Well, we've begun a bit of a series working through the Gospel of John,
and we kind of started it back about Christmastime,
and we're still pretty close to the beginning here.
So far we've seen that there's a couple things that John wants to make clear
before he starts telling the story.
And this morning we're actually looking forward to getting into the story,
to seeing the first event that John records for us.
This morning we're going to be talking about John the Baptizer.
Just like in the Gospel of Mark, this is where John chooses to start the story.
John has been very clear that this isn't the beginning of Jesus' story,
that his story actually goes back to the very beginning.
And back then he was with God and was God.
But as far as the events of Jesus' story goes,
this is the place that he chooses to begin with John the Baptizer.
And we kind of skipped over some of those verses in verses 6 to 8 and in verse 15,
so we're going to go back and look at those this morning.
So I'm going to actually just start right from verse 1,
and we'll read verses 1 to 9.
If you have your Bible, feel free to open it up.
If you're using the Pew Bibles, it's 860.
John 1 verse 1, John writes this,
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made.
Without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life.
And the life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning the light,
so that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light.
He came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone
was coming into the world.
And so as John begins to ease us into the story of Jesus,
he lets us know that there was a man named John,
a different John.
He's referring to John the baptizer.
And this man, he says in verse 6,
was sent from God.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
And John's purpose, John tells us,
was to be a witness and to testify concerning the light.
He came as a witness to testify concerning the light.
Now what light is John referring to?
We see this in the context,
in what has come before and in what comes after.
John is talking about the Word,
who was with God and was God,
even back in the beginning,
before all things were made.
And in verse 4 he says,
in him, in the Word,
was life.
And the life,
he actually names the Word using a different name,
and the life was the light
of all mankind.
The light is a person.
And we see that really clearly down in verse 9.
He says,
the true light that gives light to everyone
was coming into the world.
He was in the world.
So the light that John came to bear witness to
and to testify about was a person.
And if we keep reading this all the way down,
we see very clearly that it's Jesus.
He is the light.
John tells us that
John the Baptizer came as a witness
to testify concerning him
so that through him
all might believe.
So that through John's testimony,
others might hear what John is saying
and come to the right conclusion
about this one,
Jesus,
who is walking among us.
John is very careful
to help us avoid any confusion.
In verse 8,
he says,
he himself was not the light.
John the Baptizer,
he wasn't the light.
Don't make any mistake here.
He came only as a witness
to the light.
John comes back
to say a little bit more
about John the Baptizer
down in verse 15.
And we'll read that,
but we'll start it in verse 14.
John writes this,
The Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory,
the glory of the one and only Son
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John testified concerning him.
He cried out,
saying,
This is the one I spoke about
when I said,
He who comes after me
has surpassed me
because he was before me.
So John,
the Apostle,
who's writing this,
makes it quite clear
that John the Baptizer
testified concerning Jesus,
the Word,
who became flesh,
the Son,
who came from the Father.
John testified about him,
and this is what he records of this.
He says,
He cried out,
John the Baptizer cried out,
saying,
This is the one
I spoke about
when I said,
He who comes after me.
And he goes on.
You can almost imagine
John the Baptizer
standing in the river
or at the water's edge
and maybe pointing with his hand
or with his finger.
This is the one.
There was a time in John's ministry
when his message changed.
And you can see that
very clearly in verse 15.
His message for some time was,
He who comes,
there is one coming.
But there came a moment
where his message changed
from He who comes
to this is the one.
This is the one right here
that I spoke about earlier.
Do you remember what I said?
I said,
He who comes after me
has surpassed me
because He was before me.
What is John the Baptizer
meaning as he says this?
He who comes after me
has surpassed me
because He was before me.
Well, ordinarily,
the one who comes first
is greater than the one who follows.
It's not always true,
but generally there's some truth to that.
But John the Baptizer
wants it to be known.
He wants it to be clear
that the one who follows Him
is greater than He is.
He is kind of a forerunner
just because He's first,
He's on the scene of ministry,
attracting people's attention first
doesn't mean that He's greater.
In fact, we even know that
from Luke's Gospel
that John the Baptizer was born
before Jesus was born.
And so in a very true sense,
Jesus came after John.
But John does not want there
to be any confusion,
even though He appears
to the crowds
and is known to the crowds
after me.
He comes after me.
He has surpassed me.
He ranks higher than I
because He was before me.
And I think John
is already beginning to point
to the reality
that John the Apostle
has been letting us in on here,
that Jesus,
His story
goes back
to the beginning,
to long before John
was on the scene,
to long before John
was born.
And so there was this moment
where
John's message
changed
from He who comes
to this is the one.
And we're going to get to that
next Sunday.
