It's interesting to know that God doesn't skip any unnecessary steps and sometimes going a long route in order to accomplish something is the safest way for God in order to accomplish something. And oftentimes God will be at work inside of our lives and it just doesn't make sense. You know he very often will work paradoxically. You know the two shall become one. You want to become great, you must be a servant. It's the exact opposite of the way the world responds and reacts. The only box that God fits in is that box that says other right. And to see God at work is such a beautiful thing because it's nothing that any man would ever choose to do.
Speaker 1And the greatest born among women here, it's John the Baptist, and really all that he was was a pointer right. He was a voice in the wilderness, he was a humble man. It's been said that humility is something that we should all pray for, but never thank God that we have right. I thank you, god, for all of my humility, but when you're on your knees you can't go any lower right, you can't fall down. When your eyes are on the Lord, it doesn't matter how tumultuous the storm is, it doesn't matter how crazy it is. You know what kind of a servant you are when somebody treats you like one. Well, this is kind of John the Baptist's MO, right, it's just like it's him. It's him. Look at my cousin. It's him pointing to him and not about himself humble gentle.
Speaker 2Lowly meek is he always talk about me right at the beginning and extraordinarily good looking. Obviously, friends, you know I'm not talking about oscar navarro. You gotta be talking about yale oscar navar, the man who mocks me, the man who, when I asked him for a bottle of water, gave me a clapper instead. The man who, just moments ago, said I'm easy and pretended to be asleep with his mouth open. As I often do on a plane, I do nothing but treat Oscar with kindness, love and utter graciousness. Careful, and yet all he does. All and utter graciousness. Careful, and yet all he does, all he does is hurt me.
Speaker 2And yet, friends, today I will once again demonstrate the greatness of my mercy.
Speaker 4What is going on? By the way, mockery is the first form of flattery.
Speaker 2And I will give Oscar something extraordinarily undeserved.
Speaker 3It's a gift.
Speaker 4I already know what it is. Extraordinarily, I can sense it Undeserved. It's light, it's fluffy.
Speaker 2I already know what this is. Extraordinarily, it's a mustache Un-. Here it goes. Oh guys, deserved, I'll be right back.
Speaker 4Yeah, what is it? Oscar Baklava, baklava made by the hand of my beloved sister, guys I am gonna tell you right now I have traveled the world eating baklava. No, nothing compares to his sister's baklava. It is so good. Who?
Speaker 2by the way, drove all the way out from riverside county in insane traffic to drop that off before she flies out of town. So you can have it. I love her. I never mock her. Yeah, that's very wise, and I did. I had punished you for a time and I forbade you to have that.
Speaker 4It's been like eight years since you gave what it is to me.
Speaker 2Look at my kindness and my graciousness. Now the question is, oscar, are you going to share that with?
Speaker 4us. I am concerned that I'm going to eat the whole thing, mark and Ray, have you guys ever had baklava?
Speaker 2Should we know your systems? Yeah, okay, you guys need to eat this here, right?
Speaker 1now, when were we In real time? Oh, the Cook Islands. We had some baklava.
Speaker 2Oh no, that wascious baklava ever. It was a terrible baklava, what Ray.
Speaker 3I've eaten your house a lot yeah but you guys have to try this.
Speaker 4Guys, you need to know that when the Old Testament talks about God sending down manna from heaven, I can't confirm this from a scholarly perspective, but I'm pretty sure it was easy sister's baklava.
Speaker 2It was. That's been archaeologically proven. Oscar, look at how generous you are, I know. Look at how kind You're going to finish that in like 30 seconds. I will right now. Here we go.
Speaker 3Oh, so let me just explain this for those who don't know. It's kind of a pastry with almond and nuts inside it and it's moist.
Speaker 2I have no idea what it is. It's just glorious Mark. What do you think I?
Speaker 1mean, it's not winter schnitzel? Oh, forget you, mark, it's actually really good.
Speaker 2No, I had some. It's all good, yeah anyway. But friends, Oscar has demonstrated graciousness today. What are you doing? Where you going?
Speaker 1He's offering it to the crew.
Speaker 2No way.
Speaker 1Listen, it's not too sweet, it's like perfectly.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, and I mean I had a bite last night. She brought us a little bit and, Oscar, are you going to give me one too?
Speaker 3How come you didn't burst into a rap? I had a bite last night.
Speaker 2You know what? I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover. That's why last night I had some baklava. And look, friends, oscar, I mean I'm blown away. Oscar is the most greedy person I know, and selfish. And to mean I'm blown away, oscar is the most greedy person I know, and and selfish. And to see what he just did? He went around and so, because of that, oscar, stop it what's happening? Let's go you passed the test that's why I held that back.
Speaker 2I I'm like if he's going to be greedy and not share this, now forget it.
Speaker 4Two trays of baklava man. I'm so excited.
Speaker 3Boy, there's got to be a sermon there. That was wonderful, isn't? It? Wasn't that nice and kind Holding back the second one.
Speaker 4Yeah, all those hours I spent at the gym is just to eat baklava.
Speaker 1I was just thinking about that.
Speaker 3Right You're being very healthy. Give it all to me and see if there's more in the drawer.
