Open your Bibles again with me
if you would, John chapter one. I titled the message this morning,
Who Art Thou? I took my title from verse 22. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou? That we may give an answer to
them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? Now the short answer to that
question, if you care to look over a couple pages in John chapter
30, The short answer, or John three, excuse me, verse 30. The
short answer to that question is found in John three, verse
30. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from
above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly
and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. And I'll tell you that the way
that I know who I am, the way that I know that I'm nothing,
is by seeing Christ who's above all. By seeing Christ who is
everything. And I want us to look at this
question, not just as a question that was asked to a prophet or
a preacher, but every believer. Who are you? Who are you? You know, when they asked John
the Baptist this question, boy, he could have said a lot of impressive
things, couldn't he? He could have said, I was born
supernaturally. to parents that are too old to
have children, an angel came, told my mother I was going to
be born, my father I was going to be born. He could have said,
I've known who the Lord Jesus Christ is from the womb. I leapt
in the womb when his mother came into the room. He could have
said, I'm the son of the priest Zacharias. I mean, you know,
I'm not just nobody here. I'm the son of the priest. He
could have said, I'm the last of the Old Testament prophets.
He could have said, I'm the forerunner of Christ. I was prophesied of
in Isaiah chapter 40, the forerunner of Christ. He could have said
that the Lord said, I'm the greatest preacher that you'll ever hear.
There's none greater than the born woman of John the Baptist.
I mean, John could have said a lot of things, couldn't he?
True things. But listen to what he said, verse 23. I'm just a
voice of one crying in the wilderness. I'm not even crying in a, In
a well-publicized place, a big building like the tabernacle,
I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight
the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. I'm just
a voice. I'm just a nothing that God's
chosen to use wherever it is that he's chosen to use me, wherever
it is he's put me in his church. I have three points this morning
I want us to look at to show us that you and I are nothing
and Christ is everything. Number one is this, every true
servant of God will say this, I'm just a voice, but Christ
is the message. That's what John said, I'm the
voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord. As said the prophet Isaiah, John said, I'm saying the same
thing Isaiah said, I'm just a voice, but Christ is the message. Now
let's look back for a moment at Isaiah chapter 40. You know,
Isaiah prophesied of John and he told us what John's message
would be when he got here. Isaiah chapter 40, verse three. Here's the voice. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Now the job of every preacher,
the job of every voice is to make it so that sinners can go
straight to Christ with nothing in between. Don't put anything
in between the sinner and God. Make it so that the sinner can
go straight to God. We're to take the law out of
the way. You know, people think, well,
the law is in the way. It's law stopping me from coming
to God because I can't keep it. Well, the preacher, the voice
is to take the law out of the way by telling us Christ kept
the law. He already obeyed the law for
his people. He satisfied the law by suffering
and dying in the place of his people. The law satisfied. The law is not keeping you from
coming to Christ. Don't let the law stop you. You
go straight to Christ. We're to take the ceremonies
of religion out of the way. Whatever ceremony that might
be. You know men have made a ceremony
out of walking an aisle. They made a ceremony of shaking
the preacher's hand. They've made ceremonies out of
these things. Say, now you can't be saved until you do this. Now,
wait a minute. We're gonna take that out of the way. Salvation
is in Christ alone. We take the ceremonies and the
traditions of religion out of the way by preaching that Christ
is the fulfillment of all of those pictures, of all of those
types. Don't think you've got to keep some religious tradition
or religious ceremony in order to be saved. Let's take that
out of the way. and you go straight to Christ
because He's the Savior of sinners. We're to preach that even our
sin is not stopping us from coming to Christ. It's not our sin that's
keeping us from coming to Christ. Now, it could be our self-righteousness,
but it's not our sin. We're to take the sin of God's
people out of the way by preaching what Christ accomplished on the
cross. Christ and Him crucified. Christ took the sin of His people
away. but he suffered and died and washed that sin away by the
blood of his sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ made
the sin of God's people to not exist. Now, something that doesn't
exist can't be between you and God, can it? Isn't that obvious? Just stop thinking about that. You know, really, it's self-righteousness
to say, well, I'm so sinful, God won't save me. I mean, that's
all that is. come straight to Christ, come
straight to Christ. That's the job of God's preacher.
