Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Man Sent from God │ Msg 312

Transcript

A Man Sent from God │ Msg 312 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: When I think about the subject of today's message, the
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Speaker 1: words of Russian poet Boris Pasternak come to mind. He said,
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Speaker 1: It is not revolutions and upheavals that clear the road
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Speaker 1: to new and better days, but someone's soul inspired and ablaze.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that well stated? If there was ever a biblical
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Speaker 1: figure that fit this, Pasternak's vivid description of a soul
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Speaker 1: inspired in a blaze, it would have been John the Baptizer.
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Speaker 1: This enigmatic, locust-eating prophet cleared the road for Israel's new
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Speaker 1: and better days. He was on the scene to announce
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Speaker 1: that their long-awaited Messiah was on the planet. It would
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Speaker 1: be an understatement to say that John the Baptizer swam upstream.
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Speaker 1: He broke all convention, and yet, as we'll discover, he
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Speaker 1: embodied the essence of a genuine servant ministry. In one word, humility.
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Speaker 1: Humility is the rare quality found in those individuals who
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Speaker 1: willingly surrender all personal ambitions to champion the significance of others.
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Speaker 1: How fitting that John the Apostle would open his gospel
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Speaker 1: with a biographical glimpse of this odd wilderness prophet who
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Speaker 1: confronted head-on the religious establishment of his day. Although the
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Speaker 1: baptizer drew immense crowds, when Jesus arrived, he willingly and
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Speaker 1: immediately said, stepped aside to declare, Behold the Lamb of
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Speaker 1: God who takes away the sins of the world. We'll
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Speaker 1: look closely at John the Baptizer today in our series
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Speaker 1: I'm calling Beholding Christ, the Son of God. To do that,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to read from John chapter 1, starting with
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Speaker 1: verses 6 through 8, and then I'll read verse 15
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Speaker 1: and And I'll finish by reading verses 19 through 28,
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Speaker 1: all from John chapter 1. So please follow along with
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Speaker 1: me in John chapter 1 as I read starting in
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Speaker 1: verse 6 from the New Living Translation. John 1 verse
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Speaker 1: 6 begins, God sent a man, John the Baptist. to
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Speaker 1: tell about the light so that everyone might believe because
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Speaker 1: of his testimony. John himself was not the light. He
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Speaker 1: was simply a witness to tell about the light. Now,
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Speaker 1: verse 15, John testified about him when he shouted to
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Speaker 1: the crowds. This is the one I was talking about
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Speaker 1: when I said, someone is coming after me who is
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Speaker 1: far greater than I am. for he existed long before me. Now,
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Speaker 1: down to verse 19. This was John's testimony when the
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Speaker 1: Jewish leaders sent priests and temple assistants from Jerusalem to
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Speaker 1: ask John, Who are you? He came right out and said,
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Speaker 1: I am not the Messiah. Well then, who are you?
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Speaker 2: They asked. Are you Elijah? No, he replied. Are you
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Speaker 2: the prophet we are expecting? No.
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Speaker 1: Then who are you? We need an answer for those
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Speaker 1: who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?
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Speaker 1: John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah, I
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Speaker 1: am a voice shouting in the wilderness, clear the way
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Speaker 1: for the Lord's coming. Then the Pharisees, who had been sent,
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Speaker 1: asked him, If you aren't the Messiah, or Elijah, or
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Speaker 1: the prophet, what right do you have to baptize? John
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Speaker 1: told them, I baptize with water. But right here in
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Speaker 1: the crowd is someone you do not recognize. Though his
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Speaker 1: ministry follows mine, I'm not even worthy to be his
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Speaker 1: slave and untie the straps.
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Speaker 2: Of his sandal.
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Speaker 1: This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of
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Speaker 1: the Jordan River where John was baptizing.
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Speaker 2: It was back some 500 years ago that a little
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Speaker 2: boy was born into an Italian physician's home who was
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Speaker 2: destined to change the entire country of Italy and ultimately
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Speaker 2: affect the entire Reformation of Europe. This little boy was
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Speaker 2: named Girolamo Savonarola. And from his name, you wouldn't expect
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Speaker 2: him to be one of the greater lights of the Reformation.
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Speaker 2: But if you know your history, you know that he was. Savonarola,
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Speaker 2: from his earliest years, had an invincible love for God.
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Speaker 2: He was, without question, a man sent from God. Before
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Speaker 2: he was 20, He gave himself without reservation to the
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Speaker 2: ruggedness and loneliness of solitude. He chose rather than sitting
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Speaker 2: on a soft couch, a hard one. He chose rather
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Speaker 2: than sleeping on a comfortable bed, the floor, or a
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Speaker 2: difficult bed in which to sleep. He chose rather than
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Speaker 2: putting upon his body the finest of clothes, he wore
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Speaker 2: the plain clothes. And instead of enjoying the finest and
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Speaker 2: most lavish meals, he gave himself to torturous hungering. He
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Speaker 2: so distinguished himself as a rugged, lonely man of God,
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Speaker 2: that by the time he reached in his early twenties,
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Speaker 2: he was accepted into the Dominican order, and he did
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Speaker 2: not fit that scene. If you know anything about the
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Speaker 2: Italian 15th century, you know that those people in that
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Speaker 2: day lived under the guise of a corrupt church. The Pope,
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Speaker 2: right down to the youngest nun, was involved, it seemed,
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Speaker 2: almost without exception in gross fights. Savonarola called the convents
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Speaker 2: and the monasteries dens of sin and iniquity. He even
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Speaker 2: declared on one occasion that it reached all the way
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Speaker 2: to the papacy. And it could have been believed by
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Speaker 2: some that he was rather extensive in his approach and
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Speaker 2: was in fact ambitious to become the Pope. Such would
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Speaker 2: never be. He became in a period of time a
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Speaker 2: hated man. There are historical works written about Savonarola, and
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Speaker 2: one of the better ones is the work by Philip Schaff.
