John Lesson 3

Introduction

A very pleasant good day to you, and welcome to Let the Bible Speak. Let me encourage you to get your New Testaments open to the Gospel of John chapter one. As we continue our study in the verse by verse analysis of this grand letter that tells us about the life of Jesus Christ. But as we introduce this book in our last study, it is not simply a chronological story of the life of Christ, but rather it is a treatise that tells us that he is the Christ, that is the Son of God. It’s a book that deals with the doctrinal question. Who is this man Jesus? Now, since the days of Jesus Christ, there have been many different opinions expressed. There are some who have denied him as the Son of God altogether.

They say he was not even a good man. But for the most part, I think people today would say Jesus was a man who lived, and there are those who would say he was a good man. Perhaps they would say he was only a philosopher. Some would go further than that and say he was maybe a prophet even, but they deny that he is the Son of God. One cannot read the gospel according to John, though, and come up with that kind of conclusion. For as you study this grand book, you’d either say that Jesus is all that he claimed to be the Son of God, or else he is a liar. And if he’s a liar, he’s not a good man. If he’s a liar, he’s not a prophet even.

If he is a liar, he is not worthy to be followed at all. And so it is an important question, and we keep raising it and shall as we go through the gospel according to John. Who is Jesus? Now, as we observed in the first eighteen verses in our last study, the book of John starts right in the middle of the declaration that he is the Son of God. The opening words. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Now Jesus is identified as the Word, that is, he is the expression of God. He is the one who communicates, as I use words to communicate thoughts in a figurative way, Jesus Christ communicates unto us who God is.

He is the word that became flesh, as verse 14 says. He is the word that declares God unto us, as verse 18 also says. But you notice in the opening verses it says that he was with God. He’s not the same person as the Father, but he has a divine relationship with the Father. And then the scripture said he was God. That is, he is deity.

Just as you and I possess the nature of manhood, and above us are angel or angelhood, and below us our animal or animalhood. Jesus Christ was God. There is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What a bold declaration to begin this treatise. Is Jesus what he claimed to be? Not only that, the scripture here says that all things were made by him in verse 3. He is the one by whom the Father created all things. Now, is he really what he claimed to be? Furthermore, in verse 4 says, in him is life. If you want to have life, the real meaning of life here and the promise of life everlasting, then it’ll come only through Jesus Christ. And that thought is repeated throughout the Gospel of John.

In John 14 and verse 6, Jesus made a statement that may seem quite narrow to a lot of even religious teachers today when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except by me. You cannot follow any other and come to the Father. If you reject Jesus Christ, you do not know God. You may be a very faithful Jew and religious. You may be a faithful Muslim and certainly a good moral person who follows the prophet Muhammad. But if you reject Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus said, You cannot come to the Father. Therefore it’s quite important, isn’t it? That we really search who is this one Jesus? Is he everything he claimed to be, or is he a liar?

1. I Am Not the Christ

Well, we’re going to continue our study. You have your New Testament’s open of John chapter one. Let’s read first of all in verses 19 through 23, where we see that there were others besides Jesus who declared that he’s the Son of God. It wasn’t just the claim of Jesus himself, but others also testified to it. I’m reading John 1, verse 19. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed and denied not. But confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Eliah or Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou that we may give an answer to them that sent us?

What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah or Isaiah. In the time of Jesus Christ, the Jews as a nation were living in a land of Palestine, but they were under the rule of the Roman government. But since the days of Moses, they had looked forward to the coming of another prophet. Even Moses had declared that there would be a prophet that would come like unto him. Since the days of their great King David, they were looking for another king who would come and sit on the throne. And they understood that to mean that he would resurrect Israel to its once famous glory during the days of David.

And that again they would be in power and perhaps even overthrow that Roman rule. Therefore they searched the scriptures. The Jewish teachers and leaders were looking for the coming of the Messiah. The word Messiah literally means the anointed one. They were looking for this anointed one of the Lord, the King, the prophet. And so whenever this man John, John the Baptist began to preach, he was a very popular preacher. In fact, uh Matthew chapter 3 describes how that there were those from around Jerusalem and Judea and around the regions of Jordan, all went out, multitudes went out to hear this young man. He was a popular preacher, perhaps a very powerful preacher, and it was quite unusual for the flock uh for the multitudes to flock after him as he did.

2. Not Elijah, but in the Spirit and Power of Elijah

He preached a baptism for repentance. And as he began to stir this kind of interest, the Jewish leaders, the scripture says, sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John the Baptist, who art thou? Are you the one? In other words, are you the one of whom the scriptures predicted would later come? And John very quickly and clearly said, I am not the Christ. Now the word Christ is the same as the word Messiah. Christ is the Greek for the Hebrew word Messiah or the anointed one. And John the Bible simply says, I am not that one that you’re looking for, of whom the prophets did speak. Furthermore, he said, I’m not Elijah. And uh they asked him, uh, Would you be Elijah? Because again, the scriptures had foretold that there would be a coming of Elijah.

