The Legacy of John the Baptist, Part 2

Take your Bible, if you would, please, and turn to John chapter 1, and we are looking at the legacy of John the Baptist. It's a lasting legacy. It's lasted some 2,000 years, because what John lived before the world, he left behind for all of us to read and see and hear and understand.

His legacy made a tremendous impact, although his ministry was only for 18 months. But this is the greatest man ever born of a woman. And so if that's the case, what kind of legacy did he leave behind, and how do we evaluate our life in light of his life, that we might understand our legacy today?

The Bible tells us that John came to testify to the light, came to give a testimony about the light. He said, I am not the light, but I've come to testify about the light. And six times in John chapter 1, it talks about his testimony, how he would testify before the world. Jesus would sum it up this way in John 5, verse number 33, says, you have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. Verse 35, he was the lamp that was burning and was shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

John was burning brightly. John was shining splendidly. There was something about John that made him the man that he was as he came to testify. And he would become the first of eight witnesses in John's gospel that John would refer to, the apostle John would refer to, when it came to a testimony before the world. And John was that great prophet, that great priest, that great protester of life.

He was a prophet. Everyone knew he was a prophet. That gave him credibility.

He was in the line of the priesthood. Everybody knew his father, Zacharias, who was a priest. And so for all practical purposes, John was a priest.

That gave him believability. But he was a protester. He lived a life that was the antithesis to the religious establishment of the day.

The way he dressed, the way he spoke, the way he lived was a protest against all of that. And that gave him integrity, which allowed him to be the kind of testimony, the kind of witness that would speak volumes for the claims of Christ. So this is the man, John the Baptist, and his legacy can be wrapped up in three words.

Three words that you can apply to your life as you will see as we go through this, this week or last week, this week, and next week, of course, to help you understand the legacy of John the Baptist. The first word is simply presentation. Second word is preparation.

And the third word is proclamation. He presented, number one, the preeminence of the light. Number two, he prepared the pathway to the Lord.

And number three, he was the one who proclaimed, he proclaimed the person of the Christ. That is the legacy of John the Baptist. But it all begins with the presentation, because he was the one who presented the preeminence of the light.

He was the one who would show how great the light was, and he would shine brightly. He would shine splendidly as he lived his legacy. So the question we asked last week was, how did he present the preeminence of the light? And why did he present the preeminence of the light? Those are the two questions we ask.

So the first question, how? We began last week by showing you that he presented it lovingly and longingly. There was a loving message that John would give. Love is giving people what they need, not what they want.

They needed the gospel. They needed to know who the king was. They needed to know that the kingdom was upon them.

They needed to know what it meant to be in the kingdom. When you love people, you tell them the truth about the king and his kingdom. So he gave it to them lovingly, and he gave it to them longingly, because there was a longing in his heart, in his soul, because he had waited a long time, some 30 years, to present the Messiah.

And he was longing for the kingdom to come. He would say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Like every Jew was longing for the king to come and set up his kingdom.

That's why in Luke 3 it says they were living a life of expectation. They were expecting the coming one, the expected one, to arrive, the Messiah, so that the kingdom would come. And that's why they came down from Jerusalem and from all Judea in the thousands to be baptized by John of the Jordan River.

They were expecting the king and his kingdom. And so John, who longingly was wanting to present this king to them, he had lived in anticipation his whole life for this very moment, not knowing that it would only be 18 months. He had no clue that that would be the length of his ministry.

Just think, spending 30 years preparing to be the forerunner for the Messiah, only to last 18 months and then be beheaded. That was his life. And yet he would present the preeminence of the light lovingly and longingly.

He would do it, number two, instinctively and incessantly. Talk about these last week. Instinctively because he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.

He was controlled by the Spirit of God. It became part and parcel to his everyday living. So by natural instinct he would just bring forth with the gospel because the Spirit of God would move him to do so.

He would do it incessantly. We showed you last week where in John 1 there are three days in succession in John 1. Day 1, day 2, day 3. And every day this is what he was doing. Why? Because this is what he did all the time.

John just gives us a glimpse of his daily routine. This is something he did incessantly. It wasn't something he did just once a week or or once a month. It was something he did every single day. This was his ministry. This was his life.

