John Chapter 1:21-38

The lowest servant of the house would be responsible for taking the sandals off and washing the feet of the visitor. And John is saying, you know what, I'm not even worthy to be the lowest servant in the house in regards to Jesus.

Again, his humility. I mean, we need more pastors and preachers and we need more people serving who have this kind of humility in regards to who they serve and why they serve. Not, well, if I'm going to serve, I need this. That's not serving. Well, if I'm going to serve, I need that.

I need people to speak to me like this. Well, I was serving and so-and-so looked at me wrong. Who are you serving? Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. And we're glad to have one of David McGee's associate pastors, D.A.

Brown, here with us as Pastor David continues through the book of John. Bob, no matter where you are in life, the bottom line is that Christians should be humbly and actively serving the Lord. But D.A., does it really matter if you serve the Lord?

Isn't it enough just to believe that Jesus is there? Bob, it's exciting and motivating when you figure out that you've been given gifts uniquely and specifically to you to serve the Lord with. I'm sure David McGee will explain more of this and how we can serve the Lord in a proper way as he continues teaching in the Gospel of John. Turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 21.

Let's pick up there. And this is John the Baptist being confronted with the Jewish leadership of the day. 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? Verse 23 said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. Verse 24. Now 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? John answered them saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know. There stands one among you whom you do not know. I hope this doesn't describe you this morning. Jesus is here this morning. Do you realize that?

Do you know him? Or is there one standing here that you do not yet know? Again, John the Baptist is an incredible, incredible man.

We are going to look at his time in prison when he was going through some struggles. But he was, I believe, probably one of the most important prophets in the Old Testament. Old Testament. Now you're thinking, it's Pastor David, Sunday morning, we're in the New Testament.

No, I know what I just said. John the Baptist was one of the most important prophets in the Old Testament. Yes, we're in the New Testament reading this morning, but let me ask you a question. Had Jesus Christ died? No. Was the New Testament established?

No. But we're reading about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was one of the most important prophets in the Old Testament. He formed part of the bridge between the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament and the New Testament, proclaiming the coming of the Lord. Verse 27, it is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.

Now not being familiar with the culture, let me explain something. The lowest servant of the house would be responsible for taking the sandals off and washing the feet of the visitor. And John is saying, you know what, I'm not even worthy to be the lowest servant in the house in regards to Jesus.

Again, his humility. I mean, we need more pastors and preachers and we need more people serving who have this kind of humility in regards to who they serve and why they serve. Not, well, if I'm going to serve, I need this. That's not serving. Well, if I'm going to serve, I need that.

I need people to speak to me like this and they need to, you know, I hear about it. Well, I was serving and so-and-so looked at me wrong. Who were you serving? Well, I served and I worked real hard and nobody said thank you. See, you know what God does?

It's an interesting thing. If you're doing it so that somebody will say thank you, you know what God will make sure happens? He'll make sure nobody says thank you to remind you of why you're supposed to be doing it. And if you're doing it for him, what does it matter if somebody says thank you? Now, guys, I'm not, don't twist this, okay?

You know, you go home and your wife give you something to drink. I'm not going to say thank you. Pastor David said not to do it. That's not what I just said.

You should say thank you and please and love is not rude, we're told in 1 Corinthians 13. But check your motivations. Check your motivations. I'm amazed that the Lord allows me to serve him. I'm humbled. Boy, there's so many other people that he could choose to serve him. Somehow he chooses us and we should serve him. Life lesson number four, Christians should be actively and humbly serving the Lord. You should be actively and humbly serving the Lord. I don't understand people who, and you know what, if this offends you, we don't strike that word. If this convicts you, praise God.

