Dear Lord, we pray that you would
indeed visit us with your word, that you would give voice to
the truth of your word in our hearts, that you would speak
to us in our native tongue, our mother tongue, the way we understand
things so that we can understand in our heart the very truth of
heaven about our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would
move us to seek the Lord Jesus Christ with our whole heart and
we would find in Him all that we need Lord, help us as we look into
your word. We are unable, unable to understand one thing to profit
our souls. We would twist it to our own
destruction and to try to attempt to manipulate it, to make ourselves
look good. But we pray, Lord, that you would
just open your word to us today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I've entitled this message, The
Friend of Christ. John the Baptist I think, has
spoken of more than any other man than the Lord Jesus Christ
in the New Testament. He's spoken of in all the Gospels,
including John's Gospel. And he's spoken of a lot here
in Matthew chapter 11. And John was an unusual character. Who was John the Baptist anyway?
Well, the first thing we learn about John the Baptist is that
he went before the Lord Jesus Christ. He went before him. Now, I don't know if you've ever
had to stand and give any kind of a presentation, or in my case,
when I preach the gospel, I get very intimidated if I have to
preach when somebody else is going to follow up. It's just
my natural sinful pride that that is the way it is, and I
can't help it. It intimidates me. But think
about John the Baptist. He was sent before who? The Son
of God, come in our nature. And so John the Baptist was sent
before him to bring a message, or to bring the message from
God in order to prepare the way before the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet He knew that right after Him, the Lord Jesus Himself was
coming to preach to the people. If it were me, I would feel like,
what's the point, you know? There's no reason for me to speak
of Him. When He's coming, He's going
to speak for Himself and people will be able to understand. But
that's the foolishness of the way we think. We think in terms
of how we imagine that the ministry of the Gospel ought to be done.
But God has a different plan. John the Baptist was prophesied.
It was prophesied that He would come. That's also an unusual
thing. I can't think of many other people
in the Bible of whom it was spoken beforehand that they were coming,
except the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was one. One
other one. But He came according to the
prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi. So He was a forerunner. He was
sent by the Lord Himself. Look at a couple of places in
Scripture with me. Isaiah chapter 40. I want a little
background on John the Baptist because this chapter here in
Matthew 11 is about It's kind of about him, but in looking
at John the Baptist, you can't help but understand why he came
and his message. So that's what we want to see
in Isaiah chapter 40. Look at what it says in the first
six verses. The prophet cries, Comfort ye
my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Perhaps you're familiar with
those verses. You've heard them many times before. Maybe you
haven't gone much further than to read those and do like I do. I read a verse of Scripture and
then I pause and I start thinking about it. Pretty soon I forgot
that I need to keep reading and you get lost in the moment of
whatever it is you're thinking about. And your thoughts go here
and there and you turn to different places in Scripture and pretty
soon You've sidelined your whole process of reading through the
chapter you began to read through. But that's not the case. Today
we're going to read the next few verses. He says in verse
3, "...the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare
ye the way of the Lord." Now it says, notice how it says there,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, all uppercase.
That's the Lord Jehovah. The word is Jehovah. Whose way
was John the Baptist sent to prepare? The way of Jehovah. But yet, we read later that he
actually came to prepare the way of Christ. So we see there
that the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah, the Son of God. It says,
"...prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." The voice said, cry,
and he said, what shall I cry? This, all flesh is grass, and
all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field."
So John the Baptist came, and he came to prepare the way of
the Lord. And you see here something in
shadowy language of what it meant for him to come and prepare the
way of the Lord, the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at
the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, in chapter 3, verse
1. I want to read that also. Just
before Matthew, he says this about John the Baptist and God's
purpose. He said, Malachi 3.1, Behold,
I will send my messenger, and 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,
whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts." The Lord of hosts, again, is the Lord
Jehovah. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. He says, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me. So we understand that the Lord
Jesus is God, and that He sent John the Baptist before Him,
and the Lord, it says, whom you seek, that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the word there, L-O-R-D, is not all capitals, because it's the
original word, just means Lord, whom you seek shall suddenly
come to His temple. His temple are His people. The
Lord Jesus Christ has a people, and He comes to them, even the
messenger of the covenant. The messenger of the covenant,
and the word messenger also means the angel of the covenant. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the one who came to fulfill the everlasting
covenant. He's the messenger of the covenant,
who came to fulfill it. Now, look back in Matthew chapter
11 and verse 10. Matthew 11. He says, "...for
this is He, Jesus, speaking of John the Baptist, this is He
of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." So now, the
person speaking and the context is the Lord Jesus Christ as our
mediator. God the Father is speaking to
him as the one before whom God would send John, his messenger,
before Christ's face, and he shall prepare thy way before
thee." So both of these scriptures, when you overlay them, you see
the work of God in sending John before his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that's the first thing we
see about John the Baptist, is that he came before the Lord
Jesus Christ to prepare his way. Now, John the Baptist was also
born in a miraculous way. An angel, not only did Isaiah
speak of him and Malachi, but an angel spoke before John was
born and told his mother and his father that he was going
to be born. Zacharias, if you remember, was
a priest and his wife's name was Elizabeth. Zechariah's name
means, God remembers. And Elizabeth's name means, God
of His oath. So God remembered His oath, His
promise to His people. And He remembered that oath in
sending Christ. But before He sent Christ, He
was going to send John the Baptist. And so when the angel came to
Elizabeth and told her that she was going to have a child, and
also told her about Mary and all these things were prophesied
before by the angel. What a miracle that God would
tell of a man's birth before he came. Not only did he tell
of his birth, but it was told to Zechariah and his wife that
he would be filled with the Spirit of God even from his mother's
womb. Can you imagine that? A man who
would be filled with the Spirit of God from his mother's womb.
