John's Gospel, chapter 1. I want
to begin reading in verse 6. John's Gospel, chapter 1. Begin
reading in verse 6. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. Down in verse 19. And this is
the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and
Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed
and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they
asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he said,
I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he
said, No. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou, that we may give an answer to them that hath sent
us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as saith the prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said
unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ,
nor Elijah, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water. But there standeth one among
you whom you know not. He it is who cometh after me,
is preferred before me. whose shoes latched I am not
worthy to unloose. These things were done in Beth-Arabah,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. The next day John seeth
Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After
me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before
me. And I knew him not, but that
he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing
with water. And John Burr Records said, I
saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode
upon him. And I knew him not, But he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God. Again the next day after,
John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples
heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and
saw them following, and said unto them, What seek you? And they said unto him, Rabbi,
which is to be interpreted, Master, where dwelleth thou? And he said
unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt,
and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour."
This is the record of John. John was a great man. So many
things in the Scriptures that said about this great prophet. He was prophesied of, predicted
by the Old Testament hundreds of years before he ever came
into this world. His conception was somewhat of
a miracle himself because he was conceived in the womb of
an old lady that probably herself was past barren. He was conceived to fulfill the
purpose of God. He was conceived to fulfill the
request of a prayer that his parents had prayed. This man,
we're told, that when he was born, even before he was born,
that he heard of the coming of the Messiah. How miraculous that
was! He heard of the coming of Christ.
He was filled with the Holy Spirit and he leaped for joy all while
he was in his mother's womb. When he was born and grew up,
the Scripture teaches us that he was a man that lived on locusts
and wild honey. For his clothing he wore camel's
skin, camel's hair. John was a man who loved righteousness
and he hated iniquity. He hated sin so much that he
rebuked the Herod, the great king of his time, for his adultery. He loved practical Christianity. When men come to him and inquire
what they should do in their Christian life, he said, if you've
got two coats, take one and give it to the poor. If you've got
more food than what you need, search out the poor and give
it to them. He even instructed the soldiers,
don't do violence to any man. Don't put anybody in fear. Even
gave advice to the tax collector. Don't exact any more than what
you require. And John was a man of lack passions
as all God's children are. In times of trial, great trial,
when he was thrown into jail and ready to lose his life, as
all God's children do, he was subject to ask questions. He
was subject to have a doubt arise. Are you He that should come?
Or do we look for another? And yet He said also, when the
Lord Jesus came to him, as all God's children say, I have need
of thee. I have need to be baptized of
thee. And the greatest joy, He said,
that I have is just to hear your voice. To hear the bright Grim's
voice. This is the record of John. And
he closes his course by laying down his neck on the chopping
block and giving his life for the cause of God in truth. The
record of John. But I think the most important
record that we have of this great man is given to us here in chapter
1. Here is the record of John in
verse 6. What a record this is. There
was a man sent from God. whose name was John. What a record! Here's a man who was with God. He was called close to God. God
had brought him near to Him. He was with God in the desert. He was with Him somewhere there
in the wilderness or in the hill country of Judea. Where he was
in that country with God, we don't know, but we know this,
in his heart he was with God. God brought him near to Himself,
and then God sent him. He was a man sent from God. What an awesome thought that
is! Oh, what an awful thought that is! If God sent someone
to us today, if we had the confidence of that, how awesome that would
be! How dreadful it would be! What
would God say to us this morning if He sent a man to speak to
us? What a record! There was a man
sent from God. He was a man. He was a man sent
from God. And then there in verse 7, I
read to you, we're told this is the record of John, that he
came for a witness to bear witness of that light. He was a witness
bearer. He says here in verse 23 that
I am a voice. That's what I am, a voice. I
will send my messenger. What was John? He was a voice. He was a messenger sent from
