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[Music] The Man Who Came First. A message by Dr. Bruce W. Thielman. Let us give reverent attention to the reading of God's word as it is recorded in the book of John, the first chapter,

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beginning the reading at the verse number six. God sent his messenger, a man named John, who came to tell people about the light. He came to tell them so they all should hear the message and believe.

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He himself was not the light. He came to tell about the light. This was the real light, the light that comes into the world and shines on all men. The word then was in the world. God made the world through him, yet the world did not know him.

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He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. Some, however, did receive him and believed in him, so he gave them the right to become God's children. They did not become God's children by natural means, by being born as the children of a human father.

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God himself was their father. The word became a human being and lived among us. We saw his glory, full of grace and truth. This was the glory which he received as the father's only son.

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John told about him. He cried out, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.'" Out of the fullness of his grace, he has blessed us all,

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giving us one blessing after another. God gave the law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God.

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The only one who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known. May the same God who inspired these words incline our hearts to their understanding. Let us pray.

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Jesus said, "Whosoever cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." And the man who came first was John. He was a child of the wilderness, one taught by desert places.

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He learned lessons from stones and wisdom from the wide depths of the Dead Sea. He was one who dwelt in the place of solitude and was taught there by the Spirit of God. The only school he ever graduated from was the school of silence, whose teacher is the Eternal Spirit.

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He dressed himself in camel's hair and wore a leather belt and ate food consisting of locusts and honey. And he had no college degree. When you think of it, that isn't really important,

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for most of those who have moved men and have had great impact upon the course of civilization had no college degree. He was, in fact, a student of only one school, the school of silence, the product of only one teacher, the Spirit of God.

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And that made all the difference. Facilities in the world of the academic are important, but we would all agree, would we not, that some of the greatest scholars have come from one-room schoolhouses,

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provided, of course, that the one teaching in the schoolhouse was unsurpassed. Well, so it was with John. He went to a schoolhouse that had only one room, no walls at all, the whole wide wilderness. But the teacher in that place was unsurpassed,

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the Spirit of the living God whispering in the silence. We do not surround ourselves with silence, we surround ourselves with noise. We turn on the radio and the disc jockey says, "Hey, baby, here I am, Robbie D. I'm so bad I make flowers die, I make babies cry, I take candy from babies, I give dogs rabies,

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and if that ain't enough, the rain don't fall, and that ain't all because biscuits ain't bread." And it comes so fast that it overpowers us, and so powerfully that it awes us, it floods us, it overtakes us. And some there are, tragically enough, who can't get along without it. Some there are who have not learned that silence and solitude are the only antidotes to superficiality,

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the only place in which you can discover your own heart and mind is the place of quiet. And those who do not checker their lives with quiet are condemned to live lives that are at the most shallow. But it was not so with John. He came out of the quiet of separated places, where he heard the voice of his teacher, his God. That's the reason John came first.

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He was, of course, the cousin of Jesus, but there is no evidence that John ever met his cousin Jesus before that occasion when they encountered one another on the banks of the River Jordan. Evidently, there were only three times that Jesus and John ever saw each other, and on only the first of those occasions did they have the opportunity to touch and talk.

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But that one encounter was enough. It was enough to change John. It is noted that the next time he saw Jesus, and the reference is quite specific here, that he looked upon him as he walked. And the word "looked" means to stare with concentrated intensity. It is the look of the mystic. It is the look of the disciple. It is the look of the lover.

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So though they only met once, there was in John such a change that from that time on he belonged to Christ. And this is what led him to say, when he saw Jesus and knew Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." I will confess to you that I stand in admiration and in awe of that.

