Good to see you out. I remember
those who requested prayers. Good to see Theresa back. She's
feeling pure. I'm glad to see you, honey. We
really are thankful everything went well with the operation.
Arlene's got to have some therapy on her neck. She's been straining
and looking at things, I reckon. And Sharon's got to go to a dermatologist.
She's got some spots, and so they're going to look at them.
We went to Debbie's eye doctor yesterday and he said she's probably
going to need an operation, but I don't think she's going to
do it. She's 74 years old and there's
a chance of her detaching the retina when it does it. She'll
be out of commission for a full month. If you know anything about
Debbie, she can't sit still that long. I could. I could operate
a mine. I could stay sedentary for a
year, but that wouldn't be a problem. Not Debbie. My Debbie likes to
do things. Also, Cynthia's knee operation
has been moved up to next Friday, the 13th, and that's going to
be in Asheville. she says it's a one day thing she might even
get to come home some day but that seems odd it seems like
a pretty serious operation for one day but remember her in your
prayers also and seek the Lord's help let's begin our worship
service with hymn number two hundred and twenty eight my faith
has found a resting place My faith has found a resting
place, not in device nor creed. I trust the ever-living One. His wounds for me shall bleed. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. ? And that he died for me ? Enough
for me that Jesus saves this ? It's my fear and doubt ? A
sinful soul, I come to him ? He'll never cast me out ? I need no
other It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. My great mission heals the sick,
the lost he came to save. I need no other plea. It is enough. Hymn number 514, Marching Desire. Come we that love the Lord, and
let our joys be known. And thus surround the throne. And thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Scion, we're
marching upward to Scion, the beautiful city of God. Then let our To sing who never
knew our God, but children of the heavenly King, but children
of the heavenly King. may speak their joys abroad,
may speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields, before we
reach the heavenly fields. Golden streets, oh, walk the
golden streets. We're marching to Zion, beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground. To fairer worlds on high. To fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful,
beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. If you have your Bibles turned to the
Gospel according to John, we'll read verses six through
eight 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 Most gracious Heavenly Father,
full of mercy, full of pity for your children, we thank you for sustaining grace,
for saving grace, for grace that meets our every
need. We thank you for mercy, ever present, ever new every
morning. We thank you, Father, for your
goodness, that you are he who does as he pleases in heaven
and earth and all the deep places. We thank you that we can trust
and fall upon your sovereignty, knowing full well that what comes
our way is according to your hand and according to your pleasure.
for those who are sick and going through trials and tribulations.
We know this is what attends the salvation of the child of
God. It is the life of the child of God. We know, Father, that
our sufferings here for this present time do not even count
as measured against what the glory we'll have in that world
to come. We know, indeed, we are marching
towards Zion. We are sojourners and strangers
in this world, and we look for a new world, a world where Christ
rules in righteousness, a world without sin. We can only imagine
such a thing, and even in our imagination, it's so full of
sin that we'll never get it right here. But we know when we finally
do see him face to face, we'll see him as he is because we'll
be like him. And we know you have predestinated
us, your children, to be in the likeness of your son. And we
thank you. Father, help us tonight as we
look at your word to see what you have to say for us. calls
us to glean from these words that which is beneficial to us
and brings glory to your name. We pray this in the precious
name and through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. Now this passage of scripture
is the introduction of John the Baptist in this particular gospel
record. Now he was not a Baptist as to
denominational identification. The first denominational Baptists
were called Anabaptists, which were followers of a man named
Meno Simons, and whose name Anabaptist meant re-baptizer. That's what
the word Anabaptist means, a re-baptizer. What that means is they refused
to accept the practice of christening or sprinkling as true baptism
and held doctrinally that the only true believers could be
baptized. they held to the biblical teaching
of the new birth rather than traditional salvation of the
Roman Church and the Reformation churches that followed. They
disallowed infant baptism and this did not make them very popular
among the Catholics and the Reformers of the day in which they existed.
Later, the Baptists in America became Many of them after the
Civil War became what was called landmark Baptists. It started
shortly after the Civil War. And they began to write books.
And one of the books they wrote was called The Trail of Blood,
which supposedly traced the Baptist church back to John the Baptist,
the first man in the Baptist church. He was not. He was a
baptizer. That's what that means. John
the baptizer. John the baptizer. and he baptized
in a new concept called the New Covenant, which hadn't been fully
revealed yet, but that was the covenant which he operated. John
also operated in the Old Testament. He was promised in Malachi that
Elias would come, and our Lord said, If you believe what Malachi
said, and you look at John the Baptist, you know Elias has come. He was said to be the last Old
Testament prophet. and the first New Testament preacher,
the man who spanned that gap of 400 years from Malachi to
Matthew, became the first man to talk openly about the Lord
Jesus Christ and reveal Him as the one who had come to declare
the Father. Now, he rejoiced in Christ while
he was yet in his mother's womb. That's what the Scriptures say.
