I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning
to John chapter 1, and you follow as I read a portion of the passage that we're going to study together.
John chapter 1, picking up in verse 19.
And this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
Who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I'm not. Are you the prophet? And he answered,
No. And Seth said to him, Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.
Holy Father, we are humbled to stop and consider that we, mere created beings,
have been given the blessing and the joy of knowing you as our God and our Savior,
of having communion with you through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that you and your loving kindness have revealed yourself to us through your word.
And it is your express intention this morning that we who are your children would be blessed
by your word, by the enabling of the Spirit of God.
And Father, it is our prayer that this morning your word would have free course.
There are some of us here this morning that are snared deeply by sin
and desperately need the work of the Spirit to relieve.
Some caught in bitterness.
Some in unforgiveness.
Some in secret sins that only you know about, Lord,
but those who are your children
have not received the blessing of salvation to be in bondage ever again.
There are some here that desperately need to know Christ as their Savior.
And so, as the word is taught,
we who are your children will labor in prayer
that your word would produce fruit first in our own lives
and in the lives of others that you care about so deeply.
And it is our desire that the Lord Jesus Christ would be honored
this morning here
among us
as He is in heaven.
We ask this in your precious name. Amen.
Well, we are finished with the prologue.
Prologue means kind of the introduction.
And the characteristic of John,
it's a little different from some of the other books
that you will find in the Scriptures,
in that John's prologue does something that's atypical.
It lays out for us in the first 18 verses
everything that you're going to find
in the remainder of the book of John.
It gives us, in just little snippets,
all the pieces that later on are going to be expanded
and fleshed out so you can understand them more completely.
I think many of you can remember
when you were in either in high school or whatever,
in college,
and in the first day or two of your class,
the professor or the teacher would come in
and in broad terms kind of tell you,
well, here's what I'm going to teach you
and also talk about,
and here's what I expect from you.
And good students generally pay quite a bit of attention
at the very beginning
because it fleshes out.
You know up front what's coming.
John has finished his introduction.
And actually, as we look at this passage,
we are going to take verse 19 through 28 this morning
and look at this little statement about John the Baptist,
and we understand that really what we're looking at
in one sense is an expansion
of what we found over in verse 7.
Take a minute.
Put your finger on verse 7.
It says, speaking about John the Baptist,
he came as a witness to bear witness about the light
that all might believe through him.
And again, in verse 15, it says,
John bore witness about him and cried out,
this was he of whom I said,
he who comes after me ranks before me
because he was before me.
And so we know, as I pointed out earlier,
that John's introduction kind of gives us all the details,
and then we're going to expand them.
We're going to see them in greater depth
in the weeks and months to come.
And so as we look at this first part,
we're going to find in the verses that we look at today,
John the Apostle is going to explain
John the Baptist, the witness.
And as we get started on this,
one of the things that I want you to know
from the very, very beginning
is what the application is.
Now let me explain what application is.
Obvious, I would think.
But there are two different parts to a sermon in some ways.
There's the exposition,
that means explaining what the text has to say.
And then there is the application.
If you were following or reading one of the Puritans,
you would probably notice that in Puritan preaching,
and I'm not a Puritan, I'm far removed from that
in terms of age, et cetera,
but in Puritan preaching,
there was probably about one-third
that had to do with the exposition of the text.
Here's what God says.
And then there's probably two-thirds of it
that had to do with use.
That's the way they referred to it.
So how do we use this?
What is its application in our lives?
And so I'm going to tell you up front
what the application is.
This morning, as we study the passage of Scripture,
what I want to have happen in your life
is not just understand the historical details
of John the Baptist as the witness.
I want you to be sitting there thinking to yourself,
so how does this fit me?
What should I do if I am going to be faithful
to the calling and appointment that I have received,
very similar to John the Baptist's?
And so as we think about this,
let me begin by making this point
and having it stick in your mind.
We are all witnesses.
Get that clear.
We are all witnesses.
Now, some of you are sitting out there
thinking to yourself,
well, that's not my nature or my temperament.
I'm one of those kind of reserved, cautious persons
who really, if you drop me in the middle
of a large room filled with people,
I would be the person who would naturally gravitate
towards the very distant wall
and pin myself up against there
and just try being quiet.
Now, there are others who, guess what?
You put them on the wall
and guess what they naturally do?
