If you would turn with me this
morning to the Gospel of John, chapter 1, please. My text will
be found in verses 6 and 7. John 1, verse 6. John 1, verse 6, there was a
man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a
witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him
might believe. I've attended this church, Bible
Baptist Church, for 28 years now. It's hard to get my mind
around sometimes. It'd be 34 years except for the
six years that Teresa and I lived in Texas. I was thinking this
morning our daughter, Amanda, has attended here most of her
life, 34 years. She was just right at a year
and a half old when we moved here. And now she has a 10-year-old
daughter, 8-year-old son, and a 5-year-old daughter. Several of you were here at the
end of 1989 when Teresa, myself, and our children started attending
here, and we moved to Madisonville to attend this church. Some of
those who were here then have departed. They've departed unto
glory and to be with Christ. Others have left for other reasons,
and some have started attending here since then. The first 18
years after we moved here, we sat under a faithful pastor who
preached Christ and Him crucified. I'll always be grateful for that. more of my Lord and Savior during
that time than at any other time in my life. And the last ten
years, many of you have sat here under me as your pastor, and
I've endeavored to follow His example and do the same thing.
Be faithful also to the message of Christ and Him crucified.
There's one couple here who attended the church in New Caney, Texas
where I pastored for almost six years. that now attend here. And I've said all that to say
this. I want each and every one of you, those of you here from
the beginning and those of you that are here now, to know and
to hear this straight from my lips. I take the preaching of
Christ and Him crucified very seriously. Preaching's not my
hobby. Preaching and pastoring is not
something that I'm doing after retirement. And it's certainly
not a part-time job. God by His mercy and grace has
providentially seen to it that preaching and pastoring is my
life. That is the case with all true
preachers. That's the case with all pastors
of the Gospel. I personally know several preachers,
and you know them too, and I can say without any hesitation or
any reservation that this is their life. It was the same with Brother
Montgomery for over 40 years, and it's been with me for 16
years, the last 10 being here. And I want you to know that I
consider this a gift of God. It's a gift of His shepherds,
His pastors, from God. And the pastor is a gift of God's
church, His people. Whoever and wherever they are. With Paul, every true preacher
of the Gospel says, for though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing
to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel." Now that word necessity there
does not mean livelihood. Referring to their jobs, men
often say, my livelihood depends upon having this job. Meaning
this job is a necessity to provide for me and my family. Paul's
not referring to the necessity of making a living. He's talking
about the necessity, he's talking about an obligation to the divine
work by which he was called. A responsibility that was given
to him for the good of immortal souls and the honor of Jesus
Christ. And it's a heavy weight of duty
and love and commitment and gratitude. And if you notice there, Paul
did not say, woe unto me if I preach not. He said, woe unto me if
I preach not the Gospel. The calling and the commitment
of a true servant of God is to preach the Gospel. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It's His calling to do so. And
that's also His message. Christ crucified. What are you
preaching on today, brother? Christ crucified. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's the sinner's only hope
of salvation. If you don't hear that message,
you'll be lost in your sin. If you don't bow to that message.
