The Witness of the Lamb

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If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to John chapter 1 and hold your place at verse 19.
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This morning is our first sermon out of John's prologue, which we have been studying now for the last several months, looking at the first 18 verses of the
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Gospel of John. And you'll remember through those few months that we took it literally sometimes one word at a time.
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Well, now that we have come to verse 19, we're going to see a picking up of the pace a little.
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It would not be possible to preach the entire book with the slow, one verse at a time approach that we've taken with the prologue.
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And it wouldn't be appropriate because the rest of the book comes to us in didactic...
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or, excuse me, well, it does come in didactic monologues and in narrative stories. And sometimes it's important to see the whole rather than focusing too much on one or two particular words.
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And so today we are going to read a rather lengthy portion. Whether we're going to get to it all,
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I do not know. There's a very good chance that this will become a two -part sermon.
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But we'll see as the Lord leads as I preach. I want to also remind you that when we're looking at this today, we're reminded again, we're brought back to the life and person of John the
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Baptist. Now a few weeks ago, in John's prologue, we talked about John.
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We talked about the fact that he is mentioned early in the Gospel. He is mentioned in verses 4 and 5, or rather, excuse me, 6 and 7, when it says there was a man sent from God whose name was
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John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all men might believe through him. He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light.
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And then again in verse 15, we are told about John again. John bore witness about him and cried out, this is he of whom
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I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me.
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So John has already been introduced in the prologue of this
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Gospel. And I think it's at least important that we consider why
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John is being mentioned in the way that he is. Because John's Gospel mentions
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John the Baptist in a different way than the other Gospels do. The other
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Gospels focus upon John the man. Luke talks about his birth, his miraculous birth to an elderly couple.
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Matthew talks about his ministry and how he preached this strong message of repentance.
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And he talked about the axe being at the root of the tree. And this powerful message of judgment that was coming from this man who was out preaching in the wilderness.
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We're told about his clothing. He's wearing of camel's hair and his diet of locusts and wild honey.
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Mark tells us along with the other Gospel writers, but Mark specifically focuses in on his death.
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That his death was a tragic end where he was essentially the object of the hatred of Herod's wife.
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And so the calling for his head on a platter. None of that is dealt with in John.
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John focuses not on the man but on his testimony. John focuses not on who
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John the Baptist was, but John's Gospel focuses on what the
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Baptist came to do. And he came to bear witness about Jesus.
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And this is something to consider when we think about when the Gospels were written.
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The earliest Gospels are Matthew and Mark. There's debate over which one came first.
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But we know the earliest Gospels are Matthew and Mark. Luke came a little while later. But John is later still.
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John's Gospel comes to us, some even believe way after.
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Some put it in the 80s and 90s. Now I don't put it that far out personally. But I'm just saying there are some who consider that it might even have been written late in the life of John.
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The Apostle. And so a question arises.
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Why is it that if John is writing later, why is it that he's in a sense focusing on this aspect of John the
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Baptist? And I think that something to consider from that might be this. That when
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John the Gospel writer is writing of John the Baptist, he's writing to remind his hearers that John the
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Baptist is not the Messiah. Because there were still people late in the first century, even into the second and third centuries, who still held
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John in a position of prominence. In fact, we remember the stories of Apollos when he was introduced to us in the book of Acts.
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In Acts chapter 18, it says there was a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He came to Ephesus.
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He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He'd been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
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So his instruction, his information, what he had was focused on John.
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And then in the very same book, in the next chapter, Acts 19, it says that Apollos was at Corinth, and Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.
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And there he found twelve disciples. And these twelve disciples only knew of the baptism of John.
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So the idea that John the Baptist's ministry had made such an impact, that some people elevated him to being above Jesus or even in lieu of Jesus, was actually a real thing.
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I'll give you another idea. During the time of Irenaeus, which is around the second century, and Eusebius, who was into the third century, we see these men saying even in their time, there were people who were still following John the
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Baptist. Even though Jesus had come, he had died, he was buried and resurrected, there were still people in the second and third century who were still following John the
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Baptist. And even today, you may not realize this, there is a group called the
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Mandeans, I think I'm saying it correctly, M -A -N -D -A -E -I -S -M,
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Mandeism, not Madeism, like the movies, Mandeism.
