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DON'T MISS THE POINT
JOHN 1:15-36
Introduction
Bible Commentator James Montgomery Boice told a story that he read about several years ago about an African convert to Christ who suffered from a very painful disease, elephantiasis.
“This is terribly painful disease, causing enlargement and thickening of body tissues, specifically the enormous enlargement of a limb. The disease had affected this man’s legs so that it was extremely difficult for him to walk. Yet he thought nothing of making his way around the village to introduce others to the One who had transformed his life.
After a period of several months, during which he had visited all the huts in his village, the man began to take the gospel to another village that lay two miles away through the jungle. Every morning he started out painfully on his monstrous legs, and every night he returned, having visited as many homes in the second village as he possibly could. Then he would remain in his own village for several weeks before he once more became restless.
He asked the missionary doctor if another village he had visited as a child had heard the gospel. The missionary said, no, it had not. The African Christian wanted to take the Good News there, but the missionary advised against it because the village lay more than twelve miles away, over dangerous jungle paths. The burden so grew upon the African Christian, that one day he slipped away quietly before dawn. The missionary learned later that the convert, arriving in the new village some time after noon, his legs bruised and scratched, had begun immediately to tell the people about Jesus. He went to everyone there, and it was not till the sun was sinking low in the sky that he began his lonely and dangerous trip through the jungle toward home.
At midnight he arrived, bleeding and almost unconscious, at the house of the missionary doctor who tended to him and dressed his feet. James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, Volume 1, The Coming of the Light, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book House, 1985, 1999), p. 108
This African believer, in spite of a tremendous handicap, understood a point that we often miss, telling people about the Lord Jesus Christ is of the utmost importance.
When was the last time you walked twelve miles to tell someone about Jesus?
When was the last time you went next door to tell someone about Jesus?
When the last time you risked rejection or shame to tell someone about Jesus?
When was the last time you made a sacrifice to share your faith in Christ?
Have we missed the point that faith in Christ is the only way to true joy and fulfillment in this life?
Have we missed the point that nobody goes to Heaven without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?
Have we missed the point that it is our responsibility to tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ? Listen carefully to these verses:
John 10:10–“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
John 14:6–“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Mark 16:15–“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
This morning as we continue looking at the Life of Christ, we revisit someone we met a few weeks back–John the Baptist. John the Baptist did not miss the point.
John the Baptist knew what it was to direct people to the Lord Jesus. Before we talk about that, let’s give a brief review of some of the things we’ve already seen in our study of the Life of Christ.
After Jesus’ birth, He grew up in Nazareth, and at 12 years old, visited the temple in Jerusalem. He stayed behind to be about His “father’s business”.
When Jesus was about 30 years of age, John the Baptist began his ministry of preparing Israel for the appearance of Jesus. He preached to folks and told them that the Messiah was coming and that they needed to repent. He baptized folks and told them to bring forth fruits in their lives that showed they were serious about the matter of repentance. He was getting them ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Then came what was possibly pinnacle of John’s career–i.e. the Baptism of the Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus from Heaven in the form of a dove and His Heavenly Father said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
As we saw last week, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, where through His temptation by Satan, He showed Himself to be sinless. He demonstrated His worthiness to be our sinless substitute for sin.
This week, Jesus is returning from the temptation and comes by to see John. It is here that John identifies Him as the one he has been preaching about.
In this passage we read, John teaches us the point that evangelism, or directing people to Jesus, should be at the top of our priority list. In fact John shows us how not to miss the point! We will not miss the point if we understand 3 things that John understood.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE ARE.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE SERVE.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT TO SAY.
I. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE ARE!
I think a lot of times we don’t do what we know we should do as Christians because we do not understand who we are as Christians.
Vs. 19 – As we mentioned previously, John the Baptist had a tremendous impact on Israel, Perhaps baptizing as many as 300,000 people. If anybody could have had an ego, it was John.
There are places in the Gospel of John where the word, “Jews” refers to the religious leadership in Jerusalem. Because of the impact of John the Baptist’s ministry we see here that a fact-finding group was sent out to John.
John’s ministry was not officially sanctioned by the religious leaders, so they wanted to know who he was.
Vs. 20 – It is important to note that John the Baptist knew who he was. It is also important that we know who we are if we are going to be effective witnesses for the Lord Jesus.
John, in knowing who he was, knew who he wasn’t!
First of all, he knew that he wasn’t the Christ, or Israel’s Messiah. He made it very clear that he was not the long awaited Saviour that was promised to Israel.
Vs. 21 – If John wasn’t the Christ, they wanted to know, then was he Elias or Elijah?
The return of Elijah was promised in Malachi 4:5-6–“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: [6] And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” The Jews were looking for the actual return of Elijah himself.
But John the Baptist denied that He was Elijah.
John was also asked about being “that prophet” that was promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15–“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
Again John denied being that prophet. John knew who he wasn’t.
He knew that he was nothing compared to the one he was laying the groundwork for. The world did not revolve around John the Baptist. The world revolved around the coming Messiah.
John spoke of the coming Messiah and not himself, because John was dead to himself. To John the Baptist, John the Baptist was not important!
Beloved, this is one of the reasons why we miss the point of the importance of Evangelism. We think of ourselves and not of our Saviour!
We think of ourselves and not the need of others to know the Lord Jesus.
We have so much going on in our lives and the lives of our children, that we fail to think of telling others about Christ.
We need to be able to say with the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:14–“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
We need to listen to our own conversation and see how much we talk about ourselves. The more we talk about ourselves, the less we will talk about the Lord Jesus.