They move towards the center
and they end up,
they know all different kinds of details
about who and what and how and when and where.
The fact of the matter is
is that we are all witnesses.
And as we read what we are going to look at
here in John chapter one,
I think it's very, very important
that we don't get caught up in the historicity
or the historical details of what John did
and miss the fact that
what we are going to discover here
has application in our own lives.
I want you to understand this
and make it clear in your own heart.
Every genuine believer is a witness.
And I could probably get off
on a little side tangent here
and remind myself of the parable.
Remember, Jesus told the parable
about the talents.
One man received five.
One man received three.
One man received one.
And the one who received one,
what did he do?
He just kind of hit it in the ground.
He didn't do anything with it.
I don't want to go off on a sidebar there,
but I do want to encourage you to recognize
all of us have received all that we need
to be effective in the appointment
that God has given to us.
And so keep it in your mind,
every believer,
I,
you,
we are all witnesses
if we are a genuine believer.
In relationship to that,
it follows,
and it's intelligent,
that you should be sitting out there
saying,
oh yeah,
well can you prove that?
Well,
have just a second
and let's take a look
at a couple different passages
in relationship to that.
You're in John,
and so we're going to play forward
a little bit,
but turn in your Bible
to John chapter 15,
verse 16.
Jesus is speaking,
and he makes this statement.
He says,
you did not choose me,
but I chose you
and appointed you
that you should go
and bear fruit
and that your fruit
should abide.
He says,
I chose you.
I called you.
I put my hand on you.
The reason that I am
a believer
and that you are a believer
is not because we kind of
in the midst of a moment
of intellectual apprehension
to,
Jesus is a good idea,
I'll give it a shot.
No.
He and his grace called us,
and we,
by his grace,
came to know
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me have you look
at another passage
that I think is just
an absolute,
very, very pointed statement
in relationship to this.
Turn your Bible
to John 17,
verse 18.
John 17,
verse 18.
It says this,
as you,
remember we're dealing
with the question,
every genuine believer
is a witness.
It's not my personality.
Stop.
Every genuine believer
is a witness.
As you have sent me
into the world,
so I have sent them
into the world.
In my Bible,
I put a little note
for myself
to remind me
of the significance
of this verse,
and that little word,
as.
You don't need to know
all the Greek on it,
but here's what it is saying.
That word, as,
is making this statement
in the same manner
that God the Father
sent Jesus into the world,
I have been sent
to do the same thing
and to accomplish
the same purpose.
I am sent
like Jesus was sent.
And so I want you
to keep that in mind
as you think about that
this morning,
and we come to grips
with the fact
that as we look
at John the Baptist,
it says there
in John chapter 1,
verse 19,
and this is the testimony
of John
when the Jews
sent priests
and Levites
from Jerusalem
to ask him,
who are you?
It is evident
that what he had been doing
is witnessing.
I want you to recognize
I had an interesting
conversation not too long ago
with an individual
who was,
we were discussing
the matter of
the evangelical church today
being involved
in witnessing.
And as a broad term,
we'd have to say
that there are
far more people
that profess
to be evangelical,
to be orthodox
in their thinking,
to care a lot
about Jesus,
but the truth
of the matter
is that it has been
weeks,
it's been months,
it's been years
since they really
have shared their faith
about the Lord Jesus Christ
with anybody.
And we were having
a conversation
and the issue came up,
why is it that
more people don't share
about Jesus?
Do you know what
one of the natural
and normal answers is?
Is they lack information.
Did you hear that?
And one of the things
that goes along with that
is so that many,
many churches
are involved
in regular instruction
in how to share
the gospel.
And that's important.
But are you tracking me?
I don't think the problem
is the lack of information.
And the reason
I would say that
is let me give you
a couple examples of it.
Remember the woman
at the well?
Remember that?
John chapter 4,
there's the Samaritan woman
and she's at the well
and Jesus comes to her
and he says,
give me a drink of water
and she says,
blah, blah, blah, blah,
you know,
and all that ends up,
she is convicted
of her sin
and once she's convicted
of her sin,
she then takes
a basic course in EE
before she goes into town.
Is that what happened?
She scampers into town
and she says,
come meet the man.
And everybody shows up
to hear,
what is this?
Let me give you another one.
I like this one too.
