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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/joel-portman/john-the-baptist/
John chapter 1. Chapter 1 of John's gospel. Verse 6. There came a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. It was not the light but came or was sent to bear witness of the light that was a true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Verse 15. John bear witness of him and cried saying this was he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred before me or he was before me and of his fullness of all we received and grace for grace for the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Down to verse 19. This is the record of the witness 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.
He asked him what then art thou Elias. They 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 a voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet Isaiah's. And they that were sent were the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto him why baptizes thou.
Then 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 you know not he. It is who coming after me is preferred before me whose last latchet or sandal thong I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said after me cometh a man which is preferred before me where he was before me and I knew him not for that he should be made manifest to Israel.
Therefore am I come baptizing with water. John bare record saying I saw the spirit descended 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 as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
And I saw and bear record that this is a son of God. Next day again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked he saith behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus read a few verses in chapter 3.
Let's read just from verse 27. John answered and said a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am NOT the Christ but that I am sent before him.
He that hath the bride is a bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase but I must decrease.
He that cometh from above is above all. He that's is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh out of heaven is above all. We'll stop with that reading. There are some men that are plastered you might say on the pages of Scripture that are remarkable tremendous men.
Men that are outstanding men that really there's no other one to compare with them. We read about Moses in the last chapter of Deuteronomy that God could say that has not risen a prophet like Moses in all of Israel whom the Lord spoke with face to face a remarkable man.
Moses is the one that stands on the early pages of the dispensation of the law is the one who initiated the law and brought it into being and gave the Word of God so clearly and distinctly to the children of Israel in such a way that he could speak with authority and speak with the assurance that God was going to support and vindicate everything that Moses said.
And God defended Moses against every adversary even his own brother and sister. And when we look at a man like John the Baptist we call him in Matthew chapter 11 the Lord Jesus says there is not risen among the sons of men the sons of women.
A man like John the Baptist incomparable in so many ways. A man that could speak with authority. A man that knew that God himself would vindicate whatever he said. A man who expected that there might be and would be a response from those that heard him.
Moses spoke to the nation of Israel when they first began their experience in the dispensation of the law. John the Baptist speaks to him speaks to them at the end of that very same dispensation. Moses was the one that initiated it with the authority of God and God's Word behind him.
And John was the one who closed it with the same authority of God to speak. And he initiated a new dispensation altogether. So we have two remarkable men. I'm not going to try to compare them but they're worth comparing if you have the time and desire to study them.
John a man whose name is the Lord is gracious he says in this section in John chapter 1 the law was given by Moses. That's the one that initiated that dispensation. But he says grace and truth subsists in the person of Jesus Christ.
It not only came into being but it came into revelation. It was manifested in a way that is distinctly identified with a person that he came to introduce and John could well speak of him and announce his coming.
A remarkable man. A man that you and I should emulate. A man that we could learn many lessons from so far as a pattern of his ministry and mind you is very short so far as its public duration was concerned.
A man who began his ministry perhaps six months before the Lord began his and very soon he began to fade away and the Lord Jesus Christ came to the ascendancy. That was his purpose. That's what he meant.
What he could say that he must increase I must decrease. It should be the desire of every one of our hearts. Of course that we might see the Lord Jesus increase and we might decrease. But what John really meant is that his career was coming to a close and he was going to fade away.
His life was going to be taken. But the one who came to announce and to initiate and to introduce to the nation was the one who would continue to increase. As Isaiah could say of the increase of his government and of his peace.
There shall be no end. There'll be no fading away with him. There will not be no decrease when it comes to the Lord Jesus the one who will have the preeminence. And even John could say he is the one that is before me and he is preferred before me.
I want to notice a few things about this remarkable man. First of all let's notice who John was. Well you say I know who John was. He was a prophet. In fact he was the last of the Old Testament prophets.
He was the one that the Lord Jesus could say in chapter 11 of Matthew's gospel that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Because of course John was only the friend of the bridegroom.
The one that came to introduce the bridegroom and he could say those that are a part of the kingdom of God the kingdom that is associated with the risen Christ. He says even the least one is greater than John.
