Pointing People To Jesus
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[SLIDE 1] Introduction
If you have your Bible, please turn to John 1:19-34:
19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Illustration
Well, during my previous vacation with my family, we had to make a sudden change to our flight from Los Angeles to Seattle.
We switched from one airline to another airline.
So, when we did that, we knew that we had to move from terminal 6 to terminal 2 at LAX.
But, we faced a problem of not knowing how to get there.
The most reasonable thing to do is to ask a staff member and looking for signs.
The first person we asked was sort of helpful, but not completely since we were in a rush to catch the next flight. She told us we had to wait for a bus that connects us to the next terminal.
After waiting for the bus for about 10-15 minutes, we were panicking.
So, I spoke to another staff member, hoping that he’ll point us to the right direction.
Surely enough, he told us to cut across the airport, which would have been a 5-minute walk.
And so, we booked it to terminal 2 to catch our next flight.
I’m sure you can sympathize with us. Most, if not all, of you have experienced being lost at a location.
When that happens, you try to look for signs or find the right person who can point you to the right direction.
It would be frustrating, however, if they direct you to the wrong location and not be completely helpful.
Brothers and sisters, here’s the question for you to consider for this message: Are you the sign or the right person who can point others to the way of salvation?
Today, we’re going to talk about, “Pointing People To Jesus.”
I want to focus on the theme of bearing witness or testifying about Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist directed others to Jesus who is the Lamb of God and the Son of God. He is a good example and role model for us as Christians to imitate.
Context
Now, we remember that the author, John, began his gospel with the prologue.
Essentially, John talked about the deity of Jesus Christ.
He is the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God.
In verse 14, we learned that this Word, this God, became flesh and dwelt among us.
We have unpacked the beautiful truth of the incarnation of Jesus, where God became man.
In the person of Jesus, who is both God and Man, He came to reveal to us who God is.
Biblical Theology
As we transition from John’s prologue to now the narrative portion, I want to highlight something that may not be obvious to you.
If you are interested in deeper Bible study, this would be helpful for you to highlight.
The authors of the Bible are masterful in the writing of Holy Scripture.
John is no exception.
[SLIDE 2] One of the literary devices that the authors of the Bible use is called “inclusio.”
You can think of “inclusio” like bracketing.
Or, you can think of it like a burger.
You have a sandwich on top and at the bottom.
So, an inclusio means that the author begins and ends a sentence, or paraphrase, or section a similar way.
[SLIDE 3] As we come to this passage, there is an inclusio.
Verse 19 begins with the testimony of John (the Baptist).
Verse 34 ends with John (the Baptist) testifying and bearing witness that Jesus is the Son of God.
[SLIDE 4] In addition, the entire John’s gospel is a giant inclusio.
Since John 1:19 begins with the testimony of John in the narrative, how does John’s gospel end?
It ends with these words in John 21:24
24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
It ends with the testimony of John, except it’s not John the Baptist, but John the Apostle, the disciple of Jesus whom Jesus loved.
One of the themes of John’s gospel is all about bearing witness about Jesus. For what purpose?
[SLIDE 5] If you remember, John wrote this gospel with a purpose.
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
So, as we come to the exposition of God’s word, I want you to remember this simple truth.
[SLIDE 6] Faithful Witnesses Point People To Jesus.
Exposition
[SLIDE 7] To effectively point people to Jesus, we need to be clear on who we are not. (vv.19-21)
In verse 19, the author starts out the narrative with the testimony of John. We recall that the prologue talked about John the Baptist. Let me read it again as a way to remind you:
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
John, the author, summarizes the ministry of John the Baptist from verses 6-8 in a three-part outline.
[SLIDE 8] John writes that the Baptist, who was sent from God ,
(1) was not the Light but...
(2) was sent to bear witness to the Light in order that
(3) men might believe through him.
John, the author, is rather stylistic in his literary writing. He’s like preaching a sermon to us.
The three-part (sermon) outline can be seen in verses 19-51. [SLIDE 9]
Verses 19-28 show that the Baptist was not the Light.
verses 29-34 picture him pointing to the Light.
verses 35-51 show how that witness resulted in the first men coming to believe in Christ’s person.
So, we’ll only cover the part 1 and 2 of his outline.
[SLIDE 10] By this time, John was becoming rather popular with his ministry.
He was preaching a message of repentance and baptism.
Many of the Jewish people were going to John the Baptist to hear his message and get baptized.
So, the Jews in verse 19 sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to inquire of John’s identity.
These Jews were the Jewish leaders with religious authorities.
John says in verse 24 that they were the Pharisees.
So, the priests and Levites asked John, “Who are you?” John gives them a threefold denial.
