There was one man who Jesus himself said was the greatest man born of work.

As we study through the life of John the Baptist, we will discover why God used him in such a powerful way.

Join us now for today's study. As a general rule, a man's first sermon is usually not his best.

As a matter of fact, I'm going back in my own mind right now to those early days

and some of my first sermons. I still have those sermon notes and a couple of recordings,

and they're painful to listen to, for me at least, because those early messages were not the best.

And yet that can't be said of John the Baptist because his first

sermon laid a foundation for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the rest of the New Testament

and the content of it still has a message for us today. I bring you to the third and final part of

this first sermon of the New Testament. John the Baptist says the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He gives an announcement that the king is coming.

And then he says there's wrath coming.

There's fire coming.

And so there's not only an announcement.

There is an alert.

But now I bring you back to his first word.

Because his first word is really the crux of his message.

It is, if you might say, the application.

We move from the announcement to the alert to the application.

What is the application?

Repent ye.

The king is at hand.

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