The Greatest Man Meets the Greatest Lamb - Part A

Know who you are. Know who you are, and in knowing who you are it means knowing who you're not.

John could say who he's not and then who he is. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not Elijah. I'm not the prophet. I'm a voice. And that's the first step in being a witness is being aware, knowing who you are. And knowing who you're not is a good first step. And just as John said, I am not the Messiah.

I'm now going to tell you something I know is painfully obvious, but you're not the Messiah either. And welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. The World's Finest was a comic book from DC Comics that debuted in 1941 and featured a regular team-up between Superman and Batman. These two icons have been paired together many times since, and although the book that began their friendship is no longer around, when the two of them team up, they're still often referred to as The World's Finest. Well, today here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, we're going to talk about a super team-up of a different sort.

But before we get to that, here's what we have for you this month at connectwithskip.com. Women play a huge role in the biblical narrative. From Eve to Esther to Bathsheba to Priscilla, we find stories of faith and failings. Lenya Heitzig explores four queens of the Bible in her new teaching series. Here's where we see Bernice sitting right by his side. Unfortunately, Bernice is going to go with the flow, succumb to peer pressure, and remain silent. Hear more from Lenya as she explores four different queens in Scripture.

And when you give $35 or more today, we'll send you the Queens of the Bible collection of teachings as our way of saying thank you. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. The crowd was watching. Bernice was watching.

Agrippa was watching. And you know you do stupid things in peer pressure. You'll say you don't like a movie you really like because everybody else says they don't like it.

Whatever it is, you'll succumb to the peer pressure. Get your copy of these special teachings. Visit connectwithskip.com slash offer to give online securely today. Or call 800-922-1888. We resume our study in John chapter 1 today. So if you turn there in your Bibles, let's join Skip Heitzig. Verse 23, he said to them, I am, and they probably move forward like yeah, yeah. And he gives them the answer. I am the voice.

That's it? Yep, I'm the voice. I'm not the word.

He's the word. I'm just the voice of the word. I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I'm a nobody.

But I'm telling you about a somebody. I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, quoting Isaiah chapter 40, reaching back 700 years. Make straight the way of the Lord.

Don't you love that? I'm just a road worker, John said. I'm helping get that path straight that you need to walk on to get your lives straight with God. That's all I am. Boy, John could have answered that question in a number of ways, couldn't he?

Based upon what we know about him and what Jesus said about him. He could have said, you want to know who I am? I'll tell you who I am. I am the son of the great priest Zacharias, whom you know. They would have gone, wow, that's pretty cool.

He didn't say that. He could have said, I'll tell you who I am. I am the child who is filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. None of you can say that. And they would have said, wow. John could have said, you want to know who I am? I'm the greatest guy who ever lived.

And he would have been right. Jesus said that about him. I'm the herald of the Messiah. But in humility, he says, I'm just a voice. I'm not the message. I'm just the messenger. The message, the word is Jesus.

I am the messenger. I want to give you a quick thumbnail sketch of John the Baptist so we can get background so we can just move on in this book. Let me just tell you about his early years. His dad was a priest, Zacharias. His mom was named Elizabeth.

Both of them were old and childless and beyond the capability of bearing children. It was a miraculous birth. Zacharias, his dad, was performing his ritual in the temple of burning incense as he was doing that one day.

The angel Gabriel appeared to him, the big dog angel. And says, Zacharias, you and your wife, Elizabeth, are going to have a son and he will be great in the sight of the Lord. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. And gave a prophecy of John the Baptist. Well, Zacharias sees the angel Gabriel, hears the words, and he goes, I don't believe it.

Isn't that interesting? I want a sign. You want a what? What is an angel talking to you? So he says, you want a sign?

I'll give you a sign. And he struck him dumb so that he couldn't speak for nine months while his wife was pregnant. So he gets out of the temple. He's all excited as what he's seen.

