The sermon by Paul Carrington focuses on John the Baptist and explores themes of doubt and discouragement, particularly during John's imprisonment. The speaker highlights John's excellent spirit in accepting the rise of Christ's ministry over his own, and his humility in saying, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.' Despite his initial unwavering faith, John experiences doubt while in prison and sends his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the one to come. Jesus reassures John through scripture, pointing to the miracles being performed as evidence of His messianic role. The sermon underscores the importance of turning to Jesus in times of doubt, the significance of repentance, and the active advancement of the kingdom of heaven. The speaker calls for believers, especially men, to be bold and proactive in their faith, reflecting on the courage and unwavering commitment of biblical figures. The message encourages believers to remain steadfast in their faith and to be active participants in spreading the gospel.

Well, if you could please open your Bibles to the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 11, we're going to be spending some time again with John the Baptist. If you remember the last time when we spoke about keeping the heart, we spoke about the excellent spirit that John the Baptist displayed. You remember he was spending his time baptizing? But just as his ministry was on the incline, Christ also started his work and as John's ministry was underway, Christ surpassed it and it caused some challenge among the disciples of John where they grew frustrated with the turn of events.

But so far from entering into their spirit, we read those beautiful words where John said, he must increase, but I must decrease. And this perspective was really the key of John the Baptist keeping his hearts while his disciples were growing dismayed. But there's a, like every man, like every woman, there's multiple facets. And I want to read to us John chapter 11. We're going to read from verse 1 to 15.

It starts off like this. Now it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, said to him, Are you the coming one or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you see, you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.

The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me." As they departed Jesus began to say to the multitude concerning John, what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments?

Indeed those who wear soft clothing are in King's houses. But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what did you go out to see?

A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it was written. Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a risen one greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he and From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let's pray. Father, we do come to you in great need as we have your holy word before us. We pray that you would show us exactly what it says, that we might learn, Lord, how to keep the heart, that we might learn from this man's life, but also, Lord, from the words of our Savior as he speaks. We honor you and we thank you for allowing us to hear your word Father we pray that you would just go before us now in Christ's name amen amen well as you can see here time has passed and we find John landed in prison.

And of course, how did he end up there? Well, he had one of the greatest privileges. He had introduced the Lord, Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But a few months back he had brought the word of God to bear also on the civil authorities. And he had reproved a man by the name of Herod Antipas, who had in his immorality engaged in an unlawful marriage to his brother's wife.

What had happened was he had divorced his own wife and then he had persuaded his brother's wife to divorce him and then they themselves were married to one another. But we always have to remember just like in our day today that God is the definer of marriage. And so it might have been a wonderful wedding ceremony with all the stops pulled out, but a mere ceremony doesn't transform an unlawful union into a lawful one. And you could say that a stamp of approval from the civil courts, it doesn't mean a stamp of approval in the courts of heaven. Well, John wasn't a man to play around with the Word of God and so he brought this point out And as a result of it, here he is now under lock and key.

It was a great cost to himself. And you know, there's an excellent book that a few of us have read. It's a book by the name of Watchfulness, Watchfulness by a man named Brian Hedges. And in this book he outlines special seasons where soul watchfulness is especially important. It's always important, but there's times when it's even more important.

There's times of prosperity or seasons of self-confidence, but there's also seasons of doubt and discouragement, and that's gonna be our theme today. There's a line that he says in this book, he says that we must be watchful in seasons of doubt when our faith is weak. The Christian life we must remember is the good fight of faith. Though we are believers, the relics of unbelief still slink through our hearts like sleeper agents ready to ambush us in an instant. The war against unbelief is a daily one, but we also face seasons when the assault of our faith is far more intense.

And you can read Christian experience or Christian biography, and A lot of times how it can be described is a season that is referred to as the dark night of the soul. It's just a time where heaven feels like brass, where God doesn't feel like he's active and at work. And even the stalwart Christian, and hopefully if you harken back to the pilgrims progress. You'll remember how They ended up in doubting castle. They spent a number of days beaten by giant despair and John Bunyan was really trying to teach us something that is somewhat more common to the Christian experience and perhaps a lot of us would care to admit, but it's this thing that assaults us as we journey from the city of destruction to the celestial city.

