Who Is This Man? (John 1:19-2:11; 3:22-36; Luke 7:20-30)

Humble Questions Before the Truth of Jesus

Get your seats here and we will get started with this morning's Sunday school lesson. If you want to, you can open up your Bibles to John chapter one, because that's where we'll be beginning this morning before we dive into the rest of it.

But let's open up in a word of prayer and ask God's blessing on our study this morning. Our Heavenly Father, we proclaim your glory this morning. As we humbly approach the scriptures, may we do so with the reverence and the expectation that is demonstrated for us by Jesus and by his disciples.

Father, they believed your word and were willing to act in light of its truth. You give us the same hunger, the same commitment to obey the word through the power of your spirit. In your son, Jesus' name that we proclaim that and we pray this morning, amen.

Well, welcome back as we arrive here at lesson 10. Lesson 10 of our 12 week series, Walk by the Spirit. Last week, we had the opportunity to study in the book of Philippians and encounter that delightful truth, the amazing reality that Jesus, the son of God, the eternal son of God, chose to take upon himself the form of a slave, to become a man just like one of us in every way, yet without sin.

And as we delighted in that truth that inspired in us a desire to pursue unity as a body together through humility, through humbling ourselves the way that Christ chose to humble himself. So one of the most frustrating experiences for a human being is when you know that you are right about a particular truth and another person or group won't agree with you about that truth.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, well, that's kind of pretentious, Simon, for you to think that you're the one who's right. But actually, I think the way that I was thinking about this is thinking about all of the pastors that I have sat underneath.

And when they are preaching from God's word, the source of truth and looking out at me and realizing, why won't this guy change? Why won't he acknowledge this truth and change his heart and his life in light of that truth?

And how much more when God looks at us and says they have the truth, it's right there in front of them. All they have to do is read it. It doesn't even have to be preached for them to have access to it.

They just have to pick up my word and read it. And yet they won't believe it. And more importantly, they won't change in light of it. I think there are many reasons why it's hard for us to believe the truth and change.

But I think the two most prominent of those reasons are, it's humbling to be wrong. And two, it's just hard to change. But yet, is that not the very nature of truth, particularly biblical truth? Truth has the capacity to inform us when we are naive, it has the capacity to correct us when we're wrong, and it has the capacity to change us, to convince us to change and then change us from the inside out.

Now, this morning, we're gonna study truth and we're gonna look at some of the ways in which Jesus exemplified and spoke of the truth and how those who listened to him and followed him responded to that truth.

But I want us to just begin by thinking about the reality that there are two distinct truths that you have already encountered that you must evaluate this morning. The first truth is you are either in unity with Jesus Christ in his righteousness through the power of the Spirit, or you are not.

And for those of you who are rejoicing in the reality that you are, the second truth is that you have everything that you need to change, to grow in holiness. God has not withheld anything from you. In fact, he has poured out into you the power of his eternal, everlasting Spirit.

So you have everything you need to change. And that is the truth that we as believers must grapple with this morning. We do throughout the week and throughout the year when we encounter the ways that we see our truth, the truth of scripture, and we know we need to change, but yet we don't change, okay?

So the truth about who Jesus is provides us the ultimate example of this. John 1, verses 11 and 12 says, he came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, but even to those who believed in his name.

Every man, woman, and child who reads the Bible must encounter the person of Jesus who claimed for himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but through me. So this morning's lesson is entitled, Who Is This Man?

And this morning we're gonna look at two righteous responses to Jesus' humanity. So that we might ponder anew our heart's response.

And believe in him.

We're gonna go to the book of John and spend some time in Luke and look at two righteous responses of the people who followed and encountered Jesus so that we might ponder anew our heart's response to him this Christmas season and believe in him.

So our first righteous response is gonna be found in John chapter one, and it's going to be humble questions. First response will be humble questions. So we're gonna start in John chapter one, but let's get warmed up here by thinking about the reality that we've studied how Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the dramatic sequence of Jesus coming to be baptized by John, hearing from God the Father, you are my beloved son, and you I am well pleased.

