Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Man Sent from God │ Msg 312 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Man Sent from God │ Msg 312 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · 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 Pasternak's vivid description of a soul inspired
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Speaker 1: 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 John the Baptizer swam upstream. Well,
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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 2: 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 ambition 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 stepped aside to declare, Behold the Lamb of God
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Speaker 1: who takes away the sins of the world. We'll look
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Speaker 1: closely at John the baptizer today in our series I'm
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Speaker 1: calling Beholding Christ, the Son of God. To do that,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to read from John 1, starting with verses
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Speaker 1: 6 through 8, and then I'll read verse 15, and
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Speaker 1: I'll finish by reading verses 19 through 28, all from
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Speaker 1: John chapter 1. So please follow along with me in
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Speaker 1: John chapter 1 as I read starting in verse 6
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Speaker 1: from the New Living Translation. John 1 verse 6 begins with,
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Speaker 1: God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about
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Speaker 1: the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.
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Speaker 1: John himself was not the light. He was simply a
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Speaker 1: witness to tell about the light. Now, verse 15. John
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Speaker 1: testified about him when he shouted to the crowds. This
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Speaker 1: is the one I was talking about Now, down to
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Speaker 1: verse 19. This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders
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Speaker 1: sent priests and temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John,
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Speaker 1: He came right out and said, I am not the Messiah.
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Speaker 1: Well then, who are you, they asked. Are you Elijah?
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Speaker 2: No, he replied. Are you 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
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Speaker 1: sent asked him, if you aren't the Messiah or Elijah
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Speaker 1: or the prophet, what right do you have to baptize?
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Speaker 1: John told them, I baptize with water, but right here
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Speaker 1: in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. Though
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Speaker 1: his ministry follows mine, I'm not even worthy to be
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Speaker 1: his slave and untie the straps of his sandal. This
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Speaker 1: encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the
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Speaker 1: 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 in who
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Speaker 2: was destined to change the entire country of Italy and
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Speaker 2: ultimately affect the entire Reformation of Europe. This little boy
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Speaker 2: was named Girolamo Savonarola. And from his name, you wouldn't
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Speaker 2: expect him to be one of the greater lights of
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Speaker 2: the Reformation. But if you know your history, you know
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Speaker 2: that he was. Savonarola from his earliest years had an
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Speaker 2: invincible love for God. He was, without question, a man
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Speaker 2: sent from God. Before he was 20, he gave himself
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Speaker 2: without reservation to the ruggedness and loneliness of solitude. He
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Speaker 2: chose rather than sitting on a soft couch, a hard one.
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Speaker 2: He chose rather than sleeping on a comfortable bed, the floor,
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Speaker 2: or a difficult bed in which to sleep. He chose
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Speaker 2: rather than putting upon his body the finest of clothes,
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Speaker 2: he wore the plain clothes. And instead of enjoying the
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Speaker 2: finest and the most lavish meals, he gave himself to
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Speaker 2: torturous hungering. He so distinguished himself as a rugged, lonely
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Speaker 2: man of God that by the time he reached in
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Speaker 2: his early 20s, he was accepted into the Dominican order.
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Speaker 2: and he did not fit that scene. If you know
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Speaker 2: anything about the Italian 15th century, you know that those
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Speaker 2: people in that day lived under the guise of a
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Speaker 2: corrupt church. The Pope, right down to the youngest nun,
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Speaker 2: was involved, it seemed, almost without exception, in gross vice.