John responds by giving a very direct and straight to the point answer, “I am not the Christ.”
It is actually an emphatic statement in the original language, “I AM NOT the Christ.”
Now, in case you do not know, the word, “Christ,” is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is the Greek word that is equivalent to the Hebrew word, “Messiah.”
The meaning behind “Christ” and “Messiah” is God’s CHOSEN or ANOINTED One.
You should know that during that time, the Jews were living under the dominion of Rome.
They had an expectation or were looking forward to the Messiah as prophesied in the Old Testament.
This Messiah would be their Deliverer from the reign of the Roman Empire.
The Jews may have thought that John the Baptist was their long-awaited Messiah.
However, John denied being the Christ.
Afterwards, they asked him, “Are you Elijah?”
Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament, found in 1 Kings and 2 Kings.
Elijah did not die physically, but he was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind.
Because Elijah ascended to heaven, there’s an assumption that the same Elijah would descend back to earth in the end times.
It was prophesied in Malachi 4:5-6
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
The Jews thought that John was Elijah because he was wearing rugged clothings (Mt 3:4; cp. 2 Kings 1:8) just like Elijah.
Both of them wore “a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around the waist.”
Both of them dressed like weirdos.
So, the Jews may be wondering if John was that Elijah prophesied in the Old Testament.
But, he confesses that he’s not Elijah.
That response brings a lot of tensions with what other Bible verses say.
In Matthew 11:14 and Matthew 17:10-13, Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elijah!
And, John says he is not Elijah. Jesus says he is Elijah. Who’s correct?
Both are speaking the truth.
When Elijah was taken up, his apprentice, Elisha, succeeded Elijah.
2 Kings 3:15 says that the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.
In Luke 1:17, the angel said that John the Baptist will do his ministry in the spirit and the power of Elijah.
Jesus is correct in saying that John is Elijah.
He has the spirit of Elijah.
John called people to repentance from their sins and turn back to God, just like what Elijah did.
John is also correct in saying that he is not Elijah, meaning, he is not the literal and physical Elijah who went up to heaven in 2 Kings.
Plus, John - in his humility and in his perspective - did not see himself as Elijah.
Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest human to have ever lived, but I’m sure John wouldn’t have seen himself in that manner.
And then the priests and Levites ask him, “Are you the Prophet.”
Perhaps, they may have had Deuteronomy 18:15-21 in mind when Moses predicted that God will raise up THE PROPHET.
But, John denied that he is that Prophet in Deuteronomy 18.
John knew who he was not.
John was not the light, Jesus was the light.
John prepared the Way, Jesus was the Way.
John was a man sent by God to preach the coming of the Light, Jesus was the God-Man sent by God to preach the coming of the Kingdom of God.
John was in the world and received by the world (though he rejected hypocrites), Jesus came in the world and was rejected by the world.
Those who received John received baptism, those who received Jesus received everlasting life.
I wonder if you were in John’s shoes (or sandals), would you have given those threefold denials?
OR, in your pride and ego-driven desires, would you have admitted, “Yes, I’m the Christ, Elijah, and the Prophet,” and steal the glory that is exclusively reserve for the Lord Jesus?
Remember, who you are not in the eyes of the world.
Don’t let the world boost your pride and ego.
Don’t place your identity in what the world says about you when God has given you an identity found in Christ.
To effectively point people to Jesus, we need to be clear on who we are not.
Let’s move on to what John does say about himself.
[SLIDE 11] To effectively point people to Jesus, we need to be clear on who we are. (vv.22-28)
After the threefold denial, the priests and Levites responded to John in verse 22.
They asked him again, “Who are you? (returning to their original question) We need to give an answer to those who sent us.”
You can imagine that they were feeling frustrated because they couldn’t get an answer from John.
They needed to give a report back to the Jews. They could not return to the Jews empty-handed, if you will.
So, they were saying to John, “if you are not the Christ, not Elijah, and not the Prophet, surely, you can at least say something about yourself?”
John the Baptist does respond with an answer by admitting that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 40:3.
23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record John as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (cf. Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4-6).
His father, Zechariah, may have understood such fulfillment in Luke 1:76.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
So, what does John say who he is?
He is the voice.
He is the messenger of God who would prepare the way for the Lord’s coming by preaching repentance and divine judgment.
[SLIDE 12] And then they asked him one more question regarding his ministry of baptism.
25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
In other words, what gives you the authority and right to baptize?
When observing John’s answer, he does not seem to directly answer their question, “Why are you baptizing?” He answers it later in John 1:31
31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Furthermore, John did have every right to baptize. He explains it in verse 33.
33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
Why did John baptize?
It’s because God sent him to baptize with water.
