(John 1:15)
�John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.�
In this chapter John has already described the Word. He has noted the divinity of Christ, the creative power and working of Christ, and the redemption which is available through the work of Jesus Christ. Now we see John, the human penman of this Gospel, beginning to describe the relationship of another John, John the Baptist, as a forerunner, with this Divine Person.
The apostle John describes John the Baptist as a person with a distinct witness. �John bare witness...�
John the Baptist was a well known preacher. Throngs of people came out into the desert to hear him preach the message of repentance. But, John had a real problem as far as retaining his popularity. He had a real bad case of always telling the truth. If you�ll read the first half of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, you will find that this trait caused John to be martyred when he criticized the ruler of the land.
To John the Baptist, the telling of the truth was even more important than was his own life.
Also, to John the Baptist, the telling of the truth was more important than his own ministry. He bore witness of the fact that he, John the Baptist, was only a forerunner who would tell the story of the True Christ, Jesus.
I remember a story that I heard about a preacher who was well known in the town where his church was situated. He mentioned one time that he was sitting in the lounge of a golf course with the mayor of the town, the biggest banker in town, and another local �big shot.� He said that he was feeling pretty good about where he was, professionally. He was the pastor of one of the largest churches in the town. He was well respected by all. He was golfing in a foursome with the biggest �movers and shakers� in the town. Then the Lord brought his thoughts to John 15:19: �If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.�
He said that his thoughts then centered on, �What am I doing wrong for God?�
Popularity, and the praise of men, is not a bad thing. But, it is a thing which will seduce us into shading the Gospel message so as not to offend. We do not want to offend. Far from that. But, we need to be so protective of the Gospel which has been entrusted to us that we will defend this message with no thought about our own reputations. Our reputations are to be vessels to carry forth the message that Jesus Christ died in time that we might live in eternity.
Our only importance is that we carry, as did John the Baptist, the word about the Word (see John 1:1) to the world.
John was also interested in carrying the news of the worthiness of the Lord. Jesus, we are told, �...made himself of no reputation...� (Philippians 2:7). John, as did Jesus, did not care about making a big reputation for himself. But, John was interested in heralding forth the message of the worthiness of Jesus.
John knew that he was a herald whose job it was to announce the great coming King. He gloried in his task as a forerunner while keeping his eyes and message centered upon the One of true importance.
In this John was carrying forth the message of wonder. There was the wonder that God cared for His created beings. There was the wonder that God wished a special message be given to the people of the day. There was the great wonder that God would visit His people in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was coming to save souls; John was given the great privilege to announce that glorious message to the people.
We are given that same message, as was John the Baptist. We are sent to inform men and women that Jesus Christ came to earth, to die in time, that we might live in eternity! The glorious place we have in the economy of God!
John came to be a witness through his words. �...and cried, saying...�
Most of us are interested in living a Christian life before the world. But we need to back up our lives with our words.
We don�t have to be great theologians to do this. We can just slip a simple, �God has been good to me.�, into a conversation. We can leave a Gospel tract as a book mark in books we might put out at �Back Yard Sales.� You can think of other ways; the Spirit will help if you ask.
By the way, asking the Spirit... We also need to back up our lives with our words of prayer. Prayer is the most powerful thing we have as Christians. We need to pray for the salvation of those who we know need salvation. We need to pray for missionaries, by name, as they carry out their tasks in the world. We need to pray for our churches. We need to pray, and thank God, for the goodness we have received from His bountiful love.
We also need the words of the Scripture. We have cook books. Why? So people will be better able to prepare meals. We also have the Scripture so that we will be better able to know how to live our spiritual lives. Read. Learn. Obey.
The fact that John cried out his words intimates the idea that he was emotional in his appeal. He was not just �going through the motions.� He was anxious to get out the message that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity.
Does that message of salvation burn within your heart? Do you want to carry that message out into a world that is lost in sin and on the way to a Christless eternity in a real Hell? Or, do you feel that, �I got mine. I don�t care what happens to the rest!�?
An attitude such as that is a sin against humanity. We care about people who have lost their homes in some of these recent hurricanes and earthquakes. But, we need to care about people who do not have title to a mansion in Heaven. It is our job to tell them the glorious news that Jesus Christ died in time so that man could live in eternity!
Any attitude which shirks our God-given duty to spread the message of the evangel is also a sin against God. God has said, �Go ye.� Is it possible to be in obedience when we �Stay ye?�
John the Baptist was out spreading the message. He was instigating the excitement that great things were about to happen. God was going to visit His people! Right now, as I type this, there is a baseball game on T. V. I will admit that it took a little push to get myself to sit down at the word processor and complete this message. I have other messages already typed; I could just �throw in� another message and watch the game. Why is that? I don�t even care about baseball.
Still, the excitement of the moment has caught up with me. I know that everyone will be talking about �the game� tomorrow. How sad. How sinfully, stupidly sad! How can we get so worked up about the millionaires playing their little boy�s game and yet be so blas� about the great fact that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity? How!?
John was excited because he was imaging an escape from sin. Sin had held people back from their full created potential. Sin had dragged people from their rightful place as masters of the earth into fearful beings who were at the mercy of the elements and the beasts of the field. Sin had been the chains which dragged men to the pits of a real Hell. Sin had separated man from the communion with the One Who had created them.
Now, John saw the coming of Him Who would break the bands of sin and offer free and complete salvation.
