← ArchiveAdventBorn for ThisDateDecember 8, 2019SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonLuke 14:00Luke 1:398:04Psalms 11414:351 Timothy 2:415:46John 123:00John 1:2331:56Isaiah 4332:23TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music*0:30let me say to all of our guests and covenant members welcome we're so glad that you have gathered around the word of the Lord we have many people watching online so welcome to you guys this this morning you can't see it but Eli is locked0:59on to me here in the front row so do not let this little dude pay more attention than you do why why is today important i've often wondered that about is this just church is it just another sunday morning because for the christian we're peculiar we're peculiar people first of all but we're we're different because we stand in a long line of people thousands of years who gather1:28together acts tells us from the first believers that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching the the word of God to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer and we've we've fellowshiped today and we've prayed and we're going to devote ourselves to the apostles teaching that which is handed down from jesus christ next week we will break bread next week we will have communions you don't1:54want to miss that come back our choir is prepared just a special time of worship for us we're going to celebrate communion and baptism if you have never made your faith public hey next week you can join us and doing that so we would love for you to be a part of that moment and whether you realize it or not as we gather around the word of God i hear things that most of you don't2:21in a good way so i walk into my desk today and someone's put a chinese bible on my desk because they know we have people in our community that need the scriptures in mandarin in their heart language and i had someone asked me as i walked in today they said hey do you care if we put these spanish new testaments in in the pew so we can read them in our heart language and i said uh2:44yes do it right we we gather around his word and and some of you read in english and so whether you know it or not the gospel the word of the lord transcends cultures it transcends languages and i know often i say we need to go to the nations because the nations need christ the lord has brought the nations3:11to us and so what a what when we stand upon the apostles teaching that doesn't just mean in english that all nations all tongues all tribes confess that jesus christ is lord this is why we gather this is why we gather so i know i have to preach today so let me get back to that we're continuing a a sermon series called mary and right the amazing gift of salvation so last week we3:43looked at the wise men who who see the gift of salvation so they bring their offerings to the gift that god has given us and today we're going to look at jesus the lamb of god so we're going to look at john the baptist in luke chapter one if you have your bibles with you i hope that you do as we've already mentioned whether it's in chinese or spanish or english whether it's by phone or a copy or a copy in front of you if you don't have a bible we have few bibles for you page 9084:11we're gonna be in luke chapter one beginning this morning as we see the light of jesus christ impacting john the baptist john the baptist luke chapter one it's the new testament the gospels4:37beginning in verse 39 if you say well i don't know much about church or i don't know anything about the bible or anything about the christmas story i'll fill you in so if this is your first time to ever encounter the word of the lord you're in a good place this is the right place for you luke 1 verse 39 in those days mary the mother of jesus now let's pause very quickly she has just5:01found out that she is pregnant that in itself is news she's just found out as a virgin she's pregnant does anyone else besides me not understand how strange that comment is so the angel gabriel brings5:25a message behold you are with child and this is the son of god he is the messiah he is the one that we have been longing for she mary has just found this out and so in verse 39 mary sets out and she hurries to a town in the hill country of judah where she entered zechariah's house and greeted elizabeth when elizabeth heard mary's greeting the baby leaped inside her and elizabeth was filled5:54with the holy spirit then she exclaimed with a loud cry blessed are you among women and your child will be blessed how could this happen to me that the mother of my lord should come to me for you see when the sound of your greeting reached my ears the baby leaped for joy inside me blessed6:22is she mary blessed is she who has believed that the lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her let's pray father we gather in a location in saint clare county in english and in spanish and lord if it be your will you would send chinese6:47brothers and sisters our way because we know that the gospel transcends any barrier we might have so we gather in your name to proclaim that you are good and your mercy endures forever father make our hearts leap for joy at the gospel7:17lord may we never be the same lord we know that we are born to believe in you and so now may we live out to be born to build bridges for you in a world that so desperately needs this good news father help us not sit idly by lord may we not sit on our hands but may we do the work of our savior jesus christ we pray in his name amen amen amen two points today um simple7:46born you are born to believe and you are born to build bridges to christ you are born to believe in him we