In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the power of God's word and the significance of silence in our spiritual journey. He highlights the story of John the Baptist and how his ministry broke the long period of silence from God. The speaker encourages believers who may be experiencing a season of silence to continue waiting and watching for God's intervention. He also discusses historical periods, such as the dark ages, where there was a lack of understanding and neglect of the word of God, leading to spiritual bondage. Ultimately, the sermon emphasizes the transformative power of preaching the word of God and the impact it can have on individuals and society.

All right, we're picking up in our study in John here in chapter 1 and I want to read to you a couple of verses beginning in verse 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. Now over in verse 15, John bore witness of him and cried out saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me. And now verse 19, now this is the testimony of John. Let's stop right there for a moment. In these verses, John the Apostle begins the actual historical account of the ministry of Jesus Christ starting with the appearance of John the Baptist. 500 years earlier, the Jews had returned from their captivity in Babylon with the promise of God's blessing and in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. The deliverer sent from God who would save Israel from all their enemies, establish or re-establish rather the Davidic Kingdom and usher in an everlasting reign of righteousness and peace. But from that time, things progressively went from bad to worse. The ministry of the prophets, God's spokesman, that had been consistent since the time of Moses ceased about a hundred years after the return from the Babylonian captivity. Malachi was the last prophetic voice the nation had heard. 400 years of silence have now passed. Think about that. 400 years without a prophetic word. Rather than the Davidic Kingdom restored, the brutal Romans were ruling over and oppressing the people. The priesthood that traced its origin back to Moses and Aaron had been thoroughly corrupted and the temple worship was reduced to a money-making venture by the family of the high priest. The spiritual leaders of the nation are an elite group of rigid, merciless legalists who have turned the worship of God into an endless list of rules and placed an intolerable burden upon the people. That is the atmosphere into which this man, John, came. This prophet that we know as John the Baptist. That's the background. 400 years without that prophetic word and the conditions are so desperate among the people at this time and suddenly there's a voice that begins to cry out. And at first, of course, I'm sure there were just a few people that that heard that voice began to cry but then more and more people heard and more and more people were drawing out into the wilderness area to listen to a voice that they themselves had never heard. Something they had only heard about. Something they had read about in their scriptures but something they themselves had never seen. A prophet. A true prophet of God there in the wilderness. And so in verse 19, as John began to testify, the Jews and this term the Jews John will use over and over and over again and it is a reference to a specific group amongst the Jewish nation. It's not the Jews in general because of course John himself was a Jew but when John uses this term he is primarily referring to the ruling elite in Jerusalem. He's referring to the political and the religious leaders of the day. So he says the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask John, who are you? He confessed and did not deny but confessed, I am not the Christ. I am not the Messiah. He said that emphatically. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. So this delegation comes to the Jordan where John is baptizing and they want to know just who this man is and really more the tone would be just who do you think you are? What are you doing out here baptizing? Who gave you the permission to do this? You see these guys ruled the nation politically and religiously and as far as they were concerned nobody had any right to do anything spiritually without their consent. Now these guys had never met a prophet. They'd never seen a prophet. But now they're face to face with the prophet. Now whether or not they asked John if he was the Messiah the text doesn't tell us but that was certainly one of the questions that was in their mind. Because of course at this time in their history amongst the people there was an anticipation of the Messiah and remember some 30 years earlier there had been rumblings in the area of Judea about certain miraculous events that had happened. About an old priest who had seen a vision and was given a promise that his son was going to be instrumental in introducing the Messiah and there was the story then about this young virgin who supposedly conceived and there was an angelic visitation and some shepherds were told that the Savior was born and there was a bit of a stir within the kingdom when King Herod had heard about these things and men had traveled from the other side of the world because they had heard something to this effect. But now 30 years have gone by and suddenly this voice this man crying out in the wilderness and so perhaps they still had a bit of recollection of those things that had gone on back 30 years ago and they're wondering is this the Christ? It would be about the time that he would