The Witness - John 1:6-8
INTRODUCTION:
To get our minds working this morning I want to read you a few more questions from Max Lucado’s book God Came Near. These questions come from the chapter entitled Twenty-Five Questions for Mary. (Read from Book) “Did you ever try to count the stars with him…and succeed? Did he ever come home with a black eye? How did he act when he got his first haircut? Did he have any friends by the name of Judas? Did he do well in school? Did you ever scold him? Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture? What do you think he thought when he saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body he made? Did he ever get angry when someone was dishonest with him?”[1] Just a few questions that could have been asked and that you can ponder as to what the answer might be.
This morning as we are going to go on in John chapter 1. Last week as we considered the Incarnation, John the apostle proved that the One who was coming, the One who had been promised to be the Deliverer was God. John described Him as the Word, because He reveals God to us and then John proved He was God in that He is the Creator of all things, He is God because He is the life and in Him is life and because the life is the Light of men. That fact that He is God makes it possible for Him to live a sinless life and be the perfect and only sacrifice for mankind’s sin. If He were simply a man, then He would have been a sinner like us and could not have paid the price for our sin. The Incarnation is God becoming man so that He could die for our sin, be buried, and rise from the dead three days later triumphing over sin and death forever.
This morning we are introduced to one whom the prophet Isaiah identifies as a voice, he writes in Isaiah 40:3, “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3, NASB95)[2] This one is the witness for our God. Let’s pray and then get into our passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
We are going to look at three short verses this morning that identify for us this witness for our God. Turn in your Bibles to John 1 and we are going to look at verses 6-8. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
John 1:6-8,
“There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.” (John 1:6–8, NASB95)[3]
THE WITNESS IS GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD (John 1:6)
John begins by telling us that there came a man, John wants to distinguish this man from the Word. This one that John is about to talk about is just a man, a human like you and me, a descendant of Adam, a sinner. This word translated “came” is a word in Greek that means “to come into existence or to come into being.” This man came into being by the creative act of God through the natural relations of a husband and wife. His coming into being was miraculous and from before he was conceived he was set apart for God. Listen to what is written about his parents from Luke 1:5-7, “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.” (Luke 1:5–7, NASB95)[4] We are introduced by Luke to the parents of this man that John said came into being. This couple is old, beyond the years of childbearing and they have never had any children because the wife of this godly priest is barren. They are described as righteous in the sight of God, in other words they believed in God, they believed His promise to send a Deliverer who would deliver them from sin, and thus they sought to live by the Law by faith and God counted their faith in His promises as righteousness. From our Scripture reading this morning you heard how Zacharias was offering the incense on the golden altar in the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son and this son would be great in the sight of the Lord. Zacharias could not believe what the angel told him because of his old age and the advanced years of his wife. He had some doubts and wanted to be certain and so the because he did not believe the words of the angel he was made mute, unable to speak, until the child was born. And it happened just as Gabriel had said, Zacharias went home from his service at the temple and his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and she gave birth to a son and they named him John and as soon as Zacharias acknowledged that this was the name of their son his tongue was loosed and he could speak again. You can read the whole story in Luke 1:5-25 and Luke 1:57-80. There came into being a man sent from God. This man that came into being in the natural way, but miraculously to parents who should not have been able to have a child and John writes that he was sent from God, we already heard that he would be great in the sight of the Lord. We know that God had a job for this man to do. Back in Luke when the people who lived near Zacharias and Elizabeth heard about this son that they had, it says in verse 66 of Luke 1, “All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, ‘What then will this child turn out to be?’ For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.” (Luke 1:66, NASB95)[5] Zacharias said this about his son, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins,” (Luke 1:76–77, NASB95)[6] John simply says, there came into being a man sent from God, whose name was John. Most people know Him as John the Baptist, He was sent by God to be the witness. Jesus declared that John the Baptist was a prophet and more than a prophet and that there was no one born of women greater than John. How was he a prophet and more than a prophet, why was no one born of women greater than him? John was the last of what we would call the Old Testament prophets, yet he was the first herald of the new dispensation. Not only was he to prophesy of the coming Deliverer, but he also had the privilege of welcoming the Deliverer—baptizing Him in token of His identification with those for whom He came to die. John the Baptist came into being and was sent by God as the witness.
THE WITNESS CAME TO TURN HEARTS BACK TO THE LORD (John 1:7)
As the witness, he came to turn men’s hearts back to the Lord. John writes in verse 7 that John the Baptist came as a witness, to testify about the Light. Remember last Sunday, John had used as one of his proofs that the Word was God was that He is the Light. John the Baptist came as a witness to testify about the Light. That is what every minister should be, a witness. A witness does not tell the things he thinks, but the things he knows. John the Baptist came to tell the things that he knew about the Light because he knew that people who were steeped in the darkness of sin would not know about the Light. He testified about the Light so that people would believe through him the truth that he spoke about the Light. We call John the forerunner of the Messiah, or of the Lord Jesus. A forerunner was a herald that ran ahead of an approaching king or dignitary to tell the people that he was coming so that they would be prepared when he arrived.
