And he said to that eunuch, do
you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I except
some man should guide me? I heard the gospel through a
man. Now, it's true. We hear from
the Lord through his word. He speaks to us by his spirit.
There's no question about that. He communicates to us. But we
hear the gospel through a man. How should they hear without
a preacher? Now, there are so many voices
in religion. I want to know if I'm hearing
from a man that God sent or if I'm hearing from a man that sent
himself. Would you turn with me for a moment to Jeremiah chapter
23? Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23. I want to begin reading verse
twenty-nine. Is not my word, Jeremiah twenty-three,
verse twenty-nine, God is speaking and he says concerning his word,
is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer
that breaketh the rock in pieces. And that's what the Lord's Word
does. It breaks the hard heart into pieces. Therefore, behold,
I am against the prophets, those who claim to be spokesmen of
the Lord, saith the Lord, that steal my words, everyone from
his neighbor. Behold, I'm against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, he said, the
Lord said this. The Lord said, I never said that.
And I'm against those prophets who claim to be speaking in my
name when I never gave them a word for me. Verse 32, Behold, I'm
against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do
tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their
Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not
profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Now, here we have
the word regarding the false prophet, the false prophet, the
one that the Lord did not send. All it says is, I never sent
them. And because I never sent them, they shall not profit this
people at all. There is no profit in hearing
from someone that God didn't send. Therefore, I want to hear
somebody that God has sent. That's who I'm interested in
hearing. I'm not interested in hearing
from a man that God never sent. But I want to hear that man that
God has sent. Now, John the Baptist serves
as a model of the man that God sends. John was a very special
man. He was the last of the Old Testament
prophets, and he was foretold of, his coming was foretold of
in the Old Testament scriptures, both in Isaiah and Malachi. He
had a supernatural birth. He was said to be filled with
the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He was the forerunner of
Christ. He was a very special man, and
he served as a model of the man that God sends. And every man
that God sends will fit this model in this sense. Now turn
with me to Matthew chapter 7. I want us to look, or Matthew
chapter 11. I want us to look at what the Lord said about John
the Baptist. Matthew chapter 7. Let's begin
reading in verse 7. And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, John the Baptist. What
went ye out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the
wind, someone who can be bent by public opinion, depending
on whoever is around. That's what he's going to preach.
He can be blown this way. He can be blown that way. Did
you go out to hear somebody like that when you went out to hear
John? But what went ye out to see, verse eight? A man clothed
in soft arraignment, gorgeous, expensive apparel. Behold, they
that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what went
ye out for to see? A prophet? Somebody who actually
speaks for God? Yea, I say unto you, more than
a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. He was foretold of in the Old
Testament Scriptures. Verily I say unto you, among
them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding, he that is least
in the kingdom of heaven, who's least in the kingdom of heaven?
Who became least? On the cross, Christ became the
least in the kingdom of heaven. He was made sin and he became
everything that is the least. And he's saying every even though
I'm saying this about John the Baptist, I'm greater than he
because of who I am. Nobody could be compared with
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see the Lord's description
of John. Let's go back to John chapter
one, the man that God sends. And the first point, I've got
eight or nine things I want to say, and I pray that the Lord
will bless these to us and that I'll say them the way they ought
to be said. You pray for me, you pray for yourself, but the
Lord will give you hearing ears as we consider this important
subject. Because remember, if I hear from
God, I'm going to hear from a man, a true man. So I want to know
who that man is that God sends. John the Baptist serves as a
role model to us as to the man that God sends. And here's the
first point. Verse six, there was a man sent
from God whose name was John. The man that God sends really
is sent of God. Sent of the God of glory. There
is such a thing as a God called preacher. Now, if I am a true
preacher, you're going to have to figure that out. If I am a
true preacher, whatever that is, that means God sent me. for that purpose to speak his
word. There is such a thing as a God
called preacher. He speaks through me. Now, he
could speak to angels if he wanted to. He could have simply used
his voice and spoke with us, but that's not the way he's.