You remember the man
who was born blind?
You remember that story?
And there is the Sanhedrin,
all the Jews are kind of,
tell us about this man
and he cuts down to the chase.
He says,
you know,
who he is,
I don't know
but I will tell you what,
I was blind
and now I see.
You got that?
The best one.
A low,
trained,
evangelistic,
impact person.
And I think you ought
to look at it
because it's a good one.
Luke chapter 8,
verse 39.
Luke chapter 8.
Here's my argument.
You don't need more information.
You need something
to happen to your heart.
Luke chapter 7
is all about the demoniac.
Do you follow that?
The demoniac
is the one
who Jesus delivered
from all those demons
and after,
I love it,
when the townspeople
come out
to find out
what had happened
to their pigs
and they found
the demoniac
sitting clothed
and in his right mind.
It's one of my favorite
little lines in the Bible.
Clothed and in your right mind.
You know,
it's like,
ah,
this guy had been
radically transformed
by the power of Christ.
And there he is
sitting,
clothed and in his right mind
and the neighbors
all show up
and say,
Jesus,
would you please leave?
I mean,
they were scared to death
at the power
of Christ
to transform lives.
They said,
would you leave,
please?
And Jesus does.
But then the man says,
hey,
can I come with you?
Can I come with you?
Does anybody remember
what Jesus said to him?
Verse 39,
no,
no.
Why don't you go into town
and tell him
what great things
I've done for you?
How many weeks
of evangelistic training
do you think he had
before he scampered
on back to town
where he had been
an absolute,
disgusting,
revolting individual
and he begins
talking about
Jesus
who could change life?
Everybody smile at me.
so you know
I'm talking to you.
Everybody look.
The thing that brings
deficiency
to witnessing
is not a lack
of information.
It is a lack
of confidence
in the transforming
power of Christ
that can take us
from being
the miserable,
unhappy,
unforgiving,
just miserable people
and we can turn
our lives inside out
and we can say
to other people,
come see the man
who did this to me.
Do you follow that?
Hey,
you're not going to witness
when you're all
scuzzed up about
who you are
or who other people are,
you know,
but when you get
locked up on who Jesus is,
guess what happens?
naturally.
You don't need
more education.
You need to have
a fresh touch
of who Jesus is.
Amen?
Amen.
Most of our failures
to witness
for Christ
can really be
tracked back
to where our hearts are.
You know what?
people
always
witness.
The sad thing is
a lot of their witnesses
are about
themselves,
their own
interests,
their own
affections,
their own
petty issues,
and not about
Jesus.
And as we study
the scriptures
this morning,
what my
prayer has been
is that we
who know Christ
would get rid
of some of this
stupidity
about ourselves
and we would be
locked in
to the glory
and the supremacy
of Christ
and he
would dominate,
dominate
our affections
because when
he dominates
our affections,
he will
control
our
conversations.
Well,
let's learn
about John.
And as we
learn about John,
let's learn
about witnessing.
In principle,
what we're going
to find
in verses
19
on down
through
to verse
24
is that
a witness
is not
self-focused.
A witness
is not
self-focused.
We find
there in
John
1.19
that
after John
began his
public ministry,
he really
did rattle
the cages
in Jerusalem
and the
Sanhedrin.
Now,
the Sanhedrin
were the
70 men
that were
kind of
responsible
for the
leadership
and the
decision-making
in the
nation of
Israel
and when
they heard
that John
the Baptist
was preaching,
after a period
of time,
he really
began to
have an
impact
and so
they sent
a delegation
down to
kind of
do a little
bit of
study.
Who are
you?
That was
their first
question.
Who are
you?
It's
implied
that they
thought he
might be
the Christ,
but there
in verse
19,
and this
is a
testimony
of John
when the
Jews sent
priests
and Levites
from
Jerusalem
to ask
him,
who are
you?
This is
a formal
delegation,
do you
follow that?
on a
fact-finding
mission.
Here's
John the
Baptist
preaching
without
official
recognition,
and so
they send
an official
delegation
and they
say,
hey,
who are
you?
Now let me
have you
think with
me just a
little bit
about the
significance
of John
the Baptist
and his
ministry.
Understand
that for
400 years,
the nation
of Israel
had heard
no preaching
prophet.
That's
pretty
significant.