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And it is a Middle Eastern religion, it survives in Iraq and southwest
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Iran. It's usually treated as a Gnostic sect, and they view
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Jesus as a false messiah. But they view John as the greatest of God's prophets.
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Even to this day, there are people who would exalt John to the diminishment of Christ, even calling
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Christ a false messiah. So what does John, the gospel writer, do?
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He ensures in the very first chapter of his letter, the very first chapter of his epistle, or not epistle, not letter, his gospel, excuse me, the very first chapter of his gospel, that we understand who this man
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John the Baptist is, and what he came to do. Moreover, who he was not.
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That's the key. If you notice about John, and we're going to notice this today, I want you to notice it while we're reading, how much
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John focuses on who he's not. These men come, who are you?
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Who sent you? Who authorized you to do these things and say these things?
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And John's response, I'm simply a man crying out in the wilderness, as Isaiah said,
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I would. But I'm not the Christ. I'm not Elijah. I'm not even the prophet.
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I am a voice of the one pointing to the one that's in your midst.
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You don't even know he's there, but he's already there. John understood who he was, and he understood he wasn't.
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Or he understood who he wasn't. So let's read it together. I'll have it on the screen. It's a lot of text, but I invite you to stand as we give honor and reverence to God's word.
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Beginning here in verse 19, it says, And this is the testimony of John, when the
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Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?
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He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.
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And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet?
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And he answered, No. So they said to him, Who are you?
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We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
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Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the
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Pharisees. They asked him, Then why are you baptizing if you are neither Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?
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John answered them, I baptize you with water. But among you stands one whom you do not know.
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Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany across the
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Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day he saw
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Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me.
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I myself did not know him. But for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel.
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And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him.
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I myself did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
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He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain. This is he who baptizes with the
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Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the
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Son of God. Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
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I pray now Lord that you would in the preaching of your word keep me from error.
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That you would open the hearts of the people that are listening to this word to the truth.
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And Lord God as you have shown yourself faithful, I pray that you would again in the edification of your saints and in the salvation of sinners.
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God use this message to remind us Lord who Christ is. As John pointed to Christ in his preaching may we point to Christ in ours.
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And Lord I pray that your Holy Spirit would be the teacher. That he would ensure whatever failures
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I have Lord go forgotten. And the truths of the word go remembered. And I pray oh
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God forgive me of my failures.
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Even now before I even begin. Grant us your spirit oh
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God. In Christ's name. Amen. When we look at verses 19 -24 they can be outlined quite simply.
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We can look at verses 19 -28 as John's testifying to the
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Jews. And then in verses 29 -34 John testifying of the
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Lamb. And we're going to focus our attention for the first part of today's sermon on verses 19 -28.
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It may end up taking the whole time we'll have to see. But it's important though that we understand that verses 19 -28 are important.
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But really the key moment in this is when Jesus comes and John identifies him as the
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Lamb. That's the part that really is the high point of this narrative section about John the
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Baptist. Because John's mission was to point people to Jesus Christ.
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He understood what he was called to do. He understood that it wasn't about him.
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He understood that his message and his ministry was not ultimately to garner followers for himself or attract men to follow after him.
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He understood that he was there to point people to the Lamb. Now I want to also give you a little bit of a thought as to the time frame of the events that we're reading.
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John the Gospel writer, and this is, I know this may be confusing and I apologize. Because sometimes
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I'm talking about John the Baptist, sometimes I'm talking about John the Gospel writer. And I don't really know any other better way of saying it rather than just saying the
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Apostle John, John the Baptist. And when I jump back and forth I'm not trying to be confusing and if I am I apologize.
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But John the Gospel writer is not terribly concerned with chronology.
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He's not terribly concerned that he keep things in order of events and how these events took place.
