John's Gospel, chapter 1, and
I want to read just one verse to you this morning. In verse
6. John, chapter 1, in verse 6.
I want to look at this this morning, just the thought concerning this
man, John the Baptist. Then tonight, the Lord's willing,
I want to look at another portion of this chapter. But let's consider
this this morning. I have this thought. Here in
verse 6, there was a man, there was a man, had a miraculous conception. His mother was old and she had
prayed for years for a son and hadn't had a son. The Lord heard
his dad's prayer and gave him a child. This man, there was
a man. He was filled with the Holy Ghost
while he was in his mother's womb. Leaped for joy when he
heard the mother of our Lord speaking. Was born, raised in
the hills of Judea, came in the wilderness preaching and baptizing
sinners. There was a man, just a man,
subject to like passions as you and I are. But boy, there was
something special about this man. And John tells us here what
it is. There was a man sent from God,
and his name was John. Now, that's what makes this man
special. He was a man sent from God, and the advantages the people
in Israel received from this man was tremendous. The greatest
blessing that God can ever bestow upon a congregation or upon a
community is for God to send them a man. He was a great man, and God's
blessing was upon him as he preached, and many in Israel's heart was
turned to the Lord their God. The hearts of the father was
turned to the children. They had been neglecting their
children, not teaching them the truth. And when John began to
preach, the hearts of the fathers was turned to the children. And
those who were rebellious, their hearts was turned to the wisdom
of the just. How God blessed this people. People in different walks of
life were blessed by this man's ministry. There were certain
things I'm sure this man didn't know. If you'd have talked to
him about certain subjects, he'd have told you, I know nothing
about those things. I'm amazed when some preachers,
bless our hearts, think that we have to be an expert in every
subject. This man was trained up in sin
of God to do one thing, and that was to preach the gospel. That
was to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. I want just to remind
you of some places this morning. You either jot these scriptures
down or you can keep them in your head and read them at your
leisure. I don't wish to turn there. I'll
keep you too long. But this man was such a preacher
that he had a message for everybody in society. When somebody was
saved, they come to the Lord Jesus and said, what do I need
to do? And he could tell them. He was
truly a man sent of God. He had a message to help everybody
in his day and in their everyday life. There was a group of people
in Luke 3 who came to John as he was baptizing, and they asked
him some questions. They were very concerned. And
they asked him some questions, and it showed the wisdom of John. It showed what was in his heart
regarding poor people. If a man says he's sin of God,
and he has no love or regard for poor people, something's
wrong somewhere. All the apostles always remembered
the poor. The poor you have with you always.
But these people came to John, and they said, John, what shall
we do? And in Luke chapter 3, he said,
those who have two coats, you take one of your coats and give
them to that person who has no coat. And you that have plenty
of food, you do likewise. John would have never advocated
the redistribution of wealth. He had never stood picketing.
He had never been calling his congressman to try to take wealth
from one man and give it to another. The way he handled that was to
preach to men's hearts, to remember the poor, to love one another. If you've got something, remember
the poor. Remember the poor. In part to
those, he said, who have none. Appeal to the hearts of men to
be generous. And I look out over this congregation
and I know some of you. I know some of you for years.
And I know how generous you are. I know how generous this little
congregation has been. That's why we support missionaries.