For him to shine brightly he had to shine every single day. So he did it lovingly and longingly. He did it instinctively and incessantly.

And he did it graphically and gracefully. Graphically. He would say in Matthew chapter 3, when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him, he would call them a brood of vipers.

You pack of snakes. That's a very graphic way to describe the religious establishment of the day. He would tell them, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Why? Because I baptized you with water but there's one who's going to come and baptize you with fire. And you need to be careful.

He would call out Herod in his sin. Herod was the king. But he would call out his immoral relationship with his wife that he stole from his brother and said that you're living in sin. And Luke's account tells us that he reprimanded the king. Why? Because he would graphically expose the sin that was before him.

You know we don't do that today. We want to soft coat sin. We instead of calling adultery “adultery”, we call it an affair.

As if to give it some kind of soft coating to sin. We don't call homosexuals “homosexuals”. We call them people with an alternate lifestyle.

But the Bible calls them homosexuals. The Bible calls them effeminate persons. The Bible calls out the immoral person.

It calls out the slanderer and the gossip. In fact, in Ephesians 5 and in Galatians 5 and in Revelation chapter 22, it gives the list of those who will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. And they're named graphically in the scriptures.

In fact, this is what Jesus says. I think this is very interesting about our Lord. In Matthew 23, He says, Woe, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus called out sinners because of their hypocrisy. John would do the same thing. So when he would shine the light, he would do it graphically because man needs to know that he's separated from God, that he's a sinner.

For without knowing that, you'll never see your need for a Savior. You must understand that you are separated from God and that your works are worthless before Him. And John made sure of that and so did Jesus.

But he did it gracefully. He didn't do it arrogantly, proudly. He didn't do it in a way that would be harsh, but he did it in a way that would show grace.

Why? Because Herod needed to repent. Herod needed to know that his relationship was immoral, that he was an adulterer. So he called him out.

The Pharisees needed to know that they were hypocrites, that they lived one way on the outside, but on the inside they were like dead men's bones. And they needed to know the truth. And grace is showing them that, look, once you know that you're a sinner, it's only God's grace that can save you.

That's it. You can't save yourself. That's why I love what it says over in the book of Colossians, the 4th chapter, when Paul would say these words. Colossians 4, verse number 5, consider yourselves with wisdom or conduct yourselves, excuse me, with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity by redeeming the time.

Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. And graceful speech is grace that is seasoned with salt. And salt's a preservative.

Salt's a purifier. But salt also causes great pain and open wounds. And so when you speak the truth in love, and you speak the truth gracefully, those whose wounds are open, it's going to sting badly.

And yet they need to understand the truth about how our Lord has come to save them from their sin. That was all of last week. That's John the Baptist.

How did he do it? Lovingly, longingly. He did it instinctively, incessantly. He did it graphically and gracefully.

But he also did it heartily and humbly. Heartily and humbly. He was crying in the wilderness.

John didn't do things half-heartedly. He did them full-heartedly. He was all heart.

He was all in. He wasn't partially into his ministry. He wasn't partially into preaching the gospel.

He was all in for the Messiah. He was all in on what God called him to do. So he did it with all of his might.

That's what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 9, verse number 10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might. All your might.

Paul would say it this way in the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 3, verse 23. He says, whatever you do, do heartily as for the Lord.

Not unto man. Knowing that you will receive a reward from the Lord. Heartily.

With all of his heart. So when he came as a voice crying in the wilderness. When he would speak forth the truth of the gospel.

He did it in such a way that he would shout the truth. He wanted people to know the truth. And so he did it with all of his heart.

But he did it humbly. Humbly. He says, I'm just a voice.

I'm just a voice. He never referenced his father as a priest. To give him some kind of clout with the other priests. He could have done that. Well, I'm a son of a priest. Just like you are.

No, he didn't say that. He said, I'm just a voice of one crying in the wilderness. He says, I'm not worthy to loosen the straps of my savior's sandals.

I'm not even worthy to do the most menial task. And in John chapter 3, verse number 30, he says, he must increase and I must decrease. What a great testimony.

The reason he would shine so brightly is because he didn't want the light to be focused on himself. He wanted the light to be focused on the Christ. He wanted to put forth the Christ.

Today, we get so enamored with us. You know, I'm always leery of those people who name their ministries after their own name. That's a very dangerous thing to do.

