The Sermon Notes of Harold Buls On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia Text from John 1:19-28 Advent IV 1. Jn. 1:6-8 introduces the relationship between the Baptist and Jesus. The name "John" means "God is gracious." He was Christ's witness. To witness is to tell the truth. John came to tell the truth about Jesus so that all people would come to faith in Jesus. People still to are coming faith in Jesus through John. For example, through what John said at John 1:29, an oft-quoted witness to Jesus. The noun "witness" occurs fourteen times in John's Gospel and sixteen times in his Epistles and Revelation. It always speaks of truth about Jesus, the Father, the Baptist, the Evangelist, etc. The verb "to witness" occurs thirty-three times in John's Gospel and fourteen times in his Epistles and Revelation. Like the noun it has various applications to Jesus, the Father, the Baptist, the Evangelist, the miracles of Jesus, etc. 2. The Jewish Council or Sanhedrin was responsible for the religious life of the Jews. When the Baptist became well-known they sent a delegation from Jerusalem way up to Galilee to make inquiry of him. When they asked him if he was the Christ, he was very emphatic in his denial. That they asked him that question shows how well-known John had become. Then they asked: "Are you Elijah?" In a spiritual sense John _was_ Elijah (Lk. 1:17; Mt. 11:14) but not as the Jews understood the promise--literally. The Baptist's answer does not clash with Lk. 1:17. Jesus clarified the matter at Mt. 11:14 and 17:ll. Then they asked: "tire you the prophet? The Jews knew the promise of the Prophet at Deut. 18:15 but did not identify Deut. 18:15 as Acts 3:22 does but as the people did at Jn. 7:40.41. Their next question is simply: "Who are you?" They had been commissioned by the Jews in Jerusalem to get an answer. Their interest was not personal but only professional. Then John consciously quoted a prophecy (Is. 40:3) about himself. He cried out in the desert: "Make the way of the Lord straight." That corresponds exactly to what he said at Mt. 3:2: "Repent because the Kingdom of heaven has drawn near." In other words "Confess your sins because Jesus has come (to forgive you)." That's John's message at Jn. 1:29. Vs. 23 reads "--just as said Isaiah the Prophet." Prophecy and fulfillment always correspond exactly. 3. Some translations understand vs. 24 to mean that the delegation of vs. 19 was made up entirely of Pharisees. Others take it to mean that the Pharisees had sent them. Still others take it to mean that some of them were Pharisees. These differences in translation do not affect the one, intended sense. The passage is very clear without making a decision among these three opinions in the translations. 4. The one big difference between John the Baptist and others was that he baptized. Very many had gone out to be baptized by him. What these Jewish representatives really mean is: "Who authorized you to baptize?" 5. John answers by saying: "There is One in your midst Whom you do not know (but ought to)." Their only problem was that they did not know Jesus. They were ignorant about John, about their own sins, about John's baptism. Why? They did not repent. They did not know Jesus. John makes them conscious of their ignorance and unbelief before he speaks about Jesus. 6. John's words about Jesus are more fully explained at Mt. 3:11 and Lk. 3:15- 17. Jesus is stronger than the Baptist. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. In other words, the Baptist's baptism is made effective only by the Stronger One, Jesus Who brings the Holy Spirit (forgiveness of sins) and cleansing fire. Furthermore, Jesus will divide believers from unbelievers just as a thresher divides wheat from the chaff. Then John adds a statement of his utter unworthiness compared to Jesus. He isn't even worthy to tie Jesus' shoe strings. "He must increase. I must decrease." Jn. 3:30. 7. This Bethany (vs. 28) lay east of the Jordan River just south of the Sea of Galilee. The representatives from Jerusalem had traveled about seventy miles to see John the Baptist. The Sermon Outline of Harold Buls On the Gospel Lessons of the Ingrian Lutheran Church of Russia Text from John 1:19-28 Advent IV Theme: JOHN THE BAPTIST, OUR MODEL INTRODUCTION: The Lord tells us at Heb. 13:7: "Remember those who have the rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." Whether we are pastors or laymen, we should model our lives after great people of God. We remember persons from the Bible or persons from church history as models for ourselves. John the Baptist is our model in several ways. I. JOHN SPOKE ONLY THE TRUTH. I Jn. 4:1 tells us: "Brothers, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are of God. Because many false teachers have gone out into the world." The first thing Jesus said to His disciples on the Mt. of Olives (Mt. 24:4) was: "Beware lest someone mislead you. Because many will come in my name saying: 'I am the Christ.' And they will mislead many." The world has always been full of false teachers. John the Baptist is our model. He always spoke the truth about mankind, God, the Bible, Christ and himself. False teachers twist the truth about all of these subjects. He was God's witness. God wills us to be His witnesses, to speak only the truth. He used the Bible as his source of truth. See vs. 23. He called Jesus the Lamb of God. Jn. 1:29. He found that in the Bible. II. JOHN WAS A HUMBLE MAN. Because of the sinful human nature, people are arrogant like the devil. They want to be gods, like Adam and Eve did. But John resisted the temptation to become falsely great. He denied that he was the Christ. He denied that he was Elijah. He denied that he was _the_ prophet. Though Jesus called him the greatest prophet, John, did not misuse that for his ego. Like Christ Himself John was not arrogant. When the authorities pressed John for an answer he said: "I'm just a lone voice telling people to repent of their sins and to believe in the Lamb of God." He added "_just as_ says Isaiah the prophet. He said exactly what the Bible said. In vss. 26-27 of our text John states that the _real_ power in his baptism and preaching is Jesus, the Coming One. On another occasion when John's disciples were jealous of Jesus and His disciples, John said: "He must increase but I must decrease." Jn. 3:30. That's the real test of humility. I am nothing with out Jesus. He is everything to me. That's what John said. III. JOHN WAS A WITINESS TO JESUS CHRIST. Jn. 1:7-8 tells us: "John came to witness (tell the truth) about the Light (Jesus), in order that all should believe through him (John). He was not the Light but he came to witness about the Light." Jesus alone is the Light of the world. Jn. 8:12 reads: "I (Jesus) am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life." Without Jesus everything and everyone is darkness. When Jesus, the Light, is taught and preached people begin to believe, they become alive to God, they have everlasting life and will live forever. Cloudy days do not make us happy. Sunny days revive us. Likewise, the darkness of the sinful world makes us unhappy. Jesus, the Light, gives us hope, forgiveness, courage and everlasting life. IV. JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS A MAN OF COURAGE. In vs. 26 John told the messenger from Jerusalem: "Jesus is standing in your midst but you do not know Him." John did not flatter unbelievers. He told them about their ignorance. At Mt. 3:7 he told the impenitent Pharisees and Sadducees: "You children of snakes, who has warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" Those were hard words but they were true. When Herod was living with his brother Philip's wife, John told him bluntly that he was living in sin. It cost John his life but he was courageous for Jesus' sake. CONCLUSION: The Baptist is our model in speaking truth, in humility, in witnessing to Jesus and the Gospel and in being courageous. We can be like John if we do as he said: "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has arrived." ______________________________________________________________ This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by Cindy A. Beesley and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu archives: www.ctsfw.edu/etext Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (260) 452-3149 Fax: (260) 452-2126 ______________________________________________________________