Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Lamb

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

People come up to John the Baptist and say, “What is your identity? What is your self-understanding?” That has a very contemporary ring to it. And it has quite a bit to do with us.  We’re looking at the life of Jesus and who Jesus is. In the second half of John 1, in this encounter with John the Baptist, we learn that Jesus is the Lamb of God. So we ask, “What does that mean for us?”  Let’s take a look at 1) John’s view of himself, 2) John’s view of Jesus, 3) the resulting personality and character that flows from those two views, and 4) what that means for us. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 12, 2014. Series: Seeing Jesus. Scripture: John 1:19-34. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to the Gospel and Life podcast. Many of us often focus on the big moments in Jesus' life, his birth, death, and resurrection. But how would your understanding of Jesus change if you took a closer look at what he did and said throughout his life on earth? Today, Tim Keller explores why Jesus' everyday experiences are essential for understanding who he is and how they invite us to have a deeper trust in him.

The scripture this morning is from the gospel, of John, chapter 1, verses 19 through 34. Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, I am not the Messiah. They asked him, then, who are you? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. are you the prophet? He answered no. Finally, they said to him, who are you? Give us an answer we can take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? John replied in the words of Isaiah, the prophet, I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness. Make straight the way for the Lord. Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him,

Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? I baptize with water, John replied, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I meant when I said, a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. Then John gave this testimony. I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain, is, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen, and I testify, that this is God's chosen one. This is the word of the Lord. At Christmas, the church observes the birth of Jesus Christ thinks about what that means. At Lent, Good Friday Easter, we think about the death of Jesus Christ and the resurrection, what that means. But there's a season between Advent and Christmas and Lent and Easter that's not as well known, but it has been there for centuries, a less well-known season in the Christian church called Epiphany.

And during Epiphany, the church customarily reads passages of Scripture about the life of Jesus, which, by the way, some of you would be able to deduce comes between the birth and the death of Jesus. What he said, who he said he was, what he did, we're going to be looking in January and February at the Book of John, the Gospel of John, and looking at what John tells us about who Jesus is. Last week we looked at the first part of the book of John, and we looked at Jesus as the Word of God. Today we see the next part of this chapter in which we learn that he's the Lamb of God, and we ask every time, what does that mean for us? This particular passage which you just heard read to you actually is about something very contemporary.

People come up to John the Baptist and say, what is your identity? Who are you? What is your self-image? What is your self-imagination? What is your self-understanding? That's a very contemporary ring to it. So it has quite a bit to do with us. So let's take a look at John's view of himself, John's view of Jesus, the resulting personality and character that flows from those two views and what that means for us. John's view of himself, John's view of Jesus, the personality that results and what that means for us. First, let's take a look at what John thinks about himself. Who's John the Baptist? He was a preacher, a very popular preacher, got tons of people out to hear him, but he was a man who came up outside of the right channels.

He was not educated by an approved and recognized rabbi. He was not approved or accredited by an approved religious institution. Yet out there he is preaching, lots and lots and lots of people coming to hear him in the wilderness, which means outside the city. And he's talking about the Messiah, that the Messiah was coming. Now, this bothered the Jewish authorities quite a bit. Lots of people in those days believed there would be a Messiah that would come, and the Messiah was perceived to be or conceived to be a Jewish leader who would rally the Jews

against the rule of Rome. There was also a prediction that someone would come who was the Elijah figure. Malachi chapter 4 in the Old Testament says that before the Messiah comes there'll be a forerunner and this forerunner will be a prophet like unto Elijah. And so the question was circulating around around Israel, they said, who is this John the Baptist? Is he the Messiah? Or does he think he's the Messiah, but he just hasn't announced yet? Or does he think of himself as the Elijah prophet? After all, he's wearing rough clothes and he's outside in the wilderness.

Maybe he's cultivating an Elijah image, you know. We better go find out who he is. One of the reasons they have to go out and find out who he is is because the Roman overlords were not at all happy with any kind of talk about a Jewish Messiah. and the Jewish leaders knew that if they crack down, they would be cracking down on them. So they sent out, look, an investigative team. The Jewish leaders, verse 19, in Jerusalem, sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. And so they came right out and they asked him a set of questions.