You shouldn't do that. Because it's not about you. It's about the ministry of Christ.

It's about putting Christ on display. But so many times we want to take credit for someone coming to faith or take credit for someone's spiritual growth or take credit for this or take credit for that.

You can't take credit. Because it's a spiritual work done by the spirit of God in a supernatural kind of way in the lives of people. We are just voices in the wilderness. We are just vessels to be used by God.

And here is John very heartedly but yet very humbly presenting the preeminence of the Messiah. And then lastly, he did it truthfully and tenaciously. Truthfully.

The Bible says in Luke 3 that he preached the gospel. What's the gospel? The gospel is about the king of his kingdom. And so he spoke the truth about the king.

He spoke the truth about the kingdom. He spoke the truth about entry into the kingdom. You got to repent.

And he was the one who with many exhortations, the Bible says in Luke's account, that he would speak to the people. He would quote Isaiah 40, verse number 3. Why? Because he wanted to speak truthfully as to what he was doing and why he was doing it. That he had the support of the authority of scripture behind what he was doing.

And so John was one who came to speak the truth. That's why in John 5:33, we read earlier that Jesus said that John came to testify to the truth. By the way, in John 18:37, Christ before Pilate said these words, I have come to testify to the truth.

You see, when you shine brightly for the Lord, it's all about the truth. And Christ came and John came to testify to the truth. The truth about what? The truth about heaven.

The truth about hell. The truth about mercy and grace and justice. The truth about sin and salvation.

The truth about the Christ. Christ is the truth. So you want to present Christ as the truth.

So John would shine brightly truthfully as well as tenaciously. In other words, he never backed down. He never quit.

He never gave up. He was resilient. He was tenacious.

He was holding on for dear life. Because as John 1 says, he came to testify to the light so that all may believe. And he knew that if he didn't stand strong and didn't live a courageous life and speak forth the truth tenaciously, without reservation, without backing down, it would not be effective.

That's how he did it. He came to testify as a prophet, as a priest, as a protester. How? By speaking lovingly and longingly, by speaking instinctively and incessantly, graphically and gracefully, heartily and humbly, truthfully and tenaciously.

You don't leave a lasting legacy. You need to present the preeminence of the light. Which leads to the second question.

Why? Well, using the same outline, L-I-G-H-T, if you were following along and you didn't get that, I'm sorry. You should have got that. But use the same word, light, L-I-G-H-T.

Let me show you how he did this and why he did it. Why did he do it? Number one, because he loved. He loved the person of God.

He loved his God. Paul would say, the love of Christ compels me. Paul knew Christ.

I mean, excuse me. Yeah, Paul did know Christ. Excuse me, but he didn't know Christ.

But John knew Christ. John was the cousin of Jesus. He was his cousin.

So John knew him. I'm sure that they would get together as they were growing up at different times. The Bible didn't tell us that, but because they were related, I'm sure that there were times they got together.

But he loved them outside of a familial relationship. He loved them because of who God himself was. He loved the person of God.

That was his motivation. Why would he do all this? Why would he speak against the religious establishment? Why would he protest against all that was taking place? Why would he speak so loudly and so graphically against sin? Because he loved the Lord. He loved him.

We love him because he first loved us. And John loved the person of God. You know, one of the greatest hindrances to you and me in presenting the preeminence of the light is our lack of love for the Lord.

If you love him, you want others to love him. You want others to see him as you see him, know him as you know him, because you love him so. And so you tell others about him.

This is John. He loved his God. He wanted others to love him.

And that's why at the end of Christ's ministry, after his death, burial, and resurrection, he appeared to Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And he asked him, what question? Peter, do you love me? Why? Peter, you're going to be carrying the gospel to the Gentiles, to the Jews. You're going to open the door to the Gentiles.

But I got to know, do you love me, Peter? Because if you don't love me, your motivation is going to wane. You're not going to be able to stand strong for me. Do you love me, Peter? Because I want you to follow me.

You're going to die for me, but you got to represent me. Do you love me? And that's what Christ asked us. Do you love me enough to present me, the light, in a world of darkness? Because if you want to leave a lasting legacy, that's what you got to do.