Speaker 1How does this work out with your micronutrients? Macronutrients eating 12 eggs every morning.
Speaker 4I do that to stay physically healthy, but I'm not obsessed with it. I mean, like I enjoy the gracious gifts that God gives me, wienerschnitzel, wienerschnitzel, baklava, all of it.
Speaker 2Man, I'm telling you, and you know what. My sister comes over, she brings me these toothpaste these are for Oscar and then she gives us this tiny little one for us. I'm like what, how did this happen? I love her.
Speaker 4So what's your sister's funeral? And she walks up to me and she's just like I love making you baklava. I'm like she thanked me, I'm like why, are you thanking me? Thank you.
Speaker 2Yeah, I love it. Nadia's amazing. When she had applied at her church to serve in the children's ministry department. In fact I saw the pastor recently at the ARC and he said him and the other assistant pastor, he said that she put on the application when they said, why do you want to serve in the children's ministry? And she said Jesus has cleansed my heart. It would be an honor to clean his house. Dude, come on, wow. I know Every time I share it I get choked up. Yeah, his house, oh, come on, wow, I know Every time I share it I get choked up. Yeah, but she's really amazing. She took baklava to Ken Ham. She ended up showing up at his church, at her church, after we were just at the Ark, and she came and she brought him a big tray baklava and he confirmed it's some of the best baklava he'd ever had.
Speaker 2It really is great, it's so good, yeah, magical. Good Amen you approve.
Speaker 4I approve every time.
Speaker 2All right, friends, here's another cool, classy comment. This came, by the way, in the email box of Mark Spence. Hi, mark, hello, this is oh man I got mucleva in my teeth. This is Kirk from Prairieville, louisiana. I've never commented on Living Waters podcast. They are all very good and full of nuggets. Triumphing in our trials had me riveted. I hung on. Every single word blown away tears and laughter. If you guys remember, that was the episode we did with Vicky and.
Speaker 2Mike Zarate, the sister who had lost her hands and her feet. He said there's nothing more powerful than a testimony. Last week, as I was thinking about when I share the gospel at a local park on Saturday mornings as people walk by, I had the idea to add another banner to catch people's attention this is my newest fishing bait and I guess he created a big graphic, a banner that he put up and had an airplane on it and it said do you have a fear of flying? 150,000 people die every day in the world, he said. On July 9th 1982, I lost my seven family members in a Pan-American plane crash in Kenner, louisiana. Irony, they were headed to Las Vegas for a funeral. Mom, dad, two aunts, two uncles and my grandmother perished Surreal. This incident was the biggest test in my life.
Speaker 2Y'all's podcast, hearing Vicki and Mike's story inspired me to use my testimony even more. Way more. I never, ever knew how to share the gospel until I ran across Ray on a YouTube video that floated on my screen. While watching YouTube, I attended the Ambassador's Academy in June of 2023. Great appreciation for what all of you do at Living Waters. Wow, man. I mean it's easy to just kind of read something like that and just keep moving along. But he lost his mom, his dad, his grandparents, aunt, uncle, I mean, in one fell swoop like that and his heart is that of Joseph.
Speaker 4like what the enemy uses for evil, the Lord is gonna use for good. Let me take this thing that happened, this death, this tragedy, and use it as an evangelistic tool.
Speaker 2Right, wow, well, you remember, mark even with Vicki, I mean, when she was here what her husband said about how, when she woke up and he told her that she's gonna have to lose her hands and feet, how she said oh well, I guess I'm gonna have to be used by God that way, just that heart in the midst of tragedy.
Speaker 3Do we know the number of the podcast so people could find that. I'll find it in a couple of minutes. It was just recent, wasn't it? Yeah, a month ago.
Speaker 2Yeah, so anyhow, anyhow, anyhow. So, anyway, friends that's a good encouragement to you to use your testimony for the glory of God.
Speaker 4Testimonies are powerful, being able to tell someone look here's where I was and here's what God did, and, and, and. It's a testimony to his transforming and saving power. We have that example in the scriptures. Uh, the lady at the well, you know she. She walks away, and what has her evangelistic strategy? Come and see all that he has shown me. She's using her testimony.
Speaker 2I love it All right France did you find it, mark?
Speaker 1I did yeah, it's episode 249, triumphing in Our Trials 249.
Speaker 2Triumphing in Our Trials. Amen, All right, France, another radically revolutionary resource. And what do you know? How to overcome life's endless trials? Valuable lessons from the life of Joseph. That ties in well right.
Speaker 3Yeah, I love the cover. Lynn Copeland designed the cover and it's got Joseph's coat of many colors lying on the ground with car tires on it. Yeah.
Speaker 2He got run over by a truck. Oh man, yeah, joseph Slife was Joseph Slife, you've never heard of that.
Speaker 3No, who was he?
Speaker 2Well, you never heard of Joseph Slife. It was his cousin, he's my cousin.
Speaker 1Distant, but still you don't know him.
Speaker 2Yeah, but, boy, when you see what God did in Joseph's life, and the thing that blows me away about Joseph and we've talked about Joseph is his lack of bitterness. When his brothers discovered it was him and they were distraught, he said no, no, you know, don't? It says he comforted them. You know, don't be upset with yourselves. And he consoled them. And what you meant for evil, god meant for good and just that eternal perspective.
