Turning Our Talk to Jesus
John 1:19-34
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Feb. 15, 2009
*Do you have a testimony?
1 John 5:9-12 says:
9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.
10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
11. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
*When you believe God’s testimony about His Son Jesus Christ, He gives you a testimony! And He wants you to share it. How can we do that? How can we turn our talk to Jesus? John the Baptist shows us to keep answering 4 questions.
1. The first question for you to answer is this: Who are you?
*Vs. 19 says, This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?’’
*In vs. 20-23, John answered honestly and humbly. He spoke in a way that gave glory to God. And he told them about his God-given responsibility to speak out about the coming Messiah. John found a way to turn the conversation to Jesus.
*But what a great question we see in both vs. 19&22: “Who are you?” There are many ways you could answer that question: I am a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother, friend. I am a student, retiree, doctor, policeman, nurse, teacher, stay-at-home mom, lawyer, truck-driver, mill-worker, salesman.
*Who are you? That question goes to a whole new dimension when you put your trust in Jesus Christ.
*Who am I? In Christ I am:
-Justified (Rom 5:1)
-A child of God (Rom 8:16)
-Forgiven (Col 1:13, 14)
-Sanctified (1 Cor 6:17)
-A New Creation (2 Cor 5:17)
-More than a conqueror (Rom 8:37)
-Saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8)
-A laborer together with God (1 Cor 3:9)
-An inheritor of eternal life (1 John 5:11-12)
-Getting all my needs met by Jesus (Phil 4:19)
-Being transformed by the renewing of my mind (Rom 12:1-2)
-Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18-19)
-And much, much more!
*Who are you? Lula Day’s Mother was Mrs. Jo Bayles. She passed away in 1986. Mrs. Bayles’ health had been going down a long time. And though she had been a devoted Christian for many years, she was somewhat afraid to die. But a few days before she died, Mrs. Bayles had a dream. She was part of a great multitude in Heaven before the judgment seat of God. Jesus was on the throne.
*As she stood in the crowd, Mrs. Bayles trembled, wondering what would happen. -- Then Jesus pointed His finger at her, and said, “You are mine.” After that dream, she was never again afraid to die. What a relief! What a joy to hear Jesus say: “You are mine.”
*Mark Hall of Casting Crowns expressed this great truth in one of the best Christian songs of the last 10 years:
Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.
Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.
Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.
I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I’m calling,
Lord, you catch me when I’m falling,
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours. -- I am yours. (1)
*Christian, God wants you to keep answering this question: Who are you? Tell them who you are.
2. The 2nd testimony question for you to answer is: Why do you do the things you do?
*John the Baptist answered this question in vs. 24-27:
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?’’
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.’’
*Matt 3:11-12 records a little more of what John said:
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 purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’’
*Again John turned the conversation to Jesus: Why are you baptizing John?
-Because the Messiah, the Christ is coming!
*Why are you baptizing John?
-Because I am doing my best to serve the Lord who is infinitely better than me.
*Christian: Why do you do the things you do?
-Why are you in church today?
-Why do you study the Bible?
-Why do you try to live a good and holy life?
-Why do you try to be a good family member and friend?
-Why do you try to forgive people and treat them with kindness?
*It’s because of Jesus Christ!
-It’s because we have a personal relationship with the Lord God of the universe.
-It’s because He has saved us, and we are trying to follow Him.
*Now you may not be baptizing anybody soon, but there are a lot of things you can do for the Lord. For example, over the six weeks from March to Easter we are having a special emphasis to show the kindness of God.
*We will do small and simple acts of random kindness for people. And they will wonder why. So we will be giving them a card from our church to explain that this is our simple way of saying God loves you. Three weeks before Easter, the card will invite them to our special activities for that day. This is just one way we can begin to point people to Jesus Christ.
*But why do you do the things you do? Why do you do the good things you try to do?
*Howard Hendricks told the story of a flight he was on in the summer of 1987. It was from Boston to Dallas, and it took off 6 hours late. Tired Friday-afternoon flyers were naturally steamed about the problem. The man across the aisle from Howard growled at the flight attendant every time she walked by.
*Dr. Hendricks admired the flight attendant’s self-control and the way she handled the situation. -- So, he walked back to compliment her. He asked her name, and said he wanted to write American Airlines to express his appreciation. But she smiled and said, “I don’t work for American Airlines. I work for Jesus Christ.” (2)
*Why do you do the things you do? Christian, God wants you to keep answering this question.
3. The 3rd testimony question for you to answer is this: Who is Jesus Christ?
*We see John answering this question in vs. 28-30:
28. These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29. The 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.’”
*In vs. 30 John the Baptist is telling us that Jesus Christ is the almighty, eternal God who became a man. You see, in point of fact, John was actually about 6 months older than Jesus, but John the Baptist says, “He was before me.” John the Baptist echoes the truth that the Apostle John used to open his Gospel. Calling Jesus the Word in vs. 1, John said, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus already was!), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
*Who is Jesus Christ? He is God, God the Son, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the almighty, eternal God, who became a man. And in vs. 29, He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
*In Exodus 12, God was about to bring terrible judgment on the land of Egypt. Every first-born son would die. But the Lord provided a way to escape for everyone who would trust in Him. It was through the Passover lamb. God gave these instructions to Moses, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.”