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And we're going to see that later in his Gospel specifically. For instance he puts the cleansing of the temple early in Jesus' ministry.
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Where all the other Gospel writers put it at the end. And there's debate as to were there two cleansings? Or is
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John just not concerned with the order of events? He's more concerned with the theology of the events.
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And that's sort of my position. Is John's not as concerned with giving us a strict chronology of the life of Christ.
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As much as he is giving us a very important theology of Christ. John's Gospel has a purpose.
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Do you remember what that purpose is? He tells us in John chapter 20 verse 31. We talked about this over the last few weeks.
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These things have been written that you may believe. That's the purpose. He's not concerned with giving a western autobiography.
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When I say western I mean like the western history. Western philosophy.
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Our idea is when we write a biography we're very strict with how we tell the stories. And keeping the stories in order and all those things.
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That's not how any of the Gospel writers did it. But specifically John is a theological testimony to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we get to verse 19 and he's talking about John.
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You'll notice from 19 to 34 he never mentions baptizing
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Jesus. Now it says that he did it. But it doesn't say in the story that he's doing it as part of the narrative.
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Which leads me to conclude that has already happened. John the Gospel writer did not record that event.
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But instead he records John's memory of the event. This is the one I baptized.
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This is the one who God told me. This was who this was. You understand? So when he sees
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Jesus coming to him and he says, Behold the Lamb of God. That was probably more than 40 days after his baptism.
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Because what happened to Jesus when he was baptized? He went into the wilderness. How long was he in the wilderness? He was in the wilderness for 40 days.
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The other Gospel writers say that happened immediately after he came up into the water. The Spirit drove him into the wilderness.
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So we know Jesus has been baptized. He's been in the wilderness. John doesn't mention any of that. So now,
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John didn't stop baptizing when he baptized Jesus. John kept baptizing people.
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He kept doing his thing. He kept doing his ministry. Now 40 days or some later, we don't know how long.
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But over 40 days later, he's talking to his disciples and he goes, Oh yeah, there's the Lamb of God. There he is.
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You didn't even know. I didn't even know. Until God told me. We're going to talk more about what that means when we get there.
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Maybe not today. But when he says, I think it's amazing. He says, I didn't even know. He says that twice.
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Did you notice that? He says that in verse 31, I myself did not know him. And then in verse 33,
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I myself did not know him. Say, how did you not know, John? How could you not know? You were his cousin.
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You leapt in the womb when your mother and his mother came together when they were both still pregnant.
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But John says, I didn't know. I did not know him in this way until God told me.
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This is interesting. And again, it's not contradicting the other accounts. It's giving us a fuller account.
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Again, helping us to understand who this man, John the Baptist, was. John the
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Baptist's purpose, as I've said, was to give testimony to Jesus Christ.
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It's interesting when you read John's Gospel how often you hear what we would call courtroom language.
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The word testimony. The word confess. Bear witness.
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That's all the type of language we use in court, right? Someone comes to testify in court.
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Someone comes as a witness in court. Someone comes to make a confession in court.
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Why the courtroom language? Because, again, what is the purpose of John's Gospel?
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The purpose of John's Gospel is to make a case for Christ. It is to show who
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Jesus is without a doubt so that you will believe in him.
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That's the goal. By the way, people always say, oh, you
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Christians, you just indoctrinate people. Yep. Our goal is that you would believe because it's the truth.
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If I didn't care whether you believed, I sure wouldn't be doing this. My goal is that you would believe.
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John's goal is that you would believe. He wrote a Gospel tract in the form of this book so that we would believe.
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And so he, taking us through the narrative of John the Baptist's life, taking us through this very short section of this ministry of John the
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Baptist, it's not about John. It's about Jesus. It's not really about John.
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It's about the one he came to testify to. So with that in mind, let's go back and begin at verse 19.
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It says in verse 19, and this is the testimony of John.
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The word in the King James there is record. Again, think courtroom language. This is the reading of the record.
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The Greek word marturion, where we get the word martyr, means a witness. So some of your translations will say this is the witness of John.
