Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 1:19-37 (Ep. 02)

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John. In this episode Jonny covers John 1:19-137 and highlights the life and ministry of John the Baptist.The prophecy regarding John the Baptist. The character of John the Baptist: which was one of total humilityThe message of John the Baptist: calling people to repent and believeWatch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis, and this is Dial In. In our last episode, we looked briefly at John's prologue and talked about three truths regarding Jesus. Number one, that Jesus is God. Number two, that Jesus is Creator. And number three, that Jesus became flesh. We also saw John's purpose for why he writes the gospel, which he states in John chapter 20, verse 31. These things I write to you so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ and in believing you might have life in his name. Today we're going to continue our study by focusing on a different John, John the Baptist. We first saw him referenced in John chapter 1 verse 6 and we're going to

continue to see a little bit more about him starting in verse 19. The gospel writer starts off the testimony trying to establish the deity of Christ with the most credible person possible, John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, and the first New Testament preacher, the cousin of Jesus, and potentially the most neglected figure in all of the New Testament. Today we're going to be in John chapter 1 verses 19 through 37. It's time to dial in. John chapter 1 verses 19 through 37. And this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then?

Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, No. 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? 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. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet Isaiah said, These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water,

that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 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. And I have seen and have bore witness that this is the Son of God. The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as John the Baptist and ask him,

Who are you? Who are you? in verse 19. And the implication is, are you the Messiah? Now, why do we assume that? It's because in verse 20, John responds and says, I am not the Christ. Now, when John the Baptist arrives on the scene, there hasn't been a peep out of God in nearly 400 years. Since the book of Malachi, those 400 years in the intertestamental period were defined by a silence from hearing from God. So the question makes sense. John the Baptist shows up and he's a mighty preacher. He's a prophet and priests and Levites want to

know who he is here. Now, by the way, these priests and Levites from Jerusalem were not looking for a savior from their sin. They weren't looking for a sacrificial lamb. They weren't looking for someone to take the wrath of God. They were looking for a king to free them from the oppression of Rome. Now he says, I'm not the Christ. And then they respond in verse 21 and say, are you Elijah? Now you might be wondering, why are they asking John the Baptist if he's Elijah? It's because in the last book of the Old Testament, in the last chapter of the Old Testament, in the last chapter of the Old Testament, in the last paragraph of the Old Testament, in the last prophecy of the Old Testament, we see in Malachi 4-5, behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

So before the Messiah will come, Elijah needs to come first. So they say, are you the Messiah? John says, no. Then they go, then are you Elijah? And John responds and says, no. Now, one thing to note later on in Matthew 17, Jesus says, John the Baptist was Elijah, not physically, but he says in spirit and power. Now notice they don't ask him if he's a prophet because later on in Matthew 14 and in Matthew 21, verse 26, they already knew him to be a prophet. But they ask him, are you the prophet? This is referring to a specific prophecy in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, where Moses prophesies about a one-day coming prophet who will, in Deuteronomy 18 verse 15, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. Chapter 18 verse 18 of Deuteronomy says, I will put my words in his mouth. Moses promises the coming of a prophet who will bring

salvation, restoration, and the revelation of God's word to his people. Moses says a prophet like me, verse 15, because Moses was the mediator of the old covenant and this prophesied prophet will be the mediator of the new covenant. You might already know who he's referring to because later in Acts chapter three, Peter's second sermon, he says that this prophecy was fulfilled

not by John the Baptist, but by Christ himself. So then, who are you, John the Baptist? They ask him again in verse 22. And John responds by proclaiming a prophecy that was written 700 years earlier in Isaiah chapter 40. And he says, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet had said. So he says, I am the one making straight the way for the Messiah. And he begins to preach this message, a message of repentance. And we'll talk about this more in a minute. He's saying the axe is already laid at the root of the tree.

A crisis moment in history is at hand. Everybody needs to repent. The creator of the universe has taken human flesh and he's here. You can read the rest of John's background and his story and the miraculous kind of description of his birth in Luke chapter one. Literally it takes up verses one through verse 80 and you guys can check that out for yourself. But let's look next at the character of John the Baptist. Jesus says in Matthew 11, verse 11, Of men born of woman, there was no one better than John the Baptist, which is a striking statement if you take it into consideration and association with the likes of Moses, who mediated the old covenant,

or the likes of King David, who was a man after God's own heart. This was a desert nomad. He ate locusts, and he lived in the wilderness, but nonetheless, Jesus declares him to be the greatest man who had ever lived up to that point. But you might be wondering why. What are the definitive marks of his character? Let's look at verse 26. John answered them, saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me whose sandal I'm not worthy to untie. He doesn't seek to reel any attention towards himself, but he

constantly, constantly deflects all the attention towards the one he is preparing a way for. We see this in verse 15 of chapter 1. He says, Jesus is a higher rank than I am. He existed before me. He is God. I am not. I'm just a man. And then he says in verse 23, I'm just a voice. This is a remarkable statement by John the Baptist, who would have been, this is crucial, the most powerful and popular preacher in nearly 400 years.