see this right here in john in luke chapter 1 verse 39 this young man we don't have a name yet we're going to get to that but we see an infant in the christmas story not named jesus christ now you might be8:13thinking this is strange because christmas is about the birth of christ christ christmas but we have another infant announcement and this is not jesus actually in this passage what's the baby's name some of you have read ahead in this passage what's the baby's name8:39his name is baby we don't know now we're going to see that this child is john the baptist but but some of you who have grown up and hearing the christmas story you're like oh that's john of course that's john the baptist well you don't know that here it is john the baptist but we know him as just a a baby and and mary who has received her announcement9:04has run with haste to elizabeth because she wants to tell her cousin this this good news that i am with child and when she when she comes there's a greeting that is unexpected and welcomes and we're going to look at that shortly so john the baptist is this baby's name you might know him as the baptizer why is9:29he called the baptizer we're going to read john later because he baptizes people and he's attracting a crowd because of his unique testimony about jesus christ so this is the baby this is the child now what you might not realize either mary has run to the house of elizabeth whose husband is zechariah who has also received an odd birth announcement you just thought some of these youtube9:55videos of these gender reveals were outlandish think about the angel gabriel coming down and saying hey i know you're old but you're about to have a kid and then having like the gall zechariah i laughed at the angel like really you know how old i am gabriel and so because of that zechariah had his mouth shut10:24and god gave zechariah the name of this child his name would be john which is an odd name for zechariah and elizabeth's family because they didn't have anyone named john and so this is the house that mary is running to so when you see zechariah in passing elizabeth is used to unusual birth to unusual birth announcements and when mary comes on the scene she hurries10:51and she tells of this good news now the journey was about three or four days so she hurries in haste to this place and she greets her now what is the greeting again let's read the scripture i know you know the story but let's just read the scripture again okay verse 40 when she entered zechariah's house you know the guy who couldn't speak11:19she greeted elizabeth so what's the greeting she greeted him so something has going on that when she greets elizabeth elizabeth's like this is not the normal howdy mary doesn't walk in and say hey y'all like there's something more here right i mean we don't see that but we know it because we see the response this is more than a simple hello now11:47don't you think that mary spoke of what she has just learned like don't you think that that she said hey she probably didn't say hey you got to sit down for this um crazy thing happens an angel came down and told me i'm pregnant i shouldn't be pregnant and they said this is the holy spirit child12:17and this is the one we've been expecting this is the messiah the one the one that isaiah prophesied about this is the one and i know you're not going to believe me and i know you think i've lost my mind but i'm i'm not going crazy you just have to trust me and elizabeth's like well it's funny you should say what was the angel's name again gabriel yeah gabriel because you know my husband he can't speak right now12:46because an angel gabriel came to him and he said we know you can't have a child but guess what you're going to have a child but you're not going to get to name the child his name is going to be john and don't you back talk me i'm going to shut your mouth but when you can speak again the next thing you say is this baby is john and can you can you sense the greeting coming here and this was saying like this the same angel like13:16yes i know i believe you because that angel has come to our house this is the greeting that changed elizabeth's life because this is the greeting that john the baptist who elizabeth is now with child has been waiting for this is the power of the good news and at the greeting what happens 41 right when elizabeth hears you you often if you've ever wondered if your kids overhear what13:44you're saying they do this is proof right mary's had she's having an adult conversation some of you have said this recently i'm having an adult conversation butt out mary sorry eli mary's having an adult conversation and what does john the baptist hear he hears in verse 41 when elizabeth heard mary's greeting the baby leaps inside of her now this is not a word from your normal natal movements14:12this is the same word in genesis when when jacob is wrestling with esau that's the same word used here he's not just jumping he is he's wrestling john the baptist something that unique has happened inside of elizabeth in this moment it's the same word in psalm 114 that says the mountains and the hills skip like lambs14:35so what do we see here in john the baptist and i think we have a connection here in our life john the baptist was born for this moment john the baptist was born to believe when john hears the gospel what does he do he leaps he can't wait to react to this news he leaps inside14:57of her and not only does he leap inside of her elizabeth refreshes the message shortly look at verse 42 and following she says with a loud cry blessed are you mary among women and your child will be blessed how could this happen to me that