The Faithful Forerunner
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
AG:
TS: Today, we continue looking in John 1 and see the ministry of John the Baptist
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - John the Baptist
Apart from Jesus Christ, John the Baptist is probably the most theologically significant figure in the Gospels.
As was the case with Jesus, his birth was meticulously recorded ( Luke 1:5-25 ).
His entrance into the world was marked by angelic proclamation and divine intervention ( Luke 1:57-80 ).
John's birth not only parallels that of Jesus, but echoes the momentous occasion of the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah ( Gen 17:15-22 ; 21:1-7 ).
John is clearly a pivotal figure in the salvation history of God.
Although his formative years were lived in obscurity in the desert ( Luke 1:80 ), his public ministry ended nearly four hundred years of prophetic silence.
John was that voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way for the coming Messiah ( Isa 40:3 ; Matt 3:3 ; Mark 1:2-3 ; Luke 3:3-6 ).
In this sense his message and ministry marked the culmination of the law and the prophets, but heralded the inbreaking of the kingdom of God ( Matt 11:12 ; Luke 16:16 ).
So John was truly a transitional figure, forming the link between the Old and New Testaments. He spans the ages with one foot firmly planted in the Old Testament and the other squarely placed in the New.
He preached a message of repentance and then baptized those who repented.
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him
and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
Since he baptized, he earned the title literally The Baptizer
RS: Contrary to some folks ideas, we do not follow John the Baptist! We follow Jesus Christ. However, we are similar to John in that we obey God’s command to immerse those who have repented of sins. So in a sense, we are baptizers. We earned the name “baptist” when we baptized converts even though they may have been sprinkled in some other church. That wasn’t recognized as baptism, so true churches followed Jesus’ example and immersed (which is what the Greek word means) new converts.
I. John the Baptist and the Crowds
I. John the Baptist and the Crowds
John makes 3 key statements to the people
His mission was to prepare the way for Jesus
1. He is to serve as a witness to the Christ
1. He is to serve as a witness to the Christ
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
John was to be a witness
to the Light
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
He pointed people to Jesus
That all may believe
His mission was to introduce the crowds to Jesus
Like an OT prophet, he announced the King is Coming!
His ministry broke the 400 years of silence between end of OT and beginning of NT
God had completed all He wanted in OT. No new prophecies and instructions came for 400 years!
Then, the angel announced John’s birth and Jesus’
Finally, John, the older cousin, began his public call to repent as he prepared the way fro the Messiah.
The Baptizer is not simply the herald of the Messiah but of God himself, appearing in Jesus of Nazareth.
James R. Edwards
2. Christ is greater then John
2. Christ is greater then John
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
John pointed to Jesus and His superiority
Chronologically, John came before The Word took on flesh
He was a forerunner
He gathered crowds of people who heard the gospel, and many of whom repented
The Word (Jesus) was preferred before him
Remember, John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Of course the son of God was higher in authority and had always been in the universe.
3. Christ Brought Grace and Truth
3. Christ Brought Grace and Truth
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Christs is preferred before Moses
This was stunning to the Jewish audience
They revered Moses the Law Giver, the Leader of the Exodus
Jesus, was in that story as well
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
God led Israel!
The Word IS God
Thus Jesus led them! Jesus delivered them! Jesus gave them the Law
The Law vs. Grace
Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
The Law taught us of our need for the Savior
no matter how good a person was, they sinned.
David, a man after God’s own heart committed sins
adultery, murder, pride, etc.
The Law with its sacrifices and Feast/Fasts pictured Jesus
Every animal offered pointed to what Jesus would do on the cross
Grace upon grace emphasized the superabundance of grace that has been displayed by God toward mankind, especially believers.
having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
AP: We have the same message to deliver to the crowds
We are heralds of Jesus!
We announce the King
He came, died, and rose again
He forgives all who come to Him
We issue the call to repentance, just as John did.
II. John the Baptist and the Critics
II. John the Baptist and the Critics
John was being confronted by Pharisees who were sent to investigate this wild eyed trouble maker!
John presents witnesses proving that Jesus is the Messiah
John says 3 things:
1. I am not the Messiah
1. I am not the Messiah
Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
John began his public ministry at 29 or 30 years old immediately before Jesus began.
At first glance, some might think he was the Messiah.
He was preaching repentance
He was gathering a following
He didn’t mind confronting the government
Called out the King on his adultery
2. I am not the Elijah
2. I am not the Elijah
And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
They thought perhaps he was a prophet returned.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
Again, a Messianic expectation
The announcement of John’s birth had said he would minister in the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17)
“The Prophet” another way to ask if he was the Messiah
NT confirms this: Acts 3:22-23
For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
Although many Jewish scholars thought it was a 2nd forerunner, the message of Peter directly tied it to Jesus.
3. I have been sent to prepare the way for the Lord
3. I have been sent to prepare the way for the Lord
Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.
And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.
It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
He was the forerunner foretold in Isaiah, but not a returned prophet, a new one making the path ready for Jesus the Messiah
John humbly referred to himself as a voice in the wilderness.
He was nothing
The one He was announcing was everything!
John focused on Jesus at every opportunity. He claimed nothing special and wanted no praise or attention.
His sole function was pointing people to the coming King!
AP: What a beautiful way to handle critics!
He didn’ t defend himself, instead he pointed people to Jesus
How do we respond to accusers?
Rejoice
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
b. Let God defend you
My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God.
b. Point them to Jesus
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Give an answer for the hope
They accuse and attack, we point people to God
III. John the Baptist and the Christ
III. John the Baptist and the Christ
1. He introduces the Savior
1. He introduces the Savior
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’
I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
John directly points people to Jesus
“Lamb of God”
points to the sacrificial lamb
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
John the Baptist was already pointing the cross and Jesus’ sacrifice there.
His sacrifice is sufficient to pay for all sins of all people
It only applies to those who answer His call to repent and have faith in Him
Nobody will come to Christ and beg for salvation and be turned away because there is no more blood left to wash away their sins.
Sadly, not everyone will answer His call.
2. He baptizes the Savior
2. He baptizes the Savior
And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
John didn’t know exactly that Jesus was the Messiah until he baptized Jesus
At that occasion, God fulfilled his instructions to John that he would know by the Spirit’s visible anointing of the Messiah.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
John was the witness to and forerunner of Jesus. He proclaimed a message of repentance and following Christ
We carry that same message today!
Like John, Paul declared we are ambassadors
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.