John 1:19-28
John the Baptist
Encountering Christ in the Book of John #1
Imagine with me for a moment that some great and dreadful disease was sweeping the world today – a disease much like SARS that could be easily transmitted from person to person, and that people were dying by the thousands as it spread from one person to the next. At first it seems as though nothing can stop it in our mobile society. People are in a panic; afraid to talk to neighbors and friends for fear of who might be infected, scared of what has been contaminated at the gas pumps or in the grocery stores, worried about when an antidote will be found. As people travel on bus and plane from city to city and from nation to nation, this disease overwhelms the world.
Finally, after hundreds of thousands of people have died and many more are ill, a cure is discovered. It is manufactured and shipped around the world, but a new problem arises. How will the word get out? How will they let the entire world know they’ve found a cure? Maybe it won’t be so difficult in densely populated areas, but what about rural areas and third world populations that have been infected? How will they know what to do so they might live?
Can you imagine a whole sector of society running to the doctor for the cure, then returning home and resuming their former lifestyles, assuming that someone out there will be compassionate enough to tell the rest of the world? Could you imagine a group of doctors meeting and deciding that if they could just raise the funds to build new clinics around the world people would know to come to them for a cure to a disease that is killing them off?
Does all this sound far fetched to you? Then let me tell you about a story that really did happen, one that you’ve heard before. It seems that the Israelites were moving along on their way to Canaan when God determined to punish them for their complaining. He sent a great number of poisonous snakes into the camp that began to bite the people and they began to die. Moses saw what was happening, so he cried out to the Lord to reveal a cure. The Lord answered his request and gave him the antidote. Now, at that moment, Moses was in a very important place. There he was, standing there looking out over 2 million people who were dying left and right, and he alone had the cure for their sickness. He had but one responsibility to those people in that moment that welled up inside him – “I must tell the good news!”
Now I want you to consider the opening verses of John 1. Let’s start in verse 4.
“In him (Jesus) was life; and [Jesus] was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”
What is John describing here? He’s describing a world that was engulfed in darkness, a darkness that was black and wicked. It was a darkness in which there were none who were good, not even one. There was no one who was seeking after God, but every man had turned away after his own wicked and sinful lusts. It was into this world that God sent Jesus, the light of the world. John would state in John 3:17 that…
“God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
What’s the point of all that? God sent Jesus into a sin-infested world as the cure, the remedy, the prescription for man’s problem. Remember Romans 6:23? “For the wages of sin is death! But the gift of God – the prescription of God – is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!” God sent Jesus to cure mankind of his deadly disease, but because men love darkness, they love their sin and are blinded by pride and blinded by Satan, they don’t understand that their greatest need is Jesus Christ.
When God sent Jesus into the world, there was one man who would be His greatest herald, sounding out the greatest news known to man – “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” They needed to repent – to turn away from the darkness and come to the light. For some that meant they needed to be saved – they needed to understand their spiritual separation from God because of their sin and repent of it and trust in the One who was promised to die for their sins. For others who had already been saved, repent meant that they needed to turn away from dead legalism and ritualism to embrace the One who had come to set them free!
This spiritual giant of a man had come striding out of the wilderness wearing different clothes, eating different food, carrying himself in an extremely different way and making demands on the people that made them think of Elijah. His voice thundered until the folks began to come and hear for themselves what it was he was proclaiming. The religious establishment investigated him, disliked him, feared him, rejected him, and was denounced by him. Herod on his throne was afraid of him. John the Baptist was his name – the son of a priest who was married to the daughter of a priest. His birth had been foretold. He had been raised strictly, with a view to his becoming a priest. He had also been raised as a Nazarite, with a view to his becoming a prophet. There were already priests in the land, more in fact than they needed. Few and far between were the prophets of God who stood out like Elijah. What Israel needed was not another priest. What they needed was a prophet!
John was such a man. His preaching was changing and challenging everything – most especially the religious establishment. They were so steeped in tradition and ritual that God was pushed to the background. They had laws for this and laws for that, and every portion of their lives was to be governed by these laws, not that laws aren’t good, but these weren’t God’s laws – they were additions to God’s law and they were legalistic – and legalism kills. They needed to be set free from all of this – turn from it to the Great Liberator of our souls!