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Speaker 2: Savonarola called the convents and the monasteries dens of sin
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Speaker 2: and iniquity. He even declared on one occasion that it
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Speaker 2: reached all the way to the papacy. And it could
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Speaker 2: have been believed by some that he was rather extensive
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Speaker 2: in his approach and was in fact ambitious to become
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Speaker 2: the Pope. Such would never be. He became in a
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Speaker 2: period of time a hated man. There are historical works
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Speaker 2: written about Savonarola, and one of the better ones is
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Speaker 2: the work by Philip Schaff. He entitles it The History
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Speaker 2: of the Christian Church, and in his work he describes
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Speaker 2: Savonarola at the zenith of his career. At the time
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Speaker 2: of his greatest popularity, the throngs waited hours at the
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Speaker 2: door of the cathedral for the preacher's arrival, and it
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Speaker 2: has been estimated by Villari that that his audiences of 10,000
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Speaker 2: to 12,000 hung on his discourses. Like fields of grain
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Speaker 2: under the wind, the feelings of his audiences were swayed
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Speaker 2: by his voice. Now they burned with indignation. Now they
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Speaker 2: were softened to tears. I was so overcome by weeping,
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Speaker 2: I could not go on, wrote one reporter. while taking
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Speaker 2: down the sermon in notes. And Savonarola himself felt the
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Speaker 2: terrible strain of his efforts and often sank back into
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Speaker 2: his seat after the sermon, completely exhausted. He reached such
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Speaker 2: extremes that by the time he was in his zenith
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Speaker 2: in his late 30s, Florence gathered around him and literally
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Speaker 2: was set on fire by his preaching. People brought books
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Speaker 2: of obscenity, their works of magic, and all forms of
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Speaker 2: trinkets to the public square of Florence, and they made
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Speaker 2: a stack 60 feet high, 250 feet around in circumference,
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Speaker 2: and they set fire to these works, and it formed
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Speaker 2: a huge bonfire. That was the last straw. The priesthood
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Speaker 2: could stand it no longer. They interrupted him. in San
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Speaker 2: Marco when he was having his devotions one morning. And
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Speaker 2: at the young age of 42, he was thrown into
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Speaker 2: a dungeon and went through weeks of torturing. Till finally
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Speaker 2: one day it was decided in the empty pomp and
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Speaker 2: color of the church they'd put him on trial. Since
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Speaker 2: he wouldn't recant his beliefs, he stood before the prelates
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Speaker 2: of Rome. One man spoke words of prophecy without realizing it.
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Speaker 2: He said, this, even though he were a second John
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Speaker 2: the Baptist, this man must die. And the whole drunken
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Speaker 2: lot stood to their feet and applauded. And then fell
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Speaker 2: the final accuser's voice, I separate you, Savonarola, from the church.
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Speaker 2: the church militant, the church triumphant, to which he replied
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Speaker 2: in calm words, From the militant church thou mayest, but
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Speaker 2: from the church triumphant thou canst not. They couldn't stand it.
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Speaker 2: They came to him and strangled the life out of
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Speaker 2: him right there. hung his body on chains and put
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Speaker 2: him into flames and swept up the dust along with
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Speaker 2: his ashes and flung it in the river. And they said,
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Speaker 2: may he never again come to the surface. I want
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Speaker 2: to say as a result, his voice lingers to this
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Speaker 2: day among the great voices of the Reformation. I think
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Speaker 2: it is interesting, and it is the word of that
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Speaker 2: commissioner that attracts me to him as an illustration of
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Speaker 2: John the Baptist, that the very words, though he were
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Speaker 2: a second John the Baptist, describe the man who was
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Speaker 2: the first John the Baptist. Our feeling about John the
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Speaker 2: Baptist is rather vague and obscure. If I were asked
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Speaker 2: to provide a sheet for you and have you fill
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Speaker 2: out what you know about John the Baptist. It wouldn't
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Speaker 2: take too many lines for you to complete the assignment.
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Speaker 2: We know something about his being one who baptized. We
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Speaker 2: know a little bit about he was the one that
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Speaker 2: was the forerunner of Christ, but we don't know much
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Speaker 2: about him as a person. And I use Savonarola because he,
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Speaker 2: in so many ways... in his enigmatic ministry, was precisely
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Speaker 2: the kind of man the baptizer was. Look with me
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Speaker 2: at John chapter 1, for example, which describes him as
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Speaker 2: a mere man who came from God, whose name was John.
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Speaker 2: That doesn't sound very significant. And that isn't significant if
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Speaker 2: you don't know the background. The other gospel writers fill
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Speaker 2: in the blanks that John does not provide for us.
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Speaker 2: For example, Dr. Luke, a physician by trade, was himself
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Speaker 2: interested in the humanity of those of whom he wrote.
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Speaker 2: So Dr. Luke tells us that Zacharias and Elizabeth, the
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Speaker 2: parents of John, were older people. In fact, they were
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Speaker 2: so far beyond the years that the birth of John
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Speaker 2: was a surprise. It could be called a minor miracle
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Speaker 2: in the New Testament. Into their older lives and arms
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Speaker 2: came this little baby and came with the promise that
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Speaker 2: he would be a unique man sent by God to Israel,
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Speaker 2: just like Savonarola had been sent by God to Italy.