Of course, these two finally, they found the key of promise and they were able to make their escape. But here we find John and here he is rotting away in prison in a dungeon and days have become weeks, and weeks have become months, and if you know his story, you know that he's never going to see the light again. He's not gonna be set free from this prison. And my wager is that in a church this size, there are probably gonna be at least a few people that are finding themselves in difficulty, perhaps even passing through that dark time, that season of doubt or discouragement. I've been there several times where you're sitting, you're waiting, you're wondering.

All these questions can assault you. Well, to help us today, we're gonna be spending time in these 15 verses, and I've kind of broken it out. Verses one to six, we see John's question. What is John's question? And in the second part of it, verse seven to 15, we see Jesus's questions.

And so here we are, John's disciples make their approach and they come to Jesus. And these might have been the same disciples that we saw in John chapter 3 that were upset. Well, they come with this question, are you the one, the coming one, or do we look for another? And last week as Dr. Beeke, he was preaching, I really appreciated what he said in that the Bible doesn't really mask the frailties of any of its characters.

We shouldn't be afraid to just look at things as they are laid out for us in Scripture. Unlike the books of false religion that seek to do that, The Bible discloses the failings as well as the the conquests and the strengths of its characters. The only one that stands high and far above any with no blemish, no mark, is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and rightfully so. And anyone who, anyone among us today who's ever been in trial or discouragement, I think could probably relate to some of the things that we're going to be talking about today because one of the things that was happening in John's day in the time of Christ was that along with all the people, John had this expectation. And there was this expectation that the Messiah would come and that he would come and free the Jews, the Jewish people, the nation of Israel from the oppression of Rome or whatever oppression that they might have been under at any given time and establish a kingdom of righteousness and peace and usher in really a new age.

Well, John the Baptist had spent his entire ministry with the Lord Jesus as his only theme. He was preaching the Lord, it was his entire focus, but now things didn't really seem to be going as though he thought they might, if indeed Jesus was who he said he was and who John proclaimed him to be. You know, the Apostle Paul, he spends a lot of time talking about spiritual warfare. He talks about, if you remember, those fiery darts that can come. And you can ask yourself, have I, or when was I the last time under this assault, almost you can envision like a cork being tossed in the sea.

You know, you could ask those questions like, Lord, why aren't you doing more? Or, I know you're sovereign but it's taking so long or It's not turning out like we planned, Lord, or why are things moving in this direction or going at this pace? Is God really at work? And if he were, would things really be going this way? Maybe I got things wrong somewhere along the line.

I prayed and examined my life, but I'm still sick. See, all of these things, as days become weeks, and weeks become months, can wear on us. And here's John, still in prison, And Rome is still dominating the political scene. It doesn't seem like things are really going in the direction he had hoped. And so this question is John's, not his disciples, but John's, are you the coming one?

Or do we look for another? And What I love about this is that John does the best thing that a man who's discouraged or a woman who's discouraged can do. What does he do? He sends to Jesus. And that's what we can do even now when we pray.

And so in verse four to six, the Lord Jesus gives this answer. He says, go and tell John the things which you hear and see. And he goes down the list. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. He quotes actually from Isaiah, that's what he's doing here.

And what I love about what Jesus does is he comforts John with scripture. There's a lot to learn right there. John sends to Jesus, Jesus points to the scripture, the scriptures point to Jesus. That's where all of our comfort really is. And the big question is, what do you do when your experience, your personal experience seems to be at odds with the word of God.

Who do you trust and who do you lean on? What do you do? Do you lean on your own personal experience or do you trust in the word of God like Job? Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. God cannot lie.

Do you preach to yourself in these ways? Well, what Jesus is essentially saying is to John, take courage, John, the kingdom of heaven, it's being built, but just not in the way that you expected. Rome is incidental. I've come to overthrow and undo the works of the devil. Something much, much more is underway here.

And so these men, they head back to the prison with this message, these assurances from the Lord. This great lesson for us all is don't lose heart. Don't let solitary confinement rob you. This is what John was under and if you know anything about the psychology of what goes on in solitary confinement, it's one of the most brutal forms of torture that a man or woman can undertake. Don't let the dungeon darkness blot out that which you believed in the light.

