entitled the message for tonight,
The Record of John the Baptist. Now we just read in that passage
of scripture in Matthew chapter 11 that the Lord Jesus said with
regard to this man, among them which are born of women there
is risen none greater than John the Baptist. Now this is the
Lord saying this. i love also the way he said notwithstanding
he which is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
who's least in the kingdom of heaven who became least the lord
jesus and he's infinitely greater than
john the baptist the lord said in john chapter five verse thirty
five that john was a burning and a shining light. You know, he is the only person
in the New Testament, other than Christ himself, who was prophesied
of in the Old Testament. John the Baptist. Look in verse 6 of John chapter
1. 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 that was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Look in verse 15, John bear witness
of him. What a commendation of this man. John, bear witness of him. Wouldn't you love, I said this
last week, wouldn't you love to have that laid to your account?
John, bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of
whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me. And that word preferred is he
was before me. Now, John was older in chronological
age. He was six months older, but
this is the eternal son of God. And I want to remind you that
there's only one eternal being God. God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and every attribute of God is
implied in his eternal nature. What that means is, who he is,
he always was. What he is, he always was. Who he is, he always will be.
What he is, he always will be. Verse 19, and this is the record of John,
this is the testimony of John, John the Baptist. When the Jews
sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art
thou? Now this is the one who leaped
in his mother's womb When he heard of the Christ, think of
that. The scripture says he was filled with the Holy Ghost from
the womb. Somebody says, explain that to
me. I can't explain that, but I believe it. He was filled with
the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He's the one who would
shortly be headed. His head would be taken off.
Now, I love the way John uses this phrase, and this is the
record of John when the Jews sent priests unto him. This is common to John. He quite
frequently refers to the Jews. Now, John was a Jew, wasn't he?
He was a Jew, but when he speaks of the Jews here, it's not by
way of compliment. Listen to these scriptures. The Jews' Passover
was at hand. This was not God's Passover.
This was the Jews' Passover, prostituted. The truth was no
longer in it. And there was a feast of the
Jews. Therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus. Therefore the Jews sought to
kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand. Then said the Jews, said we not
well? Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. Now John was a natural Jew. But the Jews he's speaking of
here are not spiritual Jews. They're natural Jews. There is a spiritual Jew, every
believer. I'm a Jew. We are the circumcision. We are the true Jews who worship
God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly, whose circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Now,
these Jews are not those Jews. And John does not say this by
compliment when he speaks of the Jews. The Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem. That's the capital of religion.
to ask him, who are you? Now, why they were asking this
question was John the Baptist was saying some pretty rough
things to the Jews. He said, oh, generation of vipers, who
hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? They said,
we be Abraham's seed. He said, God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And they found what
he was saying offensive. And they wanna know, who are
you? Who do you claim to be? Who sent you? Verse 20, here's his answer to
who art thou, verse 20. And he confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I'm not the Christ. Now, evidently they were saying,
are you the Christ? His answer, no. Emphatically,
no. I am not the Christ. Perish the thought that I should
be thought to be the Christ. Verse 21, and they asked him,
what then? Art thou Elias, Elijah? Now remember, Elijah was said to be coming
again, and John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. The
Lord said that. But was he Elijah? No, he wasn't. He was John the Baptist. His
answer, no. And then they said, art thou
that prophet, that prophet Moses spoke of? A prophet shall the
Lord God raise up out of your brethren like unto me. Him shall
ye hear. Are you that prophet that is
supposed to come? Nope, I'm not. That is reserved for the Christ. Verse 22, then said they unto
him, Who are you? You're making these claims. You're
saying these offensive things to us. You're calling us a generation
of vipers. Who are you? Who gave you the
authority to speak like this? Who are you? That we may give
an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, Verse 23, I am a voice. You know what he meant by that?
