A PERSUASION WORTH LIVING FOR.
John 1:19-34
Int: Ever since the fall of man there has been a longing in the human heart. All through the record of the Bible it increases, as men and women cried out for a way of deliverance, to be free at last from the power and the reign of sin. In all of history and even in the present day, people still long for beauty of character, for reality of life, and for freedom from evil.
John the Baptist in the late ’20’s of the first century was a young man, in his early ’30’s, six months older than Jesus. He dressed rather strangely, even for that day. He wore animal skins, and ate a strange diet of grasshoppers and wild honey. This young man had a very powerful message, which seemed to have great attraction to people. At first they came out by dozens, then by scores. and finally hundreds and thousands forsook the cities of Judah and Galilee to hear this remarkable preacher out in desert places. Finally the response was so tremendous. and this man became so popular, that even the religious leaders of Jerusalem had to take note. They sent a delegation to investigate this remarkable preacher.
John had found a cause in life that clearly was worth living for and even one that is worth dying for. This is the quality that sets a person’s life apart from the rather humdrum routine of living and gives him a focus that makes each day a time to remember.
John was regarded as an outsider, a maverick. He had gone to no seminary; he had sat at no one’s feet; no responsible body had authorized him to preach; he had never been ordained. He had suddenly arisen out from among the common people and many were flocking to hear him. The religious leaders could no longer ignore him. He was a threat to them, as any such individual is a threat to those who assume they are right with God when in fact, they are not.
In John’s life and example, there are some lessons for all of us who desire to have more out of life than simply to live it through to its bitter end.
I. JOHN’S PERSUASION SHAPED HIS PICTURE OF HIMSELF.
An official delegation from the Sanhedrin, made up of priests and Levites, who had been sent by the high priest himself, came to check up on John. They asked him, "Who are you?" ("Who do you think you are, anyway?") There is a sneer in these words.
A. John did not attempt to advance himself in their eyes!
There was a popular rumor that perhaps he was the Messiah himself. John’s replied very dramatically, ’I am not the Messiah,’ This fact John wanted to be perfectly clear.
So they tried again. "Are you Elijah, then?" The last verse of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, is a promise of the coming again of Elijah. God had said, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes," (Mal 4:5). Four hundred years earlier, God had said that Elijah would have a special ministry of "turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to the fathers," i.e., rebuilding the homes of a decadent nation (Mal 4:6). For four centuries there was a sense of expectation in Israel that Elijah was going to come back again. John’s reply is very clear: "No, I am not Elijah." John’s ministry was like Elijah’s -- he went before Jesus in the spirit and the power of Elijah -- but he was not Elijah.
"Well then," the delegation asked John, "who are you? Are you that prophet?" Moses in the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy, had written, "The Lord shall raise up unto you a prophet like unto me, and him you shall hear," {Deut 18:15}. John’s response is simply, "No."
Finally, they say to him, "Who are you, then? We can’t go back to Jerusalem without an answer. We’ve been sent to find out who you are. "Come on, give us a break. We need to tell them something about you."
B. John chose to let his Conduct define his Identity.
To this John replies, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ’Prepare the way of the Lord,’ {Isa 40:3} In other words, "If you want to know my job description, read the prophet Isaiah. It’s written there for you." Undoubtedly his parents had told him the wonderful story of his birth, and the predictions of the angel. He knew from his childhood that he was a chosen vessel of the Lord. (We are told that he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.) But when he asked himself, as he must have as a young boy, "What does God want me to do?" he found the answer in the prophecy of Isaiah: "I am to be a highway builder. I am to prepare a highway in the desert for our God." Not for men to get to God, but for God to get to men.
Isaiah tells how highways are built: "Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought down; the crooked made straight, and the rough places plain," {Isa 40:4). This beautiful description of John’s ministry to people is still the way repentance works today.
II. JOHN’S PERSUASION SHAPED HIS PRIORITY IN LIFE.
Having clarified his own role, John now goes on to fulfill the major work for which he came: to identify Jesus. Verse 24: They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing?" Baptizing was a new thing in Israel. No prophet in the past had ever baptized.