works. He speaks through a preacher.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That is how God speaks. There
is such a thing as a God called preacher. He does send men. I think of what our Lord said
to the disciples in Luke chapter 10, where he sent the 70 out,
the scripture says he sent them out and he said to them, he that
heareth you, Now, those were weak, sinful men like you and
I are. There wasn't really much to it. And let me say this. I'm
not glorifying the preacher in any way. Remember when God used
Balaam's ass? Balaam's ass will suffice. He
can use an ass just as easily as he can a preacher. The powers
of God is not in the preacher. But he said to his disciples,
he that heareth you, heareth me. And he that receiveth you,
receiveth me. And he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. But he that despiseth you despises
me. And he that despises me despises
him that sent me. This man God has called really
is sent of God. I quote Romans 10, 14 again and
15. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Now look in verse 7 of John chapter
1. Speaking of this one who was sent of God, verse 7. The same
came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. The man that God sends has only
one purpose. It's to bear witness of the light,
to bear witness of Christ. Look in verse 15 of John, chapter
one, John, bear witness of him and Christ saying this was he
of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me. For he was before me. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians
1 17. I'm going to make some comments
on this. But remember, the man that God has sent has only one
purpose, and it's to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
to preach the gospel. It's not to build a church. It's
not to get a following. It's not to have a bunch of people
gather together. It's not to change the world.
It's not to make the world a better place. It's not to get people
to straighten up and live right and all that kind of moral stuff
that people try to bring on in their preaching. That's not the
purpose of the preacher. He's to bear witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who He is and what He did. Paul the Apostle said in
1 Corinthians 1 17, Christ sent me not to baptize. Now, baptism
is important. I wouldn't take away from the
importance of that. We're going to talk about that in a moment from our text. But
he said, Christ didn't send me to baptize. Christ sent me to
preach the gospel. That is the purpose of a preacher.
He's to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has no other
purpose. And if he gives himself to anything else, you want to
be proved by that? God never sent him. Someone who
is sent of God is totally committed to this one purpose, to bear
witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that is true of any man that
God sends. Now, here's the third statement
I'd like to make, and we find this in our text, the man that
God sends is not seeking a following. He's not seeking the praise of
men. He's not trying to please and flatter men. Look at verse
19. Of John, chapter one. And this is the record of John,
when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask
him, who are you? And he confessed. And he denied
not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him,
what then are you, Elijah? And he said, I'm not. Are you
that prophet? And he said, no. Then said they
unto him, who are you then that we may give an answer to them
that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? What do you have
to say about yourself? Now, think about what these fellows
are saying. They're saying, why are you baptizing? What gives you the authority
to do this? Who are you? Now, if I was John, John knew
who he was. He knew he was the forerunner
of Christ. He knew that he was a man that was foretold of in
the Old Testament Scriptures. He was foretold of in Malachi
and Isaiah. He was filled with the Holy Spirit
from his womb. If somebody said to me, who are
you, and I had a resume like that, I might have a tendency
to tell them, let me tell you who I am. They foretold me the
scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. I am the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the man who comes in the
spirit and power of Elijah. You better listen to me. Now,
that's the way I think I probably would have had a tendency to
want to answer that question. But when they asked John the Baptist,
are you that prophet? No. Are you that one that comes
in the spirit and power of the light? No, he just said no to
all these things because he was not seeking a following. He was not trying to gain a following. He was a humble man. He was not
covetous of recognition. And somebody that God sends is
not covetous of recognition. Now, don't misunderstand me. I want you to like me. I'd be
lying if I said I didn't. But my responsibility, when it
comes right down to it, it doesn't matter what you think of me.
All that matters is whether I'm speaking what he tells me to
say. That's it. Nothing else really matters.
A true prophet, a true man that God has sent is not seeking the
recognition of men. John was a truly humble man.