But keep your heart with all diligence. And you would have thought that, I think our brother prayed this morning, he prayed through the Beatitudes. Well, you would have thought that all the Beatitudes were in the Sermon on the Mount, but then we meet with this extra Beatitude, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me. The words of the Lord Jesus. Well, was this enough?

The Lord Jesus seems to be satisfied that it was. He sends these men back and we know that the Lord's words, they never return void. I know, I like what Spurgeon said about this. He says, Blessed is he who can be left in prison, can be silenced in his testimony, can seem to be deserted of his Lord, and yet can shut out every doubt. John speedily regained his blessedness and fully recovered his serenity.

Well we come from John's question, are you the one, are you the coming one, or do we look for another? And then we come to the Lord Jesus, and I love this. Things take a turn here, it's just amazing. It's fascinating to see what happens as the Lord Jesus evaluates the ministry of John. We've seen John's question about Jesus, you could say.

Well, now we see Jesus' questions about John. And so, behind his back, now think of this, right? John the Baptist is in prison, his disciples have just left, and the Lord Jesus now takes the time to heap praise upon this man. Praise that he'll never hear. You know, you would have thought that what the Lord Jesus says here would have been the thing that would have been the great encouragement that John's followers would have taken back to him.

You should have heard what he said about you. But what would stabilize John was what the Lord said about the Lord. See, this is the most important thing. The thing that's gonna be ballast to your soul, to my soul, is what the Lord says about the Lord and who he is in his word. This is our great confidence.

And what's amazing about these few verses here is that Christ never spoke more about any other person than he does here about John the Baptist. And some have classified this as John's eulogy, in a sense, before he will be beheaded. You know, D.A. Carson said it like this, that John had often borne witness to Jesus, when now Jesus bears witness of John. And we've got these three questions that are loaded up for us here, really the same question asked in different ways.

And the first question, as we look at Jesus' questions about John, he asks this, he says, What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? You know, here you can picture the scene. Jesus is there. He's surrounded by a vast crowd.

John's disciples come into that crowd and ask this question, are you the coming one or do we look for another? And it would have been tempting perhaps for some in that crowd to denigrate John as being kind of changeable, as being wavering, as being fickle, fragile, maybe delicate. Now things aren't in his favor and he's, you know, questioning everything like that. Well, what Jesus does is he goes all the way back to John's public ministry to say John is not fickle. John is not a coward.

His message, you can look at his messages when you read John and what he had to say to the crowds, what he said to the Pharisees and of late, how he confronted Herod in his situation. And What's amazing about this picture is that he goes all the way back to where John was baptizing on the River Jordan, and it was on either side lined with reeds. And Jesus is saying, did you go out to see the reeds shaken? Those reeds are kind of representative of changeable, fickle man in a sense. But when John preached, he didn't get swayed by public opinion.

He wasn't there taking a survey, asking what to preach, but he came with a message from God. And he preached that message, come what may. He was one of those bold men that you see all up and down through the scriptures and even down through church history. And then he asked the second question, what did you go out to see, a man clothed In soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." Another aspect of John that the Lord really picks up on is that John wasn't a soft man.

He wasn't a man that was just living for his self-interest. He had nothing at all in common with the political courts of his day. You couldn't get further apart from the men that were in Herod's palace and John, who was in the dungeon beneath the palace. But he was this rugged man and it was just a total contradiction to the ones that were holding him in prison. And you know you look at today's man, today's man, I'm talking about our modern-day man.

A few weeks ago I was I was speaking to an older preacher and we were talking just about the state of things today, and he said to me, he said, you know that more than, men today have 40% less testosterone than men that came out of World War II. And I questioned that, I wasn't sure, I went online and checked it out, and indeed it's true. They try to fact check it and all this different thing. But there's this creeping suspicion in our age today that any man acting like a man, whether it's in the boardroom or the classroom. And sometimes sadly to say even in the church is somehow out of place.