And then being led out by the spirit into the wilderness to be tested by Satan, and then returning to Judea, to the region where John was baptizing before he begins his public ministry up in Galilee. Now, as Jesus begins these early stages of his public ministry, which are recorded for us in a great deal of detail in John chapters one through four, we can observe how the people in multiple different locations, from multiple different backgrounds, and with multiple different presuppositions respond to the truth of who this spirit filled God man is, and what he is saying about himself, what he is doing as he says those things, and what others are saying about him at the same time.

So let's read together John chapter one, we're gonna read from verse 19 all the way through 34, and then make some observations from this section about John the Baptist and his conversation or dialogue with some of the Jews from Judea about Jesus.

Let's read starting in verse 19. John chapter one, this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

They asked him, what then?

Are you Elijah?

And he said, I am not.

Are you the prophet?

And he answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you? So that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say of yourself? He said, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him and said to him, why then are you baptizing? If you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. John answered them saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you do not know.

It is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him and said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is he on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. I did not recognize him, but so that he might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.

John testified saying, I have seen the spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and he remained upon him. I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, he upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

I myself have seen and have testified that this is the son of God. So John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and then he continues his ministry of proclamation of the kingdom of God to the nation of Israel, preparing the way of the Lord and continuing to baptize.

And after Jesus returns from the wilderness, John is challenged by the Jewish leaders with a series of questions, questioning his authority to continue his ministry of baptism. They ask him a series of five questions and the dialogue contains a wealth of information for us about how John was responding to the spirit, filling him with revelation and information about his cousin, Jesus.

So the first question that John is asked is, who are you? And he says, are you the Christ is basically what's implied and he replies back, I am not. I'm not the Christ. We say, okay, well, are you the prophet then?

No, who are you then? So that we may give an answer. What do you say about yourself? And John answers, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as Isaiah the prophet said.

Well, why then are you baptizing? If you're not the Christ, you're not Elijah, you're not the prophet, you don't have any authority whatsoever. He says, I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know.

It is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal.

I am not worthy to untie.

Now these questions that are asked by the Jewish priests and Levites who are sent out here, they seem innocent. Even noble on the surface, but they betray both a lack of understanding and a lack of faith in God's word.

They have missed the point of Isaiah and the other prophets and whatever their conception of who the Messiah Christ was to be, they're not making the connection here between what John is proclaiming about Jesus and what they thought he should be.

Now John's answers tell us that what God had revealed to him both in the Old Testament, which he had studied and through his own prophetic calling, the revelation that he was being given, he had a great deal of information with which to be faithful to and to believe.

So what did John believe? Well, look back at your texts here, right? When he proclaims, he says, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. He's proclaiming that what Isaiah said would happen is happening.

And here's my role in this. I'm the one who's come to baptize in water, verse 26, to prepare the way for this one who is coming after me. John is proclaiming a gospel of repentance for national Israel.

He says that the coming one is going to come to redeem his people, Israel, as part of God's great plan to restore and redeem them from their sin. And my job is to simply prepare the way. Now, the next day, when John sees Jesus approaching, he makes just this amazing statement that we just read that encapsulates a tremendous amount of truth for us about who Jesus is in his humanity and how John was responding to that humanity and how John wanted his disciples to respond to that humanity.

Look back with me at verses 29 through 34. Remember, he says the next day, he sees Jesus coming to him and he says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he on behalf of whom I sin.

After me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. Now, the statement, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, it's not as easy as you might think it is to understand what precisely John meant and how the original audience was intended to understand it.

There's a lot of discussion and debate about what he meant and what analogy he's pulling forward from the Old Testament. I think it's helpful, but I think for you and I, with the benefit of the entire New Testament, we don't have to work as hard as the original audience might've had to work to understand what he means.

We get the point. Jesus is the Lamb. He's the one who comes to bring redemption through his life and death. Jesus will function in that role of the Lamb who will bear the sins of his people. But this is John's gospel proclamation.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's what he wanted his disciples and the people of Israel to encounter and believe. Now, look at verse 30. He says, this is he on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a man who has a higher rank than I.

John grasped the reality that Jesus' human life as a man would surpass his own in significance. There was no competition here, right? John knew that Jesus' human life was going to be more significant than his.

And he also grasped the reality that we have been working hard to grasp for the past 10 weeks and more, that Jesus is both a man and the Son of God who existed before me. John is not oblivious to the reality that he's older than Jesus.

