In Mark chapter 1, reading from verses 1 through 8, our text tonight will actually be verses 2 through 8. We had an introduction last week and we just used the first verse. But beginning in verse 1, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of skin about his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey, and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Father, again, we thank you for this privilege that you've given us to assemble together. Lord, we just pray tonight for thy will to be done, pray for your leading and guiding. Help us as we come here to this text tonight, for it's in Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen. Again, last week in verse one, we used that verse just to have an introduction to the book of Mark. Tonight, verses 2 through 8, I'm going to title this, The Ministry of John the Baptist. Now, many weeks ago when we preached the message on baptism, we did say some things about John as the Lord Jesus was baptized and then as others began to be baptized. But as we come here tonight, we find that John, the forerunner of Messiah, he was prophesied in the Old Testament as we see here in verse two. He's called the friend of the bridegroom, he's called a prophet, and Jesus referred to him as a burning and shining light. He's called the Baptist, this name comes from his ministry and his emphasis on repentance and baptism. That's where this name would come from. All four gospels testify of John's ministry, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Most of these books will have at least two chapters where that you'll find John the Baptist's ministry. There's a lot in the New Testament said about him. we find that he was to be the harbinger of Christ, to come before him and prepare the way. Notice in verse 2 again, as it is written in the prophets, We find here that we find him in two places. We find him in Isaiah chapter 40 and also in Malachi chapter 3, and we'll try to turn and read those in a moment. But he says, As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee. Again, he prepared the people for the coming of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Both John the Baptist and Christ, the Messiah, is prophesied in the Old Testament. Now, I want you to turn with me to the book of John, and notice with me in chapter 1. John chapter 1, Now again, we have a number of years ago, I don't know how many, in our character study, we have one whole sermon on John the Baptist. We've also mentioned him many times in different sermons. Again, I believe it was the first Sunday of October when we actually had a baptism on Sunday night that we preached on baptism and we brought John into the picture in some of the passages that pertain to him. But notice as we come here to John chapter one, and I want to say as many things as I can about him tonight, maybe not read all of the passages, but at least make reference to them. We find here in John 1, first of all, verse 6, 7, and 8. This is the story of John. And also, verses 19 through 27. So right here in this one chapter, we find a lot about John and his ministry, because he's the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll find him again in chapter 3, chapter 5, chapter 10. In other words, we find him many times. So notice the first mention here in the book of John. I'm reading in John chapter 1 verses 6, 7, and 8. It says, There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He's talking about the Baptist, John the Baptist. And again, that name comes from the fact of his preaching of repentance and baptism. In verse 7, Now notice, well, first of all, he was a man. He's not the Messiah. He's the forerunner of Messiah. Second thing we find in verse 7, he was sent from God. He said in verse 7, the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. And so we find that he has a heavenly calling. He is a man, he's not the Messiah, but he came to testify of the Messiah, and he has a heavenly calling. In verse 8, he was not that light. In our text, Jesus is that light, beginning in verse 1. But he says he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. So he came to preach the gospel. Again, we find that he was a man, he was sent from God, and to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm not going to read all of verses 19 to 27, but notice, let me read some of that. Notice as we come down to verse 19. I'm going to read from verse 19 to 23 and then skip down to verse 29. But 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. They asked him, What then art thou, Elias? And of course this is referring to Elijah that we'll see again in a few other places. And he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? I'm assuming that's referring to Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 through 18, where Moses spoke of himself as a prophet that gave them the law and the truth. But Moses said, they will be a prophet come that you will hear referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he answered and said, No. So he's saying, I'm not the Messiah. Then he says here in verse 22, Then said they unto him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sin us? What sayest thou thyself? And he said, now this is going to be very similar to Mark chapter 1, Matthew chapter 3, and other places, and the Old Testament. Verse 23, he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. So this is going to be in Isaiah chapter 40. in verse 24 and they which were sent were the pharisees and they asked him and said unto him why baptize us now then if thou be