It's a sad state. You know, the best and safest place to be for a man is to be certain of nothing, to have no opinions and speak when asked. This is the tenor of what goes on in the world, not so much in our church here, I'm talking about in the world. And of course, the commandment that is held up most highly is the 11th commandment. If any of you have ever heard of that, thou shall be nice.

That's the ultimate thing to obey. If at all costs you fail, just make sure you don't come into contradiction with that one. And so we live in this day That has rendered men to be less than what men should be and I'm not talking about this kind of machismo this This arrogance kind of this fake bravado that can oftentimes even assault kind of homeschool Communities you try to kind of rebel against you know the the common trend of the world But I'm talking about being a man in the case of how the Bible describes a man. Just in the same chapter at the end of it all, what does the Lord Jesus say? He says, come to me, all you who labor and have he laden, or have he laden, I will give you rest.

And then he describes himself as meek and lowly in heart. Meekness is not a sign of weakness, but there is also a holy boldness that man should have in this day, especially in this day that we're living in. This day that seems to be ruled by skinny jeans, lattes, this kind of thing that goes on all around us, you know, this is the danger if you describe our day. What is the picture that you get? In a full disclosure, I did have a latte this week, but I did get an extra shot.

But here's the challenge. As I was doing my research, I came across an article, You're Not the Man That Your Father Was. It was a Forbes article. Isn't that interesting? You're not the man your father was.

And it goes down over the last two generations, a secular article, and says exactly what's happened. And it's amazing that after 60, 70 years of what's gone on in our culture, that Jordan Peterson Telling men to make your bed is classified as being revolutionary and dangerous. It's amazing, this is what's happened. And so, men being men is what the Lord, it seems as though he couldn't resist. Those that wear soft clothing are in king's houses.

Well, you can look at the description of men all the way down through the scripture. You see men who are responsible, men who are brave, Men who are decisive, they're strong, they're unwavering as the world glares at them. And how many warnings do we have? Our brother mentioned some of them today from Proverbs 29, 25 about not fearing man, how it brings a snare. Because we know, You know, I know what a temptation it is to fear man.

But here was a man like a lion of the faith. And that's what Jesus is saying. He was a man like John Knox who said, a man with God is always in the majority. And we need to remember that, not just put it on a t-shirt, but remember that if you are standing with God, you're standing on solid, on safe ground, no matter what the world says. Take your mind back to men like David's mighty men, down through the ages, or you look, and you look at the prophets of old.

It's astounding to see. You see men like the apostle Paul, his stature wasn't very strong, but he got stoned and then he wants to go back into the city to preach to the same people who stoned him. These things seem so far off, but you could even come not too far, maybe go back to the last 200 years, you find men who are again small of stature, a man like William Wilberforce, maybe soaking wet, 125, 130 pounds, but he stood as a lion and God used him in a miraculous, in a mighty, mighty way. And the times that we're living in do call for men of such character. I'm not talking about building your muscles and all that kind of thing.

I'm talking about character and strength. And it seems like the Lord is talking, he's commending John's stature, his willingness to stand in the midst of great opposition. Well the third question he asks is in verse 9, he said, but what did you go out to see the third time he says it? He says, a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

For this is he of whom it was written, behold, I said my messenger before your face, who will prepare the way before you. And what an amazing declaration here, because what Jesus is basically saying is that all the prophets, all of the prophets, they culminate in John and John's message, the pinnacle. This is beautiful, of the honor that he had in proclaiming the day of Yahweh. This is what John has come to do. He was the one that was prophesied by Malachi, by Isaiah as well.

And so with all of these questions, Jesus stills the questions that would have been in the minds of the people that were in the crowd that day because of John's question. Are you the coming one or should we look for another? And what I got from this is that as the Lord commends John, even though he's in this time of weakness, a man or a woman in time of weakness, that's not the sum of who the man or the woman is. I love what our brother said this morning, how the righteous can fall seven times. Did you hear that?

And yet, rise again. It's not the sum of who he is when you stumble or fall back, but what do you do as a result of that? And this is what is happening here. Here's a man that is down in solitary confinement in this difficult situation, and the Lord has such mercy and in fact speaks more glowingly of him than anyone else and he's not finished yet. He goes on here and he talks about the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." So on the one hand, John is acclaimed as the greatest human being to ever have walked the earth up into that point.