If there ever was an example in the Scriptures of what a true
messenger of God is and should be, it would be John the Baptist. Here in John 1, verse 6, we read,
there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same
man, John the Baptist, came for a witness, verse 7, to bear witness
of the light being Jesus Christ. that all men through Him might
believe. So the first thing that we see
from our text is that John, an ever-true messenger, is sent
from God. They don't have anything to glory
in. The disciples of John came to him one day and he said, Jesus
is baptizing more people than we are. He's putting us out of
business. And John said, He must increase. Oh, it's a gift for a preacher
to be able to get out of the way and preach Christ. John was sent from God to do
what? God was sent from God to bear witness of the light. What is a witness? What does
a witness do? Well, a witness is one who bears
record of something. A witness is one who gives a
report. I heard Brother Tim James say
years ago in a message, we're just reporters. We report the
good news. Not like CNN and some of the
others. We report good news. The good
news of the gospel. We testify and give testimony
to Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He's done
for sinners. A witness is one who sees something
and supplies proof and evidence for or against the one who's
in question. When you're called to testify
and bear witness in a court of law, that's what you do. John
the Baptist's one mission, his existence and sole purpose for
existing was to bear witness to the light, Jesus Christ. It was his life. Verse eight
says that he was not the light. You'll notice the word light
there is capitalized, capital L, we know who that is, that's
Christ. He was sent to bear witness of that light. And that's what
the phrase bear witness means, to be a witness, to testify,
to bear record, to give evidence to a specific thing. Jesus Christ,
the light. That's our message. Verse 9 tells
us that Christ is the true light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. And I know that doesn't need
explaining to most of you. That's not speaking of every
man and woman in the world. But every man that is enlightened
by the Lord, just as God loved the world, does not everyone
in the world, but all sorts of men and women in the world. all
nations' tongue, kindreds, and spirit. And this also refers
to the light of nature, the natural inner conscience that Christ
the creator and light of men gives. The scripture says, so
that the invisible things of God from the creation of the
world are clearly seen. How are they seen? Well, they're
understand by the things that are made, Paul said in Romans
chapter one. by creation itself, even the
external power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. When a man in the day of judgment
stands before God, they're not going to be able to say, well,
Lord, I never heard the gospel, so you can't condemn me based
upon that. Oh, yes, he can. They're without
excuse. They've seen the heavens that
God made, the earth that God made. They've seen how God works
all things together. When we look at the things the
Lord has made with every man and woman, there's an understanding
that He, Christ the Creator, is most deserving of our praise,
honor, and glory. You can't look into the heavens
and not believe within your own heart and conscience that a supreme,
omnipotent, almighty God created the heavens and the earth. Anyone
who does is just lying to themselves. I've heard many converted atheists
right, and say that during the day as they propagated against
the God of the Bible and denied His existence and His power,
only lay awake at night in their bed praying that that same God
they denied did not and would not kill them. Ralph Barnard
was one of them. John's sole purpose in life was
to point sinners to Christ. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John, and this man John that God sent came to
bear witness of Jesus Christ. That's what preaching is, and
that's what preachers do. They bear witness. God's witnesses
have a mission to preach Christ. The business of those who preach
are to do just that. They're to preach Christ. Christ
is our business. What business are you in? I'm
in the Christ business. I'm going about to do my Father's
business. Isn't that what the Lord said? Well, they looked for Him for
a day and a half. They went back to Jerusalem.
He's in the temple confounding the scholars and the scribes
and the Pharisees, those who knew the most educated about
the law of God. And His mother said, Where have
you been? Didn't you know that I must be
about my Father's business? Brother Mayhem once said, some
men God gave to govern nations. Some do it well and some don't
do it so well. But it's God who gave them. I
have to remind myself that at election results. There are some
men and women whom God has given to make laws and enforce those
laws. There are some whom God has enabled
to teach and to educate. There are some gifted to practice
medicine. Brother Paul and I have been
teasing a little about that. We say they're just practicing
medicine. God enables some to farm, plant,
and harvest food, There are houses to be built and there's wars
to be fought, and God's given folks gifts to carry out these
necessities. But the business of those whom
God has called to preach is not to educate children, build houses,
or farm lands. And I understand that sometimes
God calls a man to pass through a small group of believers and
out of necessity that man must work to help provide for his
family. When some of the Gentile churches
that Paul preached to couldn't and didn't financially support
the apostle, he was a tent maker in order to help support himself.
Paul did so out of necessity, not because he wanted more of
the world, a bigger house, designer sandals, or a new gold chariot. The one and only reason for the
existence of a preacher in his office as a pastor is to preach
Christ. to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us." What? The Word of Reconciliation. That's what the Gospel is. It's
the Word of Reconciliation. It's the only means by which
God will reconcile you to Himself. By the foolishness of preaching.
What the world calls foolishness. God sent the gospel to point
men and women to their only hope of redemption, Jesus Christ,
the Light, capital L. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ because of this. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. That's
what's done in preaching. We beseech sinners to be reconciled
to God through Jesus Christ. We urgently and fervently implore,
entreat, petition, appeal to sinners to believe and trust
in Him. As though God did beseech you
by us, Paul wrote. Boy, you're talking about an
awesome responsibility. God is determined to speak to
sinners by us. It pleased and it still pleases
God through the sole means of preaching to save them that believe.
