I want to implore you, please,
listen to the Word of God. Read the Scripture. Put it in
your heart and in your mind. There is no power of God in the
life of His people apart from His Word. Period. So we can come
to all sorts of things. We can consider all different
ways to approach life, but without the scripture, there is no life.
There's no life in us without the scripture. For Jesus Christ
is the word and in his word, we find life. We finished the
prologue of John's gospel. And what you're going to find
now as we move now into week 12 of this teaching, is that
we have an extreme change in tone, an extreme change in the
literature itself. I mean, think about what we've
learned over the last 12 weeks. We have come to the scripture
seeing all the incredible intricacies of God's glory, looking at Jesus
Christ as the incarnate word, who is the God of eternity, who
was here in the beginning, who is God and was with God and created
all things. We see that God, as Jesus Christ,
who is God, has established and perfected salvation and redemption
of His people. That He is the light of the life
of men, and so on, and so on. We've seen the inability of men
to be able to see and behold the glory of God through the
face of Jesus Christ, except that God do a mighty work of
regenerating them and opening our eyes and opening our hearts
and minds to see and believe. We've seen just in the prologue
the outline of the gospel of how the rest of these chapters,
all 21 of them, are going to continue to illustrate the focus
on Jesus Christ, the focus on the redemption of God, the focus
on those who cannot believe are actually enabled to believe because
of the grace of God and the power of God. We've seen that those
who believe, those who receive Jesus positively in the context
of their faith have been born not of their will or their decision
or their bloodline or their genealogy or their ministry or their heritage,
but they've been born of God. And we will see all of these
things played out. But in verse six of the prologue, we see now
there was a man sent from God. And we know that that is a sort
of a preview of the evangelist who we know as John the Baptist.
And John the Baptist, it's important to understand that in this prologue,
as we see this outline, then we see, starting in verse 19,
which is where we'll be this morning, as we'll be in verses
19 through 28, that the outline there in verse 6, 7, and 8 of
John 1 actually begins to unfold starting in verse 18. So we'll
see this morning that John the Baptist was the man sent from
God, verse 6, whose name was John. Verse 7, he came as a witness
to bear witness about the light that all might believe through
him. Verse 8, he was not the light but came to bear witness
about the light and the certainty then within who is the light.
See verse 9, the true light, who is Jesus Christ, was coming
into the world. And the word became flesh and
dwelt among us, came into the world. Through Jesus Christ comes
grace and truth through Moses, the law was given. We looked
at the contrast that there is no salvation in the law. There
is no salvation at all in any obedience. There is no pleasing
in the pleasure of God looking upon us graciously because we
live a certain way or act a certain way or dress a certain way or
speak a certain way or eat a certain way, et cetera, that makes God
pleased with us. Salvificly, God is only pleased. Righteously, God is only pleased.
In His holiness, God is only pleased through the obedience
of the God-man, Jesus Christ. There has been no other man or
woman or child who has existed or will ever exist on earth that
satisfies God's holy requirements to be perfect and holy and righteous
and just, just as I am, says God. except Jesus Christ, who
is the God of heaven become flesh. What I want us to see here is
that as we get started to be reminded of these things is that
John's testimony is not exclusive, though it says there in verse
seven, he came as a witness to bear witness about the light
that all might believe through him. And if you remember when
we preached that some weeks ago, I talked about God's sovereign
decree, His purpose and plan of how He established John the
Baptist to be the precursor of His earthly ministry before John
the Baptist ever existed. Before the world ever existed. So that God's grace toward His
people is eternal. It is not something that He decided
upon. It is something that He's always
desired. Something that He's always purposed.
It's a very troubling mystery for us. But sometimes we take,
just as we've been studying Romans on our midweek service on Wednesdays,
sometimes we take what we see in scripture, and we want to
identify ourselves with people like John the Baptist. We want
to identify ourselves with people like the Apostle Paul. Or we
want to be like Peter. And we start saying, well, I'm
going to be like this guy, or I'm going to be like this guy, or I'm going
to be like this person. And we try to find a personality
in the Old or New Testament to which we can affix ourself, and
our character, and our calling, and our personality, and our
life, et cetera. But friends, we cannot do that for the standard
alone is Jesus Christ. Paul would tell the church of
Ephesus that the purpose of the church, one of the purposes of
the church is to grow up into the full maturity of manhood,
which is the stature of Jesus and his humanity, that absolute
perfection. And it's not long before he gives
that instruction that he's told just how the church establishes
such righteousness, and that is through the obedience of Jesus
Christ. That we are not able to, in the best of our morality,
uphold any of the law of God in any essence, none whatsoever. And if we did, let's just say
that we did, let's just say that the scripture didn't say that
the righteous works of men are filthy rags. Let's just pretend
that's not in there for a moment. Even if we did, we cannot fully
keep it. So though we may muster up some
good morals and some good ethics, which are required of us, required
of all humanity, even unbelievers have that requirement. It is
not effectual for God's pleasure toward us. We don't get rewarded
for doing that which we are supposed to do, but definitely we are
going to pay the consequences of failing to do that which is
required of us. Which is why the gospel is called the gospel.