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To see this rough-hewn man in camel's hair stand there on the rim of the desert and announce of this Jesus whom he'd met only once, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He was the first man in history to say that, and after he said that,

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there was really nothing else that needed to be said. If he had said on that occasion, "Behold, the carpenter of Nazareth, who will set a moral example for all of history." If he had said, "Behold, the man who will never write a word,

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but whose words will influence the course of history far beyond those of any philosopher who has ever written." If John had said, "Behold, the one whose birth was the watershed of history, so that time itself is divided into the period before his birth and the period after his birth." If John had said, "Behold, the child of Mary, who is a fountain of compassion

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and who has taught all men what mercy and pity are really all about." If John had said, "Behold, the one who is in the world but not of the world and who has taught the world more of heaven than any other one who ever lived." If John had said, "This is the one, behold, who will die upon the cross

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and who will give to history its superb and sublime example of vicarious suffering that runs like a scarlet thread throughout all the course of men's days." If John had said any of those things, each and every one of them true, they had been utterly forgotten and the years would have swept away altogether the memory of the man.

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But he said more than all these things. He said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He saw in Jesus both Son and Savior. In one encounter with Christ, he discovered that and announced it,

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announced it before anyone else ever thought of it, and announced it with such power that the whole world has never forgotten. When I ministered in California, it became my responsibility to build a church while serving a church. Our church was knocked down in an earthquake and for four years we met in a gymnasium.

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And during that time, we proceeded to build a new church building. And there was the development of plans and the raising of money and all of the struggle that is associated with building, the choosing of materials and all the rest of it.

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And then it was done, a very beautiful place, a sanctuary with rough-hewn walls and real trees and a waterfall and a soaring ceiling and marvelous utilities so that it could be used in every capacity that you can imagine. And they come from all about to see it.

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And people said to me over and over again, "You can be so proud of what has been accomplished here." I can remember when I left that area sometime after the church was done, two people coming to me and saying,

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"You will never come back to California without seeing this church and remembering with pride what you have accomplished here." And since that day when I left California, I have returned seven times. And every time I have been in the city where that church stands,

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and every time I have been within three blocks of where that church stands, never once have I even driven past its doors to look upon it. To build a building is necessary, but in the total scheme of things, easy and unimportant. It's not tough to pick architects.

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It's not frustrating to read blueprints. It's not difficult to choose materials, to decide on the stained glass and the brand of the organ. I think anyone can do those things. It's not hard to raise money.

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Those things are necessary and important, but in the long run, they are easy. And I would not walk across this campus to see that church if it were standing there. But every time I go to California, I go to see a young man who one night sat beside me in a hotel room,

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and there discovered what John the Baptist discovered, that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior from sin. And that night, his life took on a new light and a new warmth. And I never go to that far place without looking on that light and feeling that warmth.

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And every time I go to California, I go to see a girl whom I found in an LSD world, so damaged by narcotics then that her whole life is hideously crippled even now. But there is in her life now a hope and a joy and a confidence that arise out of her discovery that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God prepared to make life over again.

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And every time I go to California, I go to see a dentist, not to have my teeth fixed, but to have my heart lifted. Because I meet there a young man who while he was in dental school was confused and afraid and lacked direction and purpose.

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But then he discovered Jesus Christ, this One who is very God of very God and who can turn a life upside down so that it becomes instead of a thing of fear, a thing of faith. He came to know Him, He gave Himself to Him, and His life is now dynamic and power filled. And I would not think of going there without seeing Him.

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The building, the architecture is the best. The masons who set the stone were brought from Germany for just that task. Every bit of wood was personally designed for that building and hand carved to be exactly as it was intended to be.

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And the organ has already achieved a reputation that draws people from all over this country to hear it. But I say to you again, in the scheme of things, it is as nothing. Why is it that we are so ready to talk about buildings or building, about rebuilding or restructuring or reorganizing or rescheduling?

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We rebuild political parties. We rebuild the centers of our major cities. We reorganize our schedules. We realign our commitments. We do all of these things and don't talk enough about the most significant rebuilding of all,

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the rebuilding of a life, the redemption of a life. This is what is of ultimate importance. This is the great miracle. And that's what John announced.