My name's not even important. What's your name? It's of no
consequence what my name is. I am a voice crying in the wilderness,
the desert place. Now, If you were going to hear
from God, did you go to the temple? Did you go to the seminary? Did
you go to the men trained in religion? No. You went to the wilderness if
you were going to hear God's voice. The wilderness, the desert
place, not a part of organized, man-made, human religion. You are not going to hear from
God in man-made, organized, denominations, human religion. There's no mention
of denominations or seminary training. There's no claim of
a PhD in theology, just a voice. And my dear friends, it's no
different today. You're not gonna hear from God
in man-made, organized religion. Man-made denominations, Baptist,
Catholic, Presbyterian, whatever, they're all man-made. You're
not thinking of the word, the name Christianity. That's not
in the Bible, is it? I think it's pretty close to
insanity, isn't it? Christianity, insanity. one and the same thing. God was speaking from the wilderness
and he quotes from Isaiah chapter 40. He said, I'm the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord as said the prophet Isaiah. Now would you turn back to Isaiah
chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. He quotes verse 3, but let's
begin in verse 1 of Isaiah chapter 40. This is such an important
passage of scripture. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. save your God. Now, listen to
this real carefully. When the gospel is preached,
it comforts God's people. Now, if you hear preaching that
you don't find any rest in, you don't find any rejoicing in,
that you start thinking, well, maybe I'm not measuring up. Maybe
I'm missing something. Maybe I'm not there yet. You know what? You're not hearing
the gospel. The gospel is comfort to the
people of God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. And cry unto her,
and here is what is comforting. Crying to her that her warfare
is accomplished. Battle's over. You've won. Her iniquity is pardoned. It's put away. You stand before
God, every believer, you stand before God without guilt. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. You know what that means?
Not only are you forgiven, and it's a glorious thing to have
your sins forgiven, isn't it? WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN THAT? WELL,
THERE IS SOMETHING BETTER THAN THAT. YOU'RE JUSTIFIED. YOU'RE
NOT ONLY FORGIVEN, YOU'RE JUSTIFIED. YOU STAND BEFORE GOD WITHOUT
GUILT, WITHOUT SIN, IN PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS. AND YOU KNOW WHAT
THAT DOES? THAT COMFORTS THE PEOPLE OF GOD. SURE COMFORTS
ME. COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE. VERSE 3,
NOW HERE'S WHAT JOHN QUOTES, THE VOICE OF HIM THAT CRIETH
IN the wilderness. What's the voice say? Prepare
ye the way of the Lord. Prepare, make clear, clear away
the impediments, the obstacles, prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Now what is the way of the Lord? Who is the way of the Lord? Christ
said, I am. the way. You get rid of anything
that would obscure that message. I am the way. Now these are scriptural descriptions
of the way we read of the right way. All other ways are wrong
ways. They won't get you there. We
read of the narrow way. Now Christ is so narrow that
if you have anything other than him, you can't stay on that road. And do you hear what I just said?
The only way for you to stay on the road is if all you have
is Jesus Christ. You don't have anything else.
And if all you have is Christ, you're on the narrow way. If
you have anything else, you've already fallen off. He's the
narrow way and the straight gate. He's called the way of righteousness. There's only one righteousness.
His righteousness. I've made mention of thy righteousness,
David said, even thine only. He is the way of righteousness. There is no other righteousness.
Now, if you have any hope in anything else, you won't be accepted. He is the way of righteousness. He's called the way of peace.
Ewan gives me peace. that everything God requires
of me, He looks to Christ for. And that gives me peace. He is our peace. Ephesians 2,
14. We read of the way of salvation,
the way that excludes all other ways. He is the way into the
holiest. He's called the new and living
way. Always new, always living. And I love what Paul said about
the way, after the way which they call heresy. While what
you believe is heretical, that's how I will worship the God of
my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law
and in the prophets. Now, he is the way, verse three,
THE VOICE OF HIM THAT CRIETH IN THE WILDERNESS, PREPARE YE,
MAKE CLEAR THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE STRAIGHT IN THE DESERT,
THE STERILE PLACE, A HIGHWAY FOR OUR GOD. HE IS THE HIGHWAY
TO HEAVEN. LET ME SAY THIS. IF YOU'RE IN THE WAY, YOU'RE
ALREADY THERE. IT'S NOT A LONG JOURNEY. YOU'RE ALREADY THERE
IN CHRIST JESUS. NOW LOOK WHAT HE SAYS NEXT IN
VERSE 4. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain shall be made low, and the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough places plain." Every valley. Now, what is a valley? It's a
low place. It's a low place. I wish that I could say what needs to be said, but
every low place, every sinner, that's what that means, every
sinner is gonna be exalted. You see, he's gonna save every
sinner. There are no sinners that he
does not save. Are you a sinner? Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. Of whom, Paul said, I am. Not who I used to be, who I am,
the chief. Every low place is gonna be exalted. God is gonna save every sinner.
That's who he saves. What's it say next? Every mountain,
every high place, is going to be made low. Pride is not permitted to enter
the kingdom of heaven. Every high place, every high
thought you have of yourself, it's going to be cut down, made
low. And I love this next statement,
the crooked. shall be made straight. The crooked. Well, that would
describe everybody in this room and everybody outside of this
room. The crooked. The crooked. But these crooked
ones, He makes straight. He makes right. That's what the
gospel does. It makes the crooked straight. It makes a sinful man perfectly
righteous before a holy God. The crooked are made straight. And the rough places, the mountains,
plains, Leveled and straight Verse 5 and the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed and All flesh shall see it together
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Now remember John was
the voice of one crying in the built wilderness listen to this
the voice said cry I And he said, what shall I cry?