It's why it's called the good news. It's why we are here in
this text this week and over the next few years to grow as
a people into maturity, to understand that we're not looking at the
standard of John the Baptist as our ministry. What a weak
and pathetic standard. What a worthless standard, as
we'll see in just a minute. We're not trying to be the Apostle
Paul who was an absolute loser. We're not trying to be the Apostle
James. We're not looking to try to be anything except to follow
after Christ. And follow after Christ by faith
that we might fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, not
in our flesh and in our abilities, but by trusting in the One who
did. As we learned yesterday in our men's gathering, that
faith that saves, is faith in the One who justifies. And the
One who justifies is the One who has given us the righteousness
of the One who has obeyed. And He is Jesus Christ. That
is what salvation is. That Christ is atoned for our
sins and He's satisfied the wrath of God. That we no longer are
held accountable. We no longer have the burden
of trying to overcome the guilt of our sinfulness. Because Jesus
Christ has taken not only our guilt, but he's taken the command
of our obedience upon himself and fulfilled it perfectly. So
friends, we don't come today to try to see that John the Baptist
is our standard. We are not here today to model
our lives after John the Baptist. We are here today that we might
grow in the likeness of Christ, through grace, by the Word of
God, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes also in our
culture, we think that certain peoples are called out to evangelism
and that those are the peoples through which God is going to
expand his kingdom. You might find it very interesting
that after John the Baptist was murdered, after he was killed
by the order of Herod, actually against his best desires, after
his head was taken from his body and placed on a silver platter
and brought before him, that there were no more evangelists.
There were no more evangelists coming. The apostles didn't come
around and start saying, OK, we've got to get evangelists.
We've got to do this. We've got to do that. But who are the evangelists?
The people of God. The small, minute, silent, sometimes
undetectable witness of the most insignificant persons, like the
woman of Sychar, became an evangelist where she went back to her town,
having been a fallen woman living in sin, but greatly despised
by the piety of those people who were rejected by God, not
only not only in genealogically and historically, but by their
own self righteousness. She was rejected by them because
she did not live the life that they thought she should live.
She was rejected by them because she had many lovers. She was
rejected by them because she was considered a harlot. And
yet she became an evangelist to the people of Sychar. She
comes to Sychar in John chapter 4 and she says, Behold, I have
met a man that has told me everything that I have ever done. Could
he be Messiah? And later on in that discourse
and that understanding of what we see that John recorded, we
see that the narrative goes sort of like this. She became an evangelist
to bear witness about the light who was Jesus Christ, who offered
her living water that she did not understand. And then all
of a sudden, the witness of this Samaritan woman transferred to
no longer be of importance, did it? Because the witness that
she bore began to point to whom? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is
the light. He's the truth. He is the way.
And so they begin to look at Christ and they actually testify.
It is no longer what you have told us is why we believe, but
because we have seen and heard it with our own eyes and ears.
We believe we have a testimony of Jesus. And that's what John
is recording here with John the Baptist. He was just the first.
And yes, the words of John the Baptist are not recorded at length. The ministry of John the Baptist
was very short. It was very weak. But it was
very powerful. And he's not a special someone
to be exalted or admonished. Why do we do that? We'll look
at it later. But ultimately, what I want you
to see is that as we begin, the testimony of John the Baptist
is not exclusive. It's not exclusive. This is not
the evangelist for Jesus. He's just the beginning. He was
the beginning of the human witness in the world. He was the one
through whom all men would be made aware of the true light.
And it is his testimony that was given to us. That John would
even exclaim in his first epistle, that which was from the beginning
has been manifest to us and we now proclaim to you. Beloved,
let us not fall after the devil's trap of thinking that the evangelism
is the call of some people. It is the call of pastors. It's
not the call of pastors. It is the call of evangelists.
It's not the call of evangelists. It's the call of every human
being who bears the name Christ. It is the call and the command
of everyone who has the banner of God. in Jesus Christ. Just as we look at Paul's writing
to Timothy and then also to Titus as he shows the whole and the
combination of those attributes and the things that ought to
be continually watched and guarded for those men who call themselves
elders and overseers. These are not specifically for
them. This is for the whole of every Christian. It is why church
membership is necessary. It's why church discipline is
necessary. Anyone who does, who fails to meet these things in
the assembly is put out of the assembly if they are not corrected. But see, we often think that
pastors are held to a different standard. We're not. Evangelists
held to a different standard. Apostles held to a different
standard. We are all one body, so what standard would there
be of holiness and righteousness and cleanliness for my right
hand that my left hand would not also have to follow? Or what
sterile environment would need to be for my eye that would not
also be for my mouth? Or for my ears or for my heart?
We have to pay close attention. that we're not putting a light
on those who preach and not putting a light of adoration on those
who speak and not putting a light of honor and glory on those who
are witnesses of Jesus. Because, beloved, we're all witnesses
of Jesus. And through the frailest of witness,
God can bring the greatest of life. John was the first domino, is
the way I look at it, in a long succession of believers. And
he came and he tilted over. And as he tilted, he knocked
himself into the next. And as we see these this effect,
beloved, look around. We are all witnesses of Jesus.
I mean, even the cults understand that somewhat. The Jehovah's
Witnesses understand that each of them are vitally necessary
to the continuation of the exposing the light of who they call is
God in error. John 15, 16, Jesus says these
words, I have to go there. You did not choose me, but I
chose you and appointed you that you should go and hear these
words carefully, bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
So that whatever you ask the father in my name, they may give
it to you. Now, for those of you who have been with us on
Wednesdays, you understand that the apostolic authority brought
with it absolute supernatural certainty of salvation, that
when the apostles' teaching went out into the world, people came
to faith. It wasn't like the days of Jeremiah
or Noah, where they just didn't listen, they didn't hear. Some
did not hear, but many believed. Beloved, I believe that that's
the same place we are today. in the age of the church, that
if we take the word of God out, people will be saved. Why aren't people coming to faith?
Because in a hundred people, maybe one might share it. In
a thousand people, maybe ten might share it. The fruit that Jesus is talking
about in John 15, of course, we can always stick the can back
to faith alone in Him. But the abiding and the growth
of that fruit, what? Is that more people would come
to believe. The fruit of those apostles is
that they would continue to teach. The fruit of the church is that
it is growing. But see, we have manipulated,
we've been manipulated by the culture in which we live. And
over the last few hundred years, we've seen incredible demise
of the power of the gospel. We've seen that people are more
willing to... invest time in relationships
and try to get people's morals and ethics transferred rather
than just proclaiming the simplicity of the gospel that all men are
subject to the wrath of God's righteousness and are guilty
before Him. But Jesus Christ took it and
has proven Himself to be God and been raised from the dead.