Now you stop and think about that for a minute. How glorious,
what a blessing this is that God sends preachers to tell sinners
come straight to Christ for forgiveness. There's no step between, just
come straight to Christ. Your sin is not stopping you
from coming to Christ. Matter of fact, if God will show
you what your sin is, If He'll show you what sin is, it's that
sin that drives you to Christ. Now, you just come to Christ
as you are. Don't think, well, you know, I'm gonna make myself
a little better first. I'm gonna make myself a little
more acceptable first, you know. That's self-righteousness. God's
not gonna accept that. What that is is saying, well,
I'm gonna clean myself up a little bit first, and then I'm gonna
come to Christ. You know how insulting that is to the Savior?
That's saying He needs me to help me save Him. I'm going to
help Him. You just come to Christ in all
of your sin as you are. Come to Him for clemency. Come
to Him for forgiveness. There's nothing between you and
Christ unless you put it there. Now you go to Him. Don't look
anywhere else. Don't pause. Don't pass go. Don't
collect $200. Just go straight to Christ. That's
the message. that God has sent everyone of
his preachers to preach. Isaiah goes on in verse four, he says,
every valley should be exalted, and every mountain and hill should
be made low, and the crooked should be made straight, and
the rough places plain. You know, a person might think,
I can't get to God from where I'm at. The way's too crooked,
I can't see the way, it's too crooked. But the job of the preacher
is straighten that out. Now let's just straighten that
out and make this plain. So we know, go straight to Christ. Someone says, but the law, the
law is a mountain that's in my way. It's a mountain that stopped
me from getting to God. I can't climb that mountain.
The job of God's preacher is to tell us Christ came to remove
that mountain. He leveled that thing down by
obeying the law for his people. Someone else will say, but there's
a gulf fixed between me and God and I can't cross it. You're
absolutely right, that's true. There's a gulf fixed between
us and God and we can't cross it. Because when Adam sinned,
all of us were thrust out of the garden. When Adam was thrust
out of the garden, we were thrust out of the garden. We're thrust
out of God's presence in Adam and we can't come back on our
own. I can't bridge that gap, you
can't either. So Christ came to bridge the
gap for his people. He came to make his people righteous
and to bring them to God. Christ took away the sin of his
people. By his sacrifice, he took their sin away. And you
know what that did for his people? It made them fit to come into
the kingdom of God. It made them fit to come straight
into God's presence. Don't look anywhere. But Christ,
let's not get this issue confused. Look straight to Christ. Skip down to verse nine. This
is what the voice says. O Zion that bring us good tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem that bring us good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not
afraid. Get as high as you can, get as
public as you can. And you cry into the cities of
Judah, behold your God. Behold your God. That's the job
of the voice. Behold your God. Here's Christ
and His word, behold Him. Look to Him, trust Him. You know
what John the Baptist preached is Christ and Christ alone. That's what he preached. Just
like God's servants do today, we preach the excellency of Christ. Behold your God. Oh, behold Him. It's Christ's excellency. that
makes him able to save sinners. The excellency of Christ will
comfort every guilty sinner. If God makes us feel the weight
of the guilt of our sin, what will comfort? The excellency
of Christ to put that sin away. The excellency of Christ to forgive
sin. That's what comforts God's people.
The excellency of Christ will lift up every brokenhearted sinner. David said, wait I say on the
Lord. Just wait on Him, His excellency. The excellency of His love and
His care for His people. The excellency of a full, complete,
free salvation in Him. The excellency of His presence
in your heart will comfort your heart even though the world around
you is all falling down. It's his excellency that comforts
the broken hearted. It's the excellency of Christ
that will humble every proud and arrogant sinner. We think
we're a mountain, we think we're a high lifted up place. The excellency of Christ is gonna
bring us straight down to the ground, isn't it? Bring us to
the feet of Christ. And it's the excellency of Christ
that brings those low sinners down there in the valley, brings
them up. It's the excellency of Christ.