the mother of my lord should come to me for when you see when the sound15:22of your greeting reached my ears the baby leaped for joy inside of me john was born to believe and make the path straight for jesus christ you say okay now what does that have to do with me scripture says this about everyone else second first timothy 2 4 says that god wants everyone to be saved and to come15:46to the knowledge of the truth you want to know why you were born you were born to believe and follow jesus christ and you will never be content until you find jesus as lord and savior what is the chief end of man to know him and make him known you like john the baptist you were born to believe in this good news16:09that's why god has put you here you were born for relationship so how does that happen how does it happen that you were born for a relationship because something unique is going on here in this christmas story so we have mary with child right yes you have elizabeth16:33with child right yes and so what's going on that the child that mary is carrying is giving new birth to elizabeth's child like the birth of jesus christ is where you and i can have new birth that's the power of the gospel why do we need the christmas story because it took someone who is17:00perfect to live and sacrifice for those who are imperfect us me this is the gospel and i just want you to think really quick some of you know jesus christ here and we should not be fooled into thinking that they're everyone here knows jesus christ that's what satan wants us to believe satan wants you to think everyone who comes to church knows god that is a lie that's why we give17:29an invitation every sunday and say if you have heard and you need to respond today's the day of your salvation god loves you he's he's birthed you to have new birth to follow him but think back for a for a moment the first time you really heard the gospel do you remember your heart leaping18:02the first time you of course some of you have grown up in church you said why i don't remember the first time i heard it now i'm asking the first time that you actually heard the gospel was for you the first time that you like john and elizabeth said this is my lord i'll never forget that day i'll never forget the day in north mississippi at a small church i had heard the gospel hundreds of times maybe thousands of times but on this day i heard the gospel and i remember thinking vividly and18:28clearly god if this story is true i want that god if this story is true i am going to leap down the aisle and when the pastor gave the invitation i ran i shot out like a cannon i don't know why i just knew18:51that god wanted me to be saved and i wanted to be saved and if i ran to him he would forgive my sins and give me everlasting life i'll never forget the day that i leapt because this the good story of jesus was my story and i never want to be able to hear this good news and not leap i don't care if i am 100 years19:14old and decrepit i'm gonna do the worm down the aisle right i'm gonna make some movement i'm gonna floss i don't care what i have to do but this story for christians like this should never get old like our heart should leap something inside of us should change when we hear the greeting that jesus saves and he saves to die and he died to save sinners of whom we are the chief that's what the gospel19:44should do because we were born to follow jesus jesus was born to give you new birth that you might follow him this is good news and when this happens look what elizabeth says i know this is a baptist church but you'll forgive me 41 when elizabeth heard mary's greeting the baby leaped inside of her that's what the gospel does to those who believe and she was filled with the holy spirit how can mary how can20:12elizabeth listen to the story of the gospel because the holy spirit has opened up her heart the same with zechariah the same throughout the new testament it's the holy spirit that illuminates minds and hearts to hear the word of the lord how is it that i could sit in a church and hear the gospel thousands of times but it wasn't until that moment that i truly heard it because the holy spirit opened up my heart20:39in in response to the darkness and the blindness that i had because of my sin so what happens when we come to faith in jesus the holy spirit leads us to that point and the holy spirit fills us like god doesn't leave his people orphans like god fills you with his presence and his goodness and with his joy you are born to believe so are you living in the spirit21:05right now can you say if you are born again you are born again because of the spirit but are you living in the spirit saying god lead me today may today be a new day may i hear with fresh ears and lord i don't know who i'm sitting by so let me pray for this person as i am as i'm sitting here worshiping lord21:32let me be a bridge for them god let me live in the spirit that we would not live weak anemic lives like elizabeth gets it she says mary when i heard your greeting what was the greeting we don't know but at the sound of your greeting i was filled and i believe there are going to be tears of sadness for many of us because when we see god face to face21:58he's going to say josh i wanted to fill you up but you didn't want it you were content just with a drop and i wanted to fill you with abundant life and that you would pursue me with every second that you have oh that we would be filled and live in the spirit how could this happen because for elizabeth she could say this is the greeting of my lord you were born to follow jesus christ you were born to22:27believe with that foundation let's finish on the rest