The Legacy of John the Baptist, Part 1

Nothing greater than the the word of life.

And so take the word which is life and open with me, if you

would, to John chapter 1, the Gospel of John declaring the

John 1 · chapter mention

deity of, of Christ. And we're going to move off of

John 6 today. John one verse #6 and I'm sure

you're happy about that. And move on to verse number 7

and even verse #8 and even verse #15 as we make our way through

this great and glorious gospel. But it's all about the legacy of

John, the legacy of John. I'm not so sure John would think

of leaving a legacy. I'm not sure that was uppermost

in his mind. A lot like you and me, we don't

come to church and wake up each day thinking that, you know

what? I'm going to one day leave a

legacy behind until we get later in in life and we're about to

die and wonder what our legacy will be left.

Well, what you leave behind is what you leave before or what

you live before all the people around you.

You leave behind that which you live.

If you live a glorious life that honors the Lord you, you leave

that legacy. If you live a life that

dishonors the Lord, you'll leave that legacy.

The legacy you live always determines the life that you

live before the people closest to you.

And John would leave a legacy. In fact, you can.

You can sum up his legacy in in 3 words and these 3 words will

will somehow be a barometer for your life and the legacy that

that you will live and leave. The first word is presentation,

the second word is preparation, and the third word is

proclamation. Presentation, that's number one.

And then preparation, that's number two.

And proclamation, that's number three.

And those 3 words will inevitably, inevitably make up

our three points this week, next week, and probably the week

after as we begin to understand the legacy of John.

So if you have your Bible, let me, let me read to you John

chapter one verse #6 we'll pick it up there.

There came a man sent from God whose name was John.

He came as a witness to testify about the light, said all might

believe through him he was not the light, but he came to

testify about the light. Jump down to verse #15 John

testified about him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom

I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I pre

existed before me. Then jump to verse #19 This is

the testimony of John when the Jews sent to him priests and

Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?

And he confessed, and did not deny, but confessed I am not the

Christ. They asked him, What then are

you, Elijah? He said, I am not.

Are you the prophet? And he answered no.

Then they said to him, Who are you?

So we may give an answer to those who sent us.

What do you say about yourself? He said, I am a voice of one

crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the

Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

They asked him, and said to him, Why then are you baptizing, if

you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?

John answered them, saying, I, I baptize in water, but among you

stands one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, the

song of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

These things took place in Bethany, beyond the Jordan,

where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming

to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the

sin of the world. This is He on behalf of whom I

said, after me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for he

existed before me. I did not recognize him, but so

that he might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in

water, John testified, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending

as a dove out of heaven, and he remained upon him.

I did not recognize him, but he sent me to baptize in water.

Said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and

remaining upon him, This is the one who baptizes in the Holy

Spirit. I myself have seen and testified

that this is the Son of God. This sums up John's legacy.

It begins with a presentation, and that is that John came to

present the preeminence of the light.

He came, number one, to present the preeminence of the light.

He said I am not the light, but I came to testify about the

light. Notice six times in the passage

we read, it talks about John's testimony, John's witness.

I am a a witness. I am here to testify.

I am a testimony to the light. He came to present the the

preeminence of the light so others would be able to see what

he had already seen and what he had already known.

This is where John's legacy begins to explode.

The Bible says he did this because, as it says in Luke

chapter one verse #7 he came as a witness to testify about the

light so that all may believe. That's why he did it, so that

others would believe. And that's the theme of, of, of

John's gospel. John 20 verse #31 these things

were written. These things were a testimony.

This was that which was testified before you, that you

may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

And John will give 8 witnesses 8 testimonies throughout the

Gospel. This is the first of the 8.

John the Baptist is the first testimony to witness, to

proclaim, to present the preeminence of the light.

And John is a great witness. Think about it #1 he's a

prophet, right? Matthew tells us twice that

everybody recognized him as a prophet.

The Lord had not sent a prophet in over 400 years.

Malachi was the last Old Testament prophet.

And so for 400 years there was silence.

Nobody had spoken from God. So when John comes on the scene,

he is recognized as a prophet by everyone.

So this gives him credibility. It gives him credibility.

He was the voice of God to the people.

In fact, over in John 5, which we will see further in a moment,

it says in verse #35 that John was the lamp that was burning

and was shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while

in his light, that that's just a great verse to describe John.

John was, was a light that was burning, that was shining so

that you could see the way to the Messiah.