What a question. The voice says to me, cry. What
am I supposed to say? What is the message of the gospel?
What shall I cry? Well, I don't have to guess,
do I? He tells us. The voice said, cry. And I said,
what shall I cry? All flesh. is grass. And all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field, the grass withers, the flower
fades, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass, the
grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall
endure forever. Now, all flesh, and that's what
you and I are as we're born into this world, flesh. It's not just
talking about this, I can't remember what the tech, well, flesh. I forgot what a doctor calls
it. You go to a dermatologist, but
we're not talking about that. We're talking about what I am.
Flesh, fallen, sinful flesh. The carnal mind is enmity. The
fleshly mind is enmity against God. All flesh is grass. All flesh. The same all flesh
that the Lord was speaking of in John chapter 17 where he said,
thou has given him power over all flesh. That he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. All flesh. Now
I love thinking about this. All flesh is given to him that
he should give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him.
You know what that lets me know? Yes, the sheep are his, but the
goats are his too. They're his goats. He's in control
of everybody and everything. And here's what I'm to cry, all
flesh is grass. What do you do with your grass? You put it in a Herbie Kirby
if you got one. or you take it out into a compost dump, it's
worthless. All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the grass. The grass dries up, the flower
fades. Turn with me to Isaiah 64. You're
in Isaiah right now. Isaiah chapter 64. What am I
supposed to cry? What am I supposed to preach
if I preach in the power of the Holy Spirit? What is it that
I am supposed to be saying? Well, here it is. Verse six, but we are all as
an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags and we do all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind,
have taken us away. And there's none that calleth
upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
For thou hast hid thy face from us, thou hast consumed us because
of our iniquities." Now that's what Isaiah says about the goodliness
of the flower of the field. It withers, it dries up, it blows
away. It has no power, it has no goodness,
it has no merit. All flesh is as grass. Go back to Isaiah 40. The grass
withers. The flower fades because the
Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Now, you know when you're
gonna find out that you're nothing but grass? When the Spirit of
the Lord blows upon you. really not before you'll have
high opinion of yourself and you'll think that you have things
that could recommend you to god when the spirit of the lord blows
upon you you find out that you're nothing but grass you know i
can't convince you that i can't convince myself of that but when
god's spirit blows upon me I know that I am nothing more than grass. Verse 7, surely the people is
grass, the grass withers, the flower fades, just like Isaiah
said. Isaiah 64, but now this is all
I was talking about. It'd just be depressing, wouldn't
it? It would just be negative. It wouldn't be, uh, give me something
more positive than that. Well, there can't be anything
more positive than this, but the word of our God abideth forever. Now what this is talking about
is what's going to take place on judgment day. The word of
our God, who is that? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Word
of our God abideth for ever. It will stand eternally. Now
there was a missionary who wrote this. Only one life will soon
be passed. Only what's done for Christ shall
last. Have you done anything that good
for Christ? that it would abide judgment
day and last? With the spotlight of God's holiness
and law upon you, is there anything you've done that will last and
abide the judgment of God? I'm going to take some liberty
with that. Even if there is a copyright
on it, I'm still gonna change it. Only one life soon will be passed. Only what Christ has done shall
last. That's it. You know what? That makes me
happy. I rejoice in that. I'm standing when my name is
called upon Judgment Day. You know what I'm going to be
judged for? What Christ has done. His perfect righteousness, His
merits, the power of His blood, that's what stands on Judgment
Day. Only that. Nothing else. If you have anything
else but that, You miss Christ altogether. You see, if He's
all, that means you have nothing, but it's good to have nothing
because He's all. If you have something, He's not
all. Only what Christ has done shall
last. When He said to John the Baptist,
Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You know what?
