In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of being cautious and avoiding sinful behavior. He uses the metaphor of stealing a bottle, warning that it may contain poison and lead to unpleasant consequences. The speaker praises John the Baptist for his confidence and courage in preaching the truth, even to the Pharisees and soldiers. He urges the audience to seek God's guidance through prayer and to repent and obey His voice. The sermon also highlights the danger of being gullible and easily influenced by worldly trends.

Now, it is with the testimony of John that he says he was born. And here we find the wonderful testimony of John. John was preaching out there in the wilderness. He wasn't like other preachers. His preaching had authority. His preaching was with such authority and power, it shook the world. It wasn't like the preachers who are ambiguous and undecided in their preaching. Some came from the cities and towns with great haste to listen to the preaching of this man. There were leading people, tax collectors, Pharisees, all sorts of people. And all Jerusalem was shaken. It even got to the religious council that ruled the affairs over religion in Jerusalem. They too were stirred. They were the bosses of religion over the Jews. And as Pharisees, they had to take note where they said, Do you notice, do you see what's happening there in the wilderness near the Jordan? At the Jordan? We don't even know this guy. He is not one of us. Let's send therefore a commission which will go and inspect and check him out as to who sent him. Now we don't say that by doing that they did a wicked deed. After all, they were the authorities in religion. After all, if there is something that is spectacular, something that is amazing happening in some church or some place, it is fitting that you should check it out, test and prove the thing. It could be a deceiver. It could be a person who preaches teaching which is just wrong. Because you'll find Christians very easily being gullible, naive. If something is happening, they will do what is happening. If you meant to jump, they jump. So I'm not swift to condemn these leaders in Jerusalem if they sent out a commission to test and to check out what was happening there in the wilderness, for after all, the Bible does say that we should test and prove things. Now maybe they didn't have an ear to hear, so they had to really check it out properly. Now maybe they didn't have an ear to hear, so they had to really check it out properly. They were the religious leaders of the Jews. Now John the Evangelist writes in detail about John the Baptist's testimony. And it was heard that he baptizes people. And because he baptized people, he was an immediate suspect, because Elijah didn't baptize people, neither did the prophets, so they wondered what type of new ministry, what new teaching, what type of cult was he starting. And so they asked, are you the Christ? And he very decisively said, no. But are you Elijah? Because it was already rumored abroad that maybe he was Elijah, because remember Elijah had been snatched up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Then they wondered whether he was one of the prophets. And he simply said, no. They seemed to be satisfied with that, but they continued interrogating him by asking, well, why then do you baptize? What is this? And he said, I baptize with water only, but the one who comes after me shall baptize you with water and with fire, with the spirit and with fire. He's after me because he was six months younger than John the Baptist was. Although he didn't, although of course, I'm just adding that little detail. So he said, I'm just adding that detail about the months, but he said, the one that comes after me is actually before me. Now that seemed like a puzzle, a contradiction. This seemed to be a contradiction by claiming that he is both behind him and before him. Some of the things of our faith are indeed a mystery. And if you don't have wisdom, you will not understand the mysteries. Never. There are those who are, who twist things. For instance, Jesus spoke about the 10 virgins. Half of them being fools, half of them being wise. By that we can surmise that half of the believers are foolish. You find Christians who are like that. They hear, they listen, but they don't understand, they don't obey. And they find themselves outside the door knocking to come in. Now you should not be a foolish Christian. Every Christian should ask him or herself, though I am a virgin, am I wise or am I foolish? Yes, I've made a commitment to the Lord. I've got all the normal things a Christian should have, but there's something missing. The foolish virgins had their lamps, but it was not full of oil, not full of the Holy Spirit. Don't just assume that a person who claims to be a believer is truly a believer. You need to have discernment whether that person is foolish or wise. And if that foolish man is your friend, you must be a fool as well. Otherwise you would have noticed, no, there's something lacking, something missing. Make sure. So be on your guard and take note whether this person is wise in the sight of God or not. So John, it seems in a very relaxed way, a very frank way, he said, No, I'm not he, but I'm the one who came first, but the one who comes after me is before me. I'm older than him, but he's older than me. What was John implying by that? What was he saying? By that John was telling us who Jesus really was. And who he was. Yeah, and