Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Good morning, Campus Church!

If you have your Bibles why don’t you go ahead and grab those and turn with me to the Gospel of John.

And we will be back in this morning.

I’m glad to see that all of you survived Hurricane Irma.

That was truly a monster storm and many people are still without power but I really believe that God showed us grace.

It was looking a lot worse than it was before it got here.

When something as destructive as Irma comes and leaves many people with loss… Let me encourage each of you to look for ways to serve your neighbors and be a blessing.

It is in times like these that we have a real opportunity to be Light in this dark world.

For people to see Jesus in us.

I hated missing worshipping with you all last week so this morning we are going to jump right back into our sermon series entitled Behold.

We are looking at snapshots of who Jesus is as found in John’s Gospel.

This is a fantastic book in the New Testament that shows the deity of Jesus and it teaches our need for him in our lives.

When a new believer or a non-Christian has a desire to read the Bible and they ask me where they should begin… I almost always point them to John.

If you remember two weeks ago, Pastor Barry opened up in and he talked about John’s statement of Jesus is the Word and the implications of this is that there is no one more powerful than Jesus… that Jesus created all things and all things are sustained by Jesus.

Jesus being the Word means that Jesus is God.

You will hear that a lot here… We believe that Jesus is God and he put on human flesh to live and die for his people… the Church.

John The Baptist

This morning we are going to look at the words of John the Baptist… John the Baptist is different from John the Apostle who wrote this book.

John the Baptist is Jesus’ cousin who was miraculously birthed by Jesus old aunt Elizabeth and uncle Zechariah much like when Abraham and Sarah having Isaac when they were 100 years old.

We don’t know much about John’s childhood but we can assume that his parents died early on because John is described in the Synoptic Gospels as living in the wilderness as a homeless man, he wore camel hair for clothes, and for food he ate bugs and honey.

He truly was Jesus’ crazy cousin.

We all have that cousin am I right?

John is considered to be the last of the Old Testament prophets before the New Covenant is established by Jesus in the upper room.

John was a godly man.

Jesus said this of him in the Gospel of Matthew,

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater thanJohn the Baptist.

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

John is prophesied about in the Old Testament as the one who would come before Jesus.

He would come and prepare the hearts of people to receive him.

Isaiah says in ,

3 A voice cries:“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

He was called John the Baptist because he preached and people repented so he baptized them in the Jordan River.

The Lord was showing him so much fruit in his ministry that the religious leaders… the bad guys in the New Testament… were noticing.

They sent spies to see what was going on.

To ask him questions about who he is and what he was doing.

John gives an incredible testimony that displays humility and glorifies God.

Check out what he says.

If you’re in look down with me starting in verse 19…

BIBLE VERSE

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed,“I am not the Christ.”

21 And they asked him, “What then?

Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you?

We need to give an answer to those who sent us.

What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY

19 This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 He didn’t deny it but confessed: “I am not the Messiah.”

21 “What then?” they asked him.

“Are you Elijah?”

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answeredthem, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he whocomes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

“I am not,” he said.

“Are you the Prophet?”

“No,” he answered.

22 “Who are you, then?” they asked.

“We need to give an answer to those who sent us.

What can you tell us about yourself?”

23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord,at—just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes aman who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

25 So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with water,” John answered them.

“Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him.

27 He is the one coming after me,,ax whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

28 All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

THE LAMB OF GOD

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him.

33 I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

34 I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”,a

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), Jn 1:19–34.

OPENING PRAYER AND TRANSITION TO FIRST POINT

This is the Word of the Lord… Let’s pray.

Holy Spirit… We desire to behold Jesus… Who he is, what he’s done.

Come now and move our hearts.

Give us eyes to see… give us ears to hear.

Be our teacher through your Word in these next few minutes.

Amen.

There are three things that I want us to look at this morning together and this is the first thing…

Point I: Treasuring Christ like John (vs.

19-23).

In verses 19-28, we see John the Baptist give three testimonies of who he is in light of the Kingdom of God.

In light of Jesus.

He absolutely did not want to be confused with Jesus.

They asked him, “who are you?”

The Jews were waiting for the Christ to come and so instead of John being like, “I’m John,” he answers with, “I’m not the Christ.”

“I’m not the Messiah.”

“Are you Elijah?” “No.” “Are you the Prophet that Moses prophesied about?” “No.” “Well then who are you?

Because we have to give an answer to those who sent us.”

You see the Pharisees, the self-righteous leaders, were too good to go check it out themselves.