When they asked him, "Why do you do this?" they were emphasizing the rite that John was performing.
A. The Significance John placed upon Jesus. 1:26-28
John’s words are in answer to the question, "Why are you baptizing?" He simply points out that the emphasis was not to be on what he did, but on the contrast with who he was compared to Jesus. In the construction of the original text, the emphatic word is not water, it is I: "I baptize with water." That is my ministry. But there is one standing among you right now whom you do not know, whose dignity, whose person is such that I am not worthy to untie his shoestrings."
John the Apostle records that this took place at a very significant spot, in Bethany, beyond the Jordan. Some believe that this was where the Israelites entered the promised land under Joshua. John the Apostle identifies that as a significant location, and it was there that John the Baptist first pointed out who Jesus was. Joshua was a type of Jesus, the true Leader into the promised land. He does not identify Jesus any further at this point except to imply, "He is the one whom the prophecies are speaking about, who is far greater than I. He came after me in time but he was also before me in time." That is the significance of this word.
B. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Prophetic Predictions of the Old Testament.
It is clear from this passage that Jesus was actually standing in the midst of the crowd. That helps us know when this event took place, at least six weeks after Jesus had been baptized by John in the Jordan River. According to the other gospels, Jesus had left immediately to go into the desert for that remarkable experience of forty days and forty nights, tempted by the devil. All this had taken place before the delegation came as an official investigating body. By this time Jesus had come back from the desert and was now standing in the crowd. John recognized him, and said, "There is one standing among you whom you do not know. But I know him, and I know that he is far, far greater than I." In his eternal character and in the nature of the work that he will perform he is so far above me that, compared to him, I am a servant who takes off his master’s shoes when he comes into the house; and I am not even worthy to do that." In other words, this one is the Messiah!
From the very beginning of the Old Testament there is a whispering hope that grows stronger and stronger all through the record that Someone is coming, that hope increases through the whole of the prophetic record as an ever-growing promise.
III. JOHN’S PERSUASION SHAPED THE POWER OF HIS LIFE.
As John sees Jesus coming toward him, knowing who he was, having baptized him six weeks earlier, he says to the crowd, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Here is the one who will fulfill all the promise of the sacrifices of the Old Testament.
A. John saw in Jesus Someone who could Change the Inside of a Person. Verse 32
If you read through the Old Testament you find in it a deep sense of unsatisfied longings. From the very beginning of the Bible, people are longing after righteousness and holiness; longing to be better than they are; longing to be free from the struggle with evil within; wishing somehow they could get hold of the evil, self-centered tendency within themselves, and eliminate it. The record of the Scripture is that it takes God himself to do that. The work of the Spirit is to do that very thing.
When John says, "I myself did not know him," he means, "I did not know Him as the Messiah, as the Lamb of God." I didn’t know who he was until I baptized Jesus. I saw the Spirit coming down like a dove and lighting on his shoulder. The one who sent me to baptize had said to me, ’When you see that happening, that is the one who will not only change men outside, but will change them from the inside, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.’ When that happened I knew who he was. My own cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, was the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit." In the seventh chapter of John’s gospel Jesus said, "He who believes in me, ... ’Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive;" (John 7:38-39). That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit!
B. In addition to being the Messiah, Jesus is the Son of God! Verse 34:
That is a greater claim than to say that Jesus is Messiah. As the Son of God, he is the One standing right in our midst.
"There is plenty of power in this place, enough to do what you need to do. There is love here, plenty of love, enough to reach out to all the loveless, hungry and forsaken among us and fill them. There is hope here, enough hope to dispel all the gloom of any heart present. And the reason why all this is true is because Jesus, the very same Jesus, is standing in our midst."
Conc: John declared: there is One standing among you whom, perhaps you know not, but He is the fulfiller of all the promises of old, all the predictions of the Old Testament. He is the answer to all the unexplained sacrifices; He is the satisfier of the unfulfilled longings of men, because He is the Son of God. That is the good news for us today.