But John’s gospel wasn’t some great social gospel that taught people to love and be kind or that sort of thing– not at all, because attacking behavior, or attacking the hands is always secondary to what really matters, which is the heart, or character. John’s message was one of genuine heart change – it was an attack that struck at the hearts of his hearers – a real heart attack if you will. That’s why in Matthew’s gospel we find these multitudes coming to John for his baptism, when this group of people came to him. John said to them, “What are you doing down here? You need to go home and do something with what you’ve heard. You need to repent and prove to God and us that there’s been a real change in your life.” Now these were fine upstanding citizens in the community. In other words – their conduct may have been convincing enough, but their hearts were cold and wicked and far from God. It was John who confronted King Herod about the affair he was having with his sister-in-law. Can you imagine the boldness of this man as he tells the king that what he’s doing is wrong?
As John continued to preach and declare Christ, the people kept coming to hear the message. He was gaining popularity and had several disciples who were helping him. On one particular day an event occurred that had a profound impact on his life – and that was the baptism of his Lord. You remember how Jesus came down into the water to be baptized of John, but John resisted the Lord because he felt so unworthy to baptize Him. Jesus reminded John that this was all part of God’s plan, and that he needed to submit to that plan. John wouldn’t just be hindering himself – he would be hindering Christ. So, despite John’s reservations, he baptized Christ, and then saw what was probably the most amazing thing in his life. Matthew 3:16-17 records the event.
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
John was profoundly impacted by this event. Before he baptized Jesus, John said that he didn’t even know Jesus. They were cousins, but they didn’t know each other. All John knew was that Jesus would appear as the Savior of Israel. Look at John 1:32-34.
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
Now imagine what your reaction to this awesome event might have been! John’s experience of Christ had a profound impact on his life, and we get a glimpse at the results of that encounter in our text for today. Look with me at John 1:19-28.
“And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in he wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
Now, let me get to the point very quickly. I am deeply impressed with John the Baptist’s willingness to promote the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a powerful witness to the Savior and his willingness to proclaim the message God gave him and his faithfulness in proclaiming it made a powerful impact on thousands of people. And let me add just one more thought – God’s call to prepare a people for Christ, His call to promote, to proclaim, to testify of Christ is still the same today! You and I have the greatest news known to man. We have the greatest remedy to the greatest disease ever known to man. We have the story of the only hope man has, the only freedom man has, the only power man can hope for, the greatest purpose ever known to man, the answers to life’s most troubling questions, and we are compelled by all of that with the call of God to tell the world over!
What made it possible in John’s life? It was his personal experience of Christ that sealed it for him. He had already been a powerful voice for the Lord, but now under attack he shows us three inner qualities that must also exist in our lives, three inner qualities that must prevail so that Christ gets the glory, so that He is the One who is seen, so that they might hear and know and believe. What are they?
Self-Denial
When the religious leaders came and questioned John, they wanted to know who he was. “Are you Jesus? Are you Elijah? Are you Moses?” He answered no to all these questions. “Well then, who are you?” Now John could have said, “I am John the Baptist. I am the forerunner of Christ and I have come to prepare a people for the Lord. I am His greatest prophet and the Messiah is my cousin.” John could have answered any number of ways to draw attention to himself, to steal the glory, but he didn’t do that at all. Notice his answer in verse 23. John said, “I’m just a voice.”
That’s it! Just a voice. Just a messenger. Just a witness. Listen, until we come to the place in our lives that all we care about is promoting Jesus, then we’ll continue to try to steal the show. There must be this inner quality of self-denial in our lives. Our lives are to be about Jesus, but so often we make it about us. Someone has said that this is a struggle of EGO’s. When your ego is too big, then you’re stealing attention that belongs to Christ. When your ego is involved, you are Edging God Out. When God gets edged out, you’ll lift yourself up in pride and start to think you deserve credit for what is accomplished in your life.
A Servant’s Heart
The second inner quality that must be present is a servant’s heart. When John said that he was just a voice, what he was saying was that he recognized that Jesus was Lord and he was not. God had called and commissioned him to do this thing; and he did it. John never changed course, he never decided that this wasn’t what he wanted to do – rather, he spent his entire life preparing for this calling and gave his life in pursuit of it.
The issue that you need to come to grips with is who is in charge of your life. When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, then it follows that His interests are to become your interests, and His commands are to be followed to the best of your ability. A person with a servant’s heart is a person who has the best interests of others on their mind. You see, personal recognition, personal pleasure, personal anything is never the first concern – they serve out of a genuine and godly concern for others.