of john's life so now we're going to turn to a new section of scripture john not john is not the same john the baptist this is um the gospel of john is john the elder of the beloved but this john the gospel chapter 1 and we're going to read in the gospel of john22:50about john the baptist john chapter 1. now this guy is a salty dude right so we're going to learn about what what happens with john when he grows up john chapter 123:15beginning in verse 21 so you have people coming to john the baptist the older john the baptist now he's grown up and they're asking him are you elijah he says i am not he said are you a prophet no he answered verse 22 of john 1 well who are you we need to give an answer to those who sent us23:43what can you tell us about yourself so john the baptist said i am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness making straight the path of the lord just as isaiah the prophet has said now they had been sent from the pharisees so they asked him well then why do you baptize if you aren't the messiah or elijah24:08or the prophet john says i baptize with water someone stands among you but you don't know him he is the one coming after me whose sandal strap i am not worthy to untie all this happened at bethany across the jordan where john was baptizing verse 29 the next day john the baptist sees jesus christ this is this is our next meeting right they met in the womb and now they're meeting again here24:38and john the baptist says here is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world this is the one i told you about after me comes a man whose rank is far ahead of me because he existed before me i did not know him but i came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to israel and john testified i saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he rested on him and some of you who are astute25:05biblical scholars would recognize that that's speaking of the moment when jesus christ was baptized by john verse 33 i did not know him but he sent me to baptize with water and he told me the one you see the spirit descending on arresting upon he is the one who baptizes with the holy spirit i have seen and testified that this is the son of god verse 35 the next day john was standing with two25:36of his disciples and he sees jesus passing by and he says look the lamb of god the two disciples heard him say this and they followed jesus christ so those born again in jesus are now commanded to build bridges to jesus christ you were born in this life to be born again to know him to follow26:02him to be in relationship with god because of your sin you have no hope of ever being in that relationship that's why jesus was born to bring you into a relationship now we live to build bridges to jesus christ so how do we do that so i think the first thing that that god is impressed upon us through his word the way that you build bridges to the gospel and this is counter-cultural very simple26:27to say difficult to live out it is not about you any millennials in the house i don't care what your parents told you it is not about you it's not me right it's not about me because we've grown up thinking it is and you know we're teaching our kids it's even more about you that's why i love having a young family stand up here and saying26:55eli it's not about you i'm putting our where our marriage is first and if we live and honor christ in our marriage then we will honor you and we want you to see that and we want you to know that god's plan for you is greater than our helicopter plans because that's what happens it is not about you look what john the baptist says verse 21 they come to him say who are you elijah at this point john the baptist27:20has an opportunity to make a great name for himself the greatest one of the greatest prophets in the history of israel are you elijah i'm glad you asked because i do have very um elijah tendencies but he has a chance to as a prophet in the wilderness this is the moment he's been looking for27:47and john the baptist says nope not elijah okay well are you a prophet no who are you then we need an answer he says i am a voice you see john the baptist was living in the wilderness john the baptist was john wayne before john wayne existed i mean this guy is wearing camel chic28:12he's eating honey and he's dipping the bodies of the locust because he bit their heads off he's dipping their bodies in the honey as he's eating it like that's john the baptist he's a rough dude and they come to him and they said this is the moment you've been looking for you you finally have an audience and he says it's not about me it's not about me you see if you are in christ it's not about you28:40so when people scroll through our accounts on social media do they think it's about me or do they see jesus christ when someone sees me in the mornings on monday tuesday29:08i'm having a bad day do they think my life is about me or is it about jesus christ when they see the world applauding and say man wow look at you you're elijah and in that moment you have a chance to say what took you so long or you can say no that's not me29:31because my life is about jesus christ how do we build bridges to jesus we live a life that says it's not about me are you need i'm going to give i'm going to give at my expense and you know i know you cursed me but i'm going to bless you and i know you harbor a grudge but i'm going to forgive you anyway because my life in christ is not about me and so much so john even says he says i am not even fit30:01to lace up the sandal of jesus one of the rabbis in in ad 250 rabbi joshua ben levi said this he said all manner of service that a slave must render