Are you the Messiah? And he says, no, I am not the Messiah. Well, then are you Elijah? I am not, he says. No, I'm not Elijah. Well, are you the prophet? Now, in Deuteronomy chapter 18, there's a prediction of a figure coming to help Israel called the prophet, a prophet like unto Moses.

And, you know how people would debate about these things? Some people thought that this great prophet to come was the Messiah. Other people said, no, the great prophet to come was the Elijah forerner. Other people said, no, it's a third person. So there was all this debate. Just to make sure that they went down the list and they weren't leaving any stone unturned, they said, well, are you the prophet? He says, no.

Now, here's what we have to immediately see if we compare what John is saying about himself with what Jesus says about John. John is getting it wrong. In Matthew Chapter 11, people ask Jesus about John. They want to know who John is. And this is in Matthew chapter 11. Listen carefully. Jesus says, well, what did you go out into the wilderness to see? Did you go out to see a prophet?

yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet, truly, truly, I say unto you, among all of those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. Now, take a look at that. First of all, he says, amongst all those born of women, now, you know, that's a lot of people. Outside of the three or four Martians that are here under cover. What he says is, of all the human beings that have ever lived, this is the greatest one in history, up to now. And then he says, for those of you who are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah. He is the Elijah forerunner. Now, what this means is very simple, and it's stark. Jesus had a far higher view of John the Baptist and his ministry than John

the Baptist did. Jesus believed he was a person of a momentous historic significance. Jesus believed he was a person of a momentous historic significance. John the Baptist did not. He says, well, no, I'm not anybody special. I'm not anybody of significance. Who was right? Well, today, an awful lot of people have heard of John the Baptist. He obviously was a person of enormous historical significance. That Jesus was right, John was wrong. John couldn't see his own greatness. He couldn't see his own greatness. He got it wrong. Why? Well, somebody says, if you're first, from New York, low self-esteem. Here's a guy that didn't know his own talents.

He didn't know his own abilities. He did not know his own greatness. Now, is this low self-esteem to answer? We need to go on in the sermon, but before we go on, let me just point something out to you. There's two reasons why a person who is really great at something might not know they're that great. Might not know they're great as they are.

One is it can happen because they are so focused on themselves. looking at themselves with such self-absorbed intensity that they're picking every little thing that's wrong with them out and just not seeing the whole. In other words, one reason a person of greatness might not know that they have that greatness is that they might be focused on themselves incredibly. And the other possibility is they're not looking at themselves at all. They're looking away from themselves to something else,

and they just aren't looking at themselves. They're not figuring out what is my legacy and, you know, what is my place in his... I don't even thinking about it because they're looking at something else. It doesn't have to be low self-esteem. Let's go on. Secondly, let's take a look at John's view of Jesus. Now, he says three things about Jesus, and they are astounding, every one of them. He's kind of vague about who he is, but he's not vague about who this Messiah is who's coming.

First of all, he says in verse 23, he quotes Isaiah chapter 40. He says, make straight the way for the Lord. That's Isaiah 40. If you go back to Isaiah 40, it says a voice crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make a highway for our God. The word Lord there is the Hebrew word Yahweh, the covenant name. And what Isaiah 40 is talking about is making a highway, making a pathway for God himself who's going to come back and redeem his people.

and John the Baptist has the audacity to say, that's the one who I'm pointing to. That's the one who's about to come. The one that Isaiah 40 is talking about. So he's really saying this is a divine personage. Then down here in verse 32 to 34, won't go into it in death. But what's interesting about verse 32 to 34 where he says, I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told him,

the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testified, this is God's chosen one. Interestingly enough, Matthew Mark Luke, it actually describes the baptism of Jesus with the voice from heaven and the Holy Spirit coming down on him. In John, it's only recalled right here. In other words, John the Baptist has already seen it. And he says, this divine personage, this astounding person, I've already seen. And I am baptizing with water, calling people to repentance, getting them prepared to serve a great king.