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Speaker 2: He entitles it The History of the Christian Church, and
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Speaker 2: in his work he describes Savonarola at the zenith of
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Speaker 2: his career. At the time of his greatest popularity, the
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Speaker 2: throngs waited hours at the door of the cathedral for
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Speaker 2: the preacher's arrival, and it has been estimated by Villari
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Speaker 2: that his audiences of 10,000 to 12,000 hung on his discourses.
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Speaker 2: Like fields of grain under the wind, the feelings of
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Speaker 2: his audiences were swayed by his voice. Now they burned
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Speaker 2: with indignation. Now they were softened to tears. I was
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Speaker 2: so overcome by weeping, I could not go on, wrote
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Speaker 2: one reporter. while taking down the sermon in notes. And
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Speaker 2: Savonarola himself felt the terrible strain of his efforts and
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Speaker 2: often sank back into his seat after the sermon, completely exhausted.
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Speaker 2: He reached such extremes that by the time he was
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Speaker 2: in his zenith in his late 30s, Florence gathered around
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Speaker 2: him and literally was set on fire by his preaching.
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Speaker 2: People brought books of obscenity, their works of magic, and
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Speaker 2: all forms of trinkets to the public square of Florence,
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Speaker 2: and they made a stack 60 feet high, 250 feet
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Speaker 2: around in circumference, and they set fire to these works,
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Speaker 2: and it formed a huge bonfire. That was the last straw.
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Speaker 2: The priesthood could stand it no longer. They interrupted him.
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Speaker 2: in San Marco when he was having his devotions one morning.
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Speaker 2: And at the young age of 42, he was thrown
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Speaker 2: into a dungeon and went through weeks of torturing, till
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Speaker 2: finally one day it was decided in the empty pomp
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Speaker 2: and color of the church they'd put him on trial.
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Speaker 2: Since he wouldn't recant his beliefs, he stood before the
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Speaker 2: prelates of Rome. One man spoke words of prophecy without
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Speaker 2: realizing it. He said this, even though he were a
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Speaker 2: second John the Baptist, this man must die. And the
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Speaker 2: whole drunken lot stood to their feet and applauded. Then
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Speaker 2: fell the final accuser's voice, I separate you, Savonarola, from
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Speaker 2: the church. the church militant, the church triumphant, to which
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Speaker 2: he replied in calm words, Ah, from the militant church
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Speaker 2: thou mayest, but from the church triumphant thou canst not.
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Speaker 2: They couldn't stand it. They came to him and strangled
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Speaker 2: the life out of him right there. hung his body
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Speaker 2: on chains and put him into flames and swept up
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Speaker 2: the dust along with his ashes and flung it in
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Speaker 2: the river. And they said, may he never again come
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Speaker 2: to the surface. I want to say as a result,
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Speaker 2: his voice lingers to this day among the great voices
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Speaker 2: of the Reformation. I think it is interesting, and it
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Speaker 2: is the word of that commissioner that attracts me to
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Speaker 2: him as an illustration of John the Baptist, that the
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Speaker 2: very words, though he were a second John the Baptist,
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Speaker 2: describe the man who was the first John the Baptist.
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Speaker 2: Our feeling about John the Baptist is rather vague and obscure.
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Speaker 2: If I were asked to provide a sheet for you
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Speaker 2: and have you fill out what you know about John
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Speaker 2: the Baptist. It wouldn't take too many lines for you
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Speaker 2: to complete the assignment. We know something about his being
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Speaker 2: one to baptize. We know a little bit about he
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Speaker 2: was the one that was the forerunner of Christ, but
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Speaker 2: we don't know much about him as a person. And
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Speaker 2: I use Savonarola because he, in so many ways... in
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Speaker 2: his enigmatic ministry, was precisely the kind of man the
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Speaker 2: baptizer was. Look with me at John chapter 1, for example,
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Speaker 2: which describes him as a mere man who came from God,
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Speaker 2: whose name was John. That doesn't sound very significant. And
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Speaker 2: that isn't significant if you don't know the background. The
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Speaker 2: other gospel writers fill in the blanks that John does
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Speaker 2: not provide for us. For example, Dr. Luke, a physician
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Speaker 2: by trade, was himself interested in the humanity of those
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Speaker 2: of whom he wrote. So Dr. Luke tells us that
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Speaker 2: Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John, were older people.