But you won't do it if you don't love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. That's why Christ said in Matthew's gospel, the 10th chapter, that he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Do you love someone else more than you love me? Because if you do, you're not going to present me accurately. You're not going to present me graphically. You're not going to present me truthfully, because you don't want to upset anybody.

But I need you to love me more than anything else. That's what Christ asks. That's what Christ demands.

This was John. The Bible says in Luke 1:44 that when Mary came to Elizabeth, when Elizabeth was six months pregnant, that John would leap in his mother's womb. I mean, that is a unique and supernatural kind of thing, but he would leap in his mother's womb.

He would say in John 1:34, this is the Son of God. He's not my cousin, somebody I'm related to. This is the Son of God.

The Son of God is the Lamb of God. He understands the importance of atonement. He understands the importance of sacrifice. He understands the importance of the fact that this one he grew up with is God in the flesh. He loved the person of God.

Number two, he was inspired by the call of God. He was inspired by the call of God. You can even say he was incited by the call of God.

The Word of the Lord came to John. Where? In the wilderness. The Word of the Lord came to John, and God would call him into the ministry. Like Jeremiah, like Elijah, like Isaiah, those great prophets of old, they were called by God into the ministry.

And knowing that John had been personally called by the living God to now go, preach about the King and his kingdom, present the preeminence of the light. This is your job, John. Go do it.

It would inspire him because he was simply called by God. The Bible tells us that we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. The reason we do it is because of our calling. Hand-picked, hand-chosen by God to be used by him. That in and of itself is a motivating factor. This is why John did it.

He was inspired by the call of God upon his life. We told you earlier that the Bible says that that call is a heavenly calling, Hebrews 3:1. It's a holy calling, 2 Timothy 1, verse number 9. And it is a high calling, Philippians 3, verse number 14. We've been called with a heavenly, high, and holy calling.

That should inspire every one of us to present the preeminence of the light. And this was John, John the Baptist. Romans 11, verse number 29, says that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

God has gifted you and called you. He's not going to go back on that call. If he's called you into his kingdom, he's going to use you for his glory because that calling is irrevocable.

So, number one, he loved the person of God. Number two, he was inspired by the call of God. And number three, he was guided by the Spirit of God.

He was guided by the Spirit of God. This is how he did it. This is why he did it.

Why? Because he was filled with the Spirit of God, from his mother's womb. No other creature, no other individual has ever had that happen to them. But John has.

But when you are called by God into his kingdom, and you're born again, the Spirit of God infuses you. The Spirit of God takes up residence in you. And therefore, we have this spirit, Paul says in 2 Timothy 1, verse number 7, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of sound mind or self-discipline.

We have this spirit that's one of power, this spirit that's one of love and self-discipline. And it moves and guides us each and every step of the way. That's why the Bible says, walk in the Spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh.

We are to be filled with the Spirit of God, Ephesians 5, verse 18, controlled by God's Spirit, dominated by God's Spirit, under the operation of the Spirit of God. Because when God's Spirit is guiding us, everything around us changes because we are to respond to people in the way the Spirit will respond to them.

Here's John, filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. Remember in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come upon people in the Old Testament to do certain things and accomplish certain objectives, but didn't indwell them. But in the New Testament, the whole mystery that was concealed in the Old but revealed in the New is Christ in you, the hope of glory, that the triune nature of God dwells within us and lives within us and moves us to action.

This is how we know we can accomplish what God's called us to do. He's given us all the resources to accomplish the objective because He is the resource. The Spirit is God Himself who lives within us. It's not a spirit of timidity, of fear, but one of power, one of love, and one of self-discipline.

That was John. He was guided by the Spirit of the living God. Because he was inspired by the call of God.

But at the heart of it all, he loved the person of God. But know this, number four, his hope, or he hoped in the promises of God. He hoped in the promises of God.

Hope is a word of anticipation, knowing that God will fulfill His promises. If you go back to Luke's gospel in Luke chapter 1, remember the song of Zacharias. It was all about the fulfillment of prophecy.

It was all about the hope of Israel. It was all about the hope of the Davidic covenant and its fulfillment, the Abrahamic covenant, its fulfillment, the new covenant and its fulfillment. The king is coming.

He's coming to present the kingdom. And my son is a forerunner to the king and his kingdom. That means Davidic truth is going to come about. That means Abrahamic truth is going to come to fruition. That means that the new covenant is here. That's how he speaks.