And all he can do is go, hmm, hmm, hmm. Meanwhile, and months later, when Mary, the Virgin Mary, now conceived by the Holy Spirit with a little baby growing in her womb, goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias. As Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, as soon as she calls out her name and comes into her house, Elizabeth, who would be the mother of John the Baptist, she's now five to six months pregnant at that time, said to Mary, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ear, the babe leapt for joy in my womb. That was John the Baptist. Little John Baptist in the womb. Well, eventually John was born. And when he was born and they asked the dad, what are we going to name him? They expected to hear Zacharias. You name him after the father, Zach Jr.

He scribbles out on a tablet, John. That's what the angel said. Name him.

He's not going to mess with an angel anymore. John. Well, as soon as they named him that, he could speak.

And this is what he said. Zacharias said, and you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. That's quite a unique upbringing. Now, that was John as a baby. Later on, he grew up and he became a teenager. And things began to change as a teenager. I can just hear the conversation.

I like to just sort of humanize it, modernize it. Can you just hear one day Zacharias and Elizabeth are having a conversation? Honey, have you been watching how John is dressing? I mean, camels here. Come on. Oh, honey, don't worry about it.

All the kids are doing it. It's just the way it goes. Leave it alone. But John became more eccentric and was drawn toward the deserts of Judea. Not the priesthood like his father, but the deserts. Moreover, we believe that John took a special vow outlined in the Old Testament book of Numbers.

You can look it up later, called a Nazarite vow, a vow of dedication. Under the Nazarite regulations, John had to let his hair grow. He could never cut his hair.

So you can imagine what he would look like as he grew up, never cutting his hair. He could never touch anything that would defile him like a dead person. So if his dad died, he couldn't even go to the funeral. And he couldn't have anything from the vine. He couldn't drink wine. He couldn't eat raisins. He couldn't eat grapes.

It was a strict vow of separation. John lived an uncontaminated life and he wanted to do that because he wanted nothing to hinder the message he was going to preach. And if there's ever a reason for any preacher not to do certain things that are questionable, that's the reason.

To live an uncontaminated life so the message can be preached in a very clear and undiluted manner. That was John. A voice crying in the wilderness. That's his identity.

Let's look at his activity. Verse 24. Those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him saying, Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? And John answered them saying, 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 or exists or has existed before I did, even though John was older.

Whose sandals strap I am not worthy to loose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing. So we're told about his activity. He was baptizing people.

He was putting them in the water. And here's what you ought to know about this background of baptizing. Baptism is not a Christian ritual. It didn't originate in Christianity, but in Judaism. And when a Gentile wanted to become Jewish or they proselytize into the Jewish faith. So let's say you're a pagan Gentile and you've come to believe in the God of Israel and you want to worship him.

That's called a proselyte, a convert. Three things were required. Number one, instruction by the scribes.

They gave you truth, Bible studies. Number two, you had to be circumcised if you were a male. And number three, you had to be baptized in a ritualistic cleansing that spoke of the moment you were baptized, leaving the old way of life and becoming a citizen of the Jewish community. Well, now that's the problem because John the baptizer is at the Jordan River and the people around him are not Gentiles, but Jews. And he's baptizing not Gentiles coming into Judaism, but he's baptizing Jews. Who are you? And if you're not the Messiah, why are you doing this?

And I love John's answer. He just sort of dismisses the whole water baptism thing. I'm baptizing with water.

But there's one standing among you whom you don't know. And later on he says he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. You'll see that. So what John was doing was an outward sign of repentance, preparing the hearts for the Messiah. But this is what he was really doing. He was pointing people to Christ. Verse 29, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, behold. Now every time you see the word behold, it just means, hey, look, or hey, check it out.

So here's John going, hey, you guys, look, check it out. 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 or existed 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 on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God. So you get the scene. These representatives are shocked to see this crazy guy baptizing people and they demand to know who you are.