Over in Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 1 verse 39 it says,
And Mary rose in those days, she was pregnant, and went into
the hill country with haste to a city in Judah, and entered
into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth, that was
John the Baptist's mother. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. the babe
leaped in her womb. That babe that leapt in her womb
was John the Baptist. She was now six months pregnant.
She was six months pregnant at the time with John the Baptist.
Now naming him John caused some controversy among the family
as it as it did not follow the custom of naming a child after
his kindred. But John's father had been directed
by the angel Gabriel to give him that name. The angel Gabriel
came to Zacharias, who was a priest at that time, and he was running
his course. The priest had a certain course.
that they ran in the temple they serve for a certain amount of
time and they were off for a certain amount of time and this is Zacharias's
course in the temple and the angel Gabriel came to him and
says Elizabeth who was barren is going to conceive and bear
a son and you're going to name his name John and it says that
he wasn't particularly pleased with that idea so the angel says
you'll not be able to speak another word until the boy was born and
he wasn't able to speak another word and so when he was born
he named him Much of what was spoken in our
text here in John was spoken by Zacharias when the voice came
back to him in Luke chapter 1 when he talked about what this young
or this man would be when he talked about his son John the
Baptist. What he said basically in verse
76, it says, And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of
the highest Now shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare
his ways. to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender
mercy of our God whereby the day spring from on high has visited
us. The day spring, of course, being
the Lord Jesus Christ. To give light to them that sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet in
the way of peace. That was what John was going
to do as the forerunner of the one who came before Christ who
was mentioned in Malachi It was mentioned in several of the other
prophets in different ways. He was the one who said he was
a voice crying in the wilderness, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we are introduced to this
character, the first thing mentioned is this. It says, There was a
man. There was a man. He was not the
word. He was not the life, and he was
not the light. The temple designation of John
is in the past tense. There was a man. And this is
eventually the designation of every man born of woman, save
for one. In due time, this will be said
of every one of us. He or she was. Not anymore. They was, but of Christ it says
he was, and he is, and he is to come. There was a man who
was prepared for his ministry for 30 years. And the length of that ministry
was just six months. He preached for six months and
then lost his head. There was a man, and this declares
the particular means that God employs to preach His Word. The
second thing that we find is that he was sent from God. That's
what it says, there was a man sent from God. This designates
him as a preacher. for Romans 10, it says, how shall
they preach except they be sent? Except they be sent. If you receive
the gospel, if I receive the gospel, you will hear it from
one whom God has sent to you to preach to you. Now you may
not feel like he's directly preaching to you, but if you hear the gospel
from that man and the Lord opened your eyes, that man was sent
to you. All the wisdom of the world.
is designed for one simpler thing that is to keep a man looking
at himself the whole wisdom of the world look at where the world
is today look at what people call wisdom and intellect it's
all about man all about man centered and all about me and the exaltation
of man and making man live longer and all these things that's what
the world's wisdom is designed to do it's never designed and
it cannot bring a man to God. As much as he studies this world's
wisdom, as much as he gives himself to learning and to scholarly
things, it can never bring him closer to God. That is by design. God made the world's wisdom to
actually keep men looking at themselves. He says as much in
1 Corinthians chapter 1 Verse 21 says, For after that,
in the wisdom of God, this is according to God's plan and God's
purpose and His wisdom, For after that, in the wisdom of God, the
world by wisdom knew not God. The world by its own wisdom.
This whole first chapter is about the world's wisdom and setting
it aside so no man would glory in His flesh. The first thing
He says, You see, you're calling, brethren, not many wise men.
Not many wise men. Why? Because the wisdom of this
world was designed to keep a man looking at himself and not looking
to God. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Not by foolish
preaching, but by the world's wisdom looks at preaching as
what? Foolishness. Looks at what we're doing here
tonight. we could be out somewhere having a good time. We're not. We're here having a good time.