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This is what he witnessed of. This is what he witnessed about. This is what he witnessed to.
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This is his testimony. It says this is the testimony of John.
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When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
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Who are you? Now, it's interesting if you read the other
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Gospels. It seems like this happened several times. That there were people coming from the
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Jewish leaders and they were inquiring of John. Essentially the question, not just who are you, but the question is who do you think you are?
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Who gave you the right? You don't have religious authority.
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I think about the fact that they sent priests and Levites.
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The Levite, you remember the tribe of Levi is where the priests come from.
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All priests are Levites, but not all Levites are priests. So it says priests and Levites.
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Levites had other, not all of them were priests, but they had work to be done in the temple.
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So these were religious men. These were men who had a certain gravitas, a certain authority.
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It tells us they came from the Jews. The Jews here might be speaking of the
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Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish court. You'll remember Jesus when he was brought before Annas and Caiaphas, but he was also brought before the
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Sanhedrin, the Jewish court. They were the ones who had religious authority among the
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Jewish people. And here is this man in the wilderness preaching a message, preaching a message about repentance that is an unauthorized message.
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It doesn't mean that it's wrong, but it doesn't have their authority. And one thing you will learn about religious people, very specifically false religious people, is they demand to have their authority.
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They demand to have power. Who do you think you are?
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Nobody gave you this right. You remember when Jesus preached what the people said about Jesus that was so different?
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This man preaches with authority. And not like our scribes.
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Because when the scribes would preach, they would always quote others. They would always quote their leaders, and they would quote men who wrote before them, and quote the rabbinical writers.
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Jesus didn't do that. Jesus quoted scripture, but Jesus didn't go and say, hey, this was right because Rabbi Hillel said it, or this is right because Rabbi Shammai said it, or this is right because Rabbi so -and -so said it.
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Jesus just came out and said, this is the truth, verily, verily, I say unto thee. And they said, who is this guy?
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He speaks with authority. Well, John the Baptist spoke with a certain level of authority.
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Called the people a brood of vipers. Now that's not in this text, but we know he said it.
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He was kind to the humble, offering them a baptism of repentance.
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He was even kind to the soldiers when they came to him.
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What should we do? Don't extort money. Treat people fairly. Do your job well.
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Do your job. He's not... You know how we just thought this was neat? John the
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Baptist didn't tell soldiers, stop being a soldier. But he said, don't extort money.
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Right? Do what's right. But when the Pharisees came, what did he say?
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The ax is laid at the root of the tree. That means you're about to be cut off.
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Judgment has come. I baptize you with water, but one is coming after me who will baptize you with fire and the
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Holy Spirit. So these guys, who do you think you are?
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You're nice to the sinners. You offer them repentance and baptism. You're nice to the soldiers, but you're mean to us.
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And we're the only ones who are right. So the
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Jewish authorities did not like John. Now that's not unilateral.
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Certainly there were those, just like Jesus had those with Nicodemus came to Jesus. You know, there certainly were those.
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But in general, there was a distaste for John's message among the
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Jewish leaders. And they sent this delegation to John of priests and Levites to ask him who he is.
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And John's answer, I love this the way it's... I know it's this way in other translations too, but it says it very interestingly in verse 20.
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It says, He confessed and denied, but confessed. The word confessed, I looked it up.
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In the original, it's in there twice. And I think it's just emphasizing the idea of the fact that John made it his mission that people would understand who he is not.
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Because the next word out of his mouth is, I am not the Christ. Notice what it says. He confessed and did not deny, but confessed.
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I am not the Christ. You notice that ain't what they asked him. They didn't ask, are you the
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Christ? They said, who are you? And he said, I'll tell you who I'm not. This again is why
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I think John, the gospel writer, is emphasizing these words of John the
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Baptist because the gospel writer's point is that we know that he's not Christ. Remember he already said, he came to bear witness about the light.
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He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. And here they say, who are you?
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And he says, I am not the Christ. Now, we know, we live in a modern era where the word
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Christ to us has a very central meaning, simple meaning.
