WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.439 Amen. 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:02.560 Sacred mission. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:03.120 Good morning. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.400 My name is Justin. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:11.279 I'm one of the pastors here, and it's my joy and privilege to be able to bring God's word to you this morning. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:15.199 Man, I personally love Martin Luther. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:21.280 Uh, and if you don't know who he is, he kind of kick-started this whole thing called the Reformation in 1517. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:27.920 I got to go and visit Wittenberg uh in uh for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.359 Uh, got to see his home and his church where he preached. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:40.399 And one of the things that I learned while I was there, which was really cool, is uh for those of you who don't know, he wrote the song that we just sang, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:50.719 And when the Black Plague was just destroying Europe, uh Luther and the men of Castle Church in Wittenberg were the only ones willing to bury the dead. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:01:03.679 And while they were there burying the dead of the effects of the black plague, often he would say, Let's raise the 42nd men, and they would sing, A mighty fortress is our God, while they buried those bodies. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:14.000 Uh, because they stood on faith that God is sovereign, God will accomplish what he sets forth to do, and their job is to trust him in obedience. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:34.400 And so anytime I I that song just has so much uh power and weight and depth to it, and to realize the suffering that some people were going through in the midst of writing and singing those very words, uh just bring breathes new life into our understanding and experience of it as we sing it as a church body. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.280 We are connected uh to the ancient church, right? 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:43.599 And that's a beautiful reality that we should celebrate and reflect on often as a community. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:51.040 Well, hey, this morning uh we are kicking into the narrative portion of the Gospel of John. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.400 So last week we finished up what we called the prologue, right? 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:56.480 That was verses 1 through 18. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:14.479 It was kind of the introduction of the Gospel of John, where he's setting us up to understand to what we what we said, he's focusing the lens to help us see very clearly who Jesus is so that we can understand the rest of the gospel that he writes for us. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:19.360 And we're gonna dive into the narrative section of the Gospel of John. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:21.280 So this is where we get into story. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:25.280 And John, he's gonna throw us right into the thick of story. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:29.840 Uh he doesn't, he's very different from all the other gospel authors, right? 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:40.479 They kind of set the scene with uh maybe the birth of Jesus, or they kind of give some uh history of the lineage and genealogy of Jesus, and they kind of come in slowly. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:41.919 Well, John doesn't do that. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:58.800 John comes right into the thick of story, kind of like if you uh ever watched a movie, right, where all of a sudden it's just you're right in the middle of action, and then you kind of have to back up to understand how you got there, what took place to get to this point, and then the story can continue from there. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:09.439 That's kind of what John's doing for us here, and he's throwing us right into the life and ministry of the other John, John the Baptist. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:12.719 So I'm gonna say John a lot in this sermon. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:19.599 I'm gonna do my best to differentiate between John the Apostle and John the Baptist, right? 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:27.039 I'm gonna try and do that well, but if I don't, just realize there are two Johns, and we're gonna be talking about both of them here. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:46.560 But we have to remember, again, I want us to remind ourselves why does John particularly jump into the thick of story rather than doing what the other gospel authors did with things like the genealogies or the birth of Jesus or so forth and so forth. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:04:03.280 Remember, he reminds us in John chapter 20, verse 31, he wrote these things, these stories, so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:09.360 So again, John was this curator of all the different things he could have written about Jesus. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:16.480 He intentionally picked these things so that we might have faith in Christ and find life in him, right? 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:25.759 So that's why John brings us into the life and work of John the Baptist here in chapter 1, verse 19. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.480 So if I was to summarize verse 19, I would say this. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:30.959 We're looking at the other John. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:33.279 The other John. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:35.839 Verse 19 starts off with this. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.360 And this is the testimony of John. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.920 Now, what is a testimony? 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:50.240 Uh we see that John had one, and we have to discover not only what it was, but what is a testimony in the first place. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:57.120 A testimony is a credible statement about a person or event from a witness. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:03.920 A credible statement from about a person or event from a witness. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.120 And John has a testimony. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:13.040 And the apostle John is helping us understand what that testimony was. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:23.120 But it doesn't come without some sense of conflict, it doesn't come without some sense of pressure from the culture that John finds himself in here in the text. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:32.879 Because it goes on to say this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.519 So who are the Jews? 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:43.439 If we look through specifically John's gospel, he's going to use this language of the Jews in a plethora of different ways. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:49.040 Sometimes it's positive, sometimes it's neutral, sometimes it's negative. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:52.480 In this case, it's a negative connotation. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:59.199 It's negative because what he's helping us understand is that there was this group of Jews called the Sanhedrin. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:08.480 The Sanhedrin was these elected officials that governed all of uh of the Jewish people under Roman rule. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:16.319 So one thing that Rome allowed Jewish people to do was still exercise and operate within the law of God. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:16.639 Right? 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:25.360 They kind of had a subculture that was embedded inside of host culture, and so they had their own judicial system, they had their own governance, right? 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:31.040 And so the Sanhedrin was this council of governance for the Jewish people. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:39.839 And they sent two representatives, two types of representatives, not just two people, but two types of representatives. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.160 They sent priests and Levites to ask John. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:45.040 All right. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:47.600 So who are the priests and Levites? 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:51.279 Uh the priests were descendants of Aaron. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:56.240 They were of the tribe of Levi, but they were direct descendants of Aaron. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:07:04.480 And because they were direct descendants of Aaron, they were authorized to perform worship in the temple, right? 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:09.040 So they could offer the sacrifices, they could perform worship in the temple. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:14.240 They were a very select group of Jewish people who were of the tribe of Levi. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:21.360 So inside of Jewish uh uh life, there were 12 tribes that made up all of Israel. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:24.000 One of those was the tribe of Levi. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:29.279 With inside the tribe of Levi, there was a man named Aaron, Moses' brother. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:34.560 And anyone who descended from Aaron with inside the tribe of Levi could be a priest. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:38.879 They could offer worship unto God in the temple. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:41.759 So that's one representative type. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.920 The other representative type, you notice he says, Levites. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:47.839 Now, who were the Levites? 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:53.759 The Levites were of the tribe of Levi, but they were not descended from Aaron. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:00.319 So they could not offer worship in the temple, but they had a distinct role in temple life. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:06.399 They were kind of, among other things, one of their primary ones was that they were kind of the police of the temple. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:15.519 They guarded the temple and made sure that things were going as they should be, making sure that it was stayed pure from any Gentile presence and so forth. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:17.920 So they were guards of the temple. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:26.399 And so you have the priests and the Levites representing this group that John refers to as the Jews coming to ask John. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:28.160 And what are they asking John? 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:31.120 Who are you? 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.360 Who are you? 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.799 What are they really investigating? 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:40.320 They're investigating John's credibility, right? 00:08:40.720 --> 00:09:02.480 If a testimony is a statement about a person or event that's credible from a witness, and he is giving testimony, he's preaching about who this Messiah is and what he desires from us, they're coming to investigate his credibility. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:04.240 Who are you? 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:06.879 Well, let's help answer that question this morning. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.960 Who is John the Baptist, right? 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.600 That's probably important for us to try to understand here. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.480 John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:18.080 He was actually the older cousin of Jesus by about six months. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:19.600 I don't know if you're like me. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:21.360 I grew up with a bunch of cousins. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:25.519 Like they were all boys, and we just beat the mess out of each other and built forts. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:26.799 That's all we ever did. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:30.080 And some of them were a little older than me, some were a little younger than me. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:35.919 But he's he's Jesus' cousin, uh, and he's older by about six months. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:41.679 And he's the son of a temple priest named Zechariah. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.039 And Zechariah had a wife named Elizabeth. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:50.879 Now the Bible says that they were advanced in years and they were without children. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:10:09.039 Uh, and then all of a sudden, as Zechariah's in the temple ministering at the uh altar of incense, there's an angel named Gabriel who appears to Zechariah and foretells of this birth of a son. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:20.960 And so we actually read in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 13 through 17, this foretelling from Gabriel to Zechariah, John the Baptist's father. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:21.840 This is what he says. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:37.279 But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:11:08.000 For he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:23.279 Now, when Gabriel was giving this announcement to Zechariah in the temple, he was borrowing language from a prophecy that came 400 years earlier through this prophet named Malachi. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.159 We see actually in Malachi chapter 4, verses 5 through 6. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:32.000 This is the very last bit of the Old Testament. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:33.519 We see these words. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:52.159 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, 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. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:12:08.000 Gabriel said that John would go before him speaking of the Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:20.879 So we see that Gabriel's borrowing language from this prophecy given some 400 years earlier about John the Baptist and about this one who would come to prepare the way. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:28.399 And he's telling Zechariah that his son is going to be the fulfillment of that prophecy. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:35.279 You see, God's people had not heard his voice for over 400 years. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:41.679 After the prophet Malachi, we enter into what we call the intertestamental period. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:43.440 The intertestamental period. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:44.799 Here's what we mean by that. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:47.440 In our Bibles, we have two testaments, right? 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.639 We have an Old Testament and a New Testament. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:55.600 The time between those two is about 400 years. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.759 And in that time, God did not speak to his people. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:02.960 It was a time of silence for Israel as a nation. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:09.759 And we refer to that time as the enter between testamental, the two testaments, period. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.320 And so here then comes John the Baptist on the scene. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.039 And what does John the Baptist start to do? 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:22.480 He starts to bear witness, he starts to testify, he starts to speak. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.720 And so for the first time in 400 years, there's a voice. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:35.519 And they're trying to understand is this what was promised to us, or is this something different? 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:40.559 You see, around the age of 30, John actually begins his public ministry. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:48.480 Because as the Gospel of Luke records, in Luke 3, 2, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:53.519 This kind of kick-started his public ministry sometime around the age of 30. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:00.799 He comes on the scene wearing a garment of camel hair, tied with a leather belt, eating wild locusts and honey. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:04.159 He probably looked like some dude who works at Whole Foods, right? 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:11.679 And uh and all of a sudden he he he's preaching, and he's preaching throughout the region around the Jordan River. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:24.480 So if we understand the Jordan River, the Jordan River is near Jerusalem and it runs north and south in Israel, and it actually empties in its southern part into the Dead Sea. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:31.679 And so he's preaching around this region and he's got a message for Israel. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.600 What was he preaching? 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:35.600 Luke 3:3 says this. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:45.120 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:51.600 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:15:06.960 It was a word to the people of Israel to baptize, to cleanse themselves with the purpose of repentance from their sinful ways, so that they might be forgiven. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.279 Here's kind of what a message sounded like. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:15.759 If we kept reading in Luke 3, we'd see in verse 7 a little tidbit of John's message that he preached to Israel. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:16.320 Ready for this? 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:28.159 It says, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:33.279 For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:37.039 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:43.679 Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:44.799 That's a message. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.720 That's a Paul Washer message, right there. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:51.919 That's not that's not a message that you're gonna find on TBN, right? 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:58.480 Uh this is a message that John is preaching of repentance and baptism. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:06.639 Uh now that we have to pause and reflect on the gravitas of exactly what John is preaching and what his ministry is accomplishing. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:15.360 You see, back in those days, uh baptism was every now and then used for kind of like purification rituals, right? 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:22.879 But primarily, baptism was used for Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.320 And obviously, Gentiles would have to wash themselves. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:35.200 They were unclean people, and if they were going to actually come into the community of God's people, there would have to be some type of transformation. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:37.759 There would have to be this repentance taking place. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.919 And so it would be one thing. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:59.919 It would be one thing if John the Baptist was preaching uh this message to Gentiles, and he was calling Gentiles these brood of vipers, and the Jordan banks were lined with Gentiles who were coming in to receive baptism and turn from their wicked ways to serve the one true living God, but that wasn't the case. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:05.200 He's actually preaching to God's chosen people, the children of Abraham. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:10.240 They're the ones who received the law, they are the ones that had the prophets, right? 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:16.480 He's calling Jewish people to be baptized for repentance. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:23.359 Well, that demanded some investigation, wouldn't you say? 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:28.079 So in verses 20 through 23, we come into the beginning of the investigation. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:31.920 We see not the one you are looking for. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.880 Not the one you are looking for. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:39.519 Verse 20, he says, it says this, he confessed, speaking of John the Baptist. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:44.640 He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:46.720 Uh the language here is a bit clumsy, right? 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:50.720 When you read that, um, it doesn't really flow naturally. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:18:01.119 Uh what he's trying to communicate is that to the highest degree possible, he made it as clear as he possibly could he was not the Christ, right? 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:09.440 So so the very first thing that they're trying to understand is, are you, John the Baptist, the Christ, the promised one we should be waiting for? 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.359 And he says, No, that's not me. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:13.200 I'm not the Christ. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:16.480 Verse 21, and they asked him, Well, what then? 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:17.759 Are you Elijah? 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.599 He said, I am not. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:26.960 Uh, you see, they had in mind the words of the prophet Malachi that we read earlier, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:38.000 Though at the time John was unable or maybe unwilling to accept it, Jesus actually affirmed that he was actually the messenger in the spirit of Elijah who was to come. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:49.839 In Matthew 11, 14, Jesus actually says, and if you are willing to accept it, speaking to a crowd of followers, he, being John the Baptist, is Elijah who is to come. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.839 And so even in this interrogation, he says that he's not Elijah. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.359 We shouldn't see it as a contradiction with inside the scriptures. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:02.240 What we should see is John the apostle recording a narrative. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.440 And what we see is that John the Baptist was wrestling with really who was he? 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:08.960 What was he called to do? 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:15.599 We see John the Baptist actually later, even wrestling if Jesus was really the Messiah he promised to be. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:20.400 As he's sitting in prison, he asks them, Should I be looking for another? 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.799 And they say, Well, tell John that what? 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:31.200 The uh eyes of the blind are open, the lame are walking, that the prisoner has been set free, that Jesus is the one who they had been waiting for. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:33.519 And so John wrestles, right? 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:46.720 John may not be uh confident or fully aware that he is the one who comes in the spirit of Elijah, but Jesus testifies to the truth that no, that he really is the one of whom Malachi spoke of. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:47.839 But then they go on. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:49.200 So he goes, Are you the Christ? 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:49.519 No. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:50.400 Are you Elijah? 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:51.119 He says, No. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.440 And then they go, Are you the prophet? 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:55.119 And he answered, No. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:09.359 Uh, this is the reference to a word that was given all the way back in Deuteronomy to Moses, where God told uh the people of Israel through Moses uh these things in Deuteronomy 18, 18. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:20.880 He says, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:25.440 So they've asked him, Are you three different people? 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.480 Three different times, John the Baptist says, No. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:33.200 What was really the intention of their interrogation, right? 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.599 Uh they were looking for an eschatological sign. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.480 They were looking for an eschatological sign. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:41.519 Here's what we mean by that. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:43.039 What is eschatology? 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:46.720 Eschatology is the study of last things. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:51.519 So as we're studying eschatology, we're studying the last things. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.640 Uh the resurrection, eternal life, the coming again of Jesus, right? 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:59.440 These are all things that we study in eschatology. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.880 These men are looking for an eschatological sign. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:09.119 They're looking for a sign that this might be the beginning of the last things. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:21.440 Because if we go back to Malachi, it says that these prophecies would sum into the great and awesome day of the Lord. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.000 What was Israel hoping for? 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:44.559 They were hoping for a Messiah to come and liberate them from the oppression of tyranny, that they might be restored to the true, blessed, chosen, favored people of God that was seen publicly by all the nations of how blessed that they were. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:47.359 They were looking for a king, a ruler. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:53.359 And so they were hoping that this was the beginning of the very last things. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:59.599 All three of these personified prophecies would point to this great and awesome day of. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.640 Of the Lord. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:03.839 That was their intention for this interrogation. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:09.279 Yet they said to them then, in kind of frustration, Well, then who are you? 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.759 We need to give an answer to those who sent us. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:16.799 What do you say about yourself? 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.039 You see, they demanded an answer. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:22.319 They needed to report back to the Sanhedrin. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:32.640 And in verse 23, he says, This I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.160 John gives them an answer. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:39.279 But there's a problem with his answer. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:45.279 His answer would actually stir up more concern than provide comfort. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:56.559 Though he is adamant that he is not the personification of these last things, he does confess to be the forerunner of the one who is. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.960 John borrows language from a prophecy from Isaiah 40. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:07.920 Isaiah 43 through 4 says this a voice cries, In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:11.200 Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:19.519 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:23.359 Who is John? 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.640 He is the forerunner to the coming Christ. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:34.079 He is a forerunner to the Messiah who would inaugurate the kingdom of God. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:39.839 He is a forerunner to the one who is the beginning of the last things. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:50.079 John's preaching and ministry would make a highway for God's mercy and comfort to come quickly to his people through the person and work of Jesus. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:56.160 If we look at verses 24 through 28, we see this a misdirected distress. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.720 A misdirected distress. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:03.359 Verse 24 says, Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:19.359 Again, the language is a little clumsy here, but what it seems to bring about is this reality that in that group of the ones that John the Apostle calls the Jews, there was a group of them who were from the Pharisees. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:36.160 Now the Pharisees were kind of a very select, elite group of rabbis who were very well known for adding tradition to the laws of God or adding different uh uh uh requirements to the laws of God. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:42.400 So if God's law was that you shall uh only eat from uh clean uh plates, right? 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:46.079 They had they would add then, well, what does a clean plate mean? 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.519 How do you clean a plate? 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:49.200 Is this clean enough, right? 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:56.720 They would kind of always ask those questions, and in asking those questions, they would add to the requirements of the law. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:07.279 So they put legalism in the letter of the law rather than trying to understand the spirit of the law and what God was really trying to get after in their own hearts, right? 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:10.000 And so maybe you've been to part of a church like that, right? 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:14.720 Where the where the Bible might say something like, dress modestly, right? 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:16.000 That's a principle. 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:19.519 The practice of modest dress is actually quite diverse. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.880 There's actually quite a bit of freedom in what modesty means. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:25.279 Uh, but there's a principle of modesty. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:30.079 And so when when there's this freedom, what do we like to do with freedom? 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:31.839 We love to kill it. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.000 Um, and then uh, so what do we do? 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.599 We say, hey, we're gonna put rules around this principle. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:47.119 And so, uh, ladies, you can't wear pants, you have to wear skirts because one tube of clothing is more holy than two tubes of clothing for some reason. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:50.880 And you can't wear makeup and you have to put your hair in a bun. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.480 And you, men, you must uh dress like a used car salesman. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:59.519 Like we always like kind of make these rules of what this has to look like, right? 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:02.240 Because we hate freedom because it scares us. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:04.880 And so the Pharisees were like those people, right? 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:06.240 Fundamental Baptists. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:07.680 I'm just gonna say it. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:14.079 I hope that you are finding a place of refuge and healing here at Sacred Mission. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:16.319 Um, but these were the Pharisees, right? 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:17.839 The ancient fundies. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.799 Um, and they questioned John uh about what? 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:24.799 About his baptism. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:30.559 They're very specific about what they questioned John on, and they questioned him about his baptism. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:36.720 Uh, they asked him, then why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:41.680 It's not surprising that their question was in regards uh to this baptism. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:51.920 If there was going to be a new twist on an old ceremony, then they would have been the ones to both create and implement it among Jewish people, right? 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:57.680 If the if you're gonna do a new twist on something old, that was kind of their job. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:04.880 And so it's no wonder that they would actually press upon this baptism reality of John's ministry. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:16.480 And it says that uh John answered them, verse 26, I baptize with water, but among you stands one who you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I'm not worthy to untie. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:22.319 Uh John's uh answer is almost dismissive of the Pharisees' question. 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:30.160 He hits it so abruptly and then moves on to distract them, or actually not to distract, to point them toward what they should be concerned about. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:34.640 I baptize with water, but there's one who stands among you that you don't even know. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:51.279 You see, these Pharisees, their distress should not have been about the means, method, or mode of baptism, but in the fact that the one who is the ushering of the last things is in their presence and they don't even know him. 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.759 It's not John they should be looking for at all. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:02.400 It is the one who is coming, the one whose strap of sandal John was not worthy to even untie. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:11.279 You see, in their tradition, if you were a slave, one of your jobs would be to untie your master's sandal. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.400 John is putting himself lower than a slave. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.920 He's saying, I am not even worthy to do that. 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:24.400 This one who is coming is so great and mighty, is so holy and powerful. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:30.319 He is so just and merciful and kind and good. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:33.519 I cannot even stoop down to untie his sand. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.759 I'm not even worthy to do that. 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:42.720 You see, ultimately, all of their interrogation efforts was to get John to bear witness about himself. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:44.000 Who are you? 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:45.920 Why do you baptize? 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:47.519 What were they pressing on? 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:59.599 They were pressing on John's identity and his works, and they were working tirelessly to try and get him to testify about himself, to bear witness about himself. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:01.039 But what does he do? 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:03.279 He points to Christ. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:06.000 He points to Jesus. 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:11.119 He could only bear witness about the Christ Messiah. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:18.000 So our main idea this morning, Sacred Mission, is that our work is for his witness. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:21.519 Our work is for his witness. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:28.640 Like John the Baptist, we are called to bear witness to the person and work of Jesus. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:35.279 There was no interest in John to cast light on his identity or in his works. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.880 He was simply a voice. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:42.400 A voice, a witness casting the light upon the true light of Jesus. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:53.440 And we will see throughout this gospel that John the Baptist's life would be marching to the anthem of he must increase, but I must decrease. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:30:03.359 As John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, we as the church go forth with the Holy Spirit and the power of truth. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:11.599 Are we not at our core a collective of voices crying, prepare the way for the coming of the Lord? 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:24.240 As John went in the spirit of Elijah, do we not pick up his mantle, John's mantle, that we prepare for the coming of Christ, our Messiah, in his second advent? 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:31.200 In a sense, John was ushering in the last things, but it was the beginning of the last things. 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:40.240 The inauguration of the kingdom came through the coming of Christ, but the consummation of the kingdom will come through his coming again. 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:48.640 And so we as the church, we raise our voice to bear witness, not to our own identity and work, but to his. 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:21.920 And so all of its outworking must resolve and benefit us also. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:29.039 Our comfort, our happiness, our feeling of worth, our love, our self-centered existence. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:39.599 You see, the message of the church shifted from repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to God loves you and He has an amazing plan for your life. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:42.559 Do you notice that shift? 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.279 Do you notice the shift that is about you? 00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:54.240 That puts you in the center rather than the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the center. 00:33:55.519 --> 00:34:03.039 You see, it's actually quite easy to understand when we look at the culture around us. 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:09.360 Our difficulty is not that we love ourselves too little, it's actually that we love ourselves too much. 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.599 The church has lost its prophetic voice. 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:17.840 And we sit around stupefied as to what has happened to our culture. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.159 Well, it's actually quite an easy answer. 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:22.880 We lost the message, so we lost the fight. 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:36.239 You see, when we cater and change our message to coddle a self-absorbed society, it's no wonder we'll borrow from that very society to extend our limp-wristed reach. 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:45.760 We will continue to change and ultimately lose the gospel if we do not contend to make it preeminently about Jesus. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:50.719 Some of us, we bear witness to our work. 00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:53.280 We bear witness to our work. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:35:04.559 Though we may claim to believe the gospel and to be saved by grace, we ultimately point the light to be casted on our works to find right standing with God. 00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:13.039 We strive to be known and loved by a holy God through a righteousness that we have merited by our own works. 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:22.320 We really believe God loves and accepts us for what we have done rather than for what Jesus has done for us. 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:28.559 We miss the whole point of God's steadfast love for his people. 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:36.480 All throughout the Old Testament, you'll continually see the scriptures talking about the steadfast love of God. 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:37.679 Here's what that means. 00:35:37.840 --> 00:35:47.199 Fundamentally, that means that before the earth was even formed, God chose to place his affection upon you. 00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:52.159 And there's nothing that you could do to gain it or lose it. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:58.719 When the Bible talks about the steadfast love of God for his people, that's what they're talking about. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:03.440 Not an emotion-driven thing, not something that's dictated by your behavior. 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:13.519 It's something that is rooted, solidified, and everlastingly uh existing with inside the conscious choice of our Maker. 