We're going to pick up in verse
19 where we left off last week. I believe
we left off in verse 18. You'll notice here in this first
chapter how the Apostle John moved by the Holy Spirit. These
men did not write at random. They were moved of God to write
the Word of God. And the Apostle John here being
moved by the Holy Spirit has a lot more to say about John
the Baptist here in this chapter, the remaining part of this chapter. He speaks more fully of the ministry
of John. We know that the ministry of
John was that of a forerunner. He was the herald. He was the
one to point out to Israel, this is the Christ, the Messiah, this
is the Lamb of God. Isn't it interesting? It's interesting
how the first time John sees him, He may have seen him before,
but he never knew him as the Lamb of God. But the first time
he sees him walking, he recognizes him by God's Spirit. You know, when the gospel is
preached, you do recognize it, don't you? When Christ is preached,
you who believe, you recognize it. It's like when Mary walked
in the room when Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John.
When Mary walked in the room, she said, the babe leaped in
my womb. And you have felt that when the gospel's been preached,
haven't you? And there's been times that I have sat listening
to a message, listening to a man preach the gospel. And it's just
like my whole insides just leaped. Rejoice. And it thrills me because
it's His Spirit bearing witness with my spirit, not only that
it's the message, but I'm a son of God. I'm telling you the truth. You will not enjoy the gospel
like that unless God saves you. Unless God saves you, your heart
will not leap within you. I promise you. But if God saves
you, if God saves me, if He has saved us, when the gospel is
preached, when Jesus Christ is lifted up, our hearts will leap
within us. It will. And when John first
saw the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, Give attention. Listen to me. There's the Lamb
of God. There's your salvation. There's
the Passover Lamb. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about the Passover Lamb. This is the Lamb that God's
providing. And I'm getting into next week's
message already. But anyway, let's back up a little
bit here, because I'm getting into next week's message. But
anyway, the Apostle John had a lot to say about the ministry
of John the Baptist in the remainder of this chapter. And the reason
why it's so important here is this. John is the fulfillment
of the Old Testament Scripture that spoke of him in Isaiah 40.
I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness." And that's what
John says. He said, I'm the voice there in verse 23. He said, I
am the voice of one. He's identifying himself with
that prophecy there in Isaiah 40. I'll look at it here in a
little bit. And but this being so, now listen,
this being so, John being the forerunner that the scripture
speaks of, you better listen to him. Really, he's that prophet,
he is a prophet. He's not that prophet, the Lord
Jesus Christ is that prophet, but he's a prophet. And being
a prophet and being the fulfillment of a prophecy, you reckon we
better listen to him? That's why John's putting so
much importance upon the preaching of John the Baptist. He's the
forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the fulfillment
of that portion of Scripture. And also this, many counted John
to be a prophet. And that being so, then what
he has to say about the Lamb of God, about Jesus Christ, is
to be received. Don't reject it. Receive what
he has to say. You know, when the gospel is
preached, we are to receive the message. If it's of Christ, we
are to receive it. It's the same thing as receiving
Christ. To receive His message, it's the same thing. You can't
separate them. And John the Baptist, listen,
John the Baptist caused quite a stir among the people, especially
the Pharisees. He really upset the Pharisees
because everybody was going out to hear him. He was out there
in the wilderness preaching, and people were going out there
to hear him. He caused a real stir. And any time anyone got
a bigger following than the Pharisees, they were jealous. They were
jealous. I can say this, there should
never, ever, ever, ever, ever be jealousy among God's preachers,
whether we're preaching to a few or whether we have a large crowd.
I have. I have this morning God's flock
to preach to that He's given me to preach to. Now why would
I be jealous of somebody that's got a much bigger one? Why? If there's one person here, listen,
if there's one person here that wants to hear the gospel, That's
worth being here for. That's worth selling my house,
moving to North Carolina, and spending whatever time I have
here if there's only one sheep here. It's worth it. It's worth
glorifying Jesus Christ as that one sheep and feeding that one
sheep. The Lord said to Peter, Peter,
do you love me? Feed my sheep. He didn't say sheeps. He said
sheep. It's always in the singular.
Feed my sheep. It doesn't matter if there's
one, two, or a thousand. Preach with just as much enthusiasm,
just as much love, because you're glorifying Jesus Christ, the
one or a thousand. And guess what? That thousand
is just one. Isn't it? We're one in Christ.