probably begin his ministry 30 years and John of course we know from the other Gospels describes to us what he looked like he was he looked pretty wild he was dressed much like Elijah the prophet was dressed in those olden days and so they're inquiring are you the Christ but John says no I am not the Messiah so their second guess was maybe he was Elijah. You see Malachi the last prophetic voice to the nation had told them to expect Elijah to come before the great and the awesome day of the Lord so the Jews were anticipating the return of Elijah they are still anticipating the Orthodox at least are still anticipating the return of Elijah today so they said are you Elijah? John says no I'm not and then they asked him an interesting question they said are you the prophet? Now in Deuteronomy 18 Moses had prophesied that God would raise up to the nation a prophet just like him. Now the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus was the one that was being prophesied concerning that Jesus was actually the fulfillment of that that prophecy of a prophet being raised up but the Jews did not understand that to be a messianic prophecy they consider this prophet to be a different person and they still do to this day but this is their question are you that prophet? And he answered and he said no so they said well then who are you? I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. The ministry of John the Baptist was first of all to be the herald of the Messiah he came as that voice crying in the wilderness and here John is quoting from the 40th chapter and the third verse of Isaiah the verse actually reads this the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Malachi had also prophesied of the coming of John in the third chapter the first verse behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. To me that's so interesting that the last prophetic voice to the nation was concerning the coming of this herald the coming of this messenger who would go before the Messiah and announce the Messiah and when the silence is broken that is the very first voice that the nation hears the voice of that messenger but there were other prophecies concerning John not contained in the Old Testament but yet coming in that Old Testament dispensation recorded though in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke the angel Gabriel prophesied concerning the ministry of John and this is what Gabriel said he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God he will go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the father to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord so the angel Gabriel prophesied the coming of John you remember in the other gospels were told that at a certain point the people are wondering about John they're wondering was he really a prophet Jesus said oh yes he was a prophet I'll tell you he was more than a prophet and Jesus went on to say as a matter of fact of those born among women there is not been a greater than John the Baptist the angel Gabriel spoke of his coming in his ministry but John's father who was a priest he also prophesied concerning John at his birth and this is what he said and you child will be called the prophet of the highest for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins so you see John's first ministry was that of a herald he came to announce to the people that the Lord was coming but he also came secondly as a baptizer and of course we know him historically as John the Baptist and so as we continue on in verse 24 now those who were sent were from the Pharisees so in this delegation of men that came there was a number of Pharisees and these were the ones who were really the spiritual rulers of the land this the Sadducees the priestly family although they should have been the spiritual rulers they were more political and spiritual and they had long ago left off any real serious belief in the promises of God but the Pharisees they held on to the law and they saw themselves as the custodians of the law and they are the ones who are now quizzing John and so they asked him saying why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet why do you baptize now baptism wasn't something that was unheard of or unknown to the Jews but baptism was reserved for proselytes it was reserved for Gentiles who converted to Judaism the Jews of course felt that the Gentiles needed that purification that cleansing they were contaminated they were corrupted and so when a Gentile would convert to Judaism they would go through a baptismal process so it wasn't something that they were unfamiliar with but the thing that really was puzzling them and no doubt bothering them was that John was not baptizing Gentiles he was baptizing Jews and this would have enraged them who does he think he is what is he doing calling Jews to be baptized doesn't he know that we're God's chosen people doesn't he know that we don't need that kind of cleansing those would have been the things that would have been going on in the minds of these men baptism the word the Greek word baptizo it literally means to dip or to die metaphorically it meant to change identity appearance or even to change relationships what John was doing was he was calling the people to a renewal of their relationship with God that's what John was doing he was he was getting them prepared for the Lord to come he was calling them to renew their relationship with the Lord now John said in response to them he said I baptize with water but there stands one among you whom you do not