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Speaker 2: This boy, when he began to grow, did not grow
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Speaker 2: up in the court, in the palaces. As a matter
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Speaker 2: of fact, Luke adds the thought that this boy had
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Speaker 2: his early years in the deserts. Luke says he lived
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Speaker 2: in deserts until the day of his public appearance. He
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Speaker 2: was raised in the desert. Now, that's not desert like
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Speaker 2: Palm Springs desert. That's desert like Barstow desert. That's That's
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Speaker 2: desert like the scrub and the brush of the wilderness.
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Speaker 2: That's real desert. No swimming pools, lush lawns, lovely food.
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Speaker 2: The ruggedness of the wilderness. That's where he grew up.
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Speaker 2: Someone has said, you cannot create a man or woman
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Speaker 2: of God without the leisure of solitude. I would change
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Speaker 2: only one word. Leisure. Solitude is not a leisure leap.
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Speaker 2: place to spend one's time. John the baptizer was pushed
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Speaker 2: into that wilderness and it was there under the stars
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Speaker 2: and in the fresh clear days and nights that he
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Speaker 2: got his message from God. God filled his mind with
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Speaker 2: himself and it says in the scriptures from his earliest
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Speaker 2: years he was filled with the Holy Spirit. What a
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Speaker 2: magnificent experience. And then when he came on the scene,
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Speaker 2: how different he was from all the priests around. He
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Speaker 2: came to a group of people we would call today
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Speaker 2: 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: relationship 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 man.
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Speaker 2: Whose name was John. Not Jesus. Not Gabriel. Not Michael. John.
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Speaker 2: Common name name. 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 lurked 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 through. To bear
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Speaker 2: witness 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 develop 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 purpose,
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Speaker 2: such as giving light to what is underneath? And all
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Speaker 2: of a sudden, the bulb went out. How long did
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Speaker 2: you let that go on before you replaced the bulb?
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Speaker 2: It's a beautiful lamp, lovely lamp, perhaps costs 25, 50
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Speaker 2: times what the bulb costs. Do you leave the bulb there?
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Speaker 2: He said, that doesn't matter, you know, we just enjoy
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Speaker 2: the lamp. Why? The people in your family would say,
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Speaker 2: put another bulb in there. It's no good without a light.
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Speaker 2: You know, when you get over the first blush of
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Speaker 2: delight regarding the lamp, then you want one thing, and
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Speaker 2: that's light. And John said, I'm holding the bulb. I'm
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Speaker 2: presenting the light. Dr. Richard Sumi, in his fine work,
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Speaker 2: Shoes for the Road, entitles his 10th chapter of the book,
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Speaker 2: The Lure of a Lesser Loyalty. And he talks about
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Speaker 2: the problem of an individual who promotes a lesser loyalty
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Speaker 2: than the highest. That's the promotion of the Savior. John
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Speaker 2: was never trapped by that lure. Let's go on. He
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Speaker 2: was human, but he was not ordinary. He was a lamp,
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Speaker 2: but he was not the light. Don't mistake him for
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Speaker 2: the light. He was a voice, but he was not
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Speaker 2: the word. That's an important contrast. Verse 19. This is
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Speaker 2: the witness of John. When the Jews sent to him
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Speaker 2: priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?
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Speaker 2: I smile as I read that 19th verse because I
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Speaker 2: find it most interesting that when we cannot put somebody together,
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Speaker 2: our tendency is to what? Push them aside, isn't it?
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Speaker 2: If someone is a real enigma, a real puzzle to you,
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Speaker 2: then it isn't long before you're rejecting them. If we
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Speaker 2: can't pigeonhole them, we ditch them. Now they told their buddies,
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Speaker 2: look guys, there's a guy out in the wilderness that
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Speaker 2: pops locusts and wears camel hair garments, got a big
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Speaker 2: wide belt, looks like a hippie. But our temples are
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Speaker 2: emptying and they're all going to hear him preach. Find
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Speaker 2: out what makes him tick. Who is he? And so
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Speaker 2: they went. Verse 20 says this. He confessed and said,
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Speaker 2: I'm not the Messiah. Now, they didn't ask him that.