That's an incredible thing. We think of Enoch. We're wondering
about Enoch who walked with God and he was not because God took
him. He never died. And Elijah, he
was on the earth and God comes down. in a flaming chariot and
carries him up to heaven with no death. And here's a man, a
miraculous thing happens. Even in his mother's womb, he
is filled with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, God himself
fills him. And he comes forth at the appointed
time preaching. This is what John did. He came
preaching the message that God gave to him. So that's the second
thing we learn about John. His birth was a miraculous birth. He was named by God. He was filled
by the Spirit of God from his mother's womb. He was prophesied
beforehand by Isaiah and Malachi. And he was sent as God's messenger
to prepare the way before His Son, who would come as our mediator
in our nature and in the flesh of man. He was a prophet. Jesus
says in Matthew 11, 9, what did you go out in the wilderness
to see? A prophet? Then He says, I say unto you,
and more than a prophet. More than a prophet. He was a
great man. He was nobody's fool. And what
I mean by that is, He didn't answer to other people's dictates. He didn't do what men said. He
always did what the Lord told him to do, with God's message.
He couldn't be bought. He couldn't be intimidated. When
Herod, the king, who was called Tetrarch at one point in Scripture,
and then later he was called a king, When he wanted his brother
Phillip's wife, who's name was Herodias, and he took her to
marry her, John the Baptist went into the king and told him he
was wrong. Adultery is wrong. It's wrong
for you to have your brother Phillip's wife. another man's
wife, and he told him many things that Herod had done that were
wicked and wrong. John the Baptist was a very bold
preacher. He was not intimidated. It didn't
matter what status you were, or what you could do to him.
He was going to tell you the Word of God. So he couldn't be
bought that way, and he couldn't be made to do things. It says
here, when Jesus said, What can I compare this generation to?
You're like children in the marketplace. Have you ever seen children playing?
They want you to pretend along with them. They make you do goofy,
dumb things. And if you don't play along with
them, they get irritated with you. So you've got to act silly.
And that's what these people were like in Jesus' day. John
the Baptist didn't play to their music. He was serious. He wore camel's hair and a leather
girdle, leather britches around his loins. He ate locusts and
wild honey, and he preached in the wilderness. He was not anyone's
man. He was God's man, God's prophet.
A man to be respected. A man to actually be feared,
because he was a prophet sent from God. What he said was the
Word of God. If you didn't hear him, you were
rejecting the Word of God, and you bore the consequences of
that. John was a powerful man because the Spirit of God was
with him. And Jesus said, you piped to him, but he would not
dance. Because he didn't come eating
or drinking. And you said, he has a devil.
That was in verse 18 of Matthew 11. So, his enemies accused him
of having a devil. But he wasn't intimidated by
them. He continued on. He was not seeking man's praise. He didn't seek man's praise,
and He wasn't afraid of man's face. That was the prophet of
God. That's what the Spirit of God
moved Him to do. He was a man sent from God. Look
at the Gospel of John, chapter 1. It says here in John, chapter
1, that there was a man, verse 6, there was a man sent from
God whose name was John. Now John didn't start out in
heaven like Jesus. He was born. That's when he began
to be. So he says there was a man sent
from God whose name was John. The same man came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe. So you see here that the purpose of John's coming
was to speak God's word to prepare the way before Christ and to
do it in such a way that through him all who heard him would believe. That was his aim, that was his
mission, that was his ministry. And the Pharisees were very curious
about John because he spoke with this authority from God And so
they sent some of their contingency, the Sadducees and the Pharisees,
sent some of their people out into the wilderness to ask John
who you are. And look at John chapter 1. Again,
it says in verse 19, this is the record of John, when the
Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who
art thou? You're a crazy man. Who are you? Well, they respected him. But
he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ.