That if you believe that God saved you through Christ, you
have eternal life. Why is it so hard to pull that
question or that statement, rather, out of our mouths? I don't know. There's been many things that
I've written through the years that I've posited, many philosophies
that I've considered. But ultimately, we go to Ephesians
6 to realize that there is a war against us, that we'd rather
consider our lives and the time that we have of how we're going
to become better. how we're going to be closer
or what we're going to do and how our life's going to be affected
when the very nature of the church is that we're considering the
lives of each other, that we're considering how we might make
disciples of one another, how we might grow. And in our weakness,
someone else is having to carry that like a burden. And then
we are also carrying the burden of others and their weakness
so that we might grow in the unity of the faith, the evangel,
the good news, the gospel. It's not just John the Baptist.
It's not exclusive. The fruit of the church is the
continued witness of Jesus Christ to the world. And beloved, these
statements are not made to bring guilt. If you have guilt in your
heart and conscience right now, you're not hearing the gospel.
For therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus. Why then, pray tell, should we have guilt in
our own consciousness about what God has said we are no longer
guilty for? We are free, beloved, for the Son has set us free.
Let us rise. If we forget to eat this morning
because of time or poor planning, do we blow ourselves off of eating
forever? Do we agonize over the fact that
we skipped a meal, poor food that didn't get eaten, poor body
that didn't get filled? Oh, woe is me, I'm a horrible
person because I didn't consume my breakfast. But no, but we
do that when we do not consume the Word. We do that when we
do not pray effectually or as often as we should. We do not
do that when we miss out on church for no good reason because we're
just busy or tired or weak. We beat ourselves up when we
fail to share the gospel. Oh, I'm so guilty. But that is
not the place of the Christian. I am guilty of not doing that
which God's called me to do. I am guilty of not fulfilling
the call of God in my life perfectly. But Christ is my refuge. In Him
shall I hide. On the rock that I shall stand.
He is the foundation of my faith. So I stand bold before the throne
of grace, not the throne of judgment. The witness of Christ is not
the role of a few zealous, a few zealots, but of every small,
insignificant, minute believer whom Christ has saved. Now let's
look at it. Let's get that introduction in
verses 6-9 very quickly as a way of reminder. There was a man
sent from God whose name was John 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9. He came as a witness, to bear
witness about the light that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the
world. Several things in reminder. He was sent from God, but was
not the light. Hear that. He was sent from God,
but was not the light. Now, what should we take away
from this? Because what you'll see in John's answers, the Pharisees
have sent some priests and some Levites to go inquire, and you'll
find it very interesting why they're upset. As you see the
text here, it spells it out. But as we look at that, what
we'll see is in these first few verses, there are these three
things. He was sent by God, but he was not the light. He was
sent to bear witness that all might believe through him. Those
three things. These next three sections of John the Baptist's
testimony illustrates those three things. Remember we tell on you
over the last 11 weeks, this is an outline for the entire
text. It's there. It starts here. And
so here is this not the light. Well, why is that important?
So people don't look at John. So people don't follow John.
So people don't look after John's ministry. So people don't covet
John's ministry. So people don't say, well, I'm a disciple of
John. Is this not the very thing that happened? Is it not the
disciples of John coming to him and saying, look, look at our,
look at our, look at your disciples going to Jesus. And John says,
the bridegroom gets the bride. I must decrease so that he may
increase. And God's ordained purpose in
that was that his head would be taken from his body. John,
even in prison, said, you know what? I need you guys to go and
watch Jesus a little bit because I might have made a big mistake.
That's a paraphrase. That's what happened. John was
in the midst of his imprisonment, facing execution. He was thinking,
well, maybe I have made a mistake. I might've picked the wrong guy.
Behold, the Lamb of God. Oh my goodness, did I point to
the wrong man? Did I baptize the wrong one? Did the voice
I hear from heaven, was it fake? And could you imagine? Why? Because
that's what our flesh does. But he's not the light. Let's
apply that to our own lives for a moment. We are not the light
for people. We are not the answer to other
people's problems. We are not the rock on which
other people can stand. We are not the shoulder in which
we will carry them through the burdens of this life. We are
not the ones that will save anyone. We're not. And others cannot
use us as their excuse. Well, James didn't lead me the
correct way. So it goes both ways. We can't
look to someone else and say, well, they're the reason. They're the one. They left. I
remember leaving a pastor at one time and having a support
group of men, four men. And then when I left, 80% of
those men went back into addiction because I was no longer there.
And I got a letter from one of their wives about six months
after, just basically condemning me because I dared to follow
God someplace else because I was the reason that her husband went
back to drugs. And I believed that it was. That's
not what Scripture teaches. That's not what Scripture teaches.
If we are looking to each other as our hope, we have lost sight
of the light. John the Baptist was not the
light. We are not the change agent for salvation. Yes, can
we encourage each other? Absolutely. Are we supposed to?
Yes. That's the reason we assemble together. That we learn together,
and grow together, and pray together, and worship together, and encourage
each other, and be accountable, and step on each other's toes,
and wipe each other's feet off a little bit sometimes in service,
and all sorts of things. But we do it, but none of us
can actually change the other. Only God can do that. Only Christ
can change us. Only the Gospel can change us.
Only the Word can change us. So we're off the hook. We point
people to Jesus. We teach them the scriptures.