What are you doing? And why are you baptizing? And John beautifully points the spotlight away from him and puts it onto Jesus saying, look, who I am is not the issue. And this water baptism isn't the issue.

The issue is the one who is coming and is here among you. Behold, the Lamb of God. Now, John says two things about Jesus in his words, two things, one about his person and one about his mission. About his person, John unmistakably is declaring Jesus is God. When he says he is preferred before me, if you follow his language, the verses previous to this, that's what he said.

Now he repeats it. He existed before I ever did. He existed before he came to this earth. Now, if you know anything about John so far, you know that's the premise of John chapter one. The apostle John, the author John is beginning the story by saying, okay, I'm going to tell you about Jesus who is the word. He was with God and he was God.

And that word God became a human. So Jesus Christ, I want you to know from the get go is God. And I call to the stand my first witness, John the Baptist. And John the Baptist gets up to the stand and he witnesses.

He goes, yep, I agree. He is God. He's called the Son of God. That's a term for deity as we'll discover in this book. And he is preferred before me. Now, there's something that's marvelous here.

I don't want you to miss it. If Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, were cousins, what does that make Jesus and John the Baptist? Cousins. Like second cousins. So they were related. Now, to me, this adds more weight of integrity and testimony to the words of John the Baptist. Because how many of you would ever say of your cousin, my cousin is God? How many of you had a family reunion when your cousin walks in and would say, hey, look, my cousin. That's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You won't do that because you know them.

Ain't true. Well, Jesus and John grew up together and interfaced from time to time. No doubt they would go together, at least in part, up to Jerusalem and shared the festivals together. Families did that.

Family reunions. John and Jesus would no doubt be playing and conversing. And yet John the Baptist is convinced, my cousin is God. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Verse 29, that's what he says. Now, what does he mean when he says the Lamb? Because from just an animal perspective, a lamb isn't an impressive animal.

And the Jewish nation was looking for a king, a lion-like king, a lion of Judah. They wanted a king, God gave them a lamb. Look, the lamb.

What? A lamb? That's the one, the lamb? You know, people don't use lambs to protect themselves.

You've never seen a sign, have you? Beware of lamb. Watch out, I got a lamb here. Lambo. It doesn't exude strength, the idea of a lamb.

And that's not what it's meant to exude or speak of. John was the son of a priest, and priests sacrificed lambs in the temple. And to say, behold the Lamb, all of the Jewish people would know what that means.

Here is the one who would be sacrificed, and John says, for the sin of the whole world. Maybe John, when he introduced Jesus, was thinking back to Isaiah 53. He had already quoted Isaiah 40.

Maybe he was thinking back to what Isaiah said. He will be led as a lamb before the slaughter. Or maybe he was thinking back to the Passover, when a lamb was killed and the blood put on the doorpost and lentils of the Jewish homes. And they were protected by the blood of the lamb.

Now, to me this is significant. I sort of want to close before we apply this, this whole concept of the Lamb. Because, you know, people will say things like, well, I believe Jesus was just a good teacher. Well, you're right, he's the best.

He's the best teacher. But he's a lot more than just that. And that's not the reason he came. He didn't come to earth just to teach nice things to people. Others will say, well, I believe Jesus was a miracle worker. He made so many people happy by the miracles.

You're right, he did. But that's not why he came to earth. Others will say, well, I like to think of Jesus as the ultimate example of love and acceptance. Well, he certainly was that. But that's not why he came to earth.

John nails it. Look, the Lamb who takes away sin and it's the sin of the world. He is first and foremost a lamb. Israel wanted a king. God gave them what they needed, a lamb. Now, I want to close with this thought.

I asked a question at the beginning. How can we be witnesses, representatives for God in this world? How can we make our lives count so that we're not just breathing air and taking up space?

We're actually representing God faithfully, being a witness. And now I want to make these four quick application points. And if you're taking notes, note take this. Number one, be aware.

Be aware. That is, know who you are. Know who you are, and in knowing who you are it means knowing who you're not.