I don't mean it to offend you, but if it convicts you, that's the Holy Spirit. I don't understand people who go to a church on Sunday morning, they sit there, they receive the word of God that talks about serving and talks about giving of their time and their talents and their finances and they don't do any of it. Now I understand if you're here for this morning, your first time visitor or second time visitor, we want to pour into you. We want to pour the greatest treasure that we know into you, the word of God. And then as your cup gets full, I think it's natural to begin to overflow that cup and to begin serving. I believe we're all supposed to be disciples. And what happens is if you're not serving, you're the one getting ripped off. It's not like we really need one more person to do this or that the other. So I'm not saying these things that drum up more servants. We're blessed. And for those of you who are serving, praise God, thank you.

But if you're not, you should be. And I say that to see you grow as a Christian, to be a mature Christian. Verse 28 says, these things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. Now this is an interesting detail.

Remember guys, there's no detail that's just slipped in here. We're told Bethabara. Why are we told that John's baptizing in Bethabara?

Whenever you see something that you don't understand, make a mental note. And I guarantee you whether it's days or hours or years, the Holy Spirit will answer that question. Bethabara, I think in it, why Bethabara? Joshua chapter 4 verse 19 says, now the people came up from the Jordan and on the 10th day of the first month and they camped in Gagau on the east border of Jericho and those 12 stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gagau.

Gagau is near Bethabara. Why is that important? Joshua set up the stones beside the Jordan to symbolize the tribes of Israel. And John the Baptist was baptizing there.

Why is that important? Because it sheds light on Matthew chapter 3 verse 7. When John says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come into his baptism, he said to them, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.

John was very seeker sensitive. He actually started that whole thing in verse 9. And do not say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. You see when John said that, he was pointing to the stones that Joshua had put there symbolizing the tribes of Israel. The whole book is connected guys, I understand that. In verse 29, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Man, there is a lot there. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Well, he takes away the sin of the world. Does this mean that nobody really needs to get saved because Jesus took away all the sins? It's not what it means. No, there's a thing running through, it's running through Christianity now, it's called universal atonement.

I'm amazed that people are buying into this. And what that means is that Jesus died, follow the logic, Jesus died for everybody. Okay, we're on the same page so far. So nobody needs to get saved. I read in a Christian magazine about a guy saying, yep, we're all going. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Islamic, everybody's going.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. That salvation is available to everyone. Did Jesus die for your sins?

You got to make that decision. Oh yeah, he makes it available. But if you reject him, you are rejecting the forgiveness that he offers. There is a hell, guys.

It's a very real place. Does God send anybody there? No, they send themselves. See everybody that's in hell will be there because, not because of what they did, but because of what they didn't do. They didn't receive Jesus as their savior. They rejected Jesus and made a decision. See, you make a decision which God you want to spend eternity with. God gives you that decision.

You can spend it with him in heaven, which I would highly recommend, or you can choose the loser and the enemy of your soul in eternal punishment. Isaiah 53, seven says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it sure as a silent, so he opened not his mouth. Again, we are likened to sheep in the scriptures.

So to say that Jesus is the lamb, once again, identifies him with us. We've talked about the goel, kinsman redeemer, the redeemer. That word goel is a Hebrew word. It's made up of two words, gimel and el. El always stands for God.

When you see el Shaddai or el, that means God. The gimel is the picture of, well, in ancient Hebrew, it used to be the picture of a camel because when you get on a camel, you're lifted up. And so that gimel came to mean lifted up.

So what does goel mean? When God is lifted up, means redeemed. That's what Jesus came here to be, to be lifted up. Remember in John chapter 3, he said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me. Not talking about being praised, but he was talking about, and John records it signifying which death he would die. The lamb is a theme through the Bible.

This isn't something that John just introduced. You've got Abel sacrificing a lamb in Genesis 4. You've got Isaac, the lamb being substituted for him in Genesis 22. You got the Passover lamb in Exodus 12. And then you've got John here proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the lamb of God. And then in Revelation, you've got people saying worthy is the lamb that was slain.

There's an interesting parallel to life here. I wonder where you are on that journey. Maybe you're like Cain, Cain offering the sweat of his efforts, his works to gain access to God.