We pray for them. We share life with them. We carry
each other's burdens. But all the while, we're pointing
to the light. We're pointing to the light. We're pointing
to the light. Well, I just can't do that, some people tell me. There's
no way I can do what you're telling me to do. I'm not telling you
to do it. The scripture's telling you to do it. So God's telling
you to do it. Jesus says you've been equipped to do it. So do
it. Well, I can't. You've spoken
well that you say you can't. I'm trying to be like Jesus.
You've spoken the truth when you said you'd have no husband,
but you've had four. And the man you live with now
is not your husband. We are to recognize that we're
not the light. We're to point people to Christ,
share the witness of Christ, teaching scripture, teaching
the gospel, praying for others. And the outcome of it all is
not that people's lives would be changed. And this is going
to sound so antithetical to what we think as American Christians,
but our purpose in being together and sharing the gospel is not
for a changed life. That's what 40 Days of Purpose
will tell you, that's what Purposeful Church will tell you, that's
what all this secret sensitivity will tell you. It's we're not
trying to change people's lives. I mean, because I could with psychology
change people's lives. I could with magic tricks change
people's lives. If I take some illusions that
I've been doing since I was six years old, I mean I had a woman one
time that I produced a coin and then a sponge ball, a clown nose
type thing, from nothing, in the mall at Roanoke. When me
and a fellow magician were standing there, she comes up and says,
what do y'all do? Well, we're magicians, we're tricksters, we're just
sort of talking shop right here. We're actually having a Bible
study, but she interrupted it. She says, well, I was in India one
time and I saw a man who could produce matter. And we just looked
at each other and got this kiddish six-year-old grin on her face.
She's like, oh, wow. You mean like that? You know? Oh! Oh, my gosh. Y'all have that gift. Y'all have
that gift. I said, woman, if I could produce matter, I wouldn't
be making sponges and retired copper. We'd be making some gold
or whatever it might be. But she was convinced we had
powers. So we could change her life.
I could have changed her life to make her think I was a man
with power. She'd have followed me anywhere, given me anything.
We can change people's life by giving them a lot of money. We
can change people's life by taking everything they have. We could encourage people and
give them good self-esteem and their life could change. We could
sit them in front of a motivational speaker and tell them that they
can do anything that they ever wanted to do, which is a lie.
and their life will be changed. The church has no business in
trying to make people's lives change. You might say, well,
I'm confused, and what are we supposed to do? Listen, we're
looking for salvation, not life change. Now, surely salvation
brings life change, but it's usually not for the better. It's
usually not for a happy-go-lucky free life of just kicking our
heels up. Wow, what a great feeling. I'm
thinking of Toyota commercials now in my head for some reason.
I guess that might've been a slogan. No, we're to point people to
Christ so that they might believe. Believe, not change, not transform. The outcome is not change, the
outcome is belief. The outcome is the glory of God
through the salvation of His people. That's the point. That's
the point. That's why when you hear us talk
all the time, Jesse and I, we always say, we gotta preach the
gospel to ourselves, we gotta preach the gospel to each other.
One of the greatest misapplications in the New Testament church that's
been perpetrated by the devil for many, many, many, many years,
is that the scripture and the gospel is for the unbeliever. And when they get it, then we
got to do other things. Listen, friends, the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. Peter says that the divine power
of God is everything we need for life and godliness. So if
the divine power of God is everything we need for life and godliness,
and the power of God is the gospel, then the gospel is the power
of God for everything we need for life and godliness. That's
the argument. Sorry, might've lost you. That
was a little fast. So then John was sent to bear
witness about the light that all men might believe through
him. Let's look at the text. And John 1, 19 through 28. I'll read it and then we'll go
through it one at a time. And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask,
who are you? He confessed, and he did not
deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him,
what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am
not. Are you the prophet? And he answered,
no. So they said to him, who are
you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do
you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of the
one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now, they had been sent from
the Pharisees. They asked him, then why are
you baptizing if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the
prophet? John answered them, I baptize
with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he
who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy
to untie. And these things took place in
Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. Now let's
think about this for a second. I am very difficult to please
when it comes to exposition and commentary. I'm not going to
lie. I'm also going to confess to
you today is because I have incredibly weird nuances about people missing
things that I seem to think are important that probably aren't
as important as they should be. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with
preaching and will belabor a verse to the point where it actually
doesn't go. But in the futility of my flesh,
those are the things I do. By the grace of God, maybe He
will communicate some things to us. So this morning, without
trying to overdo, I would like to finish these verses and focus
on some of the key things that I believe this text is teaching.
First, and this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, who are you? Now, why did
they go? You see, this is what, why did
they go? Because they wondered. Why did they wonder? Because
they heard. Why did they hear? Because he's preaching and masses
of people are listening and then masses of people are coming to
him and he's dunking them in the water, in the River Jordan
publicly. as a sign that they are clean
in Christ Jesus, the coming one, the Messiah, the one who's coming,
the kingdom of heaven. They are believing. That's the
point. And so now all of a sudden the
Jews, that's the Pharisees as we see down in verse 24, I think
it is, yeah. Send a posse of Levites, these
are the ones who work, and priests who were also of the tribe of
Levi. But Levites, I mean, they're the workers. They're the strong
men who carry around heavy things. And so I suppose that they sent
the priests because they're the ones who have the authority to
go out and inquire, because they're the ones who know exactly. And
some people say, well, they were the Sadducees. There's no point
to say that. We don't know that. Because when
the Sadducees are discovered or discussed in this gospel,
they call them Sadducees. Yes, Sadducees were priests,
but they weren't very spiritual. In fact, they didn't hardly even,
they weren't orthodox at all. They just sort of did their own
thing and did their own religious way and they wouldn't care about
prophets. They wouldn't care. So we believe
that some of the Jewish priests were sent and then the Levite
men, the bodybuilders, if you will, were going along to keep
the peace in case John the Baptist and some of his people get a
little fruity, get a little cocky, a little froggy, whatever you
want to call it. They didn't want a problem, so they sent
this group of people. And the reason that they wanted
to know is because they had a responsibility first to Israel. They had a responsibility
given to them in the law that says that if a false prophet
teaches in my name, but he's not sent by me, kill him. That's
what it says. He must die. Now, of course,
they couldn't kill him. They eventually kill someone. Who
is it? Stephen. Acts chapter 6 and 7. They eventually
kill Stephen under the very law that they're governing the inquiry
of John the Baptist right now. So they'd heard all of these
rumors. They'd heard the people. It was a buzz. Ask yourself this
question. When was the last time the gospel
was a buzz in your life? When was the last time the gospel
was a buzz in a community, in a church even? I mean, what's
usually the buzz around the people? What we're doing. What we own. where we're going. What else? You put anything into that category.
