You wanna turn in your Bible
to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John. I want to bring a message today
about the ministry of John the Baptist. And I've entitled today's
message what is written in John chapter one. So I'm going to
read that with you and we'll get the title of the message
from there. John chapter one. Notice how in John 1, and we're
going to read, it says in verse 6, there was a man sent from
God whose name was John. Now that's John the Baptist.
The gospel of John is a different John. It's the apostle John,
who was the brother of James. So don't get those confused.
John the Baptist was the one that was sent from God and his
name was John, it says in verse seven, the same, John the Baptist,
came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. John the Baptist came to bear
witness of the light, that light is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the one, it says in verse five, the light shineth in darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not. That light of Christ
was not comprehended by the darkness of this world, which is the darkness
of our own hearts. But God sent a man, his name
was John, and that man was sent to bear witness of the light.
That's grace, isn't it? That God would give us a man
to bear witness to the light we couldn't see. It says in verse
eight, he was not that light, John was not that light, but
was sent to bear witness of that light of Christ. And that was
the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. He was in the world, the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own
received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. They believe on his name, according
to verse 13, which were born Those who believe were born,
this is why they believe, not of blood, not because they were
descendants of Abraham, nor of the will of the flesh, not because
they just wanted to, nor of the will of man, not because some
priest or some person, a pastor in a church wanted them to or
their parents wanted them to, but of God. You see, we're utterly
dependent on God. And the word was made flesh,
Christ himself took on our nature, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Now, verse 15. Here we have it. Here's the title of the message.
John bear witness of Him. You see those words? John bear
witness of Him. Let's read on. And he cried,
saying, This was he of whom I spake, he that cometh after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me." Now here we see that John's
sent from God, was sent to bear witness to the light, and this
is what he said about him. He came before me, he's preferred
before me, And even though John was actually born first, Jesus
was always, he always was the word, and he was preferred before
John. He has no problem with that.
That's the beginning of his message is don't look at me, don't consider
me. I want you to think of him. Verse
16, of His fullness, of Christ's fullness, have all we received
in grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at
any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And this
is the record of John. This is the beginning of this
witness of John, besides what he said just a minute ago, that
Christ was before him and was preferred before him. He says,
when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask
him, who art thou? They asked John the Baptist,
who are you? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed,
I'm not the Christ. So they must have asked him,
are you the Christ? He said, no, I am not the Christ. And
they asked him, what then, art thou Elijah? He said, no, I am
not. Art thou that prophet? And he
answered, no. The prophet he's talking about
was said by Moses, who would come, a prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you, and a hymn shall you hear. He said,
no, I'm not that prophet. That was Christ. He was that
prophet. And so John said, no, I'm not
the Christ. No, I'm not Elijah. No, I'm not that prophet that
Moses spoke about. Now, these men were befuddled. They were frustrated. Who are
you? They said. Then they said to
him, who art thou that we may give an answer to them that sent
us? What sayest thou of thyself? It's like they're squeezing him,
trying to get this information out of him. They're confused.
because they saw that God was with him, and we're gonna get
into how they saw that in a minute, and they were frustrated because
they couldn't shut him up, they couldn't explain how he had this
great ability. And he said, I am, and this is
what Brad just read to us, I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. and they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto
him, why baptizes thou then if thou be not that Christ, nor
Elijah, neither that prophet? John answered them saying, I
baptize you with water, but there standeth one among you whom you
know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it. I am not worthy
to unloose. And then if you go down just
a couple of verses here, he says, well, I'll just read it, verse
29. He says, the next day, John seeth Jesus coming to him and
said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man
which is preferred before me, for he was before me. Now notice
what John says here, and I knew him not. but that he should be
made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water."
He came by God sending him to bear witness of Christ and to
baptize with water in order that Christ might be made known to
Israel. Verse 32, John bear record saying,
I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode
upon him. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
as he which baptizes, notice, with the Holy Ghost, with the
Spirit of God. And he said, and I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God. Now that's John's record. That's what John said. He is
the Son of God. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit. He was before me. He's preferred
before me. He's the Christ of God. He's
the Christ. He is that prophet, not me. I
was sent a voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the
way of Him, the Lord. He's the Lord. He's Jehovah. As it says in Malachi chapter
three, verse one, he's Jehovah who came to his temple and he's
the one who sent me. Let's look at that in Malachi,
the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi. In chapter
three, he says in chapter three, verse one, behold, this is God
speaking, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way
before me." You see that? And whose way did he prepare?