I'm calling people to humble themselves and get ready to serve a great king with water, but he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And then the third thing he says is up here in verse 27. He says, among you stands one who you do not know, and he is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals, I am not worthy to untie. Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist, sort of psychologist, sort of anthropologist who teaches the University of Virginia,

wrote a book called The Righteous Mind, and in that he says that pretty much all cultures have got something that the culture agrees, and most of the people of the culture agree, is overwhelmingly disgusting. Every culture has got something or some things that are just utterly stomach-turning and disgusting. Some things that are absolutely foul and degrading.

Now, in that culture, it was a dusty culture, it was a hot culture, it was a dirty time of history. Everybody wore sandals all day, and at night when you took the sandals off, it was really foul. And it was considered unbelievably degrading to have to take somebody else's sandals off. Taking your own off was probably bad enough, but after all, that's you. So to take somebody else's off was considered absolutely degrading. And there were all kinds of rules to guard people from, that's a lot of, that actually happening. For example, if you had servants, one of the rules was you couldn't make a Jewish

servant do that. Never make a Jewish servant take your sandals off. That would be too degrading to make a fellow countrymen do. You know, if you have a Gentile dog who's a servant, then do that. And there was another rule. Rabbis had disciples, you know, and who were students, teachers, professors, rabbis had students. And the students served the rabbi, which meant that they did a lot of things the servants did. But one of the rules was that even though the disciples needed to serve the rabbis, the one thing the rabbis could not make the disciples do was to untie their sandals at night. Why? Because after all, they are disciples. They're not slaves. Notice that John the Baptist does not say what you would expect him to say, that I am only unworthy. I'm only worthy to untie.

the sandals. See, if he had said that, I am only worthy to untie his sandals. I'm not, it would have been to say, I'm not even a disciple, I'm not even a, you know, but he doesn't even say that. He's, he's trying to destroy the categories. And he says, I'm not, I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals. He doesn't say I'm only worthy to untie his sandals. He's said, I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals. You know what this means? He's saying, this is not just a regular rabbi. This is not just a regular king. This is someone so far above you and me that all the pecking order, all the social categories are just shattered. This is someone that is so high, I am below the below of the lowest because he is above the above of the highest.

Now, that's an amazing way of looking at Jesus, but that's who he's looking at. thought about this. Look at the descriptions of it. And now we're getting a little closer to who John the Baptist is. Because see, where do you get your self-image? Where do you get yourself understanding? Where do you get your self-assessment? Where do you get your self-assessment? How do you decide whether you're a good or bad person? How do you feel good about yourself or bad about yourself? I'll tell you, if you leave God out of the situation, there's only two places to go. You can look at what other people think about you or you can look at what you think about yourself. You can look at other people's standards for you, other people's expectations, what your family, what your culture, what your peer group,

whatever it is. You can look at what other people say about you and think about you and expect you to be, how they assess you, or you can look at yourself. You can say what matters is what I believe and what my standards are and what I want to do in life. Now, most of us actually, let's be honest, put our self-image together somewhat by putting them together. though those of you from more traditional cultures know that in traditional cultures your identity is based on whether you fulfill the social role given to you by your community and your family what makes you a good person is you're a good father mother son daughter and in those situations it's what other people and especially your peer your family and your community what they think of you that's where your self-esteem comes from those of us in more western cultures we put much more stock what we think about our

ourselves. What matters is my standards, what I've decided I want to do, and whether we've achieved it. So you can look what other people think, and you can look about what you think, and John the Baptist isn't looking at either of those places. And that's the reason why the character that he has developed and the person he has become is so absolutely unique. How is so? Let's take a look. Who is this guy? We already saw, here's a person who actually is mistaken about his greatness. He actually is not aware of it. He's mistaken about it. And yet, you would say, oh, that's low self-esteem. And a person who doesn't have a proper assessment of his greatness will be a person who will be shy, won't have confidence, won't do new things,