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Speaker 2: He knew what they were thinking. You're the Messiah, not me. Well,
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Speaker 2: are you Elijah? Nope. Are you the prophet? Before you
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Speaker 2: turn the page, let's explain that Deuteronomy 1815 promises a
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Speaker 2: prophet yet to come. Upon whose life the mantle of
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Speaker 2: God will rest. It's a description of the Lord Jesus
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Speaker 2: in prophecy. Deuteronomy 18, 15. Are you that prophet that
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Speaker 2: Moses wrote of? Not me. Nope. Verse 22. Who are you?
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Speaker 2: It's almost with sarcasm. Who do you think you are?
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Speaker 2: You don't look the part. We need to give an
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Speaker 2: answer to those who sent us. Who sent them? Verse 24.
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Speaker 2: The Pharisees, watch out. But when you read about the Pharisees,
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Speaker 2: watch out. John describes himself in verse 23 as what?
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Speaker 2: A voice. Nothing more. I am a voice of one
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Speaker 2: crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord.
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Speaker 2: If you're a music lover, you know that that's a
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Speaker 2: reference to the tenor aria in Handel's Messiah. And that
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Speaker 2: is a marvelous piece of music. But I've seen people
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Speaker 2: watch it, and I've even seen some sing it, and
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Speaker 2: I've wondered, do they understand what they're singing and enjoying?
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Speaker 2: Why did one have to make straight the way of
28:44
Speaker 2: the Lord? His way was already straight. What does it mean? Well,
28:49
Speaker 2: in those days, when a monarch would come into an area,
28:52
Speaker 2: he would always be preceded by some that cleared the way.
28:57
Speaker 2: Sort 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
29:45
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.
30:09
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.
30:32
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. We should have
31:18
Speaker 2: meditated on that for a minute. What's a voice? It's
31:23
Speaker 2: a vehicle. It's nothing more than a vehicle. And if
31:30
Speaker 2: 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
31:59
Speaker 2: from from that raspy old voice. John says, I'm just
32:03
Speaker 2: a vehicle. Tell you something else about a voice. It stops.
32:10
Speaker 2: But the word lingers. At any point in time, the
32:16
Speaker 2: voice can stop. But the word goes on. And I
32:24
Speaker 2: want to say before you this morning that if something
32:27
Speaker 2: is terribly wrong, If our sights are so shallow. That
32:33
Speaker 2: we're attracted to a voice. Or a lamp. Rather than
32:40
Speaker 2: the word or the light. Let's never forget that. Jim
32:47
Speaker 2: Elliot prayed on one occasion. Lord God. Forbid that these
32:52
Speaker 2: who hear me would confuse my words. As though they
32:55
Speaker 2: are 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. But humility is knowing what God has
35:54
Speaker 2: given us And then exercising it for his glory. Knowing
36:00
Speaker 2: our role. Paul said to the Romans. Let no one
36:05
Speaker 2: think more highly of himself than he ought to think.
36:08
Speaker 2: But he didn't add let him think more lowly. That's
36:11
Speaker 2: not in the passage. John said I have a ministry.
36:16
Speaker 2: And some of you have ministry. You are being used
36:20
Speaker 2: and have been used by God. But in the same
36:23
Speaker 2: breath I would add. You're not indispensable. It is a
36:33
Speaker 2: good word of exhortation that Oswald Sanders leaves with us
36:37
Speaker 2: in his book, Spiritual Leadership. He says, that man is
36:42
Speaker 2: most successful and attractive who attaches the affection of his
36:47
Speaker 2: followers more to Christ than to himself. This means if
36:54
Speaker 2: you have a discipleship group, it's not to revolve around you,
36:57
Speaker 2: but they are to understand it revolves around your Savior.
37:02
Speaker 2: If you have a pulpit, the pulpit doesn't revolve around
37:04
Speaker 2: you nor the people. It's around the Lord Jesus, and
37:07
Speaker 2: that is a constant reminder that is overdue. Then he
37:14
Speaker 2: goes on to say he can rightly draw encouragement from
37:16
Speaker 2: the fact that his service has been fruitful. and appreciated,
37:22
Speaker 2: but he must sedulously refuse to be idolized. Samuel Chadwick,
37:29
Speaker 2: the old Methodist preacher, put it well with his formula
37:32
Speaker 2: that he lived by. If successful, don't crow. If a failure,
37:40
Speaker 2: don't crow. That's a good word. If your eyes are
37:46
Speaker 2: on yourself, you will do both. When you fail, you
37:50
Speaker 2: won't be able to handle it because your eyes were
37:52
Speaker 2: on yourself. If you're successful, you will again attract an
37:57
Speaker 2: idolatrous following that inevitably is headed for ruin. John never,
38:03
Speaker 2: never did that. I want you to appreciate it. He
38:07
Speaker 2: was useful, but he never considered himself indispensable. Do you?
