JOHN 1:6-9 | SENT AS A WITNESS PART 2
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Transcript
JOHN 1:6-9 | SENT AS A WITNESS PART 2
JOHN 1:6-9 | SENT AS A WITNESS PART 2
EXPLANATION: Last week we began our look at John the Baptist who John the disciple and writer of this Gospel introduced us to.
EXPLANATION: Last week we began our look at John the Baptist who John the disciple and writer of this Gospel introduced us to.
And there was one thing he wanted us to know about John the Baptist, and that is that he was a WITNESS
We saw last week that John was commissioned
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
The calling of God was clear for John the Baptist that he was to proclaim who Jesus was.
APPLICATION: And truthfully, that call isn’t much different for us today!
APPLICATION: And truthfully, that call isn’t much different for us today!
We saw last week the call that is placed upon our life:
To come to Christ for salvation
To testify of Christ with our life
And to minister to this world that direly needs Jesus.
Friend, do you have a burden to serve God?
Not to be a pastor or to teach a class… but to just be a servant to God?
The Psalmist spoke of his heart to live for and serve God in Psalm 84:10
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
If you think serving God is just something to be done in the spotlight, you have a wrong perspective.
I’m convinced the greatest service done for God is done in the moments of life when you aren’t on a platform and their isn’t a crowd waiting to offer their applause.
You testify of Christ to your family when you choose to be slow to anger
You testify of Christ to your kids when you demonstrate grace with your spouse
You testify of Christ at your work when you work hard and are faithful
You testify of Christ at your school when you don’t talk the way the rest of the kids do or choose to honor your parents instead of tear them down
And yes you testify of Christ when you are serving in church, or looking for opportunities to turn conversations to Christ.
Friend, if we are going to be a good witness for Christ, we have to realize our testimony for Him isn’t reserved for a couple hours on Sunday morning at church.
It’s so much more!
I hope you have a burden to serve God and to testify of Him.
EXPLANATION: But there is more to John the Baptist’s witness than his call.
EXPLANATION: But there is more to John the Baptist’s witness than his call.
The call is just where it started.
John doesn’t stop in his explanation of just why John the Baptist was such an incredible witness of Christ.
He gives another attribute of a powerful witness in v.7
V.7, HE WAS CONSISTENT
V.7, HE WAS CONSISTENT
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
EXPLANATION: The Bible tells us that John the Baptist witness was demonstrated before “all men!”
EXPLANATION: The Bible tells us that John the Baptist witness was demonstrated before “all men!”
That means wherever John the Baptist went, he was the same person.
He was the same person at his job, down at the river.
He was the same person when he went to the market
He was the same person when he was with those that supported him and those that opposed him.
John was a consistent witness for Christ everywhere he went.
ILLUSTRATION: I remember as a child watching the movie “Forest Gump” for the first time.
ILLUSTRATION: I remember as a child watching the movie “Forest Gump” for the first time.
Since watching it again as an adult, I have found that it wasn’t the wholesome movie that I believed it was as a kid.
I remember that I enjoyed how authentic and innocent Forrest was.
The idea of running across the entire United States was an incredible feat and I was blown away by his endurance.
I was confident that one day, I too would follow in his footsteps.
You can imagine my shock when I then saw him in another movie without his accent and with a different name entirely!
He wasn’t the same person I had seen before!
APPLICATION: One of the great critics of those outside the church is that everyone in the church is a hypocrite.
APPLICATION: One of the great critics of those outside the church is that everyone in the church is a hypocrite.
A hypocrite is someone who acts one way with one crowd and then is a total different person with another crowd.
They are like the actor who plays the part that the “job” requires.
EXPLANATION: Over in Galatians 2, Paul tells the readers of the confrontation that he had with Peter.
EXPLANATION: Over in Galatians 2, Paul tells the readers of the confrontation that he had with Peter.
Peter had been preaching the Gospel and teaching the Gospel to those gentile believers.
But then there were some religious Jews who showed up, and Peter fell to the fear of man.
He started acting different… talking different.
And when Paul showed up at Antioch where Peter was, he called him out.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
This was a sharp confrontation that Paul brought before Peter.
But what is interesting is what the Bible says in Galatians 2:13
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
Peter wasn’t the only one that was affected by his decision to try to play all the parts.
There were a group of Jews that followed him and his acting was so convincing that he even Barnabas fell for the trap.
But Paul tells us why so many followed Peter down this confusing road.
It was his “Dissimulation”… an old word that simply mean “hypocricy”.
APPLICATION: Friend, is the real you here today?
APPLICATION: Friend, is the real you here today?
I’m not asking if you secretly speak Russian and have another life no one knows about.
It’s far less complicated than that.
Are you just putting on an act for everyone to see.
I’ve been there!
It’s exhausting to try to be someone at church when everyone sees you and then try to be someone else during the work week or when you are at home.
My life often has awkward encounters.