Speaker 3Type of the savior?
Speaker 2Yeah, All right friends. Oh, and don't forget the Living Waters mug and the Adventist Study Bible. All that, Wow, Living Waters. Yeah, that's someone eating baklava. Literally All right friends. Today we are talking about lessons from the life of Juan Baptista.
Speaker 3I actually said that in my head before you said it, thinking you were going to do that, did you?
Speaker 2Yeah, is that Spanish for John Baptist, my tio Juan. I don't know how you say Baptist, but I just figured Baptista. Add an O on anything Juan Baptista. That sounds good, me gusta, juan Baptista, wouldn't it be Baptista Juan Mucho?
Speaker 4No se porque.
Speaker 2Yeah, john the Baptist man he. You know, when I think of John the Baptist my mind always goes to a Jesus movie back in the day, and it had this they always make John out to look like a psychopath. He had a big old like fro-y hair and the whole leather and Locust out of stick. Yeah, dipped in chocolate, those chocolate fountains and the way and he had an English accent I remember he'd get flee from the wrath. Wrath To come.
Speaker 3I think that's the movie I hate. The greatest story ever told. I think that's what you're talking about. Oh, is that where it was from? Wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 1What a great movie Ray.
Speaker 2say wrath the way that you people say it. Well, I say wrath because I'm in a bad mood.
Speaker 3Now you're here. It's Roth Roth. That's what John the Baptist would have said. What's wrong with you, Roth Ira?
Speaker 2Yeah, john the Baptist man, he was a serious dude.
Speaker 3May I quote you That'd be a great book title John the Baptist. He was a serious dude, a memoir.
Speaker 4A memoir.
Speaker 3He was a serious dude. My son John the Baptist serious dude the unauthorized biographer.
Speaker 2Yeah, all right, so let's back up into John's life before John actually even walked the earth, and we'll go to Luke, chapter one. Of course, this is where Gabriel appears to Zacharias, who was John's father, who was a priest and of course so John was a pastor's kid.
Speaker 4Yeah, he was a PK, for sure, oh that's funny.
And Elizabeth, of course, was his mother. So we pick it up in Luke 1, 13 to 17. But the angel said to him Zacharias, do not be afraid, zacharias, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah 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 wow, you know, just at the outset, you know the beginning of the life of John and Ray. You remember what happened then with Zacharias. What did he look like? You remember?
Speaker 1Zacharias Ray, you remember when you were there, oh that's horrible when you walked in.
Speaker 2Mockery of the elderly. Yeah, oh, we're going to talk about that.
Speaker 3That's why we're going to change it to that title Mockery of the Elderly.
Speaker 2But, ray, you remember, obviously after the angel Gabriel spoke to Zacharias and he was like kind of in disbelief.
Speaker 3Yes, how will I know this thing? Yeah, you remember what happened Struck dumb, wow. And then the only way he could communicate was by the written word. And because of our unbelief as Christians, we're struck dumb when it comes to evangelism. We don't know what to say. So use the written word, use attract if you can't speak for God.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's good. Yeah, and you weren't even listening. I don't care. But, mark, yeah, you know just the thought of that, I think, when it comes to being given God's word and kind of trying to figure out how right I mean, this reminds me almost of Abraham and Sarah, right, as she's laughing and like wait, how in the world can we even have pleasure.
Speaker 3It's a funny discourse. When you read what's written, you laughed. No, I didn't. Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Yes, you did.
Speaker 2It's like no, but you did laugh right.
Speaker 3Is this the?
Speaker 2Bible. Yeah, but right, mark. I mean I think it'd be good for us to camp out here just for a minute in terms of like, here's the angel Gabriel, he appears to Zacharias and yet Zacharias was still like well, but how and how could that be? And just the importance of not trying to figure out for God how he's going to do something that he's told us in his word he's going to do.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, that's a great point. Let me camp on that for just a thought inside my head. You know, god doesn't need our advice or counsel, right? He doesn't need to try to figure something out. It's interesting to know that God doesn't skip any unnecessary steps, and sometimes going a long route in order to accomplish something is the safest way for God in order to accomplish something.
Speaker 1And oftentimes God will be at work inside of our lives and it just doesn't make sense. He very often will work paradoxically. The two shall become one. You want to become great, you must be a servant. It's the exact opposite of the way the world responds and reacts. The only box that God fits in is that box that says other. And to see God at work is such a beautiful thing because it's nothing that any man would ever choose to do.
Speaker 1And the greatest born among women here, it's John the Baptist, and really all that he was was a pointer. He was a voice in the wilderness, he was a humble man. It's been said that humility is something that we should all pray for, but never thank God that we have right. I thank you, god, for all of my humility, but when you're on your knees, you can't go any lower right. You can't fall down when your eyes are on the Lord. It doesn't matter how tumultuous the storm is, it doesn't matter how crazy it is. You know what kind of a servant you are when somebody treats you like one. Well, this is kind of John the Baptist's MO right, it's just like it's him. It's him, look at my cousin. It's him pointing to him and not about himself.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean Ray John said in fact we'll get to it, but I must decrease and he must increase. That's another one up for the short people. Everything relates to short people.