So John came and he was a man that was the last of the prophets of the Old Testament period. And he could speak like an Old Testament prophet as well. We read about him that he did no miracle. It was remarkable as a prophet because he did no signs but he preached with power and he preached with a message that brought conviction and brought the nation to the realization that there needed to be repentance to prepare for the coming of the Savior.
Who was he. We read in John chapter 1 and verse 4. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. You'd say earthly. In so far as his earthly life he was a son of Zechariah and Elizabeth a remarkable son if you know perhaps you do.
There are seven barren women in the Word of God. Seven women that could not have a child apart from God's intervening power. And John's the last one. The first one was Sarah. That's a study you can enjoy for yourself just the seven barren women.
Women in God's Word. He's the last one and he was not brought into existence. He was not born because of the longing prayer of Hannah. It was not because of the earnest desire of his parents necessarily unless it is not recorded.
It was because of God's sovereign work to bring into being a man that could be identified as a man sent from God. A man that came from God's side. A man that had been in God's presence. A man that had a message from God to give to the people.
There's a man that had authority even though it was not recognized by the scribes and the Pharisees. There's a man that was not only sent from God but he was given a message from God. We read in Luke chapter 3.
He came with a word from God and he came to deliver it with with clarity who would definite us to the people because God would use a man raise a man like that to bring those who were willing to repentance and to come to the point of recognizing the need for spiritual preparation for the coming of the Messiah.
The majority never responded to his message. But there were those that listened and that he did what he had to say. It was a man that was remarkable. But we notice as well that he is not only not only who he was but he wants it.
We want to notice where he was. It says distinctly in Matthew chapter 3 as well as a Luke chapter 3 that John came preaching in the wilderness. Some things about John that are remarkable to my mind. The first thing is the normal place to initiate a religious career is in Jerusalem.
Out of the wilderness. He wasn't initiating a religious career. It wasn't one that was out to gain popularity with the people. It wasn't the one that was trying to find a place among the Sanhedrin or any other ruling party in Jerusalem.
He wasn't concerned about Jerusalem. So far as I know he never went to Jerusalem. I could be corrected on that. But I don't think you ever read that he was ever Jerusalem. He spent his time in the wilderness.
He was in the wilderness because that is a condition of the world morally and spiritually. He came to where the people at the greatest need in a spiritual sense. And it was certainly the place where the Jewish nation was found morally and spiritually as well.
They had religion. They had the outward formality. They had the appearance. They had the ritual. They had the ceremonies they had the offerings and sacrifices. But they didn't have reality. They didn't have God approving of what they were doing.
So he came in the wilderness. And you know if a man's in the wilderness and if he's got a message from God the people will do like they did with John. They came to him to hear him. They hadn't been hearing a message from God for over 400 years.
They hadn't heard anyone speak with authority. And here comes a man. He preaches what needed to be preached on the basis of Old Testament scripture. And the people came flocking to hear a man like that.
You know brother and sisters if we want to be used of God we don't have to seek the high places. It's not a matter of seeking for a position. It's not a matter of going in for a place. It's a matter of being in a place where God wants you to be with a message that God wants you to carry and doing the work that God wants you to do.
So he was in a wilderness wilderness of Judea a place where there's an abundant water. Because he came baptizing. He notices well God brings to our attention what he ate how he dressed. His diet wasn't that of the rich men living in the palaces.
The Lord called attention to that. He says here's a man that clothes with camels hair. I've never seen a garment of camels hair. And I don't know if I will ever feel one either. I don't know how comfortable it was like a soft suit.
But one thing the Lord said that this is not a man that is clothed with soft raiment. He was a man that denied himself. He was a man that was not in this world to please himself and to enjoy his life.
He was a man that was an example for each one of us in a spiritual sense. A man that was out and out to serve God. And not only was his garment that which was not suitable to the high places in Jerusalem.
His diet wasn't either you know locusts are a clean diet. If you read Leviticus chapter 11 you'll find that locusts in their very informs are clean food. I've never sampled them. I understand there are delicacy in parts of the world they could be very nutritious.