And that's why we give to this one and that one. Because you
folks are generous. You don't say somebody else should
do it. What do you say? I've got it. I'll get it. And
that's what John said. You that's got it, then share
it. Then share it. Isn't that good
advice? And what makes this so wonderful,
this was the greatest prophet known to man. A man born of women,
there's not risen a greater prophet than this. And here he is teaching
people to be generous, to remember the poor. Something else John told these
people. They came to him and they asked
him this, something about honesty. The publicans, the tax collectors,
came to him and they said, what should we do? What should we
do? We're tax collectors. How should
we live our daily lives? What should we do in our occupation? And John insists upon their honesty. They're dealing honestly with
their fellow man. And he said this, exact no more
than what's been appointed you. Exact no more than what's been
appointed you. Why did he tell them that? Well,
these tax collectors were cheats. The government would tell them
to collect $20 and they would collect $30. A man can do that
before the Lord saves him, can't he? Yeah, a man can do that and
go lay down and sleep well most of the time. But when the Lord
saves you, I tell you, he changes you, don't he? Where a man was
a cheat before, where he was a defrauder before, he doesn't
live like that anymore. Exact no more. than what's been
appointed to you. Don't cheat. Don't lie. Don't
defraud people. Isn't that good advice? We need
it in our day, don't we? And there were some soldiers
there. And obviously, the Lord had saved them. And they asked
John, what shall we do? Now, these men were men of authority. If you were Roman soldiers back
then or soldiers that Rome had harbored you from the Israelis
to guard places, you had a lot of authority. You could harm
people and get away with it. And here is some advice John
gave them. Listen to this. He said, first
is this, do violence to no man. Don't you hurt anybody unjustly. Don't put the innocent in fear
because of your authority. And they had the power to do
that, and they often did it. And here John corrects that.
Has the Lord saved you, he said? Well, here, don't you dare make
men afraid because you have the authority to do so. God has ordained
the powers that be. He has, hasn't He? He has ordained
government. He set up the powers, the sheriffs
and the governors and so on. He set them up. He has ordained
those powers. But listen to this. Those powers
are accountable to God. And it may not be against the
rule of government because some politician has made a law that
is ungodly, but I tell you this. If it's contrary to God's law,
then it's contrary. And God will hold men accountable
for it. Do not put men in fear. Do violence to no man. And he
said this, he added this, do not accuse any falsely. Well, I think this is very telling
here when you remember that he's speaking to these men that's
in authority. And he says here, don't accuse
any officer just because you can. Don't you accuse a man and
get him put in jail. Don't you accuse a man and get
him fined when he's not guilty, and you know he's not. Well,
I tell you, the state could learn something from this, couldn't
it? The state, the authority that
we live under in Indiana and our federal authorities could
learn something from this man. The state had reached the point,
arrogantly so, and so separated itself from
a distance from the church that they think they're not under
the authority of God any longer. Well, you may not be under the
church's authority, and that's fine, but they're under God's
authority. And there's going to be some
lawyers. There's going to be some sheriffs, there's going
to be some police officers, there's going to be some district attorney
that stand before God and give account of accusing men falsely. There have been men in jail that
have stayed there all their life long that were innocent. Have
been put to death and yet they're innocent. Why? Because some DA
hid evidence, or some police tampered with evidence, and they
accused them unlawfully. And notice this. He says this,
and he adds this, and this is a wonderful thing. Here's what
he says to these soldiers. It has to do with contentment.
He speaks to them of contentment. And it's contentment in their
area, the area of their life in which they're out not to be
content. And here's what he says to them. Be content with your
wages. This was the greatest prophet
that ever lived. And look what he's doing. There
was a man sent from God. Be content with your wages is
the message. If you're a child of God, never
be out here in the streets picketing for more money from your employer.
Just don't do it. It shows discontent. How many
people make all kinds of money and they're not content with
what they have? And they're out to waste what
they have through lust. And they get themselves in trouble
just because they want more and more and more. Look at the trouble
between our employers and employees in our day. And you know what
the problem is? It's either greed on the employee's
part or greed on the employer's part. Is it not? The employees are making plenty,
they're just not satisfied. The employer is making more than
he needs, and he ought to give a little bit more. But nobody
is content, are they? A child of God should be content. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. You say, Bruce, what in the world
are you talking about? Well, it's not me, it's this great man of God.