But the light is Jesus. So if we as the church are to
be known for something, we should be known for pointing to Christ.
Though it is a burden at times, and you hate it when people don't
like you, that's one of my biggest problems. I want everybody to
like me. And if I weren't guided in some sense, no, in all senses,
by the confines of the scripture, I would be the worst panderer. It'd make politicians look solid.
Because I want everybody to like me. Oh, you know, I hate cream
cheese. Oh, you like it? Well, I love
cream cheese. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend your cream cheese
favor. John was not pointing to himself. We should not point to ourselves.
When people say, you know, I can't handle verse by verse teaching.
I can't handle hearing the scripture. I can't handle the fact that
the God of Romans 1 is the same God of John 3. And I hear that. And I do sympathize with these
people, but at the same time, what is most important? That
we point to Christ, not placate to people who we want to be in
a relationship with. Are you hearing me? John the Baptist could easily
have said, I'm Messiah, or I'm the prophet. And they would have
backed up and left him alone. Think about it. Somebody comes to you, you know
what, I think you're a prophet. So John 4, it's the fourth time
I've referred to that again today. I perceive you a prophet for
you know things about me that I don't know. Riddle me this
then prophet. She goes on about some spiritual
things and more importantly about some religious traditions. And
here they say, who are you? You're preaching, you're proclaiming,
you're making a buzz. Everybody's talking about you,
John. And we need to know who you are,
and more importantly, by whose authority do you come? And they
ask him very clearly, who are you? Now, there have
been a lot of false prophets. We see three that are mentioned
in Scripture. One, what's his name? Theudas. Theudas. However you would say that, Acts
chapter 5. He rose up claiming to be somebody and the scripture
says he had about 400 men and then they killed him and his
men scattered. And then later on in the book of Acts, Acts
chapter 5, it talks about another prophet that rose up, had 4,000
men that he led into the wilderness and they killed him and then
all 4,000 of those men scattered. So here's another guy preaching
and doing and preaching and doing and getting a gathering. Does
this sound familiar? It's called church planting in the 21st century. Church planting, cult planting,
whatever you want to call it. Let's go do our thing and let's
get a big crowd that will give us their money and their time
and their attention and they'll center it all on us and we'll
put it all together and then we'll be a force to be reckoned
with. The only difference in today's culture and that culture
is that they would kill you if you upset the apple cart. Much
like when Paul and the apostles preached in Ephesus and people
stopped buying the wares of idolatry. He didn't even preach against
it. He just preached the truth of Jesus. And Jesus saved people
and they no longer worshipped idols. Isn't that crazy? But another reason why they would
ask is because in some sense they also were hoping for Messiah. I mean, was not Zachariah, when
John the Baptist, when he was told that he would have a son,
remember this? You see in the very first part
of Luke, When he goes in, it's his time. The lock came up for
him to go give the sacrifice and the Holy of Holies. And all
of a sudden, he comes and he's looking for Messiah. And he goes
out and he tells at the birth of John. He tells everybody's
all abuzz. And he says, look, the angel
came to me. His name's going to be John. And this is what's
going to happen in the temple he's dedicated. And it says that
all the people were inquiring about this young man. Because
they knew he was going to be somebody. There's a paraphrase
here. So what does God do when people are going to run after
this child? Imagine that child growing up in Judea, in the religious
center of Israel. He would have been made a king,
he would have been put on the throne, he would have been all sorts
of things. So what happens is that John the Baptist becomes
a weird guy living in the woods, eating bugs and wearing animal
clothes. So that he doesn't fit the norm
of society. They were hoping for Messiah.
The Roman occupation was very grievous. But the biggest thing
is that they were inquiring on His authority. So often, so many people are
consumed with their own message and their own mission and their
own ministry that they offend the name of Christ. Such were
the Jews. John the Baptist was getting
so much attention that the attention was being taken from the Pharisees. We're not teaching these people
anymore. They're listening to John. John is talking about the
kingdom of God at hand and here we are being pushed aside. These
are all things that possibly were on their mind. But what
does he say when they say, who are you? The Bible says in verse
20, he confessed, but he did not deny, but confessed. What's
that? He wasn't denying, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, I'm not the Christ. He confessed it. That's an imperative. He says, boldly proclaiming in
the first person, I am not the Christ. That's what it says.
He's not saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not the Christ.
That's a denial. Not me. No. He says, I am not the Christ. What does that tell you? What
does that sound like? No, no, no, not me. but he's gonna say
in a minute, but he stands among you, you don't know him. He does not deny, but he confess
I'm not the Christ. John answers this way, very quickly. They don't even ask him if he's
the Christ, but he'd heard the rumors as well. Can you imagine? I mean,
think of what we can know if you tweet one thing I say today,
friends of mine in Malaysia will talk about it with me tonight. Now, where in the world, that's
a lot of power, communicating. The problem is we don't communicate
anything worth listening to most of the time as a culture. Let's
change that as the church. He wanted to remove any hint
of rumor. But see, today in our culture,
if you're mistaken for a celebrity, if you're mistaken for someone
who's famous, we sort of like that. Well, they said I look
like so-and-so. Yeah, that's me. I mean, we have pretenders
all the time that are changing their look and changing their
dress and changing their hair so they would resemble someone
who's very famous and adored for no reason except that everybody
knows them and adores them. But John the Baptist was not
like this. His desire was not to be looked upon, to be seen. His desire was to point to Christ
who was Messiah. He says, I am not the Messiah. There's one who is. There is
one and he's here. Remember what we've already talked
about. We are not the agent of change. We are not the prime
being. We are not the essential character.