God. And here in verses 23 and verse
29 and following, we have his message. When God calls a man
to witness, When he calls him to send him out as his messenger,
he always gives him a message. He teaches him the message. John said, I didn't know the
message. I didn't know what I was supposed to say. But he came
to me and he said, whoever you see the Holy Spirit descending
upon and staying upon him, that's the one that you're to bear witness
to. That's the Lamb of God. John
had these two messages. It was one message, but he said
this, Make straight the way of the Lord. Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. And this is the
record of John in verse 37. Not only was he a man sent from
God, He was a messenger. He had this message. But we're
told here in verse 37, here's the desired results of the message. And this is our aim, brothers
and sisters. This is our end. Every true man
that's called of God, this is the end of every message that
is heard. They follow Jesus. They follow
Jesus. Now let's look at it. Here in
verses 19 and verse 22, John had been making some inroads
here into the territory of these religious leaders. I can't imagine
how they felt. They probably felt so threatened. Everything that these men dreamed
of depended upon them being esteemed in the eyes of man. Their place,
their position, Financial welfare depended upon them keeping their
jobs in the temple. All these theologians and all
the priests and all the Levites, they had jobs to do. They made
their living by doing that. When someone rose up with a new
message and began to attract the people, they got concerned. So the Scripture says here in
verse 19 that the leaders of these Jews, they sent these priests
and these Levites out to question John the Baptist. They wanted
to know, who are you? Where have you come from? Tell
us something about yourself. We're concerned about you. We don't want you to steal any
of our congregation. We know that you've been making
some inroads, and you're getting close to Jerusalem, and we've
seen some crowds come out to you, and it's bothered us. And
we've come out here to investigate. Oh, John was a threat to them.
That's why they came out. They didn't come out to find
out what he was saying. They come to find out who he
was. Are you here to approach us? Are you here to steal some
of our congregation and our converts? And so they ask him there in
verse 19, who art thou? What a good question. And oh,
the answer he could have given. He could have said, I'm a priest.
I'm a son of a priest, because he was. He could have told them
the great things that were predicted of Him even back in the Old Testament. Oh, what bragging rights! How
that would have got their attention. He could have dropped the number
of His converts that He had baptized. He could have pointed them out.
He could have said, look around me. Look at this congregation
that I'm preaching to. Oh, wouldn't that have been bragging
rights? He could have said, I'm the greatest prophet that ever
lived. Wouldn't that impress them? Oh,
he could have said so many things to impress these people. Who
art thou? That's a good question, isn't
it? That's a question you and I should ask ourselves. Who are
you? You and I have heard this answered
many times in our day. We hear it answered by the preachers
in the megachurches. We've heard it answered by the
preachers and evangelists on TV. We've heard them answer this
question when they've been asked, Who art thou? They say, I'm an
intimate servant of God. I'm a dynamic speaker. I'm a powerful speaker. I'm a
Holy Ghost filled preacher. I'm a man for the times. I'm
a man of this hour. Oh, they may not admit this if
you ask them face to face, but they allow these things to be
said about them. They know people are saying these
things about them, and yet they won't stop them. They desire
these things to be said. They love for people to exalt
them. They love to put D.D. and Reverend
in front of their names and doctor this and doctor that. They love
to brag, don't they? Who are you? What are you? Oh, we've heard that answer so
many times by the preachers in our day. Well, here's a good
question that all of us should answer for ourselves. Who art
thou? If one asked us this question
today, what would be our answer? When you ask yourself that question,
who am I? What's your answer to yourself?
What will your conscience allow you to answer when you ask yourself
that question? Who art thou? Notice this. These priests and
these Levites that came out here to John, they seemed so desirous
to want to know this answer. They kept asking Him over and
over. They asked Him there in verse 19, Who art thou? And in
verse 22, they asked Him again, Who art thou? What do you say
of yourself? But you know, they didn't really
want to know. Once John told them, what he
was all about, they lost all interest in it. They seemed so
desirous to know until he told them, and after he told them. No, they said, we're not interested
in that. He told them in verse 23, here's what I am. I am a
voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the path of the
Lord. I'm just a voice." That's all
he said. What is a voice? It's just a
medium. It's just an instrument to communicate
with someone. You can't see it. All you do
is hear it. It's not about the person. It's
about what he's saying. It's not about a personality.
It's about the voice. The voice of one speaking. A voice. Ain't that amazing?