It doesn't matter. You know one of the things that
David got in real trouble for? Numbering Israel. Numbering Israel. That's a danger. But John the Baptist caused quite
a stir among those Pharisees. His preaching was so powerful
that many thought he might be the Christ. Some thought he might
be the Christ. Some thought he might be Elijah
because it was prophesied Elijah would come right at the end of
Malachi, there in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi,
I believe it was. But his preaching was so powerful
they thought he was either Christ, Elijah, or that prophet that
Moses said should come. They thought he might... His
preaching was that powerful and that moving. They couldn't figure John out.
They said, who are you? The Pharisees sent a delegate
out to see, who is this man that's causing such a stir? Who is he?
You know, there's many in Spurgeon's day couldn't figure him out.
Some of the Calvinists called him Armenian. Some of the Armenians,
well, all the Armenians, they called him Calvinist. And some
called him Antinomian. They couldn't figure him out.
They couldn't figure him out. You know, we live in a day where
we like to pigeonhole people. Well, you're this, you're this,
you're this. You're this denomination, you're this denomination. I tell
you who I am, and I'll tell you who you are. We are believers. We are of that way. That's what they were called. We are of that way. And in the
true sense of the word, we are Christians. We are truly, in
the true sense of that word, Christ-followers. That's who
we are, we're Christ-followers. Now, we will see in this narrative
here, we'll see the character of John, which is the work of
grace, because his character was one of humility. It's one
of humility. How many of these televangelists
would you say is really humble? No. It'd be extremely few. But John was humble. When they
came and asked him, who are you? He says there in verse 23, I'm
the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He didn't say, I'm
the son of a priest. He didn't say, I am a prophet. He just said, I'm a voice. I'm
the voice of one. What humility! Look also in verse
27. Here it shows John's humility. He's speaking here of Christ.
He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose
shoes latch it, I'm not worthy to unloose it. I'm not worthy
to bend down and untie his shoes. The one I'm talking about, he
says. This is his humility. You know, pride doesn't work
in the ministry, does it? Pride will destroy a ministry. I can tell you this, God's not
in a proud ministry, or I should say a proud minister. It doesn't
work. Listen, it doesn't work in the
ministry, and it doesn't work in the life of grace. It's totally
opposite. It's totally opposite. There's one thing that I have
realized over the years. Two things, let me say two things.
I realized God did not have to save me. God could leave me alone. God could leave any one of you
alone and be a just God. God can send you to hell to the
praise and glory of His justice or save you to the praise and
glory of His grace. Is that right? He can do it. I realized that as a young man
when I first heard the Gospel. When God saved my soul, I realized
He didn't have to. It wasn't like this, God wants
to save you if you'll let Him. I realized He didn't have to
save me. I was scared to death. And the second thing I have realized
is God does not have to use me to stand here and preach the
gospel. God can take any man in this room and make him a preacher
of the gospel, if He's so pleased. He can do that. God can take
anyone of us. But God chose to use me. He chose to save me, and He chose
to use me. in this fashion. That's just astounding to me. It's astounding. But God doesn't
have to use me. There are plenty other clay pots.
There are many other clay pots in this room, cracked clay pots
in this room that he could use. There are plenty more. What I realize is this, I am
just a messenger. I'm just a messenger, that's
all I am. A vehicle of communication, a
voice. John said, I'm just a voice.
I'm a vehicle of communication. God is using me this morning.
I believe this or I wouldn't be standing here. Or I'd be standing
here for the wrong reason. But I believe this, that God
has used me as a vehicle of communicating the gospel to you this morning.
I'm telling you the truth. I'm just a voice. I'm just a
voice. And then John was fearless. John
was fearless. He never changed his message
to fit the crowd. When the Pharisees came out,
listen, there's a good point. Just a few weeks ago, we saw,
in Galatians, Paul facing down Peter. Why? Peter was eating with the Gentiles,
and when the Jews came down from the church in Jerusalem, there
from James, what did Peter do? He got up and went over and sat
with the Jews and would not eat with the Gentiles. He sat there
and ate whatever they ate, whatever they served, he ate until they
came down. Then he got up and moved. And by his actions, he
was preaching another gospel. He was compromising the gospel.
John didn't do that. When the Pharisees came out,
you know what he did? He said, you vipers, who warned you to
flee the wrath to come? He called them vipers. You know,
one time the Lord said something, and the disciples said, don't
you know you offended them? He said, leave them alone. Leave
them alone. He wasn't concerned about offending.