Jesus is the essential character. Jesus is the prime being. Jesus
is the agent of change. And it goes on to say that even
the church, we as a gathered people, are not the agent of
change. We are not. Our ministry is not. The preaching
ministry of this pulpit is not. Jesus Christ is the agent of
change. No matter what we do, no matter
how we pray, no matter what we preach, if Christ does not change
people, if Christ does not save people, if Christ does not work
His Word into the hearts and lives of people, there is no
fruit. There is no salvation. But the
only way God saves is through the hearing of his word. Jesus Christ must be made known
and we are to point to him, beloved. If we don't get anything else
out of this sermon today, that's the most important thing. It's not even about Grace Truth
Church. Yes, we may hold to an orthodox foundational doctrinal
statement. We may hold to the essentials
of what churchmanship is, which is exposition and prayer and
hearing the word and praising God, like we see in Colossians
chapter three. We may follow after the precepts
of the traditions of the church historically, like baptism and
the Lord's table. But if we don't, I pray that
God would do a work through the ministry, through the teaching,
through His Word. Nothing, nothing, nothing happens. And we could draw crowds who
are desperate to find such a fellowship all over the country. I want
to find a fellowship like this. I'm going to move my family.
That's great. But are you coming for the fellowship or are you
coming for the Savior? Are we coming for the preaching? Are
we coming for the message of the cross? Are we coming to Christ?
Are we here this morning? Because what happens in the context
of our assembly points us to Jesus. And if it doesn't give
me the right for the fellowship. And I'll correct it. So he says emphatically, I'm
not the Christ. I am not the Christ. And they
ask him, verse 21, what then? If you're not Messiah, who are
you? By the way, Messiah is the Hebrew word for Christ. Holy,
anointed, one of God. That's what it means. If you're not Christ, then are
you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the
prophet? He says, no. I mean, imagine this inquiry
going on and on and on here. outside in public. But see, people
would ask, well, why would they ask if he was Elijah? Elijah
had been dead for a long, long time because the scripture says
that Elijah would come. In Malachi 4, the last prophecy
of the Old Testament says that Elijah would come. Jesus even
calls John the Baptist Elijah in 1712. But he says it this
way. But I tell you that Elijah has
already come and they did not recognize him, but did to him
whatever they pleased. So also the son of man, that's
himself, will certainly suffer at their hands. the spirit of Elijah in Luke
117, and it will go before him in the spirit of the power of
Elijah to turn the heads of the fathers to the children, the
disobedient to the wisdom and the just, to make ready for the
Lord a people prepared. And so when the spirit of Elijah
means with the same manner, the same heart, the same words, same
message. Why? Because Jesus Christ is God. He's immutable. He doesn't
change. The message never changes, though the mouth might. Though the messenger could be
anyone, The message is solid and stays the same. Who is this
prophet? Deuteronomy 18, 15 is where we
see this, and Moses writing these words, and we hear, the Lord
your God will raise up for you a prophet like me among you from
your brothers. It is to him you shall listen.
And so some of the Jews, their historical, well, who's this
unknown prophet? Most of tradition, most of Hebrew
tradition thought it would be Jeremiah, who had a fruitless
ministry. running for his life, being hated,
stoned, killed. He preached the truth and they
want to kill him. But it wasn't Jeremiah. Jesus
Christ was the prophet that Moses was speaking of. And it wasn't
going to be Elijah reincarnated. That's something a lot of people
don't realize is that Jews historically have always believed in reincarnation.
Even in the context of their law about a brother who dies
and his other brother should take his wife. Why? Because if
they have a son, the spirit of the older brother goes into the
son. That's what they believed. Where do you get that stuff?
Jewish writings. It became, what do you call that? Witchcraft, I guess. So he says, I'm not Elijah and
I'm not the prophet. So then they ask again, who are
you then? They won't take these answers.
They don't care that he's not these people. They want to know
exactly who he is. And you might find it interesting
to figure out why, because some of us right now, as we're listening
to this, see how different this is than the other 11 weeks. It's
a narrative. It's a discourse between groups
of people. We have to figure out the essence
of what's being said here based on the context of Scripture.
John the Baptist, He's being drilled with questions. And He's
answering them, but they don't like His answers. So they keep
going after Him. Then who are you? Some of us
would say, this is what I was going to say, well, you know,
it's because He's preaching. He's preaching a message that's contrary.
No, He's preaching a message that actually works within the
confines of their understanding of Scripture. That's why they
said, are you Messiah? They were waiting on Messiah.
Well, if you're not Messiah, maybe you're Elijah. Well, if you're not Elijah,
maybe you're Jeremiah. or maybe that unknown prophet. You gotta
be somebody. We know, and we know John 3,
the Pharisees have come to conclude that Jesus is what, Messiah? For we believe that you are from
God, for no one can do the things you do except God be with him.
We need to give an answer to those who sent us. So see, they weren't even inquiring.