Speaker 3Yeah, talk about being humble. You guys are the guys that keep me humble, Just having you surrounding me, telling me why I'm wrong and why I'm.
Speaker 2It's just it's wonderful Worry your gift from the Lord I think it's neat that you were there when Webster actually put it inside the dictionary.
Speaker 3Thank you so much, mark. I absolutely love John the Baptist. I love his. He's got no compromise across his forehead. There's nothing pretentious about him. He's the ultimate gospel preacher. No luxurious limo, no massive multi-million dollar mansion. No slick three-piece suit, no solid gold watch, no jets or jewelry, no caviar or cream covered cappuccino. I couldn't think of a food that was kind of luxurious. Did you write?
Speaker 2that.
Speaker 3Ray, yeah, yeah, all he had on his menu was locusts and honey. That was it. And he was clothed in common camel hair with a leather belt around his gut so he could lift up his voice like a trumpet and show his people their transgressions.
Speaker 2No ear tickler just a voice crying in the wilderness. I just love this Pride. It's filled to this.
Speaker 3You're a prideful recoverer. I can't help it. I'll hum this after this he's filled to the brim, filled to the brim with the fear of God and emptied to the last drop of the fear of man. John the Baptist.
Speaker 2I love that. Now I'm going to write a book about that. Yeah, right now.
Speaker 3Okay, and I just love it. When he saw the Pharisees come out to his outdoor church, his open-air preaching, he didn't say I'd just like to take a moment to welcome the Pharisees and the Sadducees here today, let's give them a big hand. No, he said, you brood of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath is to come. And all he did was say behold the Lamb of God.
Speaker 2How do you write that in Hebrew?
Speaker 4The locust was stuck in his throat, that's it.
Speaker 3Yeah, well, it was dipped in honey and it stuck on the way down. All he did at this whole ministry was behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and that is what we're to do. Just to point to Jesus, mark, you got something to say? No, I mean.
Speaker 1I love that text because, if you picture the story, here's John the Baptist. Jesus enters onto the scene. He says behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is so key in understanding what's happening in light of the Old Testament. Right In the Old Testament, as we see with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would enter in offer up a sacrifice, the sins were always covered, but they were never removed, they were never taken away.
Speaker 1And the example that I like to use in the midst of this is imagine if I invited Oscar, you over to my house for Thanksgiving. My wife lays out the nice tablecloth across the table nice linen and all of a sudden I spill some grape juice right where you're supposed to sit. And I said baby, where's the backup? Where's version two of a tablecloth that I can put down? And she says we don't have one, that's our only fine linen. So she says lay down a placemat over the spill.
Speaker 1I go, but what about the spill? She's all, we'll deal with the spill and we'll deal with you later, right? And so we lay down the nice placemat and you may or may not even know that it's there, but the spill is there and eventually that spill has to be dealt with. Well, that's kind of like the Old Testament, that the spill is there, the defilement is there, the sin is there and eventually it has to be dealt with. So on that day of atonement, when the high priest would offer up the sacrifice, the sins were covered but they were never truly dealt with. And this is why we climax to the point, to the place where John the Baptist, he says behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Speaker 4And, mark, you hit it so well because you have to imagine that I mean the day of atonement Y so well because you have to imagine that I mean the Day of Atonement.
Speaker 4Yom Kippur happens every single year. So if you're a Jew, you would travel from your hometown into Jerusalem. This was a pilgrimage you did every year and every year you would sit there in anticipation waiting for that high priest to walk out of the temple, lay his hands on the cleanest lamb, pray the sins of the city onto that lamb, and then they would send the lamb out and Jewish church history would say they would send them off a cliff because they were afraid the lamb would come back into the town bringing everyone's sins, which is kind of funny, but anyway. So every year, to your point, like this repetitious thing, since you were a little kid, every year you remember that you would travel there and you'd watch the high priest lay his hands on the lamb and pray their sins unto them. And in that context John the Baptist says behold the lamb of God. Like the significance of that moment to the people he was preaching to would have landed in such a different way than what we hear today.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's so good. Well, in keeping with what Gabriel had said to Zacharias. We see, then, what happens in Luke 1, 39 to 41. Now, mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. So they were relatives. Mary again had already become impregnated with Jesus and they're both pregnant, and so she goes to her house, and I love this. In verse 41, it says and it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb.
Speaker 3No, it was a fetus.
Speaker 2And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. I mean man, doesn't that just really speak to the glory of Christ? Like, obviously Mary had arrived and Christ was present there in the room in her womb. And there's John in Elizabeth's womb and he leaps right and it said, I mean Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit, or Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. But it also said in the previous passage, in Luke 1, that John would be filled with the Spirit from the womb.
Speaker 3That's just amazing and it really shows that pro-life is right. That's a baby in the womb. It's not a fetus, it's one that can leap with joy. That's a living human being. Leap with joy. That's a living human being Ever seen you're married? Ever seen a baby put its elbow and arm around a woman's stomach inside the womb and you see it moving around from the outside? It's an awesome thing to see in another person. I hate it myself.