Evidently, there was this temptation that men who were so looked up
to, who brought the Word of God, they thought, maybe you're the
Christ. And who knows, maybe an evil man among them would
have entertained the honor that would have come of men thinking
that he was the Christ. But John didn't have any temptation
to do that. He said, no, no, I am not the
Christ. I am not the Christ." And there's a reason he did that.
Not only because it was true, but we'll get into that in a
second here. But then it says in verse 20, and he confessed
and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. Verse 21,
they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? Because in the
book of Malachi it also said that before the Lord comes, Elijah
would come. So they asked him, are you Elijah?
And he said, I am not. Aren't thou that prophet?" Now
in Deuteronomy, in chapter 18 of Deuteronomy, it says that
Moses prophesied and said that the Lord would raise up a prophet
to you, like unto me, him you shall hear in all things that
he says. And if you won't hear him, you'll be cut off from among
the people. So they asked John, are you that prophet? And he
said no, because that prophet was the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then they said to him, Who art thou? They were frustrated that
we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou
of thyself? And then he quotes from Isaiah
chapter 40 verse 3. He said, So he says, I am the
one who fulfills that prophecy. Now it's important that he do
that because in doing that, what is he saying? The importance of my coming is
not me. It's in the one before whom I
come, the one whose way I came to prepare, to make straight.
And this you'll see in John the Baptist. This you will see in
John the Baptist, what he did here. Look at the next words.
He says, And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. And they
asked him, and said to him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou
be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet? Now you
would think that John would go into a long explanation of why
he baptizes at this point, wouldn't you? But notice the way he does
this. John immediately defers and he
says, John answered them saying, they're curious about him, but
he deflects it. I baptize you with water, but
there standeth one among you whom you know not. Now he immediately
does what? He puts all the attention on
the one whose way he came to prepare. Because, remember Isaiah
said, Every valley shall be exalted, every hill will be brought low,
and the way will be made straight before the Lord. What was John
the Baptist doing? We understand something about
who he was and his intent focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
what did he do? And this is where you see the
beauty of John the Baptist's ministry and how he came. First thing he does in his ministry
is he says, I'm just a voice. just a voice in the wilderness
crying, crying to prepare the way of the Lord. And the way
that he would do that, and you can see this throughout the Gospels,
I'm not going to take you through it all, is that he came preaching
in such a way And you'll see this in Matthew 11. He came preaching
in such a way that men were made to see their condition, their
spiritual condition before God. And that's important that we
understand that, because when Jesus tells John's disciples
that he sent to Jesus, He said, are you he that should come,
or do we look for another? He's showing John something in
his answer. A double thing, I think, that
he's doing here. Showing him that the reason John
came, which was to smash every hill and raise every valley and
make the way straight, was actually accomplished. And that what He
was sent to do had been accomplished. And that's what we're going to
see here. But notice, And John 1.25 again, they asked him, why
are you baptizing if you're not that Christ, nor Elijah, nor
that prophet? And John answered, I baptize you with water, but
there stands one among you whom you know not. He it is who coming
after me, his ministry began after John's, the Lord Jesus
Christ, after me is preferred before me. Whose shoes latched
I am not worthy to unloose. He's preferred because He was,
it says in another place, He was before me. Even though I
came later, I was born first, six months earlier, and came
first in the ministry, yet the Lord Jesus Christ was before
I was, and He's preferred before me. I'm not even... How much
greater is He? I can't even find the words to
describe it. What is the lowliest thing that
a servant can do, is to take the shoes off of someone else. That's the lowest form of service.
I'm not even worthy to do the lowest form of service for Him. That's what He said. And you
don't even know this one. That's how great he is. You don't
know him. Isn't that amazing? And these
things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was
baptizing. Verse 29. Now listen, here's what John
did. Notice there's these things that
John did. The next day, John seeth Jesus coming to him. And
he said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world. Here, John declares who Jesus
is, declares that He has come, and declares His work, all in
a short space of words. A very effective preacher. Verse
30, This is He, John says, of whom I said, After me cometh
a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And
I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore
am I come baptizing with water. Now he answers their question.
First, I want you to know who you need to be thinking about.
Not me. Him. You don't know Him? I'm not worthy
to unloose His sandal. He's that much better. He's preferred
before me, even though He comes after me, because He was before
me. He's the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. The Jews were looking for a king
to deliver them from their political enemies and he points them to
Christ. You see, there's so much confusion
in theology. There's people who think that
Christ coming first was to offer himself as a king to Israel because
they rejected him as king. Then he came as their savior
and they killed him and so on. But that's so much baloney. Here
John was sent to prepare his way and announces him. The purpose
of his coming was to accomplish the putting away of the sins
of his people. He's the Lamb of God. That's
his name. And that's what he would do.
