The lesson this morning is in
Luke chapter 1, verses 76 through the end of the chapter. Let's read these verses together. Luke chapter 1, beginning with
verse 76. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender
mercy of our God, whereby the day sprang from on high hath
visited us. to give light to them that sit
in darkness and in shadow of death, to guide our feet into
the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed
strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing
unto Israel. Now the title of the lesson this
morning is The Message of John. John was a key figure in the
Scriptures and is spoken of both in the Old and New Testaments. And because God spoke of him,
his birth and his life and his preaching and his ministry was
necessary to be fulfilled before the Christ appeared. And John is here identified by
his father of whom the scripture says was filled with the Holy
Ghost. And he's declared by his father
as the one who should be the prophet of the highest. John the Baptist was a prophet
of God. A prophet of God. What did the
prophets do? They had the oracles of God,
the spoken word of God. And the prophets wrote. They
wrote the scriptures. We look back to the prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, all those prophets. We went through what writers
call the minor prophets or the lesser prophets. Moses. These are all prophets of God.
And as prophets of God, they wrote. But John the Baptist didn't
write anything. He never wrote, and yet it says
he's the prophet of the highest. He was a prophet of God. He wrote
nothing in the word of God. Everything he had to say, he
spoke to those who assembled to hear him, and as such, became
the first New Testament preacher. He had no new revelation except
that of the coming Redeemer, which wasn't new. It had been
prophesied all through the Old Testament. He's faking no new revelations.
He simply took the Word of God and preached Christ. That's what
he did. That's what we do. So what did
this man of God preach? Well, Zacharias, and again I'll
remind you, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, gives us a
six-point outline of his son's ministry. Now, when I was in
religion, they always preached John as a recluse. He was a Boy,
he was something. He lived out in the wilderness
and if you came out to hear him, you had to dress just right,
you had to be on the right diet, you had to do this and you had
to do very strict man. That's not what John preached
at all. Not at all. He preached repentance. He preached turning from those
things. Turning from those things of
religion, turning from the things of the world, that's what he
preached. Repentance, he told those Pharisees who came out
in the proper dress and the proper diet and the proper this and
the proper that, and he said, you vipers who warned you to
flee from the wrath, you go home and you bring back meat for repentance. You do that, and then you can
hear me. You can hear me. What did this man preach? Well,
first of all, he preached the ways of the Lord. He preached
the ways of the Lord. What are the ways of the Lord? Well, first of all, he speaks
of the way of truth. The way of truth. God has established
his ways of salvation throughout the Word of God. We're not left
to invent ways. We're not left to conjure up
different ways to approach God, whatever feels right, whatever
seems right, whatever this world says is right. God has established
his ways of salvation throughout the word of God. But Satan has
indeed established his lies and deceits throughout the word,
throughout the world, and calls them the way. He said through
his prophet, there is a way that seemeth right unto men. It seemeth right unto men, but
the end thereof is destruction. And if the way you believe is
not clearly taught in the word of God, I'd get rid of it. Just
get rid of it. Turn from it. And I turn from it because he
warns us of a way that seems right. Why does the way of the
world seem right to us? Because that's what we've heard
since we were this big. That's why. Most of us. Paul said this even to the Jews. He said, let God be true and
every man a liar. Let's start there. You're gonna tell me what you
think, I'm gonna tell you what I think, and we're just gonna
sit there and think back and forth. So he said, let's all
be liars. Let's see what God has to say.
Let God be true and every man a liar. So God's way is the way of truth.
It's called in Psalm 139, 24, the way everlasting. This way is unchangeable. It
was established in the beginning. It was manifested throughout
time. It's going to continue on for
all eternity. John was given visions of that
day, past the end of this world, in these ways, this way of God,
it was still there. It hadn't changed. It's the everlasting
way. God will not change. And all
of His good and perfect gifts, we're told, come down from above,
coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness. You know, we get in situations
and we say, well, this situation calls for something a little
different. No, it calls for the same thing. Situations change,
you change, but God don't change. His way is the same. It's the
same. And then thirdly, he calls it
the way of mercy. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
you go learn what this means. You obviously don't know. You're
looking down your nose at sinners of whom I came to save. You obviously
don't know what this means, so you go learn what this means.
I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous but sinners to repentance. Now you go learn what that means.
And I guarantee you, every chosen sinner that comes to Christ is
gonna learn what that means. He'll know. He'll know. And then also it's called the
way of grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. If anything in your salvation's
coming from you, if it begins with you or somewhere along the
line you've added something to it, if your salvation arises
from you, I'd get rid of it just as quick as I could because salvation's
the gift of God. It's something given. Something
given, not something you already have. And then another one of
God's ways that John preached is the way of life. Eternal life
is to know God. It's to know God. I was told
if I come down the aisle and pray at this bench and accept Jesus as my personal Savior,
I was told if I did that, I'd be saved. I'd have eternal life. And then the next week, because
I missed a Sunday or something, Now I'm lost again and I have
to come back down the aisle and come back to the bench. That's not eternal life. Eternal
life's not even talking about how long it lasts, although it's
forever. Eternal life is to know God.