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When we say Christ, we're talking about Jesus. Right? But understand at this time in history,
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Jesus was not yet revealed. We're going to see his revelation soon. But Jesus is not yet revealed.
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And so there was still a question about who this person is who was known as the
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Christ. The word Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word
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Messiah. In fact, Mike mentioned my Bible.
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I won this in a contest. And it's the nicest Bible I've ever owned. But on the front of this Bible, it has a key row.
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This symbol, a lot of people see it, don't know what it means. This symbol is the letter key superimposed with the letter row.
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That is the, it looks like an X and it looks like a P on top. That is the symbol for the word
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Christ because it's the first two letters in the word Christ in Greek.
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Christos, key row is the first two letters. So that became an early symbol that Christians used to identify themselves with Jesus.
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Obviously, the cross was also used. The fish symbol was used. That's an ancient symbol as well. In fact, there's debate as when
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Constantine saw his vision in the sky, according to him, there's debate as to whether he saw a cross in the sky or whether he saw a key row symbol in the sky.
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Different historians say he said different things. But the point I'm making is the word
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Christ has a meaning and it wasn't at this point in John's story associated with Jesus.
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It was associated with a figure who was to come. The Old Testament pointed to a figure.
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Mike read in the Scripture this morning about the one who would come, right? The one who would come and save. The Savior figure.
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The word Messiah means the one who is anointed. Now, there are a lot of people in the
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Old Testament who were anointed. Prophets were anointed. Priests were anointed. Kings were anointed.
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We remember the anointing of King David. But the idea of the anointed one, that's the idea of Messiah.
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Even the word Messiah comes up in the Old Testament. Cyrus is called Messiah in Isaiah chapter 45 because he was a type of Jesus.
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We don't think of Cyrus being a type of Jesus, but he was. He set the people free.
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He gave liberty. And Christ comes and gives liberty in a much more expansive and total way.
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But of course, Cyrus is a picture of that. He's a picture of this Messianic figure. Jesus is the
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Messiah. He's the Christ. And so, when they came to John and said, who are you?
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He said, I'll tell you what I ain't. I ain't the one you're expecting.
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Even the woman at the well. Remember the woman at the well? We'll get there later in John's Gospel.
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She says, we know Messiah's coming. We know. John says,
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I'm not Him. I am not the Christ. And so, they said, what then?
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If you're not the Christ, are you Elijah? Now, that's an interesting question because I would say it's a reasonable question.
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You guys probably remember, but maybe in case you don't, Elijah the prophet in the book of 2
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Kings was taken up into heaven and he did not die.
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In fact, he and Enoch are the only two men in Scripture that it simply says they were taken.
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Enoch says he walked with God and he was not, for the Lord took him. Elijah in 2
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Kings 2, it says in verse 1, Now when the Lord was about to take
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Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
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And then down in verse 11, it says, and as they were still, went on and talked. Behold, chariots of fire.
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You ever heard that? It's better than the movie. Chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
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And Elijah saw it and cried out, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. And he saw him no more.
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So that's the story of Elijah. He didn't die, but he was carried into heaven. And then later, in the book of Malachi, in Malachi chapter 4, we're given this prophecy.
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This is in verse 5. Malachi 4, verse 5 and 6. It says, Behold, I will send you
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Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
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So we're told in the last book of our Old Testament canon, the last of the minor prophets, the book of Malachi, that there is coming
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Elijah. So it became very common and understood among the
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Jewish people that before the Christ, before the Messiah would come, because they believed he would come and usher in the eschaton or the end of the age.
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They believed when Messiah come, that was it. He was coming to solve all our problems and usher in the kingdom.
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But before he comes, Elijah will come. You guys know every few years, we have a
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Seder here at the church. A Seder is the celebration of the Jewish Passover meal.
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In a traditional Jewish Seder, they have a set place at the table for Elijah.
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Because they say we're waiting for him to return. And Jewish people today are still waiting for Elijah to return.
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Because they believe he will be the forerunner to the
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Christ or to the Messiah. So is this a question that is reasonable?