know it is he who coming after me is preferred before me who sandal strap I am not worthy to loose and these things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing so they're asking him what are you doing baptizing he doesn't really answer he simply says I'm baptizing with water but there stands one among you here's a subtle indictment against the leadership of the nation right here there stands one among you whom you do not know you see they should have known they should have expected they should have believed those things that they had heard about some thirty years earlier because it was to the very leadership of the nation that that knowledge had come you remember Herod called all the leadership together and asked them where is the Messiah to be born and they said in Bethlehem because he had heard from these distant travelers these these wise men these kings he had heard that the king of the Jews was born so you see they should have been expecting all of this but their hearts were hard and so John subtly alludes to that hardness here there stands one among you whom you do not know and then John shows his humility by referring to Christ as one who sandal strap I'm not worthy to unloose now this is a very interesting little thing that John said here amongst the rabbis the rabbis had disciples and the disciples would serve the rabbis and they would do many things just to help them and to bless them and there were a number of things that it was seen as legitimate for a disciple to do for a rabbi but there's actually a statement in the rabbinic literature that declares that a disciple of the rabbi could not loose the sandal strap for them that that was even below a disciple it was reserved specifically for a slave John puts himself not in the position of a disciple not even below the disciple in the position of a slave John says I'm not even worthy to do what a slave would do for the one who's coming I'm not worthy to unloose the sandal strap so these things were done there in the Jordan and the next day we read John 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 is preferred before me for he was before me I did not know him but that he should be revealed to Israel therefore I came baptizing with water and John bore witness saying I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained upon him I did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God John came as a herald he came as a baptizer he came as a witness he came to point men to Jesus Christ and so as Jesus now arrives in that crowd now John the Apostle he picks up the historical account a little bit into these events he doesn't pick it up where it actually began historically picks it up a little bit further down the road Jesus has already been baptized by John at this point John has already understood that Jesus was indeed the Messiah John himself you know Jesus and John they were distant relatives there was some family connection it had to be a fairly distant family connection because Jesus was of the tribe of Judah and John was a Levite as a matter of fact John the Baptist was a priest he did not function as a priest but he was legitimately a priest he was the son of a priest and his lineage was traced back to Aaron himself back to the brother of Moses so there was a distant relationship between these two men but it's highly probable that they never met before this point Mary and Joseph lived in Galilee Elizabeth and Zacharias lived in Judea they were very old when John was born we don't have any idea how long they lived after that we read about John that he spent most of his time growing up out in the wilderness of Judea being prepared for his mission by God himself so Jesus comes John is baptizing Jesus comes John doesn't know that he's the Messiah but God has told him how to identify the Messiah he said the one upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining that is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit in other words God had told him you will identify the Messiah by the spirit descending and remaining upon one that you baptize so John came baptizing so he might identify the Messiah and then point the nation to the Messiah and that's what we see him doing here the next day when John saw Jesus coming toward him he said behold or look there there he is and John uses this interesting terminology he said the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world now Jesus of course is spoken of as the Lamb of God and there have been some who have interpreted by that that what's being referred to was the character of Jesus or the nature of Jesus that he came among us meek and lowly and humble and gentle like a lamb and that is certainly true but that's not what this reference is to the reference is to the Lamb in a sacrificial sense the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world if you think all the way back in history to the very beginning of time to the earliest stages of human history we have the introduction of animal sacrifices when Adam and Eve sinned and tried to cover themselves with those big leaves you remember God replaced those fig leaves with the skins of animals the implication is that God slew animals and skinned them in order to cover Adam and Eve the children of Adam and Eve you remember they offered sacrifices to the Lord and their son Abel was a shepherd and he brought a sacrifice from the flock and all throughout history from the very earliest days there was established this understanding amongst men that sacrifice had to be made for atonement