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John met Jesus, met Jesus, was changed by Jesus and announced Jesus. Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. You may heap any praise on Jesus that you wish and the world will accept it. The world will tolerate your adoration of him until that moment

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when you say, "Behold, he is the Son of God and the world's way to salvation, God's answer to sin." The moment you say that, the moment you call attention to Calvary, the moment you hold up the cross, the center of the gospel, the world will be offended now as it was offended 2,000 years ago.

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But that is the song we have to sing. If we do not sing that song, then there is no song at all to be sung. That's what we need to herald from the incense-clouded altar of every cathedral and from the pulpit of every rigid Puritan Reformation chapel.

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That's what we need to announce in vowel remissions and to the sound of bass drums and tambourines on street corners. That man is lost in sin. That Calvary is the answer to that sin.

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That Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John was the first one to say that. John was the man who came first to the Christ of whom he said.

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And I think it's very important to notice this. Not only did John come to Christ first, but John always put Christ first in his life. It must be remembered that John was the most popular preacher of his day.

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The people crowded out into the wilderness to hear his sermons. They were ready to go great distances to hear what he had to say. Yet this popular one, this personable one, this one who had won so many, this one said when he saw Jesus,

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"He must increase and I must decrease, though I am not worthy to unfasten the thong of his sandals." The friends, the disciples of John came to him. They were complaining.

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They resented the popularity which Jesus was gaining. They did not want him to replace John in the affections of the people. They objected to this and John's response to them was, "Well, what would you think?

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How many great men there are who have been brought down by the praise of their friends? How many great and significant personalities there are who were able to resist evil when it came from an enemy, but when evil came from a friend, from the fawning mouth of an admirer,

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when they were attacked by compliments and led to compromise by those who claimed to have their best interests at heart? How many have fallen at such a time and in such a way?" But John, "Oh no."

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John responds, "He must increase and I must decrease. I am not worthy to loose the thong of his sandals." John always put Jesus first.

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He had life, his life, in the proper perspective. That's the great secret of Christian living. John could be the way he was because of his priorities, because he was humble before Christ.

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He could be courageous before every other man. I know a plastic surgeon who has specialized in surgery of the hand. Now, as you know, the hand is a very intricate instrument. The bone structure, the muscle structure is astonishingly intricate.

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But this man has developed operations by which he can restore the use of the hand. And he travels all over the world demonstrating these surgical techniques to the world's great doctors. And I said to him one day, "Where do you get the courage to do this?" I mean, first of all, the courage to cut.

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It seems to me it takes a lot of courage to be a surgeon at all, just to make that incision. That takes courage. And then bravery to work with a thing like the hand, where one slip and you turn a hand into a claw, and it will never be otherwise. And then beyond that, where do you get the strength of spirit to go out and before the greatest doctors in the world,

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demonstrate the techniques which are yours? And he said to me, "When I go into the operating theater, there are only three people there. I am there, my patient is there, and the Lord Jesus Christ is there. I do my best for my Christ.

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Then I don't have to worry about any other man." Notice his priorities. Because he was humble before Jesus, he could be courageous before everyone else. That was John's secret.

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It is not generally recognized, but one half of Jesus' disciples had first been the disciples of John. John had, as it were, graduated his own disciples to a higher school of faith. He had taken those who were devoted to him and deliberately drawn them toward Jesus. That must have been a very difficult thing to do.

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To have taken men like Andrew and the younger John, who had given their hearts to him, and then to have taken them and directed them to another. There must have been a pang of regret in that, but there is never any expression of it. So humble, you see, is John, that he is willing to direct all others to the one who must increase, while he decreases.

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He submitted to Christ. Not a submission to a rule. He was not forced to do so. This is a surrender built upon love.

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When you commit yourself to another person as the result of coercion, when you give allegiance because you are forced to do so, well, that kind of submission means nothing when it begins, and even less as it continues. But when allegiance is built upon love and devotion,

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when surrender is made out of a real commitment of heart, when you offer yourself like John offered himself to Jesus, well, out of that kind of humble service comes a magnificent, courageous spirit. This is what made John the preacher he was.