Now, if you're going to believe in Christ, it's going to be through
the preaching of a man, and that's what God's Word says. The Lord
said, he that hears you hears me. He that despiseth you despiseth
me. Luke 10, 16. Since this is the
means that God uses to save sinners, we must be about our Father's
business. We don't get involved with the
businesses of this world. Five years before he died at
53 years old, Mr. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon said,
Brethren, I desire to be like John the Baptist. I desire for
Jesus Christ to be my everything just like He was to John. I desire
that too. I pray that God allow me to bear
witness of Him and have my mind concentrated on Him and Him alone,
on His sacrifice, on His life, on His death, on His resurrection,
on His ascension, on Him coming again. You know He's coming again. I desire for Christ to be my
everything. I know no salvation except by
substitution, Mr. Sperman said, and I know no substitute
but Jesus Christ. So our message must be concerning
Him. That's what this book's all about.
There's 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament,
and all of them are about Jesus Christ. and they're about Him
crucified. You've heard me and others say
that the Old Testament says someone's coming. Someone's coming. Every type and picture points
to Him. He's coming. There's one coming. The four
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John say someone's come. He's here. The one that was coming
is now here, and then the epistles that Paul and Peter and James
and John, along with the others, say someone's coming again. Who
is this someone? You know, this is speaking of
the only one who can save sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. How does He save sinners? By
dying in their room instead, and giving those sinners His. Perfect righteousness, no other
way. And there's no other message. Moses, Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, to Him, Christ, give witness. Acts 10.43, to Him,
give all the prophets witness. They bear witness, they testify. of Christ. They bear record of
the Messiah who was coming. God created man, gave him one
commandment, and man broke it in sin. And after that, God began
to speak of a Redeemer. a Savior, a Messiah. God began
to reveal His purpose of salvation. This would come to pass through
a coming Messiah, a coming Redeemer. This would be His elect, His
Christ, His Messiah, the Kinsman Redeemer. All those point to
Him. He's the Prophet, the Priest,
and the King. Only Christ was all three of
those. And ever since the fall of Adam,
God through His prophets say, He is coming. Four thousand years,
God said, He's coming. He's coming. 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
we lost in Adam and more. What did we lose? Well, we lost
the way, the truth, and the life. But there's One coming who is
the way, the truth, and the life. And He's come! And He's coming
again. In God's very first promise that
He made after the fall, He said, it's all in the seed of the woman.
He's the one who's coming. Someone once said that the Bible
tailors a garment that will fit only one man. I bought a hat
the other day for the son, and it said one size fits all. Not this Savior. There's one
garment that fits only Him. One man will fit every prophecy,
every picture, every type. Only one man can. The Lord Jesus
Christ. God said He'll be born of a woman.
Not just of any woman, but of a virgin. He'll bruise the serpent's
head. Isaiah bore witness to what God
said. He said the Lord Himself will
give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son. Until us a child is born, until
us a son is given, the government, God's government, will be upon
His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Only He can give peace. He's
the Prince of Peace. This man will be Abraham's seed. He'll be the seed of Abraham.
He'll be of the tribe of Judah. Christ was all those things.
Oh, this garment only fits Him. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah until Shiloh comes. He'll be of the root of Jesse,
the family, the chain of Jesse. He'll be of the house of David.
Christ was all these things. Christ is the root of the believer's
family tree. This man will be born in Bethlehem
of Judea. It's all about Him who is coming. He'll be a prophet like Moses.
That's what Moses said, he'll be a prophet like unto me. Him
shall you hear. He'll be a priest like Melchizedek,
one who offers the sacrifice. This high priest, the Lord Jesus,
will not only offer the sacrifice, friends, this high priest will
be the sacrifice. As God will provide for Himself
the sacrifice, as God, He will Himself be the sacrifice. He'll
be a king like David. A man after God's own heart.
