To Bear Witness

To Bear Witness 　 John 1:6-13 New King James Version (NKJV) 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 　 In the verses chosen for this sermon, we are reading the writings of the Apostle John, telling us of John the Baptist. So, we're reading John talking about John; two men very important to our faith and to the kingdom of God. Let's take a look at both men and why they are so important. First, we look at the apostle John. He traveled with our Savior through the three years of His ministry. During this time, he would have witnessed the miracles Jesus performed in healing illnesses, physical injuries, mental infirmities, and wounded souls. He watched as Jesus faced the demon possessed and the demons cried out 'What have You to do with us you Son of God?", just before He cast them out of those afflicted souls. Yes, John would have seen that even the demons, those disobedient angels who fell along side of Lucifer knew exactly who Jesus of Nazereth was! It's a shame that so many human minds are too blind to see what even the fallen know to be the truth. John was there to witness as Jesus forgave the forgotten, the harlots, the tax collectors, the theives, and all of the other disobedient souls, just like us, of their sins and told them to go and sin no more. He was there to see the water turned into wine, to see Jesus friend Lazarus raised from the dead after days lying in His tomb. John was there walking the paths around lake Galilee serving in Jesus' ministry, helping bring the Light to the lost. He was also there at the last supper, even leaning against his friend, our Redeemer as Jesus told Judas to go do as he must. John was there as Jesus blessed the bread and broke it, as He poured the wine, blessed it and passed it around and Holy Communion was implemented. John was also there as our Lord was nailed to a cross, took our sins upon Himself and gave His body as the ultimate sacrifice in order that we may be saved. John was there to bear witness to all of these things and more, so that he may record them for us to read through the centuries. He even writes in his gospel; John 20:30-31 New King James Version (NKJV) 30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. He plainly tells us that he wrote these things down so that we may have eternal life through belief in Jesus Christ. In his gospel account he tells us that John the Baptist came 'To Bear Witness", which means to testify or to declare. In the gospel of John, he uses the word 'witness' 33 times as a verb and 14 times as a noun. This gospel doesn't so much bear witness to the life of Christ as it does to His diety. Through his writings, John is telling us of Jesus miracles, which no mortal man could perform. He is testifying to us that Jesus IS the Messiah. Now, let's take a look at John the Baptist. We know through the Gospel of Luke that John's father was a Jewish priest serving in the temple when an angel of the Lord appeared to him to tell him that he would have a special son. Much like Abraham and Sarah, Zacharias and Elizabeth were of advanced age and Zacharias doubted what the angel told him and for that disbelief, he was not able to speak again until he announced to those in attendence at the naming of his son, this his name would be John, just as the angel of God had told him. We also know that during Elizabeth's pregnancy, she visited by her cousin Mary who would attend to her until she gave birth. We're also told that John leap in Elizabeth's womb because he knew that he was in the presence of his Lord who was in Mary's womb at the time. Even before his birth, John was already witnessing to us! In adulthood, John would have his own ministry, which most of us don't even think of as a ministry, even though he had many disciples following his teaching, preached repentence of sins, preached of the coming Messiah, and baptized those who believed with a baptism of repentence. This was John's way of witnessing to all souls, then and now of who was to come. John even tried to witness to the Jewish authorities who were sent by the high priests to investigate him. In John 1:19-28 New King James Version (NKJV) 19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 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?" 23 He said: "I am ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: " Make straight the way of the LORD,"’ as the prophet Isaiah said." 24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. John tried to tell the Jewish people that the Messiah that was prophesized all through their scriptures which are our Old Testament, was coming soon! He told us that he himself was not the light. He was a lamp sent forth beforehand to bear witness to the light! He tells us that he was not even worthy to tie Jesus sandal strap! If we only were that humble ourselves. So, John the Baptist came to bear witness to the light of Christ through his ministry in the desert. The apostle John came to bear witness to the ministry of Jesus through his own eyes and write down those things through the authorship of his gospel account, his epistles to the church, and the book of Revelations. We can see very clearly how they were sent to bear witness, and we are sent to bear witnessas well, but how? Well, the apostle Peter told us how and why were are to bear witness to the light. In 1 Peter 2:9-10 we are told: 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. You see, we are to tell others of all that Christ has done for us and through us since confessing to him that yes, we are sinners and we need Him in all aspects of our lives. We can also tell those who don't know Christ of how He was watching out for us before we hadn't even accepted Him into our hearts yet. We are to tell people of how when we were at the lowest point in our life, when we had hit rock bottom, we called on the Lord and felt His comfort. That sense of His presence, that comfort only known through Him, and that will to carry on when we thought that life wasn't worth living. It may have been when we lost a loved one, like a mom or a dad, a husband or a wife, a brother or a sister, or maybe even a child. Maybe we were battling an addiction that had ruined everything good in our lives or maybe we had been betrayed and left alone by the one we loved. We've got to tell people who don't understand why we believe in Christ and live the lives we live, how our faith has carried us through devastating tragedy, freed us from the wants and worries of this material world even when times are tough, and given us something to look forward to that is much grander than anything this world has to offer us. We are here to tell everyone who will listen of the light that is guiding our way through the darkness of sin and the deceptions of the world. We are here to tell those who don't understand of the pure joy that fills our hearts by knowing Jesus Christ as our savior. We are here to tell people that the things we do for others that they don't see any reason for are simply the fruits of our salvation and God's gift of His grace in our lives. Quite simply my friends, we are here to bear witness! 　 May the peace of the Lord be with you my friends, Norman L. 'Pete' Morrison