That doesn't work. If you haven't figured that out yet, your works cannot earn you entrance into heaven. It cannot earn you a relationship with the Lord. It's only by grace. Or maybe you're to the point that you realize that there is a lamb, but he's not yet your lamb. But where we need to end up guys, where we need to end up family is in Revelation and saying worthy. Worthy is the lamb. Not only realizing who it is, but making him our own and blessing his name in praise. Where are you on that journey?

Are you to that point? Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Worthy of all glory and honor. Whatever I can do in my life, he's given me more.

He's done more for me than I can ever do for him. Again, looking at Jesus, not looking at ourselves. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A. Brown.

Hey, Bob. We want to take a minute to pray for our listeners in these cities. In California, we have Joshua Tree, Lake Isabella, Lakehead, Las Cruces, Laurel, Lompoc, and the San Jose area. God, we thank you for these cities. We pray for the leaders in these cities that you would give them wisdom and discernment. We pray that people would be following you with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength.

And they'd be sharing with others the hope that they found in you. We pray that many would accept that offer of hope and eternal salvation, and that they would get plugged in Bible-teaching churches, and they would begin to grow in their relationship with you and be a blessing to other people. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 30. This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me. Well, that's interesting because Scripture records that John in the natural was six months older than Jesus. John is talking about the pre-existence of Christ.

And you can't have a pre-existence without recognizing the deity of Jesus Christ. So once again, those people who say Jesus is not God, never claimed to be in the Bible, doesn't say he is God, are just wrong. Because here's yet another verse of John saying, you know what?

Before I was, he was. Verse 31. 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 it remained upon him. And 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.

Now, it's interesting. There's a picture of the Trinity right there, people that deny the Trinity. You've got Jesus standing there. You've got the Spirit descending upon him, and you've got a voice of the Father coming from heaven.

That's three eternally existent in one, the Trinity. In verse 34, and I've seen and testified that this is the Son of God. Again, people that say that Jesus didn't claim to be God, or they've never read the Bible.

And there's a whole lot of them out here. Says he's the Son of God. You know what that means? That he's God. He is God. He's not a Son of God. He's the Son of God. And we're referred to as children, but the wording is different for the Son, the begotten, the only, the unique.

We talked about that last week. Now, you know, hundreds of years ago, there was a guy, Gregory Mendel, and he discovered one of the laws of genetics is like produces like. It's still very confusing to some evolutionist, but like produces like. If we have a garden, and you know what, if I want corn to come up, you know what I plant? Radishes, and I just pray real hard. Now, I plant corn. Some of us are kind of doing that.

We're planting radishes and hoping corn will come up. Like produces like. Speaks of Jesus being the Son of God. Obviously, he is the Son of God, and he is God. Again, verse 35. Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, behold the Lamb of God. Again, in case you missed it the first time, John says it twice. The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

Awesome. Verse 38. Then Jesus turned, seeing them following, said to them, what do you see? They said to him, Rabbi, which is to say, when translated, teacher, where are you staying? Now, this is interesting because John's writing to Jewish as well as Gentile audience, so what you'll see is when he uses a Hebrew word, he explains it.

That lets us know who he's writing to. That's important as we dig into the Gospel of John to understand he's writing to both the Jewish people and the Gentiles. What's Gentile?

Gentile is just a non-Jew because he explains what rabbi is, means teacher, but I love the question. Jesus says, what are you looking for? What do you seek?

Just cuts to the chase, doesn't it? What a great question. I think it's a good question for us to ask this morning. What are you looking for? What are you seeking?

What are you seeking? What did you come here this morning for? We're not here by coincidence, guys. We're here because somehow God drew us here this morning to speak to you.

It doesn't even matter amazingly enough. It doesn't matter if you came to the revelation before you came this, I'm going there to seek Jesus. Some of us did, some of us didn't. Some of us just went, well, your mom says I gotta go, I gotta go. Or, you know, my kids say I gotta go, I gotta go.