That's the voice, that's the job of God's voices. It's to
point sinners to Christ. We're to encourage sinners to
run to Christ by telling sinners how glorious he is. It's his
glory, it's his sufficiency, it's the sufficiency of his sacrifice,
the perfection of his love, the perfection of his character.
that a holy God has the capacity to love a sinner like me without
violating his holiness. Now that's glorious. That's what
makes sinners run to Christ. And that's what John preached.
Now look back at John one again. John preached the excellency
of Christ and his eternality. Look at verse 15. John bear witness
of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I spake. He that
cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before
me. Now God's preachers tell us that
our Savior is eternal. He doesn't have a beginning and
doesn't have an ending. That's excellency, that's glory. John
says Jesus of Nazareth was before me. John was born on earth first,
but the Lord Jesus existed before John was born, before John existed
because the Savior is eternal. It says Jesus of Nazareth is
eternal. Tell you what that means. He's
God. Because only God is eternal.
Jesus of Nazareth, a real man, is eternal God in human flesh. Now the excellency of that is
so great, RP brains will never be able to grasp it. Just being
awed at the excellency of it. that all of the fullness of God,
all of the Godhead is in the body of Jesus of Nazareth because
he is God. He's the God man. And since he's
God, he's able to save you. There's no sinner so great that
Christ can't save him because he's got the power of God to
do whatever it is that he wills. And aren't you glad to know it's
his will to save sinners. Now the voice, the voice that
tells us about him, that voice is important. I mean, he has
his importance or level of importance, however you wanna put it. We're
not gonna hear from God unless we hear from a preacher preaching
Christ, preaching the word of God. We're not gonna understand
this book until God sends us a preacher to preach it to us
and to show us Christ from it. It's pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. If we're gonna be saved,
we're gonna have to hear from a preacher. So in that sense,
the voice is important in it. But don't put too much stock
in it. The voice is just temporary. Every preacher's got a beginning,
he's got an ending. The voice is temporary, but Christ
is eternal. The voice is temporary, but the
gospel is eternal. I'm quite confident that none
of us will ever hear as gifted a preacher as Henry Maine. I love the Maine, but he's gone,
isn't he? But the gospel's still being
preached. See, the Maine's temporary, but the gospel is eternal. And
you do wise to find a Maine, temporary though he may be, who's
preaching the gospel, and sit yourself down, listen, because
that's how God saves sinners. And in that temporary timeframe
that God sent us a preacher, we're going to hear the eternal
message, eternal salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's
glorious. There's an excellency in that.
Then John preached the excellency of salvation by grace. Verse
16, of his fullness have we all received and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. John's still telling us about
the glory of the person of Christ. He is a real man, but he's full
of God. Everything that God has for a
sinner, Christ is full of it. It's all found in Christ and
nowhere else. Christ is full of all of God's
attributes. His eternality, His holiness,
His justice, His mercy, His grace. He's full of both grace and truth. You know, the way human beings
look at it, grace and truth are opposites, aren't they? They're
opposite poles, they're competing with one another. Grace says
save sinners, but truth says damn them because that's what
they deserve. Christ is full of both grace and truth. There isn't any grace, and there
isn't any truth found outside of Christ. It's all in Him. God made it easy to find. It's
all in one person. If we're going to have grace
and truth, since it's all in Christ, how are you and me going
to get it? We're going to receive it, aren't
we? We're going to receive it from Him. We're not going to
earn it by our works of the law. We're going to receive it by
God's grace, by God giving us something that we do not deserve. God's grace in Christ Jesus and
the man Christ Jesus and who He is and what He's accomplished
for His people gives us salvation that's gracious. That's also
real. That's true. Salvation by grace
in Christ is real. It's true. Because Christ truly
suffered the penalty of sin for His people. He didn't pretend like He was
suffering for the sin of His people. the father actually made
him sin for his people. He took the sin of his people
into his own body on the tree so that it was his sin and the
father put him to death for it. He truly punished sin. If the
father just punished an innocent man for you, would that put away
your sin? No, that wouldn't be true. The
father took the sin of his people away from them and put it on
his son. and His Son put it away. That's
salvation in truth. Sin is truly put away. Can you
think of anything more gracious than that? I mean, it's astonishing. I've heard this story my whole
life long. As long as I've understood language,
I've heard this story and I still laugh out loud sometimes thinking,
the Son of God. would die for a sinner like me.