who he was himself, John. He wasn't pointing to himself. He pointed at the one. By saying the one who comes after me was always before me, he was attributing divine character. He was saying he is God. He was saying Jesus is God. Now there are foolish preachers in this world today who detract from the divine attributes of Jesus and say, No, he was a man just like we are, not God. But with John, he was absolutely forthright and said it clearly. He who comes after me was before me. In other words, he, Jesus, is God. He was uniting it with God. And then the Lord Jesus came. Wanting to be baptized by John. Then John says something amazing. I knew him not. And again he said, I did not know him. Now, I don't quite know because they were relatives. Maybe he was inferring that he had known him in the flesh as a human being, as a man. But he hadn't known him spiritually. Or whether it was just simply lack of communication. They didn't have cars and motorbikes. We're not sure. And on Sabbaths they didn't travel. On Sabbath days, your traveling limits were very limited. Like you would walk maybe just as far as the shop. You couldn't take a journey on the Sabbath. They kept the Sabbath. Not as a Sunday. The Jewish Sabbath was a Saturday. The Zionist groups and Seventh-day Adventists, they still keep the Saturday. But the Christians keep the Sunday because it is the resurrection day. Jesus arose on Sunday morning. And also, Christians of old, it is historically shown that they met together on Sunday mornings. But it is good that you do get a rest, that you get a time set apart for the Word. In a certain country, they said, away with this Seventh-day thing, that once every seven days that there is a day off from work. No, we'll make it every tenth day. And I noticed that the horses started closing their eyes. They were blind. Until they until they Until they relented and changed the law back. Now, of course, there is the state, the fact that Jesus said, if your donkey or animal falls into a pit or well on the Sabbath, obviously you will take steps to get it out on that day. So you need to understand the connotation and the context of it. Because You can't Now You wives, you might take it literally and say, well, I'm not going to cook then for my husband on a Sunday on the Sabbath. And then you men need to take note of that. Perhaps you are the donkey. It would be better if you were the horse. All right. Let's continue. John says no. I'm not Christ. Neither Elijah. It's man. One asks who taught John the Baptist these things. It was no one else but God himself by his Holy Spirit. He was a wise man. A foolish man is one who cannot listen to the voice of God. Isaiah, the prophet said, he is God's voice. He is the everlasting God. And the everlasting Father. Who had told these people? Who had taught them that? If we'd only take after these people and wouldn't carry on in our foolishness. It is a painful thing when a Christian doesn't have an ear to hear. The Bible often says, he who has an ear to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit says. The one who can't hear what the Spirit says is the donkey. Your husband, if you're a donkey, you need to say, my wife, I'm sorry, I've been a donkey. God has a testament in the Talmud with a prophet. my wife, I'm sorry, I've been a donkey. A donkey is a donkey. There is a concealing. there is the case the story in the Old Testament about the Prophet who was blind and needed to be rebuked and told by his donkey who was a which was a female at that so you husbands don't claim that you know everything simply because you're a male you need to listen to your wife if she says something of the Lord you need to acknowledge that and be thankful for that of course it's different if she speaks foolishly or stubbornly Oh Isaiah what he Baba what Pagate Emanuel oh not when Isaiah prophesied the coming one he said he shall be called Emmanuel God with us the Everlasting Father Oh Micah what you were in Bethlehem Micah said that you Bethlehem considered so little but you will not be little for out of you shall come the one who is of everlasting the ancient of days the one who is from everlasting to everlasting There is a In one of our German hymns I love the wording how it puts it where it says he who is without beginning and without end what a wonderful Jesus we serve how great and majestic David knew about the Messiah Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba Abba The priest would then take that sheep and it would be killed, slaughtered upon the altar, blood would flow on the altar. And that blood would be sprinkled over the person. Then the person would have some understanding that my sins have been carried, have been taken away, this sheep has carried my sins. So when John saw Jesus, he said, there is the Lamb of God. This is the final Lamb of God, removing the sins of the world. In Acts 2, we are told that Jesus redeemed us through the blood of God, it wasn't just the blood of man, but the blood of God himself. Divine blood, and not the blood of a man, a sinful man. Divine blood in him. Some people are puzzled, they say, how can the blood of just one man be enough to cover the sins and carry the sins of the whole world, all the billions of people? I say, even a single drop of that divine blood is enough to remove the sins of the whole world. It's more than enough, by far, just one drop, the blood of God. What manner of people ought we to be if this blood of God himself can