That was a man sent from God, whose name was John. And this
is what he's talking about. He had another message. He went
higher up than these soldiers. Boy, he had a message for the
king of his day. He had a message for the king
of his day. The powers that be are not exempt
from God's Word. We talk about how we respect
them, and we do. We talk about how we should pray
for our leaders, and we do. But listen, brothers and sisters,
we don't cow down to our leaders. We don't withhold the Word of
God from our leaders. They're commanded to repent just
like everybody else. If our president, our governors,
and our sheriffs don't repent, they'll perish. They're subject
to God, our leaders are. And they'll have to give account
to God. John was talking to Herod one day, and King Herod had taken
his brother's wife to be his own. And John walked right up
to him and looked him in the eye and said, I've got a message
from God to you. It's not lawful for you to have
your brother's wife. And if you don't repent, you'll
perish. Boy, that's not like a lot of
preachers we've got today, is it? Did you see Billy Graham
when Mr. Clinton was in the White House?
Mr. Graham was up there telling him he ought to go into the ministry.
You've got the guilt, he said, if you were to go into the ministry.
Instead of telling him, God commands you to repent. He wasn't like
this man was. No, Harriet, if you don't repent,
you will perish. The state may not forbid certain
things, but God's law forbids it. And it's a sin. And therefore, God's man will
tell everybody without partiality and without exception, it's not
lawful. It's not lawful. Some politicians tell us they
can separate their religious life from their political life. They compartmentalize. That's
what they call it. They compartmentalize. They can
take one thing and put it over here, and they can take another
thing and put it over here, and separate those things completely. Take the issue of abortion. Not
an issue with me. Is it an issue with you? It's
murder, isn't it? We have politicians who say,
well, that's in the political realm. I never do that in my
religious life. My religious life won't allow
me to kill a baby. But I can do it in my political
life. I can promote it in my political
life. I can vote for it in my political
life. A man may be religious. He may
have something rotten, religion, and can do that. But not when
he's born of the truth, he can't do that. If you're a politician, you may be a politician and you
may be a child of God. But if you can't be a child of
God and be a politician, you better get out of politics. There's a lot of occupations
that we can have. But a Christian cannot have an
occupation that requires him to lie and cheat and defraud. A businessman, Bill, is a good
business. But if you can't be in business
without being unethical, you better get out. That's what John
said. No matter what walk of life,
People were in, no matter what position they hold, what authority
they have, what wealth they possess, every man is subject to the rule
of God without exception. And I tell you, the man that
is sent of God will tell us that one day. He will tell us that.
There was a man sent from God. I wish we had more people like
him. Boy, I tell you what, it would be tough to sit under him.
Sometimes He would skin you alive. He would send you home weeping
with a broken heart, with wounds. But the wounds of a friend are
good. God send us more men. God send
us men to preach the truth. To preach to us right where we're
at. Right where we live our daily lives. John had a message for
some more people too. You'll find this in Matthew chapter
3. There were multitudes, Matthew
tells us, coming to be baptized of John. All the regions of Judea
and about Jordan, they were all coming to be baptized, confessing
their sins. Can you get a picture of this?
Can you get a picture of Multitudes standing upon the bank of the
Jordan River. And there was a long line of
men and women and even boys and girls lined up and John was baptizing
them. And you saw some tears running
down faces. You saw some ladies with their
lips quivering. You saw some countenance that
was cast down, and underneath the breath He was hearing them
whisper, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Oh, Lord, forgive the
hardness of my heart. Oh, Lord, I believe. Help my
unbelief. They were repenting. They were
sorrowful as they went under the waters of baptism. And it was a sight to see. And
while John was standing there baptizing those people, he looked
up on the bank. And there was a rather large
group of very well-dressed people. Pharisees and Sadducees. And
boy, you could see them. They were different than everybody
else. They had their big robes on and scriptures all over the
robe. And they look so pretty and they look so nice. And they
come out there watching these sinners be baptized. What was John going to say to
these people? Did he have anything to say? Had God sent him to say
anything to these self-righteous legalists? Everybody else was
going down in humiliation under those waters. Humiliation of
being a sinner, confessing those sins. And there they were upon
the bank and they were all dry. None of them had gotten wet.
None of them had any sin to confess. But John had a message for them. He stopped baptizing for a minute.