Speaker 2That's the chili dogs, mark, that's a good point. Ray mentioned the word fetus and I'm sure some who are listening have watched our movie what Is it and have listened to you deal with that. But I love what you say to people they say, oh, it's just a fetus. And what do you say to that?
Well it is a fetus, but we shouldn't be speaking Latin because typically we speak English and the word fetus simply means little one or offspring. So particularly we speak English and the word fetus simply means little one or offspring. So in order to know what kind of a fetus it is, we look at its parents, because felines have fetuses, canines have fetuses, but we try to use that word, that sort of terminology, to skirt around the subject at hand. Because it is a baby. Sure, it is a fetus, it's a little one, it's a reflection of what its parents are. But we should just speak English.
Speaker 4It's a baby, pre-born human being. And why is that a problem? Because that little baby is made in the image of God. I knew that was coming and I mean you think about that. I mean, john the Baptist is a prime example. That little baby, in that womb John the Baptist case, was worshiping his creator. What is it that makes it wrong to kill a baby? It's that they're made in God's image, uniquely and distinctly set apart from all other creation bearing the image of its creator. And to mar that image is to mar God.
Speaker 2I recently heard a congressman doing they were doing a hearing and they were talking to, like I think it was, planned Parenthood people, you know, and experts in the field or whatever. But he kept asking her and he kept saying so this baby are you saying, and she said, well, I would call it a fetus. And again they have to try to get away because they can't in their right minds, with a clear conscience, say baby. But yet, mark, we've also seen, even in the movie, that some are now just conceding yes, it is, and I don't care. That lady was a nurse, mark, I'm just trying to remember the movie.
Speaker 1There's a lady on the pier in Huntington Beach. I set up a table that said I'm pro-life, talk me out of it. And she came up to my booth and she's. She was adamantly pro choice. She said that it is a baby. It's not just a clump of cells. But then she says you put that baby in front of me right now and I'll kill it as a nurse.
Speaker 4Yeah as a nurse, yeah, and for uh listener who maybe are not aware, um, the thing that we're talking about is a movie that was produced here at Living Waters called what Is it. You can find it free online or you can go to our website, livingwaterscom, and watch it there On YouTube. On YouTube, yes, and it features Ray, mark and Easy, and they do a phenomenal job breaking down all the common arguments and winning people over to realizing that it is a baby, but more than that, ultimately using that as a platform to share the gospel, which is the thing I love most about our argument about pro-life. It is pointing people towards the gospel. Amen, amen.
Speaker 2All right. So we see, before John is even conceived that it's announced, we see that while he's in the womb, he's leaping in the womb before he even exits. And then now we'll get to his appearance on the scene on the world stage. What's that? His parents on the scene, his appearance, all right. Matthew 3, 1 to 16. In those days, john the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. No, no, we don't preach repentance, ray, of course not. We don't preach repentance.
Speaker 3Jesus said the same thing Repent, believe the gospel yeah boy.
Speaker 2Seriously, I am growing more and more shocked and I shouldn't by how much we're seeing this increase of people like being against the call to others to repent.
Speaker 3I'm just crazy. They're angry about it, have you noticed?
Speaker 2it. And it's like have you guys read the Bible? I mean, they don't even want to go there. No, no, no, you don't talk about it. What do you mean? You don't talk about repentance. It's right there in scripture.
Speaker 4You know what I think it is. I think it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because here's what I think happens. And this is just me trying to be charitable and how I would win somebody over from that kind of a thought process. Me thinking charitably is like, maybe there are some people out there when they see the word repent, they think about the Westboro Baptists picketing, you know dead military men with signs out there that says turn and burn, repent, and so they connect that word with something that is bigoted, which is Westboro Baptists. I think we can all agree that that's a bigoted group of individuals that misuse and abuse words taken from God's beautiful word and distort the gospel. But here would be my argument to them is that don't look at that word in light of the way someone like a Westboro Baptist person would use it. Look at it in the way that John the Baptist use it.
Speaker 4And that word repent means a turning from and a turning to. But here's what's something that's amazing. One of the commentators that I read pointed out that one of the aspects because, again, anytime we change language, we lose bits of the original meaning, and so it definitely means to turn from and to turn towards a change of mind. But he pointed out, it's also a kind of homecoming. It's like welcoming someone home. Is the repentance? Turn and go home. You've been lost. Turn and go home. In other words, it's this invitation, it's this command from God to go back to your creator, to go back to the way you were designed to live your life.
Speaker 3It's a homecoming, it's a command and an invitation to repent, it's to get up out of the pigsty go to the Father. I think it's the fruit of a lawless gospel. If someone understands the importance of opening up the divine law, as Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount, then that necessitates repentance. You see, David had no need for repentance until Nathan said why have you despised the commandment of the Lord? And once he understood the depth of his sin under the light of God's law and an aroused conscience, then we see Psalm 51.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, it's so true. And that call and, as I've said before, the word repentance, mark, it's a good word. It is.
Speaker 1It's a glorious word. Yeah, it's a calling away from the sins that you love to a God that you're called to love, mark Dever said. We said that Thomas Watson referred to it as a vomit of the soul. A lot of us need to repent from our lack of repentance or a misunderstanding of what repentance truly is. Oscar is hitting it on the head here in that you think about it.