to occur that the the sacrifice of an innocent victim had to be made this was a universal concept until fairly recently when modernism dawned then of course they rejected all of this stuff but historically all throughout human history and even amongst many people today who haven't been affected by Western thought there's still that idea that has been with man from the very beginning that idea that sacrifice must occur in order for atonement to take place did you know that in the Chinese alphabet the word righteousness you know in Chinese they write with characters not with letters but with little pictures actually and the word for righteousness in Chinese going way way back in the in the history of their language the word for righteousness is depicted by a person with a lamb above them a lamb over me is the picture of righteousness to the Chinese a lamb over me a lamb covering me the idea of sacrifice the idea of blood being shed to cover that's the picture among the ancient Chinese of righteousness and you can find that lace throughout all of the ancient world this idea this concept of atonement being made through sacrifice but of course in the pages of scripture we have the more specific instruction that's given and we find that in Genesis we find with Abraham you remember as Abraham walked through this prophetic picture with his son Isaac taking Isaac at God's command to Mount Moriah and they're offering him up were at least seemingly going to offer him up and there Abraham is about to slay Isaac and the angel of the Lord stops him and then the Lord goes on to tell him that he would provide a sacrifice but at a certain point Isaac says to Abraham father where is the sacrifice we have the fire we have the wood for the altar where's the sacrifice and Abraham says the Lord shall provide himself a sacrifice God provided a lamb as a sacrifice further on in history we come to the story of the Passover when God would send his people Israel when he would deliver them out of Egypt and you remember what they were to do they were to take a lamb and they were to slay that lamb and they were to put the blood of that lamb over the doorpost of their home and when the angel of death passed through Egypt he would pass over those homes that were marked with the blood of the lamb the law itself required a daily sacrifice morning and evening sacrifice a lamb to be offered in the morning and in the evening to atone for the sin of the people and all of these things were pointing to the lamb of God the lamb that God would provide that he told us about in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah where we read specifically concerning the Messiah Jesus that he was led as a lamb to the slaughter the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world now that would have been in and of itself pretty mind boggling when John said that remember his audience is a Jewish audience and their whole understanding was that these promises these blessings this messianic person and and this messianic era was primarily all about them John the Baptist speaking under the influence of the Spirit says behold the lamb of God who takes away not simply the sin of Israel but who takes away the sin of the world Jesus did not die for the Jew only but he died for the Gentile as well Jesus didn't die for just a few Jesus died for all of mankind he's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and any person who will put their trust in him he will take away their sin he's provided for that to be accomplished do what he did upon the cross but notice what John says he says behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world that's what Jesus came to do he came to take away our sin he came to take away first of all the penalty for our sin what is the penalty for sin the penalty for sin is spiritual and ultimately eternal death that's the penalty for sin and we need to pray that the modern or postmodern mind however you want to refer to man's thinking process today we need to pray for people that they come to understand that this is a reality that has never changed and cannot in any way shape or form be altered the penalty for sin is still spiritual and eternal separation for God God hasn't changed his standard his requirements he hasn't changed any of that one iota it's all still perfectly intact but Jesus came to take away sin he came to take away the penalty of sin so that we no longer have to be punished for our sin you see that's what he was experiencing on the cross he was being punished for our sin so God could take away the penalty of our sin and we would no longer have to experience death spiritually or eternally but he came to take away our sin also in the sense of he came to take away the power of sin sin is this unbelievable power it is a power that dominates the life of every person outside of Jesus Christ it's a power that is impossible to break free from apart from the power of God sin overpowers man and dominates a man's life but Jesus came to take away our sin he came to take away the power of sin so that sin no longer controls us it no longer dominates us and that's the beautiful thing that happens when a person receives Christ the power of sin is broken in their lives and now I'm no longer living in bondage to sin I'm no longer doing those destructive things I'm no longer controlled by those forces I'm free now to live a righteous life and to serve God ultimately Jesus will take away the very presence of sin he came to take away the sin of the world its penalty its power and ultimately