not that christ nor elias neither that prophet john answered them saying i baptized with water but there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose. And then notice with me in verse 29. Verse 29, and what we have here, we have as I read in verse 19, the record of John. That's what we're talking about tonight. John the Baptist, the forerunner, the one that came and introduced the Lord Jesus to first of all the nation of Israel and to the world. Verse 29, the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and said 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. I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare records saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. Now next week we're going to talk about the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ and maybe combine that with his temptation in the wilderness. But he goes on to say in verse 33, 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 baptizeth with the holy ghost remember when we preached the first sunday of october We talked about the baptism of water, the baptism of the Spirit, and the baptism of fire. We talked about the fact that John came baptizing water, but said there'll be one come that will baptize with the Holy Ghost. and then in verse 34 we have this again, and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. This is John's testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in John chapter 3, John chapter 3. If you take a note tonight, I'm just going to give some of the passages, but if you take a note tonight in Matthew 11, and I'll probably later read maybe a few verses from that chapter, but Matthew 11 from verses 1 through 15, we find John speaking of I'm sorry, not John speaking, but the Lord gives tribute to John, and the Lord even goes in quotes from Malachi 3.1 that we'll read in a few moments. The Lord gives great tribute to John, his forerunner. But in John 3, and without reading the entire context, I want you to notice with me, I'm going to read from about verse 29. I'm just kind of cutting into the context here now. You can go back and read that later. We said in verse 29, this is John. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. Now here's the verse I'm after, and you can go on and read the other things that John says here, but notice in verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease. Now here is John the Baptist's motive. His motive was to bring glory to the Son of God. His ministry was to point toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, I mentioned earlier John, if you want to write these down, John 5 35. He was a bright and shining light. And then we find, if you write down John 10, 39 through 42, again, John speaking and declaring on testifying of the Messiah. So here we are in just one book, John, we have in John 1, many verses, John 3, John 5, and John 10, testifying of the Lord. Now I want you to turn with me to Luke, just kind of laying a foundation. And when we do go back to Mark, we will go through those verses fairly quickly once we lay a foundation here. Notice in Luke chapter 16, in Luke chapter 16. What I want to do is just read one verse from this chapter. and that's going to be in Luke 16 verse 16. Luke 16 and verse 16. Now I mentioned to you this morning about Noah. Noah stood between two worlds, the old world, it's actually called, and the world that now is, the world that once was, and the world that we live in today, the world that was before the flood and the world after the flood, and then we have that eternal time that we will live in. Well, John the Baptist stood between two covenants, the old covenant and the new covenant. And he was basically, I think we could clearly call him this, the last prophet of the old dispensation and the first prophet of the new dispensation. He stood between, had a connection with both of the covenants, the old covenant and the new covenant. And here's one of the verses I want to use uh to point this out and he said here in john chapter 16 and verse 16 and this is one of the clearest to me to talk about john's ministry and where he fits in history It says here in verse 16, the law and the prophets were until John, since that time. In other words, since John came on the scene, since John began his ministry and started preaching. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached. Now we're going to see later in the book of Mark, in just a few weeks, we're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ also preaching the kingdom of God, repentance, faith, and the kingdom of God. But here he mentions the law and the prophets, brings you all the way from Genesis into Malachi. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached. And by the way, the kingdom is about a king. The king has come. And so the kingdom is available. And that's the whole thought in this passage and many others. But notice the last part of this passage. He said, and every man presses into it. In other words, gotten into it by effort. This does not mean that salvation is by our good works. But the point is, he's making here, and it's even some stronger language in Matthew chapter 11, but we find here that since John, the kingdom of God is priests and men enter into that kingdom with a holy zeal. Now think about that, 3,000. You know, ask Peter on the day of Pentecost, what shall we do? What can we do basically to be saved? He tells them they're saved and then they're baptized and brought into the church. And so when he says here in this passage, the law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it. I