John could say who he's not and then who he is. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not Elijah. I'm not the prophet. I'm a voice. And that's the first step in being a witness is being aware, knowing who you are. And knowing who you're not is a good first step. And just as John said, I am not the Messiah, I'm now going to tell you something I know is painfully obvious, but you're not the Messiah either. Do you know what a load that will take off anybody in the ministry, anybody who counsels somebody else, anybody who has care and compassion and wants to fix problems? Because people come to us and we think, I got to be the answer to this person. I got to fix that person.

No, you don't. You're not Jesus. You're not the Messiah. You know Jesus. You know the Messiah.

You can take people to the one who has the answers, but you're not the answer. Keep that in mind. Be aware. Know who you are. What gifts God has given you. What callings God has given you.

Number two, be vocal. If you're going to be a witness for Christ, at some point, you're going to have to open your mouth and tell people the gospel. John said, I am a voice crying in the world. Not, I'm a good example. I'm a lifestyle. See, a lot of people think, well, I can't really tell people about Jesus. I'm not really good at that. But I can live the Christian life and live an example, and they will look to my example. Well, that's good, and I hope for all examples. But if you're a wonderful, exemplary, changed person, but you never tell people how you got that way, you're not going to help them out. They're just going to think, wow, that guy's like one in a million.

He's so sweet and forgiving and loving. And then you tell them, oh, the reason I got this way is because of Jesus Christ who changed my life. The word, that's Jesus, needs the voice. The message requires the messenger. So be aware, number two, be vocal.

Number three, be filled. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. John, or Luke 1, verse 15, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. No wonder he was so bold. No wonder he was so faithful to keep preaching what he was preaching week after week, month after month at that Jordan River. Do you think John cared if the priests and Levites liked what they heard? Do you think John the Baptist really lost any sleep if they said, I can't believe you said that. We're going to leave and go to another baptismal hole down the block where there's another preacher preaching.

I don't think he cared. He was filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Number four, so here's the first three. You are to be aware, know who you are. You are to be vocal. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Number four, we're to be a signpost. We're to point people to Jesus. That's what John did. As they made it all about John and all about water baptism, John said, it's not about me or what I'm doing here. My whole life, and it's all about him, that one. I'm a nobody.

He's the somebody. So be a signpost. Here's what you're going to discover. If you start talking to people about Jesus, they're going to want to shift the conversation away from Jesus and away from them and Jesus onto something else. They'll want to say things like, well, how come there's so many religions in the world? You can spend hours dealing with that issue. And then when you cover that issue, they'll go, well, how come there's so many denominations even in the Christian faith?

I don't know which one to believe. Oh, gosh, okay. Give me another five hours. I'll work on that one. They'll want to take you away from the heart of the issue, which is Jesus, his claims, his person, and how they relate to him. So be a signpost.

Point it to him. Hey, look, the lamb. And by the way, as you point people to Jesus, would you please point him to the real one? I mean, there's a lot of false Jesus out there. People have, oh, I believe in Jesus.

I always say, well, tell me about him. And I discover it's not always the biblical Jesus. The biblical Jesus is first and foremost the lamb who died on a cross for their sins. That's what John knew. Behold the lamb of God.

That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series Believe 879 here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. Right now, we want to tell you about a unique opportunity to take your knowledge of Scripture to a deeper level. Think taking classes in biblical studies can't fit your life? Here's Calvary College student, Cresta. After years of wanting training in ministry, I found Calvary College. Now I can deepen my walk with the Lord, and I can go as little or as often as my schedule allows. The classes are great, and the schedule definitely works around my work and family life. Learn more about God and the Bible on your schedule with Calvary College.

Apply today at calvarychurchcollege.com. Next time, Skip Heitzig asks an important question, whether or not we truly are a follower of Jesus. So come back for more here in Connect with Skip Weekend Division, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection, connection. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.