The Crucified Life: How John the Baptist Can Help You

Welcome to episode 303. Let's jump right into this crucified life, and today we're going to talk about John the Baptist and what that has to do with you and I walking this crucified life and learning to live this crucified life and learning to walk in the Spirit. Let's get started. First scripture I want to talk about is in Matthew 11:11, and I want you to hear what Jesus said about John the Baptist. I think it's a phenomenal testimony about John the Baptist, and I think it'll give us some insight into what you and I have as believers as well. Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And again, that's Matthew 11:11, and Jesus was telling the crowd that was standing in front of him, of those born of women, everyone that was born up until this time there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. I think that is incredible when you think about everybody that came before John the Baptist. You've got King David, you've got Father Abraham, you have got Elijah, Elisha, you've got all of these prophets and all of these kings. God himself said no one's greater than John the Baptist. So John the Baptist is number one. And I don't want to put words in God's mouth, I just think that Jesus was saying No one has done what they were designed to do better than John the Baptist. I believe John the Baptist, when he was anointed inside his mother's womb— and we're not going to get into that on this episode— the Holy Spirit came upon John the Baptist inside of Elizabeth's womb, and I think from that point on he did without all kinds of things so that he could hear from God. Let's go and see what John the Baptist said. And remember in the previous episode, I told you that Jesus came to die and that I was going to prove that. Well, I'm not going to get real deep into all of that, and I haven't said this on any previous podcast, I don't believe, but the New Testament was written to the first century Jew and person in that time period. The New Testament was written specifically to those people and for those people. Now, you and I can benefit from that writing, and it's still relevant, and it's still very timely, and we can still use that. But when we take it into context, these writers and these people that were reading it back in the first century, they were looking at the sacrifices, they were looking at the temple, and they were looking at God's house and all of that stuff. And in the backdrop of all of that, that's when God chose to come and walk on this earth. It was in the first century. And so they were still going to the temple, they were still doing Passover feasts and the Unleavened Bread. All of those things were still going on in Jerusalem. And I want you to hear the death sentence that John gives to Jesus. And let's start in John 1 and verse 29. 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he who I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me. 1:30 I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water. 1:31 And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he remained on him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God. And again, that's John 1:29-34. And I know that's a lot of scripture, but we've got to get the context John the Baptist calls out Jesus when he sees him, and he proclaims with his mouth the death sentence, saying, this, this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that is incredible. And Jesus didn't say, now wait a minute, John, that's not all entirely true. He accepted that word over top of him, and everybody that was there heard it and had to make note. Wow, that's pretty powerful. And then a couple of chapters later, Jesus' ministry has taken off and John's ministry is starting to fade. And I'm going to paraphrase real quick, but John's disciples were saying, hey John, all of the people are going to Jesus now and we're losing our church. And let's listen to what John says because I think this is key to you and I. We're not here to build our kingdom. I'm not here to build Greg Ryan's kingdom. I'm not here— the only reason I'm here is to help you get into the Word and allow the Word of God to get into you. That is my whole modus operandi. I am here to try to motivate you to get into the Word of God, to ask the Holy Spirit, what is it you're trying to tell me about this word that's relevant to me? And not to Greg Ryan or not to my wife or not to my husband or not to my kid, from me. The Holy Spirit loves you. Again, you are God's favorite, and if God had a refrigerator in heaven, your picture would be all over it. He wants you to get something specific out of his word, but we have got to be in the word to get that. Again, soapbox moment, I know you probably get tired of it, but we've got to get in the word of God. And speaking of which, in John 3:26, we're going to see what John the Baptist said after his people were telling him, hey, you're losing it. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. 19:27 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. 19:28 Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled, he must increase, but I must decrease. 19:29 He who comes from above is above all; He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all, and what he has seen and heard, that he testifies, and no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. And that's John 3:26-36. And I know that's a lot, but this is a Bible study. This is to get into the Bible. I wanted you to see what John the Baptist said. John the Baptist lived his life, and this crucified life, and how I can pull all this together You and I are to build God's kingdom. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are translated into a different world. We've talked about that multiple times, but this is no longer our world that we're in. The old man that was of this world has been crucified with Jesus. We raise up a brand new man at salvation. That's our new creation. We become alive in Christ. We are translated into— I say from hell island to heaven island. We are now not of this world, but we're still here in this world. And in Galatians 2:20, it says, we have been crucified with Christ, and yet I live. So with that in mind, I want you to see John's whole life was dedicated to baptizing and then finding the Christ and proclaiming that this is the Lamb of God. That is incredible. And I believe that's why Jesus said that among those born of women, none has risen higher than John the Baptist. Up until that time, everybody else has got a little bit of mixture of, hey, I'm going to do this, but God's calling me, and God talks to me, and God does this. And then they go back and do their little thing, and then— but then God speaks to them. John the Baptist was an animal. He was focused. He was out in the wilderness. He was eating locusts and honey, and he had camel hair. I mean, this guy was an animal, and he— his job was just to proclaim that this is the Christ, that this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Once John had proclaimed that, then his ministry was pretty much over. It hadn't completely died yet, But John knew that Jesus must increase and he must decrease, and that is such a humbling deal. If you look at John's life after he made that proclamation, it looked like that he had missed it. In fact, John got depressed, and we're not going to get into that. We might get into that in the next episode, but we look at what happened to John as he was wondering what's going on. And I just want to encourage you that if you are trying to build your kingdom Maybe the reason that is so hard and so difficult is because you are not building God's kingdom. You're trying to do it your way, and you're trying to do it instead of God's way, instead of the kingdom of God. You're trying to do it the kingdom of you. I am guilty of that. I have done multiple things my own way, and I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to listen to what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me, and then I'm trying to proclaim it to you just to encourage, empower, and inspire you to get in the word. That's my only motivation. That's my only reason here. And I know this has taken a lot of time to get to this point, but I just want you to meditate over the weekend. If you're watching this on time, I want you just to think about what is it that John the Baptist did that made him so special. And I believe it was just his sacrificial lifestyle. He died to his own interest and his own needs better than anybody else at that time, and he gave us a picture And if you look at 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, imitate me just as I imitate Christ. Paul was imitating the best he could how Christ lived, and Jesus was looking at the Father. So I just want us to kind of meditate, let that percolate over the weekend. I want you to meditate on this word because the crucified lifestyle, we have got to learn to die to ourselves. We've got to learn that it's not about us. Hey, this is not about Greg. I'm not here to make myself look good or bad. I'm here to encourage you to get in the Word of God. That's it. So let's do that. Let's pray real quick. God, I thank you so much for your Word. Jesus, thank you for coming and living the life that I could not live and dying a death that I deserved. And God, thank you for raising him, Jesus, on the third day. And Holy Spirit, thank you for never leaving us nor forsaking us. God, we thank you, we love you, we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode. Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.