He would offer himself to God and thereby put away their sins.
But then it says here, the reason I came baptizing was that he
should be made known to Israel. Do you see that? What was John's
purpose? To identify the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lamb of God. He's greater
than I am. So much greater, words can't
describe it. He was before me, even before
my birth and my coming. He's the one whose way I came
to prepare. And then he goes on, and he says
in verse 32, and John bear record saying, 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 with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God." So now John is identifying
Jesus not only by what he would do, but he says, I heard, he
didn't say it here, but we know he did. I heard the voice of
God the Father speaking from heaven. This is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. And I saw the Spirit of God descending
on Him. And this is the Son of God. He is the one who baptizes with
the Spirit of God. How great the Lord Jesus is.
He's God in the flesh. Who but God can baptize with
His own Spirit? Who but God can baptize with
God's Spirit? No one can. And so we see that
John preached who Jesus was and what he would do. He's the Son
of God. And he tells his disciples, look
at the next couple verses, again the next day after John stood
and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus, as he walked,
he said to these two, Behold the Lamb of God! And guess what
happened? The two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.
And one of them's name was Andrew. The other one, it doesn't say
who it was, but I think it was the man who wrote the Gospel
of John. It was John the Apostle. He was
first a disciple of John the Baptist, and he heard John the
Baptist speak, and now he's telling all about it. And he followed
Jesus. John was not interested in gathering
people around himself. He was interested in getting
people to see the Lord Jesus Christ. I came baptizing for
this purpose, that He might be made manifest to Israel. And
here he tells his disciples, Look! The Lamb of God! Which
takes away the sin of the world. He told the Pharisees. He didn't modify his message
by who was there. He just spoke it out. And then
over in John 3. John chapter 3, it says that
there was a question between some of John's disciples and
the Jews about purifying in verse 26. They came to John and they
said to him, they called him rabbi, he that was with thee
beyond Jordan to whom thou barest witness, behold the same baptizes
and all men come to him. They're speaking about Jesus,
but Jesus himself didn't actually baptize. And then it says in
verse 27, John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. What a powerful statement that
is. You can get nothing from God unless it's given to you
by grace. You yourselves bear me witness
that I said I'm not the Christ, but I'm sent before him. Listen
to what he says. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom. and then he identifies himself,
but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,
rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy
therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, I must decrease."
You see, John, he was not Like one of these preachers that is
a proverbial hellfire and damnation preacher, who goes about stirring
up the sheep into a frenzy, trying to get them to stampede to the
front of a church or something like that. They don't know what
to do. They're willing to do anything because they're scared
of going to hell. No, John, he made every mountain
He debased all of the trust that men had in their heritage as
Abraham's children. He says, don't think to yourselves
you have Abraham as your father. God's able to raise up stones
to Abraham. Don't trust in your heritage
to Abraham. And then he says, you generation
of vipers, who has warned you to flee the wrath to come? He
stripped away and exposed the hypocrisy, and then he also dealt
with specific sins. And this is why, when it says
in Isaiah that every hill would be made low and every valley
exalted, he's speaking of the effect that John's preaching
would have on the hearts of his hearers. All those, the pride
of men would be brought low, And those who were debased because
of their guilt and the condemnation of sin and their helplessness
under it, they would be exalted because they would see that their
hope is in Christ. John's message was to bring men
and women to Christ. He wasn't interested in getting
attention to himself. In fact, his joy was fulfilled
only when God's people were brought to the Lord Jesus Christ. If
we understand that, then we understand something about John the Baptist.
What a powerful preacher he was. May God give us a heart like
his. And so back in Matthew chapter
11, I'm giving you that background now, because if you remember
in Matthew chapter 10, what did Jesus say in verse 39? We spent
some time on that last week. He says, "...he that findeth
his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake
shall find it." And here we have immediately John the Baptist
thrown into prison. What do we learn? We learn that
the Lord Jesus is identifying him as an example that fulfills
what he said here. John the Baptist was about to
lose his life for Christ's sake. And John the Baptist, in losing
his life for Christ's sake, found his life. But, if we try to retain
our life. John the Baptist wasn't interested
in retaining his life. everything from it. Far from
it, wasn't he? He lived a life, you would say
he was an ascetic life, separated. He wore leather britches and
camel's hair. And you think, you know, we're
worried about what people wear to church. John the Baptist was
a preacher and he wore these rough clothes. I'm not suggesting
we all come in here in shorts and sandals, but it's not about
the way we dress, is it? It's about It's about the ministry. It's about who we preach. It's
about the desire of our heart. It's about bringing men and women
to Christ. It's about them coming to Christ.
