Anderson is correct in saying that there is opposition to including John within the New Testament ministry. I don’t believe that I have written John’s name on my favorite hobby horse. But I hope that the members of this church understand that I believe that John’s ministry was clearly Christian and distinctly Baptist. We looked at John the Baptist two years ago when we were studying Matthew 3 and Jesus’ baptism. It was not only Jesus’ baptism, it was John’s baptism of Jesus. And prior to that he had baptized the all men who became Jesus’ disciples and apostles. What is important is that those disciples were never rebaptized. In that message we considered the prophecies and praise which God the Father and God the Son bestowed upon that great man – John the Baptizer.
But – what are we to do with those two occasions when some of the disciples of John disappointed us? There were the disciples of John in Acts 19, and there are the questions raised here which were spoken by disciples but appear to come from John. Do these events mean that John was not a Christian, or at least not a New Testament Christian? This evening I am going to try to undo some of the mistakes that people have about John the Baptist.
For example, many say that John was only an Old Testament saint – an Old Testament prophet of God.
Isn’t this just a matter of semantics – words? What is the definition of the word “Christian”? Doesn’t it refer to “a follower of Christ?” Even though John was the forerunner of Christ, he was also a follower and worshiper of Jehovah. And who exactly is Jehovah? There is abundant proof from both Testaments that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, Jehovah – the eternal Son of God. Some foolish people say, “No one was a real Christian until after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, so there weren’t any Christians until the Book of Acts.” But if those people are really interested in words, they need to admit that the word “Christian” is not used, or even apparently coined, until Acts 11. If someone is really interested in words, then shouldn’t he say that those who lived and died before the coining of the word were not Christians? If the word didn’t exist until Acts 11, did the reality exist before that time? Of course it did. The question then becomes – how long before?
Is there any question whether or not the Apostles were Christians? When did those first twelve disciples become Christians? Was it in Acts 11 when the people in Antioch began using the word “Christian”? Was it in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit descended in the fullness of power on the Day of Pentecost? Was it at the death of Christ? Was it at the resurrection, something which most of the disciples at first denied? Or can we say that the apostles were Christians when they were still following and learning from the Lord Jesus – before His crucifixion? I think that the disciples were Christians long before Christ gave His life on the cross. Are not the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – Christian books? If they are Christian books, shouldn’t we say that they were penned by Christians? And then we have to ask: Who was it who brought those twelve men to Christ in the first place? The basic answer to that is John the Baptist. And who was the only man to baptize those first Christians? Again it was John the Baptist. Humanly speaking it was John the Baptist who evangelized the disciples and made the first Christians. Can we say that the one who made the first Christians wasn’t a Christian himself? I’m not going to do that.
As I say, many people dogmatically affirm that John the Baptist was an Old Testament prophet. But the evidence suggests that John was anything but Old Testament. His father was a priest, who went about his priestly duties as his forefathers had done for generations. Yes, Zacharias was as Old Testament as they come. But John, the son of the Old Testament priest, apparently rejected the priesthood. At least we never read of John performing any of the regular priestly functions. We never read of him offering any blood sacrifices. He didn’t live in one of the Levitical cities or in a priestly home. He didn’t wear the priestly garments which are so clearly described in the Book of Leviticus. And he shunned the food rations which were set aside for the priests of the Old Testament. As a priest, there would have been occasions when he would have resided in the temple, but as the servant of Christ, he never did. I admit that when he died, he didn’t know all that there is to know about his Saviour. But I also admit that neither you, nor I, know all that there is to know about the Saviour. I know that I am a Christian, and there is no reason to say that John wasn’t a Christian either.
As a Christian, John believed and preached CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
As most everyone knows, the first book of the Bible is Genesis. The Book of Genesis lays the doctrinal foundation for everything else in the Word of God. Almost every doctrine, even though it might not be theologically developed until much later, is at least suggested in the first fifty chapters of the Bible. “Genesis” doesn’t mean “beginning” for nothing. In a similar way, John the Baptist is a second “genesis.” The first four verses of the Gospel of Mark read like this: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” According to the Bible, the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ began with John the Baptist.
When Peter was talking to his Jewish friends on the day when the Lord redeemed Cornelius, he said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Peter put the ministry of John into the Christian context. And likewise Paul referred to John’s Christian ministry in his sermon in Antioch in Acts 13. We may not have a record of John’s development of all the so-called “Christian” doctrines, but we do have a record of him referring to many of them. And even if Matthew 11 is an expression of some doubt on John’s part, it doesn’t reverse anything.