When
Malachi
finished
his
revelation,
the nation
of Israel
did not
enjoy
another
preaching
prophet
for 400
years.
That is
very
significant
to a
people
who had
one after
another
received
a prophet
who would
come.
Now by
the way,
I want
you to
understand
that every
time a
prophet
showed up,
the people
weren't
going,
woohoo,
we need
this message.
That's not
the way it
usually went,
but they
still respected
the fact God
was communicating
to them.
400 years
of silence.
And then
out of the
wilderness
comes this
guy,
not endorsed
by the priests
in Jerusalem.
He didn't
have any
neatly printed
brochures
that explained
how wonderful
his ministry
was.
He didn't
even dress
sharply.
Do you
understand
that?
He came
out in
camel's hair.
Now that
was the
blue jeans
of the
day.
Do you
follow that?
I'm not
doing blue
jeans this
morning,
but do
understand
this.
I mean,
the thing I
want you to
remember about
a man who
stands behind
the pulpit
is not what
tie he wears,
but whether
or not he
speaks with
the authority
of the
word of
God and
the power
of the
spirit.
And here
was John
the Baptist
who walked
out, and
what were the
scribes and
Pharisees all
about?
Do you
remember how
they dressed?
Oh, they
were, I
mean, hey, you
could see a
scribe and
Pharisee and
kind of know
about their
holiness by the
way they
dressed.
You know,
they were
really, they
were into
style, and
you know, oh,
you've got the
big robe, and
you've got the
blue, and
you've got the
bells, and you
are really
hot, you
know, and
here is John
the Baptist
kind of strides
out there, blue
jeans and
dungarees, and
he's saying, hey,
you guys need to
buck up because
Jesus is coming.
Well, I want
you to understand
something.
When this
spirit-enabled
preacher, John
the Baptist,
strode in
down to the
wilderness, he
blew the doors
off the shallow
religion of the
day.
Turn back, if
you will, just
for a moment to
Luke chapter, well,
you've got to
turn back, that's
right, go back.
Luke chapter 1,
verse 15 through
17.
Do not miss
the fact that
John the Baptist's
ministry was one
that was
characterized by
the work of the
spirit of God.
Luke chapter 1,
verse 15 through
17.
Here is the
Holy Spirit
speaking to
Zechariah
regarding his
son.
He says,
for he will be
great before the
Lord, and he
must not drink
wine or strong
drink, and he
will be filled
with the Holy
Spirit even from
his mother's
womb, and he
will turn many of
the children of
Israel to the
Lord their God.
And he will go
before him in the
spirit and the
power of Elijah.
And so what you
understand is that
here is someone
who came onto
the scene in
Jerusalem and in
the nation of
Israel.
And by the way,
listen to me
carefully.
John the Baptist
never did a
single miracle.
Israel.
Hmm?
And yet, he
turned the nation
upside down.
Do you know how he
did that?
By preaching in the
power of the Spirit
of God that brought
conviction to the
hearts of broken-hearted,
miserable sinners.
sinners.
I want you to
understand something
about John.
He was not caught
up in self.
Verse 19, who are
you?
The fact that they
had to ask him
sequential questions
indicates that he
didn't launch into,
well, let me give you
my business card, and
here are all the
details about who I
am and how important
I am.
Do you follow that?
They had to keep on
prodding, who are
you?
Look at the
questions.
Verse 20, he
confessed and did
not deny, but
confessed, I'm not
the Christ.
I mean, that was a
logical question that
they were asking.
Here, after having
had all this insipid,
worthless preaching
that was
characterized, or
characterized the
preaching of the
scribes and
Pharisees.
If you ever want to
have a little
interesting discussion
on what
Pharisaical preaching
was like, just read
Alfred Edersheim,
Life and Times of
Jesus Messiah.
I mean, hey,
trying to think, who
was the crystal
cathedral?
I mean, not who
was, who preached in
the crystal, let's
try this.
If you want to know
what the ancient
Pharisees preached
like, you can try
Joel Osteen.
Okay?
I mean, it was all
about feeling good
about yourself and
all about, you know,
well, you've got to
do the right kind of
things, and you've
got to be, but you
know what?
God's all for you.
And here is John
the Baptist came
thundering out,
clothed in blue
jeans, and he says,
hey, you guys are in
trouble.
Paul.