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Speaker 2: In fact, they were so far beyond the years that
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Speaker 2: the birth of John was a surprise. It could be
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Speaker 2: called a minor miracle in the New Testament. Into their
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Speaker 2: older lives and arms came this little baby and came
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Speaker 2: with the promise that he would be a unique man
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Speaker 2: sent by God to Israel, just like Savonarola had been
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Speaker 2: sent by God to Italy. This boy, when he began
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Speaker 2: to grow, did not grow up in the court, in
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Speaker 2: the palaces. As a matter of fact, Luke adds the
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Speaker 2: thought that this boy had his early years in the deserts.
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Speaker 2: Luke says he lived in deserts until the day of
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Speaker 2: his public appearance. He was raised in the desert. Now
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Speaker 2: that's not desert like Palm Springs desert. That's desert like
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Speaker 2: Barstow desert. That's That's desert like the scrub and the
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Speaker 2: brush of the wilderness. That's real desert. No swimming pools,
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Speaker 2: lush lawns, lovely food, the ruggedness of the wilderness. That's
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Speaker 2: where he grew up. Someone has said, you cannot create
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Speaker 2: a man or woman of God without the leisure of solitude.
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Speaker 2: I would change only one word, leisure. Solitude is not
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Speaker 2: a leisurely place to spend one's time. John the baptizer
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Speaker 2: was pushed into that wilderness and it was there under
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Speaker 2: the stars and in the fresh, clear days and nights
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Speaker 2: that he got his message from God. God filled his
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Speaker 2: mind with himself and it says in the scriptures, from
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Speaker 2: his earliest years he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 2: What a magnificent experience. And then when he came on
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Speaker 2: the scene, how different he was from all the priests around.
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Speaker 2: He came to a group of people we would call
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Speaker 2: today the clergy, who looked like the clergy, but he didn't.
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Speaker 2: Mark tells us that he wore camel's hair, that he
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Speaker 2: had a wide leather belt, and that he ate locusts
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Speaker 2: and wild honey. He wasn't on a food kick. That's
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Speaker 2: perhaps all that he could find. That was his diet.
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Speaker 2: He was lean. He was leathery. He was in his
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Speaker 2: own aesthetic way totally devoted to God regardless of the
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Speaker 2: sham of the priesthood. Like Savonarola, given completely to the
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Speaker 2: things of God. Now his message was again very unique.
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Speaker 2: Matthew tells us that one of his first sermons began,
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Speaker 2: You brood of vipers! You don't win friends and influence
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Speaker 2: people with those kind of sermons. In fact, he wasn't
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Speaker 2: addressing the people. He was addressing the priests, the religionists. Oh,
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Speaker 2: how they hated him. He didn't fit their legalistic systems.
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Speaker 2: And therefore he was again pushed into the desert. As
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Speaker 2: a matter of fact, I cannot find in my study
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Speaker 2: of John the Baptizer a time when he wished to
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Speaker 2: raise a great crowd in the city. The closest he
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Speaker 2: ever got to the city was Bethany for his ministry.
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Speaker 2: That was a whistle stop next door to Jerusalem. That's
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Speaker 2: like ministering instead of Los Angeles in the wilderness. 10, 15,
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Speaker 2: 50 miles from Barstow. And it says, Jerusalem went out
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Speaker 2: to hear him preach. Now, all of that gives credence
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Speaker 2: to the first characteristic of a man of God. Verse 6.
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Speaker 2: He was human, but he was not ordinary. If you're
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Speaker 2: taking these thoughts down, please notice in verse 6 the
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Speaker 2: reference the utter humanity of this man, right next door
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Speaker 2: to his extraordinary character. There came a man, not a god,
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Speaker 2: not an idol, not a sinless creature. There came a
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Speaker 2: man whose name was John. Not Jesus, not Gabriel, not Michael. John.
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Speaker 2: Common name. John. Name not only common now, but very
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Speaker 2: common then, so much so that a man often added
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Speaker 2: to his name his father's name, such as John Bar-Jonah, John,
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Speaker 2: son of John, or John Bar-Mark, son of Mark. It
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Speaker 2: was a common name. He was very human, but he
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Speaker 2: was not ordinary. I'm thinking of ordinary in the sense
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Speaker 2: of being mediocre, commonplace. You could put John against any
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Speaker 2: backdrop and he would not blend in with the backdrop.
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Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. If I may push it even further,
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Speaker 2: he didn't look like a priest. The priests of his
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Speaker 2: day were gathering their garments about them and talking about
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Speaker 2: the size of their phylacteries and what color and shape
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Speaker 2: of their scriptures that they carried all around them. Not John.
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Speaker 2: He didn't look like a priest. He didn't sound like
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Speaker 2: a preacher. He didn't smell like a saint either, I
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Speaker 2: might add. He lived in the wilderness all his life.