to his master the people must render to his teacher except30:29that of taking off his shoe so the rabbis in this time would say a good teacher a good student would do anything except you don't have to demean yourself and tie the shoe and john is saying i'm not even i'm not even worthy to lace up the sandal of messiah but i'm not even worthy to do anything like that and i'm not even worthy to do anything like that30:59but i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that i'm not even worthy to do anything like that so when you are at work are you a look at me person or are you look at him person build bridges to jesus and we do so with our humility31:26as john did we also see this we build bridges to christ when we raise our voices verse 23 who are you john we have we have to go back and say something and he says okay tell them this tell them like isaiah that i am a okay john chapter 1 verse 23 john the baptist says to this delegation i am a voice31:56now did you catch what elizabeth says when she's greeted by mary did you catch that that she spoke loudly so how do we build bridges to jesus christ we build bridges to jesus when we raise our voice raising our voice for god john was appealing to isaiah 43 this voice in an exclamatory way32:23what is going on here is john's painting that ancient picture of when the kings would come to town they would send forerunners and telling everyone hey the king is coming there's going to be no obstacle for the king as he comes into town and john was doing the same thing are you raising your voice to jesus now here is the task for us the task for the church is the same we build bridges to jesus when32:50we raise our voice so what should we say because unfortunately many of us in the church for generations i believe we've raised voices but it's the wrong voice and we've raised voices that don't include love they include some truth but they don't include love and so when we raise our voices now people put earmuffs on33:16because we've been raising the wrong voice what should we say what does john say what what does john say when they ask him to raise his voice look at verse 29 the next day john saw jesus coming toward him and said here is the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the whole33:43world and he'll take away your sins pharisees this is jesus christ what does the world need to hear from us they need to hear that jesus saves and included in that message is that you are a sinner and if you confess your sins jesus will save you from your sins he will purify you he will wash you clean34:10and you will walk into abundant life that is the gospel unfortunately i'm talking about the church collectively unfortunately the world hears the wrong voice in us people hear sometimes from us well you need to go to church that's a good thing but do you know what happens to people who go to church and don't follow jesus christ34:40they go to hell let that sink in if i invite someone to church and don't invite them to jesus christ they walk a church road to hell it's not about the church i can't invite anyone to church only jesus can do that we are the church this building is not the church until we gather and make it a place where the church35:05gathers oh that we would give them jesus the world doesn't need to see our political stances as a church you have the right as an individual to let your voice be known by all means you should vote i think that's your right by living in this nation and what a god-given freedom that we have do not forsake that but if people know your political aspirations more than they know your king there's a problem35:33and they know more about what you're against than who you're for there's a problem and so we cannot use our voices in a way that people just put their ears put their hands over their ears and just go la la la la la la la la we've heard this story again you know what we need to tell them you're a sinner and you are not in relationship with god you're not good but let me tell you what happened god sent his36:00only son born of a virgin and he lived a sinless life and so let me let me back up for you really quick you've never known anyone that was born of a virgin i i understand that but i believe it anyway you've never met anyone who lived a sinless life it's strange to our ears but i believe it you've never met anyone that died on the cross and was buried for three days and rose again36:26but world let me tell you if you believe the unbelievable and you believe that this is the lamb of god he will take away your sins this is the voice that we raise i don't care who your favorite team is i don't care who your favorite politician is i want this36:53county to be the most difficult place to grow up and go to hell i want this place to be so full of gospel saturation that it is almost impossible for someone to live in saint claire county and not hear the gospel and still walk away from jesus christ because i want them to go to the supermarket and one of you are there saying behold the lamb i want them to go on facebook and someone's there saying behold the lamb and going to37:24the ball field and someone saying behold the lamb and coming to the church and someone saying behold the lamb and they say what is with you people and we say no it's not us it's that cross it's jesus we should be building bridges to jesus christ and i long for the day that satan just gets tired of sending his demons to st clare county and look we have to go there again because those christians take seriously the building bridges to jesus thing37:55and they tell satan we've just given up on st clare county because the christian community there