But he supplied his needs with a diet that was suitable to the wilderness because locusts and wild honey to be found in the wilderness. He wasn't dependent on man to supply his nourishment. It was dependent upon God and in a natural sense of the word.
A man that was willing to deny himself the pleasures and the enjoyment of privilege and all the opportunities that a man of his stature a son of a priest could have enjoyed. He was a priest that never functioned in the temple.
He did a greater work by far. I noticed what he did. He came preaching. The message he preached was not a message that was designed to gain popularity either. You don't come preaching what he said. If you read what he has written what is written in Matthew chapter 3 or Luke chapter 3 about the message that this man carried to the people.
He came preaching repentance. He preached judgment. He said the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that beareth not bringeth not forth. Good fruit is hewn down and cast to the fire. And the people recognized that he was speaking about them.
And when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to listen to his message and a scoff and a mock at it he said who was warned you to flee from the wrath to come old generation of vipers. There's a man that told what God had given him.
He gave him a message. He had a message that was assigned designed by God to address the spiritual depravity and the need of the people. And to do it in such a way that there would be a responsiveness and there would be some that would be prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus.
He preached the message of repentance. And he preached it had to be real. He said that your repentance has to be demonstrated in reality. It can't be words only. It can't be tears and emotional response.
It must be seen in actual actions that give the evidence of the fact that you are genuinely expressing a change of heart and mind. And the result was that there were those that responded. And they responded in obedience to his message identified with that message and acknowledging the fact of the need for repentance by being baptized by the River Jordan in the River Jordan by John.
So here was a man that preached a message that was designed and directed by God. It never says so but I believe that he was empowered by the Holy Spirit to deliver a message that God used mightily. It's probably a revival.
And shall we use that word a revival in Israel that they had never seen for a long time over 400 years. Likely I'm sure. But a message that has the power of God. And that's what we need today brethren.
We need to have men that come from God from his presence with the power of God impelled by the Spirit of God enabled by the Word of God and not preaching that which is smooth and acceptable. John never preached one word that was designed to give him a part of some popularity.
It wasn't preaching that which was designed to make him acceptable with the rulers. He was preaching that which was so necessary to be said. That's the kind of message God uses brethren. There are many of us and I confess it myself.
We need to know what it is to repent. We need restoration among ourselves. It's too easy to become like the Pharisees. It's too easy to become like those that are going on well doing the right thing in the right way but without the heart without the reality of the inward soul of the condition.
And brother we ought to have a time of real restoration at conferences. I'm probably not the one to preach it but I believe I need it myself. And anyone that doesn't believe they need to repent doesn't realize perhaps how much we need it.
We all need to repent because we all have ways that are not right. There are assemblies that have ways that are not right in every way. We need to recognize. The only thing that matters is what the Word of God says.
And I don't say that to judge others. I look at myself so easy to drift away and have become casual and careless. And what we do that's off my message. But I see it. And what John had to preach here. He preached a message.
It was designed to cut right to the heart and conscience of the people. And those who were willing to accept it were the ones that received the blessing from it. He preached and he baptized. His authority to baptize was questioned you know by the by the stripes.
And the Pharisees. Why baptizes thou then I should say they've crushed a question the Lord Jesus teaching. But he brought them back to. Why did John baptize. Was he right. Did he have God's authority to do so.
And the people were of course unwilling to answer that question because they had to realize it was a message from God. But I quickly go on. I just want to notice a few more things. I don't want to go for the rest of it.
I won't leave somebody a few minutes of time. I want you to notice what he said about the Lord Jesus. You know brethren that's really the mark of a genuine believer a spiritual believer. What do they have to say about Christ.
John Newton penned that poem. What. Thinking of Christ is a test to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot be right and the rest unless you think rightly of him. And the things that John said about the Lord Jesus or things that you and I ought to say about him as well.
Notice just a few John said in this chapter concerning him. He that cometh after me that's in terms of time is preferred before me. That's in terms of precedence. The one that comes after me chronologically is the one that really has a higher place than I have.