And so John becomes this credible testimony because he's

a prophet. But now is he a prophet?

He's a priest because he's a prophet, he breathes

credibility. And because he's a priest, he

breathes believability. Remember, his father was a

priest and John was in the in the life in line of the

priesthood. So for all practical purposes,

John's a priest. Now, he wasn't trained in the

priesthood. He didn't follow his father in

the priesthood. More about that in a second.

But everybody would know about his believability as a priest

because all they would have to do is think back just just a

measly 30 years to his birth. Do you not?

Do you not think that the priesthood, the 18,000 priests

in the land of Israel at the time of Jesus and John, they

didn't know about the miraculous birth of John the Baptist?

I mean Elizabeth was barren. She was in her late 70s, early

80s before she gave birth to John.

She was advanced in years. The Bible says so all the

priesthood would know because they would look at Elizabeth as

being cursed because she had no child.

But then there's this birth announced by the Angel Gabriel.

And so it was a miraculous birth.

And on top of that, Zacharias was was unable to speak for nine

months. Do you think the priest didn't

know about that? Of course they did.

They all knew that and outcomes John the Baptist and Zacharias

is able to speak and continue his ministry.

And then he he wrote this song, this prophecy is in Luke chapter

Luke 1 · chapter mention

1. And don't you think the

priesthood knew about that? Of course he did.

So everything about John as a priest breeds believability

because everybody knew about the miraculous birth of John.

That's why when we get to it next week, when they ask the

question, who are you? It's not like they didn't know

who he was. I mean, John grew up in the

streets of Jerusalem. John grew up with all these

other priests and Levites and Pharisees.

They all, they all went to school together.

They played together in the streets.

That's why they ask the question, who are you?

It's more like, who do you think you are?

The Christ? Who do you think you are?

Elijah? Who do you think you are?

The prophet. But you see, he was lying to be

a priest. And so it breeds believability.

He was a prophet. It breeds credibility.

But there's one more John, unlike other priests, was a

protester. And because he was a protester,

it would breed integrity. Because, you see, he protested

the hypocrisy of Judaism. He protested the hypocrisy of

the Pharisees and the scribes and the Levites.

He would speak against, He would live against.

He would even dress unlike the priests.

He, he would wear. He would wear camel skin.

Have you, have you ever been around a camel?

I have. I've rode several camels.

Camels smell to high heaven. Unlike any other animal.

They smell atrocious and, and their hair is, is like a wire

brush. It's not like a, a fluffy dog

where you would lay down with them and, and put your head on

their chest. And why say why this is so soft

and and cuddly? No, they're camels.

They're not comfortable at all. But this is John's outerwear.

I'm not sure how he was able to get the stench out of the

camel's skin. I'm not sure he could ever do

that. I think it was just wrapped in

it. And so wherever he went, he

smelled like a camel. But his whole life was to

protest the hypocrisy of the religious establishment.

That's why he dressed the way he did.

That's why he ate what he ate, and that's why he said what he

did. Completely different man.

This was John. And so John the Apostle uses

John the Baptist as the primary testimony to presenting the

preeminence of the light because not only is he the forerunner,

he is the prophet, He is the priest.

He is the protester who actually breeds credibility,

believability, and integrity so that people would begin to

understand who the Christ is based on the testimony of this

one man and his legacy. And this is John's legacy, to

present the preeminence of the light.

So John 5 says that he was a burning shining light.

And Jesus says at first you rejoiced in that light.

At first you were excited about the light at first, but after a

while saw a couple of weeks ago you thought John had a demon.

But this is John the Baptist. And so I thought today and next

week we would ask this question, how?

How does John reflect the light so he shines so bright?

And then we would ask the question, why did John reflect

the light? Because they ask and answer the

why. And the how is to ask and answer

the question on how you and I reflect the light and why we

should reflect the light. But the Bible calls us the light

of the world. John says I am not the light,

but I came to testify about the light.

So all may believe, but the least in the Kingdom is greater

than the greatest man. Whoever lived, that's you and

me. And that's because we are the

light. The Bible says you are the light

of the world. You are the salt of the earth

and we are to we are to let that light shine so that others will

see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

And so we are to shine brightly for Christ that that's that's

part and parcel to our legacy. We are we are to present the

preeminence of the light by being the light of the world by

being the salt of the earth. In fact, the Bible says in and

Peter that we are partakers of the divine nature and God is

light and the light lives within us.

So part of our DNA is the light of the world.