They were born offended. One thing I've learned about
lost people, they're born offended, they live offended, and they're
going to die offended, and they're going to spend eternity offended. That's
exactly what's going to happen with the lost. But John was fearless. He was fearless. John laid the
axe to the root of the tree. He didn't placate him. He called
them vipers. He preached to sinners. He didn't take the edge off the
message. He didn't do it. When he was
in prison, he told Herod it was not right for you to have your
brother's wife." John, you might not want to go there with the
king. He didn't hold back, did he?
When Paul stood before Felix, you know what his message was?
It says he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment. He didn't placate Felix. He told
him the truth. He told him the truth. I want
somebody to tell me the truth. I thank God Almighty he sent
a man, or sent me under a man, 45 some years ago, Henry Mahan,
and he told me the truth. He didn't hold back. He told
me the truth. He took the word of God. He didn't
take what he thought. He took the word of God and told
me the truth. That's what you want. You want
an honest man. God's preachers are honest preachers. His preachers are. They're honest
preachers. When they asked Him who He was, He confessed and
denied not, I am not the Christ. I'm not that prophet. I'm not
Elijah. I'm a voice. He didn't take advantage
of the situation as false preachers would and get a little glory
to themselves. He didn't do that. He spoke the
truth, He was honest. Let me give you just a part of
His message over in Isaiah 40. Turn over to Isaiah 40. In verse
3, "...the voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness," this
is John the Baptist, "...prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted, those sinners whom He saves will be lifted up. And
every mountain and hill be brought low, those Pharisees brought
down. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Behold,
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." There
stands God's glory. There stands God's glory in the
flesh. There's God's glory. You want
to see God's glory? Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. You will see and only see the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, and nowhere else. And the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together where the
mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And
the voice of one, the voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall
I cry? Here's the truth. Now this is the truth, and this
is hard on flesh. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field." Listen to this. You say, but I know people that
give to charities, they build these hospitals, they do all
kinds of things. That's the flower of the grass.
That's the flower of the grass. But it's still just grass. It's
still just grass. As someone said, you can put
lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. It's not going to change
the nature of it. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth. Because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth, but listen, the Word of God, the Word of
our God shall stand forever. It won't fade away. But grass, the people, he said,
are grass. Don't glory in grass. I know
sometimes we spend a lot of money making our yards look great.
We just mow great yards. That's what we end up doing.
I mean, I understand having a pretty yard. I like a pretty yard, but
you still, at the end of the day, you're just mowing it. And it's just grass. It's just
grass. Don't ever get overly taken up
with this flesh, whether it be yours or someone else's. It's
just grass. Listen to God's Word, because
His Word endures forever. But what you want, and here's
the point, what I want and what you want is to tell me the truth. Tell me I'm grass. Tell me I'm
no good. You know, our school system is
totally geared the other way. They say these affirmations,
I'm good, I'm great, I'm gonna be this, I'm gonna be that. And
then they come out and you gotta put them on depression medicine
because it doesn't happen. Because they're not as great
as they were taught. They're not as successful as
they thought they were gonna be. But when you learn the truth,
You learn the truth. You really can't be disappointed.
I'm just grass. If anything comes of me, God's
going to have to do it. Now, I can glory in Christ. I can glory in Christ, but I'm
not going to glory in His flesh. I know what it is. Just tell me the truth. Tell
me the truth. God's preacher are His preachers.
They are not men-pleasers. They're not men-pleasers. What
do the people want to hear this Sunday? I don't ever think that
way. I don't. I honestly don't ever
think about what you want to hear. I think about, I pray. Lord, give me the message for
the hour. Enable me to feed the sheep.
But there's also maybe someone here that the Lord is going to
speak to specifically. It may be. It may be this morning.
That God Almighty will speak in power to some sinner's heart. It may be. But He's not going
to do it if I stand here and lie. That ain't going to happen. God doesn't save men by lie.
They're saved by truth. And all God's preachers, and
here's how you can tell God's preachers. Here's how you can
tell them. They're easy to spot. They always point sinners to
Christ. They always lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. They always
exalt Jesus Christ in their preaching. Everything always leads back
to Him. It's not, I use His name to set Him over here in a corner
then try to get you to do something. It's Christ from beginning, Christ
in the middle, Christ in the end. And if God the Holy Spirit, if
He ever rests your heart and my heart, for the first time we'll have
an interest in Christ. And it'll be, tell me the old,
old story one more time. One more time. John was God's preacher. He was
God's preacher. He was humble. He was honest. He was fearless. He's God's preacher. And that's
what God's preachers are. They're just honest. They're
honest with the Scriptures. They're honest with the people.
And they point sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know how you prepare the
way of the Lord? It says John prepared the way of the Lord.