That's life everlasting, to know Him. So John's message was to prepare
God's way. And then secondly, John's message
was to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, unto God's people. You can't give it. You can't
give it to a man who's not elect. You can sit and talk to him and
pile scripture up around him like cordwood. It don't do a
bit of good. It don't go anywhere. It goes right in one ear and
right out the other. You stand there talking to him, and the
whole time you're talking to him, he's thinking what he's
going to say to you. He don't hear. He don't have
ears to hear. John's message was to give knowledge
of salvation unto his people, and he's going to do it by the
remission of their sins. That's how he's going to do it.
He's going to show them how their sins were taken away. He's going
to show them how God had mercy on them clear back at the beginning
when He appointed Christ as their surety, Christ as their substitute,
Christ as their representative. That they were actually chosen
in Him and put in a covenant union with Him before the world
was. He's going to show them that. He's going to tell them
that. They're going to know that. He's going to give knowledge
of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. And it's not the mission of any
servant of God to reform the world under some kind of legal
morality or scare folks into a profession of faith by threatening
them with the law and judgment, or to convince the world that
God is trying to save as many as will let him. You know, ever since I've come,
even the first little dab of knowledge about God, that word
let, just, I don't like it. Do you? Let God? I just can't
imagine. I can't imagine. His ministry is to give knowledge
of salvation unto God's people by the remission of their sins.
God's glory, His name, His character are all revealed in Christ crucified. His love is manifested in the
death of Christ for chosen sinners. He said scarcely for a righteous
man would some die. Some might even die for a good man. But God manifested
His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Christ died for us. He manifested
his love. God's uncompromising character.
It's all revealed in Christ crucified. He that spared not his own son. Boy, we need to think on that
daily, don't we? He spared not his own son. My
sin was laid on him and God saw him, the sinner, and he slayed
him. Justly, righteously slayed him,
extracted from him all that I owed. And then God's absolute sovereignty.
We see that every day, don't we? God's absolute sovereignty,
not just over the world, not just over storms and earthquakes
and things like that, wars and rumors of wars, the appointing
of presidents and kings and all of these things, not just there.
We see them there, but not just that. But the sovereignty of
God in salvation. He'll take a man in the midst
of a nation and He'll save that man. And no more. No more. Why? Because He's God. That's why. He's God. And then we see God's justice
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. And we see God's righteousness.
He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Why do we preach the gospel to men? Why did John preach this
gospel to men? Because therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. God teaches us not only doctrinally,
but experimentally in the remission of our sins. It's one thing to
know that there is a salvation. It's another thing to be saved.
It's one thing to know all the doctrines involved in the doctrine
of Christ. It's another thing to know Christ.
When God saves a man, He saves him experientially. He understands
that this is God speaking to him. He understands that pastor
preaching to him is God's man sent to him. He understands those
things. And that's why they're weighty.
That's why all of a sudden conviction falls on him. That's why all
of a sudden he understands the truth. It's called irresistible
grace. That's what it's called. And
when it comes, it's irresistible. It's one thing to be taught that
God is sovereign, but it's another thing altogether to submit willingly
and lovingly to his rule. And he establishes that rule
in the hearts of chosen sinners. John's ministry was to give knowledge
of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins.
And it's not just learning some doctrine, but having these things
revealed in you, as only God could do it. And then thirdly, John preached
the tender mercy of our God. Here's a strict man out there,
boy, just ripping and tearing, no. Now, here's a man who preached
the tender mercies of God. Somebody said one time, grace
is getting what you don't deserve. Salvation, righteousness, sanctification. It's getting what we do not deserve. That's grace. Mercy is not getting
what we do deserve. That's mercy. And there's no greater feeling
of relief and peace and quietness to a troubled soul than to know
the mercy of God. My soul, he said, I'll have mercy. Now, he'll have mercy on whom
he will. But when he does, he'll have mercy. He'll have mercy. Oh, to know that God has and
is making an intervention in your life. He's stepping in. He's taking charge, that God
is compassionate toward you. I'll tell you, there was a time
when I didn't think God was willing to save me. I didn't. And I couldn't
bring a thing against him for it. I had to get on his side
in my own condemnation. I agreed with him. He ought to
send me to hell. You ever been there? Oh, you
will if God works in your heart. You condemn yourself, and you'll
find yourself with only one plea. His mercy. Huh? What'd that old leper say? Lord have mercy on me. What'd
that publican say in the temple? He couldn't even look up to heaven
because he was guilty and he knew it. God be just to condemn
him, and he knew it. Lord have mercy on me, the sinner. That's what he said. How tender God was to me, and
how tender he is to all his people. We were, Paul writes in Ephesians
2, the children of wrath, even as others. But God, now listen,
who is rich in mercy, huh? He wealthy in mercy. And for
that great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead
in trespasses and sin, has quickened us together with Christ. And then fourthly, John's message
in ministry was to declare a heavenly visitation. Luke 1, 78. He said, whereby the day spring
from on high hath visited us. Now the day spring is the same
as the day star that Peter speaks of arising in the hearts of chosen
sinners, flooding them with the light of his glory. The day spring
is the source of all things. He's the reason behind all things.
