Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 15, 2010
Date Preached: March 21, 2010
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Approaching the Resurrection
Sermon Title: The Revealing of Messiah
Sermon Text: John 1:15-34
Introduction:
Ever since the fall of humanity in the Garden, humanity has sought God in many ways! Humanity’s search has led them down many pathways and into places of dark lostness.
Today in the world there are thousands of religions and religious sects that claim the truth or at least claim to be part of the truth. All of these religions except one have one thing in common… they are avenues for humanity to reach out to touch or find God… their belief is that humanity can work and do good deeds to gain God’s attention and favor!
But of all the belief systems in this world Christianity has just the opposite approach! Christianity teaches humanity is incapable of reaching God, but we proclaim Good News and it is God reaching out for humanity. God has done what is necessary to reconcile the broken relationship of His creation…
And for most people today this is a BIG problem! These people believe that we must DO something OR we must ACCOMPLISH something to earn God’s favor! However, God has said in His Word that it is just the opposite! Humanity can do NOTHING that will garner God’s favor leading to salvation! However, God has initiated and engaged humanity to reconcile with His creation, bringing forgiveness, grace and salvation!
God has been at work in this plan since before the world began, and it came to fulfillment in the life and person of Jesus Christ! Today we begin a series of sermons that reveal and reflect on Jesus! So many of us here know the story and we have heard it every year at Easter.
We have heard how Jesus came and that He chose to die for our sin and provide salvation for the lost. Jesus said on the night before He gave His life, “I am the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE and NO man comes to the Father except thru ME!”
This exclusive claim on the part of Jesus is another area that bothers a lot of people today. Many want to claim that just like there are more than one road to any location… there are more than one ways to get to God. But Jesus was very clear on this matter… Jesus claimed to be the ONLY way to God! Then we see Jesus cementing that claim by laying down His life as a ransom for the sin of this world… Jesus laid down His life for our sin, and because of that we can know forgiveness!
Many people throughout history have cringed at the thought that Jesus was crucified with thieves and have found it to be repugnant and degrading! BUT for the church, for the 2000 yrs of Christian history the cross of Calvary has ALWAYS been the central focus of our faith. Every other aspect of our faith and belief is realized only THRU what Jesus accomplished on the Cross of Calvary!
So, without the Cross of Christ, our faith would be manmade and thus be worthless! But the cross was the initiative of God… the Cross is God reaching out to humanity! Without the cross our ‘religion’ would be no different than any other false religion in the world today!
Knowing this helps us to understand Jesus in the Garden! Jesus knew that the Cross was His only path! Likewise Satan understood and tried his best to distract Jesus from that path…away from the Cross! But Jesus realized the centrality of the Cross to our redemption! He knew that without the Cross, we would be lost!
When Jesus walked here with His disciples, time and time again He mentioned how He would have to die…referencing the Cross and how critical it was to His mission! This was a constant source of confusion for the disciples to the point of being offensive to them, in fact Peter took Jesus aside one time and urged Jesus to stop saying things like that because he was NEVER going to let that happen!
We know that Jesus rebuked Peter on that occasion and that was because Jesus understood that His path and mission…Jesus understood what God required of him! As so knowing that, today we look at the beginning of His ministry that leads us directly to the foot of Calvary and ultimately will explode forth from the grave and change the world FOREVER!
John tells us in John 1:14 [ESV]
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus came on mission from God and John the Baptist knew and understood that He was to tell the world that Jesus was coming. But John did not know WHO Jesus… who the Messiah would be other than He knew He was coming! John was a witness of Christ even before Jesus began His ministry.
John’s ministry was pretty widespread and well known and his preaching was firm and strong. His message was forceful and confident, and people began to follow him and become his disciples… Many people believed that John was someone very special, and ultimately the question of the Messiah came up when John’s name was mentioned, and so there were those who wanted John to tell them… Are you the One? Are you Messiah?
Let’s look first this morning at the witness of John as it pertains to the revealing of Messiah to the world. John 1:19-28 [NLT]
1. The Witness of John: v. 19-28 [NLT]
19 This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” 20 He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,” he replied. “Are you the Prophet we are expecting?” “No.” 22 “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” 23 John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’” 24 Then the Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?” 26 John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 27 Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” 28 This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing."
There was some question about this John who was preaching in the wilderness… just who was this man calling for people to come to repentance? The religious leaders wanted to know so they sent people to find out from John… JUST who he was!
These men who came to John ask the ‘Who are you?’ question actually 3 times of John! They were asking about 3 very specific titles:
They asked him if he was Messiah, to which John says no.
They ask him if he is Elijah returned to earth… we have to remember that Elijah had been carried away on a chariot of fire from heaven and they believed he would return… John says NO to that as well…
Finally they ask if he is “The Prophet”, Now theologians really don’t know who this refers to but it is believed that they are referring to a prophet in the mold of Moses… one to lead them out of captivity! John denied this as well!
John had a commanding presence about him and John preached a forceful message AND people were drawn to him. The people who came to John were spiritually searching and were drawn to his message and these religious leaders wanted to know what John was all about…
So when John shot down all their theories about who they thought he was, they asked him, “Well then who you are? And by what authority are you doing what you are doing? We find that John was very forceful and confident in his answer to these Pharisees!