Christ's way. But this is the Lord as Jehovah
God speaking, I will send my messenger, he shall prepare the
way before me, and the Lord whom you seek, shall suddenly come
to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, that's Christ
too, whom you delight in, behold, he shall come, saith Jehovah,
the Lord of hosts. So we're seeing here how the
Lord Jesus Christ is both Jehovah, the one who sent John the Baptist,
the one who would come to his temple, and the one in whom his
people delight, and he's called the Jehovah, the Lord of all. And so we see that this was John
the Baptist who was sent by the Lord Jesus Christ as Jehovah
God. And he is the one whose way he
prepares. But now if you look at this,
I want you to understand something about John the Baptist. John
the Baptist was no ordinary man. He was a man, and he was only
a man, but he wasn't an ordinary man. He was unique in a couple
of ways. First of all, as we read in Isaiah
chapter 40 and Malachi chapter 3, he was prophesied. His coming,
his sending was prophesied in the Old Testament. Now that's
unusual. There's nothing in the Old Testament
about any other New Testament characters except Christ and
John the Baptist. That makes him unique in that
way. And then in the book of Luke,
in Luke chapter one, the birth of John the Baptist was foretold
by the angel that came to his father, Zacharias, who was a
priest, And when he came to him and spoke of John's birth, that
it was a miraculous birth, both Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth
couldn't bear children, they were beyond the age, and she
was barren in addition to being too old. And yet John the Baptist
was born through her, and this was a miracle. His birth was
a miracle. And it was prophesied in the
Old Testament, and the angel came and told Zacharias, his
father, that he would soon be born. And this was by the angel
Gabriel. But in this account here in Luke
chapter one, he also says that he will come in the spirit and
in the power of Elijah. And I'm looking for that particular
scripture. and I'm not finding it, so I
apologize, but I was going to read it to you and I couldn't
find it. But the point here is that because
he came by the prophecy of the Old Testament scriptures, by
the announcement of the angel Gabriel, and his birth was a
miracle, And he would come in the spirit and the power of Elijah. And remember, before he was even
born, while he was in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth, and
Mary came in to greet Elizabeth, that when he heard the words
of Mary, he leaped in the womb of his mother and he was filled
with the Holy Spirit. All those things are something
very unique about this man, John. Filled with the spirit of God
from the womb, he would come by God's doing in the spirit
and power of Elijah. His birth was prophesied in the
Old Testament and foretold by the angel, and it was a miracle
that he was born at all. So that makes him very unique.
And who in the Old Testament can you read about like that?
I mean, Samson, yes. A couple of other people. Isaac
was born to parents. But his coming was definitely
unique in that way. And then if you look at Matthew
chapter 11, we see some things here about John the Baptist that
are definitely not true of any other man. He says in verse 11, well, let me read. Actually, I want to read this
chapter to you. This chapter is very significant
because it's going to help us. But before we do, let me point
it out here where it says here in verse 7, As they departed, Jesus began
to say to the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the
wilderness to see, a reed shaken by the wind? So John was no wimp. But he was not a strong man because
he himself was just naturally strong. His strength came by
the Spirit of God. And his strength was like Elijah's
strength, remember? When Elijah was prophesying to
Ahab and to his wife Jezebel and all the people of Israel
which were idolaters, the Baal worship was so prominent in those
days. Elijah was alone a prophet in those days. It seemed as if
because there was no other prophet who was so prominent as him. And realize that when a man stands
against an entire nation and that nation is perverse and reprobate
in their idolatry, That that man is going to have to be bold
and strengthened by God himself. And that's what Elijah was. And Elisha, the prophet that
followed him, remember he said, when Elijah was about to depart
and to be taken up into heaven, he asked Elijah, what do you
want? And he said, I want a double
portion of your spirit. And Elijah said, you've asked
a hard thing. but God did give it to Elisha, but Elijah was
so prominent in the Old Testament that he was the prophet of the
Old Testament, the significant prophet that is referred to in
the New Testament here with respect to John the Baptist who would
come in the spirit and power of Elijah, but also because Elijah
and Moses appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration. And Elijah
did these great miracles like raising a boy from the dead and
the fire that fell from heaven and consumed the altar, the sacrifice,
the water, the stones, and everything, the dust. And so Elijah was,
remember he outran the chariot that Ahab was in. He called,
he prayed for rain when there was no rain. He prayed that there
wouldn't be rain, there was no rain. And he prayed again and
there was rain. But he was a man of like passions
like we are. And yet John the Baptist is coming
in the spirit and the power of Elijah. And Jesus said, did you
go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind?