They weren't even the ones that really were interested in it
more but they were just sent. The Pharisees, as we'll see in
verse 24, it's put there. Now, some of you may not even
care about this, but for those of you who do study some of these
things, especially parentheticals in the New Testament, a lot of
people in higher criticism would say, well, now there's a second
group here. It's not a second group, it's one conversation,
and it's just reminding us that the Pharisees sent them, the
Jews sent them for the purpose of understanding the text. We
want to give an answer. And so what does he say, verse
23? I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight
the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. I read that entire
chapter of Isaiah 40 beginning of the service. But in verses
3, 4, and 5 of Isaiah 40, it says that, and the voice cries,
In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted
up. See, a valley is low, it shall
be lifted up. Every mountain, which is high, shall be made
low. Every uneven ground shall become level, and 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 is spoken. So here, his answer, what do
you say about yourself? He actually says, I am the voice
that Isaiah spoke of. And now they're going, what in
the world is happening here? Now, you may not see this, but
he actually rebuked them right there. They should know. They should know. They should
know, just like Nicodemus knew, when he says, what am I to do?
Go back into my mother's womb and come out again and that's
my rebirth? What am I to do? How am I to
be born again? And Jesus says, like the wind
blows where it wishes and does what it does, so the Spirit of
God blows as it wishes and does what it does. No one can see
it, no one can call it, no one can command it. It's going to
do what it's going to do. Only one who can see, only one
who can know what the Father knows is the one who comes from
heaven. And I've come down from heaven. The Son of Man has come
down from heaven and will return to heaven. Nicodemus was still
confused. I'm confused. Nicodemus, aren't
you the teacher of all Israel yet you do not understand these
things? How can you understand spiritual things if you do not understand
earthly things? I should tell you something,
beloved. None of us are too dumb to understand the Bible. But yet, we're too smart to understand
the Bible. Nicodemus was smart, the Pharisees
were smart, the Jews were smart, and they knew everything, yet
they couldn't see it unfolding in front of their eyes. They
were blinded, according to Isaiah chapter 6, according to John
12. And they could not see because it had not been given them to
understand the simplicity of what was happening before them.
They could not see, if we can use the phrase, the handwriting
on the wall, which comes from the Old Testament, by the way. They could not see it. They could
not see their nose in front of their face. They could not see
the forest with the trees. They could not understand the simplicity
of the fact that Jesus Christ and the heralder of the gospel
to present Jesus as the kingdom of God come to earth was right
there in front of them. And he quotes their own prophet. And I'm here to tell you, he
says, make straight the way of the Lord. And he's talking to
the most passionate, zealous bunch of people for righteousness
and piety that has ever lived. And he just told them to make
their lives straight. To make their hearts straight.
You know what he goes on to say later? He uses a word to encompass
that. Repent. But the kingdom of God is at
hand. And see, sometimes, remember what I talked about in the beginning
about the righteousness of Christ? Sometimes we think repentance
is changing our lives and changing our morals to fit more in line
with Jesus. But the idea of repentance is
changing our mind to recognize that our self-righteousness cannot
put us just before God. Everybody that does what is dark
can see it. No wicked person living in sin
denies that they're sinning. That's why they hide. The Bible
says, the scripture, the discourse that Jesus had with these Pharisees.
He even says, if your righteousness is not greater than that of the
Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And no one
lived more perfect lives than the Pharisees. No one loved Jehovah
more than the Pharisees. No one read the Bible and prayed
and did religious things more than the Pharisees. And so the
people like the Christians in Rome, the Gentiles are like,
whoa, we're second class Christians. Repentance is about recognizing
that even the most pious of approaches are worthless. and the economy
of justice, and the economy of righteousness, and the economy
of vengeance and wrath, which is good. John the Baptist, by approaching
Isaiah chapter 40, is saying, I'm just a highway worker. I'm
just a worker on the road. I'm clearing the path of the
way of the Lord through the preaching of the truth that Jesus is here,
that the kingdom has come. I'm laying down mountains and
I'm filling up valleys and I'm making everything straight and
I'm fixing all the mess that you've made, Pharisees and priests
and Levites, for the last thousand years. I'm preaching the message
that lays the ways to everything you've preached. I'm laying the
foundations and the borders and the shoulders of the gospel. And pushing everything that you've
done to the side. Everything that you have accomplished is
just garbage in the ditch. That's what John the Baptist
is saying. And he's pushing it out of the
way. And he's saying, don't look at me, I'm just one guy with
a shovel. And there are many of us. Look at where the road
goes. Look at who's about to come.
This is not a highway for you, Pharisee. This is a highway for
the king. And he's about to come marching
down it. You see? I pray the Lord to give
you ears to hear that. He pushed over and paved over
the falsehoods of self-righteousness. He paved over blindness. He paved over so that Jesus,
who is the true light, who was coming into the world, could
easily be seen. He's the paver, the straight
maker. Or he was the pointer to the one who was really the
straight maker, who was Jesus Christ the way. Verse 24 reminds
us who sent them, the Pharisees. This is where the inquiry originated. They were upset because John
the Baptist was on the scene and his ministry bothered them.
Why? Was it his message? No. They
didn't even get the message, you see. They were like, well,
okay, whatever. But they didn't get it. It was his practice. What was
he doing? He said, then if you're not Messiah,
and you're not Elijah, and you're not the prophet, why are you
baptizing people? And you know who he was baptizing?
John the Baptist didn't baptize Gentiles, he baptized Jews. Why would you? Are you not the
son of Zechariah, the priest? Don't you understand that priests
are baptized symbolically into their ministry and the only other
people who are baptized are proselytes who come into Judaism and they
baptize themselves. Who are you to dunk a Jew? That's sort of what their question
is. I didn't mean for that to rhyme. Sorry. Who do you think you are? dunking
Jewish people. There we go. Sorry. There's a t-shirt in there. But that's what they were upset
about. Because only priests had the authority to baptize and
only the people who were baptized were converts to Judaism, not
ethnic Israel. What are you doing? That's why they were upset. But
what authority? We don't have the authority.