John didn�t leave the people wondering. He also spoke of the �Who� which would accomplish these great and glorious tasks. �...This was he of whom I spake...�
About a year ago I spoke at a Baptist University during a yearly Bible Conference. Before I spoke, the moderator of the meetings introduced me. He said all the good things that could be said about me. It was a short introduction!
The reason I was introduced was because there would be many in attendance who had no idea who I was. There was no reason they should have known who I was. I was not one of the more knowledgeable speakers. I was not one of the more entertaining speakers. I was just another speaker.
John, however, was giving the introduction of the Savior into the world. He had the happy task of pointing the crowds to which he spoke toward the One Who would save them from their sin. John had preached repentance. Jesus, of Whom John spoke, would fulfill the purpose of their repentance. Jesus would die on a cross to cleanse the sins from which these people had repented.
My van is presently at a neighbor�s house. The fuel pump went out and my neighbor is a mechanic. He is fixing my car. I could have said, �That�s a bad fuel pump. I don�t want it in my car any longer.� I would have been right; but, what would I have accomplished? As far as the van moving down the road without a tow truck attached, I would have accomplished nothing. But, with the new fuel pump, the van will once again work as it should.
Our lives are like that. We can bemoan the fact of our sin. We can repent of our sin. But, until we give these sins to be placed under the blood of Jesus Christ, we are still in our sins. They are part of us! We need a new heart that has been cleansed from sin. Jesus can do that because of His death on the cross of Calvary!
John also gave an invitation to the people to follow that Savior. We, those of us who are born again, need to do likewise. We need to call people to accept the Savior. It has been said, and it is a fact, that all else is secondary to a man when compared to the eternal destiny of his immortal soul.
I went to the opening of the local history museum today. I have offered to give them, on loan, a yearbook from our local high school - the 1913 edition. In that year our local high school basketball team won the state basketball tournament. I would imagine that they were very happy when they won. The town was probably overjoyed. But, that was nearly a century ago. There is no one left who remembers the event.
But, there are people in Heaven who have that date on their tombstones. Which was the most important, the winning of the basketball tournament or the salvation of souls? The invitation to accept the Savior is the most important invitation which can be given.
John the Baptist also said that the Savior was worthy. �...He that cometh after me is preferred before me...
I am struck with the honesty of John. John just admitted that he wasn�t all that important. He took the place given him and did not seek higher. A few years ago I spoke at another Bible conference. As I began I said, �As I look about at the orchestra of intelligenceia in this room, I must admit that I play third kazoo.� People laughed. But, that�s the way things were. I wasn�t on the bottom of the totem pole of intelligence in that room; I was somewhere under the earth among the parts not on public view. That is where I belonged!
John counted himself in that position. He wasn�t, from the human standpoint. He wasn�t, for that matter, from the standpoint of God. Jesus said of John the Baptist, �For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist...� (Luke 7:28a) But, when John compared Himself to the Word, Jesus, he knew his position.
Too many of us are so busy building �our� ministry, and �our� churches, and �our� reputations that we forget that none of these should be �ours.�
A few weeks ago I was talking with a man out at the local mall. The subject came, as it does to old people like me, to aches and pains, and doctors. I mentioned that I was covered by the VA medical system. �Oh,� the other man said, �Which was your war?�
Well, none of the wars was �mine.� I was just another foot soldier sent into combat. The same is true of us, as soldiers of the Cross. We are simply foot soldiers sent into the fray by our Heavenly Commander. One place of service is of no more importance than is another.
Someone said, �What we need today is another D. L. Moody.� �No,� another person said, �If that was who we needed, God would have him here today.� That�s right! What we need today are men and women who are committed to the cause of Christ in this day. We need people who will realize that the fight is the Lord�s.
John had the humility to realize this. He was the Lord�s man for the Lord�s time.
My little grandson loves to play with me when I babysit. But, no matter how much play we are having, his little face lights up and he gets excited when �Mom,� or �Dad� come in the door. I�m O. K. for a babysitter. I�ll do until the real thing comes along. That doesn�t mean that we don�t enjoy our time together. It just means that he, and I, know who is of real importance.
John knew Who was of real importance. Still, he must have considered the great honor that was his to work for the Master. We should realize, this as well!
John the Baptist also knew the when of the Person he was presenting to the world. �...for he was before me.�
John knew that the coming Lamb of God was, in reality, Deity revealed. That is an important point here. John said that the Person coming after him was preferred before him. Jesus was born, in human form, a few months after John the Baptist was born. John, here, was acknowledging the preincarnate existence of Jesus - the fact that Jesus was in existence, as God, before the events of Bethlehem.
John understood that the purpose of his portion of ministry was to show the direction for men to follow. We recently received an invitation from one of Linda�s brothers to come to a birthday celebration for one of his sons. The directions were very specific: �Go here, from here go there, from there follow x to y, etc.�
John said, �From here, with my preaching, go there where the Lamb of God, Jesus, is standing. That is where you will find real balm for your wounded souls.�
John�s message was also a decision implored. He was serious and earnest in his calling for others to follow the Savior. John purpose was to point; he was to say, �There is the true Way.� This was important to him because he knew it was important to his hearers.
What about you? Have you accepted this Jesus of which John spoke. He is the true way to true salvation and fellowship with God.
Accept Him as your Savior, today!