Christ came from the heart of God. He was out of love for His
people. It was for the glory of His own
great name. But it was for the sake of the
one who possessed His heart. That being the Lord Jesus Christ
who came into the world to do what? Save sinners. There'd never been a prophet,
priest, and king all in one, as I said a moment ago. And this
is the one who was coming. That's the one who came. 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 brought forth water. That rock is Christ. It was smitten
and gave forth water. Christ was smitten on the cross
and out poured rivers of living water. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, that serpent of brass, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. If you and I are to ever be saved,
He's going to have to be lifted up and enable us in the day of
His power to believe in Him. Christ was the manna that fell
in the wilderness, the bread from heaven. The Lord told the
Jews, Moses gave you that bread, and they had to gather it every
day just enough for that day. to live. 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? Moses wrote of him. Abraham was
glad to see his day. Are you? All the Old Testament saints
looked to Him who was coming. They died in faith. Scripture
says, 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. I've
had folks ask me, it's a good question, really. How were the
Old Testament saints saved? If Christ is the only way a sinner
can be saved, how were they saved since Christ hadn't already come?
They saw who was coming in these pictures and types. They saw
that Redeemer, that seed of the woman whom God was going to send. And they died in faith believing. This one who was coming would
satisfy all of God's law, His justice and honor by His obedience. When Abel sacrificed the lamb,
you know what he was saying? He was saying, there's one who's
coming, I'm looking to Him, and I'm putting my trust in His shed
blood. This is Him. This Lamb represents the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of His people in the world. Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, all of them said, from different aspects from different positions
as they saw it. But everyone said that that someone
has come. And John the Baptist, the last
of the Old Testament prophets, pointed to Christ. You remember
what he said? Behold, the Lamb of God. There
He is. That's what I'm endeavoring to
do right now. I'm trying to point you to Him.
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. When John,
who was a mere man, was thrown into prison, he began to have
his doubts. He's just a man. He sent his disciples to Christ
to ask, are you He that should come, or should we look for another? And you remember what the Lord
told His disciples. He said, you go tell John. You go tell him what you've seen.
You go tell him what you've heard. Tell him that the blind see.
Tell him that the lame walk. Tell him that the lepers are
cleansed. Tell Him that the deaf hear. Tell Him that the dead
are raised. Tell Him that the poor have the
gospel preached to them. Friends, preachers are just men.
It takes the same grace and faith to save a preacher as it does
any other sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
One who came, and we must all believe and trust in Him. An
angel came to Mary. She said, you're going to have
a son. And she said, well, I don't know a man. I've never been with
a man. How am I going to have a son?
The angel said, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power
of God will overshadow you. That holy thing born of you shall
be called the Son of God. He is the one that is to come. The same angel went to Joseph.
And He said, don't be afraid to marry the woman Mary. She
is with a child of the Holy Ghost. And you shall call His name Immanuel,
which is God with us. Dear sinner, the one who was
to come was God. And He's the very, with every
elect child of God, He's with us. The angels told the shepherds,
go to Bethlehem, for unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior that is Christ the Lord. That's the one who
is to come, and he's come. And he lived to always be about
his father's business. Well, the wind stopped at his
command. The fish brought him money to
pay his taxes. He multiplied bread and fish
and fed 5,000 plus, and there was more left over than what
they began with. Only God can do that. This is Emmanuel, God with us. He's the one who was to come,
and He is with us. And it's a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners like you and I. That's why we call it
the gospel. It's good news. Oh, Simeon, he
held that baby in his arms that day in the temple, and he blessed
God, the Scripture says, saying, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I'm looking at God's salvation
right here. He's come. The one whom the prophets
witnessed and bore testimony of. He's come. Here He is. I'm holding Him in my arms. Now
let me depart. I've seen your salvation. Thomas
once doubted, but he didn't doubt for long. Let him answer your
doubting mind for you. My Lord and my God. Does this describe your Savior? Is He your Lord and your God?