The true messenger has no desire to draw attention to himself
and away from the message. I'm just a voice. That's all
I am. His usefulness is not to be seen
in who he is. If he draws attention to who
he is and what he is, he loses his usefulness. He's only useful
as he is indeed a voice. What else matters? What does
it matter who I am? What does it matter who you are?
What does it matter what any preacher is or who any preacher
is? It's the voice. It's the voice. I'm just the voice crying, make
straight the way of the Lord. John said, it's not about me.
It's not about me. You fellows are the ones that
make it about me. It's not about me. I'll tell you about me if
I'm going to tell you anything. He says, I'm not worthy to stoop
down and loose the latchets of His sandals. He must increase,
but I must decrease. He's coming from above, and He's
above all. The Father's given everything
unto His hands. It's not about us. It's not about
me, John says. I'm just a voice. He says here
it's about the Lord, the Lord of glory. Make straight paths
for Him. Make a straight path from His
throne to your heart. Make a straight path from your
heart to His door of mercy. Make a straight path for Him
to come to your broken heart, your repentant heart. Get off
of this crooked road, these detours, these curves, these valleys and
these hills, and make a straight path to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He means by that. Oh my, the crooked roads, the
excuses, the detours that sinners throw up between them and the
Lord Jesus Christ. Excuses. John said, make a straight
path. Get to Christ. That's what this
is about. And get there in a hurry. Don't
get sidetracked. Get off of this crooked road.
Don't be taking these detours. Get to the Lord Jesus Christ. Make a beaten path to His door. The Lord. That's what this is
about, he said. This ain't about me. I have a
voice. And my voice is crying this.
Make a straight path to the Lord. Boy, here in verses 24 and verse
25. You see how disinterested they are now in who He really
is? What He's all about? He says,
I'm a voice. I'm just a voice. They weren't
interested in that. In verse 25, they asked Him and
said unto Him, Why are you baptizing then, if you're not the Christ?
You're not Elijah. You're not the prophet. Why are
you doing what you do? Where did you get your authority?
Where did you get your credentials? I thought you wanted to know
what I was all about. Well, I'm telling you, I'm just
a voice. We don't want to hear anything about that. We want to know where you got
your education. We want to know how many degrees
you have. We want to know about you, your personality. Oh, John said, I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice. Make straight
paths to Him. I tell you, this world don't
have any need and no interest in the preaching of the gospel.
Do you know that? They just don't. Oh, they pretend to. At first,
they have this curiosity. What are you folks over there
all about? Oh, so you're a pastor. What do you preach? What do you
folks over there believe? You got any sand painters over
there? Do you have any singings? What are you folks about? But
when you start to tell them that we're nothing but a voice, there's
nothing to us. Well, you're telling people to
make a straight path to the Lord Jesus Christ. Get to Him as fast
as you can. Do you have any pictures of Jesus?
Why don't you have any pictures of Jesus? They're not interested,
folks, I'm telling you. They're not interested. They
pretend to be interested until they find out. And then they
lose interest so quickly. And then they're gone. Oh, what political group are
you affiliated with? What denominations do you belong
to? What school did you attend? What do you have your degree
in? Why does it matter? It don't
matter if you're just a voice. If you're just a voice. What
is this messenger sent from God? He says, I'm just a voice. I'm
just a voice. Well, you're in verses 26 and
verse 27. Here's your true messenger. He
won't be distracted from the message. He's content simply
to be a voice by which God sends His message. He's going to forego
all this favor of man, and the esteem of man, and all the titles
that man wants to put upon him. Look what he said. John answered
and said, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you
whom you know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoe latches I am not worthy
to stoop down and unloose. You guys want to make it about
me, don't you? You want me to talk about myself, don't you?
No. I ain't worthy to be mentioned.
It's Him. It's Him. John told them later on in this
chapter, in chapter 3, he said, I'm content with this. If you'll
just give me eyes to see His glory. If you'll just give me
an ear to hear His voice. That's what fulfills my joy.
That's what my joy is. A man is not worth his weight
in mud if God don't send him. whatever the church may have
to do with his preaching, in the sense that they receive him
and attend his ministry, yet if God don't send him, he'll
be nothing but a messenger of bad news, and discouragement,
and confusion, and darkness, and in the end, he'll be the
instrument of souls going off into darkness and death. There
was a man sent from God. He was a messenger of the Lord.