So Jesus physically did not exist before him, but in a sense that Jesus as the eternal Son of God did exist before him. John is able to encapsulate into this beautiful statement. So here's a question that I had to wrestle with, and I want you to do so as well.

If you look in verses 30 all the way through 31, you see that John twice says, I did not recognize him. What does he mean by I did not recognize him? Now, there's a possibility that John and Jesus had not lived around each other and that he physically didn't know what he looked like, but I don't think that's the reality here.

When John says, I did not recognize him, he says, but basically God testified to me and said, when you see this one who is going to come, you're going to see him in light of the Spirit descending upon him.

When you see the Spirit descend upon this one, you're going to recognize something that you did not realize previously about him, right? He says, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and he remained upon him.

And we looked at this word remained back when we studied the baptism and realized that this remained verb gives us the sense that when the Spirit descends, this is a permanent indwelling of Jesus that is consistent with the theocratic anointing of kings and prophets in the Old Testament.

When the Spirit came and settled upon them, there was a change, a dramatic change in their public persona and how they carry themselves because the Spirit was part of them, right? You see how it existed in the lives of King David, but also King Saul, and when the Spirit removes himself from King Saul, you know it because Saul literally goes insane.

But in this particular context here, John was waiting for something. He knew he was preparing the way for this Messiah. He's proclaiming it, but he's watching for something. And he had not yet realized the full significance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to prepare Jesus for his public ministry.

But now he's seen it and he can testify to it. He's seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and remaining upon him. So this is an expression of faith by John. He is recognizing that God has fulfilled his promises to send a Redeemer to his faithless people, Israel.

And now he believes this, whereas the people that he's dialoguing with don't. There's a direct contrast between the truth that Jesus is the one who has come, and the reality that the people who are watching and observing are saying, well, no, how is this man any different from any of the other Messiah groups that have come or figures that have come before him?

John has a expectation and a hope that comes from his study of God's Word and the Spirit filling him with further revelation. However, I think this is important for us this morning. Even though we can see John's faith in God and in the revelation of Jesus quite clearly, that doesn't mean that he had all the information that he needed or even wanted about Jesus yet.

He didn't quite have all of the details figured out just yet. He didn't know precisely what was gonna come next and how it was going to occur. In other words, even though God had given him faith to act upon the information that he had thus far, he still had questions.

Recall how John continues to question Jesus later during his imprisonment. For that, I'm gonna take you to the book of Luke. Let's turn back there to Luke chapter seven, verse 20. Fast forward in time.

You know, John gets on the wrong side of the Jewish leadership. He gets cast into prison. And from prison, he sends some men, some of his disciples to Jesus with questions for Jesus. John chapter seven, we'll read verse 20 here.

It says, when the men came to him, they said, John, the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? Think about that for a second. In light of what we just saw, John is just the one who says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

I already know this. I've got it figured out.

But here, a little while later,.

He's sitting there going, wait a second. Did I miss something? Are you really the one? Are you really that expected one? Or should I be looking for someone else? So clearly, Jesus' ministry had not unfolded exactly the way that John expected it to.

And his own personal sufferings at the hand of the Jewish leadership increased the intensity of his questions for Jesus. Can I get this wrong? Wait a second here. Was I telling all of my disciples that you were the Christ and they should follow you and I was wrong?

Should I be waiting for somebody else? How does Jesus answer John? How does he answer John's disciples as he speaks indirectly to John who is seeking truth from the source of truth? Well, look at verses 21 through 28.

At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. And he gave sight to many who were blind. And he answered and said to them, go and report to John what you have seen and heard.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. When the messengers of John had left, he began to speak to the crowds about John.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces.

But what did you go out to see?

A prophet?

Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you. I say to you, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John.

Yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Jesus answers John by demonstrating his spirit-filled power that extends to all areas of miraculous activity that would have been prophesied in the Old Testament as an authentication, a mark that this is a man who has the Holy Spirit upon him.

Right, he heals the blind, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. And he quotes the Old Testament, right? The poor have the gospel preached to them. Jesus is saying to John and to John's disciples who are probably asking the same questions John has, I am the one.

And how do you know that? I am doing what the Old Testament prophets predicted of me as a sign, an authentication that this is the one who is bringing the kingdom to this world. This is the mark of the man.