This is how
the first event
in John's account
of things
unfolds.
Let's read it
in verse 19.
Now this was
John's testimony,
John the Baptizer,
when the Jewish leaders
in Jerusalem
sent priests
and Levites
to ask Him
who He was.
He did not fail
to confess,
but confessed freely,
I am not
the Messiah.
They asked Him,
Then who are you?
Are you Elijah?
He said,
I am not.
Are you the prophet?
He answered,
No.
Finally,
they said,
Who are you?
Give us an answer
to take back
to those who sent us.
What do you say
about yourself?
John replied
in the words
of Isaiah the prophet,
I am the voice
of one
calling in the wilderness.
Make straight
the way
for the Lord.
So,
here John is
out at the river.
He's teaching.
He's preaching.
He's baptizing people.
people.
And the Jewish leaders
in Jerusalem
catch word of this.
And as we know
from the scriptures,
they kind of saw
themselves as
the spiritual authority
of the nation,
of the people.
And so naturally,
they need to send
someone out.
They need to do
something
about this guy
who's out there
in the middle
of nowhere
preaching,
teaching,
kind of administering
religious rights.
And so what do they do?
They put together
a delegation.
They send some priests
and some Levites
and as we see
in verse 24,
some Pharisees
were among them
and they send
them out
to John
at the river
to ask him,
who are you?
What are you up to?
What are you doing here?
Verse 20,
again,
John,
the one writing this,
makes it crystal clear.
John the baptizer
did not fail
to confess
but confessed freely,
I am not
the Messiah.
That was kind of
the thoughts
rolling around
in some people's minds.
Who is this guy
out there?
Is he the Christ?
The one that we've
been waiting for,
God's promised king.
John the baptizer
made it crystal clear,
I am not.
I am not
the Messiah.
So they asked him,
who are you?
Are you Elijah?
Why did they ask him
if he was Elijah?
It's kind of a strange
question.
Those of you
who have read,
spent some time
in the Old Testament
might know that
the Israelites
have not heard
from the prophets
in a long time.
There's been no word
from them.
The last prophet
that they heard from
was the prophet Malachi.
And these
are the words
that Malachi
said
that are written
down for us,
the very last
words in his
book.
See,
I will send
the prophet Elijah
to you
before that great
and dreadful
day of the Lord
comes.
Elijah had already
walked the earth,
I think,
about 400 years
before this,
when Malachi
is saying this.
And if you remember
his story,
he didn't die,
he was taken up
in a whirlwind
amidst chariots
of fire.
But now
the prophet Malachi
400 years later
has said,
see,
I will send
the prophet Elijah
to you
before that great
and dreadful
day of the Lord
comes.
And so
the people
have some
sense of anticipation
because of this
word from the Lord
through Malachi.
Maybe this guy
out in the wilderness
is Elijah.
Just as the Lord's
word has said,
are you Elijah?
I am not,
said John.
I'm not the guy
spoken of there.
Are you the prophet?
And notice that
it's the prophet
and not a prophet.
Are you the prophet?
Who are they
referring to?
Back in Deuteronomy
chapter 18,
Moses spoke
of a coming prophet.
This is what he said.
The Lord your God
will raise up for you
a prophet like me
from among you,
from your fellow
Israelites.
You must listen
to him.
And Moses,
he writes this,
the Lord said to me,
I will raise up
for them a prophet
like you
from among their
fellow Israelites
and I will put
my words
in his mouth.
He will tell them
everything
I command him.
this was
the prophet
that they were
looking forward to
because as far as
they were concerned,
he hadn't come yet.
Are you that one?
They asked John.
No.
I'm not.
Finally,
it almost seems
that they get frustrated.
Well,
who are you?
I mean,
we've come all
the way out here.
We've got to give
some kind of an answer
to those who sent us.
So,
what do you say
for yourself?
Who would you say
that you are,
John?
And this is what
John says.
He says,
I am the voice
of one
calling
in the wilderness.
Make
straight
the way
for the Lord.
John takes
up the words
of Isaiah,
the prophet,
as if
he himself
is the one
spoken of
by Isaiah.
I am
the voice.
I'm out here
in the wilderness
and I'm calling
and my message
is this.
Make
straight
the way
for the Lord.
I get
chills
just thinking
about John
saying those
words
as he's
out there
having this
face-to-face
with them.
We can't
see this
in
our English
translations
here in
John,
but if we go
back to those
words that
John is
quoting,
we can see
it very
clearly.
It's
make
straight
the way
for
the Lord.
As in
the name
of God,
the divine
name,
the Lord,
Yahweh,
make
straight
the way
for Yahweh,
for God
himself.