*When King Solomon dedicated the Temple, 2 Chronicles 7:5 tells us that he offered a sacrifice of 120,000 sheep. Untold millions of lambs were sacrificed in Old Testament times, and every one of those lambs was pointing to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, -- the only lamb who could ever take away the sins of the world. Jesus had to take the punishment for our sins. That is the only way we could receive the mercy of God.
*Dennis Cocks helped us understand the cost of the cross and the love that took Jesus to the cross. Dennis said: “The fact of the matter is no one loves people the way God loves people. He loves the bin Ladens, the murderous Islamic militants, the Ted Bundys and the drug dealers.
*Let me ask you. Would you die for Osama bin Laden, Jeffery Dahlmer, or the drug dealer? -- Or better yet, would you send your child to die in their place? Imagine this for a moment, Osama bin Laden has been captured. He has been tried and sentenced to death by firing squad. Would you call the President and say, “Mr. President, I would like my child to take Osama’s place in front of the firing squad, because I love Osama.”
*I don’t think you would do that. I know I wouldn’t, but God did. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the Osama’s, the Hitlers, the Stalins, because He loves them with immeasurable love. (3)
*That love paid the price for your sins and mine! The great preacher W.A. Criswell saw this in an unusual dream he had one night. In this dream, Dr. Criswell saw the Savior. Jesus’ back was bare. And there was a soldier lifting up his hand and bringing down that awful whip on the Lord’s back.
*In this dream, Dr. Criswell got up and grabbed the soldier’s arm to hold him back. But when he did that, the soldier turned in surprise to see who held his arm, and Dr. Criswell said, “When I looked at him. -- I recognized myself.” (4)
*Dr. Criswell saw his own face! We put the stripes on Jesus’ back. We put the thorns on His brow. Jesus was crucified for our sins. But if we are willing to trust in Jesus, and receive the Risen Savior as our Lord, we can live forever in His forgiveness. The price has been paid in full! “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
*Who is Jesus Christ? God wants you to keep answering this question. 1 Timothy 2:6 tells us that Jesus “gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” Pray for ways to tell people who Jesus Christ is to you.
4. The 4th testimony question to answer is this: How did you get to where you are?
*In vs. 31-34 we see a little part of John’s answer to this question. How did you get where you are today, John?
31. “I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
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.”
*How did you get where you are Christian? Every one of our stories will agree on the basics, but the details are unique to each one of us. How did you get where you are? Like John here, we usually won’t get to tell the whole story in one setting, because there is so much we could say.
*Today I want to say something about Mary, because we were married 34 years yesterday. We are a most unlikely couple. She was a Yankee girl, very proper and studious, very mature and wise beyond her years. Somehow Mary completely missed all the goofiness of the 60’s. It was as if she went through a time warp or something. I had never met anyone quite like her.
*I on the other hand was about as foolish as can be, -- a pot-smoking hippy. The goofball quotient for Louisiana definitely went up when I crossed the state line.
*God used some problems in both of our families to help get us here. And there we were in the middle-of-nowhere Louisiana, at Grambling, the last place I ever expected to be.
*It is true that God used a miracle to get me here, but Mary was the glue He used to keep me here until I trusted in Jesus. I know God could have found another way to bring me to Jesus, but without Mary it is easy for me to see myself in an early grave and lost in hell forever.
*Then, by the grace of God, we stayed in Ouachita Parish, after we had signed contracts to teach in Shreveport. When this clueless first-year teacher got out to Woodlawn, I desperately sought out help from Georgia Savoie, because Ruth Berlin told me she was one of the best teachers in the parish. And she was. Georgia helped me a lot, but best of all, she invited us to come to church here. Bro. Savoie preached the truth about Jesus Christ, and for the first time in my life I really heard the good news about the cross.
*On top of that, Georgia asked us to be in the young adult choir. Even though I wasn’t a Christian, she asked me to be in the choir! There we met people like the Turnages, Peel’s and the Philleys. We had a blast in choir. One weekend we went on a choir retreat, and that night we sat around the fireplace while people gave their testimonies. Mary and I were the only people on the back row, because Preacher and Georgia knew I didn’t have a testimony.
*Jimmy Posey was one of the last people to speak, and he started to cry over his twin brother, Jerry, who was not saved at the time. Just then the light went on for me. I remember thinking, “This is real! What the Bible says about Jesus is true.” I realized that those people had something in their life that I did not have, and I wanted it! That night I received Jesus as my Savior and Lord.
*That’s part of my story. Christian: How did you get to where you are? God wants you to keep answering this question. When you believe God’s testimony about His Son Jesus Christ, He gives you a testimony. And He wants you to share it.
*Keep answering these four questions:
1. Who are you?
2. Why do you do the things you do?
3. Who is Jesus Christ?
4. And how did you get to where you are?
1. “Who Am I” by Mark Hall - Sung by Casting Crowns - (2003)
2. Kenneth O. Gangel in Roy B. Zuck, DEVOTIONS FOR KINDRED SPIRITS (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1990), p. 372. (Found on Sermons.com in 2003 - Search devotion)
3. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “God Is God And I Am Not” by Dennis Cocks - Rom 11:33-36
4. W. A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on Galatians (Found in The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1,501 Other Stories by Chuck Swindoll - Nelson)