He said, give me your attention. I'm speaking to you fellows up
there on the bank, dressed in your pretty robes. Listen to
me, you generation, you brood, you nest of vipers." Oh, my goodness. Who does he think he is? Do you know why he called them
a brood of vipers? Do you remember the first time
we read of a viper? in the Old Testament? Remember
the serpent? The old serpent? Remember what
the Lord Jesus said to these Pharisees? You are of your father
the devil! You are a brood of Satan! And do you know what John told
them? The Lord has already drawn His
axe. He has whitted it. He has sharpened
it. And it's come down and it's laid
right in your root. He's ready to cut you off in
your self-righteousness, in your self-trust and self-confidence
and self-merit. He's ready to cut you off. And
if you don't repent and bring forth fruit, meek for repentance,
you're going to be fuel for the fire. That's what He told them.
This same man that had been instructing these Christians about being
generous and about giving and about how to live their life,
now, boy, he lays these self-righteous people low. And he says, don't
a one of you start to think in your heart, we have Abraham to
our father. We're not like everybody else.
Abraham is our natural father, and that makes us better than
anybody else. And John said, you're no better
than anybody else. You're no different than these
sinners that I'm baptizing. Repent or perish. That's what he told them. Oh,
how many pretty religious folks do we have in our day? They have
their own criteria for what's right and what's wrong. For what
God requires and what God don't require of them. And while others
are going down in the humiliating waters of repentance, what are
they doing? They're standing aloft. They're
over everybody else. They don't know their sinful
natures. They don't know the filthiness
of their own righteousness. They have no idea that they're
exposed to the awful wrath of God. Speak to them of having
somebody else's righteousness, and they stick up their nose
at that. Tell them that they must be accepted
in another and be made complete in Him, and they'll do what these
Pharisees did. They'll refuse the counsel of
God against themselves. Accept righteousness. Charles Spurgeon said, open and
profane sins hath slain its thousands, but self-righteousness its tens
of thousands. It's not our badness that keeps
us from Christ. Then what is it? It's our goodness. It's our goodness. Bad people
come to Christ. Sinners come to Christ. It's
those that's too good to come that won't come. Something else he tells us. I love this part. I'm going to
deal with this part later on this evening. But what he gets
is something here that's very critical, very important. To
say it's important is an understatement. But he comes to hear something
that's very, very important. The issue between us and God. He tells us how this issue, this
most important issue between us and God is resolved. There's a critical issue between
every man and God that has to be resolved. Let me say it this
way. Have you sinned against God this
morning? Have you sinned against God? You say, Bruce, well, all
of us have sinned against God. All men have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. How important is it then that
your sins be atoned for? How crucial and critical is it
that your sins be put away from the face of God? They're in your heart. You know
some of them. You won't talk about most of
them. You've got them hid from almost everybody. But God's looking at them. They're
right before the face of God. How important is it in your heart
of hearts this morning to find out how your sins are atoned
for? How are they put away from the
face of God? You know this much. I bet you
know this much because it makes you afraid. Everybody here this
morning knows this much about your sins. I just about bet you
do. You here this morning who know
very little about your sins, you know this much about them.
If God holds you accountable for them, It ain't going to go
well with you. Does all of us realize that this
morning? David said, if thou, O Lord, should mark iniquity,
just one, no man can stand. God is too holy. He's of too
pure eyes to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon sin. If He
marks a sin against any man, He's a goner. He's a God. How important is it then? If
a man like Abraham could not stand before God in his sins,
a man like Noah and Samuel and Daniel, if they could not stand
before God, can you stand? Can I stand? Then John's going
to tell us how this issue has been settled. He's just going
to make one little short statement. But I think in making this little
statement, he tells us why he is the greatest prophet that
ever lived. Because he answers this question.
How can I stand before God without being condemned of my sin? Now Bud, you get somebody to
answer that question for you. You get somebody to tell you
the answer to that question. And that's the most important
answer you'll ever hear in all your life. You know what it is?
Look here back at my text. Look here in John chapter 1.
