Sermon Cloud

Scripture Reading; Isaiah 40:1-11

My text; John 1:19-34.

I have been preaching through the Gospel of John and I had hope for an opportunity to preach this massage in a church context. Just as I had thought about that, Pastor Gary called me and asked me to fill the pulpit for him today.

Some precursors to our text:

John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

• I believe that most of you are familiar with the prologue of John's Gospel;

• Reiterate John 1:1-5

• God the Creator and Life Giver, Jesus, Sent a man to bear witness to Himself, because of His grace, that people might come to know Him through that man.

• This man was “SENT” by Him to whom we were introduced in those first five verses.

• The Greek word for sent here is the word απεσταλμενος which we often see in the noun form translated “Apostle” which means, one who is sent, often of an envoy with a special commission.

John 1:15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

• And so John began to testify as to what he knew about Christ.

• Here John points to His eternity.

• He was the first to do so and was literally created and commissioned for that unique purpose.

So, What else did John have to say about Jesus?

John 1:19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

And he answered, “No.”

²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

²³ He said: “I am

‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’

as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. ²⁵ And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ²⁸ These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

• The first thing that I would like to mention is that John the Baptist's ministry is going on in a small town area about 30 miles from Jerusalem and yet word had reached the religious leaders and they had sent their own envoys to investigate.

• 30 miles doesn't seem like much to us, but it seems a lot longer when you have walk it or ride a donkey.

• The religious leaders of John's day were intrigued by his ministry and had some very specific questions for him as they came to investigate him.

• Are you the Christ?

• They were looking for the Messiah

• Are you Elijah?

• Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

• Are you the Prophet?

• Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,

• Then Who are you?

• The problem was that they came with false and preconceived notions of who John might be....

• Looking for the Christ, as a baptizing prophet was comfortable enough for them.

• Even the second coming of Elijah was not too much for their minds to get around.

• And so John quotes another passage, this time from the Prophet Isaiah,

• Isaiah 40:3 “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,”

• Isaiah 40:9 ends with these words, “Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!””

• John said, I am the one sent to show you the Messiah, who is your God!

• But the leaders from Jerusalem missed it!

• Then they asked the question,“Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” Essentially, “Who do you think you are??”

• Jesus proves later that they were unwilling to accept these things. Matthew 21:23 Now as He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?" 24 But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John--where was it from? From heaven or from men?" And they were arguing among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' :26 "But if we should say, 'From men,' we fear the crowd, for all consider John as a prophet." 27 So they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know." And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

• Their doctrine seems to have been dictated by public opinion. This is not a good thing!

John 1:26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. ²⁷ It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

• John the great prophet with the great ministry that is gaining great recognition and being challenged by the religious leaders of his day says, “Why are you asking about me?” “I am nothing, just wait until you meet the man to whom I will introduce you!”

• Here is a great example of a godly preacher.

• Giving him credit is like giving credit to Rachel's violin and not to Rachel.

• John said, “Don't look at me, look at the one to whom I am directing you!”

John 1:29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ³¹ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” [This is the whole reason that I am here!]

³² And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

• The only reason for John's ministry was that he knew one day that the Lord would show up and require his services.

• Then he cold announce Him to the world.

There are two things that I draw from this narrative that may have application in our lives.

1. For those of us who know the Jesus, the Word of God, the Creator and Life Giver, the Light of men who became flesh, we see that as John was sent to bear witness he is a good example to us.

• First of all, he was not afraid to preach Christ in the face of opposition.

• He was not afraid to preach righteousness!

• Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ⁹“and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰“And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²“His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

• Mark 6 beheaded by Herod for it.

• His ministry was not focused on himself, but on Christ.

• Listen to his response later in John's Gospel as he answers some men who are concerned for his ministry, John 3:26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”

²⁷ John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease. ³¹ He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. ³³ He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. ³⁴ For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. ³⁶ He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

• John proclaims;

• My ministry is about Him and not me! John 3:27-29

• He also proclaims Jesus'

• Deity, John 3:31

• The Authority of His Teaching John 3:32-34

• Eternal life through faith in Him John 3:36

• Even the wrath of God on unbelief. John 3:36

• John's Priority was PROCLAMATION

• We need to know who has sent us and when we do we will proclaim His message!

• I Googled the word proclamation and guess what, There was 1 hit!

• I searched Tolerance and got 49,900,000 hits

• I searched Diversity and 82,100,000 hits

• It seems that proclamation is not popular!

• But 1 Corinthians 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching or proclaiming to save those who believe.

2. For those who only know Jesus as a man from antiquity, a good teacher, a prophet. We see that our presuppositions can lead us astray.

• We saw in John 3:28 that John said, You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’

• John says I already told you I am not the Messiah back in Chapter 1 and verse 20 “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.'”

• Who do you want Jesus to Be?

• Less than God?

• JW Story? “We're Christians!

• Less than the Savior who saves by grace alone through faith alone?

• Mormons God saves by grace after we have done all that we can do.

• Catholics, God saves by grace and belonging to the right church and availing ourselves of the sacrements.

• That is not who the Apostle John nor John the Baptist testify to.

• Jesus said Himself in John 5:31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. ³² There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. ³³ You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

• Listen to His testimony!

• John 5:35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

• Do you just want to feel good for having heard the preacher?

• Are you basking in the heavenly light of God's Word only to deny its most important truths when it comes down to it?

• Or are you ready to receive the Truth that John is testifying to you about today?

And so which of these applications applies to you?,

• If you now Christ, look to John's Example as a faithful witness and follow it.

• Know who sent you and proclaim His message!

• 2Corinthians 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we beg you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

•  

• If you do not know Christ, heed that witness today and trust in the Son of God as John the Baptist proclaimed it.

• In His Deity, John 3:31

• John 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins."

• The authority of His Teaching John 3:32-34

• John 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I speak, as the Father has said to Me, thus I speak."

• In eternal life through faith in Him John 3:36

• John 3:16

• Even in the wrath of God on unbelief. John 3:36

• John 1:29b “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Matthew 11:7-15

⁷As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸“But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. ⁹“But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰“For this is he of whom it is written:

‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,

Who will prepare Your way before You.’

¹¹“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. ¹³“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. ¹⁴“And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. ¹⁵“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!