We're listening to a man stand up on his hind legs and say the
same thing over and over and over again, but it's through
the foolishness of preaching that God saves them that believes. This is a narrow thing, this
ministry. Only one whom God has sent will repeatedly tell men
to look away from self and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
first words we hear that John says about Jesus Christ is when
he saw Him coming down the road. In chapter 1 and verse 29 he
says, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. His ministry was about that. what was it? Paul said
in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. His name was John. He was not
named after any of his kindred before the name that God gave
him. He was sent from God, and so was His name sent from God. One of the apostles also had
that name. The very one who penned this
gospel had the same name, John. John. What does that word mean? That name means Jehovah has graced. Jehovah has graced, or Jehovah
has graciously given. he was, as is every preacher,
sent from God a saved sinner." This is who God sends to preach,
one whom He has saved. Remember what Paul said over
1 Timothy when he talked about his former life and his present
life? In 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse
12, he says, I thank Christ Jesus
our Lord who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me in the ministry. And I was before a blasphemer. That's what I was, before a blasphemer. And I was a persecutor. And I
was injurious. That's what I was. But I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorant in unbelief. and the grace of
our lord jesus christ was a beer exceedingly abundant with faith
and love which is in jesus christ and this is a playful side worthy
of all exceptation that jesus christ came into this world to
save sinners whom i am g he said i was a person wasn't jurors
i was a blasphemer i'm the chief god put me in the ministry this
fact was a man sent from God. This qualifies him as a sinner
saved by grace to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what it says about him in the next thing in this
passage of scripture. It says he's a witness. He's
a witness. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John, the same came for a witness, to bear witness
of the light. In this particular verse, the
word witness is used twice. He came forth as a witness, shall
come for a witness, and he's come to bear witness. One of
those words is a noun, the other one is a verb. Same word, but
one word is used as a noun and another is used as a verb. The testimony is this. It means
a testimony and is generally applied to the words of a prophet.
A witness. A witness is a testimony. He
came as a witness. To bear witness. The word witness
means testimony, and as I said, it's generally applied to a preacher
or a prophet. who has received his words from
the Lord, the testimony that he had witnessed and seen and
was able to testify of what he had seen and heard. So he testified
of what he had seen and heard. So his witness was that he had
witnessed something. His testimony was that he had
witnessed something, and therefore he could witness to it. You can't
be a witness unless you've seen something. That you've seen something. That you know something. That's
the language that John uses when he describes to the children
of God what he's received from God. He came for a witness to
bear witness. To bear witness. He came for
a testimony to testify. That's what that means. He has a testimony. What does
he testify of? He's testifying to what he's
seen. That's what 1 John says over in 1 John chapter 1. He
says this, that which is from the beginning, chapter 1 and
verse 1, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have heard, which you have seen with our eyes, which
you have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of
life. Now, we know that word of life
is the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that from the first three
verses of the Gospel, according to John. For the life was manifest,
and we've seen it, and bear witness, and show it unto you that that
eternal life which was with the Father and was manifest unto
us, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that
ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What
I've seen and what I've heard, that's what I can testify of."
So John had seen and heard. When did that start? In his mother's
womb. When he heard Mary salute Elizabeth,
he leapt for joy. The witness he was to bear, the
testimony he was to declare was a singular thing. That's what
it says here back in our text. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light. Notice that as in capital letters,
our capital letters start in uppercase. He preached repentance. We know that from the other Gospels
that He preached repentance, for the Kingdom of God has come,
and it is covered in other Gospels, but not in John's Gospel. Remember, John's Gospel is not
about Christ being King, or Christ being a servant, or Christ being
the man. John's Gospel is about Christ being the Son of God.
And this was John's message, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. This is a narrow scope, you see.
It's a narrow scope. It's what the old theologians
used to call the doctrine of reduction, the doctrine of reducing
things, bringing all things to a single thing, and that's what
God does in the gospel. God does that. This is a vast
book. We've studied it for all our
lives and we don't touch the hem of the garment of all the
stuff that's in this book. I'm still amazed. I open it up
and I read it, I ponder it, I think about it and I'm utterly amazed
at what goes on in these words that the Lord has set forth.
But this book is narrow. It's focussed. It has a tunnel vision. It brings
everything down to a single thing and that single thing is the
Lord Jesus Christ. from genesis one revelation twenty-two
that's the theory of this book it's about his substitution his
ministry was the same as everyone never one god is saved come to
you with theological treatises i was determined to do this I determine to know nothing among
you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All who have been
redeemed by the blood of Christ and saved by His grace have this
singular message and dare not stray from it lest they give
some man a false hope." All you've got to do to remove the offense
of the gospel is give man one little thing to do and the offense
of the gospel is gone. I don't care what it is. you
can name it, you can come up with all kinds of ideas, you've
given one finger to lift, one little finger to lift in presence
of the gospel, and you have taken the offense of the gospel away.