Matthew 11, verse eight. But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment,
soft clothes? Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in king's houses. Remember, he was clothed with
a leather girdle about his loins. But what went ye out to see?
A prophet? Yea. This is Jesus telling us
now. The Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who sent John. Jehovah, who came having sent
John first to prepare his way. He says, a prophet? Yea. I say to you, more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. He's talking about that scripture
we just read in Malachi 3. The Jehovah God said, I will
send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. And here,
I will send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare
the way before thee. God speaking to Christ as our
mediator. Verse 11, Jesus goes on, verily
I say to you, among them that are born of women, there has
not risen a greater than John the Baptist. There you have it.
He's the greatest man ever born. That's what he's saying here.
Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he. Who would that be? That would
be the Lord Jesus himself. He's the least in the kingdom
of heaven. He made himself of no reputation
in order that he might pay the ransom of himself to redeem us
from our sins. But John was sent before him.
It goes on, verse 12. I'm just going to read through
this now. Listen, this is the context. This man John was no
wimp. He came as a solitary opposition
to the established religion of man. Everyone despised what he
had to say, except the publicans and the harlots, the sinners
who flocked to John. Now that says something about
his message. His message was harsh. And yet his message contained
grace, because he spoke of Christ. Notice he says, from the days
of John the Baptist till now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence and the violent take it by force. This is those poor
sinners who are earnest and can't be stopped. They have to get
in. For all the prophets in the law prophesied till John, and
if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come. And this is a prophecy in the
Old Testament that God would send Elijah. Back in Malachi,
he talks about this. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Verse 16. Now, the Lord Jesus
here is going to bring out a bunch of negative things about the
Jews. And this is an important context
here. John didn't come in a sterile, neutral environment. He came
to an environment where the light shined and the darkness did not
comprehend it. He came to an environment where
they were opposed to the very creator and the one who was the
Christ of God. He came to his own and his own
received him not. Now he's going to talk about
these people. But where unto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling to
their fellows, saying, we pipe to you, and you have not danced. That would be John the Baptist.
The Pharisees were like, you're too harsh. You're too austere. You're not one of us. Where did
you come from? Who taught you? Who gave you
authority? You're speaking against us. Remember
what he called them? Generation of vipers, which means
serpents. They were poisonous serpents.
And that title is not given to any in the scriptures except
the reprobate, the children of Satan. Out of your mouth comes
the poisonous deception of Satan in false religion. That's what
he's talking about here. And so he says Jesus is comparing
this generation to children in the marketplace who played a
pipe like a flute and John wouldn't dance. We pipe to you and you
have not danced. He would not do what they wanted
him to do. This was the strength of John
the Baptist because the spirit of God was with him from the
womb. What he had to say was the very words of God. And when
he said them, they had not been heard before. Amazing. And he says, this is the other
part of this generation, we mourned to you and you haven't lamented.
Jesus came preaching the gospel of glad tidings. They mourned. Why are you healing on the Sabbath
day? Why are you talking to the publicans
and sinners and sending them the good news? And they were
angry at that. So to John, he wouldn't dance.
To you, you wouldn't mourn. It didn't matter what they sent,
what God sent to them. They were the children of Satan,
verse 18. For John came neither eating
nor drinking. And they say, he has a devil.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold,
a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners,
but wisdom is justified of her children." Now, that's a parable. He's saying the wisdom of God,
which came by God sending, the wisdom of the gospel of God's
grace and truth is justified It's vindicated when those who
are the children hear it and believe the gospel and believe
on the Lord Jesus. Verse 20, then began he to upbraid
the cities where in most of his mighty works were done because
they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. This town, these towns
where Jesus did all of these miracles, would not believe him. And Tyre and Sidon were destroyed
by God, but they would have repented if they had seen these works.