But then the Lord turns and he says, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest one who's ever been born of woman. What do you make of that? In the spirit of the Old Testament prophet, John was great because he pointed without any ambiguity to the one who would come to take away all the sins of the world. And you think about the superiority of the gospel of Jesus even above and beyond the message that John preached. John preached a message of repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

But if you fast forward a few more decades, you come to a man by the name of Apollos. Do you remember the account of him where Aquila and Priscilla met him as he was preaching. And here was a man that says that he was mighty in the scriptures. He knew the word of God. He was a great orator that came from Alexandria.

And there he was preaching, but he was knowing he only knew the baptism of John. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I mean, John's ministry had spread all the way to Alexandria, but it was a half message, it wasn't the full gospel. And so Aquila and Priscilla take him aside, and they explain to him, these tent makers, if you would, take him aside and explain to him the truth that this has already come to pass, that Jesus has died, he's risen again, he's ascended to heaven, all that's transpired since then. You see the superiority of the gospel message that you, you sitting in this pure chair, whatever you want to call it, you have something more than what John and the greatest of all had.

This is what we read in Peter, when you go to Peter how it talks about the fact that these prophets, they desire to see and to taste the things that you're now seeing and tasting. This is how Hebrews 11 ends with this great cloud of witnesses that they, without you, should not be made complete. There's something more than you have. And I wonder sometimes, do you actually see it in those terms that what you have and what I have is much much more light than men who hazarded their lives and who did such exploits for God because of the fact that they loved what they heard, but it was just, it was looking as though it was through a glass of darkly. And so here you have this whole thing here of the kingdom of heaven, and in verse 12, I love this, and it says, and from the time, or from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.

Well, from the days of John the Baptist until now, We know kind of the history that for 400 years the Lord had not sent a prophet. You could say almost like the days of Samuel that the words of God were scarce in those days. Well, the Jewish expectation as we already had talked about was the overthrow of the Roman oppression, the ushering of this new age with the Messiah. But what Jesus is saying here is not so much the overthrow of Rome, but he came for a much, much greater mission. And he's basically saying this, that after 400 years of darkness, John the Baptist came on the scene.

What was his message? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Any revival that doesn't have this at its central core, Is it really a revival? But then not only John asked that question. You know what's amazing?

In Mark chapter one, verse 15, the very, very first words out of the Lord Jesus' mouth that Mark records as he opens his ministry. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. See, Jesus also has the same message. Repent and believe the gospel.

If you flip back one chapter to chapter 10 of Matthew, Jesus says, I'm going to send you out. What is your message? The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Repentance is central to any move of God, and the preaching of the word of God is central to any move of God.

And Jesus is literally here pointing to a true revival. And what is he saying here? From the days of John the Baptist until now, The kingdom of heaven suffers violence. This picture is so beautiful. What it is, it's a picture of a city.

You could think of like a city like Jerusalem surrounded by walls and outside are armies that are trying to get in, except this army are people that have heard the word of God preached in truth. They've repented, they want to enter, they're jostling, they're doing everything they can to get in to this city. This is the picture that he's painting for us here. And so he's preaching and he's calling men to repentance, to flee from the wrath, to come. Thousands have been pressing into it up until now.

There's a beautiful comment that one commentator makes. He says, the violent are the men of eager, impetuous zeal who grasp the kingdom of heaven, its peace and pardon and blessedness with as much eagerness as men would snatch and carry off as their own the spoil of a conquered city. And so this is what the Lord Jesus sees is that yes Rome is still doing what Rome is doing, but the kingdom of heaven is advancing. It's taking ground. It's taking captives.

He's ransacking the devil's stronghold. He's changing lives. And this is what I want to say to you, even to piggyback on what we heard earlier this morning, is that so firm is the command to repent. So compelling is the offer on hand. So high the price paid that men and women are jostling and fighting to lay hold of the grace that God has extended.