In Malachi chapter 4 and in verse 5, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi had said, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now, one who is familiar with the life of Christ a little bit later on from this point in time might wonder why John the Baptist denied being Elijah, because if you turn to Matthew chapter 17, you remember the time of the trans Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus went up with Peter, James, and John, and there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah, and they suggested, let’s build a tabernacle for each. And the words from heaven said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.

As they were coming down from that Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples asked concerning Elijah. And the scripture says in verse 11 that Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Now, at that point in time, John the Baptist had already been put to death. And what Jesus was really referring to was John the Baptist. He said, That is the Elijah. Actually, the explanation is that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Here was a great prophet of old. You’re familiar with the Old Testament and the story about Elijah.

Perhaps one great story that stands out is in 1 Kings chapter 18. You remember during the days of the wicked Ahab and his wife Jezebel, when they had raised up an uh altars or idols unto the prophet, uh, unto the idol God Baal, and the prophets of Baal stood in contest against Elijah. Elijah said, If the Lord be God, serve him, if Baal be God, then serve him, but don’t halt or limp between the two, one or the other. And Elijah stood the test. And Elijah proved to them that the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. The 450 prophets of Baal were slain on that day. Here was a man who was willing to stand against all odds, against the majority. He was a strong and a powerful and a courageous prophet.

3. Not That Prophet, but the Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Well, in that sense, John the Baptist came in the spirit and the power of Elijah. Jesus said that John is the one who fulfills the prophecy of Malachi. But the Jewish leaders didn’t accept him even that way. John the Baptist later was put to death, as you perhaps know the story. As old Herod had him beheaded. But he was a great man. In fact, he was a man who came to prepare the way for Christ. Now, the the Jewish priest and Levites who came asking him, and he said, I’m not the Christ, and I’m not Elijah. They said, Well, are you that prophet? Now again, that refers back to some Old Testament scriptures because in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 15 through 18, even Moses had said that God would raise up a prophet like unto him.

Moses was predicting the coming of Jesus Christ. Like Moses, he’s a lawgiver. Like Moses, he is a deliverer from bondage. Moses led the children of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage. And Jesus Christ leads God’s children today out of the bondage of sin. So a prophet like unto Moses. And Moses said unto him, Shall you hearken? John the Baptist, are you that prophet of whom Moses spake? John the Baptist immediately again said, Nay, I’m not that prophet. So in verse 22, they said, Well, who are you? Who are you? And John answered, verse 23, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. Now, Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 3 had predicted that there would come one, like John the Baptist, who would preach, prepare the way for the Lord.

And that’s the very message that John preached in Matthew chapter 3. Again, there’s a statement that says, John the Baptist fulfills the prophecy. He is the one sent by God as the forerunner, preparing the way for Jesus Christ. Who are you, John? Let it be remembered, John the Baptist is a great man. He is, however, not the Christ. He is He is not literally Elijah reincarnated or resurrected, but he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. He is not Moses or that prophet of whom Moses spake. But he is a great man, a prophet of God who is to prepare the way for the Lord. And so what he says about Jesus is significant. The multitudes regarded him as a prophet of God. What did John the Baptist have to say?

4. Why Baptizest Thou? A Baptism of Repentance

We’re going to pause for a moment. We’ll come back and we’ll read what it is that John the Baptist declared about this man Jesus. Not only did Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, but John the Baptist also verified that declaration. We hope you’ll stay with us. After John had told these priests and Levites who were sent to inquire who he was, after John had told them that he was not Elijah, that he was not that prophet, and that he was he was not the Christ, they said, Then why are you baptizing John? And so he answers the question, as we read continuing in John chapter 1, verses 25 through 28. They asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias or Elijah, neither that prophet.

And John answered them, saying, I baptize with water. For there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latcheth I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabora, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. Now, John had said that he was not the one that the Jews were looking for, that is the Messiah or the Christ. And he was not the reincarnation of Elijah, not literally, though he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. And he he was not that prophet or Moses, of the one of whom Moses spake. Well, then why are you baptizing? John replied here, and perhaps in our text of John chapter 1, it’s a rather short summary or version of it, when he simply said, I baptize with water.

In other texts in Matthew and Mark, we learn that he baptized with water a baptism of repentance. His baptism was as a preparation. John was in the age we may say that of preparation for the coming of Christ. His mission was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. In Acts chapter 19, about twenty five years later, when the Apostle Paul described this baptism of John, he said, John barely baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. John preached a baptism turn unto the Lord. Repent of your sins. But John himself declared that while his baptism was of God and commanded of God, yet there was one greater than he, and that is Jesus the Christ.

And Jesus would come.

And so it was that John’s baptism was necessary, it was important. But it was not that which would later be preached by Jesus Christ. You see, John’s baptism was a preparation. You might say that it was a baptism for the remission of sins. That’s what the scripture describes it as being, but in the same sense, perhaps as animal sacrifices were for the remission of sins. Leviticus chapter 4 describes them that way. And yet we read in the book of Hebrews particularly, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 4, that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. So we know that neither the animal sacrifices nor the baptism of John, in and of itself, could literally take away sins. Only the blood of Jesus Christ could do that.

