The Bible Baptist Church located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor David Edmondson. John chapter 1 verse 6, there
was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same, the
same man, John the Baptist, came for a witness to bear witness
of the light that being Jesus Christ, that all men through
him might believe. So the first thing we see from
our text is that John was sent from God. All true servants,
pastors, preachers, are sent from God. And I did say true,
there are many false. John was sent from God to do
what? Why was John sent from God? John was sent to bear witness. What is a witness? What does
a witness do? A witness is one who bears record
of something. A witness is one who gives a
report, one who testifies and gives testimony, one who records
the actions of another, one who sees something and supplies proof
and evidence for or against the one who is in question. Now John
the Baptist's one mission, his existence, and his sole purpose
and reason for existing, was to bear witness of the Light,
Jesus Christ. Now verse 8 says that he was
not that Light, capital L, we know who that is, that's Christ.
but was sent to bear witness of that light. He was sent to
bear witness of Jesus Christ. And that's what the phrase bear
witness means. It means to be a witness, to
testify, bear record, give evidence to a specific thing. What was
this thing that John was to bear witness of? Jesus Christ the
Light. John's sole purpose in life was
to point sinners to Christ. And it's the same with true preachers. They beseech sinners to be reconciled
to God through Jesus Christ. Paul said, as though God did
beseech you by us. You see, God has determined to
speak to sinners by His servants, His preachers. It pleased the
Lord, and it still pleases the Lord, through the sole means
of preaching to save them that believe. If you're going to believe
in Christ, it's going to be through the preaching of a man. That's
what God's Word says. The Lord said, he that hears
you, hears me. Preaching is the means that God
uses to save sinners. That's what this book, the Bible,
is all about. All 39 books of the Old Testament
and all 27 books of the New, they're all about Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And you've heard me say this
on this program before, the Bible is a hymn book. H-I-M. The Old Testament says someone
is coming. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, say someone has come. The epistles that Paul,
Peter, James, and John, and all the others wrote, says someone
is coming again. Now who is this someone? This
is speaking of the only one who can save sinners, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Moses, Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel. To Him, Christ, give witness,
all the prophets. Acts 10 43, to Him give all the
prophets witness, all of them bear record of the Messiah who
was coming. God created man, gave him one
commandment, and man broke it in sin, and man fell. And after
that, God began to speak of a Redeemer, a Savior, a Messiah, God. begin to reveal his purpose of
salvation. And this would come to pass through
a coming Redeemer. Ever since the fall of Adam,
God, through his prophets, said, He's coming. There's one coming.
For 4,000 years, God said that. He said, He's coming. I'm sending
one, and he's coming to redeem his people from their sin. He's
coming to bring light out of darkness. He's coming to bring
life out of deadness. He's coming to restore all that
you lost in Adam. What did we lose? Well, we lost
the way, the truth, and the life. But there was one coming who
is the way, the truth, and the life, and he'll be a prophet
like Moses. That's what Moses said. He said,
he'll be a prophet like unto me, and him you shall hear. He
will be a priest like Melchizedek, one who offers the sacrifice.