You know how you do that? You preach the Gospel. You preach the Gospel. And the
preaching of the Gospel includes... It's the preaching of Christ.
Christ is the Gospel. It's the preaching of Christ.
But now listen, included in the preaching of the Gospel, we preach
God's sovereignty in salvation. We don't back up on that. Salvation
is in the hands of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. God
forbid that I should ever take salvation out of His hands and
put it in your hands and my hands. It's not what are you going to
do with Jesus Christ. What is Jesus Christ going to
do with you? That's what I want to know. That's what I want to
know. Yes, I tell you to look to Christ,
come to Christ, do so. But brethren, salvation is in
the hands of the sovereign God of heaven and earth. It's in
His hands. And then in the preaching of
the gospel is the preaching of grace. Yes, God's sovereign. And His grace is sovereign, which
I don't know why we put sovereign grace, because by the very definition,
it has to be sovereign. If it's unmerited, it has to
be sovereign. It can't be anything else. But
it's all of grace. Grace put me in the number of
the Savior's family. Grace did that. God's grace.
God did that. And then in preaching of the
gospel, we preach that it's all of God. It's all of God. from Alpha to Omega, isn't it? It's all of God. And in the preaching of the Gospel,
we preach that all that God requires, He has provided in Jesus Christ. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And He did all that before the
world began. Isn't that something? It's just,
I use this word a lot anymore because I'm serious. It astounds
me that God thought upon me, that God thought upon me as if
I were the only one that existed and took care of me. Saw to it
that when I die and stand before Him, I'm going to stand there
blameless, without fault, without blemish, That's all of God. Now let me say just three or
four things here about God's preacher, and I'll be brief. God's preachers have one message. I never wonder about what message
I'm going to preach. I just wonder where I'm going
to preach it from. What scripture, what book am
I going to preach Christ from? You know, Christ is like, to
me, he's like, well, there's a rainbow over the throne in
heaven. He's like the rainbow. All those many colors, there
are many things about Christ we cannot exhaust. We cannot
exhaust it. Christ, the wisdom of God, who
can exhaust infinite wisdom? We can't do it. God's preachers
have one message, the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's
what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2. I'm determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Our
relationship is going to be built on Christ and Him crucified.
Our relationship is going to be built on Jesus Christ and
we're not going to have one. That's so. We're not going to
have one. God's preachers have one goal. They have one main goal. The glory of God. The glory of God. We have one
goal. His glory. Now listen. I do. I say this with all my heart.
I pray that God would save every person listening to me this morning. whether here or on the air. I pray God would, I do, as Paul
said to Agrippa, I wouldn't have God you were as I am, except
for these chains. Paul didn't look at Agrippa and
say, I don't know if you're one of the elect or not. But Paul
did look at him and say, I would to God you have what I have.
You and everybody in this room, Paul was saying to everybody
in here, I wish you were saved. I wish that God, you knew Christ
as I know Christ, the one I know. And I say it to everybody I preach
to. Everybody I preach to. Whosoever will, let him come.
Take of the water of life freely. But I also know this. I also
know this. God's to be glorified whether
He saves me or damns me. And I have to preach it that
way. And I do preach it that way. I don't have to. I do preach
it that way. Whether He saves us or damns us, to God be the
glory. To God be the glory. But you
know what? God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. And
that gives this sinner great hope. And there's some sinners
here that has great hope. Because God Almighty came into
this world, took upon Him flesh, and died to save sinners. And then thirdly, God's preachers,
they have one method. One method. Preaching. Preaching. Preaching the Gospel. I'm not up here to entertain.
We're not going to put on a show and then get people to come in.
We're not going to have some of the most popular athlete in
North Carolina to come here and stand here and give a witness
this morning. I'm going to stand here and I'm going to preach
the Gospel to you. And pray God Almighty is pleased
to say, to honor His Word, because it's not going to return void.
We're not in the entertainment business, we're in the preaching
business. And then God's preacher has one end. He must increase. I must decrease. I've got to
fade. You know, I would love to be able to preach one time
before I die that when everybody left, they never even thought
of my name. They were just so taken up with
Him. That you would be so taken up with Him, you'd say, who preached
this morning? Who preached this morning? The
Lord did. The Lord did. All right, I'm going to close
there. I've got a few other things, but 30 minutes is enough. Charles Burden said, I told his
class, he had that preacher school, he said, I don't care what you
preach about. Now, he knew he was not talking about another
gospel. He said, I don't care what you preach about, as long
as you preach about 30 minutes. So my 30 minutes is up. All right.