38:16
Speaker 2: Are you serving a committee that you feel you're indispensable in?
38:20
Speaker 2: Are you in a school feeling that though you are
38:22
Speaker 2: a unique individual that you're also indispensable? All of us
38:27
Speaker 2: are replaceable. It's a staggering thought, but we all are.
38:33
Speaker 2: And at times, even more rapidly than we would want
38:36
Speaker 2: to believe. People don't struggle half as much replacing us
38:41
Speaker 2: than we wish they would. Man is a strange creature.
38:46
Speaker 2: He's the only one I know that when you pat
38:47
Speaker 2: him on the back, he suffers from the swelling of
38:50
Speaker 2: his head. He can hardly handle it. Now, not to
38:54
Speaker 2: the point where we never are to encourage one another.
38:57
Speaker 2: That's a foolish extreme. But how very few of God's
39:02
Speaker 2: people can handle success or failure because of the old
39:09
Speaker 2: problem of ingrown eyeballs. John never suffered from that. His
39:15
Speaker 2: sight was clear. You know, the public doesn't want you
39:19
Speaker 2: to live like that either. Oh, you get a little successful,
39:23
Speaker 2: the public wants you to take it. And then when
39:25
Speaker 2: you do, some of them will hate you for it.
39:27
Speaker 2: But what a temptation. now unique members of a faculty
39:34
Speaker 2: and we have a number of you in this congregation
39:38
Speaker 2: your uniqueness is of God don't diminish it but at
39:44
Speaker 2: the same time don't use it as a self exalting
39:48
Speaker 2: opportunity If you are a John the Baptist on the faculty,
39:53
Speaker 2: you'll know it. They'll isolate you. If you're a John
39:58
Speaker 2: the Baptist in the business world, you'll be isolated. You'll
40:01
Speaker 2: know it. If you're a John the Baptist in the ministry,
40:07
Speaker 2: that's also true. But not one of us is ever indispensable.
40:13
Speaker 2: There's a fifth. He was only a witness, not the
40:17
Speaker 2: object of worship. I love this 29th verse. It is
40:24
Speaker 2: just like John. The next day he saw Jesus coming.
40:32
Speaker 2: And he said, oh, my competition. No, he didn't. He said, behold,
40:41
Speaker 2: that's him. It was as if he were to say
40:45
Speaker 2: to his followers, look, guys, there's the one we worship. Oh,
40:50
Speaker 2: I'm grateful to see him. Now your eyes will go
40:52
Speaker 2: on the one they belong on. Your competition comes around
40:59
Speaker 2: to threaten you. Are you the kind of Christ-exalting individual
41:05
Speaker 2: that says, Oh, God, make him successful. John says, Oh,
41:11
Speaker 2: it's not for me. Thank God he's on the scene.
41:14
Speaker 2: The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
41:17
Speaker 2: the world. I can do neither. I'm not the lamb
41:20
Speaker 2: and I cannot take away the sin. But he can.
41:24
Speaker 2: And John sees him and rejoices. Look at how he
41:29
Speaker 2: says it. Verse 30. This is he on behalf of
41:33
Speaker 2: whom I said. After me comes a man whose rank
41:36
Speaker 2: is higher than I. For he existed before me. I
41:39
Speaker 2: didn't recognize him. What honesty. Even though they were second cousins.