And so, here we see him as an example, a premier example of
the work of grace in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit of
God causing him to be willing to lose his life. Not even thinking,
giving it a second thought. Everything I have. All of his
life was spent in the service of Christ. His way. I come to
prepare the way before Him. To preach Him. To identify Him. To point His people to Him. And
to so squash the pride of man, and to point weak and trembling
souls to Christ, that they would see only Him. That was His ministry.
And so we see in chapter 11, verse 1, it came to pass when
Jesus had made an end of commanding His 12 disciples, He departed
to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard
in the prison, the works of Christ. John was in prison. Why? Because
he preached against the adulterous marriage of Herod and Herodias,
who had formerly been Philip's wife. Philip was Herod's brother. Herodias was very mad at John,
the woman. She must have wanted to commit
adultery as equally as Herod, the tea-truck, Herod the king.
And so here they are in this open and adulterous relationship.
Not only that, but Herod had done many other things. And John
comes and speaks to him against that. Herod throws him into prison. While he's in prison, this woman
that he adulterously married had a daughter who danced before
Herod. And Herod, oh, she's just such
a wonderful girl. I'll give you anything you ask
for, up to half my kingdom. And she asks her mom, she says,
Mom, what should I ask for? asked for the head of John the
Baptist on a plate. And so Herod was sorry because
he feared that John was a prophet, but he went in and had the executioner
cut off John the Baptist's head and give it to this woman on
a plate. What a cruel, senseless reason
for killing this man. And so when you see this in verse
2, John was in prison. He knew it was the end of his
life. And he heard in the prison the
works of Christ. Don't you see the mercy of God
there? When we are in any affliction, in any trouble, in prison, especially
for the persecution of Christ, what is it that we want to hear
about? Tell me again what Jesus has done. Tell me the old, old
story. That's what I need. That's the
light in prison I need. And so John hears of the works
of Christ, and he sends two of his disciples. Again, we see
John here, the selflessness of John. But also, not only sending
his disciples for their sakes, but he doesn't send them for
their sakes alone, because look at what he says in the next verse.
He says, Ask Jesus this, Are thou he that should come, or
do we look for another? Now John the Baptist was putting
himself right alongside his disciples. Do we look for another? What
was the one thing John needed? What was the one thing in life
he looked for? Christ. He looked for him. He trusted
in him. He longed to see him and to be
with him, to serve him. That was his life's goal. Like the Apostle Paul said, oh
that I might know him and be in the power of his resurrection,
be made conformable unto his death. And so John the Baptist
sends these two disciples to Jesus. Are you he? Have you ever
wondered sometime, is this true? Lord, you go to him, Lord, do
I believe correctly? Is it true? Is it possible that
I could be saved entirely by your grace because of the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Can I truly know God in Christ? Is it true? And we ask the Lord,
Lord, would you show me again from scripture? And so he sends
his disciples. Do we look for another? Do we
look for another? Is only trust and hope? Are you
it? Notice Jesus' answer. And Jesus
answered and said to them, Go and show John again those things
which you do hear and see. John had seen the Lord's Christ. He said, I knew him not, but
he that sent me to baptize said, On whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending like a dove? He's the one who baptizes with
the Holy Ghost. And when he saw him, he said,
This is the Son of God. This is the Lord's Christ. This
is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And
He proclaimed Him. He knew who He was, and yet here
He is in prison. At the end of His life, He knows
it's drawing to a close. Did you ever wonder, why didn't
Jesus bring someone like John the Baptist, this powerful man,
this powerful preacher, why didn't He call him to be an apostle?
Why didn't he make him one of his disciples? And bring him
in, comes in, instead of letting him go into prison. Why couldn't
Jesus command the doors of the prison to open and let him go?
Well, what would John do if he was? He'd be right back in Herod's
face telling him, you're wrong! And they'd be wanting to throw
him in prison again. He's not going to stop changing his message.
He's got to preach so that men are driven to Christ. And that
they're shamed and exposed for those who hate him. But you see,
it's like what the Lord told Peter. Look at John chapter 21.
I love this. This place in John. He says here, in verse 21. Verse 18 of John chapter 21,
Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep. In verse 18 he says, In
other words, this is the way you're going to die. Verse 19,
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify
God, And when he had spoken this,
he saith to Peter, Follow me. And Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved, that would be John, which also
leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, what
shall this man do? And I love Jesus' answer here.
Jesus said to him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. Why did the Lord
put John in prison? It pleased Him. He had fulfilled
His course. He had completed His ministry.
