May I Introduce You to Jesus?
John 1:14-34
I would like to share with you one of the big mistakes that I made after we first got married. Gerlie and I were visiting a church. I knew the pastor. After the service I went up and talked with the pastor. We had a good conversation and then we left. Did you catch the big mistake that I made?
When we got to the car, Gerlie was silent. She finally said, “What, are you embarrassed about me?” I still didn’t get it. After some more back and forth, she told me my big mistake. I had not introduced her to my friend. I thought that it was obvious that she was my wife. But….
I don’t want to make the same mistake today when it comes to Jesus.
With the help of two Johns, John the Apostle and John the Baptist, I would like to introduce Jesus to you. And so this sermon is titled, May I Introduce You to Jesus?
1. An Apostle Looks Back at Jesus' Magnificence
John 1:14 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 (generosity) and truth.
This is John the Apostle speaking. He wrote this book, the book of John. He wrote these words. He says, “We have seen....” We have seen. John is looking back and telling what he and those with him saw. The point could be made that they did not realize these things while they were with Jesus. They were too hung up with themselves and with their struggles. At the time, they actually missed who Jesus was. But looking back they saw it.
What did they see? What does it say here? Jesus' glory, His magnificence. What kind of magnificence? The magnificence of someone who was the only born Son of God (that’s what the Greek says here for one and only, the only born, the only born Son of God), someone who had come from God, someone who was full of generosity and truth. What did this “being full of generosity and truth” give? Look at the next verse.
John 1:16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace (generosity) in place of grace (generosity) already given.
John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Jesus gave and gave and gave and gave. John received generosity upon generosity from Jesus. That’s a lot of generosity. The law gave no one anything, but the Anointed King Jesus did and He still does. He gives generosity and truth. Look at Jesus, you will see it, He was full of generosity (He poured His life out for others), and He was full of truth (He told the way things really are, things we would never know if Jesus had not taught them). Full of generosity and truth.
This is what John the Apostle looking back at Jesus saw. Then there was the other John, John the Baptist.
2. John The Baptist First Knew That Jesus Was First
Let’s go back to verse 15 which we skipped over earlier.
John 1:15 (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.’”)
In the Greek it says first here at the end, He was first before me. Jesus was first. That’s what the Greek says. The NIV left first out.
John the Apostle put this verse in the middle of what we just talked about. He did so to prove his point. You may say that Jesus really was not that full of generosity and truth if John the Apostle and the other apostles had not seen it when they were with Jesus. John's answer to that? John the Baptist saw it.
John the Baptist came before Jesus and the apostles. He was born before Jesus. He started his ministry before Jesus. John was first. But he put Jesus first. He told everyone that Jesus was first. He knew his place. He knew that his job was to prepare the way for Jesus. His place had always been and would always be second. Jesus was first.
In John the Baptist's time, he was the only one who put Jesus in the position of first. After this the apostles followed Jesus, but they didn't realize who Jesus really was until later. John the Baptist knew. He knew his place and he knew Jesus' place.
Do we know our place? I don't care who you are. I don't care what your position is in life or even what your position is in this church. You should take a second seat to Jesus. Jesus is first.
In the authority structure of this church, Jesus should be at the top, above this congregation, above me, above the moderator, above the committees, and above every worker in this church. This means before you do anything in your personal life or in this church, you look and ask what Jesus would do, what Jesus wants. And that is what you do. You don’t come up with your own plan. You don’t try to manipulate the situation. You do what Jesus would do. Hopefully, you know this and practice it. But John saw it first. John was the first to see that Jesus is first. John saw it, but Jesus saw something else. That brings us to point number 3.
3. Jesus Knew the Father
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship (bosom) with the Father, has made him known.
John the Baptist knew that Jesus was first, but Jesus knew something far greater. He knew the Father. Jesus is our only link to God. All those people who hug trees or stand in a field getting in touch with the spiritual forces of nature, what do they know about the spiritual world? Have they been a spirit? Have they stepped into the spiritual world? Do they know anyone who has? Have they seen God? Have they seen mother nature? No.
They are only making things up about the spiritual world. Jesus has been there. He has seen God. He is in a closest relationship with the Father. He is in His bosom, that means in His arms as in a hug. If you want to know about God, if you want to know about the spiritual, look at what Jesus said. Jesus is the only One who knows the Father.