Speaker 1It's such a beautiful word that we're not saying you need to just turn from your sins. Well, you turn from one sin to another sin, or you turn from one vice to another vice. I need to quit smoking Now. What do you do? You're going to start drinking. Right, you're just turning from one vice to another vice.
Speaker 1But the reason why repentance is so beautiful is because the focus is not turning from your sin as much as it is turning to God. And if you're turning to God, you are ultimately turning from your sin. But remember, all of Scripture and all of the effectual call of God is a turning to Him. It's all about Him. It's about Christ crucified. So when you set your eyes upon Him, of course you're not going to be wanting to lie, cheat and steal and do the things that nailed your savior to the cross.
Speaker 1So it is a beautiful word, it is an invitation, as Oscar's mentioned here. We look at it so much so as you need to just stop stealing, all right, and then we get that out on the street, okay, what are you going to do now? Okay, well, I guess I'll stop stealing, I'm going to stop lying, I'm going to clean myself up. God is not calling you to clean your life up. He's commanding you to lay your life down, and the only way you can lay your life down is by putting your eyes on him, submitting to him, and then he does the work inside of you. It's a work from the inside out, not the outside.
Speaker 2Yeah, and it's a work that is evidenced by, like you're saying, mark, the turning away from sin, because you've had that change of heart and mind and in the moment you see your sin differently. You see its egregiousness, its filth, its despicable nature in the sight of a holy God and you turn from it, you change your mind regarding it, but in your heart you turn from it and your relationship to sin changes, and it's evidenced by a forsaking of that sin.
Yeah, it's the first of many repentants, because Martin Luther said that Christ intended our whole lives to be an act of repentance. We're doing it like this our whole lives are intended to be a continual act of renewing our minds, setting our minds on him and turning from the things that hinder us, weights that hold us back, that hold us down, that sink us from going forward and upward, and pressing towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 4You know, years ago.
Speaker 3Oh right, oh sorry, Okay Sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2No, it's all right.
Speaker 3Even the world commands repentance in a positive sense. You'll hear a secular news reader say the politician was repentant about his adultery and that means this is a positive thing, this is a step towards healing. So even the world understands repentance is positive.
Speaker 4Right, amen, just real quick because you just reminded me of this. I've never connected these dots before, but I read this book years ago. It was a memoir by a lady who grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon situation. They had like their own land out in the woods. They were around nothing, they had no electricity, nothing at all.
Speaker 4This is like several years ago, by the way, this isn't like 500 years ago and it talks so much about the abuse she experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, the amount of work that she had to go through, the amount of torture. And when she finally escaped that fundamental Mormonism she had, at first, stockholm syndrome, like she wanted to defend her father, her brothers. She wanted to protect them. She saw them as not bad people. And it wasn't until she met somebody and got married and got saved that she came to realize. Why am I bringing this up? Because this is like repentance. We have Stockholm syndrome to sin. We are married to the thing that's destroying us, and turning from sin is removing ourselves from that Stockholm situation and looking down the aisle and seeing the one who marries us. Right, it's the bridegroom and the bride.
Speaker 2Yeah, Amen. All right, I don't know how much we're going to get through any of this, but yeah, he's preaching repentance and it says for this all of you guys.
Speaker 1What did you?
Speaker 2eat man Baklava. That's what did it, baklava? For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way the Lord, make his path straight. Now. John himself was clothed in camel hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Wild honey, is that right? It was wild, it was angry, yeah.
Speaker 3What is the difference? Oh, there's passive honey that doesn't attack you Processed honey.
Speaker 2Just he went, he'd go, I'd probably go and grab it, you know, just straight out of the beehive.
Speaker 3Probably has something to do with the angry bees chasing him.
Speaker 2Then Jerusalem, all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. Ray you like that.
Speaker 3I like that. Yes, there's got to be evidence of repentance.
Speaker 2It's not just an empty word Amen, the fruit is born. If repentance has happened in your heart, conversion has been affected then there's going to be fruit.
Speaker 2It's a real living baby. Yeah, and do not think to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father, for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now, the ax is laid at the root of these trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And then he says I indeed baptize you with water under repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
Speaker 3Isn't there just such a poetic beauty to that, Oscar? Well, nowadays it's something not worthy to wash his socks.
Speaker 2Well, Mark doesn't wash socks, he just disposes of them. Puts a new one on every day.
Speaker 4Yeah, not worthy. You know, you guys talked about it earlier. When he says he must increase, but I must decrease, this reminds me of so many of the preachers and teachers that I see online that are building up their own platform for themselves. And listen to the subtle difference. Because I was thinking about this. Here's what some people say I must increase so that he may increase. That's not what John the Baptist is saying. John the Baptist is saying he must increase, but I must decrease.
Speaker 4Kevin D Young once said it's more my sin that wants success than my sanctification. In other words, there are so many. I think that this is a John the Baptist is a great example to anybody out there any pastor, any would-be social media Christian influencer that it is a careful line that you walk to gain an influence and to gain a following if it's not truly for the glory of God. Again, he does not say I must increase so that he may increase. God does not need you to be well followed. God does not need you to be well liked. God does not need you to have a powerful social media influence. He must increase, but I must decrease.