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Yeah! If you're not the Christ, we didn't even ask you that. We just said who are you?
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You said I'm not the Christ. Okay, you're not the Christ. Are you Elijah? Here's the hardest part.
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He says no. And if you don't know why that's hard, it's because in other places,
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Jesus said he's shown up once. And John said he weren't.
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That's bad English for good theology. Sorry. So this is somewhat confusing.
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Because John is asked are you Elijah? And I mean you can read it. It's on the board. He says I'm not.
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However, if you were to go to Matthew chapter 11 in verse 13, you read the words of Jesus.
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He says for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you're willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
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So Jesus, no bones about it. You want to know who Elijah is? John the
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Baptist. That's the fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi. Matthew 17 verse 10.
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Same book, but he says it again. And the disciples asked him, then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come?
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He answered, Elijah does come and he will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come.
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And they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the son of man will suffer at their hands.
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Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. So Jesus says twice in the gospel of Matthew, yes, he is
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John the Baptist. I'm sorry, yes, John the Baptist is Elijah.
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And I'll give you one more. In the beginning of Luke, when
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Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, is given the information about who his son will be, what is he told?
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This is in Luke 1, 17. It says, and he will go forth in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wise and to the just to make ready the
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Lord of people prepared. What's he quoting there? He's quoting Malachi.
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He's quoting the prophecy about Elijah and saying it's about John the
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Baptist. So how do we rectify what some would conclude to be a contradiction?
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It's not a contradiction, but how do we rectify John saying, I am not
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Elijah? Here's my answer, and it's a very simple answer. John said he wasn't
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Elijah because he wasn't. He was John.
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But he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. That's it. He was saying to them,
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I am not a reincarnated Elijah. I'm not Elijah come down from heaven because that's the question they were asking.
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John was born of woman. He did not descend from heaven. He lived a life which we know nothing about except that things that the scripture teaches.
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There are some extra biblical things that we consider. He may have been part of the Essene community which was in the Qumran area.
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They were the ones responsible for giving us the Dead Sea Scrolls. There's a lot of things about John the Baptist that we can come to some conclusions about the possibility of what he did in those interim years between birth and ministry.
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But we know very little about him. But this we know for sure. He didn't just descend from heaven.
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He was born of woman. He was born of his father and mother, Zechariah and Elizabeth.
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So when they said, Are you Elijah? He said, No, I'm not. Not in the way you're asking.
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You're asking am I... In fact, the Geneva Bible, if you don't know the Geneva Bible, the Geneva Bible was used by the reformers.
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It was actually the Bible that came over on the Mayflower. And it was one of the first Bibles that actually has study notes in it.
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Today we call it a study Bible. Now it was not as comprehensive. It weren't no MacArthur Bible.
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I'll tell you that. The notes were very short and to the point. But they gave some insights into the text.
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And here's what the Geneva Bible says about this text. It says, John answers their question just the way they meant it.
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John answers the question just the way they meant it. They meant, Are you really Elijah in the flesh?
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John says, No, I'm not. He's not denying that he came in the power and spirit of Elijah, but he is saying in this moment,
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I'm not the thing you're asking that I am. So the third question,
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Well, are you the prophet? Who are you? I'm not the Christ? Okay, are you Elijah? No, I'm not.
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Well, are you the prophet? Interestingly enough, we see the definite article on the word prophet here.
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And what is a definite article? You know how the articles work in our language? You have a apple or the apple.
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If I say it's a apple, that means it's one of many. But if I say it's the apple, I mean it's the one, right? That's how the articles work in our language.
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Well, the articles work that way here. They didn't ask, Are you a prophet? If they would have asked, Are you a prophet? He would have had to have said yes.
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He is a prophet. In fact, he's the greatest of the prophets.
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He's the one given the mission to be the forerunner of Christ. Who had a greater job than him to lay hands on the
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Savior, put Him in water, and see the
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Spirit anoint Him for ministry? Who greater than that?
