When the men meet with me in
the office back here, Sunday nights, Tuesday nights before
services, for scripture reading and prayer, we often speak with
some levity about things. I try to keep it down to a minimum
and try to avoid talking too much about things that disturb
me, like politics and such as that, before I preach. But often
we will discuss something of tremendous significance. before
the reading of scripture. One night about three months
ago, Brother Darwin Pruitt came into the office and had John
chapter 1, verses 31 and 33 on his mind. And he said this, we
know that John the Baptist knew Christ. He was his cousin. Yet twice, he says in those verses,
I knew him not. What do you suppose that means?
What's the significance of that statement? Well, to make a long
story short, none of us had a clue. But these verses have been on
my mind almost constantly since that time, and I've been studying
them, praying for some light and understanding, meditating
on them, and I believe God has given me not only understanding
in the passage, but a message for you from it. So hold your
Bibles open to John chapter 1 while I work our way down to our text
in verses 31 through 33. In this passage, the Apostle John is
giving us his inspired account of the life, ministry, the preaching
of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets
and the only prophet of the New Testament. The Baptist message
was the proclamation of God's Christ. He was, as our Lord Jesus
said he was, Elijah, of whom Malachi prophesied, who came
to prepare the way of the Lord. The first thing John the Apostle
tells us about this man, John the Baptist, whom our Savior
describes as the greatest of all the prophets, is he was a
man sent from God. Look at verse 6. There was a
man sent from God whose name was John. The only man who can
preach the gospel to us is that man who is sent of God with God's
message to his people. What reason we have to give thanks
and bless God. for sending a man with his word
to call us from darkness to light. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, who publish salvation,
who say to Zion, thy God reigneth. Look at verse 7. John the Baptist,
we're told, was sent for one specific purpose. To bear witness
of the light. The same came for a witness.
For this one function. He was sent of God and he came
from God for one purpose only. For a witness. To bear witness
of the light that all men through him might believe. Being God's
prophet, John had only one purpose in life. one function, one work
to do, one thing and one thing only for which he was useful. He came to bear witness of the
light, to point sinners to Christ, who alone is the light of the
world and gives light, the light of life to men. John was trusted
with this great task, and he would not be turned from it by
anything. Would to God I could get the
ear of every gospel preacher in the world. I would say to
him, my brother, separate yourself to this one thing. Let nothing
interfere with this one thing. Have no business but this one
thing. Do nothing but this one thing. Be consumed in the totality of
your life by this one thing, to bear witness of the light. God give me grace that my life
may be utterly consumed by this. And what a witness John bore.
He testified of the Lord's preeminence. as God the Son. He said, He is
preferred before me because He is before me. He spoke of the
Lord Jesus Christ as the light that shines continually, perpetually,
has shined through all the ages of time and shall shine until
time shall be no more, shining in darkness, though the darkness
comprehends it not. John proclaimed that Jesus Christ
is that One in whom is all the fullness of grace. Of His fullness
have all we received grace for grace, grace that we may have
grace, grace on top of grace, one grace after another grace
we continually have received and do receive from His infinite
fullness. So full is He of grace that though
multitudes, countless in number, have constantly received and
are constantly receiving grace from Him, His grace is in no
way diminished. He is still full of grace. And
we receive it only from Him. Then in verse 17, John tells
us that all law and truth come to men, revealed to men, made
known to men, only in and by Jesus Christ. In verse 18, the
apostle tells us that John the Baptist openly asserted that
Christ, who is alone the revelation of the triune God, was himself
the eternal word with God in heaven, even while he was here
on this earth. Verse 18, no man hath seen God
at any time. No man. No man. What about all
those Old Testament appearances of God. No man has seen God at
any time, except one way, in the sun. That's the only way. All those Old Testament appearances
were but pre-incarnate revelations of the Son of God. The only begotten
Son, now watch this, which is in the bosom of the Father. But
He's on Earth. No, He's in the bosom of the
Father. Yes, He's on the Earth. He always has been, always is,
one with God. Sometimes we get carried away
trying to explain things and describe things. We talk about
the Incarnation and we say He laid His glory by it. No, He
didn't. No, He didn't. He stepped off the throne. No,
He didn't. No, He didn't. He came down here in this earth
and veiled His glory in human flesh, but He didn't lay anything
by it. He was all the while, even as
He is now, with the Father. He hath declared Him. Now, the Pharisees came to John
the Baptist with a question. And the Apostle John takes this
up in verses 19 through 28. We've already read the passage,
so we won't read it again. These Pharisees sent men, priests
