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Now I am under duty to allow you to ask questions. On the other hand, you are allowed to say he's gone over time anyway, so we wouldn't bother to ask him any questions. But I'm in your hand, gentlemen. I've always, uh, puzzled about that verse in chapter ten where he says in verse eight, all whoever came before me are thieves and robbers. Does that refer to previous people who claimed to be shepherds in Israel? Um, some like Antiochus Epiphanes obviously were thieves and robbers, but what about people like David? Is he, what, what is ref- what is he referring to there? All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. Well, yes, the, I think perhaps our difficulty is, isn't it, when he says all that came before me were thieves and robbers, whereas there were many true shepherds in Israel. David was one, and the true prophets were others. Eh, it may therefore mean all that came claiming to be messiahs were thieves and robbers. There had been some even before Christ who had risen up and claimed to be Messiah, and when you're thinking of shepherds, you're thinking also of political leaders. And they tried to lead the Roman, the the Jews against the Romans, and it had led to massacre. Do you see? So all that came before me, claiming to be the Messiah, were thieves and robbers, but the true sheep didn't hear them. A lot of the others did. They weren't his sheep, of course, but the sheep, uh, didn't follow them. Yes? Maybe that, or it may be that this is a Semitic, uh, phrase. Their use of the term all is not quite the same as us always in English, that there were false prophets, false shepherds amongst the people of Israel. Uh, Ezekiel accuses them straight of being false shepherds, many of the leaders. Uh, do you see? And uh, it may be that our Lord is referring to some of them, but strictly in the context, I think it must mean they who came before me claiming to be uh, uh, Messiahs and Christs. Um, in what way do you think that the doorkeeper was necessary for the whole purpose of introducing Christ? Could you elaborate slightly more on that? Why, why did God decide with, on using John the Baptist to introduce Christ? Well, uh, in that, that's a s- a good question to ask, though, uh, I pref- I think it's easier to start the other way around and say God did it, and so, uh, then ask why. Uh, do you see, it was a sign to Israel, wasn't it? But it was a necessary preparation. Isaiah forty, prepare the way of the Lord. It wasn't simply that God sent his son without any preparation, all of a sudden. God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord, at least to call upon the nation to prepare the way of the Lord. And just like when an ancient king came, or emperor came to one of his provinces, the town people would go out and flatten the roads, and any boulders in the road would push to the side, and the holes and hills and holes they would flatten out so that the emperor could come riding in his chariot along a smooth road into the city. So Israel were called upon by John Baptist, according to Isaiah forty, uh, do you see, to prepare the way of the Lord, make his way straight. Every valley shall be exalted, every hill brought low, to make it easy for the Lord to come. And John the Baptist came for that purpose, to do that job, to call upon the nation to repent and confess their sin and get right with God, for the Messiah was coming. Such preparation, therefore, necessary if the people were to, uh, be ready for the coming of Christ. And then our Lord challenges the people subsequently, read, uh, uh, Luke chapter, uh, 7. Why had they rejected him? You went out in great numbers to, to the wilderness, didn't you, he said? Seemed to remember that. You went out in the wilderness. Why, tell me, why did you go out into the wilderness? To see a reed blown with the wind? Of course you didn't. Thousands of reeds in the wilderness. Who would go out in the wilderness to see a reed? Oh, you didn't, I say. Well, you went out to see men, uh, dressed in fine clothing then, real, uh, evangelical film stars. You went out like that, you see. Uh, no, no, you didn't know. No, no, I know. Well, I think now, yes, no, of course you wouldn't. I mean, people like that are in kings' palaces, not in deserts, but... But you did go out, I think, into the wilderness, didn't you? Uh, hundreds of you. What was all that splashing about in Jordans, that kind of thing? It was something, wasn't it? You went out to see a prophet and more than a prophet. Yes, indeed. This is he of whom it said, I'll send my messenger before your face to prepare your way. And many thousands of them had been baptized by John, professing to repent, and no more repented than a man in the moon. And now they were saying, oh, John the Baptist listened to him who was shouting there in the desert, who has warned you to flee from a wrath to come and all that. Ah, who can, God wouldn't expect us to listen to that kind of fiery oratory, and hell is your doom and all this kind of stuff. So you rejected him. As a demon, you said, he's mentally unbalanced. He came neither eating nor drinking, and you say he has a demon. Well, then the Son of Man has come, and he, by difference, he came eating and drinking. With a lovely message of repentance and forgiveness. And you all said, yes, well, now this is the kind of message we like. No, he didn't. He didn't want that either. They neither wanted the wrath of God and the repentance, nor the forgiveness of God. Wouldn't have either. They just wanted their nice, neat little religion. And you see, uh, that they went back on their profession under John, I'm afraid is true of hundreds and thousands of them, but some of them were genuine. The apostles, for instance, and these others were baptized of John. And when John said, behold the Lamb of God, then they began to leave John and they followed Christ. In other words, to answer your question, sir, John was very necessary. One, to get the people prepared for the coming of the Messiah. Two, he was pre- necessary to identify the Messiah. Though, of course, when the Messiah came, he offered them evidence going far beyond what John could possibly give. I have a question. I have a question, yes. Is this still Saturday? Take the close of prayer, professor. Pardon? Our Father, with gratitude in our hearts, we thank thee for the giving of thy dear Son, for the sending him into our world, that he came where we were, and for that he laid down his life for us, his sheep. And we thank thee, Father, for this almost incredible story. When we think of the pains of Calvary, that he endured for our sake, that he could say, therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life for the sheep. And so we commit ourselves to thee now. We thank thee for thy holy word. We pray thou wilt write it on our hearts, and as the days go by, progressively show us its ever deeper meanings. Help us now to walk closely to the Savior in his light along life's pathway. Help us to submit and continue in his word, that we might be progressively set free from the practice of sinning. Help us to understand thy word and thy son's witness and the witness of thy spirit, that we in turn may become able witnesses for the Lord Jesus to the unconverted world around. Now bless us, we pray, as we go from this place. Bless all those tasks that thou has put into our hand, and help us to accomplish them for the glory of thy name, as we look forward to the return of thy dear Son, for whom once more we thank thee, through his holy name. Amen.