That's going to last. That's what he's done. When he
said, it is finished. It was finished. That can't be
reversed. That's what lasts. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete,
lacking nothing, perfect in Christ Jesus. That's gonna last. Back to our text in John 1 verse 24, and they which were
sent were of the Pharisees, our old buddies the Pharisees. Now
let me say something about the Pharisees. However many people
are in this room, that's how many natural Pharisees there
are. That's the religion of the natural man. Pharisee means separated one. You think that there's something
that you have done that has separated you from other men. That's exactly
what that word means. It's the religion of the natural
man. I love what the Lord said with
regard to the Pharisee in the temple who stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee. I'm giving you the credit that
I'm not as other men are. I fast twice in a week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. I'm not an extortioner, or unjust,
or an adulterer, or even like this vile publican over here. That's the religion of the Pharisee. I thank Thee, not for the blood
of Christ, not for the righteousness of Christ, not for the grace
of God. I thank Thee that I'm not like
other people. I have separated myself. They which were sent were of
the Pharisees, and they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest
thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, neither that
prophet? Who gives you the authority to
do this? Where does your authority come
from? John answered, verse 26, I baptize
with water. Water baptism. Now, water baptism
is very important. In water baptism, I'm confessing
that all my hope is in the life, the death, the burial, and the
resurrection of Christ. I love baptism. Baptism never saved anybody.
I baptize you with water. It's not taking away from the
importance of baptism. Remember what Paul said? Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Was he saying
baptism is no longer relevant? Of course not. Baptism is very
important. But he didn't send me to baptize. He sent me to
preach the gospel. And John the Baptist, that man
who was baptizing so many people, he said, I baptize with water,
but there standeth one among you whom you know not. I love that. Salvation's knowing
Him. He said, you don't know Him.
You do not know Him. He it is, verse 27, He it is,
who coming after me is preferred before me. Now, once again, he's
talking about the eternal nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
never began to be. He's the uncreated Son of God. He never had a beginning point.
You know, people talk about the birthday. I hate it when people
talk about the birthday of Jesus. He don't have a birthday. He's
eternal. There's not some day when he
began to be. He is the eternal son of God. All that God is, he is. Now he says, there's standing
one among you whom you know not. But look what he says next about
him. Now remember, this is the man that is The Lord said he
was the greatest of the board among women. Nobody's ever risen
greater than him, but look at his own testimony concerning
himself. He it is who's coming after me is preferred. He was
before me who's shoelatched. I am not worthy to unloose. Now, this one, is eternally holy, eternally
sovereign, eternally good, eternally immutable, eternally omnipotent,
eternally omniscient. He's always known everything.
He's eternally omnipresent. He's eternally just. He's eternally gracious. Jesus
Christ is the beginning and the end. the first and the last,
the alpha and the omega. And I don't deserve to unlatch
issues. Now, this thing of I'm not worthy, we considered last week, Jacob's
confession. I'm not worthy of the least of
thy mercies, or of all the truth that thou hast shown me. I tell
you what, if I ever see him, one thing I'm going to be sure
of myself, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. This is not just
saying it because it needs to be said. I'm not worthy of the
least of his mercies. I'm not worthy of all the truth
which he has shown me. The prodigal, when he comes back
to the father, when he came to himself, oh, what a blessed thing
when you come to yourself. The Lord did something for him.
When he came to himself, what was the speech he was rehearsing
to himself? He said, I'm gonna come into
my father's presence and I'm gonna say, father, I'm not worthy
to be called your son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And I love the way when he comes
to the father and tries to get out his speech, he can't even
get it out. What about the man who had the
greatest faith in Israel? That was the Lord's testimony.
I say to you, I've not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
What about this man? I'm not worthy to come to you. I'm not worthy for you to come
under my roof. He's seen somebody else. He felt totally unqualified
to come. And what did the Lord say of
this man? I've not found so great a faith. No, not in Israel. Now, everybody who sees who he
is, they see who they are. That's where a side of your own
sinfulness comes from. Not from the preacher telling
you all the bad things about yourself and the bad things you're
doing. That's not conviction of sin.
Conviction of sin comes when you see who he is. And here's
your response. I am not worthy. But thank God My worthiness has
nothing to do with my salvation. Do you believe that? My worthiness
has nothing to do with my salvation. His worthiness. He is worthy. And my salvation is His worthiness. My salvation is His glorious
righteousness being mine, His shed blood putting away all my
sin. Him ascending back to the Father and me going with Him
and every one of His people as the Lord of hosts. My worthiness
is that man standing in glory right now as my representative,
as my Savior. He is my worthiness. Who are you? Give an account
for yourself, for all the things you're saying to us. I'm the
voice of one crying in the wilderness. I'm not trying to identify with
Christianity. I'm not trying to identify with
man-made denominational religion, theologians. I'm the voice of
one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
Christ is the way. Make straight his paths. That is the testimony of John
the Baptist. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
worthiness of thy dear son and how we thank you that in him
we are worthy. And we are complete and we are
accepted in him and Lord deliver us from looking anywhere but
him alone at all times as our worthiness before you. But Lord,
we know that because he is worthy. All those in Him are worthy of
your love, of your acceptance because of being in Him. Teach
us that and blaze that on our hearts and minds for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.