like the way that's worded. In other words, every man presses into it. They come into it with a holy zeal. They embrace the gospel. They siege the kingdom. In other words, you can't take it away from those who really want it. Men rush into the kingdom as those who would take a city. And we find it's a radical conversion. When you get desperate and anxious and serious about the Lord and the things of the Lord, you will not let anybody stop you. Let me give you an example. Turn loose there and go to Matthew 11. I mentioned this twice. Notice Matthew 11. Matthew chapter 11. Again, Jesus gives great tribute to John the Baptist and actually quoting the Old Testament here also, calling him a messenger. And we're going to see that in a few moments. But notice how this lines up with the book of Luke in chapter 12. It's worded differently. I used to read some of these verses here, and I'd think, what in the world does this mean? And there's still verses like that, but this is not one of them now. But notice in the book of Matthew, and I want to, I'm trying to pick and choose here, I want to, he's mentioning John the Baptist throughout the whole, from verse one through about verse 15. but I want to be back up here and I want to begin reading in verse 12 and I want to make note of two other things about John the Baptist before I read here. We find that John the Baptist, yes he was a man of God as we've already stated, but John the Baptist in Mark 6 verses 17 through 20 It's also recorded in Matthew 14, John lost his life for the truth that he preached. This man lost his life for the truth that he preached. He stood before Herod and told him it was unlawful for him to have his brother's wife. He had married his brother's wife. John stood and preached the truth about this subject. And he lost his life. He was beheaded because of this. Also, John was a praying man. The disciples came to Jesus, and Jesus was a praying man. They'd watched him pray, been with him praying. And they came to him, and that'll be Luke 11, one, if you're taking notes. And they asked the Lord Jesus, it says, and it came to pass that as he was praying a certain place, when he ceased, One of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. John was a praying man, and he taught his disciples to pray. And the disciples of the Lord Jesus did not say to Jesus, teach us how to preach, but teach us how to pray. Well, notice in Matthew 11, and this will kind of, again, tie in with Luke 16, 16, where that men, now we're not talking about the world rushing into the kingdom. We don't see that tonight, do we? We don't see the world rushing, but those who come under conviction by the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we did see John preaching, them confessing their sins, being baptized, those who want it, those who desperately want it, they're anxious, they realize their condition, and they're serious about this, they're willing to repent. That's what these passages are talking about. I notice it says here in reading in Matthew 11, beginning in verse 12 through about verse 15, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. Again, I never really understood that until one day putting it together with Luke 16, 16. These tie together where men are pressing into the kingdom of God. They're forcing their way in. And it's all, let me read this again. Notice the latter part of verse 12. And it says, let's read the whole thing. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and violent take it by force. for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, this is Elias. It's Elijah. This is Elias. He's speaking of John here, which was for to come. He that hath ears, hear, let him hear. Now Elijah's gonna come up again in a few other passages. And we'll make note of this. But here's what we see when someone is desperate and anxious to be saved is that it's like the rushing, men rushing into a kingdom to possess this and siege upon this kingdom and wanting to be a part of it is like an army taking a city. In other words, they let nothing stop them. And you know yourself, when you came under conviction, I can tell you this, that when I came under conviction, you know, 52 and a half years ago, and when God began dealing with me, I'll promise you this, no one could have stopped me. And I was in a position where most were against the Lord. the military aboard an aircraft carrier where there weren't lots and lots of Christians on there even in 1972. I guarantee you this, no one would have stopped me once the Lord dealt with me. I wanted this truth and this kingdom, and that's the ideal here is that like an army rushing in to take a city that men will embrace the gospel and the kingdom of God. Now notice back with me in Mark Hope you kept your marker there. Notice back with me in Mark chapter 1. Now I'm going to read verse 2 and 3, turn to a few other passages, then we'll come back and finish reading the rest of this, even next week. We're still going to be tying things together next week. Again, we'll be talking about the baptism of Jesus, very possibly, his temptation in the wilderness. And then the week after that, we'll be talking about in verse 14 and 15, Jesus himself preaching the kingdom of God. And that is at hand. all things are fulfilled, repent and believe the gospel. But notice as we come back to verse 2 in our text. Now, he says here in verse 2, as it is written, in the prophets, plural, Now, some want to say that it shouldn't be plural here in this passage. It should just mean prophet, and they use the reason