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:16.400 That He has chosen to love you. 00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:19.199 And there's nothing you can do about it. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:24.559 That's a good God who loves us in ways that we can't even understand. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:27.920 You see, uh, we really wrestle with this, though. 00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:32.480 We wrestle with because we project onto God our own human experience. 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:38.000 We project onto God the failures of our own relationships that we've encountered as people. 00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:46.480 And I think here's two tests that we can try to uh navigate through to understand how much do we really believe the gospel? 00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:55.199 I think the first test is uh of do we really understand the gospel comes in the response to our own sin and shortcomings. 00:36:56.559 --> 00:37:12.239 When we sin, when we fall short of what we know God has for us in our life, do we operate in such a way that to be able to go back before Him in His presence, we've got to do better. 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:18.559 Man, if I I just gotta read my Bible more and I know that like me and God will be good again. 00:37:18.719 --> 00:37:22.880 I just gotta pray more and I know me and God will be good again. 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:32.079 If I just do these things, if I clean myself up, if I do the right things that I did wrong before, then I know God will love me again, He'll accept me again. 00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:34.079 I can stand in His presence again. 00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:35.039 What are you doing? 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:43.920 You are standing upon the merits of your own self-righteousness and dictating that as the means of which you have a right standing with God. 00:37:44.159 --> 00:38:04.239 You're not standing on the merits of Christ, who because of Him, His perfect life, his perfect obedience, and His substitutionary death, we have boldness to enter the presence of God and stand before His holy throne, not because of anything you've done or haven't done, but because of what Christ has done for us. 00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:06.000 That is the gospel. 00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:12.000 When we think that we have to earn our way, gravel our way back to the very throne of God. 00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:19.519 We're like the prodigal son who never believed that his father actually loved him and cared for him and desired him to be in his household. 00:38:19.679 --> 00:38:24.639 And what mercy do we experience as we try to crawl back into his presence. 00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:29.119 He falls on our neck and tells us how much he loves us. 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:31.440 That's the gospel. 00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:33.679 But we don't believe it. 00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:40.159 And it's rooted in the very ways that we posture ourselves before our Father when we fall short. 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:47.119 But another test of our understanding of the gospel is in our relationship with others. 00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:50.000 What message do we preach? 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.280 Do we preach clean yourself up? 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:56.880 Or do we preach let Jesus make you holy? 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:14.400 Man, a lot of our uh effort in communicating to unbelieving people seems to be rooted in if you just thought right, if you just voted right, if you just had sex right, if you just did these things right, then all of a sudden you'd be better. 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:18.079 No, that's not the gospel. 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:24.079 Again, that is a merit of self-righteousness that you're trying to put them under. 00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:34.239 You're trying to oppress them even more because there is no striving, no work of hand that could ever satisfy the law of God that he might love us. 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:42.000 The message of the gospel is not clean yourself up, the message of the gospel is let Jesus make you holy. 00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:46.880 By faith and repentance. 00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:52.880 I'm not saying change doesn't need to come, I'm saying we don't start with change. 00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:58.639 Change comes as a response from the love of God that we receive in Christ Jesus. 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:02.239 Change doesn't earn that love of God. 00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:18.159 And so your neighbors, your family members who think radically different than you, who vote different than you, who understand gender and sexuality different than you, who have broken relationships and bubble, go down the gauntlet. 00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:27.360 If they stopped those things, there is potential that they would actually be farther from God than closer to him. 00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:32.079 If they believe that stopping those things get them closer to him. 00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:42.000 Because God will never accept your own works of righteousness, he will only accept the works of Christ's righteousness. 00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:50.880 So we say that we believe in grace, but we live as though we believe in our works. 00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:58.800 So often we desire to bear witness to them rather than the finished work of Jesus our Lord. 00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:07.360 Though we fail and strive to bear witness to ourselves and our work, there is a faithful and true witness that we can hope in church. 00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:13.760 And it's this that the Spirit is sent to be his witness. 00:41:14.079 --> 00:41:17.199 The Spirit is sent to be his witness. 00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:26.880 Our hope is not ultimately in the strength of our own witness, but in the sovereign power of the witness that the Spirit bears. 00:41:27.199 --> 00:41:34.880 The Spirit is sent to bear witness in the hearts of God's people to apply the finished work of salvation. 00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:39.519 You see, Jesus said that I would go away so that I might send another. 00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:41.119 I might send the Spirit. 00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:43.440 John 15, 26 says this. 00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:52.719 But when the helper comes, Jesus said, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will do what? 00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:55.599 He will bear witness of me. 00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:58.480