And John was
asked, are you the
Christ?
No?
Well, okay, are you
Elijah?
And the reason they
were asking him that
is because if you
return your Bible, you
don't need to this
morning, but in
Malachi chapter 4,
verse 7, the last
thing that Malachi had
to say is that before
the great and terrible
day of the Lord,
Elijah's going to
come, and what he's
going to do is his
preaching is going to
turn the hearts of
fathers back towards
their children and the
hearts of children back
towards their fathers.
Stop.
Do you know what
that's saying?
Everybody smile.
It's saying that
genuine conviction
touches on the
closest relationships
we have.
Huh?
Everybody said,
yeah, that's right.
If God is really at
work in your heart,
those who are
closest know.
You can be really
sweet in the lobby,
but your kids know if
you're a skunk at
home.
And here is what
Malachi said.
He said,
when revival
comes under the
ministry of the
prophet Elijah,
it's going to get
a hold of those
close relationships.
A revival that does
not reconcile
the closest of
relationships really
has no spiritual
zing.
People that are
persistently
bristly,
that are upset
with one another
spiritually,
are really not in
tune at all.
I want you to turn
just for a moment.
Let's kind of go on
a sidebar here for a
second.
Just go over to
James chapter 3,
verse 14 through 18.
Here's what I want
you to do.
Everybody look at me,
brother.
Underline this and
show it to your
wife.
Do you follow that?
Now, what does that
really mean?
It means take it
personally, don't apply
it to somebody else.
Let me read it to
you.
But if you have
bitter jealousy and
selfish ambition in
your hearts, do not
boast and be false
about the truth.
I'm not there, is
what this is saying.
This is not the
wisdom that comes
from above, but is
earthly, unspiritual.
Now, nail the next
one.
Demoniacal.
Well, I'm having a
little bit of an
attitude, but you
know what?
It's well-deserved
because the people I
deal with are just
absolutely fruit
cakes.
No.
This is a problem
you have.
Well, let's keep
going.
For where jealousy
and selfish ambition
exist, there will be
disorder and every
evil practice.
For the wisdom
from above is
first pure, then
peaceable, gentle,
open to reason, full
of mercy and good
fruits, impartial and
sincere.
And the harvest of
righteousness is
sown in peace by
those who make
peace.
people came to
John and said, Who
are you?
I'm not the
Christ.
I'm not Elijah.
Well, are you the
prophet?
Incidentally, and because of time, we're not going to get there,
but that question, the prophet, is really a reference to Christ.
In Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15 through 18,
there Moses speaks of the fact that the day would come
when there would be the prophet who would arrive.
You're listening to him.
What it's saying is that God would send his son
who would be the complete and full revelation of the truth.
They didn't connect the messianic role and office of Christ into that,
but they said, are you the prophet?
No, I'm not.
I love what John has to say about himself, though.
Look, if you would, there at John chapter 1, verse 22.
So they said to him, who are you?
We do need to give an answer.
I mean, you know, we were sent as a delegation,
and we've got to give some kind of answer to people
when we show back up in the office.
Who are you?
I'm nobody.
I'm just the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
make straight the way of the Lord.
So let me ask you a question.
How faithful are you at being the witness
you've been divinely appointed to be?
Hmm?
How faithful are you?
Well, let's come to a second characteristic
and try to wrap this up.
First is a faithful witness is not self-focused.
All about Jesus.
Second, a faithful witness really is convicting.
Convicting.
And we understand that because immediately after him saying,
well, I'm nobody special,
then what we find there in verse 25,
they say, well, then why are you baptizing?
Well, what are you doing baptizing people
if you're not anybody special?
At the heart of the question that was being asked to John
was, okay, if you're not special,
why are you calling people to repentance
and working as you are to indict people of sin?
I want you to understand here,
if you have friends that are into sprinkling
or whatever else as a mode of baptism,
I do want you to understand that underlying this question
that was being asked in John
is a very clear indication that baptism
in the Jewish culture in which John stepped
was one of immersion.
The word baptism, actually baptizo,
in the Greek means to immerse.
How many of you know
that the Jews baptize all the time?
Raise your hands if you know that the Jews,
Joe Holloway, we have one who knows
that Jews baptize all the time.
And I went online Friday
and I checked out where I could have
a Jewish baptism here in town.
It's called a mikvah.