wash away and carry our sins, take it away? How ought we then to live? If we take it lightly, then eternal hell must be our destination. That we can be washed whiter than snow through the blood of the Lamb. John was saying, behold the Messiah, behold your God, behold the Lamb of God, behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. How was that revealed to him? Remember that he was filled, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother's womb. And so he lived a life filled with the Lord, filled with the Spirit in his life. He never went astray, he never went off on a crooked path, right till his death. And so he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was John's baptism, many like to claim that that's exactly what they are doing, they're ducking people under the water with baptism, and all it is is water. They're not doing what John really did, for he baptized them while they were confessing their sins. He said to them, bear the fruit of repentance. Baptism means nothing if you do not turn away, confessing your sins. if you have been like that it would be good that you become wise like him don't just claim we've got John's baptism have an ear for the Holy Spirit and also don't claim and don't be quick to claim the spirit has told me thus saith the Lord because there might be another spirit a demonic spirit that speaks to you having baptized him he said he's the Son of God because God had told him that John the Baptist should make such a claim why was it it was because God had revealed by his spirit that the one upon whom the dove rests and not flies away again but rests and indwells it is he who is this my son the one in whom I rejoice it's wonderful to be a true Christian it doesn't matter what type you are what background what race racial background you are but that you are one who has an ear to listen to what the Spirit of God says if not woe to you many years ago I remember how many years ago there was a an ancestral spirit feast for the spirits of the dead a pagan feast and while that was happening there was a bottle which was found by a child who then stole it thought it was something to drink but it was poison had to be rushed to hospital it was deadly and so too you might think that you taking something that's beneficial to you you stealing it but it's poison to you and unless you confess that thieving that thing that you've stolen you are headed for hell unless you repent so you be careful of stealing a bottle symbolically speaking and also be extra careful maybe inside the bottle there's poison and then you have to undergo a very unpleasant procedure in hospital to be cleansed and to get rid of this poison out of you John's testimony how wonderful and what an amazing man well time has gone on I'm going to cut now there's so much more there's so many other points what you should do is you take the Bible get on your knees and say Lord reveal to me speak to me the mysteries of heaven what an amazing man this John was he was completely confident in what he said if the soldiers came he told them the truth when the Pharisees came he was very forthright with them although he was a humble man John but he was also courageous he said you come to be baptized you brood of vipers you snakes show the fruit of repentance not like people who are afraid to testify who say I will never bear witness against anybody else I'll just let sleeping dogs lie now things go on in this world and sexual abuse and incestual relationships things which where people should go to jail for but they aren't but in eternity you'll be in eternal jail but this same John the Baptist he was courageous when it came to Herod who had taken his brother's wife John said it is not right God does not allow you to steal your brother's wife Herod went and spilled the beans to his wife told her everything like some husbands they don't hold a thing back they just tell everything like Ahab and his wife and Jezebel who was told everything if you've got a wife who can't correct you don't tell her anything don't entrust her because you're not a man and you listen to her and she'll give you the wrong advice and so it was she knew not Herod was so aroused by this that he said you can demand anything the mother said I demand the head of the of John the Baptist on a platter so terrible so wicked was it Herod, his wife, the whore and the daughter all burning in hell but the voice of John the Baptist is not silent they can still hear his words prepare you the way of the Lord which they did not heed in their dispensation today do you hear the word of God will you allow the Son to set without getting right with God without doing what the Holy Spirit has clearly shown you to do or is it something that you delaying for tomorrow you need to get down on your knees and say Lord remove the dirt out of my ears remove the demonic influence that stops me from hearing your voice if you're not as sick please stand to your feet as we pray together be merciful to us our Lord help us not to be like those five foolish virgins who cried and wept and shouted to be let in but they were closed outside save us Lord from being fools claiming to be Christians while being worthless oh God work in a marvelous way by your spirit in our midst that this day would not have been in vain that the one who has not heard your word and your voice before may hear your voice today and the one who has heard your voice may they obey that voice by the time the sun sets today Amen