The Testimony of John the Baptizer: The Prologue Part 2

John 1:19-34 The Testimony of John the Baptizer (The Prologue Part 2) Introduction: Over and over we will see in this Gospel that John the writer explains Jesus in terms of the Old Testament. Jesus doesn’t appear on the scene of history without historical preparation. God had been at work in Israel for two thousand years, and even before that, putting in place a historical backdrop that would make Jesus’ life and ministry more intelligible. All four Gospels suggest that if we are going to meet the Word of God, we do well to begin by considering John the Baptizer. 1. The Voice 1. “And 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.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 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?” 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.” (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 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 Jordan, where John was baptizing.” 1. John the baptizer is a most interesting character. We are told in the other Gospel accounts that he lived in the wilderness, wore camel’s hair for clothes, ate locust and wild honey, preached a fiery message of baptism and repentance, and plunged people into the cool waters of the Jordan river. 2. Historically speaking Baptism was not a practice for the Jews. Baptism was done for Gentiles who were wanting to convert to Judaism, they would be washed from their pagan ways and brought into a new way of life - as a sign of repentance. John the baptizer is baptizing Jews though, and what he is implying is that the Jews also need cleansing and repentance. No wonder the religious leaders were asking, who are you and why are you baptizing? 3. We would probably like to know more about this character, and we can do that by looking at the other gospel accounts, but John’s Gospel seems to want to point us away from John the baptizer, on to something greater, on to something better to come. 4. We are told that the religious leaders of the Jews (The Pharisees and Sadducees) had sent a group to inquire about who John was and why he was baptizing. They asked him if he was the Christ, Elijah or The Prophet. To all these John answered a resounding NO. But he said, I am simply The Voice, crying out in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord…. John identifies itself as the voice that will prepare the way for the Lord from Isaiah chapter 40. 5. But by identifying himself this way John is saying don’t look at me, or to me, look at where I am pointing. What or who is John pointing to? John is pointing to Jesus. So let’s consider what “The Voice” is saying. 2. The Message or Testimony of John 1. “The next day he 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 ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 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.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” 1. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 1. The first thing that John wants us to know about Jesus is that Jesus is to die a sacrificial death for the sins of the world. 2. Those listening to John would have understood the historical reference to a lamb that takes away sin. The Old Testament had a number of pictures readily brought to mind: The Lamb provided by God for Abraham (Genesis 22); The Lamb of Isaiah 53 who was led to the slaughter for the sins of God’s people; and perhaps most likely of all, the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12, which will be important for John as he unveils the cross. 1. Passover: God commanded the nation of Israel to take a spotless lamb, to kill it, and take it’s blood and smear it on the post of their house doors, as God’s angel saw the blood he would pass-over their houses. This the practice of the Jews for thousands of years set up by Moses. A lamb or goat would be sacrificed in place of the sinning person. The lamb would die as your substitute, taking your sin and judgment and you would go free. 3. By the end of John’s story, the meaning is clear. The death of Jesus takes place, in this gospel, on the afternoon when the passover lambs were being killed in the Temple. God is providing for himself a lamb- Jesus, the true Passover lamb. John like many New Testament writers wants us to understand the events concerning Jesus as a new and better Exodus story. Just as God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, so God was now bringing a new people out of an even older and darker slavery. 4. Sin is Slavery 1. The Teaching of the Bible is that when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they brought sin (death, disease, decay) into the world. The world and everything in it is under the dominion of sin, we are slaves. We cannot break free, we are powerless to it, and we are also co-conspirators in it. 2. How do we know this? 3. Have you ever tried, for a day to practice the golden rule? Almost everybody believes that this is the way we should live. Try for 12 hours to treat others like you want to be treated, to seek the benefit of others with the same love, focus and drive that you seek good for yourself. You can’t do it. Why? Because we are sinful, and enslaved to sin. 1. “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” -Romans 7:21-24 4. I said last week that Jesus (the Word) has been sent by the Father to bring us back into the dance of God, back into fellowship, back into the life, joy, peace, and love that God created us for….But how does God do this? 1. “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, So God sent us a Savior.” -Max Lucado 2. God sends a substitute, a spotless lamb that would die in our place so we can be forgiven and set free from sin’s power. God’s sends Jesus his passover lamb. 5. Who is the lamb being sacrificed for? The World. 1. “Any who receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” -John 1:12 2. There is no race, no nationality, no ethnicity, no socio-economic status excluded. To as many as receive him, who believe on his name (John 1:12), their sins are taken away. 3. "The sins of the world without any exception, every kind of sin and evil is covered. There is no sin too heinous, no wickedness too terrible, no habitual failure too often repeated, that it cannot be taken away by Christ our heavenly lamb”-Milne 4. “The atoning death of Jesus is so massive that the whole world could come to him today and he wouldn’t feel at all depleted: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Ten thousand worlds, ten thousand hells, could come to Jesus today, and his capacity to forgive wouldn’t be diminished one single drop. He has a fullness of grace upon grace for sin upon sin, including yours and mine.” -Ray Ortlund Jr 2. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. 1. All throughout the Old testament God’s leaders would be anointed with the Spirit. God’s Spirit would come upon them to fulfill their special mission. (Examples: Gideon, Samson and Saul) 2. So here we see that Christ is also anointed with the Spirit, but the Spirit rest upon him, it is remaining on him. 3. This is a sign that Jesus is the one to be connected with the expected rejuvenation of Israel through God’s Spirit in the time of deliverance. Through Jesus the promised age is dawning. 1. Prophetic Passages about the Messiah’s work: 1. “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Isaiah 11:2 2. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified” - Isaiah 61:1-3 2. “In The New Testament church, baptism initiated into the family of God. To entitle Jesus ‘ the baptizer with the Spirit’ means primarily that he is the one through whom we are initiated into God’s kingdom through receiving the life of God the Holy Spirit. In this sense it is a synonym of Jesus as regenerator, the one through whom we are born again.”- Milne 1. What John is saying in nutshell is this: Jesus Christ is God’s “anointed servant”(messiah), sent to remove our sin - the barrier that keeps us from God, that keeps us from life, and bring us into the presence of God, filling us with the Holy Spirit. Meaning- He empowers our lives with the power of God. He gives us his joy, peace, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit. 3. He is the Son of God 1. John the baptizer testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. Why does John, the writer, continually highlights this point throughout his Gospel. Why? 2. He wants us to understand the authority that Christ work carries with it. He is the unique only one of the Father, there is no other like him, there is no substitute apart from him, he is the way, the truth, the life…..He is the one and only Messiah that the scriptures have all been continually pointing to. 3. He wants us to understand the heart of God toward us. God is so just that he demands righteousness, justice, he demands the payment for sin. But God is also so loving and good, that he provides himself as the payment for the sins of the world. Conclusion: “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.” -John 20:30-31 We are living in a time and culture of increased pluralism. Statements like: “there cannot just be one way”; “all religions basically teach the same thing”; “no one religion has a absolute claim on truth”. Are heard and claimed constantly. But please listen to the claims of The Gospel of John that we went over this morning. Jesus is: The Lamb of God; The one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit; The Son of God God has one lamb, that was sent as a sacrifice for the atonement of sin. His blood is enough for all. sufficient for all, effective for those who believe. God has one anointed servant that can bring us into the presence or fellowship of God. The lamb, the anointed servant is God himself come in the person of Jesus Christ - more loving, more gracious, more just, more conservative, more liberal, more holy than we can possibly imagine.