And mikvahs are, in fact, you can,
go ahead, you can Google it when you get home.
Jewish baptism.
Where can I be baptized here in town?
And there's a website.
There's an email address.
And there's a scheduling system
where I can schedule to have a mikvah.
That, and the word,
it's talking about entire immersion.
Immersion.
Do you know what immersion means?
All wet.
100%.
In fact, as a pastor,
you know, when I'm involved in baptism,
I want to be sure that they're down.
Okay.
All wet.
It was a regular part of ancient Judaism.
baptism.
And it was part of,
A, any Gentile who wanted to become
a Jewish convert had to be,
one, if he was male, circumcised.
Two, baptized.
Three, sacrifice.
Okay.
And so baptism was just woven in
to part of becoming a believer,
a Jewish convert.
But there were other kinds of baptisms
that took place
that had to do in particular
with a desire of purifying your heart
from just all the nasty scuzzies
of the sinfulness of life.
Do you follow that?
And so periodically,
you know,
good,
sincere Jews
would go get mikvahed.
And here was John the Baptist.
He had no endorsement.
Well, right,
do you have to baptize people?
Were you,
were you a graduate of,
you know,
Jerusalem Academy
and baptismal skills?
No.
I never took any of those classes.
Have you been endorsed by the Senate?
No.
I haven't had that either.
Why are you baptizing?
On top of that,
if there was anybody in Israel
that should have been involved
in convicting people of sin,
it should have been the,
guess what?
The professional religious people, right?
Scribes, Pharisees,
the Levites,
the priests,
you guys are having a problem with sin.
It's time to take care of it.
And nobody was doing that in Israel.
And along comes John the Baptist
and he rings the bell
and he says,
you guys are just a pack of sinners
and the king is coming
and when he shows up,
you guys are in a heap of trouble.
And actually,
there were people
that believed his preaching.
You got that?
They started flocking
to where they could be baptized
for repentance.
Over Mark chapter 1 verse 4,
we see this reference
to the fact that baptism
had to do with repentance.
And so here come these people
from Jerusalem,
from the Sanhedrin saying,
all right,
you need to understand this.
So you're not the Messiah.
No, no, no.
You're not.
And you're not Elijah.
And you're not the prophet.
Well, why are you convicted?
I mean,
what right do you have
to convict people
of being sinners?
And by the way,
do you know what sin kind of was
in the Jewish culture of the day?
It was dragging a chair
on the Sabbath.
Those really important things, right?
Remember what Jesus said?
You guys tithe on the mint
and the anise
and you have completely collected
the more weighty matters
of the law.
And so they come stomping out
to John the Baptist
and say,
well, what are you doing?
Well, quite evidently,
what was at work
is as John the Baptist
was preaching,
the Spirit was at work
convicting many
of their sinful hearts
and the judgment
that they had
to face under God.
The fact that people
came to be baptized
indicates that John's preaching
identified sin
and called people
to repent of it.
If you have any question
about that,
you can turn in your Bible
for your own study
and Liberty,
go to Luke chapter 3
and remember
when John the Baptist
is preaching
and he doesn't say,
well, I am so glad
all of you showed up here today
to listen to my little talk
about how you ought
to feel better for yourself.
Remember what he says?
How many remember that?
He just blasted them.
He says,
you know,
the axe is laid
to the root of the tree.
You know,
what are you doing,
you snakes in the grass
kind of thing?
He says,
bring forth fruit
worthy of repentance.
And then the soldiers said,
well, what should we do?
And the others said,
well, what should we do?
And he laid out
what genuine repentance
looked like.
I do want you to understand
that not everybody
who heard John preach
believed John
or was baptized.
How do I know that?
Track with me.
This is important.
Matthew chapter 21,
verse 25.
Jesus,
he has now finished
cleaning the temple.
Remember cleaning the temple?
One man
walking in,
just kind of imagine this,
walking into the White House
and turning it upside down.
That takes some kind of power.
And all they could do
is come up to him.
Well,
what right do you have
to do this?
I mean,
that's what they were asking him.
He says,
well, hey,
I got a question for you.
What is it?
Well,
hmm,
yeah,
here it is,
here it is.
It was John the Baptist
baptism from man
or from heaven?