41:45
Speaker 2: He didn't recognize him as the messiah. But in order
41:49
Speaker 2: that he might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing
41:52
Speaker 2: in water. His whole ministry was to manifest Christ. John
41:58
Speaker 2: bore witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as
42:02
Speaker 2: a dove. And he remained upon him. I did not
42:07
Speaker 2: recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in
42:10
Speaker 2: water said to me, He upon whom you see the
42:13
Speaker 2: Spirit descending and remaining. This is the one who baptizes
42:18
Speaker 2: in the Holy Spirit. And I said, that's the Son
42:22
Speaker 2: of God. Oh, what a marvelous response. Not a hint
42:29
Speaker 2: of competition, not a moment of threat. John said, I
42:33
Speaker 2: lay at his feet. He's the exalted one. Now, since
42:40
Speaker 2: 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
42:59
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
44:29
Speaker 2: my abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than the
44:34
Speaker 2: sunshine 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. Now, it's
44:55
Speaker 2: one thing for a person to stand behind a wooden
44:58
Speaker 2: pulpit on a carpeted platform in the midst of a
45:03
Speaker 2: worship service and talk about humility. But I'll tell you,
45:09
Speaker 2: it is something else to practicing. It is something else
45:17
Speaker 2: for you to take what you have heard about John
45:19
Speaker 2: the baptizer and emulate it. To say by the grace
45:25
Speaker 2: of God, I wish to do that which God has
45:30
Speaker 2: sent me to do. Increase him, decrease self. Before God,
45:38
Speaker 2: I wish to do that. Savonarola had an incredible experience
45:48
Speaker 2: when he went from Genoa to Florence. He tells the
45:54
Speaker 2: fact that at the time he was caught in a
45:59
Speaker 2: great sense of fatigue as he reached a mountain range.
46:04
Speaker 2: Knowing that God had called him to the San Gallo
46:07
Speaker 2: Gate and on into the San Marco Monastery, even though
46:13
Speaker 2: they were corrupt right to the top of the seam.
46:17
Speaker 2: He knew God had called him, but he couldn't make it.
46:21
Speaker 2: And he fell down and he felt, I'd never be
46:24
Speaker 2: able to make it over that range. Now, whether it's
46:26
Speaker 2: legend or fact, no one seems to know for sure.
46:31
Speaker 2: But when in that fatigued state, despairing of life, he
46:35
Speaker 2: was visited by a stranger. To him, it seemed more
46:40
Speaker 2: like a vision than a real person. Here again, we
46:44
Speaker 2: do not know. Perhaps never will. And that person gave
46:48
Speaker 2: him encouragement and fed him, gave him rest, and said
46:53
Speaker 2: to him, Here, I will help you to San Marco.
46:59
Speaker 2: And they walked together, says Savonarola. And upon reaching the gate,
47:06
Speaker 2: this stranger turned and said to him, Just before he vanished,
47:11
Speaker 2: And now, Savonarola, remember to do that for which God
47:19
Speaker 2: has sent thee. And he left. I'm honest with you
47:27
Speaker 2: this morning. I would like to be that stranger with you.
47:37
Speaker 2: I would like to think that in this moment in
47:39
Speaker 2: history where you have come to a fatiguing period in
47:45
Speaker 2: your life. We've had a visit. And you've been fed.
47:52
Speaker 2: You've been nurtured. You've been warmed and given rest. And
47:59
Speaker 2: I would like to say, remember to do that for
48:02
Speaker 2: which God sent thee. And then I'd like to vanish.
48:09
Speaker 2: Savonarola declares when he vanished, he, as it were, ran
48:14
Speaker 2: through the gate. May we bow our heads. There are
48:22
Speaker 2: particular perils, particular traps that the devil sets for us. Pride, egotism, jealousy, Competition,
48:41
Speaker 2: drive for popularity, infallibility, feelings of indispensability. Does that sound
48:56
Speaker 2: like your diary? Now those are the very things we
49:01
Speaker 2: all wrestle with. Some of us more than others of us.
49:09
Speaker 2: But that beast within your breast today longs to be exalted.
49:18
Speaker 2: That's why the Holy Spirit has been given that the
49:23
Speaker 2: believer might allow him to have full control to exalt
49:30
Speaker 2: Christ my message is for the saint today throughout this
49:37
Speaker 2: day May you and the visitor from God have a
49:45
Speaker 2: long talk about it. Now, our Father, in the simple,
49:55
Speaker 2: plain terms of a sinner, I just thank you for
50:04
Speaker 2: using those of us that are given to pride and
50:14
Speaker 2: dominance and for reducing us occasionally in a passage such
50:23
Speaker 2: as this I thank you that we can still be
50:29
Speaker 2: who we are still have our identity while we are
50:35
Speaker 2: engaged in exalting Christ As you rip from our hearts.
50:43
Speaker 2: The toys that we would love to hold on to. Father.
50:49
Speaker 2: And as we bleed within. Remind us. God. That nothing.
50:58
Speaker 2: That you take. Goes unrewarded. That as you reduce us and.
51:09
Speaker 2: Crush us. you make us anew. You help us point
51:16
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.
51:46
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
51:51
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited. Thank you.