Look here in verse 29. Look in verse 29. The next day
John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and he said, Behold, the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This man was sent of God to give
us this message. It's almost that God got him
out in the wilderness and shut him up by himself and says, John,
I've got a message that I'm putting into your heart and I want you
to be sure that you tell sinners about this message. And here it is. How is sin put
away? Well, we teach our children,
and that's a good thing. We're teaching our children.
We spend a lot of time teaching our children. We want to train
them. We want them to have a trade
in life, to get along and do well. That's wonderful. That's
good. But all of that is preparing our children to live in this
world. There is something eternally
more important than living in this world. It's being prepared
for the world to come. And just as we should learn our
subjects in school that we may get along in this world, oh,
how important it is for us to learn this subject. How is sin
put away? And boy, here he tells us, doesn't
he? Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away. the sin of the world. Abraham on the Mount Moriah,
when him and Isaac was going up to offer a burnt offering,
and lo and behold, he was going to offer his son Isaac. And Isaac
said, Dad, here's the wood. Here's the fire. But he said,
where's the sacrifice? We know that God requires a sacrifice. And remember what Abraham told
him. God will provide Himself a sacrifice, a lamb. What was it He said next? For
a burnt offering. If you want to know what the
burnt offering was all about, you turn sometime over in Leviticus
1 and read it, and here's what happened. They went out into
the herd. They got a lamb, for example. And they brought it to the children
of Israel. to someone who had sinned. And they laid their hands
on that lamb. They transferred their sins on
that lamb. They cut his throat. And they
went and put him on the altar and they burned him. And God
said this in Leviticus chapter 1 verse 5. You do this. And it shall be accepted for
man atonement." When the Lord Jesus Christ hung
on Calvary's tree, He was that burnt sacrifice. It wasn't us
that transferred our sins to Him. It was God. All we like sheep have gone astray.
The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. You see,
it's important. It's critical. Not only that
sin be put away, but put away in a manner that's consistent
with justice. We can hide our sins. We sweep
them under the rug. We make them less than what they
are. God can't do that. When God says, I'm going to put
sin away, He has to do it in a manner that's consistent with
justice. He can't turn His eye away. He
can't lessen our sins. He just can't say, oh, I'm so
merciful, I'll look over them. No, they have to be put away
in a manner that's just. And how could that be? He put
them on His Son. That's what John's saying. How
could He take them away, John? Because God first put them on
the Son. He put them on His Son. And then
what did the Son do? He took them away by the sacrifice
of Himself. You want to know what blood is
about? Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
That is what it is about. He took blood. Not your blood. And not my blood, but the blood
of God's Son to put sin away. Now, ain't that a wonderful truth?
John told us that. Are you worried about your sin?
Some of you have lived in sin a long time, haven't you? Sometimes
you lay down of a night and you worry about it, don't you? Huh? You think about dying? You think
about eternity? Oh, eternity, eternity, eternity. Well, here it is. He took them
away. He took them away. Now, I'm not
about to tell you, I'm not about to tell you this morning, He
took your sins away if you die and go to hell in your sin. I'm
not going to lie to you and tell you such a thing this morning.
But I am telling you this, everyone who ever looks to Jesus Christ,
everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, He took their
sins away. Oh, what a message, what a message. And look at this right quickly,
and I'll just keep you just another minute or two. Look in verse
35 and verse 36. He says this again, basically
the same thing, and he tells us how to obtain a part in this. You say, Bruce, if Jesus Christ
took sin away 2,000 years ago, how can I know that I have a
part in that? How can I know he took mine away?