some of the other translations of the Bible only use the word prophet. But he says, as it is written in the prophets. So we find John prophesied in two different books of the Bible, in Isaiah and the book of Malachi. So let's read this again, as it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger, keep that in mind, messenger, John is a messenger, before thy face, that is the Lord's face, that is the Messiah, Christ, which shall prepare the way before thee. So John is paving the way. Be like preparing a road so that it can be driven on. Be like going through the jungle and preparing a path. I've done that in Belize in Central America. He carried a machete with you so he can chop your way through the jungle to get into some places to preach. Notice he said in verse three now, this is gonna be actually a quotation from Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And for John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. So let's go back and just read briefly those two passages in the Old Testament. Notice with me as we go back to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Again, we're going to read some other passages in the New Testament, go back to Mark, and then we'll just make brief comments on the rest of those verses because we'll be coming back to some of these thoughts. Isaiah 40, I want to read from verse 3 to 5. This is John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 40, verses 3, 4, and 5. And again, this is what we find quoted in the New Testament by the Lord Himself. 7 verse 3, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. He says, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord, this is Christ, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. So here we have John preparing the way, what he's doing, he's not preparing a literal highway or a path, he's preparing the hearts of individuals, he's preparing the hearts of people. I want you to notice with me in Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament in Malachi. I'll be reading chapter 3 and there's an interesting passage in chapter 4 also, but notice in chapter 3 we'll just read the one verse. enjoyed teaching through Malachi. We've got about half of the minor prophets taught now and hopefully we will finish them one day. We were doing those on Wednesday night. But notice now, keep in mind, John was prophesied in the Old Testament, two different books we know of. And here's the second one, Malachi. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger." This is John. Again, how do we know this? We wouldn't know it if we didn't have the New Testament. One writer said, the New Testament is the correct interpretation of the Old Testament. We don't need a second interpretation or opinion. And so we would not know this if we did not have the New Testament. There's two messengers mentioned here, one messenger of the covenant. We'd still 2,000 years later be trying to figure that out if we did not have the New Testament. So he says, behold, how many remember what that means? looky here yeah hebrew or greek it means looky here now notice when he said behold i will send my messenger that's john the baptist and he shall prepare the way before me say the wording and the lord notice this that's the lord jesus christ and the lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant that is the new covenant the everlasting covenant whom you delight in behold he shall come saith the lord of hosts now here's an interesting passage notice in chapter four and i'm not sure that i'm right about this but i want to make a few comments on it and as we look at a few other new testament passages But notice in Malachi chapter four, dealing with salvation and judgment, through the saved and salvation, the lost judgment. But he said in verse five and six, he said, behold, I will send Elijah, the prophet, before the coming, the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Moses' second coming. Maybe, also could referring to 87, he was quite dreadful to the Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. But notice what he would be doing when he would come. He said, I'll send you Elijah the prophet. Notice what he'd be doing. He shall turn, verse six, turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. This is exactly what John the Baptist did, turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children. This is exactly what he came to do. And Jesus makes some interesting statements. Notice with me in Luke chapter 1. In Luke chapter 1, Now, if you're taking notes, something we covered October, the first Sunday of October, we spent some time in Matthew 3, and verses 1 through 12. It's going to pretty much say what we're looking at in Mark chapter 1, but in different words and a little more detail. Again, John's ministry, Matthew identifies him with the herald of Malachi 4 and Isaiah 40. He even speaks about the judgment that was coming upon Israel as they would reject Christ. And it did come in AD 70, but Titus and the Roman army. And he mentions the ax in verse 10, that's laid to the root of the tree, that is to bring a tree down. And he mentions the fan and the hand, that's a winnowing fork to separate the chaff from the wheat. And so he's talking about judgment. And again, in that passage, John's baptizing with water, and then the baptism of the Holy Ghost by Jesus, and the baptism of fire that represents judgment that was to come. Now notice in Luke chapter one, I'm gonna read a few passes, and we'll go back and just finish up briefly, Mark. But notice in Luke chapter one, And