Jesus is the truth because he has come to fulfill the truthfulness of God's covenant promises to his people. Jesus is declaring that he too is a prophet, yet way far more than a prophet. He uses that phrase of John, right?

This is a prophet, but more than a prophet. But he's also saying that about himself, right? A prophet could do miraculous things in the Old Testament when the Spirit of God was upon him. Jesus is a prophet, but he is way more.

Further, in Jesus' prophetic utterance here, he can see beyond what John himself could see about the significance of John's proclamation. John kind of knew approximately what his role was, but Jesus can see even more about what John was unaware of.

John was unaware of how significant his role as one could have been. He could have been the prophesied Elijah. No, he said, no, I'm not the Elijah. But Jesus says in Matthew chapter 17, verse 10 through 13, when his disciples ask him, well, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

And he answers and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah already came and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. He's talking about John.

He's saying he could have been Elijah to you had you received him. So let's return to the response of John. And I'm gonna take you not back to John one, but let's go back to John three, verse 22. So forward in your Bibles, but back to John.

I had to think about how to write that in my notes. So I didn't get you going the wrong direction here. John chapter three, verse 22. So this happens after the initial conversation with Jesus in John chapter one, but obviously before what we just read in Luke seven.

Let's think about the response of John. Let's read verses 22 through 34. It says, after these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea. And there he was spending time with them and baptizing.

John also was baptizing in Anan near Salim because there was much water there and people were coming and were being baptized for John had not yet been thrown into prison. Therefore, there arose a discussion on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification.

And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.

You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

What he has seen and heard of that he testifies and no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has said speaks the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure.

The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now, you can tell that I don't have time this morning to deep dive exegete all of these passages for you.

Fortunately, somebody has already done that for our church body and it's recorded. And I would commend to you to go back and listen to Jim's sermons on this. But John's statement of his unswerving belief in Jesus as his own significance starts to fade is very powerful.

John says, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. Later he says, he who has received testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. John recognizes that all men, no matter how great or how insignificant are dependent upon the revelation of truth from God.

You want truth, where does it come from? Comes from heaven, it comes from God. He had received the truth, he believed it and he had commended it to others. What a righteous response worth imitating for us, is it not?

John believed the truth. He had a clear grasp on the reality that his own joy would be made full by one thing and one thing only, the messianic ministry of Jesus increasing to its full and true significance.

That is our source of joy, is it not? The one thing that can bring us the fullness of joy is to see Jesus on his throne as Messiah, as King over this world. John also understood that Jesus was not merely a man, he who comes from above is above all.

He who comes from heaven is above all. John understood that as powerful as his own spirit filled, prophetic message was, that it paled in comparison to Jesus. Remember what Jesus said about him, there's no one born who's greater than John, but John recognizes that there is one born who is greater than John and he must increase, I must increase, but he still had questions and you and I are allowed to have questions.

I love the fact that God does not discourage his people from wrestling with difficult questions when we encounter the God man. John wrestled with questions after this point as we just looked at in Luke, but look again, I love this verse and I wish I could spend even more time on this verse at verse 34 of John 3.

For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God for he gives the spirit without measure. Now the pronouns here are rough, it's hard to know the who is he and which one is talking about, but I think the best way to understand this is for he whom God has sent speaks the word for he, that's God the father, gives the spirit to Jesus without measure.

That's the key phrase here. When God gives the spirit to Jesus, he gives the spirit to him in a way that is beyond measure. So much spirit, it's beyond what any man or any king, any prophet has ever experienced or will ever experienced beyond Jesus.

Jesus is filled with the spirit, he is more powerful, he's wiser and he's more enduring than any prophet or king will ever be. And John knows it and he's proclaiming that truth to his disciples. So in summary here, we see that the combination of Jesus being filled by the spirit at his baptism and his fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in word and in deed were intended by God to grant John and the readers of the gospel of John the truth, the revelation and the faith that are necessary to ask and answer the hard questions.

I find it so helpful that God does not discourage his children from asking questions, but in asking them, God wants us to be prepared to conform our minds and our hearts and our actions to the truth. John and his disciples, they heard it, they read the Old Testament truth and they heard and they saw Jesus and what did they do?

They changed their minds and their lives in conformity to the truth, they lived it out. So implications for us from this section, number one, it is profitable for us, very profitable for us to wrestle with the challenging aspects of understanding the God man, Christ Jesus.