So he says, in verse 68 of Luke 1, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. He's visited us. That was the hope that the Messiah would come and has raised up a horn of salvation in the house of David, his servant, as he spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets from of old, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, to grant us that we, being rescued from the land of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. All that was in hope of all the promises that God had given in the Old Testament.

And so John is raised that way. He knows his father's song. I'm sure by now John is, John's father is not alive. I mean, John's father was in his 80s when he was born.

So 30 years later, that would make him over 100 years of age. I'm not sure Zacharias lived that long. And so he would remember the song of his father.

He'd remember the words of his father. But as he studied the Old Testament, he would know during those 10 years plus in the wilderness and communing with his God, he would begin to understand the great prophetic fulfillment of the coming king in this kingdom. He was inspired by hope.

He hoped in the promises of God. He believed in the promises of God. The king is here.

He's coming with his kingdom. Repent and believe in him. And this is why in Luke 7, John was so confounded when he's in prison.

He sends his disciples to ask Jesus, are you the Messiah? Are you the expected one? Are you the coming one? Or should we look for somebody else? Why? Because he was so certain that the Messiah was there and the kingdom would be presented and he would establish his kingdom. But John did not know about how they would slay the one he pointed to. John didn't understand the whole second coming of the Messiah.

He just knew about the coming king in this kingdom. You and me, we present the preempts of the light. Why? Why? Because we hope in the promises of God.

That's why we pray, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. We're in hope of the coming kingdom, the promises of God.

We are in hope of his return again. That's why we tell others about the Christ. We want them to be a part of that coming kingdom.

We want them to know that Christ is going to come again. And so we tell them with passion, with drive, and with sincerity, the king is going to come. He could come at any moment.

Are you ready for him to arrive? That's how John and why John was so strong in his presentation of the king in his kingdom. We live in anticipation of the coming of the king. We long for his coming again.

Our hope is rooted in God. He is the God of hope. And he gives us these glorious promises that tell us what's going to happen when he arrives again.

Those are things that move us to present the preeminence of the light. That's so important. So here was John.

Why did he do what he did? He loved the person of God. He was inspired by the call of God. He was guided by the spirit of God.

He hoped in the promises of God. And lastly, he trusted in the word of God. He would trust that God's word would not return void.

He trusted that what he would say concerning the king in his kingdom would bring forth great fruit. He trusted in God's word. He believed what God's word said.

I love what the Bible says in Psalm 39, verse number 7, and now Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. You. John's hope was in the Lord, but he trusted in the word of the Lord.

Remember Psalm 119, verse 42. I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word. The Psalmist knew that. Trust in the word. Verse 66 of Psalm 119, teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I trust in your commandments. Verse 114 of Psalm 119, you are my hiding place and my shield. I trust your word. I trust your word.

Over in 2 Samuel chapter 22, verse number 31, David says, as for God, his way is blameless. The word of the Lord is proven, tested. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him. I would, I would assume that John the Baptist knew about King David and knew about the words of 2 Samuel 22. He could read them in the scrolls and he would trust in the word of the Lord.

How about you? You want to leave a lasting legacy? You got to shine bright for the Lord. You got to, you got to present the light as preeminent in your life.

And how do you do that? You do it lovingly and longingly. You do it instinctively and incessantly, graphically and gracefully. You do it in a way that's heartily and humbly, truthfully and tenaciously.

Why? Why would you do that? Because you love the Lord. The love of Christ compels you. You love the person of God.

You're inspired by the call of God. And you're guided by the spirit of God. Therefore, you hope in the promises of God.

And you trust in the word of God. You're not trusting in yourself. You're not trusting in your presentation. You're not trusting in the brightness of your light. You're just trusting in the word of the living God. And you will be well on your way in leaving a lasting legacy that will last for generations to come, simply because you have presented the preeminence of the light.

Number two, you prepare the pathway of the Lord. How do you do that? That's next week. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for today and the opportunity you give us to come before you. Our prayer, Lord, is that we would be the kind of people that present you brightly.

For you are preeminent. We are not. You are king. We are your subjects.

May we be used by you in a way that honors your name until you come again, as you most surely will. In Jesus' name, amen.