5. Behold the Lamb of God

But Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 15 describes the death of Jesus Christ, that is, the shedding of his blood, both reach back as well as reach forward. And those who obeyed God’s will under the law of Moses, period, those who obeyed the baptism of John during that preparation period, were saved by the precious blood of Christ as it reached back, just as well as you and I are saved today by the precious blood of Jesus Christ as we obeyed the commandments of the Lord given unto us. John the Baptist preach a baptism of repentance. But we notice furthermore that John the Baptist testified who Jesus is. In verse 29, the scripture says, The next day John seeeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Now, there are two consecutive days here. The first day where the rulers have sent these priests and Levites inquiring who John is, and then the very next day he saw Jesus coming, that is John the Baptist did.

And his first reference is Behold the Lamb of God. And that’s a significant description of Jesus. The Lamb of God refers to the sacrifice that he would be. Even under the law of Moses, there were animal sacrifices. A lamb would be sacrificed. And so it is that Jesus is the perfect lamb. As 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 18 through 19 describes, that he is as a lamb without spot and without blemish. As much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice, and John simply described him as the Lamb of God.

But John furthermore said, This is the one of whom I was saying, I’m not even worthy to unloose his shoelatchet. I’m not worthy to untie shoestrings, as we would say it today. But he was before me, preferred before me. Now, chronologically, John the Baptist was probably about six months older than Jesus. But Jesus was eternal. Jesus existed earlier. And he said he was even before me. But more than that, John could say, I didn’t know him. Now we were probably led to think that John the Baptist, as a as a cousin in the flesh, would have maybe known who this Jesus is. But to say I knew him not is perhaps the saying in the sense of the divine way, that he is the one of whom John would testify to be the Son of God.

6. I Bear Record: This Is the Son of God

John had some confirmation about who this Jesus is before he began to preach that he’s the Son of God. And he here tells us when that confirmation from God actually came. He said, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize with water declared, This is the time you shall come to identify him and know him as the Son of God. Well, when we read back in Matthew chapter 3, the account of the baptism of Jesus Christ in verses 13 through 17. The scripture said, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest out of me.

And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And low a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Here at the baptism of Jesus Christ is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. All three personalities identified at his baptism. The Father saying, This is my beloved Son. The Holy Spirit descending like a dove. Jesus Christ being baptized. There are three personalities of Godhood. But at this point in time there was the confirmation.

With the words, This is my beloved Son. And the Spirit descending like a dove, John the Baptist said, I knew him then as the Son of God. Here is God’s confirmation, the testimony. And as verse 34 says, And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. I believe it when you consider the testimony of John the Baptist, it is significant. First of all, from the point of view that he was a man very popular and well received in this day as a man from God. John the Baptist declared him to be the Son of God. But not only from the point of view that the people recognized John to be from God, but also from the point of view that John the Baptist later died.

Conclusion

He lost his life. His head was cut off because of his conviction and stand for God and for the truth of God. And yet John testified to his death, this Jesus is a Son of God. Would you be willing to die for the testimony of who Jesus Christ is? What do you believe about him? John the Baptist testified that he is the Son of God. John’s baptism was a preparatory baptism. Water, for remission of sins are unto, that is in a preparation stage, knowing that by the blood of Christ, men who obeyed would be forgiven. But Jesus Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ would change men’s lives. Jesus Christ could and be the only one who could truly forgive sins by his precious blood.

And through the power of the Holy Spirit, there would be the renewing in our lives. Have you come to know Jesus Christ as the Son of God? Do you stand up for him, willing to commit your life for him? When Romans chapter 6, verses 3 through 4 describes Jesus Christ or the baptism of Jesus Christ, it tells us that what is being accomplished at that point in time is the way by which we reach the precious blood. Here, Paul, when he says in Romans 6 and verse 3, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Now there are those today who reject the counsel of God against themselves when they reject the baptism of Christ. Just like those Jews who rejected John’s baptism rejected the counsel of God against them. What do you believe about Jesus Christ? Have you obeyed? Have you been immersed? This scripture tells us that by baptism we reach the death of Christ. It is in baptism that we reach his precious blood by which our sins are washed away. In fact, in the same chapter of Romans 6, in verses 17 and 18, it says, God bethink that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

When you obey the form of doctrine delivered you, delivered by God, you see. But when do you become the servant of righteousness? When you’ve obeyed. Baptism, my beloved, is not a work that is meritorious by which you earn salvation. But baptism is an act of faith. Today you come to Jesus Christ by faith. But by faith we repent. By faith we confess Jesus to be the Son of God. By faith, even, from the heart, we are buried into his death by baptism. And it is then that we’re made free from sin. It is then that we become the servant of righteousness. Would you be willing to accept the testimony of John the Baptist? Would you be willing to accept the declaration of Jesus? He is the Son of God.

Will you come to Him and accept His grace? By faith, being baptized into His death. I hope that you will. Well, continue our study in our next lesson from John chapter 1 as we see others who testified Jesus, the Son of God. Until then, we bid the grace and peace of our Lord be with you.