We've been doing it for 10 weeks and I hope that you continue doing it for the rest of your lives. Number two, as we stretch forward to understand the revelation, we must express the same faith of John the Baptist.

It must be derived from a sincere expectation that what God has promised in the Old Testament, he will accomplish. We have a great opportunity to apply that right now today as we listen to Psalm 37 again.

If God said it, he will do it exactly as he said it. This is true for both the original audience and those who are brought into the new covenant through the man, Christ Jesus. And third, I love this reality that we talked about Jesus' ability to perform miracles.

Jesus authenticated his ministry to John by doing what, performing miracles.

How?

Because he was filled with the spirit beyond measure. We should understand Jesus' ability to perform miracles in light of his messianic proclamation of the kingdom as empowered by the Holy Spirit. So let me stop there and see if you have any questions or comments from that first long section of John and Luke.

I do see a question.

Peter, thank you.

I absolutely think that's, no, the Pharisees, I'll repeat the question, thank you, Sam. So Peter asked, in my introduction, I said that the hard reality is when you proclaim truth and people don't accept it.

That's a hard reality. Was that true about John, that he was not accepting it? No, I think that John was accepting it. John was proclaiming truth to a generation of Jews, some of whom were accepting it, his disciples, as we're gonna look at next, some of whom were not accepting it.

And that hard reality that others will not accept it is that frustration. He struggles, and I think it's a good thing to say, you can have faith and struggle. You're not rejecting it by having hard questions.

You're rejecting it if you hear the truth and do not respond.

Faith-Filled Expectations and Following Jesus

Yeah.

All right, so let's look at this last section here of John chapter one. So I'll take you back to John 1 .35 and then into chapter two, verse 11, in our last section here. We saw that the first righteous response to Jesus' humanity was humble questions, having humble questions.

The second righteous response that we're going to see here is faith-filled expectations, faith-filled expectations. So the narrative transitions from John's testimony to the account of how Jesus' disciples begin to follow him.

Now look at John chapter one, verse 35 to 36. Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked and said, behold, the Lamb of God. John continues to express his strong and humble faith in God's revelation by continuing to point his disciples away from himself and toward Jesus.

He repeats it, behold, the Lamb of God. And I was stunned by this this week. I was thinking to myself, how did these early disciples get the information that they needed to choose to follow Jesus? And it boils down to one very discreet thing, John the Baptist.

He is the one who points his disciples to Jesus, and they, in turn, follow him. But if John did not preach, kind of the hypothetical, how would they know? And the gospel message that John preached is very simple.

Behold, the Lamb of God. That's as simple as it had to be for these men. Now, obviously, they knew more. They were able to ask more questions that we don't have recorded here in scripture, so this is not all the information that's necessary to understand the gospel, but it is the gospel encapsulated.

And what did they do?

They followed Jesus. Look back.

He looked at Jesus as he walked and said,.

Behold, the Lamb of God.

And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Now, the follow here, it's a once-for-all action. They made a commitment to follow Jesus. Now, it stands in such stark contrast to us today.

This is not like, well, sure,.

I'm gonna subscribe to this guy's YouTube channel. I like the way he preaches. I might go visit his church for a couple of weeks and see if I wanna follow him. They're making a life commitment. They're abandoning a lot of physical safety, comfort to follow this man.

And help him in his proclamation of this ministry. So why do they follow him? No miracles have occurred yet. There's nothing to observe and say, well, gosh, that's the Son of God. Nothing has happened yet.

They hadn't even heard him teach. I mean, you and I, when we hear someone teach, we're like, whoa, the Spirit of God is upon that man. They have not even heard Jesus stand up and teach yet. So what compelled them to follow?

The testimony of John and the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah and the man, Jesus himself. So Jesus asks them, what do you seek? And they reply to him, where are you staying? So let's read this together.

I didn't read this full passage. I probably should have here. So let's finish the passage and then we'll come back and look at it. The two disciples, verse 37, heard him speak and they followed Jesus.

And Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what do you seek? They said to him, rabbi, which translated means teacher, where are you staying? And he said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ.

And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John, you shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter. The next day he purposed to go into Galilee and he found Philip.

And Jesus said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.