But what about John the Baptist? Who was he? Why is he in this story?
4. John The Baptist Was A Voice
John 1:19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.
John 1:20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
John 1:21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
John 1:22 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 1:23 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.’”
Malachi, many years before this time, had said that God would send Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord. The Jews thought that John might be that Elijah. John and Elijah were similar in many ways. But John said that he was not that Elijah.
The prophet, also mentioned here, was someone that Moses had told about before his death. He told the people that a prophet would come, that he would be like him, like Moses, and that he would be one of them. He told them that they must listen to him.
So that is what Elijah and the prophet are. John said that he was neither of them. He said that he is the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” These are the words of Isaiah. I have preached on this. John's message? Make a road to God. Make it straight.
Each of us need to have a road to God. We need to make that road straight, clear, and flat. There are things in our lives that mess that road up: pride, belittling God or maybe just ignoring God, criticizing others, sins, desires, and boulders that we put on that road. We need to spend some time clearing off our road to God. Then we need to take that road to God often. John was a voice saying this. John was a voice, but Jesus was much more than a voice.
5. Jesus Is So Much Greater
John 1:24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent
John 1:25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
John 1:26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.
John 1:27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
John was not worthy to untie the straps of Jesus' sandals. Wealthy people and great people in this time had servants to tie and untie their shoes. John was a popular preacher during this time, yet he saw himself as someone who was not good enough to even be a servant of Jesus. Jesus was so much greater.
Jesus is something else though.
6. Jesus Is The Lamb Of God
John 1:28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
What insight John had. He knew before Jesus even started His ministry that Jesus was the Lamb of God, that He would take away the sin of the world. No one else knew this. I wonder if he knew that this lamb had to die? That is the only way a lamb could take away someone's sin.
Don't you ever forget this. Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. He came to be a sacrifice for your sin, for everyone's sin. He died. He died a horrible death in order to absolve your sins. Your sins are taken away. Let's continue.
John 1:30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
John 1:31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Did John know Jesus or not? Jesus' mother, Mary, had gone to see John's mother, Elizabeth, when they were both pregnant. They had discussed their children and what God had revealed to each of them. Surely, John and Jesus had met each other growing up. Surely, John's mother had told him about who Jesus would be. How is it that he didn't know Jesus?
Yes, I think that John knew who his mother had said Jesus would become, but he had not heard it from God. God had told him to baptize with water. God had told him that the person that he sees the Spirit coming down on is the One. But God had not told him that that person was Jesus.
John realized the difference between what people say and what God says. Two things here, what people say and what God says. What people say, even if they say that God told them it, even if that person is your mom, what they say can be wrong. What God says is never wrong.
We need to make this same distinction. This (the Bible) is what God has said. The notes at the bottom, the books written about this book, the sermons preached about this book, can be wrong. They can also be right. Go to God. Go to His book. Don't ever take the word of a person above the word of God. John didn’t. Let’s read on.
John 1:32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
John 1:33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
John 1:34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
John was a witness to the fact that Jesus was God's Chosen One.
Jesus was not just an ordinary person. Jesus was magnificent. He was full of generosity and truth. He is first above all else. He has seen the Father. He told us about the Father. He is so much greater than anything else. He is the Lamb of God. This is Jesus.
Have you ever watched Undercover Boss? In Undercover Boss, they disguise the boss of a company and send him to work in his own company. Those who work alongside him do not know that he is the owner of the company. After working with different workers, they call the workers into the company headquarters. The boss was revealed to the workers. Some employees who had acted badly were fired. Most of them had acted great and so they were promoted or given some type of reward.
Picture Jesus as the undercover boss. He is first. He is greatest. He is the lamb of God. – Is He here? Is He in disguise? Is He invisible sitting right there in the pew? Is He looking into your head, into your heart? Is He one of the people here?
Let me introduce you to Jesus. Let me blow His cover. Congregation, I would like you to meet Jesus. Here He is here. He is watching. He is first. He is greatest. He is the lamb of God. Do not be fooled by His disguise. Do not be fooled by the fact that you can’t see Him. He walks the aisles of this church. He sits in the pews watching. He follows you home. He looks to see what you are doing. I’ve pointed Him out today. How will you treat the undercover boss?
