 3. That's the right answer. It's because of Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. You need to figure out what you believe and figure out what does the Bible teach. Now, I get it. This is the way preaching works. You know, I've been blessed to be a part of good churches before I was ordained as a pastor. And you know what? When you're at good churches, you hear new things, you know? You hear things that you haven't heard before. You're learning new things. Most of the things I would say in a good church, immediately when you hear it, you're like, that's correct. No doubt. Makes perfect sense. You know, there's also things that you hear during church. You hear me preach something and you're like, you know, that's really interesting. I need to go home and check it for myself. Because I promise you, anybody preaching something is probably going to sound convincing in what they're saying because they're trying to bring their best arguments forward. I would hope I sound convincing in anything that I say. I'm trying to, but here's the thing about this. If you don't know it for sure of what the Bible says about it, you need to check it for yourself. And look, I'm not worried about you going to Matthew 11 later today. I hope you read Matthew 11 later today. And you can reread what I preached on. I mean, here's the way I look at it. If you hear a sermon that you really like, you know, you can take some notes and I think that's a good thing. We have a place in our bulletin. You can take notes. But you know what you should do then? It's like, you know, unless you need to rehear something, it's like you really don't need to hear the sermon again. You heard something, you're motivated or whatever. It's like, just see what the Bible says. See what the Bible says. And make sure that what's being said is actually correct. Right? Matthew 11, verse 8. But what went he out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. Now, when he's saying, you know, was John the Baptist a man with soft clothing? Or soft raiment? He's basically saying that, you know, John the Baptist was living in the wilderness. He looked a little bit like a wild man. Okay? Now, obviously, John the Baptist was not wearing a suit and tie. Now, I do believe, especially in today's culture, a suit and tie is the best way to go at church, to be professional, to gain respect, and all of those things. But, you know, obviously, John the Baptist was not dressed that way. But, of course, he's living in the wilderness. I mean, it's not like he's staying at a hotel. He's not going to bed at night at a normal place. Now, I will say this. You know, I'll talk about this in the second sermon. But I do believe that a lot of videos of John the Baptist, they make him a little bit too wild, like his hair is all ragged. It looks like he's a homeless madman. It's like I'm sure he washed his face. Because even though, I mean, the book of Leviticus tells us to take care of our bodies. I'm sure that he was, you know, trying to, you know, take care of his body. But, of course, you know, he can only do it so much living in the wilderness. Right? And what Jesus is saying is this is not a man that was a rich man and had a great house and had all of these luxuries. No, this was a man who was in the wilderness preaching the Word of God, living a very austere lifestyle. Eating locusts and wild honey. And what it shows you is John the Baptist was a tough guy. Now, as I was saying in the second sermon, I believe Jesus was the same way, a very tough guy. Okay? But as he's describing John the Baptist, I mean, this was not like the other spiritual leaders that were there. I mean, I'm sure they had the fancy long robes and the nice clothing and they looked all nice and everything like that. And he's like, well, John the Baptist was different. He says in verse 9, But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. You know what Jesus says here is among those that have been physically born up to this time, there has not been a greater person than John the Baptist. Now obviously Jesus Christ is an exception because he was perfect, but he's saying of men, you know, of mortal men, it's like John the Baptist is the greatest man that has ever existed. Now whether or not somebody has come after John the Baptist that is just as great, people might say, well, what about Paul the Apostle? I'd probably go with John the Baptist personally, but he's saying, you know what? Yea, he had his moment of doubting, but this is the greatest guy who has ever lived. Here's the thing, if the greatest guy who's ever lived starts doubting things when he's away from the word of God, what do you think is going to happen in your life if you're not hearing the word of God and you're not reading the Bible and you're not around good people? You're going to start to question things. You're going to start to doubt certain things. Point number one, we see the concern of John the Baptist. Point number two, we see the confirmation to John the Baptist. Point number three, we see the commentary on John the Baptist. And lastly, we see the confusion toward John the Baptist. And the confusion what I'm referring to is the question, was John the Baptist Elijah or not? Right? It's a topic that people debate about. I could preach a whole sermon on this topic. I'm obviously not going to do that. But in just ten minutes, I'm just going to show you what I believe and what the Bible says. And you say, well, why would anyone think he's John the Baptist? Well, because Jesus says that he's, you know, Elijah. John the Baptist is Elijah. Notice what it says here in Matthew 11 verse 12. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. Now, what is that saying? Well, what it's saying is, I mean, think of John the Baptist who ends up getting beheaded. It's just like when we go out and preach the gospel, people that are in political high positions of authority, they will persecute people preaching the word of God. Now, look, we always need to be reminded that we are very blessed in the Philippines to be able to freely preach the word of God. And we really do not have to worry that much. I'm never worried when I go out preaching the gospel about getting arrested. I'm not worried when I preach sermons about getting arrested. But, you know, if you were to go to a Muslim country, good luck. If you're going to be in North Korea today or India or Buddhist run countries, you're not going to be able to freely preach the word of God. We do have the freedom in 2024 to freely preach the word of God here in the Philippines. We can go out later today and nobody's worried about getting killed, right? Nothing's going to happen. It's completely safe. And, you know, we ought to take advantage of that opportunity to say, hey, we're blessed here in the Philippines. Let us just go out zealously and preach the gospel while we have the opportunity. But in general, the political realm will just basically persecute people preaching the word of God and prevent them from preaching the word of God. Verse 13, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. So what Jesus says in verse 14 is if you're willing to receive it, John the Baptist is Elijah. Now, I don't think that he was literally Elijah, okay? Some people do and I'm not against them if that's what they think. But let me just show you where the confusion is because if you were to just read this, it certainly sounds like John the Baptist is Elijah. Right? Go to your Bible to Malachi chapter 3, last book of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3. And one thing to help you understand what I believe is think back to the story of Elisha. Right? The right-hand man of Elijah. And when Elisha was told that Elijah was going to go to heaven, what did he ask for? He asked for a double portion of the spirit that was upon Elijah. And you see Elisha, he's kind of a forgotten character because Elijah is more well known, but Elisha was a great character. He performed miracles. He did amazing things. And, you know, what he had was the spirit upon his life just like Elijah had. Now, he was not literally Elijah, but he had the same spirit upon his life. And, of course, here's the thing. I mean, any one of us in this room can be filled with the Holy Spirit to do great things. Now, if you're saved, you're indwelt with the Holy Ghost, but you can be filled with the Holy Ghost which gives you boldness to do great things. We go out soul winning and sometimes you can be a very shy person and yet you're stopping people in the street and you're confident and you say, why? Because God is filling you full of boldness to do something mighty. And so the spirit was really upon the life of Elisha. And you'll even see that, you know, the Bible said that Elijah was going to do certain things and then Elijah went to heaven before he did them, but then Elisha did them in his stead, anointing certain people as leaders. And so he did it in the same spirit and power that Elijah had. I believe it's the same with John the Baptist. I don't believe he was literally Elijah, but that he was doing things in the same spirit and the same power that Elijah had upon his life. Malachi 3 verse 1, Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom he seeks shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom he delighted. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Now the Bible is saying I'm going to send my messenger. The book of Isaiah says the messenger is going to be sent in chapter 40. And of course, John the Baptist was really the forerunner to Jesus Christ. Now, when John the Baptist was sent, his job was to basically pave the way for Jesus. If you were to go back a long time period in history, when kings were to go on a journey, they didn't necessarily have a paved road or know where they're going. I mean, when I get lost, I pull up Waze on my phone, right, or Google Directions or whatever, and it tells me where I'm going. But they didn't have that a long time ago. And so what would take place is if a king was going to go on a long journey, you know what would take place ahead of time? Somebody would be sent ahead of time to prepare the way and to basically come back and say, okay, here are the dangers. This is where you need to go. This is how long it's going to take. This is the path. They would basically pave the way for the king to come. Well, that's what John the Baptist was doing. And so when Jesus comes and they start following Jesus, they're like, John the Baptist, doesn't this bother you that people are following Jesus? And he's like, I'm like the best man at the wedding. What are you talking about? I'm just trying to help Jesus. It's like, praise God, I'm just paving the way. That's what John the Baptist did. So John the Baptist came, he's preaching the word of God, and he already really riles up all the Pharisees, doesn't he? The religious leaders are already really mad, and then not only do you have John the Baptist, once Jesus comes, John the Baptist is like, and this is the Messiah. The Pharisees were already bothered by John the Baptist, and then they're like, Jesus is worse. What are we going to do? John the Baptist was the messenger paving the way. Okay, go to chapter four. Chapter four. But what gets confusing is the Bible also says that Elijah is going to be sent. Okay? Notice what it says in Malachi four, verse five. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest they come and smite the earth with a curse. See, the Bible says, I am going to send Elijah the prophet, and he's going to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. Now go to Luke chapter one, third book of your New Testament, Luke chapter one. Because the person being referred to in Malachi four is actually John the Baptist, but the Bible said Elijah. Now why would the Bible say Elijah? Well, people would know who Elijah was, and so he's coming in the same power and spirit that Elijah had. So the Bible mentions Elijah because he was a great man who never died. He went straight to heaven. Right? Here's what it says, though, in Luke one, verse 17. And he shall go before him, and this is the chapter that talks about both the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist. And he shall go before him, verse 17, in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And so the Bible says about John the Baptist, when he was born, this is the guy that Malachi was talking about, in the same spirit and power that Elijah had to turn the heart of the fathers to the children. And he says he is going to be the one. Now go to John one, we'll close up here. John one. John one. John chapter one. Now, let me ask you a question. And if you disagree with me on this, if you think John the Baptist was literally Elijah, I'm not mad at you, a lot of great people believe that, it's perfectly fine, it's not a doctrine to split on, it's not that big of a deal. I'm just going verse by verse and this comes up in the text. But here's the thing about this. I would say that if you were living during the days of John the Baptist, I think common sense would tell us that John the Baptist probably knew the scripture pretty well, right? I mean, if you're going to be greatly used by God, you need to know the word of God. John the Baptist was someone who would really know the scripture. So if John the Baptist really knew the scripture, and if the Old Testament was really teaching that Elijah would be reincarnated, and John the Baptist was actually Elijah, you would think that he would realize that he was. You would think that he'd realize that, okay, Elijah is going to be reincarnated. But according to John one, he would be completely oblivious to that if that's actually what took place. Because notice what it says in John one verse 19. And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What saith thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet Isaiah. And so look, he knew Malachi, he knew Isaiah, which prophesied of these things, and he directly says in here, I am not Elijah. And if you were to take Malachi by itself, it would sound like John the Baptist is Elijah, but then John the Baptist I would expect would be aware of that, and he's not. But what John the Baptist was, is coming in the same power and spirit of Elijah. What you see in John one is John the Baptist was a very humble person, right? He didn't look at how great I am. He's like, no, I'm just the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He's like, I'm no better than any prophet that came before me. Now Jesus said, you actually are better than anybody else. But that's not the way that John the Baptist looked at himself. He looked at himself as just, hey, you know what, I'm trying to serve God. This is the responsibility and the position God has put me in, and I'm going to use it for the glory of God. But he didn't look at himself as being better than anybody else. He just said, I'm just preaching the word of God. You know, that's the attitude that all of us ought to have. You know, it's like, well, you know, maybe you got hundreds of people saved this year. It's like, you know, the attitude we ought to have is, you know what, God has put me in a receptive area and given me the opportunity to preach the gospel a lot. Let me just use it to the glory of God and serve God the best that I can, right? John the Baptist was a very unique man. He was not like a normal prophet. Number one, his birth is miraculous, right? In Luke chapter one, his mom was past the point of being able to have children, which really kind of showed this guy is a special guy. And right from the womb, the Bible says the Spirit was upon his light to do something mighty. Now, you know, of course, John the Baptist had to reach the age of accountability, and his parents had to give him the gospel. I would say Zacharias probably got him saved. Maybe his mom, Elizabeth, but probably Zacharias would be my guest. But his parents taught him the word of God, and he had to get saved because as great as John the Baptist is, we don't see him being perfect in the Bible. I mean, doubting is wrong. What he did was actually wrong, but of course, all of us would do the same in that position, right? He was a very special man. But like everybody, you know what, nobody's perfect. All of us need to hear the gospel and believe on Christ and get saved. Let's go to the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and thank you for allowing us to learn of this great character of the Bible, John the Baptist, and ask you to help us to just try to live our lives with that same Spirit of God upon our lives, God. Help all of us in this room to do mighty things in our lives, to serve you, obey your commandments, get people saved, God, and just learn our Bibles and know God. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, for our last song, let's turn our hymns to hymn number 430. Let's sing the song, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Hymn number 430, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Everybody on the first. Hymn number 30, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Hymn number 30, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Hymn number 30, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Hymn number 30, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Hymn number 30, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks. Amen. Let's have a ten minute break.