won't be bold, won't be innovative, won't do risky things. Really? Is that what we see in John the Baptist? Notice something. When you go through the Bible, there's quite a bit in the Bible about the Baptist, you know what he's like. You know his boldness. You know his brashness almost. You know his courage. In fact, let me show you, even right here. Notice how they don't want to, they're getting frustrated. Are you the Messiah? No. Are you Elijah? No. Are you the prophet? No. And then verse 24, it says, all right, look, you've got 22, excuse me. He says, who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. See, in other words, they're getting upset because they're afraid all you've done is tell us who you're not.

we've got to go back to our masters and they're going to say who did he say he was give us some answer who are you and here's the reason why they're asking that why that is 24 why then do you baptize if you are not the messiah or elijah or the prophet see they're really interested in the fact that he baptizes and when they say what why are you baptizing if you're not one of these great personages now here's the reason why the baptism he was doing was radical When a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, and there were numbers of them, they were called God-fearers. These were Gentiles that started reading the Bible, they started reading the Old Testament, and they were very interested, and they would sometimes come and say, I want to join

the covenant community, I want to follow the God of Israel. If you were a Gentile and you wanted to follow the God of Israel, you were considered a convert, and you were often baptized. You know, why would you baptize a Gentile? Because Gentiles are unclean dogs. Gentiles. Gentiles are of those other races, you see, and the impure races. So we baptize as a signification of the fact that they're unclean and they're being made clean. John the Baptist is demanding everybody get baptized. Jesus was the most influential man to ever walk the earth. And his story has been told through books, movies, and articles in hundreds of different ways.

Can anything more be said about him? In his book, Jesus the King, Tim Keller journeys through the Gospel of Mark to reveal how the life of Jesus helps us make sense of our lives. Dr. Keller shows us how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to take a fresh look at our relationship with God. During the month of March, we'll send you a copy of Jesus the King as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the transforming love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospelonlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

It comes up out of the river and he says, repent. He calls him to repent and says, repent and be baptized. Not just you Gentiles, repent and be baptized all of you for the forgiveness of your sins. You know how radical that is? You know what he's saying? He's saying, we're all unclean. He says, there is no one who deserves salvation. There is no one who can merit it. We are all unclean. It's the salvation of the Messiah is going to be by grace alone. And he's also saying that all races are going to be equal before his feet. All the races are going to be equal. This is innovative. This is radical. This is in your face. And this is a guy who doesn't even know his own greatness, you know, what we would call low self-esteem. I mean, if you want to picture,

listen, forgive me, I'm going to do this for 90 seconds. The greatest story ever told is a movie made in 1965. It was a typical Hollywood epic, and it's a story of Jesus' life. And it has all these great actors. Everybody was in there, even doing little bit parts and stuff like that. One of the most interesting, I think, characters is Charlton Heston plays John the Baptist. And even though I think he overacts a little bit. And of course, many of his lines are not in the Bible, but it's almost pitch perfect. It's almost pitch perfect. You know, he's always yelling, repent, repent, so they rest him.

And they bring him before Herod, who's, by the way, played by Jose Ferrer, who does not overact. It is a wonderful job. A wonderful job as Herod, very world weary, very cynical. But anyway, so John the Baptist is, I'm only telling you the names just in case some of you might access a memory chip in, you know, you might remember it. John the Baptist is brought before Herod. Repent, he says.

and Herod's, yeah, yeah, yeah. Then Herod's wife comes in, except, oh, you may even know the story. It's not really Herod's wife. It's actually his brother's wife that he's stolen from her. So she just walks in to say something to Herod. John the Baptist sees it says, repent, that's adultery. Herod turns around and says, you're going to die for that. John the Baptist says, you're going to go to hell for that.

Herod says, I can kill you. John the Baptist says, then you'll just free me. John the Baptist, voila. There he is. That's him. And here's the question. This is the question I'm trying to get you to ask. I've been asking it for 20 minutes now.