And they're sitting there
thinking,
well,
if we say it was from man,
we're going to get stoned
because a lot of the people
around us think that
John really was
a messenger from God,
so we don't want to see that.
Well,
but if we say
it was from heaven,
then Jesus is going to say,
and then why weren't you
repentant and baptized?
Do you follow that?
Had him on the hook.
It's quite evident
that the Pharisees,
the scribes,
the Levites,
the priests,
these guys didn't buy in at all
to what John was selling.
You see,
in their idea,
their religion
really consisted
of superficial things,
of showing up
and doing up
and whatever else,
but it really didn't have to do
with anything but the heart.
John the Baptist
came along and said,
hey, listen,
the King of Kings is coming,
and it's time
for you to repent.
Now,
I want to explain
something about
John the Baptist's
baptism,
just for a moment.
John the Baptist's
baptism
was not a baptism
to salvation.
It was a baptism
that was,
in some sense,
a public recognition
of the lostness
of their condition
and their desperate
recognition
of their state.
Broad terms.
John the Baptist,
when he was explaining
this matter,
he says,
hey, listen,
I baptize you
with water,
but there is one
coming after me
that will baptize you
with the Spirit.
Oh,
I like that.
Do you know why?
Because,
not by might,
nor by spirit,
nor by power,
but by my spirit,
saith the Lord.
One of the things
that Scripture makes clear
is that there's nothing
I can do
to the outside of me
or even to,
well,
let's think five positive
thoughts in a row,
and maybe I'll be spiritual.
You know,
it doesn't work.
It has to be the Spirit
of God that transforms
our life through the power
of the cross.
Isn't that right?
And here is John saying,
there's someone
coming after me
that is going to make
all the difference
in the world.
He is the only one
who can save you
from the desperation
of your sin.
Let me come back.
As John came out
of the wilderness,
his message was not
about himself.
His message was convicting.
And he summarized it
by saying this
as we find there
in verse 23,
make straight
the way
of the Lord.
Being a faithful witness,
I don't want you
to miss this.
Being a faithful witness
takes living the truth
and then saying the truth.
I want you to write
that down somewhere.
Because you know what?
My prayer this last
couple weeks
has been this.
I have had the privilege
of being away
for vacation
and I got to tell you,
I come back
and I look on your faces
and you are people
that I love,
I care about.
And I want you
to know the fullness
of joy that comes
with being
all that God
has called you to be.
Do you understand that?
And you can't be that
when you're consumed
with yourself.
You can't be.
To be in a spitting match
with God
is just profoundly stupid,
right?
And He is bent
on helping you
grow to be faithful
as a witness
to His glory.
It takes living the truth
and then saying the truth.
So let me put this together
in closing.
There are some of you
here today
that do not know Christ.
And John the Baptist's message
from 2,000 years ago
is applicable.
Make straight
the way of the Lord.
The day is coming
when the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the Savior
of the world
will also be
the judge of the world
and He is going
to call you
to a task
and to accounting
and if you are standing
there before Him
and you are not clothed
in His righteousness
and you are not clothed
in His finished work
on the cross
and you hope
to lift up to Him
the miserable pittance
that your life is,
you will not endure.
And one of the purposes
of preaching
is to bring you
who are here today
that desperately need
the Lord Jesus Christ
to the point
of confessing,
I am a sinner
who stands justly condemned
before a holy God
and I need His help.
And there's some of you
here today
that know Christ.
And truthfully,
you're a heartbeat away
from being in His presence.
Do you understand that?
We're all a heartbeat away.
But you are living a life
that is distant
to that divine
and holy purpose
for which He redeemed you.
How do I know that?
I've been there.
I don't want to ever
be there again.
I've called you,
He says,
to be my witness.
You cannot be bent
on yourself
and bent on Jesus too.
And if you are going to
see His glory
in your life,
it will take
humility
and repentance
and a pleading with Him
to change the way
you think.
Let's close in prayer.
Father God,
this morning,
I am mindful
that the purpose
of preaching
is to bring
Your glorious people
to the place
of saying yes or no
to the Holy Spirit.
You've called us
to be witnesses.
We do not want
to play
with so awesome,
so majestic
an appointment.
We're frail,
easily distracted,
often discouraged.
And yet,
we have been given
the gift
of salvation
and the enabling
of the Spirit of God.
So help us
in our divine call.
We ask this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.