The Exemplary Witness

The Identity of John the Baptist as a Man Sent from God

Oh good morning everyone, I would like to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the first chapter of the Gospel of John and hold your place at verse 6. Want to begin this morning with a question and I hope that it makes sense.

I actually did a little poll this week online asking other people this question wanting to see what answers I would get and obviously I can't go around the room and ask you all what your answer is but I'd like for you just for a moment in your own mind to ask yourself this question.

If you could change or maybe just the word better be improve, if you could improve one thing about yourself what would it be? This time of year, this is the beginning of the year, this is our first Sunday of 2025.

It's good to see so many people here on this Sunday. Keep it up. But it's a wonderful thing to see everyone and so I ask, you know, many of us when we come to this time of year we start thinking what do I need to improve?

What can I do? What can I sort of take stock? Some people make resolutions which last about 15 minutes. But a good question sometimes for us to ask is if there was one thing in our life that we could change, one thing that we could improve on, one thing that we want to be different, what would it be?

I asked this question online and got many interesting responses. Lot of it had to do with health and fitness and wellness. Lot of it had to do with spiritual things, want to be more disciplined in prayer, want to be a better at saying no to my flesh, things like that.

Those were some of the answers that I received. But as I was asking this question I wasn't asking it without motive. I really wanted to see when asking that question how many of us would say that if I could change one thing about myself that I would want to be a better witness for Christ.

That I would want to be better at sharing Christ, proclaiming Christ, telling people about Jesus. I'd want to be more bold, I'd want to be more humble, I'd want to be stronger in my witness. Because honestly I think if we really got down to it, that's one of the areas that so many of us really do need to consider an area of growth.

Now some of you are wonderful witnesses and you often come to me and you tell me I was sharing Jesus with this person, I was telling this person about Jesus, I was proclaiming the gospel to this person, I'm not going to put you on the spot but I will.

My brother Mike, every time we talk two or three times a week, almost every time I talk he goes yeah I was telling somebody about Jesus or I was talking to somebody about Jesus or I was witnessing, and again I hope you don't be embarrassed by that, I'm not trying to put you on a pedestal.

But that kind of thing is something that I wish I was better at. I wish I had as many stories. But again I want to grow in this area. I want to be a better witness for Christ when I'm talking to people and when I'm living my life before people, this is something I want to grow in.

And so as I was considering this week, I want to tell you as I sat down to write the sermon I first started writing from verse 6 to verse 13. Because as we're looking at what are called pericopes or sections of scripture that you take apart and teach, verses 6 to 13 hold together as one thought or one pericope.

But as I began to write my thoughts on verse 6 and verse 7 and verse, I couldn't get past verse 8, I was like this is enough. I'm already preaching almost an hour every Sunday, I don't want to, I don't know, I wanted to go two hours but I mean it's like if I had gone all the way to 13 we'd have never.

Made it out of here.

So I said you know what, I just want to look at verses 6, 7, and 8 because what 6, 7, and 8 are going to show us is that of all the things that can be said about John the Baptist and there are many wonderful things that are said about him in scripture, the thing that John and his gospel seeks to focus on in the life of John the Baptist is not his preaching, it's not his arrest and death, it's not his birth which all of those are talked about in other gospels, no it's his witness.

The word witness is used in the gospel of John almost 50 times and half of those times are related to John the Baptist as the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who came, who was born to be his witness.

His very purpose in life was to be the one who would point to someone greater than himself. And beloved I pray today that we understand that in a way that also is the purpose of our life. Jesus said we are the light of the world but not the light of ourselves but we reflect the light of the sun to point to one who is greater than ourselves.

So let's stand and read this short section of this gospel. John chapter 1 beginning at verse 6 says, There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

He was not the light but he came to bear witness about the light.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven as we examine just a few verses today, I pray oh God that we would draw from this text what you intend for us to see. That I would not impose upon this text things that are not here. But Lord that we would learn from your word through your spirit what you have for us.

And I pray oh God knowing that these passages are not here by accident. This was not simply a slip of the pen of the gospel writer. But Lord these verses are here intentionally though seemingly abruptly in the text.

And I pray Lord as we consider not only what they mean in regard to the person to whom they point and that is John. But Lord how that also points back to us. Lord we are here in this world. You have called us to be ones who shine the light of Christ and point people to him.