You don't have the authority. What are you doing? If you're neither the Christ
nor Elijah the prophet, why are you baptizing? The practice of baptism was the
root of their inquiry, not the preaching. By whose authority
do you come? If you're not one of the prophets,
why in the world would you be doing this? Who are you to declare
that you can baptize someone? In their minds, it was not just
a symbol, but it was also a reckoning in the context of that person
being clean. They were bathed ritually through
baptism and symbolically. It's not necessary to baptize
Jews. We're okay in Abraham. But the authority of John's baptism
in preparing the way of the Lord was in God alone. So the message
went with the practice of baptism, he says in verse 26, then what
does he say? I baptize with water. Now, Ezekiel comes to mind, right?
I'll wash you and cleanse you and all of these things. Psalm
51, as we see the cleansing of David in a ritualistic sense.
But we know that baptism is not salvific. It's not a sacrament. It's not an instrument of grace.
And that if we baptize somebody, then they'll have eternal life.
It is by faith alone in Jesus. But here's John saying, I baptize
with water. I'm not going to deny that. I
baptize Jews in the water. Because it is a symbol of the
one who is here already and what he is going to do. And what he
has done. Because he says, but among you
stands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the
straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. See, this
is part of the witness of the light. You may baptize by the
authority of God. You see me baptizing by the authority
of God as many Jews believe in the message that I preach. And
the message that I preach is pointing to the light who is
the one who shined on their unbelief and made them believe. And now
the baptism that they have is just water. It's just to show
the world at large that they have been cleansed by the one
who came after me, who was before me, who I am not worthy to untie
the shoe of. You might say, what's that talking
about? Well, a slave is the only person who would take off a shoe
and clean a foot. And you think, why would you
clean feet? Sandals? Desert. Those of us who have
kids, we know what, we call it piggly wiggly feet in our house.
Because back in the day before you could, you didn't have to
wear shoes everywhere. You could go barefooted. And
your kids went barefooted, you went barefooted into Walmart. Well, it wasn't
Walmart. Roses. You know. And all these nasty,
you know, and you get home and your feet would be black. Piggly
wiggly feet. And your parents would put you
in the bathtub and the bathtub turns black because of your feet. You're
not dirty anywhere, it's just your feet. Well, in that day, there
was a lot of dirty feet. And so the only person that would
touch a foot to untake off a shoe and clean a foot was a slave.
Now, a student of a rabbi, a student of a teacher, would do everything
that a slave would do if asked except take off a shoe and clean
a foot. And John says, I'm not even worthy
to take off the shoe of Jesus. That I'm below and beneath the
slave. See the humility there. See the
emphatic position that he answers these spiritual leaders coming
to inquire about whose authority that he baptizes. He says, there's
one among you who you do not know. And he is so far greater
than me. Though I come in the spirit of
Elijah." And he understood that, though he didn't say it himself.
Jesus says it about him, I'm not worthy to wipe his feet off. See, Jesus is actually the one
baptizing these believers, isn't he? Because the water is just
a symbol. Jesus is bringing them into himself.
the forgiveness of sins spiritually, judicially, actually, not just
symbolically. Isn't that what the Pharisees
got upset with Jesus about? I mean, miracle, blind seeing,
dead being raised. And what do they get upset about?
Who are you to say their sins are forgiven? I'm a slave to Jesus, John would
argue. And I do no glory. I'm unworthy. I'm unworthy. But the operative
issue here in verse 26 is that they could not see, remember?
They couldn't see. He came to his own. And his own
did not receive him. But to all who did receive him.
who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children
of God, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh,
nor the will of man, but the will of God. See, as John the
Baptist proclaimed the witness of the light, the light saved
people from darkness. and they were born of God. God
declared and decreed and purposed. God sent the Son. God prepared
John the Baptist. God called the apostles. God, through the apostles, secured
the word. And we are here today because
the work of the gospel of God in Christ is still effectual,
still powerful, and nothing can overcome it. And you'll find it interesting
to know as we continue in this, that's all we can do today, is
that this first chapter and second chapter is only one week, one week of Jesus' ministry. And the first 20 chapters encompass
a segmented portion of three, three and a half years I mean,
no, verse 10 chapters. And the latter part of the whole
letter, from John 11 through John 21, one week. What's the importance of that?
Friends, look what we've gotten thus far today with one conversation. There is no end to learning about
the glory of Christ and His Word. I started with this and I will
end with this. Let us not forsake the Word of
God. Let us not forsake the assembly. Let us not forsake prayer. Because when we do so, we feel
disjointed, disconnected, overwhelmed. And we begin to put the focus
on ourselves in such a way that we miss out on understanding
just what those whom God has called are like. It is not us,
it is Him. It is Him, the light, the Christ,
the Savior of the world. Believe in what He has done and
live. Let's pray. Father, there is much to say. And time in all respects is an
enemy of ours. But one day we shall be removed
from it and be able to see and behold you forever without end, without measure. But until then,
Father, I pray you will continue to grow us intimately. through
the word and with each other. And Lord, that your spirit at
this very moment, Lord, if it pleases you, would cause us to
consider one another right now, how we're doing in life and in
faith, our burdens, our fears. Lord, that we would become a
people so intimate with you So powerfully enabled to do that,
which is impossible in the world, which is to love each other with
an everlasting love. That your name would be made
great among us. And that as the people of this
world look at each of us, that we would not point to what we
know. And what we do in our ministry,
but we would point to you, we would point to your son, Jesus
Christ, who is the light of the world. And I pray, Lord, that
as we've seen by the power of your spirit this day, you have
carried our attention to your word, that as we leave, as we
disperse and go about our week, that your word would come and
be alive within us, that the things that we've learned would
be brought back to memory, that we would rejoice and we would
worship and we would pray and celebrate the goodness of your
grace. In Jesus' name.