I'm reading from Luke 1, verse 13. Now this is Zechariah, Zechariah and Elizabeth was John's parents, and this is before John is born. And I failed to mention, which is very important this morning, when we're talking about altars and the golden altar of incense, if you back up and began reading in verse four, you'll find that Zechariah's performing his priestly duties and burning incense. Verse 10 said there's a whole multitude they were praying outside at the time of incense. And in the midst of all this, God gives John a vision that he was going to have a son. Him and his wife couldn't have a child. that was like Abraham and Sarah, and of course that child is John the Baptist. But I want you to notice what he says about John the Baptist here. Now what I'm getting at when I read some of these verses is that it appears to me, I wouldn't debate this, but it appears to me that John, he's not Elijah, He's not even a type. But John is the fulfillment of this prophecy as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one writer put it this way. He said, Jesus did not say John was a type of the true Elijah. He did not say the real Elijah would come later. He said Elijah had come already. And there's about five different verses that say that. So whatever we make of this, John is the fulfillment of that prophecy. Now, notice in Luke 1, beginning in verse 13. The angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness in many, shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. And watch this now, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. He's paving the way, clearing the road. and dealing with the hearts of men, men's hearts are full of mountains and valleys. And he came to clear that up. And then in verse 17, and he shall go before him in the spirit, power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers of the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And of course as you read through the end of the chapter John the Baptist is born. Now notice in chapter 3 of Luke, chapter 3 of Luke, in chapter 3 I want to read from verses three, and again, see the importance of this. It says, and he came into all the country about Jordan. preaching the baptism of repentance for the mission of sins as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the lord make his path straight every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways shall be made smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of god that happened john did his ministry, and the Lord Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. Then said he unto the multitude that came forth, and this is, well, by the way, this is recorded in Matthew 3. I'm avoiding that because we read that just a month or so ago, or two months ago. And he says, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come, Verse eight, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say with yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, for I send you that God is able to these stones to raise up children, Abraham, and now the axe is laid in the root of the trees, and every tree therefore which bringeth not forth fruit is hewn down and cast in the fire. They understood what he's saying. Judgment is coming, wrath is coming, The Lord even predicts in Luke 19 and a couple of the parables that Jerusalem would be destroyed. It would be compassed around by armies, which was the Roman army. So there are those, like in Peter's day on the day of Pentecost, what do we do? 3,000 got saved. Well, there are those, in John's day, they started saying, what do we do? How do we escape this judgment? The Messiah is coming. How do we escape this judgment? Notice the common folks, what they said in verse 10. And the people asked him saying, what shall we do then? He answered and said unto them, he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. In other words, John is saying, I will not baptize you unless I see fruits of your faith. In other words, he wanted to see the fact that they were genuine believers. And then in verse 12, then came the publicans, that's the tax collectors, to be baptized and said to him, Master, what shall we do? And he said to them, exact no more than that which is appointed you. In other words, don't demand more than you should. Now they're not getting saved this way, but this is proof that they have repented and willing to accept the Messiah. John wouldn't baptize them until he saw proof And then in verse 14, and the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying, and what shall we do? And he said unto them, do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages. Do violence to no man. Now, turn with me please to chapter seven. Or maybe I'll just give you this and I want you to go with me to Matthew 17. Go in Matthew 17, we gotta get back to our text and close. Notice in Matthew chapter 17. Now the passage in Luke I'm gonna give you, it's a very important passage. It's Luke 7, 27 through 30. They're those that did go out and were baptized by John. They were certain Pharisees and scribes that rejected John's baptism. And the Lord basically says there that those who reject the baptism of John, they were rejecting the counsel of God there in the first century. They were, in other words, if they refuse to be baptized by John, they were rejecting the word of God because John was prophesied to come to lay the foundation so that the Messiah could come and go to the cross and die for our sins. So notice now in Matthew chapter 17, I'm gonna read this and go back and close. Now, when we come to Matthew 