So Lord I pray that through this message today that Lord you would in your mercy and your grace help us to understand the value of being a witness for Christ. And I pray oh Lord as I pray every week that you would keep me from error.

For God I am a fallible man and I'm capable of erring and I don't want to for the sake of your name and for the sake of my conscience and for the sake of the people who will hear.

This.

Please Lord keep me tied to the post of your word and do not let me stray. And I pray oh God for the believers who are here. Lord that this would be a message of encouragement to them today a message of exhortation to shine the light of the gospel so that all might see.

And Lord I pray for those who are here who do not know the Lord. We know Lord there are always those who have not yet come to saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray that through the proclamation of the gospel today that they would hear that they would be given by your spirit an ability that they do not yet have and that is the ability to turn from their unbelief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and through trusting in him by the power of your spirit that they might have life.

That was the very reason for which John came. He preached so that those who heard him would believe in Jesus. Lord I pray that same today for the preaching of your word in Jesus name. We're continuing this morning in our journey through the prologue of John's gospel this being our next book in this church it is our it is our custom to preach through books of the Bible.

Last year I preached through the book of 2nd Corinthians before that it was Colossians and then before that I think it was Genesis which took three years and I started a few weeks ago in the gospel of John knowing that it will probably be like Genesis a multi-year investment of time.

So there will be weeks that we take off we're going to take off next week we're going to be ordaining a deacon. So we will separate ourselves to the focus of that for one Sunday but in general we go verse by verse through books of the Bible.

It's just our practice and when I knew when we opened up John's gospel that this was going to be as I said a huge investment and not only an investment in the book itself but also an investment in just this first 18 verses.

I think this is our fourth or fifth week in the book and we've only now come to verses six seven and eight because this opening of John's gospel which is called the prologue of John is so rich and so full of important theological truth that we can't just run through it we have to stop and invest time in learning about it.

This first 18 verses of John serves as a launch pad for the rest of the book. If you don't understand the prologue you won't understand John. If you don't understand what he's giving us in these first 18 verses you're not going to understand what he gives us in the next 20 chapters.

We are not going to really be able to understand what John is trying to say unless we understand what he's saying in these first few verses. And as we have seen this prologue of John centers around identifying this character this person who is referred to as the Logos.

That's the Greek in English it's simply the word. We get our words like logic from that word Logos, biology the word Logos is the ending of that it's the suffix which means the study or the word about something.

So Logos means word and the gospel of John begins in the beginning was the Logos. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. That's such a marvelous mystery about how the word can be with God and be God at the same time and we invested time over the last few weeks in learning about what that means and how do we understand that.

And after in verse 1 John identifies the word he then begins to set the word in his place regarding his relationships. In fact if I could tell you that's what I think the gospel or the prologue of John is about it's about helping us understand the relationship of the Logos to everything else.

We have his relationship to time in the beginning was the word. We have his relationship to deity and he was with God and he was God. We have his relationship to creation all things were made by him and nothing that was made was not made by him.

We have his relationship to the world the world did not know him. We have his relationship to Israel he came unto his own and his own did not receive him. We have his relationship to the flesh the word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

We have his relationship to Moses the law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. We have his relationship to his purpose it says that he came to make the father known says actually the Greek word he came to exegete God to exegete means to expose or to draw out or to put on display and that's what Jesus did that's what the Logos did that is his relationship to all of these things.

Well today we are going to see his relationship to a man and that man is going to be the focus of verses 6 7 and 8 but also that man becomes a focus again in verse 15 and then in verses 19 to 37. That man of course is John the Baptist and so we're going to look today at three facts that we learn from verses 6 7 and 8 about this man known as John the Baptist or as this text simply refers to him as John or as the witness and so our outline today is very simple.

We are going to look first at the identity of the witness then we are going to look at the responsibility of the witness and then finally we are going to look briefly at the humility of the witness. These are the three things that we see in verses 6 7 and 8 so let's begin with verse 6 which gives us the identity of the witness.

It says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now I don't know about you but when I'm reading John's Gospel and I read this massive opening like the prelude to an awesome orchestral number.

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and he was with God in the beginning and all things were made through him and nothing that was made was not made by him. In him was life and that life was the light of men and the light is coming to the darkness and the darkness is not overcoming.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. It just sort of comes out of nowhere. It breaks into this great orchestral prelude and just sort of stops the momentum. I was listening to John Piper talk about this passage and he said some people just when they are reading that they automatically have to think is this a mistake?