And the day spring is that heavenly spring that inexhaustible, all-sufficient,
sufficient for all things and especially for the salvation
of God's elect. It's the source of all the blessings
and the only way such blessings could be given, through Him. All has to come through Him.
And John preached this coming Redeemer, or visiting Dayspring,
He preached that his intention was not to come here permanently. It was a visitation. He could
have stayed here permanently, but then we couldn't be saved.
He had to ascend back to the Father, sit at his right hand. But he came to visit. And that
visitation was as a representative man, one sent to redeem his people
and to manifest God's tender mercies through a substitute. Manifest that holy union of deity
and humanity which he determined by an eternal covenant to save
his people. This is a holy visitation manifesting
God to men, making known the chosen Sinners, what could never
be learned any other way except in Christ. The Word was made
flesh, John said, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. What glory? The glory as of the
only begotten of the Father. Whose Father? Our Father, if
we are in Christ. Full of grace and truth. Our Lord visited this world for
33 and a half years, and then returned to his Father. And by
this visitation, he set before men the very name of God, and
all who see it and know it are going to call upon it, and they're
going to be saved. Every one of them. This visit
was to accomplish the redemptive will of God. In the volume of
the book, Christ said, it's written of me, I come to do thy will,
O God. And his next advent will be to
close this present evil world, to divide his sheep from the
goats, and to judge this world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained. And at that time, he'll resurrect
the dead. He'll judge this world and receive
us into his presence forever. And then fifthly, John's ministry
was to preach Christ as the heavenly light. We have no idea. I go to funerals
sometimes, and I listen to preachers talk and the people talk, and
you would think heaven was earth the way they talk. If this man
liked fishing, well, he's fishing up there in glory, you know.
Him and Moses fishing, him and Peter. All these things. Heaven's not
Earth. And we know absolutely nothing
about heaven except what our Lord's revealed to us. That's
all we know about heaven. His light is heavenly light.
He tells us how things are in heaven. Our Lord said something over
in Matthew 6, I think needs to be said here. In Matthew 6, verse
22, our Lord said, the light of the body is the eye. Your
whole body just has one source of light, the eye. If therefore
the eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light. Now he's gonna tell us about
spiritual light. He's given us, here's your body,
here's your eyes, you got one source. You're not going to see
anything through your ear. You're not going to see anything
through your mouth. You're going to see things through your eyes.
Now you're going to tell us about spiritual light. And you're going to use these
natural means to do it. One source of light, the eyes. Even so, faith is to the soul. That's what faith is to the soul.
It's the eyes of the soul. He that hath eyes to see. Ears
to hear. But he says in verse 23, if thine
eye be evil, the one source of light, if it
be evil, if your one source of spiritual
light, your faith, be wrong, be evil. Now watch this. Thy whole body shall be full
of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, then how great is that darkness? How great is that darkness? If
your source of light be evil, then everything you think and
everything you know or think you know is darkness. Christ
is the light of God given to them that sit in darkness and
in shadow of death. Life without Christ is at best
to exist in the shadow of death, that's what it is. Death blots
out all the light except for conscience and creation, neither
one of which is sufficient to save your soul. And I might mention
one more thing before I close out our lesson. John preached
a message that is sufficient, verse 79, to guide our feet into
the way of peace. It tells us in Romans 3 the way
of peace we've not known. Anybody under sin, they don't
know the way of peace. Christ is our peace. No peace
apart from him. He's our peace. Our Lord said,
Peter, my peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Being justified by faith. we have peace with God, that's
what the scripture says. In order for God to be reconciled,
his justice and righteousness must be satisfied. In order for
man to be reconciled to God, the way of that reconciliation
must be seen accomplished in Christ, because he can't do it. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now how do we know all that?
Because God set him forth to be the propitiation for our sins
through faith in his blood. That's how we know it. May the
Lord be pleased by his grace to teach us these six things
that we hear what John preached. Thank you.