Verse 22, but I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre
and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. He's identifying
them as the objects of God's wrath. And thou, Capernaum, which
art exalted to heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For
if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done
in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to
you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for you." Now, that's Christ's words to
a reprobate Israel, a reprobate people called the Jews. In the
New Testament, especially in the book of John, we're going
to look at this. The Jews is the title given to man-made,
idolatrous, Christ-hating, Christ-opposing, anti-Christ religion. It's called
in the book of Revelation, the synagogue of Satan. So he goes
on at that time. Now that's the context. The great
condemnation that Christ pronounced on these people because they
would not hear John. and they would not believe Him
even though He did so many miracles. And notice this, at that time
Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent and has revealed them to babes. Now is that distinguishing grace
or what? Babes, I want to have God reveal the truth to me. I want to be one of those babes. I do not want to be the wise
and prudent. Verse 26, even so father, for
so it seemed good in thy sight. Why does God reveal the gospel
to us? Because it seemed good to him. All things are delivered
to me, Jesus said, of my Father. And no man knows the Son, but
the Father. Neither knows any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. If we're
going to be saved, Christ is going to have to reveal God to
us. Notice what he says here. Come unto me, you babes, you
who are desperately wanting to enter into the kingdom of heaven,
come to me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden by these who wanted John the Baptist to dance at their
pipe, or wanted Jesus to mourn at their mourning, They accused
him of being a friend of publicans and sinners. That's who he's
talking about here. You, burdened, heavy laden by
your sin, and by the law put upon you because of your sin,
come to me, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest for your souls. Because Christ bears the burden.
Yoked to Christ means Christ does everything in our salvation. Verse 30, my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. Do you see the power that God
gave to Elijah, the honor he had? What was his honor? His
power was the spirit of God. The honor he had was he bare
record, he bare witness of Christ. Is there anything more honorable
than that? for a man to bear witness of
him. That's what he did. He bear witness of him. Now look
back at the gospel of John where we were. He came in the spirit
of power of Elijah. Jesus said there was none greater
ever born than John the Baptist, except himself, and that he had
the spirit of God upon him. He came like Elijah, only more
powerful than Elijah. He never did a miracle. He came
baptizing, he told men, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And publicans and sinners came to him. They repented at the
preaching of John. They repented. In fact, look
at Acts chapter 19, the book of Acts chapter 19. What was John's message? What
did his baptism mean? He says here in Acts 19. The situation is that Paul came
to a place, and it was near Ephesus, and there were people there.
And he asked them some things. It came to pass in verse 1. That
while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the
upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples,
these who were professedly followers of Christ, he said to them, have
you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they
said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any
Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. And he said to them, to what
then were you baptized? And they said, to John's baptism.
Well, John clearly talked about the Holy Spirit, didn't he? He
said, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abiding
on him. And he said, he is the one who's
going to baptize with the Holy Spirit. He knew about the Holy
Spirit. He talked about him. He said,
so what were you baptized? John's baptism. And Paul said,
John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying,
unto the people that they should believe on him which should come
after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." What was this baptism
of repentance? That they should believe on Christ.
It was a repentance from unbelief to faith in Christ. You see,
they were to turn away from all confidence in considering their
birth to Abraham or the Jews' religion and abandon that. Abandon
all hope of being justified by their own personal obedience
to the law, and to trust Christ alone, only His blood and righteousness,
and be baptized. Because baptism in water signifies
that the one being baptized puts all of their confidence in what
Christ did. His life, His death, His burial,
His resurrection, and my being joined to Him by God, in that
is all of my hope. John said, my baptism is pointing
to Him. You should believe on Him. It
was the same baptism as Jesus. He also immersed those in water,
but He couldn't do what Jesus did. Only the Lord Jesus could
baptize with the Holy Spirit. Paul said, Christ didn't send
me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. In other words, baptism
was a sign, and it still is. It is an emblem, an emblem of
what happened when Christ, with his people, endured all that
God required of them. He fulfilled all righteousness,
and he suffered for their sins. So even the baptism of Christ
signified that he would be baptized with his people under the wrath
of God. Their sins would be taken away.