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Speaker 2: When he came on the scene, they wondered, what in
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Speaker 2: the world? Is he doing? He was not ordinary in
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Speaker 2: any sense of the word, such as mediocre. I was
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Speaker 2: reading this past week about Florence Nightingale. She perhaps was
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Speaker 2: something like this. Seemed to be very human, but was
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Speaker 2: not ordinary. Her biographer says, It was not by gentle
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Speaker 2: sweetness and womanly self-abnegation that Florence brought order out of
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Speaker 2: chaos in the hospitals. it was by strict method it
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Speaker 2: was by stern discipline by rigid attention to detail by
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Speaker 2: ceaseless labor by the fixed determination of an indomitable will
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Speaker 2: beneath her cool calm demeanor In Florence there lurk fierce
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Speaker 2: and passionate fires. That's John. He may have been very human,
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Speaker 2: and he was a man whose name was John, but
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Speaker 2: he was not ordinary. He was sent from God. Now
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Speaker 2: there's a second characteristic I draw from these verses. He
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Speaker 2: was a lamp, but he was not the light. He
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Speaker 2: held the illuminating force as a lamp, but he was
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Speaker 2: not the light itself. He would have been the first
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Speaker 2: to tell you. Look at verse 7. He came for
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Speaker 2: a witness. How simple. How true that he might bear
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Speaker 2: witness of the light. Why did John come? To bear witness.
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Speaker 2: To talk about someone other than himself. What is a witness? Well,
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Speaker 2: I suppose a simple answer would be one who testifies
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Speaker 2: to what he has seen and heard. That's John. John
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Speaker 2: did not come to testify of himself. He came to
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Speaker 2: talk about someone else. How hard it is to find
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Speaker 2: someone like that. How difficult it is in the Christian
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Speaker 2: family to find those that are willing to talk mainly
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Speaker 2: of someone else, namely Jesus Christ, than themselves. John was
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Speaker 2: committed to that. He wasn't the light. He was sent
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Speaker 2: as a witness. I found it interesting to notice that
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Speaker 2: the Greek word for witness is the term martyr. That's
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Speaker 2: not changing any of the letters. Martyr is not an
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Speaker 2: English word, it's a Greek word. And it's translated all
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Speaker 2: the way through the New Testament as witness. Webster tells
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Speaker 2: us that a martyr is one who sacrifices his life
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Speaker 2: for the sake of a principle or person considered of
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Speaker 2: greater value than he. That's John. John, throughout his testimony
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Speaker 2: in the New Testament, was talking about the light, not
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Speaker 2: the lamp. He wasn't the light. Verse 8 verifies it.
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Speaker 2: He was not the light. It's almost as though in
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Speaker 2: the writing of this gospel, the author, when he gets
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Speaker 2: to the end of verse 7, quickly adds, don't mistake him.
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Speaker 2: He may have looked like the Messiah, but he wasn't.
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Speaker 2: He was not the light. He came... To bear witness
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Speaker 2: of the light. Then verse 15. Here was his testimony.
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Speaker 2: This was he of whom I said. He who comes
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Speaker 2: after me. Has a rank higher than I. For he
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Speaker 2: existed before me. You may not have been here last
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Speaker 2: Sunday morning. When we developed the eternality of the son
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Speaker 2: of God. The first five verses of this great gospel.
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Speaker 2: John had no problem with the deity of Christ. He
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Speaker 2: had no problem with the eternality of the Son, the Messiah.
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Speaker 2: He said, I actually, when I stand as his representative,
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Speaker 2: I say before you without reservation that his rank is
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Speaker 2: higher than mine. I have the joy of telling you
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Speaker 2: about him, holding the light, but don't mistake the lamp
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Speaker 2: for the light. ever had a lamp that was just
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Speaker 2: a beautiful thing and served a very purposeful and practical
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Speaker 2: purpose such as giving light to what is underneath and
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Speaker 2: all of a sudden the bulb went out how long
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Speaker 2: did you let that go on before you replaced the
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Speaker 2: bulb it's a beautiful lamp lovely lamp perhaps costs 25
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Speaker 2: 50 times what the bulb costs do you leave the
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Speaker 2: bulb there He said, that doesn't matter, you know, we
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Speaker 2: just enjoy the lamp. Why? The people in your family
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Speaker 2: would say, put another bulb in there. It's no good
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Speaker 2: without a light. You know, when you get over the
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Speaker 2: first blush of delight regarding the lamp, then you want
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Speaker 2: one thing, and that's light. And John said, I'm holding
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Speaker 2: the bulb. I'm presenting the light. Dr. Richard Sumi, in
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Speaker 2: his fine work, Shoes for the Road, entitles his 10th
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Speaker 2: chapter of the book, The Lure of a Lesser Loyalty.
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Speaker 2: And he talks about the problem of an individual who
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Speaker 2: promotes a lesser loyalty than the highest. That's the promotion
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Speaker 2: of the Savior. John was never trapped by that lure.
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Speaker 2: Let's go on. He was human, but he was not ordinary.
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Speaker 2: He was a lamp, but he was not the light.
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Speaker 2: Don't mistake him for the light. He was a voice,
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Speaker 2: but he was not the word. That's an important contrast.
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Speaker 2: Verse 19. This is the witness of John. When the
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Speaker 2: Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to
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Speaker 2: ask him, Who are you? I smile as I read
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Speaker 2: that 19th verse because I find it most interesting that
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Speaker 2: when we cannot put somebody together, our tendency is to what?
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Speaker 2: Push them aside, isn't it? If someone is a real enigma,
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Speaker 2: a real puzzle to you, then it isn't long before
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Speaker 2: you're rejecting them. If we can't pigeonhole them, we ditch them.
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Speaker 2: Now they told their buddies, look guys, there's a guy
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Speaker 2: out in the wilderness that pops locusts and wears camel
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Speaker 2: hair garments and got a big wide belt, looks like
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Speaker 2: a hippie. But our temples are emptying and they're all
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Speaker 2: going to hear him preach. Find out what makes him tick.