The Samaritan woman at the well, bless her heart. She said, when the Messiah shall
come, he'll tell us all things. And the Lord looked at her, and
he said, I that speak to you am he. He's come, and I'm him. If you believe not that Christ
is He, you will die in your sins. But if you believe in Christ,
you shall not die in your sins. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. Well, that's just a
little too simple. No, it's not. No. Matter of fact, it's impossible
unless God reveals it to you. The prophets told us 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 shall be like Him. Those that
love and trust and depend upon Him for their salvation, they
shall be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is. And this is
our hope. Every man and woman that have
this hope in them, The one who's coming again purifies himself
even as he, Christ, is pure. Now what does that mean? Well,
it doesn't mean that we can purify or cleanse ourselves. We can't.
We can't cleanse ourselves from sin. That's accomplished only
by the grace of God and the blood of Christ. But by God's grace
and through Christ's blood, none of us would be saved. We're clothed
We're covered with His perfect robe of righteousness. And we'll
stand without fault before the throne of God. We are purified,
made perfect, made pure by the hope that is found in Christ. No other way. Christ in you is
what? The hope of glory. Your only
hope of glory, my only hope of glory, is that Christ be in you. And I am so thankful that He's
coming again. Christ came the first time as
a lamb. He's coming the second time as a lion. Christ came the
first time as a servant. The second time, He's coming
as a king. I don't know when Christ is coming.
Only a fool would try to do that. One of the last times I visited
Brother Mahan at his home there in Rocky Mount, he told me about
preaching in a message are preaching in a meeting in California in
the 1950s with a man named Harold Camping, who had predicted the
day of the coming of Christ. He did on several occasions.
He didn't get it right the first time. He didn't get it right
the second time. And then I think he tried one
more time, and that failed too. And matter of fact, during the
time that I was there in Rocky Mountain visiting Henry, Harold
Campion had billboards all over the country. We saw some right
there in Rocky Mount that predicted Christ coming again. And Henry
said during that meeting there in the 50s, many people asked
him what he thought of Mr. Campion's prediction. And not
wanting to stir up any conflict or void argument, you know what
Brother Henry said? He said, I hope that he's right. What a wise answer. He did hope
he was right. You know what? Every time someone
makes a prediction about when Christ is coming, I hope that
they're right. But the Lord said that they wouldn't
be. Our Lord said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My
Word shall never pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Only God knows. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking
and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered
into the ark. It was much then like it is now. Business as usual. Christ is
coming again. Let's eat, drink, and be merry. And they knew not until the flood
came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. And this is why we preach the
Gospel. And this is why it's so urgent. The Lord Jesus is
coming again. And he and she that has the Son
shall have life and be saved. And he or she that doesn't will
not be. So here's the question of all
questions. And it was the Lord that asked
it. He said, who do men say that I am? He still asks this question
to his preachers. Who do you say Christ is? I'm
asking you. Who do you say Jesus Christ is?
Was He just a great man? Was He just a prophet? Or was He God in the flesh? Here's
another question the Lord asks. What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? Nathanael said, Rabbi, thou art
the Son of God. 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 the 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 in and
of. And the saints of God will in
the end say, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. So I ask you this morning, what
do you say? One day in heaven and earth,
under the earth, and that means hell. Every knee. will bow and every
tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. And that's my message to you.
Preachers say, why don't you make Jesus your Lord? That's
not the question. He's already your Lord. God beat
you to it. He's every man's Lord, whether
they know it or not. Some bow to Him and trust Him
now. Some will when it's too late.
He's the Lord of the dead and the living, the Scripture says.
To those of you who are without Christ, hear me. The question is not will you
make Him Lord. The question is when you'll bow
to Him as Lord. You'll bow to Him one way or
the other. Either now or in hell. Because every knee is going to
bow. And every tongue is going to confess what Christ already
is. He is Lord. I close with these words. 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 shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead." He's the One who was
coming. He's the One who came. He's the
One who's coming again. And if you shall confess with
your mouth that that same Jesus whom you crucified is Lord, and shall believe in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, Listen to this. Thou shalt be saved. No doubt about it. No doubt about
it. May God be pleased to make it
so for Christ's sake. Our good and God's glory.