Because the offense of the gospel is this, you and I have nothing
to do with our salvation at all, on any level, or in any way. Nothing! Nothing! Christ did it all. That's why
Paul said, we preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ and our servants
for your sake. We preach not ourselves but Jesus
Christ. The impetus of that testimony
is the glory of God. Why? Because it's talking about
the salvation service. Look back at our days. The same
came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. That's talking about salvation.
that's talking about salvation. Why? Because that's what glorifies
God. That's what that message does. The message of Christ glorifies
God and saves sinners. It's a wondrous thing. The impetus
of that testimony is the glory of God for the salvation of sinners
by the propitiatory, substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the light. He said, I am the light of the
world. Jesus said, I am the light. said that in John chapter 8 and
verse 12, that all men through him might believe. You'll notice
the word men is in italics here. That means the interpreters in
the King James Version added it to help our understanding.
No, it didn't help that much, but they added it anyway. I'll
tell you what the Gospel of John does. It uses that word, all. I don't know. Our Lord used that word, all.
you want to know what all means, stick with us as we study the
Book of John and we'll see what that word all means. Things like,
All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is my Father's will, which is sent me. Of all
he has given me, I shall lose nothing, but raise it up again
in the last day. as to the only all that are told
all me might believe gospel john that preaching of the law is for the glory of God and the
salvation of sinners. That's why we do it. We preach,
I want to see people saved, and I'm so thankful when an old sinner
saved by grace and comes up to me and says he wants to be confessed
to the Lord in baptism, it blesses my heart. But if nobody's ever saved from
this day forward, I'm still going to preach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified because I know that glorifies God and His glory is
the salvation of sinners. And I know though none of them
may be saved under this ministry ever again. God hadn't ended
this thing yet. He hadn't spoken into this world.
He hadn't set it on fire yet. So I know out there somewhere
in this world there are men preaching the gospel and God is calling
His elect by His grace. several friends preaching the
gospel in africa we support one of the missus james mowally there
in africa africa's here in the gospel got a fella in russia
renat somebody who's preaching the gospel in russia preaching
the gospel he's on facebook solid gospel preacher they're preaching
they're men preaching all over this world preaching the gospel
in india they translated one of my books the book in galatians
into the urdu sent a thousand copies to india the gospels being preached everywhere
why? because it glorifies god why
would anybody go anywhere else? why would a preacher stand up
and give people rules and regulations? why would he do that? why would
he preach the law and try to bring people under the law for
rights? why would he do that? Why would
he leave that ONE thing that God says glorifies Him? This
is my glory! I will make my goodness pass
before you. I will declare the name of the
Lord before you. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will be gracious unto whom I will be gracious.
THIS IS MY GLORY! THIS IS IT! Why would you go
anywhere else? Why would you spend time anywhere
else? What about eschatology? You can't preach eschatology
without preaching Christ. There's something wrong with
you to start with. Eschatology is about Him who is coming. John's
whole vision, the seven visions he had in Revelation is this.
Behold, He cometh. He cometh, the Lord Jesus Christ. The preaching of the light, the
gospel, is for the glory of God. That's why John was sent. There
was a man sent from God. whose name was John, the same
came to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe. This verse also gives the condition
and the estate of those to whom the gospel is to be preached. Bearing witness to the light
begs the question, who has to be told that there is light? Only those who cannot see. Only those who cannot see must
be told that there is light. Those who dwell in darkness,
who love the darkness, who will not open their eyes must be told
that there is light. There is light. In verse 5 it
says, And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth
at night. The darkness comprehendeth at
night. Over in chapter 3, when our Lord
is speaking to a man who came to Him at night, in the darkness,
to talk to him. In John chapter 3, verses 19
and 20, it says this, And this is the condemnation, that light
is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil. So everyone that doeth evil hateth
the light, neither cometh it the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved. And 1 Peter makes an interesting
statement in 1 Peter chapter for six years for this call for this cause was the gospel
preach also they might be judged me reaching the gospel did me
spurge said I preach the conversion my ears every time I preach say
they're saved I believe I'm preach for the conversion we cannot
make me and see just Christ must give them life so
they can see the light. Remember, life precedes the light.
The light to believe the testimony that there is light. For them
that dwell in darkness have seen a great light. Finally, we have the description
of the man sent from God to preach the gospel. It says in verse
8, he was not that light. but was sent to bear witness
of that light. He's not that light. The preacher's not the light.
The preacher's not the Savior of men. Believing on a preacher
will be of no avail to you whatsoever. Following him will lead you nowhere
unless he is following Jesus Christ. You see, the preacher
plants another water's but it's God that gives you increase.
Later, as we were studying this book, some of John's disciples
came to him and said, there's more people going to Christ. Seemed like the whole world's
going to him, not listening to you no more. You know what he
said? So I'm going to do something
about that. I'm going to hand out some flyers and write some tracts.
Get some set up a tent meeting. No, he didn't say that. He said,
he must increase. I must. preacher estimates himself I
parameters set boundaries this is my very existence blesses
understanding