So what about you, who have yet to bow the knee to Christ? If you get this picture of all these people trying to get in to this city, to lay hold of what God has promised them, How about you, who have been sitting under the preached word day in and day out, week in and week out, is there any movement of your heart to enter into the city because of the price that has been paid, because of the grace that is offered, because of the force with which it is delivered? Or are you gonna still stay outside and watch as crowds hurry past? Are you clamoring to get in? Are you climbing the walls to get in?

Or is it just a shrug? And how about you that are already in? See, Jesus just told you that perhaps even you, the least in the kingdom of heaven, have greater witness than the greatest of all the prophets? Are you doing anything? Are you straining?

Are you doing anything to point men to this city? Is there a burden on your heart when it comes to the kingdom of heaven sometimes I fear that we're too delicate maybe we're too apologetic we're too careful you know we're too unwilling to arouse offense to break the 11th commandment we'll do everything else but we'll be nice you know Spurgeon he said it like this he says I have been a Sunday school teacher for years, says one, and I've never seen any of my girls or boys converted. No, and the reason most likely is that you have never been violent about it. You have never been compelled by the divine spirit to make up your mind that converted they should be and no one, no stone should be left unturned until they were. You have never been brought by the Spirit to such a passion that you have said, I cannot live unless God bless me.

I cannot exist unless I see some of these children saved. Then falling on your knees in agony of prayer and putting forth afterwards your trust with the same intensity toward heaven, you would never have been disappointed for the violent take it by force. See there is a war that is going on, there's a war that's happening, the swords are clashing, the bullets are flying, even as we sit nicely here on a Sunday afternoon. And did you know that more people are being saved today than at any other time in history? Perhaps Pentecosts, if you will, if you think of 3, 000 people every single day, how many people is God saving and bringing to a knowledge of himself?

And you have an opportunity to be a partaker in that same mission. When we end with Jesus' familiar words, every time he wanted to really emphasize something, he didn't just want it to go by. He didn't just want it to go by. He didn't just want it to be, oh, that was a good sermon. He would end it with, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

He who has an ear to hear, Let him hear. Well, there have been questions, a question from John the Baptist, there's been questions from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I just wanna end with a couple of questions for us. And they're very, very simple, just based on our text. The first one is, do you think about those in prison?

Those that are persecuted, those that are in difficulty, people maybe in far-off lands. It's probably hard-pressed to find anybody here in the church who knows anybody who's in prison for the gospel. But I think of men like Pastor Wong Ye, a man who was preaching the gospel and was given a nine-year prison sentence simply because he would not stop preaching when the Chinese government told him to, and he's three years into his sentence right now with six more to go at an undisclosed location, maybe not too different from John the Baptist in solitary confinement. We're told as part of the church's ministry to remember the prisoners as if chained with them. They knew them firsthand back in the book of Hebrews, and they're far off and it's hard to keep them in mind, I know, in a country like this, at least right now.

But it's a good ministry to remember and pray. It's not in vain. The other question I have is, where do you go, where do I go in seasons of doubt and discouragement when the dark night of the soul descends? And again, I just want to remind you that in his distress, John went to the right place. He sent to Jesus.

Jesus goes to the word and points to himself. And that's oftentimes the thing that we need the most, just the reassurance of who God is. It's not gonna be anything else. And of course, the third point, especially for men to consider this, you have been enlisted, all of us, but men, you've been enlisted, and I wanna just ask, are you in the battle? Are you in the battle?

Because there's no greater privilege in the world than to don the king's uniform, and to go out into the world to remember that the ground that you're standing on is actually higher ground than that of John the Baptist. And so let us stop being so delicate and so careful and preach the gospel while you have breath, while you have opportunity, because it's the greatest thing in the world, the good news of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, let's pray. Lord, we come to you and we thank you, Father, for your word, we thank you for Your kindness to us. Lord, thank you for being with us in every season of life.

Lord, you never fail, you never leave us, you never forsake us, but Lord, we often falter our faith waivers, but we ask you, Lord, to strengthen us. And I just pray for my brothers and sisters that you would encourage any whose hands are hanging down or feeble knees, Lord, that you would strengthen them now and help us, Lord, as men to operate as men in the world to not believe the lies, to fall victim to the messages. But oh Lord, to live before you and honor you and spend our days in service for the great cause of our Savior and our King, Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. God bless you, you're dismissed.