I don't think he took everybody's away. If he had there, he'd have
emptied hell with it. How can I know he's taken mine
away? How can I know that? I don't want to go through life,
living in my sins and dying in my sins, thinking, well, he took
them all away. I'll tell you how you can know
he's took yours away. And John tells us right here
in verse 34 and verse 35. Look at this. And I saw him by record that
this is the Son of God again the next day, again, after John
stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus, as he
walked, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God. Now, I don't think
the Holy Spirit puts these things in here for us to just read over
and not profit from. I think everything He puts in
here is put in here for us to profit by. stood. John was not walking. John was
not going. He was not doing. He stood still
and saw Jesus. Now, what could the Holy Spirit
mean by such a thing? Well, He means this. He means
this. Jesus Christ is already atoned
for sin. They have been put away under
on Calvary's tree. How do you know that He's done
it for you? Then stand still. Stop yourself. Stop your religious
activities. Stop your running into sin. Don't
do anything. Stand still and look to Christ. You remember when the children
of Israel were coming out of Egypt and Pharaoh's army was about
to catch them? And they were going to slaughter
a bunch of them to make an example out of them and carry the rest
of them back into bondage? And they were crying and screaming,
ìWeíre dead men!î And what did the Lord tell them to do? Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, in
this matter of remission of sin, in this matter of forgiveness
of sins, you and I must not do anything. When it comes to working as the
Lord's children, God helps us to go and do and work in His
service like any slave. But I tell you what, when it
comes to being justified before God, when it comes to forgiveness
of all our sins, we have to stand still and do nothing. Don't lift
a finger. Don't say, I'll make restitution
for the wrong that I've done. I promise to do better. Stand
still and look. If you can do that this morning,
you'll be a blessed person. You sit right where you are this
morning and you look out of your misery and out of your guilt
and see Jesus. Just look and see him. See him
as he's walking in this world before God, and God looks upon
him and says, I'm pleased in him. Look! Look at him yonder
on Calvary Street, bearing sin by himself. See the darkness around him.
Hear him groaning. See his lips quiver. See God
smiling with a sort of justice. Don't do anything. Don't look
away. Don't think of something religious
that you can do. Stand still and look. Look at
Him as He breathes out His last breath. Why? For sin. Look at Him as He goes down to
the tomb carrying all the sin away. Look at Him as He raises. Look at Him as He ascends to
the Father. Look at Him on the right hand of God. See Him? Behold the Lamb of God. Can you see Him? Can you see
Him taking it away? Well, if you can see Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, doing that right where you sit, then you can say
with John, Oh, John, I've seen Him. Behold, I've seen Him. I've seen Him. He's mine. He's my Lamb. Well, I appreciate John's honesty.
He said in verse 31, I knew him not. We're going to deal with
this tonight. I knew him not. I didn't even know him. Oh, how
many preachers tell us today, I've been saved all my life.
Ain't that sad? That's too long, isn't it? John said, I didn't know him.
How did you know him then, John? He made himself real to me. God
told me, upon whom you see the Holy Spirit descending and staying
on His head like a dove, that's Him. And John said, I saw Him.
He was made real to me. I'd be ashamed of myself to get
up here this morning and tell you that I've been saved all
my life. No sir, I was lost. I didn't know the Lord Jesus
Christ myself. I was in my guilt. What I'm telling
you this morning, I know for myself. I didn't know Him. Bless
God, He made Himself real to me. He revealed Himself to my
heart. That's the way I know Him. And when we know Him, it's a
humbling thing and a glorious thing. It's a humbling thing
because it causes us to decrease in our own eyes. I must decrease. I become more and more unworthy
of the least of His mercies. Some people talk about sanctification
that you just get better and better and better and better.
And you almost grow to the place that you don't even need the
Lord Jesus Christ to save you. One old Puritan says sanctification
is like the growth of a cow's tail. The closer it gets to the
ground. That's what happens. We talk
about sanctification just getting lower and lower and lower. Why? Because we see Him as higher
and higher and higher. It's a glorious thing, isn't
it? It's a glorious thing. Oh, John
said, I heard His voice. I hear His voice. And it's like
the voice of the bridegroom calling out his bride. And I'm just standing
and rejoicing while I hear His voice. I'm going to quit there
and we'll start tonight, okay? One o'clock. I hope you can stay.
Hope you can eat dinner with us and come back in and sit and
worship together again. Let's pray.