He would rise and justify them because of his obedience and
his righteousness in doing that. So Christ's baptism by John was
a fulfillment of all righteousness in that it pointed forward to
what he would accomplish. And because God calls those things
which be not as though they were, when Christ was baptized in water,
it signified that, but it had already been done before the
foundation of the world. He was the Lamb slain. He had
been immersed under the wrath of God, bearing the sins of his
people and the obligations of God's law, and therefore the
Spirit of God is given to us. He baptizes us with the Spirit
of God because the Lord Jesus Christ gives His Spirit to us
because of His own redemption of us. Look at Galatians chapter
three. He's the one, and only God can
do this, baptized with the Holy Spirit. Only God can baptize
with His Spirit. In Galatians 3, verse 13, Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us underwater. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangs on a tree, in order that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. There
it is. Look at chapter four, Galatians
chapter four. He says, verse four, Galatians
4, verse four, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. That's the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Look at Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. Romans 8, 9 says, but you are
not in the flesh. In other words, you're not, you're
not, you're, you're, you were dead in sins. Once you've been
raised with Christ, you're no longer in the flesh, even though
we obviously live in a body. But what's in us now is Christ. We live, our life is Christ in
us. So he says, you're not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit. You're baptized in the Spirit.
If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. So not only are
you in the Spirit, but He is in you. Now, if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Who is the Spirit
that's in us? The Spirit of Christ. And if
Christ be in you, Christ in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness, obviously His
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." God, by His Spirit, dwells
in you. It's the Spirit of God. It's
the Spirit of Christ. He's in you because of righteousness. Because Christ was cursed, He
gave us the promise of Abraham, the Spirit of God. He redeemed
us from the curse of the law. He was born of a woman. He was
made under the law that He might redeem us. And having redeemed
us, He gave us His Spirit because we were the sons of God by adoption.
And now the Spirit of God is in us. Christ did that. We're
baptized in the spirit when God, the Holy Spirit, comes in us
because of Christ on the throne. Remember, he's told his disciples,
unless I go to my father, he can't come. But if I go, then
he shall come. Look at one more text of scripture
in John chapter 7. This is the spirit of God given
to his people because Christ accomplished their salvation.
He was baptized. In the real sense, he came under
the wrath of God. John 7, verse 37. In the last
day, that great day of the feast, John 7, 37, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, if any man thirst, notice, let him come to me and drink.
To thirst is to have a deep, unmet need of soul. God puts
that there, doesn't he? It's the need of a sinner. God
made me, he must save me. Is there a way that I can come
to God even though I'm a sinner? He says, if you thirst, come
to me and drink. If we thirst, if our sin is so
bad that it would send us to hell, and it's so bad that we
cannot deliver ourselves from it, we can't change ourselves,
what are we to do? Come to Christ. Look to him. So he says, he that believeth
on me, that's coming, that's the drinking, coming and drinking.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spake of the
spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified. He had to finish our redemption
in order to give the Spirit of God and and to cause us to believe
on Him. That life in our soul, the life
of Christ, Christ in you, the life that I now live in the flesh,
I don't live, it's not me, it's Christ in me, and by that, that
life in me, I believe on the Son of God who loved me and gave
Himself for me. Okay, so John the Baptist came
to bear witness of Him. He's the Son of God, he said.
He's the Lamb of God, he said in verse 29 of John 1. He was
before me, even though he was born as a man after. And he's
preferred before me. There's no comparison between
me and him. No comparison. Notice he says
in John chapter 1, verse 27, He it is who's coming after me
is preferred before me. This is how much. Whose shoes
latch it, I'm not worthy to unloose. And I read about this from John
Gill. There were two things. Number
one, if you were a disciple, you were considered to be free
from the obligation to take the shoes off of your master. Because
that would be too demeaning. And a Hebrew slave was never
required, a Hebrew slave to a Hebrew was never required to take off
the shoes of his master. That would be too low. But a
slave, a true servant, would do that for his master. John's
saying, I'm not even that, I'm not even worthy, I'm not even
up to that. What was John saying? I am nothing. He is everything. Isn't that
what a true preacher, a true minister of God, that's what
the Spirit of God gave John to preach. Look to Him, the Lamb
of God, the Son of God, before me, He was before me, He's God. And look at Him, He's the Word
made flesh. Amazing. So now back in John chapter 1,
when they came to Him, They asked him, are you the Christ? Are
you Elijah? Are you that prophet? He said,
no, no, no. He wouldn't take any heirs, would
he? Here's a man who basically, you
would think, grew up on his own. He was of the Levites. He would
have qualified as a priest in the Jews' religion, but he had
nothing to do with it. And the Jews' religion was corrupt
from top to bottom. It says here in verse 19, and
this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? Who art thou? If you
look through the book of John and you just look for this phrase,
the Jews, you'll find out it's a very derogatory term. It's not a term that we would
think of as being a label you want to wear. In the eyes of
God, the Jews, according to the Apostle John, were utterly corrupt,
unbelieving, and they had departed from anything that resembled
the truth. So it's called in the book of John, after the manner
of the purifying of the Jews, in John chapter two, verse six,
and in verse 13 of John two, the Jews' Passover was at hand. It's not God's Passover, it was
theirs. They had so distorted it and
changed it, and they were selling, remember Jesus came into the
temple and he took out a whip and overturned the money changers'
tables and was, with a whip, drove everyone out. The Jews'
Passover, that's what it was. And then it said there was a question about some
of John's disciples in chapter three about, and it was a question
between John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. The
Jews had their own ideas of purifying. There was a feast of the Jews
in John five. And the Jews said to him that
was cured in John chapter five, it's unlawful for you to carry
your bed. But Jesus had told him to carry his bed. And then
it says in John 5, therefore the Jews persecuted Jesus and
sought to kill him because he did these things on the Sabbath.