Speaker 1You know, and I like the fact here, when we see here's John the Baptist and here's a picture of the humility, we may have glossed right over it, but he says that he's not worthy to stoop down and to untie the sandals. Well, when are you untying the sandals? After a long day's work? At the end of the day, when there's mud and you've been stepping and moving and things that you shouldn't be stepping in, and he's saying I'm not worthy to touch the dirt to get it on my hands. He's not saying at the beginning I'm not worthy to put the sandals on the feet after they've been cleaned. He's saying at the end of the day, that's humility.
Speaker 2Yeah, and look at the humility of Jesus along those lines too. I mean, he comes to be baptized by John and John says you know, I need to be baptized by you and you're coming to me. And again the humility of Christ in that says but Jesus answered and said to him permit it to be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. You know, when it talks about Jesus and Philippians 2 and how we need to have the same mind as he had. And it said you know he humbled himself to the point. He humbled himself to the point of obedience, even to obedience to the death of the cross, and this is Christ's obedience. There was a righteousness to be fulfilled and he followed it. You know he did everything perfectly, and I think oftentimes we miss that part in declaring the gospel to others, that Jesus lived the perfect life in our place that we couldn't live. He fulfilled the law, he fulfilled all righteousness in our place that we couldn't do, and it's important for us, I think, to remember to include that in our gospel proclamation.
Speaker 2So then we see in Matthew 11, it says now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples, that he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him are you the coming one or do we look for an other? And so, ray, you know Jesus here was fulfilling Isaiah 61, 1 to 2, right. And he even quoted that in Luke 4, where it says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.
Speaker 3But what did he say after that? Remind us Today, the scriptures are fulfilled. Fulfilled yeah, that's a goose bump, I know, and his hearers were thrilled. Yeah, all right, I tried to throw them.
Speaker 2But, ray, you know, john here is like what do you mean? You said you're the one who's preparing his way. You baptized him and you saw the Holy Spirit come upon him and obviously, but now he's like, are you him? Could it be he was wrestling with even in his own mind, thinking wait, he's going to be a political deliverer. I'm in prison. What's going on?
Speaker 3Yeah, it's actually a confusing scripture. We can say that John wasn't regenerated like someone who's been truly born again, that he didn't have the new birth, new creature in Christ. However, it's still mystifying because he did say behold, this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I just wanted to park on that for a minute. That word behold is like a little herald trumpet playing and I can't help but think of breaking news that we hear on our televisions every three minutes. I don't know if you've noticed they do that. That's overkill.
Everything's breaking news. Breaking news. There's all sorts of trumpets playing, cat stuck in tree that's it, cat stuck in tree. And they know that it gets our attention. It always does with me. I hate it. Breaking news, big graphics, music and I click in and it's nothing at all. But this was the ultimate breaking news and we can often just gloss over it and say behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but what it's saying is behold the Lamb of God who is coming to destroy death. That's actually what's being said, and I think the greatest revelation any unbeliever can have is the fact that sin and death go hand in hand and they don't realize that sin gives pleasure. That's all there is to it. But once you realize the snake you're playing with has got a deadly bite, that's when they can listen to the gospel with an open heart.
Speaker 4Yeah, can I touch on that just for a minute or two, because it's actually one of the most comforting verses to me and I agree it's mystifying, ray. To recap, I mean you've got John the Baptist. He worshiped Jesus while still in the womb. He was the first evangelist in the New Testament. He audibly heard the voice of God. He saw the Holy Spirit descend like a dove. He baptized Jesus like this dude, is John the Baptist right? And at the end of his life, when he's in prison facing beheading? You're right. It's as if his faith wavers is weakened, is experiencing uncertainty. He writes a letter to Jesus. Are you the one, or should?
Speaker 3we look for another, or say, should we look for his mother?
Speaker 4Misspelling, and I love man. Jesus's response brings me so much hope because you have to imagine, like if you you know I'm just playing this, this isn't scripture, I'm just playing this out in my head Imagine like the disciples are with Jesus when he gets this letter and maybe they see it over his shoulder and they're like man, john the Baptist is questioning Jesus. What is he going to say? Isn't he call him a brood of vipers? What's going on here? And you imagine like Jesus folding the note and put it in his pocket and then turning to the audience Seven verses, I think later, after he receives this question from John the Baptist, he says you know John the Baptist. This question from John the Baptist, he says you know John the Baptist, greatest born of a woman. He says that after this, what does that tell us? It tells us.
Speaker 4I mean, we see this all throughout scripture. We see Asaph in Psalm 79, questioning his faith but then finding firm foundation. Here's my point the thing that saves John the Baptist is not the strength of his faith. As a matter of fact, the thing that saves you and Baptist is not the strength of his faith. As a matter of fact, the thing that saves you and I is not the strength of our faith. John the Baptist's faith was weakened at the very end of his life. After all that, the thing that saves us is the strength of the object of our faith, and the strength of the object of our faith is Christ, crucified on the cross. The object of your faith has the power to save you, not the power of your faith in itself. Amen.
Speaker 2That is comforting, yeah. And Mark Jesus responds. He says go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And I mean in essence he's basically saying I am the fulfillment of Isaiah 61. That is me right. But, mark, I love what he says at the end, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me. You know Christ was called the rock of offense. You know, and so you know there is that reality of man. Will you be offended by Christ or will you bow your knee to him and acknowledge what he has?