Look what he says in verses 26 and 27. John answered them, saying,
I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you
know not. He it is who is coming after me, who is preferred before
me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose. I'm not even
worthy to untie his shoes. He said in John chapter three,
he must increase and I must decrease. He's not seeking a following.
Paul put it this way in First Corinthians chapter four. He
said we preach not ourselves. But Christ Jesus, the Lord, and
ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. We're not preaching
ourselves. We're not preaching to provide
for ourselves. We're not preaching to promote ourselves. We don't
preach ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus, the Lord,
and ourselves, only your servants, for Jesus' sake. The man that
God sends is not seeking the recognition of men. Look at verse
22 of John chapter 1. Then they said unto him, Who
art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us?
What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness. He didn't even give them his
name. He didn't give them his pedigree.
He didn't give them his credentials. He just said, I am a voice of
one crying in the wilderness. Now, it's the word that's important,
not the voice. It's what is said that is important.
The word of God, not the voice, he said, I'm nothing more than
a voice crying in the wilderness. And this is a quotation from
Isaiah chapter 40. And this leads me to the next
thing that is always true of the man that God has sent, the
man that God sends always without any exceptions to this rule.
He always comes with a message from the Holy Scriptures. When
John the Baptist came and they said, what do you say of yourself?
What did he do? He quoted Isaiah 40. I am the
voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
Lord. He brought a message from the
holy scriptures, a quotation from Isaiah 40. Now, any time
God sends a man, he sends a man with a message from the word
of God, not his own imagination. Not something he just came up
with, but it's a message from the Word. Paul said to Timothy,
preach the Word. I don't care what the Word declares,
whatever it is, preach it. If the Word declares it, then
preach it. Make it known. The man that God sends always
brings a message from the Word. Notice what he says in verse
23. I think this is very interesting.
He said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. And
he actually quoted more of it. You know that from Luke's account.
Remember what he said? He said every mountain, every
high place is going to be leveled down. Every low place, every
sinner is going to be saved, is going to be exalted. The crooked
shall be made straight. The rough places plain. He quoted
that passage of scripture. But he said when you're going
to hear from God, when you're going to hear from his word,
you're going to hear a voice crying in the wilderness. And
this is very important. Please listen to this very carefully.
If you wanted to hear from God, did you go to the temple? Did
you go to organized religion? Not if you wanted to hear from
God. You didn't hear from God in organized religion. You had
to go out into the wilderness to hear this man that God has
sent. You're not going to hear from
God in organized religion. Now you can write that down.
It's not going to happen. God is not in it. He is the voice
crying in the wilderness. You couldn't hear from the temple,
the place where all the seminaries were and all the supposedly educated
and so on, who supposedly knew something. You wouldn't hear
from God there. You only heard from Him in the wilderness. You had to come away from human
religion to hear a man sent from God. And this message this man
brings is always, without any exception, a message from the
Scriptures. Listen to this, Isaiah chapter
8, verse 20. To the law and to the testimony, the written Word
of God, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is no light in
them. Pretty conclusive, isn't it?
If they speak not according to this Word, exactly what it says,
it's because there is absolutely no light in them. The man that
God sends will always bring a message from the written word of God
preaching the word. Next, the man that God sends
will not get sidetracked by a lesser issue. Let me show you what I
mean by that. Look at our text in John chapter
one, beginning in verse twenty four. 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 the prophet? John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water." But there standeth one among you, whom
you know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, who shoelatcheth. I am not worthy to unloose."
Look down in verse 32, and John Bear Records saying, I saw the
Spirit descending from heaven like a dove in an abode upon
him, and I knew him not, but he sent me to baptize him with
water. The same said unto me, and unto whom, upon whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaineth on him, the same
as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Now, what they were
saying to John, when they sent this delegation to him to find
out who gave him this authority, they were saying, who gave you
this authority to baptize? Where did you get your authority
from? What makes you think you have the right to do this? And
what I think is very interesting is he did not as much as answer
their question. Now, he could have. He could
have said, God gave me the authority to do this. I was foretold of
in the Old Testament that he didn't even answer their question.