The Jews, listen to a few more. The Jews sought the more to kill
him, in John 5, verse 18, because he not only broke the Sabbath,
but said that God was his father, making himself equal with God.
So they opposed the truth that he was God. And the Jews also
in chapter 6 murmured at him because he said, I'm the bread
which came down from heaven. The Jews opposed that too. And
it says in John 7 verse 1, Jesus would not walk in Jewry because
the Jews sought to kill him. This is not a good label, is
it? And it says in chapter 7, John
7 verse 13, no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
So nobody even talked about Jesus because they feared the repercussions
it would have because of the Jews. In John chapter 8, And
verse 48, the Jews answered Jesus and said, say we not well that
thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? They called Jesus a
Samaritan, not even a Jew, and one who is of the devil. In John
chapter 10, verse 31, the Jews took up stones again to stone
him. And I could go on and on. Jesus
said, if my kingdom were of this world, in John 18, my servants
would fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But
my kingdom is not from here. And then in Revelation chapter
two, it says, I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. And one more in Revelation 3
verse 9, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which
say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make
them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have
loved thee. So through the preaching of the
gospel, God's people who hear and believe on Christ and preach
Christ are the object of the hostility and hatred of the Jews,
And these people called the Jews, Jesus said, are the synagogue
of Satan. But God is going to make them
come and worship at your feet and know that I have loved you.
Now, so the Jews is a title. Especially in the book of John,
the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation too. The Jews is
a title of man's religion, of idolatry, of distortion of the
truth, a religion in name only, children of the flesh who trusted
their relation to Abraham. They were not children of the
Spirit. They honor men, they did not honor God. They were
of that Jerusalem, which is on earth. They were not citizens
of Jerusalem above. They were not the children of
promise, but they were the children who opposed and actually persecuted
the children of promise. And so you see this now, and
when you understand that, when you look at this verse, John
chapter one, the Jews, asked him, where'd you come from? Who
are you? He came from the wilderness,
the wilderness. He says, a voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness. What's the wilderness? Nobody's
out there. It's the desert. There's no established
religion in the wilderness. No, we're here in the comfortable
place of Jerusalem, where we have a lot of people around us
who come flocking to our seminary. And they have to come to our
seminary because they're not valid unless we put our stamp
on them. You see, this is the same thing
that has happened throughout time. Man-sanctioned religion. That's the only valid religion. Where'd you graduate from? I'm
trying to appease man-sanctioned religion. No, John didn't have
any concern. One man against a nation of unbelieving
reprobates. Now that's a force to be reckoned
with because it was by the Spirit of God. He came in the spirit
and power of Elijah. And what did he do? Well, he
says in Matthew 3 to the Jews who came to be baptized of him,
he says, you generation of vipers. Who has warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? But to the publicans and harlots,
they came glad to hear him. Why? Because he told them, you
believe on him which will come, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God, the Son of God sent from heaven. And he bear witness of
him. Now back to Isaiah chapter 40.