believes what they say they believe and they build bridges we can't go to the bank we can't possess the bank because they're building bridges we can't possess dollar general anymore because they're building bridges to christ and we can't possess the church because they're building bridges here to jesus christ you were born in jesus to build bridges lift the right voice38:22but our bridges continue look what happens to john we see this in verse 24 now they are sent from the pharisees and they asked him why do you baptize as if you aren't if you were not the messiah or elijah or the prophet38:47see you build bridges to jesus christ when you live in faithful obedience why does your sin matter because the world is watching because in revelation we see the church standing the bride the church standing before the throne of god and the church is not standing in matted clothes it's not in the dark robes of grief39:13but it is in robes of white and purity you see we are commanded to follow him in obedience jesus here in this passage is the illusion is that he was baptized why was he did jesus need to be saved no did jesus need to repent of his sins no did jesus need washing for what he had done wrong no jesus39:36wanted to model for us what obedience to the father looks like and if you have never been baptized as a public decoration of your faith what are you waiting for next sunday is your sunday write on the connect card come forward in response we want to make that happen for you to walk in faithful obedience but it doesn't end at baptism obedience is a life long journey in jesus christ it's about the glory of god in us40:06and when we live out an obedient life you're building a bridge to jesus when someone cuts you off in traffic and you don't respond you want to but you don't respond because you know god i want to demonstrate your holiness you're building a bridge when someone has wronged you and you don't retaliate in a way that40:35because you want to display the glory of god you're building a bridge church we must take sin seriously when you're tempted to to watch that tv show or to look at that website again when you turn it off you're building a bridge take sin seriously because god demands our faithful display40:58of faith but it's not always easy this is not always easy so what you will not find here in this passage is that john believes so strongly in the lamb of god that he was willing to die for his belief41:26john believes so strongly that jesus was the everlasting lamb that he was willing to die for his faith listen to what josevius flavius i know some of you were reading that this morning so josevius flavius an ancient historian says this about john he was killed by herod and this is why lest the great influence john had over the people might be41:53put into john's power and inclination to raise a rebellion for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise so herod thought it best to put him to death what you might not know is john spoke up and used his voice and said herod42:20it's not right that you should take your brother's wife as your own wife this is this is an illicit affair and it is not what god desires in your life it is sinful repent and herod said if you do not stop the message i will kill you and john said i will live to make straight the path of our lord living for christ is not easy42:44so is it worth it is it worth it is it better for you and i to sit in silence and live a comfortable life and one day have to look god be at his throne and say i would rather sit on my hands and be43:13comfortable than live for you i don't think john the baptist gave his life for that message i don't think jesus gave his life so that we would clap and cheer but when we leave this place make it about us is it easy no is it worth it yes43:36so what does that look like for you if you are a christian what if your bridge for someone else is you just come into the altar and say god i'm gonna pray for this person they don't know you but send44:01your spirit to open their ears and their their heart lord let me build a bridge today for you i don't know what that means in your life but i know we are called to be build bridges bridge builders for jesus what bridge are you building right now and maybe for you it's a confession of sin because people see your life and they realize that you are not living in holiness like god wants you44:27so for you that would be repentance maybe someone has god put god has put someone on your heart right now and you need to come and you need to spend time in prayer for for john or for bob or for lucy and say god they don't know you but i want them to let me let me intercede for them right now maybe god's calling you to be a missionary to go overseas and build bridges around the world or to be44:54a pastor maybe god is stirring your heart for that ministry vocation oh do not wait to respond but there are some people here that you have never responded to the gospel and for the first time when you heard that jesus loved you and he died for you your heart something something inside you leapt if that's you we want you to know that god loves you that he is waiting to forgive you if you would repent of your sins and believe this unbelievable story that he sent his45:23son for you to die for you he was raised for you he was ascended for you and that if you would believe you would have abundant life we'll have pastors and um prayer partners to come pray for you this morning but build a bridge and if you do not know him you are born to believe And may today be the day of your salvation. Let's pray.← Previous in AdventIt’s Worth the JourneyNext in Advent →Creative Christmas