You know what he did as soon as they asked him that question?
I love this. John answered them saying, I
baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you
know not. He pointed them directly to the
Lord Jesus Christ at that time. He didn't even try to answer
for himself. He pointed him once again to the one that he was
sent to bear witness to. You see, this is the only issue.
This is the only issue between you and God right now. You may
think there are other issues, but there's not. This is the one
issue. What do you think of Jesus Christ? That's it. What think
ye of Christ? You see, this determines everything
else. What you think of Christ. And what God thinks of you is
seen by what you think of His blessed Son. What think ye of
Christ? He is the only issue. He is the issue of all issues. Paul put it this way, in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2, he said, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There is no other issue. You
know, what a lot of preachers do, they get an issue and they
just pound on it. You can always find somebody
that's going to be behind that one issue. You might preach against
this or preach against that. The folks that think they don't
do it, they think, hey, man, I like what the fellow is saying and
they'll stay right with him. But that's not what a preacher is about.
He is to preach Christ Jesus and him crucified. He's to point
men to Christ. That's his only purpose. He's
not going to get sidetracked on other issues. And the next
thing I'd like to say is the man that God sends knows the
difference between the shadow and the substance. The man that God sends knows
the difference between the shadow and the substance. Once again,
in verse 25, and they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest
thou thee? And if thou be not that Christ, nor liest neither
the prophet, what do you do in baptizing? Who gives you the
authority to do this? John answered them, saying, I
baptize. What are the next two words? With water. With water. Literally, I baptize
in water. Baptism is by immersion. That's
the only baptism that God recognizes. But he said it's only with water. And then he speaks of that one
in verse 33 who baptizes with the Holy Ghost. There's water
baptism and there's Holy Spirit baptism. Now, I don't in any
way want to take away from the importance of water baptism. Water baptism is my personal
confession of Christ. Here's what I confess when I
go under the water. And the Lord said he would believe
that he was baptized, the same could be said. Baptism is so
important. And I confess, this is my confession,
I confess that my only hope of salvation is union with Christ. When he died, I died. When he
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. My only
hope of seeing God's face and being accepted is found in the
person and work of Christ alone. I confess that in baptism. Now, baptism is important. It's
a confession, but understand this. It's not a means of grace. It's a symbol. Nothing more than
that. It's a symbol. It's a time. You
go under the water and come up here and do that a thousand times
and we'll wash away one sin. There's no saving efficacy. There's
no saving power in baptism. There's no it's not a means through
which God conveys grace. It's just going under the water
and coming back up. It's a symbol and nothing more.
Is it important? Obviously, it is. If you haven't
confessed Christ and believers baptism, you ought to. It's your
responsibility to that your confession of Christ and you're disobeying
God until you do. Now, just you write that down.
That's how important baptism is. But is there any saving efficacy
in it? Not a bit. Then he speaks of
that one who baptizes or immerses in the Holy Spirit. This is a
reference to the new birth, and we're going to talk about that
more in just a few moments, so I'm going to leave that. But what
I want us to see is a true preacher, a man that God has sent, knows
the difference between the shadow and the substance, between the
symbol and the reality. Baptism is nothing more than
a symbol. There's no saving efficacy in it. The saving efficacy is
what he does for you. He talks about him who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit. Like I said, we're going to come
back to that in a minute. But another thing I would notice
about the man that God sends is the man that God sends is
not a man pleaser or a man who flatters men. Look in verse 26. John answers him saying, I baptize
with water, but there standeth one among you. In your very midst,
one, you may even know his name, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
the carpenter, the son of Joseph and Mary, there stands one among
you whom you know not. He's in your midst and you don't
even have a clue as to who he is. Now, remember this word,
no. When he says you know not, You know, there's all kinds of
people in Lexington I've never met. And I don't know. That's really not what he's talking
about. When he says, you know, not the word no has to do with
an intimate knowledge and perception and understanding. I think of,
I think of when Peter, this, this hits me every time I think
about it, where, where, where Peter says, husbands dwell with
your wives, according to knowledge. giving honor unto them as unto
the weaker vessel. Now, that doesn't mean simply
know what to do. I know what to do. It means dwell with them
according to love. You love them as they ought to
be loved. You hold them up as they ought to be held up. That's
what he's saying. You dwell with them according to love. This
thing of knowing is not simply a cognitive knowledge where I
know the right stuff or I have the accurate data. This has to
do with a love, with an intimate perception, with an understanding
of. He says there's one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God, the Son of God. He stands in your very midst.