John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ preparing people for His coming, telling people to repent so that they would be ready to receive His salvation, so that they would recognize Him when He came. What are the things that John the Baptist testified about Jesus? John testified that one was coming after him, the thong of His sandal John was not worthy to untie. John testified that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John testified that Jesus has a higher rank than John, because Jesus existed before John the Baptist. But wasn’t John the Baptist born before Jesus? He was, but John the Baptist recognized that Jesus is God and He has always existed so John could say that Jesus existed before him. John also testified that God had told him that the One on whom he saw the Spirit descend and remain, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and John the Baptist testified that he saw the Holy Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and landing on Jesus and remaining on Him, and John testified that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John came to announce the coming of the Light, so that when He came people would know who He was and they would believe in Him for salvation.
THE WITNESS IS NOT THE LIGHT (John 1:8)
The Apostle John in verse 8 declares for us that John the Baptist is not the Light, he is only the witness who testifies about the Light. When the people of Israel saw John the Baptist preaching and baptizing they began to think that he was the promised Deliverer, that he was the promised Messiah, and the apostle John wants us to understand in no uncertain terms that this is not true, and John the Baptist never claimed to be the Messiah, as a matter of fact he denied it on many occasions, clearly testifying that the One who was coming after him was much greater than him, and that the people needed to follow Him, Jesus was the Light, Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus was the Savior, John the Baptist was only the one announcing His arrival.
Listen to John’s testimony about himself in John 1:19-23, “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ They asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ And he said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as Isaiah the prophet said.’” (John 1:19–23, NASB95)[7] John the Baptist said he was a voice, you cannot see a voice you can only hear it. John the Baptist did not want the people to become occupied by him. When he was questioned he never exalted himself. It was his joy to simply exalt the One whose herald he was. John should be an example to all who desire to be in the service of God. My joy should never be to exalt myself, but to always exalt my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But our human nature wants people to be attracted to us. We like to be well thought of and it hurts us a bit if people misunderstand us and speak unkindly about us. That was not John the Baptist, his desire was that people would be attracted to Jesus, that they would see the Light that he testified about and they would embrace it and become children of the Light. John the Baptist understood the purpose for which God had sent him out into the world and it was to be a witness of the Light. As Jesus’ popularity grew the disciples of John the Baptist came to him with a complaint and listen to his response, John 3:26-30, “And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.’ John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Christ,” but, “I have been sent ahead of Him.” He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.’” (John 3:26–30, NASB95)[8] John the Baptist understood that Jesus was the most important, Jesus was the one who had come to take away the sins of the world. John the Baptist could not take away sins because he was a sinner just like you and me. Only Jesus, God in human form was perfect and sinless, only Jesus Christ could go to the cross and by His death pay the penalty for our sin, be buried and rise from the dead three days later affirming that His death had paid the full price for our sin, that He was the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Now by agreeing with God that we are sinners who are unable to save ourselves, who cannot do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God, but by faith believing that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead we can have our sins forgiven, we can be covered in the righteous of Christ and stand before God justified. John understood that only Jesus could do this for us, John understood that he was merely a man who came into being sent by God to be a witness to testify about the Light. It was not about John the Baptist, it was all about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the World.
CONCLUSION:
As I close this morning it would be good for me and for everyone who desires to serve the Lord whether that be by being a pastor, or serving on the board, or serving on the music team, or cleaning the church, or printing the bulletin, or by being a witness in your job and working as if you are serving God and not men, whatever your service to the Lord is, it is important to remember that it is not about Joe Beard, insert your own name here, it is not about Joe Beard, it is all about Jesus Christ, it is all about exalting the name of Jesus to the world. It is about being a witness, testifying about the Light who came into the world to save us from our sins. He must increase, I must decrease.
Maybe you are here this morning and you realize that you have never agreed with God that you are sinner unable to save yourself, unable to make yourself acceptable to God, but you understand that now. Possibly you have been going to church your whole life and you thought you would go to heaven because you were trying to do all the right things, but now you realize that there is only one way to get into heaven, there is only one way to know for sure that your sins are forgiven and that is by believing that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin, that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead three days later forever guaranteeing our salvation from sin and death. You can believe that in the quietness of your own heart this morning, but if you do this, if you believe this for the first time this morning, will you please tell me so that I can rejoice with you that you have come out of darkness and into the Kingdom of His marvelous light, that you have become a child of the Light. I won’t condemn you for not doing it earlier, I want to rejoice with you that you understand the way in which we are forgiven and become adopted into God’s family. This is not news to hide, but it is something to be shared.
--LET’S PRAY--
[1]Lucado, Max, God Came Near. Nashville, Tenn. : W Publishing Group, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2004
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995