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Speaker 2: Who is he? And so they went. Verse 20 says,
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Speaker 2: He confessed and said, I'm not the Messiah. Now, they
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Speaker 2: didn't ask him that. He knew what they were thinking.
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Speaker 2: You're the Messiah, not me. Well, are you Elijah? Nope.
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Speaker 2: Are you the prophet? Before you turn the page, let's
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Speaker 2: explain that Deuteronomy 1815 promises a prophet yet to come.
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Speaker 2: Upon whose life the mantle of God will rest. It's
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Speaker 2: a description of the Lord Jesus in prophecy. Deuteronomy 18, 15.
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Speaker 2: Are you that prophet that Moses wrote of? Not me. Nope.
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Speaker 2: Verse 22. Who are you? It's almost with sarcasm. Who
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Speaker 2: do you think you are? You don't look the part.
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Speaker 2: We need to give an answer to those who sent us.
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Speaker 2: Who sent them? Verse 24. The Pharisees, watch out. But
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Speaker 2: when you read about the Pharisees, watch out. John describes
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Speaker 2: himself in verse 23 as what? A voice. Nothing more.
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Speaker 2: I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness.
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Speaker 2: Make straight the way of the Lord. If you're a
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Speaker 2: music lover, you know that that's a reference to the
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Speaker 2: tenor aria in Handel's Messiah. And that is a marvelous
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Speaker 2: piece of music. But I've seen people watching, and I've
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Speaker 2: even seen some singing, and I've wondered, did they understand
28:38
Speaker 2: what they're singing and enjoying? Why did one have to
28:42
Speaker 2: make straight the way of the Lord? His way was
28:45
Speaker 2: already straight. What does it mean? Well, in those days,
28:49
Speaker 2: when a monarch would come into an area, he would
28:53
Speaker 2: always be preceded by some that cleared the way, sort
28:57
Speaker 2: of the custodians of the road. There were no highways.
29:01
Speaker 2: And so his chariot could make its way smoothly through
29:04
Speaker 2: the streets of the city. There were those that pushed
29:07
Speaker 2: the rubble and carts and things out of the way.
29:10
Speaker 2: And then they would level things on the side so
29:13
Speaker 2: that people could look. and get a real view of
29:17
Speaker 2: the monarch. That's what John said he was doing. I'm
29:21
Speaker 2: simply a forerunner. I am the voice exalting the word
29:27
Speaker 2: coming after me. They couldn't figure him out. My family
29:34
Speaker 2: had that experience of not being able to figure out
29:36
Speaker 2: a situation a number of weeks ago. We were eating chicken.
29:40
Speaker 2: at Knott's Berry Farm and all six of us were
29:44
Speaker 2: sitting around this table and not far from us, perhaps
29:50
Speaker 2: two tables away, there was the strangest conglomeration you can
29:55
Speaker 2: imagine of humanity. There was a policeman in full dress,
30:03
Speaker 2: who kept walking around with a little tablet and writing
30:06
Speaker 2: things down. He would leave and he would come back
30:08
Speaker 2: like he was giving them citations and then presenting them
30:12
Speaker 2: to them or something. I couldn't figure him out. And
30:15
Speaker 2: he'd sit down and enjoy a body talk with him
30:17
Speaker 2: and he'd get back up again and he'd write some
30:19
Speaker 2: more things down. Weird. And then next to him was
30:24
Speaker 2: a woman in an evening dress. Why would she be
30:28
Speaker 2: in an evening dress next to this cop? I wondered.
30:31
Speaker 2: And next to him were two guys that looked like
30:33
Speaker 2: they just got in from Newport. Tank top, Bermuda shorts, thongs,
30:41
Speaker 2: having a great time with this gal in the evening
30:43
Speaker 2: dress and this policeman. And there was a guy with
30:45
Speaker 2: a straw hat, pinstripe suit, never took the hat off,
30:50
Speaker 2: left the hat on. And finally, my wife and I said,
30:55
Speaker 2: who is that? What's going on over there? That's the
30:57
Speaker 2: weirdest thing I've ever seen. We couldn't put it together.
31:01
Speaker 2: I wish I had the answer. Looked like they jumped
31:03
Speaker 2: out of a three-act play type of people, you know?
31:08
Speaker 2: That's the way they felt about John. He's weird. He
31:11
Speaker 2: doesn't look like us. And John said, look, best answer
31:15
Speaker 2: I can give is I'm a voice. I want you
31:18
Speaker 2: to meditate on that for a minute. What's a voice?
31:23
Speaker 2: It's a vehicle. It's nothing more than a vehicle. And
31:30
Speaker 2: if you think it's more important than the word of God,
31:33
Speaker 2: I want you to remember M.R. DeHaan, whose gravel voice
31:38
Speaker 2: spread this country and on beyond our shores with a
31:43
Speaker 2: beautiful message of hope over the radio back in the
31:47
Speaker 2: years when you didn't hear much from the radio and
31:49
Speaker 2: the gospel. He didn't have much of a voice, did he? No,
31:53
Speaker 2: but I'll tell you, he had the word. And you
31:56
Speaker 2: listened faithfully because of the water of life that came
32:00
Speaker 2: from that raspy old voice. John says, I'm just a vehicle.