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He was the greatest preacher of his time. Here was a man who shelled the people, pounding their hearts into a recognition of the Word of God. Here was a man who wakened a country that had been asleep for decades with the power of the Word of God. Some said he was insane, some said he was a misanthrope or demented,

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but others understood that God was on the march and only one was in step and that one was John, and he was consumed with a desire to announce that. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" he cried out. "How shalt thou evade the day of the Lord's coming?"

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He even went to the king, to Herod, the one who sat upon the throne, and damned him to his assiduous face. No one else dared that kind of preaching. But you see, because he was so often on his knees before Christ,

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he could walk like a king before other men. I believe that the greatest tragedy in the Christian church today is the cowardice of its pulpits. Most ministers I know would not damn a church mouse, let alone damn a society and a culture that is desperately in need of it. I think one of the most courageous preachers I ever heard was Dr. Sam Shoemaker, the Episcopal minister from Pittsburgh.

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Here was a man who was one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, one of the founders of the Pittsburgh Experiment, and whose pulpit always had power. Once I was with Sam, he was Episcopalian, and he wore the turn-back collar that Episcopalian clergy wear. It's sometimes referred in a slang way to as a dog collar.

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And he wore this, and it used to astonish me that Sam did wear this, because he didn't like a separation between the clergy and the laity. He wanted the layman and the minister to be together, and of course that reverse collar immediately calls attention to a clergyman.

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It separates him immediately just by appearance from laymen. So I said to him one day, "Sam, why is it that you wear that dog collar?" And he turned and looked at me with a gleam in his eye, and he said, "I wear this dog collar to show people that I have a master."

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That was his secret. That was the secret of the power of his pulpit. That's where his courage came from. That was John's secret. You see, once you've yielded to Christ, you never have to yield to anybody else. So John, the man who came first, was also the man who put Christ first in his life.

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His public ministry lasted only 18 months. At the end of that time, he was arrested by the king he openly opposed, and he was thrown in a fortress called Materus. It sits on a bluff 3,800 feet above the Dead Sea.

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I've walked through the ruins of the place. When John was imprisoned there, he was able to look out over the wilderness and see a silver ribbon in the distance, the Jordan River, along which he had ministered and where so many had found light and life in responding to his words.

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He looked up the crags and the wadis where he had wandered for so many years. It must have been a desperately sad experience for him to be like some great eagle, caged there, looking out on the very place where he had been for so many years free. Or you say, "Well, he was alone then and he was alone here.

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He was separated then and separated here." Yes, but there's a difference. Then he was alone because he wanted to be. Then he was alone because he was preparing for ministry.

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Then he was alone but free to move as he wanted to move, and it was not so in the fortress called Materus. There he was chained by a capricious king and his whore queen. And under those circumstances, and hearing what he did about the growing popularity of Jesus,

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well, John was overcome by doubt. He had understood, you see, that Jesus would offer himself as a sacrifice for men, but instead of sacrifice, Jesus was becoming at that time in his ministry more popular every day. Every day was Palm Sunday, as it were, and John could not understand why this was happening,

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and so he sends a question via his disciples to Jesus. It's a simple question, but summed up in it is all the questioning and the doubting that was his. He says, "Are you the one, or should we look for another?" You know, I'm so glad that John asked that question.

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I cannot identify with John in his strength. I mean, the silence that was part of his life and gave him the tremendous character which was his. My life is crowded with noise, and I don't have that kind of character. And I cannot identify with him and the clarity of his preaching.

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"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." My mind could never come up with a sentence like that. While some of you have been listening to me for three years, and never yet have I managed to lay even the beginnings of a successful siege about your heart.

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And I cannot identify with John and his humility because I'm overcome with pride. And I cannot identify with John and his courage because I'm shot through with weakness. But when he doubts, when he says to Jesus, "Are you the one, or should we look for another?"