Like he was going with so much force it was like the crescendo in a song it was just getting.

Better and better and then boom.

Oh yeah there was this guy. But again this section, this portion of this Gospel it's about relationships from the Logos to all other things. And so now John has sought not to interrupt the flow of thought but to add to the flow of thought this very important figure in the life of the Logos.

Understand this. He has not even mentioned yet that the Logos is going to become flesh. He's not even told us yet who the Logos is for certain. But what he wants us to know for sure is he wants us to know who the prelude to the Logos.

Is.

Who the forerunner to the Logos is. So he says there was a man. Understand that. This is the first man mentioned in the text. You say the Logos is a man, the Logos is Jesus. Yes but the Logos hasn't become flesh in the text yet.

The Logos doesn't become flesh until verse 14. This is the first human figure mentioned. He's mentioned the Logos who at this point is referencing Christ in his pre-incarnate.

State.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. But there was a man. John was not a divine figure. Though he was a man certainly used of God, filled with the Spirit of God and was a powerful preacher of God, a prophet of God, the last Old Testament prophet of God, he was himself not the Christ.

He was a man. And so John's interruption in this great prelude is to simply point out there was a man and he says about this man that he, there was this man who, who was. And I know this is going to sound funny but you know how much I like to look at language and I like to sort of see how the language works together.

The word was is an important word. It's a verbal form of the idea of being. And so it's a be verb. That's what we call it. And when we look at so far the word was has been used of the Logos. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God.

That word was is a different Greek word than this one. Because that word was indicates the Logos' pre-existence, that he already was. In the beginning, in fact I mentioned this when I preached on it, I said if you look up, if you look up the New English translation and you look up their rendering of John 1 1, in the beginning the word already was.

And the reason why they put that idea of already in there is because they're trying to indicate what the Greek does indicate and that is that that use of was is already was. But then there is agoneto which is the Greek word for come or become.

And so when this says there was a man, another way of saying it could simply be there came.

A man.

This man came. This man became. This man is a creation. What do we know about the Logos? He's uncreated. What do we know about the Logos? He is not part of creation. But this man is part of creation. There came or there was a man.

And that's what John is. He is a man. And you might think that's simple. Yes, but in relationship to the word it's profound. Because the word is the God-man. There was a man. Sent from God. Now that word sent is the verbal form of the word that we translate into English as apostle.

Apostello is the verb and this is the participial form of that verb. So it's a little bit different, but it's basically the word apostella. There was a man who was sent by God. The word apostle is an interesting word.

It simply means one who is sent by someone else. When Jesus sent out the twelve. When he sent out his apostles. They were apostles by nature of his sending them. That's what makes them his apostles. Today many people claim to be apostles.

And for just a moment let me just stop for a second and say. The original apostles had a very particular and special place in the history of the church. According to the scripture they were the foundation.

It says the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. So they had a specific place in the founding and building of the church. That's why we read this morning from the Nicene Creed.

One, holy, universal and apostolic church. So there's a reference to that. But the word apostle can have a broader meaning. It certainly relates to the original twelve. Matthias of course taking the place of Judas.

And then Paul who called himself the one who was born out of season. He's an apostle but not like the others. There are other men in the gospel who are given the title of apostle. But we always call them little a apostles.

Not in the category of the twelve. And today if you were to ask me are there apostles today not like the twelve. Some pastors go by the title apostle. And if that just means you know sort of like pastor sent one.

That ain't the hill I'm dying on. I don't care. But in general today when people claim apostleship. They're claiming some kind of authority that doesn't belong to them. That's the danger. The appropriate way today if we were going to say an apostle.

Would be like for us it would be Scott Phillips. Because he is a missionary. We send him. We send money to him. We want him to go. And so he goes. And he goes. Because we're not the only church he sent.

We're not even his sending church. So maybe that's a wrong way of applying it to him. But you understand what I'm saying. A missionary is sent by the church. And so that would probably be the best way to use that word today.

Would be not necessarily for a pastor. But rather for the missionaries. Who we send out. But coming back to this idea. John there is a man who is sent by God. And the idea of apostella. The idea of the sending here.