That's so glorious. Oh, if that doesn't make you
run to Christ, I don't know what will. I really don't. You come to Christ. He's full of grace and truth. There's enough grace in him to
save you and truth. Now you come to him. And John
preached on this thing of salvation in Christ and his person. He's
the light of the world. The light shined in darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not. That tells you everything
you need to know about us. The sun was turned on and we
couldn't see it. We had no idea. It's because
we're dead. John preached that this excellency,
the glory of Christ got to be revealed to us. Verse 18, no
man has seen God at any time. The only begotten of the Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. Now Christ's gotta be revealed
to us. Because man, by our natural wisdom, doesn't know God. I mean,
we can't figure God out, we can't find Him, we can't see Him. So
God must reveal Himself to us. And thank God He's pleased to
reveal Himself. He's not just gonna leave us
groping around in the darkness. The Lord is pleased to reveal
Himself to His people. by a voice, by a preacher telling
us who Christ is. Now the way that the Lord chooses
to do things is utterly amazing. The Savior of sinners is revealed
to the dead hearts of sinners by one sinful man telling other
sinful men and women about the Savior. That's the way God chooses
to do things. And that's glorious. And it takes
God given faith, doesn't it? To believe one sinful man telling
you about the Savior. The only way you'd believe that
is God given faith. I mean, it's not like an angel
came down here and told us who Christ is. It's not like God
spoke audibly from heaven to tell us who Christ is. God sent
a sinful man. to tell us who Christ is, that
we might believe on Him and have eternal life. Now that's just
glorious in the way that God's chosen to do things. So I would
tell you, don't despise the plain men that God sends to preach
the gospel to you. Because that's God's way. And
don't despise just plain believers. I mean, just as plain as we can
be. Don't despise them. Don't be
looking for star power and some, you know, super magnetic personality
or something. Don't despise just plain, ordinary
believers, because that's how God builds his church. That's
who God saves. That's who God uses, like Dan
read to us there in 1 Corinthians 1, comfort one another. It's
just plain folk that do that. It's not somebody that's high
and mighty on his big white horse. It's just plain folk. Don't despise
them. Love them. Look for them. Help
them. Don't despise them. In effect,
what these Pharisees are asking John is this. Why should we believe
the Christ that you preach? Why should we believe you? John
says, because I'm just a voice and Christ is the message. I'm
just a voice telling you about Christ the Savior. That's why
you should believe me. 2. John says, I baptize with
water, but now it's Christ that saves. Look down at verse 25. 25 And they asked him and said
unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ,
nor liest neither that prophet? 26 John answered them, saying,
I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you
know not. Now you know what these religious
zealots were doing? They're questioning John's authority. Where'd you
get the authority to do this? Their problem is you didn't get
the authority from us. You didn't come to us and get
the permission from us to go out in the wilderness and do
this. They're just upset John's doing this without asking them
first. That's why they're upset. And John says, now, I do baptize
with water. But boys, don't get your eyes
off the ball here now. The issue It's not the act of
baptism. Christ is the issue. In everything
we look at in scripture, every question that we might have of
any point of doctrine or anything that the scriptures is teaching
us, we'll not understand it unless we begin with this. Christ is
the issue here. Christ is the issue. Baptism
is glorious, isn't it? In its simplicity, in its confession
of Christ, Our hearts are just thrilled
every time somebody wants to be baptized, confessing Christ.
