a voice in the wilderness
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John 1:19–28 (NKJV)
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.”
And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
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.
A voice - Doesn't make an issue out of personality
A voice - Doesn't make an issue out of heritage
A voice - Doesn't make an issue out of education
A voice - A voice is heard but not seen
A voice - The words endure long after the voice is silent
John the messenger recognized it was the message and not the man
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
1. John did not need to defend himself, only put the attention on his Lord, Jesus Christ
2. Others were involved in credentials, personality, institutional religion - John was involved with a person, Jesus Christ
3. When questioned, John answered with Scripture, the Word of God which is the mind of Christ.
4. John is an example of the believer totally occupied with Jesus Christ and when we partake of communion we are reminded that our faith is wrapped up in Christ.
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
Caedmon, St. (d. c. 680). Caedmon, revered as the “Father of English hymnody,” was a humble cowherd at Whitby Abbey. According to legend, one night in a vision he was given the gift of rhyming sacred verse. The Anglo-Saxon historian *Bede recorded all that we know of this simple Christian man. Sometime after Caedmon’s death, his shire became an important pilgrimage site in northern England. Only a fragment of one hymn remains extant today.
at a time when scripture was not spoken in the native tongue, a people hungered in the desert for the Word.... the message
Bishop of Sherborne turned the psalms to anglo-saxon for song {639-709}
1:23 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” This quote from Isaiah 40:3 should have alarmed the religious leaders, for it clearly declared that John was announcing the appearance of the Messiah. “Make straight the way of the LORD.” The word “LORD” in the Isaiah prophecy is Jehovah, again showing that Jesus is God.
Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”
But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”
And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
An ambassador does not appoint himself. We are appointed by Christ (2Co 5:18–20
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.
An ambassador does not support himself. God supplies all our needs
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
An ambassador is not a citizen of the country where he is sent. We are citizens of heaven
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
An ambassador has instructions in written form. We have the Bible
2 tim. 3:16
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
An ambassador cannot take insults personally; he is accepted or rejected not on his own merit but because of who he repre- sents. We are not to take it personally when we are despised and rejected by those who hate Jesus Christ
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
An ambassador does not enter a country to profit himself. We are on earth to serve the Lord
and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
An ambassador is a personal representative of someone else; everything he does and says reflects on the one who sent him. We are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ by action as well as by word
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
An ambassador’s perspective is service; his prospect is reward. We are commissioned for service and will be rewarded
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
An ambassador is recalled when war is declared. The recall of all believers at the Rapture of the Church will announce the beginning of the end for Satan
Usage of the Greek word baptizo can be traced as far back as the ninth century B.C. The word had two basic meanings: "to change the nature of something" and "to identify something with its purpose." The first meaning was employed by Homer in The Odyssey to describe the tempering of a sword. When the hot metal was plunged into water, the sword was "baptized," changed from soft to hard metal. The second meaning was used by the Spartans who would "baptize" their spears before a battle by dipping them in blood. The process did not change the physical characteristics of the weapon, but served as a picture of its becoming a battle spear—one that had tasted blood.
David walked out to the brook and chose five little stones. Then he walked up to Goliath in the power of Christ and said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands … for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands” (vv. 45–47).