And I tell you, when the Lord calls a man, brothers and sisters,
and He makes him a messenger, one of the things He teaches
that man eventually, this ain't about you. This ain't about you. And don't you let the world make
it about you. It's about somebody exceeding
worth more than you are. What is the message? What is
the message? Really and honestly, I read it
to you there in verse 7 and verse 8. The same came for a witness
to bear witness of the light. That's the message. That's the
message. Light. He bears witness of the
light. Light has come into this dark
world of sin and sorrow and death. And this light is shining in
our dark and despairing hearts. And what do we see in this light? We see the true nature. and the
glory of the God in heaven. In this light we see God as we've
never been able to see Him before. We see His very nature as a redeeming
God. We see Him in Christ our Lord,
our Redeemer. No wonder John was so caught
up with this. No wonder he was caught up with
this message. No wonder he said, this is not
about me. It's about my message. I'm a
bearer, I'm a bearer witness of the light. The apostle said
this, we preach not ourselves. We preach not ourselves. It's
not about us. What do you preach them for?
We preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. What do you say about Him? He's
this light in this dark world. He's God's glory. He's God's
redemption. We preach Him. He said in the
very next verse, For God who commandeth the light to shine
out of darkness hath shined in our hearts. Oh, here your heart
is this morning in darkness. Darkness that sin has brought. and sorrow and death. John said,
I come to bear witness of this light, and it shines into your
heart, right where the darkness is, where the sin and the sorrow
is. And what is this light? It's
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
in His glorious person, in His work, in His doing, and in His
dying. That's the light. He is the light. that shines into our dark hearts. And what do we see in that? We
see the glory of God, don't we? The glory of God. Oh, here's
the way John put it in our text. Here's the light. He came to
bear witness of the light. And as He went out to bear witness,
here is simply what He said in verse 29 and verse 36. He seeth
Jesus coming to him. And he said, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And then in verse
36, he looked upon the Lord Jesus as He was walking away. And he
said again, Behold the Lamb of God. And it doesn't matter if
you see Him coming or see Him going. The message is the same. Behold the Lamb of God. That's
the light that John is talking about. That's the light that
shines in darkness. This word here identified the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the whole concept of
the Lamb is so appealing to us, isn't it? Behold the Lamb of
God. How appealing that is. There's
not a timid woman in this congregation this morning, or there's not
a young child here that would be fearful about approaching
a lamb and snuggling up with a lamb. It's one of the most
harmless, it's one of the most innocent, it's one of the most
tender creatures among us, a lamb. Behold the lamb! You see God
upon Mount Sinai, and you see the lightning, and you hear the
thunder, and the fire, and the smoke, and the voice of words,
and we're afraid of Him, aren't we? We live with this guilt,
and fear, and this mistrust, and doubts. We know that God
is holy, and we know that we're sinful, and Mount Sinai is in
our view. And it gets into our conscience.
And the whole scene hardens our hearts. And it stirs up this
enmity within us. And it almost sends us to despair. And we are ready to throw up
our hands and say, there is no hope. Look at God up on Mount
Sinai. There is no hope for us. Oh, but here is this light that
is shining in our darkness. And what does it say? It's God
speaking to us. And here's what He says. Yes,
I've given you Mount Sinai. Yes, I'm a consuming fire. Yes, I want you to know that
I am dead set against your sins. I want you to know that I will
punish sin. But I want you to know this,
I have punished your sin. I want you to know this. I have
taken vengeance on your sins. I want you to know that I put
them to death. I punished them. I have purged
them. I have put them away. Behold! And we turn and what do we see?
A mountain quaking with a voice of words that condemns us? No. We turn and we see this land.
