A Man Sent From God

[0:00] There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.

[0:11] ! John the Baptist! What a character! What a radical! An example of a man of God. God is looking for men to stand.

[0:22] Ezekiel 22 verse 30 it says, And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

[0:41] He was seeking for a man to fill the gap in prayer, to intercede for the land, and he found none. John the Baptist! He was a man that God found and God sent.

[0:54] Just a man! A mere human! Verse 6. There was a man. There was a man. Just a man, a mere human! Just like you! And me.

[1:10] Real skin and flesh, blood, a body. A man! Yet, he was a miracle man! We see in Luke 1 verse 13 onwards, it tells us the account of God choosing an elderly couple, and he was a child and well past child-rearing age and wonderfully brought John into the world.

[1:36] John the Baptist! A man! Yet, a miracle! He was a voice of one crying in the wilderness! A voice! A man!

[1:48] Of him, it says in John 10, 41, he did no miracle. Yet, he was a miracle, wasn't he? In his very conception and in his standing in the gap.

[2:03] And yet, of him, he said the worst thing he could say to the Lord Jesus in Matthew 11, 3, Art thou he that should come? Or do he look for another?

[2:15] It's as if he had doubt. Yet, the Lord Jesus spoke of him later in that Matthew 11, verse 8. He said the greatest thing he could say about any man or woman.

[2:27] For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.

[2:45] Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. A man! Just a man! A voice! Yet, the Lord recognised him as one who was faithful and an example for us in what he did.

[3:05] A man sent from God. A man with a mission. The light in the darkness of the world, he came bearing the light. John came as a man with a mission.

[3:17] What is your mission? What is your mission today? God has given you, each one of you here, every one of you, brothers, sisters, you have a mission.

[3:30] You may not be as these ones going over to foreign fields, yet you are a missionary. God has chosen you and sent you. He is sending you to reach out as the Lord Jesus' very mission.

[3:45] He says, The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Luke 19.10 What is your mission? Maybe you haven't found it yet. Maybe you haven't realised it yet.

[3:57] What is God's place for you? Where is he sending you? Where is he pointing you? Where is he calling you? What is he asking you to do? We all can be challenged to think of that.

[4:08] Are we standing in the gap? Or is the gap there somewhere that we should be filling? That we're not. The honour and the importance of that place.

[4:19] That God's place for you realised it. He is sending you. You are a man sent from God. A woman sent from God. Every one of you that believed.

[4:30] And he was sent, verse 7, it says, For a witness, to bear witness of that light, that all men through him might believe. A man. A man with a mission. A man with a mission with a message.

[4:43] In Matthew 3, what was his message? In verse 1, In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[5:03] John came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Get some self-esteem, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Oh, I read from a wrong version there. A modern Bible version.

[5:15] Now, repent ye, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent! He didn't say, go and get some self-esteem, and make yourself feel good. He says you should feel bad, so you can get good.

[5:30] Feel bad so you can get right with God. Mankind's greatest need, it still is. Repent! That's man's greatest need. The greatest need of our hour is repentance, is conversion.

[5:44] It's true repentance, real conversion. Because unless there is a conversion, you're still in the grip of Satan. Conversion. It means to turn around, to turn about a change from one state to another.

[6:01] Repent! Conversion. Conversion. Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

[6:15] Paul likewise was a man sent. His mission in Acts 26, 18. The Lord called him, he said, his mission was to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.

[6:28] And from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

[6:41] Paul likewise, he was a man with a mission, with a message. He was sent, Acts 26, 20, it says, to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance.

[6:55] There's a change that happens. Conversion. A change of heart, of life, of mind, of lifestyle.

[7:07] There's a purifying of hearts by faith, as it says in Acts 15, 9. Of a life, in Romans 6, 4, that we should walk in newness of life. A change of heart.

[7:21] As the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 6, 21, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where is your heart? Where is your treasure?

[7:34] Conversion shows, there's an evidence that happens. There's a wonderful transforming impact of Christ on a life. And our loyalty changes, our priority changes.

[7:47] And converted people will stand out from the crowd. John the Baptist, he stood out from the crowd, didn't he? He was just standing out. And when tested, when wounded, when afflicted, he still stood in the gap.

[8:01] He stood firm. Even to the extent of, as we know, he lost his head for his faith. And that's a gruesome thought.

[8:15] Countries around our world, it's gruesome and graphic and vile and revolting. But it's real in some countries. I know it's a shocking thing. And I'm not making light of it at all.

[8:26] But John the Baptist stood to that level. How long will you stand? How firm will you stand? We Christians have got it so easy in the West.

[8:40] So, so easy. And yet, what does it take to offend a Christian in the West? Any little thing. Oh, you're sitting in my chair today.

[8:52] Or whatever it is. Something really trivial. You know, us weak, gutless, Aussie Christians are pathetic in comparison, aren't we?

[9:04] And God is seeking, he's calling men of faith. Men of faith, men of grit, of guts, with stamina, with faith.

[9:19] Great peace are they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. If you love the Lord, you've got great peace. You don't need someone to mollycoddle you and rock you in a cradle and give you a dummy or a bottle to suck.

[9:35] God's seeking men today. Men of faith. Women. Women of faith.