its presence one day thank God the presence of sin will be completely removed from our lives it will be one day completely removed from the experience of all of creation that's how thorough the work of Jesus upon the cross is to take away sin ultimately to take away its presence Jesus Christ is first and foremost a Savior that's what Jesus is above everything else he didn't come as a conqueror a philosopher or a mere teacher of morality people want to put Jesus in all different kinds of roles of course the Jews were expecting the Messiah to be primarily a conqueror they didn't even think of themselves as sinners so the last thing on their mind was that they needed somebody to deal with their sin their biggest problem in their understanding was the oppressive Roman power so in their thinking process the Messiah is a conqueror he's going to come he's going to conquer our enemies and he's going to exalt us and he's going to set up a worldwide Jewish kingdom they were looking for a conqueror others want Jesus to be a philosopher they want to categorize him with some of the other great thinkers philosophers and of course we see that so clearly I was looking through a description of a college course this past week and that particular course was a course on the great men and women that have impacted the history of the world and you know they just go through a list of all different kinds of people and they have the philosophers they have Aristotle and Plato and you know from ancient times right on down to fairly modern times and they've got a little section for Jesus there put him right in there you know he's he said some significant things but they classify him as a philosopher he's not a philosopher he's a Savior and then there are those that want to put him in that category of just a teacher of morality but of course Jesus doesn't allow us to fit him into any one of these places he came to save sinners he came to do for man that which man could never do for himself to do that which money and learning can never attain to do that which is essential to man's real happiness to take away sin all the money in the world can't take away sin all the education in the world can't take away sin you know that's the one of the huge deceptions of of the modern mind or man's thinking in these days so often we hear that it's education if we just were better educated we could solve all the world's problems did you know it was the most educated nation on the planet that started the Second World War the Germans were highly educated the most brutal regiment of young men maybe in history were were the SS troops they were also the most highly educated in the nation so this idea that education is somehow a savior history itself proves that to be false you see it's not money it's not education it's not culturalization or whatever else the whole problem is sin and Jesus came as a savior for sin I was talking to my son last week he's teaching through the Sermon on the Mount and he was calling me to tell me about the Bible study that he was going to give that night and he was just telling me about some of the things that were ministering to him as he was reading through it and he said you know something really struck him in a profound way as he was reading about Jesus there in Luke's account of the Sermon on the Mount he was reading about Jesus coming to this level place and as he was there and seated that all of the masses of people came to him and they were there with all of their problems their sicknesses and their poverty and their weaknesses and their just every infirmity imaginable and he said as he was reading it he said all of a sudden it struck him this very thing that we're talking about he said all of a sudden it struck him Jesus came primarily as a savior he came to save all these people he came to do for them what nobody else could do no great army could solve their problem no amount of money could solve their problems no amount of education could solve their problems they needed something beyond that he came as a savior but John tells us concerning Jesus an interesting thing here he tells us that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit Jesus is the baptizer in the Spirit Jesus is the one who gives us a new identity when he baptizes us in his spirit and this is in John's use of this terminology here he's really talking about salvation he's talking about conversion he's not talking so much about the baptism in the Spirit that would be talked about in the future for empowering although Jesus is certainly the one who does that as well but John's talking more about salvation but go back to what I said earlier about baptism it means to change identity appearance or even to change relationships Jesus came to give us a new identity you know we really shouldn't even so much identify ourselves as sinners anymore we should really more identify ourselves as believers we still have issues we still have sin problems in our lives but we're not sinners anymore we've been given a new life we've been given the life of God and we have a new identity we're now in Christ that results in a new appearance when Jesus comes into a person's life we go through an outward transformation we change we look different I know so many people I remember people before and after their conversion and I have witnessed people going from looking old and beaten up and ragged and haggard from the world and then they come to Christ and as they seek the Lord and walk with him a few years later you look at me and think wow they look