32:05
Speaker 2: Tell you something else about a voice. It stops. But
32:10
Speaker 2: the word lingers. At any point in time, the voice
32:16
Speaker 2: can stop. But the word goes on. And I want
32:24
Speaker 2: to say before you this morning that if something is
32:27
Speaker 2: terribly wrong, if our sights are so shallow that we're
32:33
Speaker 2: attracted to a voice or a lamp rather than the
32:40
Speaker 2: word or the light. Let's never forget that. Jim Elliot
32:47
Speaker 2: prayed on one occasion, Lord God, forbid that these who
32:52
Speaker 2: hear me would confuse my words as though they are
32:55
Speaker 2: thine or take thy words As though they are mine.
33:02
Speaker 2: That's not a tongue twister. That's a good. Godly prayer.
33:08
Speaker 2: Let it never be forgotten. That the voice of God.
33:11
Speaker 2: Is the voice that the man of God. Has to share.
33:15
Speaker 2: And that's all. The word of God. That's the significant thing.
33:21
Speaker 2: And John tells us that. I'm just a voice. Let's
33:24
Speaker 2: look at a fourth. He was human but he. but
33:28
Speaker 2: he wasn't ordinary. He was a lamp, not the light.
33:33
Speaker 2: He was a voice, not the word. He was useful,
33:39
Speaker 2: but he wasn't indispensable. Verse 24, 25. They asked him
33:47
Speaker 2: and said to him, why then are you baptizing? If
33:53
Speaker 2: you're not the Christ nor Elijah, nor the prophet. Why
34:00
Speaker 2: are you baptizing? Look at his answer. He says, I
34:06
Speaker 2: baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you
34:11
Speaker 2: do not know. It is he who comes after me,
34:15
Speaker 2: the thong of whose sandal I'm not worthy to untie.
34:22
Speaker 2: These things took place in Bethany, beyond the Jordans. where
34:28
Speaker 2: John was baptized. And that is just like John. Not
34:32
Speaker 2: in the city, but in an obscure place. Now, did
34:39
Speaker 2: John say, I really have no purpose for being here?
34:41
Speaker 2: I'm really not very useful? No, John said, I have
34:44
Speaker 2: a ministry, and it's to baptize in water. But it's
34:47
Speaker 2: not all there is to it. My baptism is a
34:51
Speaker 2: baptism of repentance. It is a point of identifying with
34:54
Speaker 2: the Messiah. But it is he who has the final message.
34:59
Speaker 2: He has a spirit baptism that will change a life
35:03
Speaker 2: from within. John says, don't mistake this fact. I am useful,
35:08
Speaker 2: I have a purpose, but I'm not indispensable. Oh, that's
35:12
Speaker 2: too good a point to just skip over and go
35:14
Speaker 2: to the fifth. I want to pause there for a minute. Invariably,
35:19
Speaker 2: when God uses a life, and he is using some
35:21
Speaker 2: of your lives in strategic ways... Maybe you don't minister
35:26
Speaker 2: to hundreds, but you minister to a few more effectively
35:29
Speaker 2: than anyone else around. Right now, you are being used
35:33
Speaker 2: in that way. The answer for you is not to
35:37
Speaker 2: feel useless. That's not humility. Humility is not the same
35:43
Speaker 2: as inferiority. Inferiority becomes an illness and can actually lead
35:48
Speaker 2: us into sin. Humility is knowing what God has given
35:54
Speaker 2: us and then exercising it for his glory, knowing our role.
36:02
Speaker 2: Paul said to the Romans, let no one think more
36:05
Speaker 2: highly of himself than he ought to think, but he
36:08
Speaker 2: didn't add, let him think more lowly. That's not in
36:12
Speaker 2: the passage. John said, I have a ministry, and some
36:17
Speaker 2: of you have ministry. You are being used and have
36:21
Speaker 2: been used by God, but in the same breath, I
36:24
Speaker 2: would add, You're not indispensable. It is a good word
36:34
Speaker 2: of exhortation that Oswald Sanders leaves with us in his book,
36:38
Speaker 2: Spiritual Leadership. He says, that man is most successful and
36:43
Speaker 2: attractive who attaches the affection of his followers more to
36:49
Speaker 2: Christ than to himself. This means if you have a
36:54
Speaker 2: discipleship group, it's not to revolve around you, but they
36:57
Speaker 2: are to understand it revolves around your Savior. If you
37:02
Speaker 2: have a pulpit, the pulpit doesn't revolve around you nor
37:05
Speaker 2: the people. It's around the Lord Jesus, and that is
37:08
Speaker 2: a constant reminder that is overdue. Then he goes on
37:14
Speaker 2: to say he can rightly draw encouragement from the fact
37:17
Speaker 2: that his service has been fruitful. and appreciated, but he
37:22
Speaker 2: must sedulously refuse to be idolized. Samuel Chadwick, the old
37:30
Speaker 2: Methodist preacher, put it well with his formula that he
37:33
Speaker 2: lived by. If successful, don't crow. If a failure, don't crow.
37:42
Speaker 2: That's a good word. If your eyes are on yourself,
37:46
Speaker 2: you will do both. When you fail, you won't be
37:50
Speaker 2: able to handle it because your eyes were on yourself.