How could someone who is that unaware of his own greatness, who is that truly blind, who his own assets, you might say, how can someone this humble with that kind of understanding of himself be this powerful, be this bold, be this confident, be this hopeful, be this fearless, how does that work? And here's the answer. He actually gives the answer. When they say, who are you? He actually gives him an answer. Do you see if you got to watch carefully? Because he's actually quoting this out of Isaiah 40, but the answer is still very important. Here's what he says, I'm a voice. I'm just a voice. And that is so brilliant. And that actually explains how he can be so humble and bold at the same time, how I could think of himself as nothing and act as if

He's everything. I mean, that's the reason why they're saying, who the heck do you think you are that you're out here baptizing Jews? You must have an incredible ego. You must think that you are some extraordinary personage, that you would have the confidence to do that. And John the Baptist says, no, no, I'm just a voice. Pointing to the one who is to come.

Here's what he's saying. In myself, I'm nothing, but the one I serve is the greatest in the world. In myself, I'm nothing. I'm just a voice. but though I'm talking about the greatest one in the world. Now listen, I think I inherited these books. I have to ask Kathy afterwards, but when Kathy and I got married,

Kathy brought with her two books of William Shakespeare's works from what, high school, college? Probably. Book of the Month Club. And they're just compendiums of Shakespeare's plays. But the editors evidently, and whose names I don't remember and whose names you wouldn't know,

the editors put together little three or four paragraph introductions to each of the plays. The introductions are astonishingly eloquent. And in the introduction to Henry V, the editors say that in Henry V, what Shakespeare is giving you is the ideal man. The ideal man.

He's idealized. course. There was Henry V, the actual Henry Vift, was obviously not as perfect as this, but he was idealized. And this is what he says. Listen carefully. In fact, I'm going to reread it, one part of it. He says, the editor say, Henry exhibits the utmost greatness which the act of nature can attain. He can be terrible to traitors, but his sternness is without a touch of personal revenge. In the midst of danger, he can feel so free from petty, heart eating cares as to enjoy a piece of honest soldierly mirth. A devotion to great objects outside himself fills him with the force of glorious enthusiasm.

Hence his humility or modesty, he feels that the strength he wields comes not from any clever disposition of his own prudence, but streams into him and through him from his people, his cause, and his God. Now listen to that. devotion to great objects outside himself fills him with a force of glorious enthusiasm. The strength he feels does not come from any clever disposition of his imprudence, but streams into him from his cause and from his God. And that's John the Baptist. And that's the kind of greatness we're talking about here. See, when it says, for example, look, a person like John the

Baptist, a person who's not bold or humble, but bold and humble at once, not incredibly confident or, you know, very, very humble and self-effacing, but both at once. This is the reason why I could say this ideal person can be terrible to traitors, but his sternness is without a touch of personal revenge. You go after injustice, but it has nothing, it's not personal. You never say, how dare you talk to me like that. That's arrogance. That's the kind of, that's the kind of pursuit of justice that's basically coming from ego. There's no ego here. And therefore, the pursuit of justice is perfect. You see, it's ego that makes you arrogant, and it's ego that makes you afraid to get out there. It's ego that makes you arrogant as you pursue your cause, and therefore you're going to

over, you're going to overreach, and it's ego that keeps you afraid and thinking so much of what's going to hurt you so that you don't get out there. But what if the ego is taken away? What if you're just a voice? What if you're filled with glorious joy and enthusiasm, because of the great objects, because of the things that you're looking at outside yourself, and the joy you have in that streams through you. That's the kind of man John the Baptist was too. Question. Is that possible for us?