and Levites, to question John. They were troubled. Because John
had come performing a new ceremony, a new ritual, something that
had never been done before. He came calling men to repentance,
preaching the baptism, the immersion of repentance. Now the Pharisees
looked upon themselves as profaners of God's truth. I've run across
a bunch of them in my day. They considered themselves the
men who were responsible to protect the truth of God and maintain
it. And they were interested in the fact that John was now
doing something sort of like what they had done. They had
many baptisms that they practiced. Some were required by the law
of God. They're called washings. baptisms in the scriptures, rituals
of ceremonial cleansing according to the law. And then these protectors
of God's word, these protectors of divine worship, they added
to God's law because those who view themselves as the protectors
of God and his truth and his people in such a way as his Pharisees
did, always recognized in their opinion that God's word is insufficient. And so they added other washings,
other baptisms. They required folks to wash their
hands, before they ate, sort of like most religions require
you to say a little prayer before you have your meal out in the
restaurant this afternoon. They required folks to wash cups
and saucers whenever they've been in the marketplace because
somebody may have touched those who were unclean. They even required
them to wash tables, to baptize tables as it were, to wash them
thoroughly and clean because they had been defiled by folks
who were not clean like the Pharisees. All these things they added to
the word of God. Now listen carefully. Any attempt
to add anything to the revelation is to make the revelation of
God of none effect. Men impose things upon others,
requiring them to practice religious traditions. They draw up covenants
and creeds and confessions and require that folks sign them.
Now, you've got to adhere to this. When they do, they make
void the Word of God by their traditions. This is what our
Savior said about it. In vain they do worship me. teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. But the Pharisees were interested
in what John was doing, because his teaching of baptism to repentance
by immersion in water was gaining favor among the people, and they
Feared they were going to lose their influence. They feared
for their position of power. Just like politicians hold on
to power. Do anything they can to hold
on to power. Religious politicians crave power
and do everything they can to hold on to it. If it meant the
Pharisees had to submit to John's ordinance, in order to keep their
place of leadership among the people, much as they despised
everything he said, they would be happy to do it. And so they
came to him to be baptized. John said, you vipers, who told
you to do this? I didn't call you to do this. And these Pharisees come now
questioning John. They wanted to see if he claimed
to be the Messiah. Are you the Christ? Well, are you Elijah, that one
Valk I spoke of? Are you Jeremiah, that prophet
raised from the dead? Are you the prophet that Moses
declared would come to us, whom we would hear? Who are you? And
John simply answered them, I'm just a voice. That's all. Pointing to Him who is the Christ. The idea that the Messiah would
come baptizing had no place in the Old Testament, but the Pharisees
assumed that certain scriptures taught it. They assumed that
when the Lord Jesus spoke of a fountain being opened for cleansing
and for sin in Zechariah chapter 13, that was talking about baptism,
represented in these ceremonial washings. They assumed that when
God spoke in His covenant in Ezekiel 36 about sprinkling His
people with clean water and washing them and sanctifying them with
clean water, it would all be a baptism, physical water baptism. But these Pharisees really understood
nothing. Even when they came to John,
these men who loved preeminence, loved power, who loved positions
of influence and honor. They came to John and said, Who
are you? Who are you? John refused to direct any attention
to himself. He said, I'm nothing, just a
voice. Crying in the wilderness, make
straight the way of the Lord. Because his ministry as is the
ministry of every man sent from God, was not about himself. It wasn't about promoting himself. It wasn't about honoring himself. It wasn't about calling attention
to himself. His ministry was all about Christ. He was sent of God to bear witness
of Christ. His existence was that he may
speak of and preach the glories of Christ. He said in verse 23,
I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight
the way of the Lord. In John 3 verse 30, he declared, he must increase,
but I must decrease. Even John's declaration of what
he was doing was intended to draw attention away from himself
and to focus attention upon the Lord Jesus. He was saying that
all he did was baptize in water. All I'm doing is making straight
the way of the Lord. I know that He is coming, whom
the prophets of God have spoken of, whom God Himself sent me
to proclaim, who is the King of Israel. And I am here baptizing
folks in water who have repented their sins, looking to Him. But
what I'm doing? That is not even to be compared
with what he's going to do. I'm nothing. You remember what
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1? The church was divided over who
baptized him. Boy, I was baptized by Jesus. I was baptized by John the Baptist.
I was baptized by Peter. I was baptized by Paulus. I was
baptized by Paul. Paul said, I thank God I didn't
baptize any of you. He baptized a bunch of them.