But baptism has absolutely no meaning without Christ. See,
Christ is the issue. Baptism is a confession of how
Christ saved me. Now, if you take Christ out of
that and just make it a religious ceremony, all you're going to
get is a wet sinner, aren't you? Baptism is a confession. This
is how Christ saved me. It's a public confession in front
of God and my friends, my family, this congregation. I am so sinful. There's just one way my sin could
be put away. It's by the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of the Son of God in human flesh. It took the blood of God to pay
my sin debt. That's how sinful I am. It takes
the blood of the Son of God to wash me from my sin. That's how
filthy I am. That's a confession of Christ.
Christ is the issue. And you just apply that to everything
in scripture. Don't let anybody ever distract
you with religious ceremony, or religious tradition, or picking
at words, saying, well, this doesn't mean this, this means
this. Keep your focus on Christ. Keep your eye on the ball. Christ
is always the issue. And certainly in salvation, Christ
is the issue. In verse 29, the next day, John
sees Jesus coming unto him and says, behold, the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. John wasn't trying
to get a following for himself. He said, behold, the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world. You follow him.
You go to him. By baptizing in water, John gave
us a picture. Here's how Christ, the Lamb of
God, is gonna take away the sin of the world. It's by his suffering,
by his death, as a substitute for his people. He suffered,
he died, he was buried. That's when we baptize somebody,
put somebody under the water, that's what we're picturing,
the death of Christ. Christ actually died and was buried, and he rose
again. By his death, by his burial,
by his resurrection, as a substitute for his people, Christ saved
everyone the Father gave him to save. Now, baptism does not
save. Christ saves. Baptism does not
cleanse away anybody's sin. Christ saves. Baptism, just like
in the lesson this morning, I talked about the Pharisees, talking
about, you know, you gotta wash your hands before you eat, and
if not, you know, you're getting sin in your body. Wash your hands
before you eat might be a good idea. But it's not gonna clean
sin off your body. Neither is dunking somebody under
the water. It doesn't cleanse away the sin. You know, the sin
is, baptism doesn't save. But I tell you this, I wouldn't
give a plug nickel for anybody's confession of faith if they'd
not confess Christ in believer's baptism. Because this is the
commandment of the Savior. You confess me publicly in the
waters of baptism. Believer's baptism is a confession.
God baptized me into Christ. God's the one who put me in Christ. Baptism just means immersion.
God immersed me, put me into Christ. So that when Christ died,
I died too. I died because I was in Him.
And since I died in Christ, the justice of God satisfied me.
The justice of God says I paid the price because I died in Christ,
I was in Him. God baptized me, He put me in
Christ, and when Christ arose, I arose in Him. I arose to newness
of life in Him. Now the believer experiences
that spiritual resurrection in the new birth. When God the Holy
Spirit causes us to be born again, now I have life. I've experienced,
God made me experience that life, that birth in my time, in my
life, if that's making any sense. But I got it in Christ. I got
it when Christ arose from the dead. It was given to me in my
experience when the Holy Spirit caused me to be born again, and
now I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. The issue is Christ. The issue
is not being dunked under the water. The issue is Christ. And when a believer sees that
Christ is the issue in baptism, baptism is not a ritual that
I need to go to, but Christ is the issue. You'll want to confess
Christ in believers baptism. To confess he's the one that
saved you and confess him publicly. Who are you? Now that's the question. Who are you? I'm one that wants to confess.
I'm nothing. I mean, I'm nothing. But Christ
is everything. What I'd like to confess is Christ
is my all. That Christ did all the saving
for me. That's who I am. I'm nothing, but he's everything.
And by his mercy, by his grace, by his inexplicable love, he
set his love upon me and saved me. That's who I am. That's what
a person Is when they're baptized today. They're just confessing.