It’s because God spoke and revealed to John the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Essentially, God has given John the calling and the authority to do so.
Through baptism, John was pointing Someone greater than him that even the priests and Levites didn’t know.
In the Synoptic Gospels, we are told that Jesus will baptize people with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
John is emphasizing that Jesus is a lot greater than him.
John knows his identity.
He is a messenger who tells people to repent of their sins.
Here in verse 27, John humbly says that Jesus is wearing a strap of whose sandal he is not worthy to untie.
What is this illustrating?
In the ancient world, to untie and remove someone’s sandal was the task of a slave.
As great as John the Baptist was, he viewed himself even more lowly than a slave in the ancient world.
He is not worthy to even be a slave of Christ, implying that Jesus was his master.
John knows who he is. John is the voice that points to Jesus, and he is a lowly slave who acknowledges Jesus as his master.
If John can say this about himself, and if Jesus declares that John was the greatest man to have ever lived, then what makes us think we can see ourselves any better than John?
[SLIDE 13] To effectively point people to Jesus, we need to be clear on who Jesus is. (vv.29-34)
Verse 29 begins with, “the next day.”
Three times, John talks about the next day in verses 29, 35, and 43.
The events, from verse 19 to chapter 2, took place within a span of 7 days…cultimating with the first miracle at the wedding of Cana in John 2.
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and John testifies, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
You see, verse 19 began with the testimony of John. He denied being the Christ, but he is now going to show the Jews who is truly the Christ.
Behold! LOOK! SEE! John was drawing people’s attention by pointing the audience to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
In the Old Testament, the lamb is mentioned a lot, specifically in the sacrificial offering.
The OT predicted that God would provide a lamb.
Abraham prophesied that God will provide a lamb for the burnt offering (Genesis 22:8).
The Israelites were to sacrifice the passover Lamb and cover the blood on top of their door frame.
Isaiah prophesied that the suffering servant would be like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).
The Lamb foreshadowed Christ or a type of Christ.
Christ would be the one to shed His blood on the cross to take away the sin of the world.
The animal sacrifices in the OT only temporarily remitted the sins of individuals and corporate Israel.
Jesus, being the Lamb of God, can permanently take away the sins of the world. So, whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish, but have eternal life.
And Jesus was the One whom John has been pointing.
He is greater than John.
He ranks before John because He preexisted eternally with God the Father before John was ever born.
He is the preimmenent one.
So, verses 32-34 is all about John’s testimony of the baptism of Jesus
This is not a narrative of Jesus’ baptism.
In John’s gospel, Jesus’ baptism chronologically took place way before the priests and Levites asked John’s identity in verse 19.
So, Jesus’ baptism has already occurred.
[SLIDE 14] Now notice, twice in verses 31 and 33, John says, “I did not know him?”
This would have been an odd statement for John to say because John and Jesus were related to each other.
Their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, were cousins.
So, it is possible that Jesus and John knew each other.
Well, here’s the simple solution from DA Carson.
It is not that John did not know Jesus at all, but he did not know that Jesus was the Coming One or the Messiah.
And God gave John a sign of the Coming One. What’s the sign?
The sign is the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove when John baptizes Him.
Plus, after Jesus was baptized, the Synoptic gospels would include other scenes such as the heaven opening up and the voice saying, “This is my Son, whom I am well pleased.”
Therefore, John witnessed those events and bore witness that Jesus is the Son of God according to verse 34.
Jesus’ baptism was meant to reveal to Israel that He is the Son of God...He is the Messiah.
And that is what John testifies.
Like John, if we have ever come to know who Jesus Christ is, we can’t help but testify about Him, right?
Jesus is the Messiah that the Jewish people were longing for.
He is the King of Israel.
And John points everyone to Him.
John finishes his testimony by testifying that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.
And John is speaking to you to believe in Jesus the Son of God.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Application
[SLIDE 15] So, we have considered this truth: Faithful Witnesses Point People To Jesus…and that is because Jesus the point.
To effectively point people to Jesus:
We need to be clear on who we are not. (vv.19-21)
We need to be clear on who we are. (vv.22-28)
We need to be clear on who Jesus is. (vv.29-34)
Conclusion
[SLIDE 16] So, brothers and sisters, I pray and hope that you understand the implication from this text.
People are looking for hope.
People are seeking after meaning and purpose.
People are finding ways to clear their guilt and sin.
People are lost.
They are people in your school, your workplace, and your family.
Question: Will they look to you to point them to the right direction?
Are you that sign?
Are you that right person?
that would point them to Jesus Christ…
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…by dying on the cross and being raised on the third day?
My friends, if you are not a Christian, are you looking for the right direction in life?
Behold! Look to Jesus.
He is telling you, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”