Get
ready.
God
is
coming.
Make
the path
straight
for him.
he's
coming.
This is
who I
am.
I'm the
guy who
has been
sent to
announce
this,
to get
people ready
for his
coming.
Whether
this really
struck a
chord in
the hearts
of the
religious
leaders or
not,
we don't
know.
but in
verse 24
we find
out what
else was
said there.
The
Pharisees,
verse 24,
now the
Pharisees who
had been
sent
questioned
John,
why then
do you
baptize
if you
are not
the
Messiah,
nor
Elijah,
nor the
prophet?
And there's
a bit of a
sense of a
challenge here
almost in
this.
So why are
you doing
this?
Why are
you baptizing
if you're
not the
Messiah,
the prophet,
or Elijah?
If you're
none of
these big
three,
then who
are you
and what
are you
doing here?
Who gave
you authority
to be doing
this?
This is
John's answer
in verse 26.
He says,
I baptize
with water,
John replied,
but among
you stands
one you
do not
know.
He is
the one
who comes
after me,
the straps
of whose
sandals I
am not
worthy
to untie.
John's
answer
is
remarkable.
You're
asking me
what I'm
doing
baptizing.
Here I
am,
baptizing
people in
the water,
but right
now there
is one
who stands
among you,
the one
that I
have been
sent to
testify about.
You don't
know him,
you haven't
seen him
yet,
but right
now here
he stands
among you.
And this
one who
comes after
me,
I'm not
even
worthy
to bend
down before
him and
untie his
shoes.
What an
amazing
thing for
John to
say.
John knows
who he has
come to
testify about.
God,
he has
come to
tell people
to get
ready because
the Lord
is coming.
Yahweh,
God is
coming.
That's who
this one
is.
That's why
John says,
I'm not even
worthy to
bend down
and untie
his shoes.
He has a
sense already
of just
how worthy
Jesus is.
He's the
one who
was before
me.
He's,
he ranks
higher than
I.
He is so
much greater
than me.
I'm here
like a
forerunner.
I'm here
like a
guy to
get people
ready
for his
coming.
this is
how the
story of
Jesus
begins
according to
John and
we're going
to hear
more next
Sunday
about
Jesus as
he comes
on the
scene for
the first
time in
all of
this.
But as
I was
thinking about
this this
week,
the thing
that really
struck my
heart was
just that
attitude of
humility that
John the
baptizer had
that sense
of awe
that he had
about the
one who
was coming.
He hadn't
even seen
him face to
face yet.
And yet he
knew this
one,
this one is
special.
He is the
Lord.
He is
greater than
I.
I'm not
even worthy
to bend
down and
be in his
presence to
untie his
shoes to
serve him in
the most
menial of
ways.
And then to
think that
not too much
later Jesus
will come
walking along.
this is the
attitude that
John had
towards this
person who
who looked
just like
one of us
to the
eye.
And the
thing that
I felt
I just
needed to
really reflect
on is,
is that my
attitude
towards the
Lord?
This one who
is so worthy,
so great,
that I'm
not even
worthy to
serve him
in the
smallest of
ways.
For he
is the
Lord.
He is
God.
What would
our church
look like if
more of that
awe and
humility were
present in
each one of
us?
Last Sunday,
I encouraged
us to make
it our
prayer and
our longing
for this
entire year
that we
would see
more of
God's
glory,
specifically
the glory
of Jesus,
because that's
what John
said.
He said,
we have
seen his
glory.
John gives
us a glimpse
of just how
glorious this
one is,
even before
he saw
him.
And my
hope and my
prayer is that
as we go
through,
not only this
week, but
this whole
year, that
we would
come to
know Christ,
the Lord
Jesus, more
and more for
who he is,
and that as
we do, this
kind of an
awe and
humility that
John had
would be
present, would
grow in our
hearts.
And that as
it does, that
would spill over
and out into
all of our
connections with
other people,
that they
would see that
we are a
people who
truly have
awe, see
someone that
we don't see
now as
glorious.
What a
testimony to
this community
that would
be.
Let's pray.
Father in
heaven, we
do ask you
now as
we've heard
your word, we
ask that you
would work
in our
hearts this
kind of awe
and humility
that we see
in John.
He had a
right view of
you.
And Lord, we
confess so
often we come
to you
cavalierly.
We just
throw up some
prayers and
we don't
really have
that sense
of awe as
we approach,
that sense
of who
you truly
are.
You are
the one
who was
with God
and was
God in
the beginning
and through
you all
things were
made.
Fill our
hearts with
awe.
Teach us
to fear you
the way
that you
deserve
for your
glory.
We ask
this in
Christ's
name.
Amen.