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There, I can stand with him. Please turn your cassette to the other side. [silence] I've never been imprisoned in a Fort Descartes in the past.

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But I spent some time not so long ago in a fortress called Macaris. I've never been imprisoned in a fortress called Macaris. But I spent some time not so long ago in an intensive care unit. I wasn't there for six months.

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I was only there for four days. But you're isolated there. You feel caged there. The white sheets on the walls.

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No one to whom to speak. No television set to watch. No telephone into which to talk. No radio to listen to.

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No book to read. A needle in this arm, a needle in this arm, so that you cannot move from the bed. An electrode fastened here, an electrode fastened here, an electrode fastened here. And that little green box in front of you with the light that moves up and down,

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recording every beating of your heart, and watching that light do crazy things, and not understanding for one moment why it happens or what you can do about, but knowing that in any moment, it's isolating.

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It's fear-filled. And all you can do is do what John did. You send a message to Jesus. And in a moment like that, you don't lie.

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You don't cover up anything that's the truth. You say what's really on your heart. And what was on my heart was this. Are you the one, or should I look for another?

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I can stand with John in Macaris. Only there, but there. Jesus sent back a message to John. He said to him via his disciples,

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"Blessed is he who shall find no occasion for stumbling in me." It was a rebuke, a gentle one, but a rebuke. It was a word of reproof, a tender one, but a word of reproof. What Jesus was saying is this.

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You do not understand. All of your prayers will not be answered. All of your anxieties will not be taken away. All of your fears will not disappear.

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The victory you see is not yours. The victory is mine. You will not overcome. I will overcome.

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And the only triumph you will know is when you become part of my triumph. If you seek to save your life, you will lose it. If you will lose your life in me, you will save it.

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And having sent that message to John, he sent one other word, and he sent it very gently and tenderly. He didn't even say to the disciples,

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"Take this word back to John," but he said it where he knew they would hear it so they could repeat it. And by sending it in this oblique manner,

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I'm sure he made it more acceptable to the humble and tender spirit that was John's. Jesus said, "Among those that are born of women, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist."

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If praise can be measured by the lips that utter it, then no man was ever complimented as John the Baptist was complimented. For Jesus said of him,

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"Of all those born of women, there has arisen none greater than John the Baptist." John the Baptist, the man who came first, the man who put Jesus first,

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and the man whom Jesus put first. Well, you know how the story ended. That hideous chapter, a party in the fortress called Macarus.

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Late one night did the sounds of the music and the dancing and the laughter drift down to the dungeon where John was imprisoned. I do not know, but as he sat there in the darkness,

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suddenly the door was opened, the soldiers entered. There was the flash of the blade. He was beheaded, and his head was taken up on a silver platter and paraded before the king and the assembled guests.

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That's how it ended. One of the most despicable stories in all of Scripture. Now, if we had read of John being crushed by some crowd that pressed him in the wilderness,

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or if we had read of John being devoured by some wild beast of the desert that descended on him while he was at prayer, or if we read of John that he was assassinated by Roman soldiers,

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such an end would somehow seem appropriate to that kind of life. But to die in response to the whispered wish of a whore queen, to die as the whim of some half-naked, teenaged slut, well, why does the sun still shine?

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And why didn't the whole earth open and swallow the scene? It shocks by its very ugliness. And his disciples came and took his body and buried it. And then it says, "They went and told Jesus."

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John probably gave them those instructions. "When it's done with me, go and tell Jesus." And that was, of course, what they did. Sitting at my desk yesterday afternoon

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and coming to this place in this sermon, with my eyes still open, I somehow dreamed a dream. And I found myself in the city of God,

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standing by the river of life. And a crowd was coming along the river, and they were singing a song, a song that was very sweet and beautiful to hear.