Why do you think John subjected himself to what he did? He had a great concern for people and gave his life to prepare them for the coming of Christ. Why did Moses serve like he did, even praying at one point that if it were possible he would trade his salvation for the salvation of all the Israelites. Why did Paul suffer like he did? He had a servant’s heart – but look, neither of these men started out that way. They both started out running and stealing the show – but God came in, they both experienced the Lord in unique ways, and they were changed, from the inside out.
When you have a servant’s heart, your greatest satisfaction will come from seeing the personal growth and betterment of the people you are serving. So long as your heart goes unchanged, it’s all about you.
Absolute Surrender
The last inner quality is absolute surrender to the will and the work of God. The Pharisees wanted to know why John was doing these things if he wasn’t the Messiah or one of the other men. Now this wasn’t an unfair question. When John began baptizing Jews, many of them took offense to the act. The Pharisees strongly objected to it. You see, the Jews considered themselves to be God’s chosen people, but then here comes this man who tells them that they are strangers to the grace of God and were aliens, separated from God because of their sin. They needed to repent and be baptized so they would be ready for Christ’s coming. The Pharisees found that message offensive. How dare anyone come along and suggest that they need repentance and ritual cleansing in the Jordan! They were God’s people! Or so they thought.
When they asked John why he was doing all this then, he again proclaimed Christ – His authority came from God, and then he added that while they were so worried about his authority, they really needed to be concerned with the One who was coming that John wasn’t even worthy to untie his shoes. John’s encounter with Christ reinforced his view that he was at his very best nothing in comparison with the Savior – all he could offer was absolute surrender to the will of God and let God have His way in his life.
Conclusion
Now you think about these qualities of self-denial, a servant’s heart and absolute surrender. Are you possessed of these qualities? They are the stuff of spiritual giants, and if ever there was a spiritual giant it was John the Baptist. Jesus seemed to think so. He told His disciples, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” So, are you possessed of these qualities? Let me help you to see. We all agree that we have been called to profess Christ to a dark and dying world. Right? We all agree that we ought to do everything we can in the bounds of the Scriptures to reach people. Right? We all agree that we need to be winning people of all ages, old, middle aged, and young to the Lord. Right? Would you say that reaching young families and children to the Lord Jesus Christ is something we need to do? OK – if we agree on these things, then are we possessed of self-denial enough to reach them?
If I told you that we were going to have to change up our worship service, make it more contemporary and sing new songs and speed it up to reach young families, what is your initial reaction? If I told you I thought I ought to start preaching out of a different, easier to understand version of the Bible, or that we need to so some other thing that is non-traditional, how do we respond? Well you and I both know the answer – and the whole point is that we have built a religion that suits our comfort zones and anything that is different or that will make us uncomfortable is unwelcome – so more often than we realize we put our needs and our desires before the multitudes who are dying without knowing that we hold the remedy.
Do you know why we do that? It’s because we’re too full of self. We’re really not interested in serving other people or in being absolutely surrendered. If you saw a ministry in need, and you were able to meet that need, would you surrender your time to meet that need? A servant’s heart will compel you to forget about your personal comfort to meet the needs of other people, and since we’re talking about people’s need for Christ, both salvation and personal growth, then we’re talking about you having a heart that breaks because people’s spiritual needs aren’t being met, and just in case you’re in doubt, we’ve got groups of people in our church and a host of people in our community whose needs are not being met.
How do we get these inner qualities of self-denial and a servant’s heart or absolute surrender? We need a fresh encounter with Christ. A lady once asked the famous evangelist Billy Sunday why he kept having revivals when they didn’t last. Rather than answering her he asked, “Why do you keep taking baths? It doesn’t matter how spiritual you were yesterday or last month or last year. It doesn’t matter to me what you did for the Lord 10 or 20 years ago. What I am interested in today is whether you have encountered Jesus today! Today I want to invite you to meet with the Jesus of the Bible and recognize that He alone is the Lord of your life. He alone is worthy of your attention, of your love, and He above all else ought to be proclaimed to others in your life. You must be willing to submit your head and your hands and your heart to Him simply because its His will that you do so and because He is absolutely worthy of your doing so.
Jesus’ entire life was about self-denial, about serving others, not being served, and about being absolutely surrendered to the will of God. Are these qualities you desire? You and I stand today at the front lines of the great conflict between dark and light, and like John, we’ve been called to proclaim Jesus to a dying world – to prepare a people for the Lord and His kingdom. You have the antidote for the sin problem that has swept our nation. You don’t have to do anything but deliver the goods; the rest is up to them. Will you too be the voice of one crying in the wilderness? Will you position yourself today for an encounter with Jesus like you’ve never had before? The only one stopping you is you!