He had done what God wanted Him to do. Why am I not somebody
else that I'm not? Why am I not someone who is put
in a position to influence thousands or some great thing? What is
that to you? You follow Christ and let the
Lord do with you what He will. That's what we should think,
right? And so in Matthew chapter 11 he says to him, Go and show
John again those things which you do hear and see. Look at
this. The blind receive their sight.
Verse 5 of Matthew 11. The blind receive their sight.
The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. And
the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. Remember what you were
sent to do, John? To prepare the way before me? To squash every mountain and
to raise up every valley? He that exalts himself shall
be abased, but he that is humbled, God's going to beat. James said
in James 1, 8 and 9, he says, If you're the brother of low
degree, rejoice that you're exalted, but if you're a brother of high
degree, rejoice that you're made low. Here John the Baptist had
preached to the people in such a way that they were made low
spiritually. They were impacted by what he
said so that they were made to see. That they were blind and
lame, lepers, deaf, dead, and that they were poor before God.
Now here it's described by what Jesus did and He actually did
these things. He did open the eyes of the blind,
even while John's disciples were there, watching him, listening
to him. He opened the eyes of the blind. He cleansed lepers.
He opened the ears of the deaf. He raised the dead. And to the
poor, the gospel were preached. And this is a prophecy from the
Old Testament. So I see a number of things that
Jesus was doing here by what He said to John's disciples. First of all, He's showing His
disciples and John what He did. Jesus is telling John about what
He did. He gives sight to the blind.
What is a blind person? A blind person can't see. Can't
see what? Trees and things? Well, that's
true. But in a spiritual sense, what can't we see? We can't see
spiritual things. We cannot see any reason why
God or how God could justify an ungodly sinner like me. I
can't see any beauty in Christ. I don't know my need of Christ.
All the things that are spiritual sight, we don't have it. We're
blind. We're blind to our condition.
Blind to Christ. The salvation that's in Christ.
We're blind to His greatness. And we're blind to our own foolishness. We're blind. And the Lord opens
the eyes of the blind. And He makes the lame to walk. A lame man can't do anything.
He can't walk in God's ways. He can't walk in faith. He can't
walk in anything. He's lame. Have you ever felt
The frustration of hearing the gospel and not being able to
do anything about it in your own heart and life. You can't
make it happen. That's what these people were.
They were lame and blind. They couldn't do anything. And
Jesus tells John, now listen, this is what I did. I've made
the blind see, the lame to walk, the lepers are cleansed, all
these things. only Christ would do this. It
says this throughout the Old Testament in Isaiah. I could
take you to several places in Isaiah where it says this, and
I'll just mention them in passing. If you're interested, you can
look them up later. But in Isaiah chapter 40, 35, 5 and 6, Isaiah 61, 1 and 2, Isaiah
42, 1 through 8, Isaiah 29, 18 through 19. All these places
are about prophecies about what Christ would do when He comes,
and it has to do with these same conditions. The Lord Jesus Christ
healed physically these things because spiritually by His work
on the cross He was going to do these things to men's souls.
He was going to open their eyes and heal their sin sickness and
raise them from spiritual death and so on. But John's preaching
made men know these things so he had accomplished that work
so that when Christ came, guess what? All these people were flocking
to Him. Remember what happened when Jesus
was going around teaching and preaching and healing the sick?
The publicans and sinners were like magnetized. They were drawn
to Him. Why? I think because John had
been preaching effectively, the Spirit of God had been working
in these harlots and in these publicans and in these soldiers
who had been, they knew they were violating God's law and
they even asked John, what do we do? What do we do? And he
tells the publicans, he said, don't take any more than is appropriate
for you to take. And to the soldiers, he says,
don't do violence to any man. And don't bear false witness
against any. And all these things He would
tell them. All this made them feel the guilt and the condemnation
of their sin. And when Christ comes, they're
so drawn to Him, because they see themselves poor, naked, wretched,
blind, and spiritually in need. And so, the Lord Jesus is telling
John, number one, I'm the one spoken of in Scripture. Number
two, this is what I came to do. Number three, the ministry you
were sent to accomplish has been effective. God has done that.
And what was John's desire? That these same people would
be brought to Christ. And so what would he know in
hearing this from Jesus? Guess what? The bride is brought
to the bridegroom. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2,
look at this, what Paul says. He says in 1 Thessalonians chapter
2, This was the heart of Paul, this
was the heart of John. He says in verse 19, What is
our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in
the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ? It is coming. You are
our glory and joy. He speaks to the Thessalonians.