This is how Christ has saved me So yes the preacher who am
I well? I'm somebody that can baptize
you in water, and that's all I am I can preach Christ to you,
and I can baptize you in water, but it's Christ who baptizes
you Christ who immerses you into him so that you have life. That's
who he is And then number three they asked John who are you? Who are you? He said, I'm a prophet. But Christ is to be bowed to.
In verse 27, he says, he it is who coming after me is preferred
before me, whose shoes latch it, I'm not worthy, done loose. Now there's no getting away from
the fact it is, there's an honor in being called of God to preach
his gospel, to preach his son, I counted a great honor from
God to be able to be your pastor, to preach to you week after week.
But now that doesn't just apply to preachers. Isn't it a great
honor to be called one of God's children? Isn't it a great honor
that God would call you by his grace and reveal his son in you?
That's a great honor. It's an honor none of us are
worthy of. I mean, we're not worthy. I'm not worthy that the
Lord choose me in any way. I'm not worthy of the least of
his mercies. Every believer will say that.
I'm not worthy. There's a great honor in knowing
God, in serving God. There's a great honor in God
making you faithful. to attend the services, to make
you faithful to love and serve and care for one another and
do what has to be done for this ministry that we might keep preaching
the gospel. That's a great honor, to be able
to serve God in that way. But don't ever let that make
you think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Even
after we've done all, what are we to say? I'm unworthy. After
we've done all, nothing, I haven't done anything right, anything
I've ever done has been a blessing, it's been in spite of me and
by God's grace and mercy to his people. I'm still not worthy
to bend down and untie the shoes of my master. I'm just not even
worthy to do that. We're not worthy, that's who
we are. We're not worthy, just objects of God's grace. And I
hear preachers answer, in a tone and attitude that seems to be
very different from John the Baptist. You better listen to
me, because I'm God's preacher. Well, that's true. Now, if we're
hearing from God, we're going to hear from a preacher, but,
you know, us preachers need to not get too full of ourselves.
We're just a voice, and let's not ever forget God made Balaam's
ass speak, too. I mean, you know. Let's just
not get too puffed up here. But at the same time, let's remember
this. Honor to whom honor is due. Not just to the pastor,
but to all our brothers and sisters. Honors to whom honor is due.
Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonica concerning the preachers. You
esteem them very highly in love for the work's sake. For the
work's sake. Because they care enough about
you to study and prepare and preach Christ to you. Honor to
whom honor is due But now let's not be putting a preacher on
a pedestal now. You hear God's preacher, and you bow to Christ. You hear God's preacher, we're
gonna bow to Christ together. You hear God's preacher, but
worship Christ. Let's worship Christ together.
You hear God's preacher, and you pray that Lord make you hear
in your heart, through your word. See, the issue is Christ. The
issue is his glory. I hope we never lose sight of
that. Who are you? I'm nothing. But Christ is everything. Who are you? I'm nothing. Nothing
but an object of His grace. And what glory there is in Christ
the Savior that He would humble Himself to come down here and
be made flesh. That He'd humble Himself. Holiness
personified. righteousness personified to
take the sin of his people and his own body and put it away
by his own death, by his own suffering and death. And he'd send his spirit to reveal
that to you and me. Now that's glorious. Why would us voices, me and you
both, want to talk about anybody but him? It's all in him. I pray God give us the faith
to look to, trust. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. Father, how we thank you that you continually
teach us over and over and over again that we're nothing, we're
absolutely nothing, worthless, but Christ is all. Father, how
we thank you that you would see fit to suffer and die to redeem
nothings like us. Father, we thank you. How we
thank you for your sovereign mercy and grace that would save
helpless, hopeless, hell-deserving sinners like we are. And Father,
while you give us time on this earth, we pray that you might
be pleased to use us in your service that you might be pleased
to use us in whatever means, whatever manner you see fit,
to spread the gospel of Christ our Savior, to tell others of
His glory, that they might be given the same faith that we've
been given, faith in Him. Father, this we ask for your
namesake, for the glory and honor of Christ our Savior. Amen. All right, Sean.