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So are you a prophet? Yes. But are you the prophet? No. Because by adding the definite article the, there is the addition of a particular prophet that's being spoken of here.
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And there's some debate as to who he's referring to. But I tend to agree with what I have seen to be the majority of those who comment on this passage.
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That it's most likely talking about Deuteronomy chapter 18. In Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15, it says,
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The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from among your brothers.
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It is Him you shall listen to. Just as you desire the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said,
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Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, or see this great fire anymore lest I die.
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And the Lord said to me, They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.
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And I will put my words into his mouth. He will speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to him, excuse me, whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name,
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I myself will require it of him. Now, you can debate this if you want.
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I do believe that is a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ. That He is the prophet who is to come.
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The one like unto Moses. And this would make this one of the earliest prophecies of Jesus.
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I mean, you can go all the way back to Genesis 3 .15 and say that's a prophecy of Jesus. But of course, if this is a prophecy of Jesus, this is very early because this is in the
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Mosaic writing. Now, we can say Jesus is prefigured and pictured in all the sacrifices and all those things.
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But this literally says there is a prophet who is coming, the prophet, very specifically this one.
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And John is asked, are you the prophet? He says, nope, it's not me.
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So again, John is in his humility saying, no,
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I'm not the Christ. I'm not who you think Elijah is supposed to be and I'm not the prophet.
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So they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us.
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What do you say about yourself? I read this verse a few times this week thinking, who cares?
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What I mean is this, if I was John, I'd be like, who cares what you have to do?
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He didn't owe them anything. I know maybe that's the wrong way of looking at it, but these guys are coming demanding of him, who do you say you are?
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We have to take our bosses a report. And John's like, who cares?
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I mean, why does your need to take your boss a report have anything to do with me? But he gives them an answer.
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He gives them an answer. He gives them the answer that is in every gospel.
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Isaiah chapter 43, I'm sorry, excuse me, Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 3 is one of the few verses which is quoted in every gospel.
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And it is this verse, a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
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Lord, make straight in the desert, a highway for our God. That verse,
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Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3 is quoted in all four gospels.
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And in all four gospels, it's about John. All four gospel writers interpret that passage to refer to John.
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So how does John identify himself? He says, I am the voice. I'm not the
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Christ. I'm not Elijah, and I'm not the prophet, but I'll tell you what
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I am. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the
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Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. John knew who he was.
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He knew how he fit into the narrative of human history.
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He knew where he fit in the grand story. He says,
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I am a voice. Verse 24 just really reiterates what we learned in verse 19, that they had been sent from the
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Pharisees. They'd been sent from the Jewish leaders. Now verse 25, they asked him, why then are you baptizing?
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If you're neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, why are you baptizing?
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Now we had a great question a couple of weeks ago when we had our Wednesday night Q &A.
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By the way, if you don't come to that, you should. We had a really good turnout last time. We have great meal, and we have a good opportunity for the elders to answer questions.
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And one of the questions was, was baptism something new? And the answer is,
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John's baptism was certainly new, in that it wasn't practiced in the Old Testament.
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Now we can go into the Old Testament, and we see ceremonial washings, particularly in the law for priests and things like that.
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There were ceremonial washings. In the time between the Old Testament and the
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New Testament, we see the rise of something called the mitzvot, or the ritual bath. We also see the proselyte baptism, which is where if a
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Gentile wanted to come in and become a Jew, he had to go through a cleansing, or a washing, or what we would call a baptism.
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But the idea of baptizing Jewish people, and the idea of baptizing them for repentance, was unique to John.
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And so they want to know, why are you doing this?
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You're not the Christ. You're not Elijah. You're not the prophet.
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And John answers, and this is where we're going to have to end. He answered them,
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I baptize you with water, but among you stands one you do not know.
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Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal
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I am not worthy to untie. John said simply,
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I baptize with water, but there's a greater one coming after me.
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This is preparatory for the one who is coming.
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This is doing what Isaiah said was going to happen. I'm making the way straight.
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I'm setting the path. I'm clearing the hedges. I'm getting it ready for the one who is to come.