Is that something that you and I could participate in? Could it be true of us in any way? And the answer is yes. how you have to behold the Lamb of God that takeeth away the sins of the world. This is the heart of the passage, of course, and look, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look, now, okay, that's all right. It's English. It's modern English. But honestly, the Greek word there is Eddae, and it's translated in older translations, behold, and behold means gaze. It means think. It means grasp. Say, behold.

means, I get it, I see it. Do you get it? Do you see it? Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What in the world was going through his head when he said that? Well, it must have been something like this. What he would have known about lambs, he would have known from the Passover. Centuries earlier, when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and Moses went to Pharaoh and says let my people go and Moses would go after him and Pharaoh wouldn't give them up and then God sent plagues and finally God says I'm going to finally send a plague on Egypt because of their oppression because of their injustice because of their rebellion. I'm going to bring that plague on them and when that happens they're going to let you go. I'm going to send my angel of death

and the angel of death will slay the firstborn son in every home and in a patriarchal society where everyone's hopes was in the family and in primogeniture, it all went to the oldest son, and therefore this was a way of striking at the very hopes of every family, and it was a terrible judgment. So God says, because of the rebellion, because of their oppression, because they're not letting you go, I'm going to judge them. But then he said, I'm going to send my angel of death, he said to the Israelites, but don't forget this, sin is a debt. And your sinners too. And when the angel of death comes, the only way that you are going to have your first born saved is if you kill a lamb and spread, sprinkle the blood on the doorpost,

and then the angel of death will pass over you and you will not be slain for your sins. And so that's the Passover. That's the beginning of the Passover. And year after year, a lamb was slain to commemorate the Passover, the night in which the Israelites did not pay for their sins. But, you know, thoughtful people had to say, really, that's it? You kill swel loving little lamies and that atones for your sin? Can that be? And the other thing that John the Baptist would have known, besides the fact that he would have known the story of the Passover, and he also would have known the difficulty with believing that that's all it takes to atone for sins, is he would have known about one more mysterious figure from the Old Testament.

You know, there were all these figures in the Old Testament that were predicted to come, and nobody quite knew who they were. There was the great messianic king of the early part of Isaiah, and everybody thought, oh yeah, that's the guy, we want him. But then there was the prophet from Deuteronomy 18, who's that then? And then there was the suffering servant. This was someone who was predicted in the latter chapters of the book of Isaiah, the suffering servant who was to come. And nobody could quite figure out who that was.

It certainly couldn't be the great king, the messianic king of the early part of Isaiah. But there's one place where it's talking about this servant that says this, all we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Suddenly the Holy Spirit gives John the Baptist a revelation and all these threads, all these questions, all these themes come together, and he says, I get it. Behold, I get it. It wasn't little animals that died for our sin. This is the Lamb of God. This is God's son. The reason why our firstborn did not die that night was because God is offering up his firstborn. He's coming and he's taking the sins of the

world. And think about this. This is strong weakness. This is the king who is a lamb. This is the Messianic king who comes in weakness, comes as a little lamb. How could that be? Here's how it could be. If the Messianic king came in strength the first time, just to destroy evil. Well, because evil's in your heart and my heart, what would happen to us? But instead of coming in strength, he comes in weakness. He comes in bold humility.

He comes in strong weakness. He's the lamb who is the king, and he goes to the cross. And he pays the penalty so that someday he can come back and end evil without a lending us. And suddenly John the Baptist gets it. He gets it. He sees the strong messianic king is the meek lamb of God, is the suffering servant. I get it. And God has done that for us. And God is doing this for us. All right. Do you realize what this means? When Jesus Christ said that John the Baptist was the greatest in the history of the world till now, he added something. I didn't quote, I didn't give it to you, I saved it.

In Matthew 11, when he said, no one born of woman is greater than John the Baptist. And yet, I say unto you, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. What? The greatest person in the history of the world, up to now is John the Baptist, but the least in the kingdom of God is greater.