A Lamb as it had been slain, and yet He lives. And when we
behold this Lamb, what do we do? Why, we approach. We approach
with the confidence that God is indeed love. That God is indeed
mercy. That God is indeed good. Holy,
yes. Just, yes. But He's a redeeming
God. He sent us light into our darkness. And what is that light? His Lamb. He's dealt with our sins. He's
dealt with His judgment in our Lamb. He's put our sins upon
Him. And He's punished our sins in
Him. And He says, now look upon Him
and you'll see Me for who I am. I'm your redeeming God. Oh, what
a message of light! I came to bear witness of the
light, and here is what I bear witness to. Behold the Lamb of
God! Behold the Lamb! I tell you,
brothers and sisters, there is not a sinner in hell this morning.
There never will be. What a pleasant thought! There
is not a sinner in hell this morning. And there never will
be who looks to the Lamb of God, who taketh away his sins. Oh,
what a pleasant thought. What a hopeful thought. Don't
just bring your heart out to the light. Oh, don't just make
you want to beat a quick path to His door of mercy and say,
give me eyes to look. Give me an ear to hear. Oh, the message. His message
is one of light. Behold the Lamb of God. And here's the desired end in
verse 37. And this is so telling. And the
two disciples heard Him speak. I am just a voice. I love the
way the Holy Spirit writes that. I'm just a voice. And then what
happens? Somebody hears that voice. Oh,
they wasn't asking, who are you, John? What are you all about? No, they were listening. And they heard. And here's the
desired end. They followed Jesus in the way. They followed Jesus. If you and
I want men to come to Christ, then preach Christ. If we want
men to believe in Christ, then preach Christ. Preach Him over
and over and over. Say again and again and again,
Behold the Lamb of God, until somebody hears and follows. Preach Him until men find themselves
in Him. Paul said, whom we preach, that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Do we want to
present men perfect in Christ? Then preach Christ. What is our aim? What is our
goal? As messengers, as a church, what
is our aim and what is our goal? Just to get men on a religious
profession. Just to baptize men and women
in water? Just to have them to become religious
with some morals? Is it our aim just to see people
begin to go to church and become good citizens? Or read their
Bible occasionally? Or pray before they go to bed
at night? Goal to convert me into a system
of theology? Here's the aim of the true messenger
of God. And here's why he preaches the
message. That those who hear become a
follower of Jesus. You want to follow Jesus? Then
hear the message. Hear the Gospel. Hear His Word. Oh, how safe it is to be a follower
of Jesus. For He is righteous Himself.
And He walks in the paths of righteousness. And those who
follow Him walk in those paths. You won't have to learn how to
do anything if you'll just walk with your eyes upon Him. He'll
come so natural and so spontaneous. These men didn't have to be concerned
with the twist and the turns and the roads. They just kept
their eyes upon Jesus and walked as He led them. If you be led of the Spirit,
you're not under the law. And where does the Spirit lead
us but to follow Jesus? It was said of those virgins
in Revelations, they followed the Lamb wheresoever He went. And while others, brothers and
sisters, are dying for thirst, you'll be led by those still
waters as you follow Jesus. Others may doubt their election,
but you'll never have to if you're a follower of Jesus. It's evident
beyond doubt that all those who follow the Lord Jesus have the
evidence within them that they're one of His sheep. My sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. Verse 38 says that the Lord Jesus
turned to them See, He knows when we're following Him. He
knows who is following Him. And those who follow Him have
the occasion to converse with Him. He'll make sure you do. He turned and He said to them,
what seek you? What seek you? You'll not be
a follower of Christ, but occasionally He'll turn and He'll say this
to you. What do you want from me? What request do you have? What do you desire of me? Oh,
abide in communion. Abide in communion. Look what
they said. Master, where dwellest thou? And the Lord Jesus said, Come
and see. And they went and dwelt with
Him. They abode with Him. Oh, this
is the record of John, and what a wonderful record it is, because
he was just a voice. But here's the wonderful thing
about it. Those who heard his voice looked to the Lamb of God,
and they followed Him, and they communed with Him, and they abode
with Him. And things hasn't changed, brothers
and sisters. It hasn't changed. He said, I
go to prepare a place for you. that where I am, there you will
be also. And you hear His voice, and you
look to Him, and you follow Him, He'll lead right to heaven, right
to His eternal abode. This is the record of John. What a messenger! What a message! May God grant us to be messengers,
and may He bless the message with this artifact. Let's pray.