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And I tell you about that one. I can't even get down and untie his shoes.
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There's a lot of speculation as to what
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John meant when he said I can't bend down and untie his sandals. In the
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Old Testament, there was a law called the Law of Leverite Marriage.
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It was when a woman had a husband who died.
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You probably remember this. If she died and her husband had a brother, the brother's responsible or closest family member was responsible for coming and taking over, right?
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And if he didn't do that, it says in Deuteronomy 25, it says in verse 7, it says if a man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then the brother's wife shall go to the gate of the elders and say,
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My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.
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Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him. And if he persists saying, I do not wish to take her, then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull off his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and she shall say,
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So shall it be done to any man who will not build his brother's house. Now some people, when they read what
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John said about not being able to reach down and stoop down and untie Jesus' shoes, they tie that together with saying,
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John is saying, I don't have the authority over his bride. I think that's a bit of a stretch.
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It's an interesting stretch, but that's not what I think it necessarily means. But that is one way that people connect this idea.
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Another is that in the Talmud, it talks about the role of the servant and the disciple.
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And the disciple is to do anything for his master except reach down and tie his shoe.
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That was considered a role only for a servant. And in that, if that's what
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John is referring to, then perhaps that is what is meant when he says, I'm not able to do that.
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But sometimes I think, as they say, if the simple answer is good, why look for anything else?
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And the simple answer is John understood who he was. And in his humility, he was saying, the one who's coming after me is so much greater than I that I don't even have the positional power to say that I have the right to even touch his feet.
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It's about being unworthy. Remember, Jesus has already been baptized.
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And what did John say? Not in this gospel, but in the other gospels, we can harmonize these things. What did
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John say when Jesus came to be baptized? No! You should be baptizing me.
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John understood who Jesus was. Even though we'll see next week, as we won't get to it today, we'll see he didn't always understand who
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Jesus was, but God had told him. God had showed him who this man
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Jesus was. And John, in his humility, said, I don't even have the right to touch his feet.
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Beloved John knew who Jesus was. And he wanted us to know who
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Jesus is. John would probably get mad that I talked so much about him today.
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If he were here, he would probably say, why didn't you just talk about Jesus for the last hour?
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Well, in a way, I have. Because what was John's whole purpose in life?
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To point us to Jesus. To point us to Jesus. John had a singular mission to make straight the way of the
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Lord and point them to him. And he said, among you is one who
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I can't even touch his feet. But again, it's not in this text, but it's in the other text.
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And he says this, and he will baptize you with fire. Beloved, we serve a powerful
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Savior. And we serve a Savior who has come and he has lived a perfect life and died a substitutionary death.
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And he says, to all who are weary and heavy laden coming to me, I will give you rest.
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He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. He says to all of us, if you will believe in me, you will have life and have it abundantly.
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So I say to you today, as we have heard again the testimony of John, who says, there stands one among you who
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I'm not worthy to touch his feet. Beloved, do you know that one who stood among John? The one who
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John preached about. Do you know him? Has your heart been changed?
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Do you love him? Do you trust him? If you don't, let me remind you of one thing.
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The Bible says there is salvation in no one else. The people today who trust in John the
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Baptist, how foolish! John would call them fools! Because the salvation is not in the name of John the
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Baptist. It's not in the name of Keith Fosker or Mike Collier, or Andy Montoro, or Sovereign Grace Family Church, or anyone else.
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But there is only one name under heaven given among men by which you must be saved, and it is the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
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So beloved, if you have not yet, I encourage you, bow the knee to Christ today.
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Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your truth.
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May it be, O God, that through the preaching of your word, through the reminder of what John said about himself and about Jesus, that we be reminded of this one who came to save and is able to save to the uttermost those who draw an eye unto
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God through him. O God, may it be that for the believers in this room that they would be encouraged by this message, to see themselves as not the focus, but to see
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Christ as the focus, and to be humble, and to say, Yes, I am here to serve my
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Lord. And for those who do not yet trust in Christ, that they would be drawn through the preaching of the gospel to faith in him.