That's part of our identity. And that light is to shine

brightly. Paul would say we're to walk as

children of the light. Ephesians 5 verse #8 We're to

walk brightly as children of the light.

Why? Because when you begin to

examine your legacy, that is what it is you're going to leave

behind. It begins with a presentation,

the opportunity to present the preeminence of the lights to all

those round about you. That's what John did.

So I'm going to make this really, really simple for you.

I don't want to bring the cookies down to the bottom

shelf. So all you got to do is take the

word light, LIGHT in case you want to know how to spell it,

and just write it down the side of your paper in which you are

taking copious notes because you're great students of the

Word and I know you love to take notes.

And so just write the word light down the left hand side of your

paper and I will show you how John the Baptist reflected the

light. So you will know how to reflect

that same light. Because when you give glory to

God, remember we are to give glory to the Lord.

Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do alter the glory of

the Lord, right? First Corinthians 10/31 And the

glory of the Lord is what the the the presence of God

manifested in brilliant light. So when we as believers give

glory to to the Lord, we are reflecting the righteous

radiance of our Redeemer in and through his redeemed.

That's what it means to give glory to the Lord.

You're going to reflect the, the, the, the righteousness of

your Redeemer. So others will see the purity

and the beauty and the holiness of Christ in your life that they

might, as John said, believe. Believe.

And that's the theme of John's Gospel, and that's the theme of

your life and mine. We let our light shine so others

may believe. So how did John reflect the

light? Well, let me explain it to you.

The first way was lovingly and longingly.

Lovingly and longingly. Now, we wouldn't think of John

as a loving person necessarily. Oh, but he was.

Why would you? Please remember this?

Love is giving people what they need, not what they want.

But we think we love because we give to people what they want.

We think we love our children because we give to them what

they want. Probably when you do that, you

show you don't love them because loving is giving people what

they need. And what did Israel need?

They needed to see the lights. They needed to hear the hear the

gospel. Now remember when John is

speaking, the world is engulfed in darkness.

John 3 verse #19 They walked in darkness.

They lived in darkness, right? We, we live in a world that's

dark and that world that's dark needs to see the light of the

gospel. Remember, John was a, a voice

crying in the wilderness. And yes, he was for location

purposes in the wilderness. He was in the Judean wilderness.

He was down by Bethany in the Jordan.

Now think about that. That's a 40 minute drive by car.

How long do you think it would take people to walk from

Jerusalem to Bethany, beyond the Jordan, down below Jericho, if

they were to make that that track or that journey in a day

long time? And they were coming down by the

thousands, by the scores of thousands to be baptized in the

Jordan River. So it wasn't like they could

just get in the car and and drive down to the Jordan and get

baptized. They have cars, they had to

walk. So they wanted to hear this

prophet. They wanted to see this priest.

They wanted to understand this protester.

So they made this journey, this 30, the 35 mile journey from

Jerusalem because the Bible says that all of Jerusalem was coming

down to be to be baptized in the Jordan.

But you see, John the Baptist loved his people.

He loved them enough to give them the gospel.

He loved them enough to give them the truth.

He loved them enough to speak to them in a way that they needed

to hear the truth. So when he reflected the light,

he did it lovingly. In fact, when they asked about

repentance, listen what he says in verse 10 of Luke 3, the

crowds were questioning him, saying what shall we do?

You want us to repent and be baptized, What do we do?

He would answer and say to them, the man who has two tunics is to

share with him who has none in the US.

Food is to likewise. And some tax collectors also

came to be baptized and they said to him, Teacher, what shall

we do? You want us to be baptized?

What does that mean? He says collect no more than

what you have been ordered to because tax gathers would

collect more for their own purposes.

Some soldiers were questioning him saying and what about us,

what shall we do? He said to them, do not take

money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely and be

content with your wages. Very lovingly, very kindly, he

would speak to them and tell them you want to repent.

You want to turn from your ways. Think about the other person

because the, the commandment of God is to, is to love him with

all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your

neighbor as yourself. So therefore show your your love

to them. If you're truly going to repent

of your sins, you're going to love your neighbor almost as if

to say as as I love you enough to tell you the truth.

But he did it lovingly and he did it longingly longingly.

Why? Because he had waited a long

time to be the forerunner. He waited a long time to be able

to come out of the Judean desert and be able to proclaim the

gospel of the Christ. Why?

Because he lived in a state of expectation.

He lived in a state of anticipation knowing that Israel

was living in that same state. That's why it says back in in

Luke chapter, chapter 3, verse 15.