But he said, that's nothing. That's insignificant. What I
do is meaningless. What He does is nothing. He was speaking here of that
which Christ would do in baptizing us in the Holy Ghost. As the
King seated on His throne, the King of Israel, sitting on the
throne of David, He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh
as He did on the day of Pentecost. Now look at verse 29. The next
day. John seeth Jesus coming unto
him. And he saith, Behold, that is,
look, see, trust, believe on, follow, embrace the Lamb of God
which taketh away. Don't you love the detailed simplicity
of Holy Scripture. He didn't say the Lamb of God
who is coming to take away. He didn't say the Lamb of God
who has taken away. He didn't say the Lamb of God
who is going to take away. He says behold the Lamb of God,
that one accepted of God before the world was. That one spoken
of by God when He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and
He slew an animal and clothed them in the skins of that animal,
representing the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God portrayed on
the every day of atonement in Israel in the Paschal Lamb. The
Lamb of God spoken of by the prophets. The one prophesied,
promised, and looked for. Behold the Lamb of God. Who perpetually,
forever, with no cessation, takes away the sin of His people, scattered
through all the world, so that God never imputes sin to His
own. He's been doing it since before
time began. And he will continue to do it
until the world is no more. He taketh away perpetually the
sins of his people as the sun shines. It just keeps on shining. Our granddaughter was saying
to us, no, grandson, Will, asked me the other day, he said at
school, they said the sun is exploding. I said, son, the sun
always explodes. That's what makes it the sun.
It's just constantly exploding. So the Lord Jesus Christ constantly
takes away our sins. Oh, let us ever view the Lamb
in this light. God himself gives what God requires. requires only what he gives and
always accepts what he gives. The Lamb of God takes away our
sins by virtue of his blood atonement as we multiply sin. And we do. He multiplies pardon. Did you hear me? As we multiply
sins, He multiplies pardons. Oh, pastor, you shouldn't tell
people that. Why not? I don't know anything
better to tell you. As we multiply sins, He multiplies
pardons. That's the nature of the Lamb. He is that fountain open for
sin and for uncleanness. And all this John the Baptist
preached. All this God's prophets have
forever preached. All this God's servants to this
day preach, that all men through Him might believe. It is by the
preaching of the gospel, by declaring the Lamb, that God gives sinners
faith in Him. Now, let's look at our text.
Verse 31-33. Before we read the text, it is
important to remember that everything John the Apostle has told us
about John the Baptist, all these words we read up to verse 31,
took place after John had baptized the Savior. They all took place
after John the Baptist had baptized the Lord Jesus. Now, verse 31,
John begins to explain how he came to know the Savior. And
I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. The
only thing I knew was that he's coming. The only thing I knew.
God revealed it to me, it's written in the Bible, understood, he's
coming, he must be made manifest to Israel, this one who is the
Christ, the Messiah. Therefore am I come baptizing
with water. I have come to prepare his way,
proclaiming the baptism of repentance. Verse 32, and John bear record
saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and
it abode upon him. And I knew Him not. He said,
this is not something I conditioned myself for. This is not something
I prepared myself for. When God revealed Him to me and
I saw the Spirit descending on Him and abiding on Him, I had
never known Him. 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." Now in reality,
this is John's recollection of his meeting Christ in the flesh
when he came to be baptized of him. When he said, I knew him
not, clearly John is not suggesting that he had never met him. We
know better than that. The scriptures tell us better.
John the Baptist was not only a prophet whom God had specifically
sent to prepare the way of the Lord. This man, John the Baptist,
was our Savior's second cousin. He was his second cousin. He
had been brought up with the Lord Jesus. His mother Elizabeth,
you'll remember, Luke chapter 1, when she had Christ formed
in her womb by the Holy Spirit, she came to Elizabeth in Judah,
and Elizabeth was already pregnant with John the Baptist. And when
the two came together, John leaped in his mother's womb, and his
mother Elizabeth said, and it's written by the Spirit of God,
He leaped for joy. Now I'm not about to try to explain
that. I don't have a clue what it means. Except he leaped for
joy. Because even in his mother's
womb, he was a prophet ordained of God and a prophet to whom
God had made special revelation of his darling son while he was
a babe in the womb. But early impressions are often
fading impressions. More than that, as John grew
up, I cannot imagine knowing myself and knowing human nature,
knowing mamas and daddies, especially old mamas and daddies. I'm more and more convinced all
the time it's good for folks to marry young, have their children
young. Babies are not for old folks. We dote on them. We tend
to spoil them rotten. And we spend lots of time talking
to them. Well, Elizabeth and her husband
Zachariah were old folks when John was born. Can you imagine
her not telling him about what happened when he met the Savior
for the first time while he was still in the womb? Can you imagine
her not telling him about Mary's miraculous conception and the
Savior's supernatural incarnation coming into this world? Can you
imagine her not telling him that this is the Lord? You remember
when she met Mary? She said, the mother of my Lord. That's what she called her. when
she met her while Christ was still in her womb. Elizabeth
understood these things and she taught them to her son just exactly
like you and I have taught them to our children. I said, Michael
and Michelle, y'all weren't quite babies when I started preaching
to you, but close. And mama and daddy taught you. All the things
I've preached to you, taught you all your life. Just exactly
as Elizabeth did. Well, what on earth does this
mean? John knew the Savior. He knew
who he was and was morally convinced of who he was. No question about
that. In Matthew chapter 3, when the
Lord Jesus came to be baptized to John, he looked and said,
Oh, no, no, no, no. I need for you to baptize me. I'm not about to baptize you.