He says the one thing that we wanted out of all of the ministry
is that you would be brought to Christ and we would stand
before Him in glory and you would be presented to Him faultless,
blameless before Him in love. That's the purpose of His eternal
election. That's the purpose of Christ's
redemption. That's the purpose of the Spirit of God given to
you in the preaching of the gospel that you might hear and look
to Christ and be brought through life, conform to His image and
glory, and stand before Him faultless and blameless, and speak, how
can it be, saved by grace, by Christ alone, and we would be
there with you, just beside you, wondering and thinking about
the glory of our Savior, that He would save us and we would
stand there rejoicing together. Jesus speaks these words to John,
and I think that it has that impact on him and his disciples. A man in prison, about to die,
looking at the end of his life, and what is he thinking here? Look at Romans chapter 8. What
is he thinking? He's thinking he's just a man.
He has the Spirit of God, but God ministers to us as men. And He causes us all to have
the same thing. Remember Elijah? He, when he's
running from Jezebel, he says, I'm the only one left. Lord,
take my life. And the Lord didn't take his life. He didn't take
his life. He sent him on to do other things. Romans chapter
8 verse 34. Who is he that condemns us? Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. No. Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. John, you're
in prison. You're about to die. Don't you
see your life is over? Shouldn't you be gloomily downcast,
feeling like it's the end and just, oh, so sad? No, no. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Yes, we're counted as sheep for
the slaughter, but what greater honor is there than that my life
would be laid down for the purpose, and for the pleasure, and for
the honor of my Savior. That He would gain from my life
and from my death. He would gain. How would He gain?
By His work. He would do it. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at Romans chapter 14. Romans
chapter 14. I love these verses. It speaks
to the reason of our life. The reason of our life. Verse
7. None of us lives to himself. No man dies to himself. But you
think, wait a minute. Now I want to get a job. I want
to have money. I want to have a house and a family. I want
to do all these things. I've got big plans. I've got to fill my plans.
What are you talking about? No man lives to himself. You
were not put here to live your life for yourself. You were not. I was not. He says no man lives
to himself and no man dies to himself. Whether we live, we
live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the
Lord. Whether we live therefore or
die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died
and rose and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead
and the living." You see, even the Lord Jesus Christ didn't
live for Himself. He lived and died for His people. Why should we think anything
greater than He? We don't live like John the Baptist.
We do not live for ourselves. Our life is not our own. You're
bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your soul, which are Christ's. It's the reasonable
service that a sinner, a poor sinner, saved by grace, would,
in finding his debt fully paid, in thankful obedience to his
Lord, lay down everything for him, and yet in all of his obedience
he would never take any stock in what he had done, but always
look to Christ as his all." That's what a poor person does. A poor
person doesn't say, I've got the gospel, I can go for it now,
I can do what I want to do, finally I'm free to do whatever I want
and go back to my sinful life, living for myself. No, no. A poor person comes with the
gospel and says, Lord, you've bought me, you've purchased me,
you've freed me from my sin, and it's my sin that I need to
be freed from. It's the riches of your grace
that enriches me, and all I want now is to give my life for my
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he says here. If
you lose your life, you'll find it. But if you try to hold on
to it, you're going to lose it. And so John the Baptist is this
premier example. Now, we know what John did, but
I want to make reference to one of the things. When God sent a prophet, he always
gave the prophet something to do that was a signification,
a sign of what his message was. Remember John the Baptist? Remember
the miracles that he did? I don't, because there were none.
John the Baptist did no miracle, it says. There was not one miracle
that he did. There is not one recorded because
it says in scripture that he did no miracle. What did he do
then? He just went around preaching. But he did one other thing, didn't
he? He baptized. Remember? The prophet was given
one sign. He baptized. Putting people under
the water. They came to him in Jordan. They
came confessing their sins, and he preached to them. He preached
repentance, and if they repented of their sins, then he baptized
them. But it wasn't just repenting.
Look at Acts chapter 19. I want you to see this. John's
baptism was the same baptism to which we're baptized, but
we have a clearer light. Look at Acts chapter 19. I'm
looking at the wrong book. Acts chapter 19. wherever I was
looking. He says here in Acts 19, it came
to pass in verse 1, it came to pass that while Apollos was at
Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came
to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, said to them, Have
you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said to
him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said to them, unto what then were you baptized? Notice
there's an implicit expectation that if they believe, they're
also baptized. Because he said, since you believed,
and he said, well then what were you baptized? And they said,
unto John's baptism. Then Paul, explaining, said,
So John's baptism wasn't just, REPENT! STOP DOING YOUR WICKEDNESS
AND GET UNDER THE WATER! No, it was repent and look to
Christ, because that's the gospel message. Turn away from all that
you trust in, abandon all that you are, and look to Him only.
Yes, turn away from your sins, but how are you going to do that?