And you don't even have a clue. You don't know who he is. You
don't know what he did. You don't know why he came. You're
in complete ignorance and blindness and deadness. You don't know
who he is. The man that God sends is not
a flatterer. He addresses men as they are.
Dead in trespasses and sins. Not a spark of goodness. Not
one thing about you or I that could recommend us to God. Not
one thing. You don't know Him. You see no
beauty in Christ. You see no glory in Christ. That's
your problem. What you see concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, there stands one among
you and you don't even have a clue. A man that doesn't understand
what we call total depravity, total and complete inability
and depravity, the state of a natural man, God never sent that man
if he doesn't have some understanding of that. It's an understanding
of sin and why we need salvation from sin. Now, here's my last
point. Now, there's other things I could
bring out from other portions of the scripture, but this is
what we're looking at when we're looking at John the Baptist in
his testimony. And this is so very important. Listen to me
carefully. A man that God sends preaches
Christ and him crucified. That's his message. This is his
only message. He preaches Christ and Him crucified. You remember when Paul said there
in 1 Corinthians 1, the Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek
after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. And to the Jews, the religious
fellows, this is a stumbling block. To the Greeks, that's
the educated. This is foolishness. But unto
them which are saved, Christ, the power of God, and Christ,
the very wisdom of God, The man that God sends preaches Christ
crucified. He preaches the person and the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is his message. The person
and the work of Christ. John, first of all, preached
the person of Christ. Look back in John 1 6. There
was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came
for a witness to bear witness of the light. He came to bear
witness of the light. Now what light for? By light
we see. Do you want to see who God is? All you're ever going to see
of God is Jesus Christ the Lord. He said, He that has seen me
has seen the Father. All that God is dwells in the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. He preached the person of Christ.
He's the light. You want light concerning who
you are? Now, I dare say that everybody
in this room came in this morning with something they felt guilty
about. Oh, something you've done, something you've thought. You
feel guilty. You feel guilty. by things you've
done. Now, I'm not justifying what
you've done or what you thought or anything like that. But you
know what shows what you really are? It's not the things you
do. Put yourself beside the Lord
Jesus Christ. How do you measure up? True conviction
of sin only comes from the knowledge of him. And until I see him,
all this talk about sin, you see, was negative and morose
and depressing. And why is he going that direction? But if you ever see him, if I
ever see him, I'm going to see myself as nothing but sin. I haven't seen that yet. And
you haven't seen him yet. If you see who he is, that's
how you see yourself. He's the light. He's the light.
I have light as to how God can embrace somebody like me. I have
light concerning how God can actually love me and save me.
How? For Christ's sake. No other reason. For Christ's
sake. I see how God can actually save
me for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of what He did.
He preached that He's the light. Look in verse 15 of John 1. John,
bear witness of him. And Christ saying, This was he
of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me. He is the preferred of the
father. Does the Lord show favoritism?
Absolutely. He has great favor toward his
son. and those in his son. He said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him? Yes, he shows favoritism toward
him. He's the preferred of the father.