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And they were led by children. And I went to a little boy and I said, "Who are you and why do you sing?" And he said, "I was born deaf and with impeded speech, but my father took me to Jesus,

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and he touched me and said, 'Be opened,' and now I'm singing his praise." And I said to another little boy, "And why are you here and why are you singing?" The demon of epilepsy had me.

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It threw me into the fire and it threw me into the water, but my father took me to Jesus, and he touched me. Even as my father said, "Lord, I believe, but help me in my unbelieving," he touched me and made me whole again.

00:38:25.000 - 00:38:37.000

And so I sang his praise. And behind them there was a woman, an old woman, who clutched a bit of cloth in her hand, and she sang with a loud voice, full of joy and enthusiasm.

00:38:37.000 - 00:38:54.000

And I said, "Who are you and why do you sing so?" And she said, "I came to him and reached out through the crowd and touched just the hem of his garment, but in that moment he loved me as if I was the only one in all the world to love.

00:38:54.000 - 00:39:08.000

He made me whole again." And behind there, there stood one who was tall and strong. His shoulders were broad. He resembled an athlete, hanging about his neck a chain, rusty with disuse.

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And I asked him the same question. "My name," he said, "is Legion, for I was inhabited by demons, and men tried to chain me without success. I broke whatever they forged.

00:39:19.000 - 00:39:31.000

But then I came to Jesus, and Jesus Christ has bound me with the cords of love, and I am here to sing his praise." And next there was an old man, old with many years,

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and a long white beard, and he walked in a stately gate. And it was not necessary for him to hear my question. He spoke to me as if he already understood, and he said, "My name is Nicodemus,

00:39:44.000 - 00:40:01.000

and I came with many years, trying to begin all over again, to be born again. I came in the shadows of the night for a miracle like that, and Jesus worked it in my life, and I am here to praise him." And behind him, there were six men who came holding on to one another,

00:40:01.000 - 00:40:10.000

and their eyes were shining like stars. And I said to them, "Who are you?" And they said, "We are the blind ones, whom Jesus touched, and our eyes were opened."

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"Then why do you hold on to each other?" I said. "Because," they said, "as we move through life, there always had to be one who led us. So now, we lead each other to the throne of the Lamb, there to praise him."

00:40:25.000 - 00:40:42.000

And behind them, there was a woman all in white, who had the most beautiful hair, and there was about her the aroma of a sweet perfume. And I said, "Who are you?"

00:40:42.000 - 00:41:08.000

And she said, "I anointed his feet with the most costly oil, and wiped them with my hair. And he worked in me the grandest miracle of all, for he said to me, 'Mary, Mary Magdalene, your sins are forgiven.'"

00:41:08.000 - 00:41:26.000

And last, last in that great company, there came one whose robe was of camel's hair, and he wore about his waist a leather belt, and his feet were shod with the gospel of peace.

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And I cried out to him, "John, John, stop and speak to me. John, tell me of your courage. John, tell me of your faith. John, tell me of your humility."

00:41:37.000 - 00:41:51.000

And he never looked at me, and he said not a word to me, but instead he looked out at all of those who were assembled there, and he spoke as if to all of them, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.

00:41:51.000 - 00:42:09.000

And pointing to the king, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." And suddenly, I heard the voice of ten thousand times ten thousand angels, and thousands and thousands of angels,

00:42:09.000 - 00:42:27.000

and they chanted, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." And then every creature that is in the heavens above, and every creature that is on the earth,

00:42:27.000 - 00:42:43.000

and every creature that is under the earth, and all the creatures that move in the depths of the sea, all of them began to chant, "Blessing and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb of God."

00:42:43.000 - 00:43:16.000

And the Lamb of God, Jesus said, "Whosoever cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Let us pray. O Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world,

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we come. We come to you. Not first, but we come. O Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,

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cast us not away from thy presence, but grant by thy grace that we might enter into thy peace. O Lord, bless us and keep us. Make thy face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

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O Lamb, O Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us and give us peace. Amen.