The less we talk about ourselves, the less we will talk about Jesus.
John 7:18 –“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.”
John knew who he wasn’t. Do you understand that the world does not revolve around you and your interests?
John understood this. That’s why he knew who he was.
Vs 22-23–The last thing in the world that John wanted was for men to look at him.
He says later in John 3:30– “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.”
John wanted men to forget him and see only Jesus Christ.
John wasn’t the Messiah. John wasn’t Elijah. John wasn’t that prophet.
John was the voice. In the wilderness of Israel’s rebellion and sin, he was calling for people to make straight paths in their hearts for Jesus to come.
John knew who he was. John knew he was the voice.
If you are a child of God, you need to know who you are. You need to know that you are to be the voice crying out in today’s post modern culture to a people who need to make straight paths in their hearts and receive Jesus as their Saviour.
If you have been saved, then Jesus has recruited you to be a voice.
Acts 1:8–“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
2 Corinthians 5:18–“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”
1 Peter 3:15–“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
Why do you think that the early church grew?
It was not just the Apostles, pastors, and missionaries that shared the Gospel. It was those we could call “the people in the pews” that also shared the Gospel.
John knew who he wasn’t, thus knowing who he was. John knew he was the voice.
Don’t miss the point. You too are a voice for the Lord Jesus Christ.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE ARE!
II. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE SERVE!
John understood three things about the Lord Jesus that we need to understand so we don’t miss the point.
A. We Serve Jesus Who Is Superior! (Vs 27)
In the culture of that day, a disciple would do all the things that a servant would do except unloose the sandals of his master’s feet. This was the lowest task that a servant did.
John understood that Jesus was preferred before Him.
John understood that Jesus must always come first.
John understood how unworthy he was even to serve the Lord Jesus in the humblest way.
Do you understand that Jesus was preferred before you?
Do you understand that Jesus always comes first?
Do you understand that you are not worthy to do anything for the Lord Jesus because you are a sinner and he is not?
We Need To Understand Who We Serve!
We Serve Jesus Who Is Superior!
B. We Serve Jesus Who Is Saviour! (Vs 29)
John is saying, “There He is! He is the solution to the world’s sin problem!”
John calls Jesus, “the lamb of God”. The Jewish people were familiar with lambs and other animals being sacrificed for sin.
These sacrifices were like “promissory notes.”
They covered sin until God’s true sacrifice for sin showed up.
Jesus was and is the only true sacrifice for sin.
He alone, as the sinless Son of God, could pay for our sins.
There is no other solution to the sin problem. There doesn’t need to be!
Hebrews 9:12–“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Hebrews 9:28–“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
There is only one way to Heaven. Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. The one that trusts in Jesus Christ alone as Saviour is the one who is going to Heaven.
John 3:36–“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
We Need To Understand Who We Serve:
We Serve Jesus Who Is Superior!
We Serve Jesus Who Is Saviour!
C. We Serve Jesus Who Is The Son Of God! (Vs 30)
Vs 30–In identifying Jesus, John says that this is the one preferred before him because He was before Him. John is referring to the preexistence and eternality of the Lord Jesus as God the Son.
In last Sunday morning’s message we dealt with the verses that show the Pre-existence of Jesus so I won’t get back into all of that today. Suffice it to say that the Bible is very clear that Jesus was in eternity past before He ever became flesh.
Vs. 31-33 – At the Baptism of Jesus, John saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove and abiding on Him. This is the one who God had promised would baptize people with God’s Holy Spirit. Only God can baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Today, every person who truly believes in Christ is baptized with the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13 –“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
Vs. 34 – John concludes, “THIS IS THE SON OF GOD!”
If we are going to get the point that speaking for the Lord Jesus Christ is important, we need to understand who we serve–We Serve Jesus Who Is Superior, Who Is Saviour, Who Is The Son of God.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE ARE.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE SERVE.
III. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT TO SAY!
John knew what to say to direct people to Jesus.
And besides being afraid to speak about the Lord Jesus in the first place, I think the second biggest problem is our not knowing what to say.
A. John Knew What To Say.
1. He told them what happened to Himself. He told of his own experiences concerning the Lord Jesus.
2. He told people to get ready because Jesus is coming.
3. He told them to look to the Lamb of God that takes away their sin.
B. So Let’s Follow John’s Example.
1. Tell people what happened to you.
a. Tell them of your own conviction of sin and need of a Savior.
b. Tell them how Jesus has changed your life.
c. Tell them of the assurance you have for Heaven, always directing them to the Lord Jesus.
2. Tell them they need to get ready.
a. Because they do not know when they will die.
b. Because they do not know when Jesus may return.
3. Tell them they need to look to the Lamb of God who died for their sins.
Tell them to believe on the Lord Jesus and be forgiven and saved!
Conclusion
Have you missed the point? Are you so caught up in everything else that you have neglected sharing your Savior with others? To get the point:
UNDERSTAND WHO YOU ARE
You are not the center of attention.
You are just a voice for the Lord Jesus
UNDERSTAND WHO YOU SERVE
You Serve Jesus Who Is Superior. . .Who Is Saviour. . .Who Is The Son of God!
UNDERSTAND WHAT TO SAY
Tell them what happened to you, giving Jesus all the glory.
Tell them to get ready.
Tell them to look to the lamb of God.
Home Page Contact Us Service Times Sermons Are You Going To Heaven?
NOTICE: THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!