You've got to look to Christ and receive from Him all the
grace you need. Repentance is a gift of God.
Both are turning from sin and are looking to Christ. But John's
message was turn in repentance toward God and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he preached Christ.
He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold
the Lamb of God! Look at Him! Look at Him! Look
at Him! That's what he said over and
over. So his baptizing then was a message about Christ. Well
what was baptism designed to show then? Well, when they came
to Him, they were baptized confessing their sins. Only sinners needed
to be baptized, because they came to Him confessing their
sins, and He's preached the baptism of repentance. Well then, when
Jesus came to Him, we might ask, well why did the Lord Jesus come
and be baptized? Again, Baptism teaches us something. And the thing that John was given,
the same message he preached, was the sign he was given to
perform. It was a vivid illustration of
the message. What he was saying was, in baptizing
the Lord Jesus Christ was all that God all that God required
of His Son to do for His people, He would fulfill in His obedience
unto death. He would take their sins to Himself,
and He would go under the flood of God's wrath, illustrated by
His going under the water, and be buried illustrated by his
immersion under the water. And then he would be raised up
out of the water, illustrating his resurrection, having conquered
death, and rising in justification for his people. So baptism taught,
the baptism of Christ taught what he was about to do. He asked
his disciples, are you able to be baptized with a baptism with
which I will be baptized? Speaking of his death, and they
said, oh yeah, we're able. Well, you're going to be, he
says. But he was speaking there about his death because his baptism
by John pointed forward to what he would accomplish in his death.
His baptism was picturing his atoning work for his people in
his death, in his burial, in his resurrection. And he told
John, "...it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." Because in
his obedience to God, By being baptized, He was showing that
in His death, He would be fulfilling all that God's eternal will was
for His people, and thereby establishing their everlasting righteousness.
Christ's death, His baptism, is explained by 2 Corinthians
5.21. God hath made Him sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He who knew no sin was made what
he was not, sin. We who knew no righteousness
were made what we were not in Him, the righteousness of God.
That's what Christ's baptism meant. And it signified His union
with His people, because the only way He could save them is
if they were accounted As Him, when He died, when He was buried,
when He rose, it was counted as their history before God.
Everything He did was done in their name to God. Although He
was the one doing it. in their place. So Christ's baptism
signifies His union with His people in His atoning work and
His success in that work in establishing our everlasting righteousness.
And our baptism is a reciprocal of that. It signifies our union
with Christ and His work for us. We confess in our baptism
that my only hope of being received by God is dying with Christ,
buried with Him, risen with Him, God justifying me by what He
thinks of His Son. That's what baptism means. So
when we're baptized, we're confessing, I'm a sinner, and I'm saved by
what Christ has done. That's it. That's it. And that's
what John was sent to do. To preach Christ and to baptize. And so the disciples, after Jesus
ascends to heaven, before he goes, he says, "...all power
is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore into all
the world." baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I've commanded you." So you see this John the Baptist, what a
man, an illustration of the man who lost his life and found it
for Christ, lost his life for Christ's sake and found it in
the process. What an illustration of a man who served Christ with
a whole heart and by the enabling grace of the Spirit of God, and
who was used so mightily to bring men and women to Christ, pointing
them to Christ. This was his ministry, both in
his word and in his sign, the sign of baptism that he was given
to perform. He's quite a man. And yet, if you asked him, he
would tell you, you need to behold the Lamb of God. you need to
behold him, wouldn't he? If he was here today, his leather
britches and his camel hair and his locusts and honey, he would
probably be intimidating, wouldn't he? You would be intimidated
because you would not have any kind of pretense. He would expose
these things that we use to cover ourselves up and hide ourselves
behind our silly religion and these other things and we would
be by the Spirit of God, driven to confess, I'm nothing, I need
a Savior. Oh Lord, save me by your grace.
Let's pray. Father, thank you that you have
illustrated to us your saving power in a man's life, and the
power of your Spirit to use him, to point men and women to Christ,
and that we are just like him. We need a Savior, and we seek
him in all of our trouble, as John did in prison. And we hear
of his work, and we hear of his fulfilling Scripture, and we
know that our salvation is not in what we do or what we think,
but in what he's done and what God thinks about him. Thank you,
Lord, that it's not the strength of our faith, but the strength
of our Savior that saves us. Thank you, Lord, that we can
look to Him and cry and say, Lord, look upon me, a dead dog
sinner, and preach your gospel to my heart. Receive me for Christ's
sake. Don't consider my sins, but look
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive full satisfaction from
Him for me. and receive His obedience as
mine. And let me come to You, rejoicing in this salvation,
glorying in Your grace. And it's in His name we pray,
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.