He looked at the Savior and declared Him to be a man of such moral
character, such moral perfection, that there is no need for Him
to engage in the baptism of repentance. John knew Him well. After the
flesh. After the flesh. Let me give
you a hint. Verse 26. John answered them, these Pharisees,
saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among
you whom you know not. He it is who is coming after
me. It is preferred before me who shoelatcheth. I am not worthy
to unloose. Now this is what he was saying.
Fellas, you come out here asking me these questions. I was once
in the same boat you're in. I knew much about the Son of
God. My mama and daddy taught me a lot about Him. Though I
was like you, looking for the Messiah, the Christ of God, of
whom the prophets spoke, though I knew, I knew Him after the
flesh, I didn't know Him. I didn't know Him. That's where
you were the day you called me. I didn't know Him. I'd heard
about Him all my life. And I was convinced what I heard
was so, but I didn't know it. I didn't know it. These things
are written for our learning that we, through patience and
comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. There's no doubt. Prior to his birth, implanted
in his mind was the message of the Messiah, as we've seen already. John's knowledge of Christ as
a baby was a miracle of God. Supernatural thing. Somehow God
revealed to him who he was so that he leaped in his mother's
womb concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, he says here, I
knew him not. And this is what it's saying.
He had not yet been revealed to me as the Christ. the Son of God, causing me to
know Him. But now, now I know Him. Now I know Him. Let me tell you
how I know Him. How is it that John came to know
the Savior? How was He revealed and made
known to John the Baptist as the Christ, the Lamb of God,
the Son of God? The fact that he emphatically
declares and declares twice, I knew Him not, is of paramount
importance because John uses this as the background. He said,
now let me tell you how this sinner came to know the Son of
God. Are you interested? Let me tell
you how I came to know Him. Sometimes we sing, haven't sung
in a while, you might try it soon. You ask me how I know He
lives? Here's the answer, and there
can't be any other. He lives within my heart. And Larry Brown, you can't know
He lives if He doesn't live in you. Impossible. Doesn't matter what
you've read. Doesn't matter what you've studied.
Doesn't matter what you've been taught until the Son of God invades
you personally and takes up residence on His throne in you. You'll
never know Him. John says, now let me tell you
how I came to know Him. Verse 33. I knew Him not, but
something happened. He had sent me to baptize with
water. He 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. This, sure enough, is the Son
of God. Now I know Him. Now I know Him. He's saying, though I knew Him
not, now I know Him by the Spirit of God, by the Word of God, and
by the faith God has given me. Let me show you a parallel passage.
Hold your hands here. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul is calling for sinners to
be reconciled to God, and he's telling us how it is that we
were made to be reconciled to God through the word of reconciliation. Verse 14, he says, The love of
Christ constraineth us. This is the thing that has pressed
this thing. Because we thus judge, we now
understand that if one died for all, then we're all dead, quite
literally. Since Christ died for all whom
he represented, all his elect, then all his people died in him. Verse 15, And that he died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. He died
for us that we might live to him, unto him which died for
them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth? since it
has been revealed in us and to us. Since now we are made to
judge, to discern these things. Wherefore henceforth know we
no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh. That's just what John had said. I knew him not. Well, I knew
about him all my life. Which one of you didn't? Who here has not heard about
Him all your life? And what you've heard from this
place has been true. What most of you have heard all
your life has been true. All the historic, accurate facts,
all the divinely revealed, accurate truths concerning Him. But you
knew Him after the flesh. Yet now, we don't know Him like
that anymore. Henceforth, know we Him no more. Therefore, therefore, being reconciled
to God, being given life and faith in Christ, if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, and
behold, all things are become new. Now, let's go back to John
chapter 1. John tells us he knew the Lord
Jesus by these three things. He knew him first by the word
of God. God had said to him, either by
an audible, articulate voice, or by a divine, supernatural
impulse on his mind, a revelation of his spirit, God said, upon
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him,
the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. God said,
now John, I sent you into this world to make way for the Christ. Now let me tell you how you're
going to know Him. This is how you're going to recognize Him.