Is one who has the authority of the sender. That's why we talk about apostolic authority. Why did the apostles have a particular form of authority? Because Christ had sent them. Christ had given them that authority.

I give you authority to tread on serpents.

And to go and to cast out demons.

I give you that authority. John had been given an authority by God. A calling by God. A sending by God. In a moment we're going to see what that was. But this is just to point this out. He was sent by God.

There was a man sent from God. Whose name was John. Well that's simple enough. We know. The John to whom he is referring. But he does not stop. To qualify. Who this John is. And as I was thinking about that this week.

One of the things that he doesn't do in this gospel. Is he doesn't really explain who John is. As I said earlier. If you look at John's. This is going to get confusing.

John the Gospel writer.

John the Baptist.

When you look at John the Gospel writer's writing. About John the Baptist. What you learn is he doesn't say a lot about him. That we learn in the other gospels. He doesn't mention his miraculous birth.

Remember he was born to old parents. Right? He doesn't mention that he preached repentance. That's not in John's gospel. Doesn't mention that he had a peculiar diet and wardrobe. What was that? He wore camel's hair.

And he ate locusts and wild honey. It doesn't even mention that he baptized Jesus. It implies it. Because he says he saw the spirit descend on him. But doesn't say he did it. It's implied in the text.

But it's not described. He doesn't even tell us about John's death. He does later mention that John was in prison. But it's literally. If you read through John's. It's like this was when John was in prison.

Like everybody knows that. But he doesn't mention the situation with Herod. You guys remember how John died? Herod's daughter. I'm sorry. Herod's wife's daughter.

Or his brother Philip's wife's daughter.

And that's why John was in prison. Because he happened to mention that fact. And she danced for him. And he said you can have everything up to half my kingdom. And she said I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

And so it happened. But again none of that is in John's gospel. John's gospel. I think assumes a lot of prior knowledge. It assumes that his audience already knows a lot. About what happened in the life of John the Baptist.

Because he doesn't feel the need to fill in anything or to tell anything. What he does do. And we're going to see this in a moment. He talks about John's mission. He doesn't talk about John the person.

He talks about John's purpose. Not his person. There was a man sent from God. Whose name was John. And that's it. That's what we get. We don't get a lot of information about him.

Now.

That is his identity as comes to us in the text. And my first thought as I was considering this. Is I thought his identity is being overshadowed by his mission. His identity is being overshadowed by his purpose.

Because who he was. Was not as important as what he came to do. Who he was. Was not as important as what God had called him to do. What God had sent him to do. That's what mattered. And so this brief interruption in the text.

Is interruption to simply say. There was this man sent from God. Whose name was John. Which immediately goes back to the focus. Of who the focus is on. And that's the Logos. That's who we've been talking about since verse 1.

And so verse 6 breaks into that. There was a man sent from God. Whose name was John.

The Witness’s Calling to Bear Witness to the Light

He came as a witness.

And this is what takes us to the responsibility.

Of the witness.

We've seen the identity of the witness. He was a man. He was sent from God. His name was John. To bear witness. To bear witness.

About the light.

That all might believe through him.

Now.

The English word. Martyr. Comes from. The Greek word. For witness.

Over time.

The Greek word. Marturion. Was transliterated into Latin. It made its way into the Latin Vulgate. As martyr. And then has been adopted into our English language. Which our English language is a hodgepodge.

Of various other languages anyway. And martyr simply got included in our language. But with a different meaning. Was John a martyr in our sense?

Well yeah.

I mean he died. And he died for proclaiming the truth. But that's not what the word witness meant. When John. The gospel writer is writing it. The word marturion. Was not about someone. Who died for what they believed in.

Or died for their proclamation. The word marturion. Simply means. One who gives a testimony. It was a legal term. It was one that was a courtroom term.

In fact.

Something I'm beginning to notice. As I'm studying through John. And preparing my messages. And thinking through. John uses a lot of courtroom language. John uses a lot of language. That is intended to point us to this idea.

Of there being a legal case for Jesus Christ. He's got witnesses.

He's got proof. He's got judgments.

All of these things are pointing to the fact. That we ought to believe in this thing. Because or this person. Because this person has every reason. For us to believe in them. Just like if you were to be sitting in a jury box.

And you were told to render a verdict. And the witness comes up. And gives the witness to the case. And you have to make a verdict. We're going to see this call for the verdict. Throughout John's gospel.