37:54
Speaker 2: If you're successful, you will again attract an idolatrous following
37:59
Speaker 2: that inevitably is headed for ruin. John never, never did that.
38:05
Speaker 2: I want you to appreciate it. He was useful, but
38:08
Speaker 2: he never considered himself indispensable. Do you? Are you serving
38:16
Speaker 2: a committee that you feel you're indispensable in? Are you
38:20
Speaker 2: in a school feeling that though you are a unique
38:23
Speaker 2: individual that you're also indispensable? All of us are replaceable.
38:30
Speaker 2: It's a staggering thought, but we all are. And at times,
38:34
Speaker 2: even more rapidly than we would want to believe. People
38:39
Speaker 2: don't struggle half as much replacing us than we wish
38:42
Speaker 2: they would. Man is a strange creature. He's the only
38:46
Speaker 2: one I know that when you pat him on the back,
38:48
Speaker 2: he suffers from the swelling of his head. He can
38:52
Speaker 2: hardly handle it. Now, not to the point where we
38:55
Speaker 2: never are to encourage one another. That's a foolish extreme.
38:59
Speaker 2: But how very few of God's people can handle success
39:05
Speaker 2: or failure because of the old problem of ingrown eyeballs.
39:12
Speaker 2: John never suffered from that His sight was clear. You know,
39:18
Speaker 2: the public doesn't want you to live like that either. Oh,
39:21
Speaker 2: you get a little successful, the public wants you to
39:24
Speaker 2: take it, and then when you do, some of them
39:25
Speaker 2: will hate you for it. But what a temptation! now
39:32
Speaker 2: unique members of a faculty and we have a number
39:34
Speaker 2: of you in this congregation your uniqueness is of God
39:41
Speaker 2: don't diminish it but at the same time don't use
39:46
Speaker 2: it as a self exalting opportunity If you are a
39:51
Speaker 2: John the Baptist on the faculty, you'll know it. They'll
39:55
Speaker 2: isolate you. If you're a John the Baptist in the
39:59
Speaker 2: business world, you'll be isolated. You'll know it. If you're
40:05
Speaker 2: a John the Baptist in the ministry, that's also true.
40:09
Speaker 2: But not one of us is ever indispensable. There's a fifth.
40:14
Speaker 2: He was only a witness, not the object of worship.
40:21
Speaker 2: I love this 29th verse. It is just like John.
40:27
Speaker 2: The next day he saw Jesus coming. And he said, oh,
40:35
Speaker 2: my competition. No, he didn't. He said, behold, that's him.
40:43
Speaker 2: It was as if he were to say to his followers, look, guys,
40:47
Speaker 2: there's the one we worshipped. Oh, I'm grateful to see him.
40:51
Speaker 2: Now your eyes will go on the one they belong on.
40:57
Speaker 2: Your competition comes around to threaten you. Are you the
41:01
Speaker 2: kind of Christ-exalting individual that says, oh, God, make him successful?
41:10
Speaker 2: John says, oh, it's not for me. Thank God he's
41:13
Speaker 2: on the scene. The Lamb of God who takes away
41:16
Speaker 2: the sin of the world, I can do neither. I'm
41:19
Speaker 2: not the lamb and I cannot take away the sin,
41:22
Speaker 2: but he can. And John sees him and rejoices. Look
41:28
Speaker 2: at how he says it. Verse 30. This is he
41:32
Speaker 2: on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a
41:35
Speaker 2: man whose rank is higher than I, for he existed
41:38
Speaker 2: before me. I didn't recognize him. What honesty. Even though
41:43
Speaker 2: they were second cousins, he didn't recognize him as the messiah.
41:48
Speaker 2: But in order that he might be manifested to Israel,
41:51
Speaker 2: I came baptizing in water. His whole ministry was to
41:55
Speaker 2: manifest Christ. John bore witness, saying, I have beheld the
42:00
Speaker 2: Spirit descending as a dove. And he remained upon him.
42:07
Speaker 2: I did not recognize him, but he who sent me
42:09
Speaker 2: to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom
42:13
Speaker 2: you see the Spirit descending and remaining. This is the
42:17
Speaker 2: one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And I said,
42:21
Speaker 2: that's the Son of God. Oh, what a marvelous response.
42:28
Speaker 2: Not a hint of competition, not a moment of fret.
42:32
Speaker 2: John said, I lay at his feet. He's the exalted one. Now,
42:40
Speaker 2: since he was not the object of worship, only the witness,
42:43
Speaker 2: I think that John would tell us he lived by
42:45
Speaker 2: a motto. And it's that motto I'd like to use
42:49
Speaker 2: as an application of everything we've heard this morning. Look
42:52
Speaker 2: at John 3, 30. Two lessons for every one of
42:58
Speaker 2: us today in the family of God and how badly
43:02
Speaker 2: we need them. John 3, 30. This is the philosophy
43:09
Speaker 2: he lived by. He must increase, meaning Christ. Christ must increase. I,
43:19
Speaker 2: meaning John, must decrease. Does that mean John was useless? No,
43:26
Speaker 2: it didn't. Does that mean he did not have a
43:29
Speaker 2: significant ministry? It does not. It means that he had
43:34
Speaker 2: a balanced ministry. Here are the lessons. Number one. Those
43:42
Speaker 2: sent from God, exalt the one who sent them. And
43:50
Speaker 2: lesson number two, those sent from God refuse to exalt
43:58
Speaker 2: the one who is sent. Those truly sent from God
44:04
Speaker 2: are terribly uncomfortable when honored and flattered. John said, I
44:16
Speaker 2: have won life's gold. And it's best described in Elizabeth
44:21
Speaker 2: Clephain's final verse. I take o'cross thy shadow from my
44:29
Speaker 2: abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine
44:35
Speaker 2: of his face. Content to let the world go by.