And John went on to say, he was before I was. He was before me. Now remember, John was six months
older than the Lord. They were cousins. John was older. And yet John says, he was before
I was ever around. He was the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. He always has been the great
I am that I am. He was before I was ever around. He preached the excellency of
his person. He preached his deity. He preached
his humanity. Look at verse 32 of our text. And John bear record. That's
what John was always doing. He was just bearing record. That's
what the purpose of a preacher is to do, is to bear record,
is to give bear record to them. This is it. And John bear record
saying, I saw the spirit, the Holy Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove in a visible form and abode upon him. And I knew
him not, but he did send me to baptize with water, the same
said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending
and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizes with the
Holy Ghost. He saw the Spirit in the presence
or in the form of a dove, a white dove, I suppose, descending and
landing and staying on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he saw Him,
who he said in John chapter 3, had the Spirit without measure.
A human being, the Lord Jesus Christ, a man who had the Spirit
without measure. Now, I have a measure of the
Spirit if I'm a believer. If you're a believer, you have
a measure of the Spirit. The reason you believe is because
of the Holy Spirit. It's him giving you a new nature and a
new heart and faith to believe. So you have a measure of the
Spirit, but you don't have a measure, don't you? If you had the Spirit without
measure, you know what? You'd never sin. You'd never have an
evil thought. You'd never have a thought of
unbelief. It wouldn't happen if you had the Spirit without
measure. He, as a man, had the Spirit without measure. Do you
know, as a man, he trusted God, the Holy Spirit, to enable him
to obey? As a man. Somebody had to trust God completely.
He did it as a man, and he did it because he had God the Holy
Spirit without measure. He preached the person of Christ,
the glory of His person. Look at verse 34. Here he is
bearing record again. John 1, 34. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God. This is what he bore record
to, who the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached the person of Christ,
and he preached the work of Christ. Look with me in verse 29. Now,
the Lord willing, next Sunday I want to bring a whole message
on this verse, but I want to touch on it right now. The next
day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the
Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of
the world. Now, that's the message of the
man that God sends. He preaches the person of Christ,
who he is, and he preaches the work of Christ. And here we have
it. Behold, God's Lamb, the Lamb of God's providing, the Lamb
that God has sent, the substitutionary, sacrificial Lamb. That's why
it's the Lamb. It has to do with his sacrifice. The Lamb that's sacrificed for
sin. And what does the Lamb do? The Lamb takes away. And did you get that word? The
Lamb takes away. If it's taken away, is it there
anymore? The Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world. Now, here's what we preach when
we preach the work of Christ. He is the land that literally,
actually takes away sin. What's it mean when it says he
takes away the sin of the world? What's meant by the world? Does
that mean every individual to ever live? Is that what that
means? You know, I think it's interesting
if you would look and honestly look at every word, every time
in scripture, the word world is used. There's not one time
in the scripture that the word world means every individual
to ever live. Remember when Caesar Augustus determined that all
the world should be taxed? Does that mean every individual
in the world? No, there was all kinds of people he didn't know anything
about, but everybody in the known world in that sense. By the world,
it doesn't mean every individual. It means every kind of individual.
Not all men without exception, but all men without distinction.
Jews and Gentiles. Black and white. Rich and poor. Educated and uneducated. Barbarians, Scythians, bond,
free. It doesn't matter what kind of... Christ has redeemed
a people out of every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. out
of the world. That's what he's done. So if
it meant every individual, that means that the salvation of every
individual is already accomplished and they won't have any sin.
But listen to this. You know, most people in our
day, most people in Lexington, Kentucky, this morning, they
preach this message. Jesus Christ paid for your sins. He died to
pay for your sins. He died for everybody's sins,
but you will end up having to pay for him anyway if you don't
do something to make what he did work. Now, that's what is
called salvation by works. Nothing more. That message is
not the message of the gospel. There's no truth in that message.
If he took away your sins. They're gone. Now, once in the
end of the world had he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Christ Jesus on Calvary's tree
put away my sin. It's not. He was manifested, John said
in 1 John 3, 5, to take away our sins and in him I have no
sin. That means if I'm in Him, I have
no sin. Now, when I say that, I'm aware
of the fact that I've sinned since I've been in this pulpit.