Just quickly, we're not going to be able to go through this.
with much detail, but I just want to point out a couple of
highlights here in this, because this is the context. This is
the prophecy from which John was sent, Isaiah 40. Notice the
first words of Isaiah 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. He didn't say comfort the Jews,
did he? No, you comfort my people. When
we hear, when someone preaches the gospel to God's people, it
is comforting. Therefore, if it does not comfort
God's people, it is not God's message. God's message comforts. How does it do that? Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare
is accomplished. It's done. The battle is over. The victory is won. What warfare
is that? Your offenses that have alienated
you from God have been taken care of. Peace has been made
by God in the death of His Son. Tell her that her iniquity is
pardoned. You see how this is a message
from God? Through his servant, John the
Baptist, through all of his servants with the gospel, her iniquity
is pardoned. It has been laid on Christ. He
bore it. He took it away. The judgment
is no longer over you. For she has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins." First, her sins. have been propitiated. God has been propitiated on account
of her sins by the sacrifice of Christ, the propitiation.
Her sins have been, an atonement has been made for her sins. God
has been satisfied and now He is reconciled with His people
in the blood of His Son. Peace has been made by Christ. He says here, he's received double,
they've received double, she, meaning God's people, Christ,
bride and wife, she has received double of the Lord's hand. God
himself has dished it out, double for all her sins. Not only did
she receive atonement, but she has been clothed in the righteousness,
that work of Christ that accomplished the remission of her sins is
also her dress. Verse three, the voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord.
What is the way? The narrow way, the way of righteousness,
the highway, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is he saying? Prepare this way, remove everything
that is not Christ that's in this way. Get it out of the way. And so John attacked the Jews'
religion and he was He was undaunted. And how attractive is that to
us? That God would enable a man to
stand in opposition to the whole kingdom of Satan by himself,
by the Spirit of God. Pointing men to Christ. I find
that very attractive. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. He was in the wilderness,
not a place where men had established any religion. There was nothing
there. You had to depend upon God for the very bread you ate
and the shoes on your feet. You were utterly dependent upon
him. You had to eat the bread from heaven. He says, every valley shall be
exalted. This is the poor sinner who's
weighed down heavily because of his sins under the weight
of God's law and wrath, and that valley is going to be exalted.
Christ will save his people, those who in themselves are ungodly
and sinners and enemies of God, and he'll do it by his own death.
And every mountain and hill shall be made low. The pride of man
is going to be humbled in that day. And this is what John did. He so knocked the feet out from
under all those who stood in their own righteousness and trusted
in their heritage to Abraham. But he lifted up the publicans
and sinners. Look to him. and the crooked
shall be made straight, the rough places plain. Every barrier,
it's gonna be made very clear. Jesus said, come unto me, all
you who labor, come to him, behold the Lamb of God. When you know
that your sins are something you cannot remove from yourself,
you can't change your nature, you can't change your character,
you can't remove your guilt before God, you don't find in yourself
anything that God would require, no love, no worship, no nothing. Not even faith, what do you do?
I can't do anything. God have mercy on me, the sinner.
And that's what he's saying here. The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. All flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of
the Lord has spoken it. The voice said, cry to John the
Baptist, cry. He said, what shall I cry? This,
all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as a flower
of the field. Our righteousness is like the
leaf that fades, like the grass that withers. The grass withers,
the flower fadeth. Notice Isaiah 40, verse 7, because
the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. And what is that? Jesus
said, you see the effects of the wind, but the wind blows
wherever it wants to. You can't impede it. You can't
redirect it. You can't stop it. You can't
make it happen. The wind blows. And what happens
when the wind blows? The grass withers. And what happens
then? He says, the people is grass. The grass withers. The flower
fadeth. But the word of our God shall
stand forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached to you. Christ, the word of God, will
be the one who stands and all of his people in the day of judgment.
And that's all they have. This is the way John the Baptist
came to repair. Remove everything out of this
way except Christ and Him crucified. Make them know it's so narrow
that if you have anything but Christ, you can't be in this
way. If you come with anything but more than Him, then you're
not in the way. If you need something more than
Him, you can't come this way, because sinners Broken down,
heavy laden sinners have only one hope. Look to the Lamb of
God. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ, even for John the Baptist who was
sent to prepare the way before him, to remove all of the pride
of man and to exalt the Lord only in that day. And we pray,
Lord, that we would tremble to think that we could come to you
any other way but Christ, and also to tremble that we would
think that we could live and not come to you. Help us, Lord,
to be like those who were violent to get to the kingdom of God,
and listened with intensity to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and obeyed John by going to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you
for this grace. Thank you for this salvation.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.