44:41
Speaker 2: Content to know no gain nor loss. My sinful self,
44:46
Speaker 2: my only shame. My glory, all the cross. It's one
44:55
Speaker 2: thing for a person to stand behind a wooden pulpit
44:59
Speaker 2: on a carpeted platform in the midst of a worship
45:04
Speaker 2: service and talk about humility. But I'll tell you, it
45:09
Speaker 2: is something else to practicing. It is something else for
45:17
Speaker 2: you to take what you have heard about John the
45:20
Speaker 2: baptizer and emulate it. To say by the grace of God,
45:26
Speaker 2: I wish to do that which God has sent me
45:30
Speaker 2: to do. Increase him, decrease self. Before God, I wish
45:39
Speaker 2: to do that. Savonarola had an incredible experience when he
45:49
Speaker 2: went from Genoa to Florence. He tells the fact that
45:56
Speaker 2: at the time he was caught in a great sense
46:00
Speaker 2: of fatigue as he reached a mountain range. Knowing that
46:05
Speaker 2: God had called him to the San Gallo Gate and
46:08
Speaker 2: on into the San Marco Monastery, even though they were
46:14
Speaker 2: corrupt right to the top of the scene. He knew
46:18
Speaker 2: God had called him, but he couldn't make it. And
46:21
Speaker 2: he fell down and he felt, I'd never be able
46:24
Speaker 2: to make it over that range. Now whether it's legend
46:27
Speaker 2: or fact, no one seems to know for sure. But
46:31
Speaker 2: when in that fatigued state, despairing of life, he was
46:36
Speaker 2: visited by a stranger. To him it seemed more like
46:40
Speaker 2: a vision than a real person Here again, we do
46:44
Speaker 2: not know, perhaps never will. And that person gave him
46:48
Speaker 2: encouragement and fed him, gave him rest, and said to him, Here,
46:54
Speaker 2: I will help you to San Marco. And they walked together,
47:01
Speaker 2: says Savonarola. And upon reaching the gate, this stranger turned
47:07
Speaker 2: and said to him, Just before he vanished, And now, Savonarola,
47:14
Speaker 2: remember to do that for which God has sent thee.
47:22
Speaker 2: And he left. I'm honest with you this morning. I
47:28
Speaker 2: would like to be that stranger with you. I would
47:37
Speaker 2: like to think that in this moment in history where
47:40
Speaker 2: you have come to a fatiguing period in your life.
47:47
Speaker 2: We've had a visit. And you've been fed. You've been nurtured.
47:54
Speaker 2: You've been warmed and given rest. And I would like
48:00
Speaker 2: to say, remember to do that for which God sent thee.
48:04
Speaker 2: And then I'd like to vanish. Savonarola declares when he vanished, he,
48:13
Speaker 2: as it were, ran through the gate. May we bow
48:19
Speaker 2: our heads. There are particular perils, particular traps that the
48:27
Speaker 2: devil sets for us. Pride, egotism, jealousy, Competition, drive for popularity, infallibility,
48:49
Speaker 2: feelings of indispensability. Does that sound like your diary? Now
49:00
Speaker 2: those are the very things we all wrestle with. Some
49:03
Speaker 2: of us more than others of us. But that beast
49:10
Speaker 2: within your breast today longs to be exalted. That's why
49:18
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit has been... given that the believer might
49:25
Speaker 2: allow him to have full control to exalt Christ my
49:32
Speaker 2: message is for the saint today throughout this day Now
49:39
Speaker 2: you and the visitor from God have a long talk
49:46
Speaker 2: about it. Now our Father in the simple plain terms
49:57
Speaker 2: of a sinner I just thank you for using those
50:07
Speaker 2: of us that are given to pride and dominance and
50:18
Speaker 2: for reducing us occasionally in a passage such as this
50:27
Speaker 2: I thank you that we can still be who we
50:29
Speaker 2: are still have our identity while we are engaged in
50:36
Speaker 2: exalting Christ As you rip from our hearts. The toys
50:43
Speaker 2: that we would love to hold on to. Father. And
50:49
Speaker 2: as we bleed within. Remind us. God. That nothing. That
50:59
Speaker 2: you take. Goes unrewarded. That as you reduce us and.
51:09
Speaker 2: Crush us. you make us anew. You help us point
51:15
Speaker 2: to the Savior better. Help us to be satisfied as
51:21
Speaker 2: the voice, as a lamp, and not to worry about
51:32
Speaker 2: being the shepherd or the Messiah. Please exalt the name
51:38
Speaker 2: of Christ in this message, Lord. We praise you through him. Amen.
51:45
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51:50
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.