This call to believe. That is to look at what the witnesses have said. And believe in their witness. We still use that today. You go to court. What do they say? Call your first witness.

Right?

Call the one who's going to come. And give testimony. John is introduced here. As the first witness.

In fact.

If you will.

He is.

He's the first witness of the case. What's John's gospel? What's the purpose of John's gospel? We talked about this five weeks ago. When we started this study. Purpose of John's gospel. It tells us in John chapter 20.

These things have I written. That you might believe. That Jesus is the Christ. The son of God. That's why I wrote. So now. We've got the first witness.

Called.

To bear testimony. For that thing. That you would believe. In that person. Here's the first witness. He was a man sent from God. His name was John. He came as a witness.

Now.

When we read the text.

It says.

He came as a witness. And we see the phrase. To bear witness about the light. That all may believe. Or might believe. Through him.

Now.

We have there. What's known as a purpose clause. In the original. The term is Hinnah. It's the Hinnah clause. And so. Another way to read it. If you will.

Would be.

He came as a witness. For the purpose. Of bearing witness. Now that sounds like. That sounds like it's. Superfluous. Sounds repetitious. But that's the point. He's telling us. His responsibility. He's telling us. His purpose.

He came.

As.

For this very purpose. To bear witness. About.

The light. What light?

What light is being referred to here?

The Logos.

If you go back just a few verses. It tells us. In him. Who's the him? Him is the Logos. In him was.

Life.

And that life was the what? The light of men. And the light has. Come into the darkness. And the darkness has not. Overcome it.

This is the light.

That John has come. To bear witness.

To.

This is the light.

That John has come. To bear witness.

For.

The Logos. Is the light.

Come into the world.

John.

Is the one.

Whose job it is.

To tell everyone.

The light.

Is.

Coming.

Now you may.

You may wonder.

Why would.

Why would Jesus need that? Jesus is miraculous. Jesus is amazing.

Jesus is.

Like a bolt of lightning.

And.

And John. Is like a candle. Candles don't give light. To lightning bolts.

What. What's the.

What's the comparison here.

John.

Came first.

John.

Came.

Before.

His.

Responsibility.

Was.

To go.

And make straight. The path of the Lord.

To prepare.

People. For the coming.

Of the Lord.

That was his. Responsibility.

To go.

Before.

And to prepare them. For receiving him. What does it tell us later? We're going to learn about this more. When we get back to John. After we. Take a little break. But when we come back.

In verses.

Nine.

Through.

Thirteen. It says the world did not.

What.

Did not know him.

The world didn't know him. But John's job. Was to go and tell people about him. John's job was to go and prepare people. To receive him. This is why. Once Jesus comes on the scene. John. Is no longer the central figure.

He's no longer the focus.

In fact.

We're going to see this in a moment. We look at his humility. He even says that. He must increase.

And I must.

Decrease. I came first.

But I'm not first.

I came first. Because God has appointed me.

He has.

He has sent me.

To bear witness about the light. But I am not the light. So John. Came as a witness. To bear witness.

About the light.

Here's the next purpose clause. First purpose clause. He came as a witness.

For the purpose.

Of bearing witness about the light. For the purpose. That all might believe. Through him. Beloved. John's purpose.

In life.

Was that people would believe. Through him. And please notice. The use. Of that preposition. Notice it doesn't say. That all would believe in him.

John.

Was not seeking. People to believe in him. He was seeking that people believe in Christ. Through him. Boy that's a big difference isn't it. When we think about the purpose. Of a witness. The purpose of the witness is not.

To develop a following for themselves. And there were those who followed John. There were those. Who thought John was the Messiah. There were those. Who tried to. Exalt him. But his purpose. Was not to be exalted.

But rather.

Was that people would believe. In the light. Through him. His identity. Was overshadowed by his mission.

His.

Responsibility. Was to bear witness to the light. He was not. Trying. To bear witness. For himself. But for the light. And this leads us to the third thing. The humility. Of the witness.

It says.

He.

Was.

Not.

The.

Light.

But came to bear witness.

About the light.

The Humility of the Witness Who Refused to Be the Light

Now.

Understand this. John the Baptist did not write that part. But it agrees with what John saw. In himself. When John the gospel writer says. He was not the light. That again is going against.