Now, while the people were in a state of expectation, why?

Because they were longing for the expected one.

Remember, that's a title for the Messiah.

Psalm 118, Psalm 40. He's called the coming one or

the expected one. That's why we talked to you

about Luke 7, where, where John would come back when he was in

prison and say, hey, are you the expected one?

Are you the one that we've anticipated?

Are you the coming one? Are you the one that we've

longed for? Because when John would preach

and teach, he would do it longingly.

Why? Because there was a longing in

this heart for not only his people to know the Messiah, but

there was a longing in this heart for the King to come

instead of his Kingdom. See the same way.

For for you and me, we reflect the light lovingly and longingly

because we live in a state of expectation of Christ's coming.

Again, we live in a state of expectation that Christ could

come at any moments, and he's the King.

So we live in anticipation of that coming King.

And this was John. Not just longingly, not just

lovingly, but John would reflect the light instinctively and

incessantly. Instinctively, John didn't have

to to to work up a message then to think about what he was going

to say because it was part and parcel to his, his DNA.

He, he was filled with the Spirit of God from his mother's

womb. No one else ever was like that.

So he was filled, controlled by the Spirit of God from his

mother's womb, so that so that everything about his life would

be under the control and domination of God's Spirit that

would move him through life. So that he would instinctively

always speak about the Christ, always present the preeminence

of the light. So he did.

Oh, by the way, the Bible says in action to one verse #8 that

when you receive the Spirit of God, right, power will come upon

you when you receive the Spirit, and you will be my witnesses,

then say you will do witnessing, because we don't do witnessing.

We are witnesses. It's part of our DNA.

You don't become a witness, you are a witness.

You don't become light, you are light.

You don't become salt, you are salt.

This is who we are, this identity.

So when the Spirit of God comes upon you, you will receive

power. And once you receive that power,

you will become someone. What a witness, John says.

I'm a witness. I came to testify to the truth.

It's what I do. When we become believers and

we're infused with the Spirit of God, we become witnesses.

And so we are able to reflect the light instinctively.

It's what we do. It's who we are, but not only

instinctively, but incessantly. This is what John did.

If you go back to John chapter one in verse 19, it says this is

the testimony of John when the Jews sent to him priests and

Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?

OK, that's day one. Day 2 is verse 29.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him.

Day three is verse 35. Again.

The next day John was standing. So.

So John the Apostle gives us 3 consecutive days in the life of

John the Baptist to show you the incessant nature of his

presenting, the preeminence of the light.

It was something that he was always doing because his whole

life was consumed about describing one person and the

purpose he came. That's what John did.

That's who he was. That's why the Bible says preach

the word in season and out of season.

That's because the Word is always in season.

It's never out of season. It's always available, it's

always there, and we are to live a life that incessantly promotes

nothing but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So this is John who's a testimony, a witness to the

light. His legacy is to present the

preeminence of the light. He does it lovingly, he

longingly, He does it instinctively and incessantly.

Listen to this one. He does it graphically and

graciously or gracefully. He does it graphically.

And this is so important because John calls out sin, calls it for

what it is, because he knows that the wages of sin is death.

He knows that all of sin then come short of the glory of God.

So he's very graphic on how he portrays sin.

That's why he says to the Pharisees, you are snakes,

you're snakes, you're a brood of Vipers.

He tells them who told you to flee from the wrath to come

because you're about to experience the wrath of God,

see, because he knew the judgement was coming.

You compare John's reflecting of the light to our reflecting of

the light. We've come to a place where we

we want to present the lights in a way that's non judgmental, non

confrontational. You can't do that because when

you present the gospel, it confronts every Sinner in their

sin. So you can't water down the

gospel to appease the Sinner. You have to tell him that

judgment is coming and that if they're not right with Christ,

their soul will be damned forever.

And you call them into account. And John would very graphically,

yet very gracefully present the preeminence of the lights.

And we'll talk more about that next week.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today

and the brief opportunity we had this morning to look at the word

of the Lord. Thank you for John's testimony.

That legacy that he is, he is left.

Our prayer, Father, is that we'd recognize that legacy and live

in line with it, that we might leave a legacy that impacts

those round about us. Pray, Father, you'd be honored

and glorified. And for those who are here today

and do not know you, we pray for their salvation.

They would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our

Lord, that they might be able to present the preeminence of the

light. Pray this in Jesus name, Amen.