Please turn to John 1:15-28, and let’s take notice of some of John’s Christian doctrines. “John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
When John said, “He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me,” he was referring to the Old Testament Book of Micah and its declaration of the eternality and deity of Christ. Micah 5:2 says, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” One of the many reasons that John knew that Jesus should be preferred before him, is because Jesus is the eternal Son of God. John called the Lord Jesus, “the only begotten Son” – which is a very special term. It speaks about the absolutely unique relationship of the Father to the Son. It takes us back into eternity, before the creation of the world, and it speaks about the mysteries of the Trinity.
What did John mean by, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”? Did he mean that there was no truth in the world before Christ? Did he mean that grace could not exist apart from the Lord Jesus? In a manner of speaking, yes. Christ called Himself “the way, the truth and the life” – didn’t John mean “truth” in the same way? That is certainly one of the ways in which I use the word.
To what could John have been referring, if it wasn’t to Jesus’ intimate relationship to the Father when he said, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”? These are essential Christian doctrines, and although they are found wedged between the pages of the Old Testament and the death of Christ, these are clearly New Testament doctrines – Biblical doctrines.
When John said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias,” he was referring to Isaiah 40. “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” We know that when the Old Testament speaks about “the LORD” – spelled out in all capital letters, it is talking about Jehovah – God. And so when John quoted Isaiah 40:3 applying it to the Lord Jesus, he was declaring that he believed Jesus to be Jehovah. This is essential Christian doctrine. It was the ministry of John to glorify and magnify the Lord Jesus – the Son of God..
And why did he consider himself unworthy to loose the sandal of the Saviour? It was because no human being, even the greatest to be born of woman, is qualified to touch the feet of the infinite Son of God. This is what John thought about the Lord Jesus.
Please return to Matthew 3:1-12: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” When John said, “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham,” he was declaring his understanding and faith in the absolute sovereignty and omnipotence of God. No one could tell John that his God was too small.
In verse 11, John made reference to the Holy Ghost. In fact John often referred to the Holy Spirit. And when Paul returned to Ephesus finding men who claimed to be disciples of John, but they knew nothing about the Holy Spirit, he realized that they had never directly sat under the ministry of John the Baptist.
And of course, John preached repentance long, loud and hard. “When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: As Paul said, “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When Paul mentioned John’s “baptism of repentance,” he was pointing out the fact that he baptized people in reference to repentance. If someone did not display the fruits, or the evidence, of humbly turning from his sins, then John refused to baptize them. Baptism was not a ritualistic formality with John. It was the testimony of a new life through the regeneration of the Spirit and the grace of God in Christ. The baptism of repentance speaks of genuine conversion – a change of mind and a change of life. John’s baptism stood as a testimony of real salvation from sin. The baptism of repentance meant immersion in light of that person’s repentance and conversion. So John held to the Baptist doctrine of believer’s baptism. He didn’t immerse people in order to make them Christians as so many do today. He baptized them because they were already the people of God.
And then John preached that judgment was coming, and that it would be administered by the Lord Jesus. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” John would have shouted “amen” if he had heard Paul’s words from II Thessalonians: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
But not only did John believe that Christ would come in flaming fire, he also believed Him to be the lamb of God. In John 1 after first being introduced to the Saviour, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” I hope that you understand the meaning of those words. John believed in the Biblical doctrine of substitutional atonement: The Bible teaches that there is only one way to delivered from the penalty of your sins, It takes the blood of the God-ordained sacrifice.
More specifically, John believed that THE LORD JESUS was that God-ordained sacrifice. John believed that only through the blood of Christ, could sinners be delivered and forgiven. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” That Jesus of Nazareth was the Lamb of God, was not Old Testament doctrine. That is the core of New Testament doctrine. I believe that is another reason to think that John was as much a Christian as Peter or Paul.
But that question is entirely moot, if YOU do not believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Whether John was a Christian is not nearly as important to you, as whether you are a Christian. Not only do you need to believe that Christ Jesus is the Lamb of God, but you also need to be personally trusting Christ Jesus to save you. He must be your personal sacrifice. You need to believe and trust that the blood which He shed on Calvary was meant for your cleansing and your redemption.
I cannot say whether these disciples of John were true believers and children of God. But I am reasonably sure that John was a Christian. And now, what about you?