This is how you're going to see Him. When you see heaven open
above you and the Spirit of God Flying down from heaven like
a dove and just resting on Him. Not a flutter, just resting on
Him. See Him remaining on Him. That's
Him. That's Him. to whom I give my
spirit without measure, this priest anointed of God, that's
the Messiah. You see, faith in Christ is always
conveyed to sinners by the Word of God. In this gospel age, since
the completion of the canon of Holy Scripture, there are no
more open visions and revelations given supernaturally Apart from
the Word of God. So what's so bad about those
things? Let me give you a personal illustration of what's so bad
about them. My father, 82 years old, is dying. He may have died today, I don't
know. Twelve years old, I've heard
my grandmother tell the story a hundred times, I've heard it
once. When my dad was there, you don't need to know. She said,
I know Paul's alright. Because one day I was washing
dishes and praying for him and the Lord gave me a vision of
a crown of thorns and I knew he was saved. Everything's alright. And the man's going to hell with
a vision of a crown of thorns. No. You don't know God by such
revelations. How do you know Him? By the revelation
of His Word. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. By one means or another, God
conveys His Word to sinners, the gospel of His grace, which
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. So
do you believe it? Preachers are instruments by
whom God saves His people. Of course I do. We're just instruments by which
God waters His seed, that's all. Instruments. I'm not a chemist,
don't know much about it, but chemists, if they're going to
take two things and bring them into a union together, to make
another different thing all together, Usually, they have to use a catalyst,
a third agent. The catalyst never becomes part
of the union. The catalyst does not enter into
the union, but the union can take place without the presence
of the catalyst. That's what gospel preaching
is. It is the power of God unto salvation,
unto everyone that believes. But that requires more than just
gospel preaching. If all you hear is the voice
of this preacher, I don't care how completely persuaded you
are that what this preacher is saying is true, you'll go to
hell. That's all you hear. It requires
something more. You've got to have the power
of God the Holy Spirit confirming the Word to you and in you personally. This is what John said. God said,
I'm going to send you to proclaim Him and when you see the Spirit
descending on Him and abiding on Him, that's the one. And John
the Baptist When the Lord Jesus came to him and insisted on being
baptized by him, he saw the Spirit of God descending on him. And
he saw who he was. This is the one I've been reading
about all my life. This is the one Mama told me
about. This is He! Now I see Him. And I see this
further thing. I see in this symbolic ordinance
God has sent me to perform. I see the fulfillment of all
righteousness in the death and burial and resurrection of this
man, who is the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the
whole world, who, rising again, sits and rules in heaven and
earth and all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given Him, I see Him, and behold, I confess, this is the
Son of God. This is Him. This is Him. And
it takes more than the Spirit's application. The saving of our
souls involves a third thing. The gift of God, the work of
God, every bit as much so as the gift of His Son, the gift
of His Word, and the gift of His Spirit. But still, just as
necessary. And that is faith in Jesus Christ. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God. I knew Him not. I knew Him not. But now I know Him. Now I know Him. Because God has
revealed Him to me in His Word. And God has revealed Him to me
by His Spirit. Do you remember what Judas, not
Iscariot, said to the Lord? He said, How will you manifest
yourself to us and not to the world? How are you going to do
that? How are you going to do that? Two weeks ago, Brother Gene Harmon
was here. Joyce Montgomery came in like
she has all the time I've been here while she lived in Danville.
to hear the word, to hear Pastor preach. Bless her heart, because she
likes to hear me preach. She told Shelby after service, she
was so disappointed because she found out Brother Harmon was
preaching, not Brother Fortner. I'm so glad Brother Harmon was preaching,
not Brother Fortner. Lots of folks sitting here. But
when the hour was done, God revealed Himself to her, not to others. How? How? Now you sit beside
your wife. She sees Him, hears Him. Oh,
this is He. And you go out just as blind
as when you came in. Now you sit beside Mama and Daddy
and they, oh, what a Savior. And you go home and say, what
saved you? How will you manifest yourself
to us and not to the world? I and my Father, by my Spirit,
will come unto you and abide with you. And when the Spirit
has come, He will take the things of mine and show them to you.
and convince you of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Can you say with John, I knew Him not. I knew Him not. Oh, but now I
know Him. Not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. Amen.