When I see church people out in the “real world”
People always feel like they have to put on their “church disguise” when I’m around.
Can I let you in on a secret I’ve learned… It’s way less exhausting if you are just real all the time.
Maybe you are thinking, “Kyle you do want to know the real me”
If that is really the way you feel, can I just encourage you with something?
You don’t need to put on a show for me.
We don’t have to act like someone we are not.
But just remember, you don’t need to change yourself to become someone that is acceptable to Kyle…
But it should be our goal to conform out life to a life that is acceptable to Christ.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
I am so thankful that Whitehall Baptist Church is a place where we can come just as we are… and be changed more into the what we should be.
If you are new here, welcome to a place with a lot of broken people trying to get put back together by a loving God.
Maybe you’ve been coming to church for a long time, but you’ve just been putting on a show for everyone else.
But when you leave church and go home, the real you comes out.
When you go to work tomorrow, the real you will appear.
Friend, why not decide this morning to be a witness for Christ that God can use because you are consistent everywhere you go.
That you are the same person no matter who you are around or what you are doing.
And for those areas that need to change, why don’t you submit to God and allow Him to change you into His image.
John the Baptist was a great witness because he was commissioned, because he was consistent.
V.8, HE WAS COMMITTED
V.8, HE WAS COMMITTED
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
EXPLANATION: The Greek word for “witness” is the word “Martyria”
EXPLANATION: The Greek word for “witness” is the word “Martyria”
It’s where we get our English word, “Martyr”.
A martyr is someone who is willing to pay the price.
It is someone who is willing to go beyond just a fair-weather follower and to truly give their life.
It’s someone who knows what it means to sacrifice!
And John truly lived up to that name!
We know from the Scriptures that John the Baptist was eventually captured and imprisoned by Herod.
And he would be beheaded because he stood on the truths of God’s Word and stood against sin.
He was a witness for Christ!
A martyr.
APPLICATION: Christian, what is your commitment level to Christ?
APPLICATION: Christian, what is your commitment level to Christ?
What would it take to stop you from following Christ and living for Him?
What would it take to pull you away from church?
What will it take to make you quit?
EXPLANATION: Jesus told the disciples what commitment looks like.
EXPLANATION: Jesus told the disciples what commitment looks like.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Being a disciple meant to take up your cross.
A cross only had one purpose… death
There was no going back
There was no walking away
There was no quit!
To be a disciple it to give your life for Christ!
Paul said it in Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
APPLICATION: Christian, are you truly willing to be a witness for Christ?
APPLICATION: Christian, are you truly willing to be a witness for Christ?
Being a witness costs something… martyrdom isn’t something to approach flippantly.
ILLUSTRATION: In 2015, on the shores of Libya, 21 Christian men were marched out by ISIS militants.
ILLUSTRATION: In 2015, on the shores of Libya, 21 Christian men were marched out by ISIS militants.
Dressed in orange jumpsuits, they knelt on a desolate beach, knowing what was about to happen.
They were migrant workers from Egypt—ordinary men, most of them fathers, brothers, and sons who had traveled to Libya just to find work to support their families.
But they were also something else—they were disciples of Jesus Christ.
One by one, they were questioned, and each time, the executioners gave them a choice: renounce Jesus or die.
And one by one, they chose death.
They whispered prayers.
Some cried out, “Ya Rabbi Yasou’”—“O my Lord Jesus.”
Not with bitterness, but with peace.
With conviction.
With love.
And then they came to a man who hadn’t been a Christian.
His name was Matthew Ayariga, a migrant from Ghana.
He wasn’t part of the original group of 20.
He had been captured later.
And as he knelt beside these Christians—watching their courage, their calm, their unwavering hope—he was asked the same question.
Do you reject Christ?
Matthew looked at the executioner… then at the men beside him… and said words that have echoed across the Church ever since:
“Their God is my God.”
And with that, he too gave his life—not just for Christ, but with Christ.
These men never preached a sermon, never stood in a pulpit, never wrote a book.
But in that moment, with their lives laid down, they proclaimed the gospel louder than many ever will.
They were a witness for Christ!
APPLICATION: Friend, don’t forget: The blood of the martyrs is still the seed of the Church.
APPLICATION: Friend, don’t forget: The blood of the martyrs is still the seed of the Church.
They knelt in the sand, but they rose in glory.
They were slain by men, but embraced by the Savior.
Their God is our God.
And may we live—and if ever called, die—with that same unshakable faith.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
What made John such a great witness?
He was called
He was consistent
He was committed
26 years ago, WBC opened it’s doors here in this community.
What will the next 26 years be like?
Let’s join together as witnesses for Christ!
Friend, choose today to be a positive part of the history of WBC!
Not so someone will look back and point to your name for glory.
But may your witness… my witness for Christ, change the very fabric of our town over these coming years, because we serve a God who is worthy of our testimony for Him!