I can't breathe without sinning. But in Christ, I have no sin. When God the Father in His absolute,
immaculate holiness looks on me right now while I'm talking
to you, He sees somebody, and this is true of every believer,
He sees somebody without sin. How? Behold the Lamb of God,
that sacrificial Lamb, which taketh away the sin of the world. It's gone. I've got no sin. If
he took it away, is it taken away? Is it gone? Isn't that wonderful? I can't
think of anything more wonderful than that. I've got no sin. He
preached the work of Christ for us. Behold, the Lamb of God that
takes away the sin of the world. But he didn't only preach that.
He preached the work of Christ in us. The work of Christ for
us and the work of Christ in us. Look at verse 33. 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, which
immerseth. He immerses us in the Holy Spirit. Now, what this is talking about
is regeneration. This is talking about the new
birth. It's talking about being born again. It's talking about
being immersed in God, the Holy Spirit. Now, I've been talking
about Christ being the Lamb of God, being the Son of God, actually
being God manifest in the flesh, taking away our sins. And somebody
says, do you really believe that? Yes, I do. How? Because I've been baptized in
the Holy Spirit. I've been born from above. I've
got a new nature. I've got a new heart. I've got
a heart that he has given me that believes the gospel. I've
got a heart, a nature that causes me to walk in his ways. He really
is the Lord of my life. And when I talk about the Lord
Jesus Christ, He's my Lord. He really is. I'm not just saying
that. He really is the Lord of my life. And the reason is, is
I've been born from above. You see, you can't believe. And
when we talk about the work of Christ in you, it's just as necessary
for your salvation as the work of Christ for you. If He's done
something for you, He'll also do something in you. It's just
as necessary. And the work of Christ in you is when He gives
you a new heart. One that was not there before.
A heart that believes, a heart that feels, a heart that continues
in the faith. A heart that sees Christ as everything
and myself as nothing. A heart that really believes
that. This is not just talking about stuff I'm indoctrinated
in and stuff I really believe. Because I've been given a new
nature. I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Look at Ezekiel
36 with me for a moment. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Verse. Twenty five. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and
from your idols will I cleanse you. Verse twenty six. A new
heart also will I give you. And a new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of flesh. I'll
put my spirit within you. This is the baptism of the Holy
Spirit and cause you. To walk in my statutes and you
shall keep my judgments and do that is the work of God, the
Holy Spirit in a man. Partakers of the divine nature,
the man that God seems will preach the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He'll preach who he is, and he'll
preach what he did, his work for us, and his work in us. Now,
in conclusion, the man that God sends really is sent of God. I'm telling you what I've already
told you, so you'll remember. Somebody once asked a preacher, well,
how do you preach? He says, well, I tell them what
I'm going to tell them. I tell them, and then I tell them what
I told them. Well, I'm trying to do that right now. The man
that God sends really is sent of God. He only has one purpose. to bear witness of Christ. He's
not taking the following. He's nothing more than a voice,
and his message is always a message from the word of God. He will
not get sidetracked on other issues. He knows the difference
between the shadow and the substance. He addresses men as they are,
as sinners, and he preaches the person and work of Christ. Now you look in John chapter
10 for just a moment. I want you to see what they said about
John the Baptist. Verse 40, John chapter 10, verse
40. And he went away again beyond
Jordan to the place where John first baptized and there he abode.
And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle, but
all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there. Now, here's the purpose of a
man that God has sent. It's that you and I might believe.
That's the purpose. That you and I might actually
believe the gospel. He was sent to bear witness of
that life that all men through him might believe. Now, I've
heard the message of the man sent from God. Here's the question. Do I believe the message of the
man sent from God? I'm going to speak for myself.
Yes, I do. I'm one of those that are described
of the many that believed on him there. I do believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose God sends
a man. These things are written that you might... This is the
work of God. Anybody know the rest of the
verse? that you believe on Him whom
He hath sent. That's the work of God. By His
grace I'm doing it. Okay, let's pray.