But this high priest will not only offer the sacrifice, this
high priest will be the sacrifice. As God, he will provide for himself
the sacrifice, and as God, he himself will be the sacrifice. And he'll be a king like David,
a man after God's own heart. Christ came from the heart of
God, and it was out of love for his people, and it was for the
glory of his own great name. There had never before been a
prophet, priest, and king all in one, and that one who was
coming and that one who came was all three. The blood upon
the doorpost in Egypt was called the Passover. Paul wrote, Christ
is our Passover sacrifice for us, 1 Corinthians 5, 7. That
rock in the wilderness, that rock was Christ. It was smitten
and gave forth water. Christ was smitten on the cross
and came forth from him rivers of living water. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Why, Christ was the manna, the
bread from heaven. The Lord told the Jews, Moses
gave you that bread. You had to gather it day by day,
just enough to live for each day. But the Lord said, I am
the true bread from heaven. I'm the living bread. And he
that eats of this bread will never hunger again. Have you
eaten the living bread, dear sinner? Moses wrote of him. Abraham saw his day and was glad. All the Old Testament saints
looked to him who was coming. They died in faith, not having
received the promise. In other words, they didn't see
his coming. But they believed that he would. And like Abraham,
it was counted unto them for righteousness. This one who was
coming would satisfy all of God's law, justice, and honor by his
obedience. And when Abel sacrificed that
lamb, he was saying, there's one who's coming. I'm looking
to him. I'm putting my trust in his shed
blood. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
said that someone has come. And John the Baptist, the last
of the Old Testament prophets, pointed to Christ and said, Behold,
the Lamb of God. John said, I saw and bear record
that this is the Son of God. I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove and it abode on Him. God the Father from heaven
said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And
when John the Baptist, who was a mere man, was thrown into prison,
he began to have his doubts. He sent two of his disciples
to Christ to ask, are you he that should come, or do we look
for another? And the Lord said, you go tell John what you've
seen and heard. Tell him that the blind see.
Tell him that the lame walk. Tell him that lepers are cleansed.
Tell him that the deaf hear. Tell him that the dead are raised.
And tell him that to the poor the gospel is preached. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the one who came, and we must all believe and trust
in him if we're ever to be reconciled to God. Old Simeon, he held that
baby in his arms in the temple and he blessed God and he said,
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Thomas, once doubted but no longer,
let him answer your doubting mind, he said, my Lord and my
God. Does this describe your Savior?
Is He your Lord and your God? That Samaritan woman at the well,
she said, when the Messiah comes, He'll tell us all things. And
the Lord looked her straight in the eye and He said, He has
come. I that speak to thee am He. Oh,
if you believe not that Christ is He, you'll die in your sins. The prophets told us that one
was coming. The four gospels tell us that
he came. And the epistles tell us that
he's coming again. And when he shall appear then,
we who believe in him shall be like him, for we shall see him
as he is. And dear sinner, this is our
only hope. Jesus Christ in you is the hope of glory. We are
clothed, covered with His perfect robe of righteousness and will
stand without fault before His throne of God if you trust in
Him. I am so thankful that Christ
is coming again. Christ came the first time as
a lamb. The second time, he'll come as
a lion. He's the lion of the tribe of
Judah. The first time, Christ came as
a servant. The second time, he'll come as
a king. Our Lord asks, who do men say
that I am? He still asks this question through
his preachers. Who do you say Christ is? I'm
asking you. What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? Nathanael said, Rabbi, for thou
art the Son of God, and thou art the King of Israel. Peter
said, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words to eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ
of whom the Old Testament said was coming, the Son of the living
God. Thomas said, My Lord and my God. Paul said, Christ is all and
in all. So I ask you this morning, who
do you say Jesus Christ is? One day in heaven, earth, and
under the earth, meaning hell, heaven earth or under the earth
every knee of angels men and demons will bow and every tongue
will confess that he is lord to the glory of god the father
many preachers today say why don't you make jesus your lord
that's not the question he's already lord god beat you to
it he's every man's lord whether they know it or not he's the
lord of the dead and the living To those of you who are yet without
Christ, the question is not, will you make Him Lord? The question is, when will you
bow to Him as Lord? You see, you will bow to Him. Every knee shall bow, and every
tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ already is Lord. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith, which
we preach, that if thou confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." So to those of you
that are hearing my voice this morning on this program, I ask
you plainly and simply, and as sincerely as I can, What do you
think of Jesus Christ? Is He your Lord? Is He your Savior? Is He your everything? We have
to be perfect to be accepted, and the only way that we can
be perfect is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our sin, gave
us His perfect righteousness, and in Him, we are the righteousness
of God. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431 or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky. And our service times are Sunday
morning Bible study at 10 o'clock a.m. Worship services begin at
11 o'clock a.m. Wednesday evening services at
7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next Sunday
morning at 10 o'clock a.m. for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.