In John 5, it tells us that the people were enamored with him. This is no small remark. The character of John is one of total humility, and he says, I'm not even worthy to untie the sandals of the one that I'm preparing away for. Now, typically, a disciple would attach themselves to a rabbi, and there was one responsibility that was even too low for them it would be washing their rabbi's feet that was associated only for a slave and john the baptist says the one that i'm preparing away for i'm not even worthy to wash

his feet i'm lower than a slave he had an accurate view of himself he had a humble view of himself because he had a high view of God. He means this. This isn't some fake humility in a self-deprecating way. This is actually how he viewed the coming Messiah. In John chapter 3 verse 27, we see that he says, a man can have nothing unless it's been given to him from heaven. He knew that his position and his influence were from God and not because he was the man. John chapter 3 and verse 30, the familiar verse, he must increase, I must decrease. John the Baptist was one of total humility and was used by God in massive ways and always deflected the attention away from himself and towards Jesus Christ. Now let's look finally at the message of John the Baptist.

Mark 1 verse 4 says John suddenly appeared in the district preaching, which means that he kind of came out of nowhere. He wasn't preaching anywhere before that. And he shows up preaching a gospel of repentance. Turn from your sin, he's saying. And this is the message of all of the preachers in the New Testament. John the Baptist shows up preaching a message of repentance. Jesus shows up preaching a gospel of repentance. Peter preaches repentance. Paul preaches repentance. Turn from your sin and turn to Christ. Nothing has really changed in the last 2,000 years. This is still the gospel. Repent from your sin and believe in Jesus. And he was calling people to be baptized, hence his name. Now at the time, only the Gentiles would have ever been baptized as a way to somewhat declare that they were done with their paganism

and they wanted to enter the religion of the one true God of Israel. And they would baptize themselves. In Matthew chapter 3 and verse 5, it says that all of Jerusalem and Judea and everywhere were coming to hear John preach. And he was a powerful and effective preacher, but he wasn't just calling the Gentiles to be baptized. He was calling even the Jews to be baptized, which was in a sense saying that I'm no better than a Gentile. I have a need to be cleansed just as much as anybody else. And he was constantly testifying to the deity of Christ. Now he preaches what Isaiah 40 verse 3 through 5 prophesies, make straight the way of the Lord in the wilderness. Every mountain must be brought low, every valley must be brought up, every road must be made smooth. Now what's he talking about?

Is this just some sort of a sermon regarding geography and commerce? That's not what John the Baptist is saying. No, the wilderness that John enters is not just one physically. It's one that is a wasteland spiritually, a barren wasteland. And I think what he means when he's saying, let every mountain be brought low and every valley be brought up. He's saying that the self-righteous must be brought low and have an accurate view of themselves. Those who are far off, those who are in the valley, the debased must be brought near to repent. The self-righteous brought low and the debased must be brought near and they both must repent. The playing field must be leveled. Only when someone has an accurate assessment of themselves can Isaiah 40 verse 5 happen. Have the glory of God revealed to them.

You can't understand the glory of God if you are self-righteous in your own mind. And this is what John is preaching over and over again. This was a shock for the Jews who assumed that their righteousness is what could save them. They're saying, I'm no better than a Gentile. And they assume that their righteousness and their obedience in offering an animal was enough. But those animals couldn't take away sin. We see that reality in Hebrews 10 verse 4 that the blood of goats and rams can never take away our sin but they can only point to the one sacrifice that would take away their sin and because they didn't recognize their sinfulness they never recognized their Savior and John

declares here and we see it a couple times behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world this is a common phrase and maybe you've heard the phrase Lamb of God multiple times. It's actually only used in two books of the Bible, and they're both by the same writer, the writer John. Here in the Gospel of John and in the book of Revelation, he says, The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus, the Messiah, would not be an exalted king like they were expecting in his first coming. He would be a humiliated servant who was slaughtered by the ones he came to save. All of the Old Testament points towards this reality and declares it for us as well.

So today we looked at, number one, the prophecy regarding John. Number two, the character of John the Baptist, which is one of total humility, and he's pointing others to Christ. And number three, we looked at the message of John, calling people to repent and turn from their sin and believe in who Jesus is. Have you had your heart cleansed by the blood of the Lamb? Have you believed in this message? I pray you have, and I hope you guys stay dialed in.