17, what I'm gonna read, I'm gonna read verse 10 through 13. You're gonna find very similar statements as we've already read one in Matthew 11, 14, and also in our book that we're studying, Mark 9, 11 through 13. You'll find very similar statements here. Now, the reason I'm coming to this is that this is the transfiguration. The Lord Jesus, beginning in verse one, He took Peter, James, and John and bringeth them into a high mountain. And He was transfigured before them. It's almost like giving them a preview of His resurrection and His second coming. And Moses, it's called Elias, but Moses and Elijah was with him. Moses and Elijah was with him. And so there's other conversations here, but come down with me to verse 10 through 13 and notice the statements here. He said in verse 10, and his disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that Elias must first come. Verse 11, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already. And they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Mark 14 3, What did they do to John? They put him in prison and then killed him. What did they do to Jesus Christ? They put him before the trial, the court system, and killed him. Now look at verse 12 again. But I send you that Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed, whatsoever they liked, whatsoever they wanted to do. And then he said, likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them. In other words, John and the Messiah suffered from the people, and that's what he's saying here, but verse 13, then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. So I believe, my opinion, definitely Malachi 3 is speaking of John the Baptist and very possibly Malachi chapter 4. Notice back with me and Mark and we will close. We went, what is it called? Sister Joanna, a Seder, a Jewish Passover meal. Let's get back to Mark first. We went to one of those once. Preacher kept asking me to come and come, and I went, watched it, observed it. And it was quite interesting, but they had a plate set for Elijah. And someone would go to the door and look out the door and see if Elijah was coming. Well, maybe that has already happened. Well, let us close, and I'm just gonna read through these quickly now, because it took so much time in other places. But I just felt like it's important to show the importance of John's ministry. He laid the foundation for Christ Jesus to come. So we've already read verse one, two, and three, verse four. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism repentance for the remission of sins. We've pretty much covered that as well. John came to remove obstacles. He came, so to speak, to clean house, to get things ready, to bring the people to repentance and prepare them for Messiah. We find that the baptism of repentance, again, to reject that was to reject the counsel of God. Baptism was a public sign of repentance. It demonstrated allegiance to the Messiah. In verse 5, there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. Just weeks ago we preached on confession of sins out of the book of Proverbs in chapter 28 in verse 14. Many places that talk about this, Romans 10, 9, many other places. But notice in verse six, and John was clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of skin about his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey. That's your pastor. This is the pastor that's come to preach, and this is what he looks like and what he eats. We find here in this passage that locusts was a common food for common people in Judea. By the way, it is a clean bug or an insect. According to the dietary law of Leviticus chapter 11, I believe it's verse 22, they're locusts, very similar to a grasshopper. And they were, the Jews could eat them. There's many things they couldn't eat, but this is one thing that they could eat that would have been good for them. I don't think I've ever eaten one unless it was by mistake. And I've never eaten a grasshopper. We used to use them to fish with back home, but we never ate them. But also wild honey. And I would have been taken at that time from the trees or from the hollow of rocks, especially there in Jerusalem, Judea, and places like that. And I've told you a story of this. Many times I'd go out with my uncles and relatives and whatever, and we would take honey out of a tree. And it was a real treat for us as kids. as young people to be able to do that. And we didn't have lots of sweets around back then as you do today. And so this is what John ate, locusts and wild honey. And also his clothing was rough garments and a girdle to tighten around his waist. If you want some other verses, line up with this. It's mentioned in Matthew 3, 4. Elijah appeared very similar the same way in 2nd Kings 1 8 you'll also find that they're those in the Old Testament that were being persecuted and suffered. And they, according to Hebrews 11, verse 37, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. And then in verse seven, preach saying there cometh one mightier than I after me the latches of whose shoes I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose. He's putting himself below a servant, a servant that would come in and take someone's shoes off or maybe wash their feet. He's putting himself below a servant. He says he's not even worthy to do that. And then he said in verse eight, I indeed, have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Would you stand with me? Father, we thank you tonight for your wonderful love to us. And we ask now your blessings upon our singing prayer request and closing prayer. Amen.