23 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." 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The answer John gave seems a bit cryptic, but it actually reveals to these men an answer that they probably did NOT want to hear! John quoted from the book of Isaiah…
John’s answer is clear to us today as we look back through the lens of the Cross and the life of Jesus, but to these religious leaders, they were somewhat confused! John’s proclamation that he was merely a mouthpiece that trumpeted the coming of one greater… seemed to throw them!
I find it sort of interesting that they did not follow up with a question of WHO John was making straight the way FOR… They did not clarify that it was certainly the Messiah that John was the messenger for… and I find this interesting. But they go home and tell the religious leaders that John is NOT what they had thought even though he was preaching repentance and baptizing in water!
The message of these verses is clear to us today. John was declaring his mission for God! His mission was to be the mouthpiece that declared to the world of the One who was coming! John was the prophet that introduced the world to Jesus, the Messiah!
Today we are called to be the witnesses of Jesus. Jesus has empowered us with His Spirit so that we can proclaim salvation to those who need it! We are called to a mission like that of John the Baptist!
2. The Witness of Jesus: v.29-31
We find that John was quick to say who he was NOT, but we can also see that John was quick to say who Jesus WAS! John understood his role and understood the importance of who Jesus was… and he made this clear to those around him.
29 The next day he [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 ranks before me, because He was before me.' 31 I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel."
John reveals to those around him and we know that this news was swiftly taken to the religious leaders… but John told everyone that Jesus had come to take away the sin of the world… a potentially blasphemous statement in the eyes of the religious leaders because only God could take away sin!
But John introduces Jesus, gives His purpose and then restates his own purpose was merely to let others know about Jesus!
I see here a parallel with our own personal walk with Christ. Today we are called to tell the world about this Jesus that we know… this Jesus who has been sent to ‘take away the sin of the world’… this Jesus of who was before us, and someone we once did not know, but now we do!
We are called to be as brazen in our proclamation as John was! Jesus is our Savior, He has come to remove the sin of the world, He has come to offer forgiveness and hope to those who are lost! Just like John the Baptist did to those in Israel that did not know who this man from Galilee was… it is our duty to proclaim Jesus to a world that does not know Him!
3. The Witness of the Holy Spirit: v.32-34
John saw Jesus for who He was, but how did he know? Well Scripture reveals to us how John knew Jesus was who he thought he was! v.32-34 share:
32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."
Here John reveals that God had revealed this to him by a sign. John reveals to us that the Holy Spirit ‘pointed’ Jesus out to those around at His baptism… basically saying “This is the guy!”… and we know that other accounts of His baptism relate that a voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased!”
God let all who were there know that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah… the Anointed One of God who is sent into the world to bring forgiveness of sin and redemption to the lost soul!
Jesus himself confirms this later in John 3:16 when He tells Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whoever believes on Him shall not die but have everlasting life!” Jesus understood His role… and John revealed it to us!
Conclusion:
What does this revelation mean to us some 2000 yrs later? How can the introduction of one man in the wilderness be so important? Well the answer to this question is this… the introduction of Jesus, although important, is not of any significance unless Jesus completed His task on the Cross of Calvary.
Because of what Jesus has done on Calvary’s Cross… we can know and experience the forgiveness of sin…
Because of what Jesus has done on Calvary’s Cross… we can know and experience eternal life in Christ…
Because of what Jesus has done on Calvary’s Cross… we can be reconciled back to God and know Him personally…
John introduced the world this man named Jesus and revealed to us that it was His mission to take away sin and bring salvation! Today you can know forgiveness in your life… today you can experience true reconciliation with God!
But preacher, you don’t know what I have done… you don’t know how bad I have lived! Well, you are right, I do NOT know what you have done, I do not know your thoughts or how you have lived your life… but Jesus does! And the Bible is very clear in its teaching on forgiveness!
John tells us in 1 John 1:9, “…if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. He will remove the sin from our lives, if we will place our faith in Him and confess our sin to Him!
I want you to look at the word ‘sin’ in 1 John 1:9… it is the Greek word ‘harmartia’ which is the willful or neglectful disobedience of God’s laws and commandments. To do wrong is to sin… to sin is to be condemned… to be condemned is to be lost and separated from God!
Here John is sharing with his audience that they need to repent of their sin… their wrong living… their wrong choices… their wrong attitudes… and seek forgiveness thru confession of that sin to God! John preached repentance and baptism for forgiveness!
Today if you have sin in your life… no matter what that sin is… God can and will forgive you!
Are you a liar? God forgives
Are you a thief? God forgives
Are you a murderer? God forgives
Are you an adulterer? God forgives
Are you a gossip? God forgives
Are you a drug user? God forgives
Are you living in a sinful lifestyle God does not approve of? God forgives!
Wherever you are in your life today, God can and will forgive you! There is NO sin too big or too small that God cannot forgive and cleanse from your life! So where are you today? Can you admit your sinfulness? Or are you like the Pharisees who simply looked to find what was wrong with John and refused to look at themselves!
We are all sinners, but some of us are forgiven! We are all sinners but God can clean us ALL up and use us for His kingdom work! Are you ready for that today? Are you ready to submit to God’s calling and His work for your life?
As Bro Steven comes I want us to all stand and sing our hymn of invitation and I challenge ALL our believers today, come and confess your sin and allow God to cleanse you!
If you are here today and do not know Christ as Savior, He is calling you now… I desires you to be a part of His family… it is His desire to forgive you but you must come to Him and confess! Are you ready to lay down your reservations about God and allow Him to lead you and guide you thru your life? If so, I ask you to step out as we begin to sing…won’t you come!