Who's the kingdom of God? What's us? Christians, how could that be? John the Baptist greatness, and the reason he was the greatest in history of the world was this. grasped the greatness of Jesus better than anyone else. See, that's the reason he could say, I am nothing, I'm just a voice, but I'm filled with glorious enthusiasm and joy because of the greatness of the one I serve. He saw the greatness of the one he served more than anyone else up

to that time. But every single Christian today, everyone who believes the gospel today, actually understands the greatness of Jesus better than John the Baptist. He didn't understand the cross yet. He didn't really know. He didn't get the resurrection. He didn't get the resurrection. direction. And do you know what that means? That means that glorious joy, that greatness that flowed through John the Baptist, you have more capacity for it than he did. You could do greater things. You should have more confidence. You should have more humility than him. You should have that ability to mix those things. How do you get it? You have to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That means behold doesn't just mean see it. It means grasp it. It means rest in it.

trust in the fact that you need a Savior, that you have to be saved by grace, that you need the Holy Spirit that this one can give you. But here's what happens if you take it. There's three things, just to end. One is you'll finally have an identity that doesn't crush you. Whether you're from the east or from the west, whether you have a traditional identity that's based on what people, social roles, when people think about you, or if you have a Western identity, that you have a Western identity. It's based on your achievement. Don't you realize Christianity gives you an identity that's not achieved but received and therefore you're free. You know that great place. I love to quote Isaac Denison says there's many people who don't know about their relationship with God. He says they have

to accept as success what others warrant to be so and to take their happiness even their own cells at the quotation of the day. But Christians are freed from that. You've got an identity that won't crush you. It doesn't get better when you do better. It doesn't get worse when you do worse. It's based on what Jesus Christ thinks about you, not what other people think about you, not what you think about yourself. And not only that,

secondly, you get an identity that won't crush other people. Don't forget this, any achieved identity where you say, I'm a good person because I'm living up to what my family wants, or I'm a good person because I'm a successful, this or that, any achieved identity is based on relative status. That means you're a good person.

identity is based on you being better than other people. I'm more successful than others. I'm better and that means you tend to look down to other people and it's very easy to sneer at people, to disdain people, to become self-righteous, to actually be oppressive to people. But this is an identity that's based, what? It so humbles you because you're a sinner saved by grace and yet lifts you up because God, Jesus Christ, loves you enough to die for you, that it takes away that superiority completely. And here's one last thing. not only do you get an identity that doesn't crush you, an identity that doesn't crush others, you can become a voice.

To the degree that you are seeking to let Jesus Christ speak to the world about himself through you, to the degree that you're willing to spread the gospel, to that degree, you are letting that greatness flow through you because the gospel is a power, and it can change the world. and it doesn't matter how good or bad, how weak or how strong you are. If you are a voice for it, I think one of the great little bits of movie making I've ever seen is that play, in the greatest story ever told, after they've taken John the Baptist, you know, Charlton has an off stage to be executed. Herod is sitting there in a dark throne room with Salome, you know,

the one who said, I want the head of John the Baptist and she's dancing all around. is very quiet except for the music. And of course, they're pulling John the Baptist off because they're going to behead him. And so you hear him yelling. Charlton has to repent, repent. And then finally he goes, repent, and you hear a chunk. Pretty obvious.

Repent, chunk. He's dead. And then, about 10 seconds later, suddenly you hear a whisper. You just see Herod's face here, repent, chunk. You know he's dead. and suddenly you sing Herod's face and you hear a little whisper and it says, repent. Who said that?

See, the point is you can't kill the voice. It's gone into Herod's heart. You can't kill the voice. And in a sense, you can't kill John the Baptist. You can't kill anyone who is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Let's pray. our father we thank you for the the sweetness and the power of people who have come to believe in you

the tenderness the meekness and the boldness of those who ground their lives in what you have done for them father we pray that you would help us to behold the lamb of god so that we like john the Baptist, have that humble boldness, that strong weakness, and we become voices for the one message that is infallible and that will outlast history. So we pray, Father, that you would help us to amend our lives in accordance with what we've learned today by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus, then we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel and Life podcast. If you'd like to see more people encouraged by the Gospel Center teaching and resources of this minute,

we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel and Life monthly partner. Your partnership connects people all over the world with the life-giving power of Christ's love. To learn more, just visit gospelandlife.com slash partner. That website again is gospelonlife.com slash partner. Today's sermon was recorded in 2014. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Thank you.