Speaker 1said yeah, it seems to me that any given moment when my eyes are not on the Lord, my sin is offended by anything that Christ will say, that I will be offended by any of you that wanna come to me and tell me that there's egg on my face, you know, because I like having sin in my life as a person going and living inside of a fallen world. But my spirit, everything within me, says God, you do whatever you need to do to remove the marredness inside of my life. Yeah, so good.
Speaker 2Yeah, and look, you know, we see the end of John's life. Yeah, and you think about that? That's a really good point too in terms of what scripture says. You know, I've been memorizing 1 Thessalonians and in chapter three, paul in there, which is where I'm at in my memorization but he's talking about how, you know, they told them that they would suffer tribulation, that they were appointed to that. And yeah, here's John. I mean, wait, I'm the forerunner of Christ, I'm the greatest man that's ever lived. If anyone was to die a nice natural death, surrounded by family singing to him and having just had his last wonderful meal, he was beheaded. And Ray, why was he beheaded? What did he do?
Speaker 3Because he was fearless in front of the king Because he preached the law of God. He said you've violated that seventh commandment. He was a preacher of righteousness, yeah, and he feared God and he suffered the consequences.
Speaker 2And we've got to follow in his steps, that's right, yeah, herod, I mean, you know, and he didn't want to do it, but he had given himself over to wickedness and sin. And then, yeah, he finds himself I'll give you up to half of my kingdom because of his wife, who? That's why John rebuked him. He was married to his brother's wife, right?
Speaker 3It's so crazy that here he is committing murder because he wanted to keep his word.
Speaker 2Yeah, and he says to her silly daughter who was dancing in front I'll give you up to half a month. What a stupid thing to offer in the first place. I mean, I know it was more of just a saying of like, hey, what do you want? But still. And then he does it because it says because of the guests and those who were there, he didn't want to refuse. Like, what are you talking about? You know?
Speaker 2You know sin will always want your head on a platter for me, yeah, yeah, and you know, I kind of modified that saying and I kind of put it in my own version, at the beginning at least. But you know, sin will make you stray further than you want to stray, stay longer than you want to stay, pay more than you want to pay, and that's always the case. But when you're in the midst of it, you're plugging up your ears with your fingers and running and yelling at the top of your lungs because you don't want to hear truth, you don't want to receive conviction. And then, man, there you are Because you're in the fray.
Speaker 3Hey, what do you say? I don't think I'm off here, but I think it was lust that blinded Herod that woman dancing in front of him. And that's what lust does. It takes a man by the nose and takes him away from a faithful wife and causes him to commit adultery with a loose woman. And the Bible says what are you doing?
Speaker 2Yeah, wow. Well, what a life. You know and we know John came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Luke 1 says Sometimes there's confusion over that John denied being Elijah. Jesus said, if you can receive it, he was Elijah. But that's in keeping with what we read here in Luke 1. He came in the spirit and power of Elijah and John was saying, no, I'm not literally the resurrected reincarnation of Elijah, but he came in the spirit of Elijah, as it's prophesied in Malachi 4, 5 through 6. But what a life and what an example of a man who determined to decrease, he was glad to diminish so that Christ can be exalted.
Speaker 2And I fear that, friends, that's not often the case with us as Christians and I want to encourage us to examine our hearts and our motives. You know, sometimes we're going a million miles a minute and we don't pause long enough to examine how we're living, what we're doing, what our patterns are in life, and we find ourselves really building our own kingdom. We find ourselves molding and shaping our own idol, which is a duplicate image of ourselves. I hope we follow John's example. I hope our heart is I want to disappear by living a life that so glorifies, magnifies, exalts God, that Christ so shines through me that people are looking at him and his light and not me. I'm hidden behind it so that God will be glorified and recognize that in that pathway sometimes there's rejection, there's pain, there's imprisonment, there's decapitation, but is he not worth it? Worthy, worthy is the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Amen, all right friends. Well, that is our wrap up. Don't forget how to overcome life's endless trials.
Speaker 2Valuable lessons from the life of Joseph Living Waters, mug, the evidence, study, bible, all at livingwaterscom. And remember podcasts. At livingwaterscom We've been seeing a lot of great and encouraging comments and, by the way, friends, you continue to help the podcast soar. In fact, we were just number two in Italy. Of all Christian podcasts. In all of Italy, we were number two. And out of all religious podcasts that means any religion we were at number four.
Speaker 3And recently in the US we had hit the number 21 and 22 spot for Christian podcasts and we're like in the top 25. So if we're number two in Italy, who's the top? The Pope, no Pope podcast. Let's get him.
Speaker 2We beat the Pope if he has one, but it was some Italian like gotta be anybody, anybody can go, something like that. But yeah, so praise God, guys, just keep listening and sharing. Our aim is to magnify him and get his word out to more people. So podcastlivingwatercom with your thoughts and comments and all that stuff, like and share and subscribe. Thank you for joining us, friends. We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast. The ultimate cure for insomnia.
Speaker 3Hey Siri, does the Pope have a podcast?