younger and better more healthy vibrant than they did when I met him Jesus gives us a new appearance and of course he gives us a new relationship he brings us into a relationship with God he also gives us power and that of course is what the baptism of the Spirit is about for the believer it's about power but as we close there are two things I want to say one to those who are believers here tonight and this might not apply to many but it would perhaps apply to a few what we have seen here tonight as we've looked at the story of the beginning of the ministry of John what we've seen is the silence that long long silent period we've seen the silence broken maybe God has been silent as far as you're concerned maybe you just have been in a place where you just you just don't hear the Lord saying anything to you it doesn't seem like anything is happening didn't seem like you're making any progress everything seems to be dark now when that occurs our immediate thought is what did I do wrong oh no there must be some sin in my life now that could be of course a possible reason why that takes place but it's not always the case there are times when God is simply silent because he chooses to be silent there's nothing that we can do to break the silence except wait I want to encourage you keep waiting keep watching keep listening you might say oh you don't know how long I've been waiting no I don't but I know this it hasn't been 400 years the silence will break the silence will break God will speak and blessings will flow and you know it just the thing is sometimes it just happens when you least expect it you know there have been other what you might call silent years in the history of God's people think of another 400 year period the 400 years between Jacob going down to Egypt and Moses coming to deliver the people from their bondage 400 years that was a period of silence for the most part it wasn't until Moses came onto the scene as God's spokesman that the people then began to hear God's voice again and look what God did another 400 year period but you know there have been times even in the history of the church where there has been relative silence you look at what is known in Europe as the Dark Ages in the medieval period and there was quite a bit of silence during those years men had the Word of God they misunderstood it or neglected it or rejected it and subsequently there was no word from the Lord and the people were once again laboring under legalism and bondage and it was a miserable miserable situation and it seemed to be going from bad to worse and suddenly God takes a young man and he wakes him up to the power of the Word of God and this young man goes out and begins to preach the Word of God and a great revolution broke out all over Europe one of Luther's biographers said this about him he said Luther shocked the world when he came forth as a master of the biblical text nobody in Luther's day knew the Bible they didn't study it they didn't teach it the church had locked it away the greatest theological minds of the day had never even laid their eyes on a copy of the scriptures Luther comes forth as a master of the biblical text he mastered the Bible and he went forth preaching the word and it revolutionized the world when God steps in when he intervenes man it's powerful so keep on waiting keep on watching keep on listening remember what Malachi said for those who look for him the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings for those who are looking for him we have to keep looking for him and trusting in him for those though who haven't yet received Christ perhaps there are some here with us tonight or maybe you have received Christ but you haven't taken your commitment to him seriously remember what John said there stands one among you who you do not know are you aware that Jesus Christ is in your midst and that he is calling you to become his disciple do you know that the time is short and the door of mercy will soon be closed do you realize that Christ rejected will soon be Christ withdrawn think about that Christ rejected will soon be Christ withdrawn you see God extends his offer he holds it out but he doesn't hold it out forever when Jesus comes by it is so vital that we lay hold of him when he passes by Jesus would say at one point concerning the towns and villages that he visited he would say salvation has come near to you salvation was right there walking through their streets but they missed it it will be better at the last day to have never been born than to have had Christ standing among us and not to have known him you don't know him tonight or if you haven't taken your relationship with him seriously now is the time there stands one among you lay hold of him let's pray father we thank you for your faithful promise and Lord we see your faithfulness as we look at this beginning of the ministry of our Lord Jesus and as we see John coming onto the scene after 400 years in fulfillment of your word and the silence is broken Lord there's so many things that we've looked at tonight that we're thankful for we're thankful for the Lamb of God who's taken away our sin taken away its penalty its power and ultimately its presence Lord we thank you that you are a savior that you came to save us we thank you Lord that you're faithful and you keep your word and even though we might be in a season of silence we thank you that you're going to speak give us the patience to wait for you and Lord draw those to yourself tonight that need to get right with you we pray in Jesus name Amen