He has preeminence over me. And not only that he says he existed before me. So John gave witness to the eternal existence of the Lord Jesus. But even more than that to the fact that he was supreme. He was far above him.
In fact he expands that practically to say that I'm not even worthy to stoop down and loosen the thong of his sandal. That was a work of a slave he said I'm not even worthy to be a slave of the Lord Jesus.
He recognized the absolute greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ to such an extent that is willing to abase himself and to take the lowest possible place he could think of. Unworthy to even be a slave. He says he's the one who was preferred before me.
You know the Spirit of God in your heart and mine would always give an desire to magnify the Lord Jesus to give him the highest place to recognize that there's no one to compare with him. And not only in God's purposes but also in my heart and in my life.
He says he has to have the highest place. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is from the earth that's John himself. He's earthly and he's speaking of the earth. But he that cometh from above is above all.
And so we recognize. He gave the Lord Jesus the place that he deserved. He could speak about him as the one who is the Lamb of God. He pointed him out identifying him to those who were expectantly waiting for him.
He did so so they might recognize and they might come to realize in her soul that he is the only one who could bear away the sin of the world. But when he says that in the second time the second time down the chapter he says behold the Lamb of God.
And those who were following John turned and they follow the Lord Jesus. You know dear brethren that's exactly what he wanted. John wanted his own disciples to turn from him not to follow him. Not following men not adhering to a religious group but ones once it would follow the Lord Jesus because his great purpose in life was to point men to Christ.
That's really what should be our purpose to shouldn't. We're not here to attract men to ourselves. We're not here to get a following. We're not here to persuade men that we're the only ones that they should be identified with.
There's a principle in the Word of God to identify with and the person of Christ is the only one to be identified with not man. So his purpose was right just to turn men from any other source any other identity identification to follow the Lord Jesus.
You know dear brethren there's no other one in the whole universe that is worth following besides him. And the closer that you and I follow the Lord Jesus the more we'll have the genuine joy of heaven in our souls the more we'll long to be with him and the more we'll desire to be like him.
Sadly Peter followed afar off and he denied him at the wrong time. Yes let me just say a couple things about what John the Lord Jesus said about John. You know it's a wonderful thing what believers have to say about the Lord Jesus.
You and I should be concerned about what the Lord Jesus says about us. He says about John. He says there's not been one born of a woman like John. John the Baptist. What a commendation. Remarkable. Millions and millions in the world he says.
And not one single one that's like John the Baptist. A man that was faithful to this message. A man that was devoted to his God. A man that was consistent in all that he did. Not one born like him in that sense.
I believe he was comparing him with Moses. But he says really he's greater than he is. Because John was the one that introduced Lord Jesus. He could say other things about him. You can look them up and notice what the Lord had to say about him.
Well there are those things that you and I should covet that we might hear the Lord say about us. His commendation is really all that matters. We need to always remind ourselves that it's wonderful to have the commendation of our brethren.
It's wonderful to have the approval of other believers. But really all that matters is what the Lord Jesus thinks. That's all that matters. Because let me just say that he will have the final word. What he says at the great at the at the judgment seat of Christ.
That's all that really matters. And what the Lord said about John is what I would long that he could say about one of us not to be like John raised as if they be greater than all other born of the woman.
For those that he could look he said look at him. Did you go out to the wilderness to see a reed shaken in the wind. Did you find a man out there that was moved by public opinion. Was he a man that was a compromiser.
Was a man that was not firm in his steadfast principles. No he said he wasn't a reed shaken in the wind. Did you have a lot to see. A man that was clothed in soft raiment. No he says. They're never in the wilderness.
You find them up in Kings palaces. He was not one that was self-indulgent. Neither was he one that was seeking to please other men. He said that's a remarkable man. And that's what he wants you and me to be as well in the end of course what he said about himself I must decrease.
And he decreased to the point where he laid his head down. And his head was removed from the body. And he gave his life in the service of God. May there be something about John. That would be a pattern for each one of us.