But it's more than that. See, even if you're here this morning and you're not looking for him, he's looking for you. He's been looking for you. He's been searching for you. Even as some of you have been running, some of you have been hiding. He's been looking for you.

And he brought you here this morning to reassure you of that fact. What are you looking for? Are you looking for material goods and possessions?

Oh, man, I sure hope you're not that cheaply satisfied because life is about a whole lot more. And the Lord is searching for you this morning. Just like in the garden years ago, he's saying, where are you? And we can try to hide and try to cover up. But let me ask you, where do you hide from God? The Psalmist says there's no way that you can hide from God. But some of you may even be here this morning trying to hide from God in a church.

You've been running, you've been hiding, you've been covering up. And the Lord's saying, where are you? He wants to fellowship with you, not just on Sunday morning, guys. He wants to fellowship with you every single day of the week. The reality is when we don't spend time with the Lord, He misses you.

How amazing that is. He wants to satisfy you and He realizes that you're looking for more than what the earth can offer, earthly treasures and worldly pleasures. Those things don't satisfy you for very long. It's like Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 14, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. What are you drinking from this morning? What are you drinking from? Are you drinking from this world? Are you drinking from success or trying to drink from prosperity or try to drink from this or from that?

Well, you know what? You're going to be thirsty again. There's only one thing that you can drink from that will really quench your thirst.

And that's the living water that Jesus offers us. Now guys, I know, I know some of you are empty. I know some of you came here this morning with empty places in your life, with dry places.

And part of you is very thirsty. But let me assure you, the Lord wants to quench that thirst. The Lord wants to fill those empty places in your life.

And I know you have them. But if you just hide and act like those places don't exist, God won't violate your free will. He won't fill you where you won't lift the place up.

But if this morning you'll humble yourself and say, Lord, you know what? I do have those empty spaces. I do need you to fill some places in my life.

I do have some places where I don't have places where I've been coming first and I don't want to do that anymore. There's some places, Lord, that nobody else knows about that I need you to touch. And if you'll be bold enough and honest enough to say that this morning, let me assure you, God is faithful. And He will pour into those places. But if somehow you're able to sit through the service and act like none of this is going on, you're going to walk out just as thirsty as when you came in. And it will not be God's fault.

It will be yours and yours alone. Guys, I think sometimes we want to act like we're not desperate for God when we are. Whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, we're desperate for God. If you came here for whatever reason, the reality is God is seeking you. God brought you here this morning because He desires to fill those empty places. Somehow we've gotten in our head that if we can just get fixed, then we can come to God.

That is so backwards. The psalmist tells us in chapter 34 that God is near to those who are of a broken heart. God will do as He promises to do, to fill you. And he says, come to me, all you who are heavy laden. Man, it's time to quit carrying the baggage and the burdens, to ask the Lord to touch you, to ask the Lord to fill those empty places.

I don't need to know what those empty spaces are. That's between you and the Lord. But you need to hold that cup up to the Lord and say, Lord, fill my cup.

As you realize that He is what you're looking for. All the other stuff of the world is going to leave you thirsty. What you need, friend, is that living water. And He's here and ready to give it to you this morning.

Let's pray. Lord, I thank you that this morning you're here. And Lord, somehow we think that when we get it all figured out, that you're available to us. Lord, that's not the gospel. The gospel is, Lord, even though we're broken and hungry and thirsty, even though we can't fix ourselves, Lord, you desire to touch us. Lord, I pray for those who are here this morning and are willing to admit that they have those empty spaces.

And maybe it's been a while since they've repented. Lord, I pray a special blessing over those and ask, Lord, that you would give them the strength and the boldness to lift their cup to you, to say, yes, I do need a touch. And Lord, we thank you that your desire is to fill us. Lord, we can trust and know that you are faithful. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him. And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at PO Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. That sounds good, Pastor DA.

And again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.