We've come today to verse 19 of John chapter 1. And in this verse John returns to the subject of John the Baptist. And it begins this way, and this is the record of John. And what follows is the record or the witness of John, John the Baptist. Remember, he came to be a witness. We saw that in verses 6 and 7. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. So he's called by God and sent by God for the express purpose of being a witness for God. And here we have his witness given us in verse 19. And so it's talking about his testimony concerning himself. That's not his primary witness, but they asked him about himself. And also his testimony concerning the Lord Jesus. As Christians, we are first and foremost to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus. John is not unique in this. That's something we're all called to as God's people. The Apostle Paul, he said that's what God called him to do. Acts chapter 26, verse 16. He's talking about his encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. How Jesus identified himself. In verse 16 he says, But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. Why did Christ appear to him and convert him? To make thee a minister and a witness. both of those things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee." You're going to be a witness of what you see and hear. For me, was Paul faithful to that? You look down at verse 22. He says, Having therefore obtained help of God, or by God's help and enablement, I continue unto this day. Doing what? Witnessing. both the small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, the Jews, and to the Gentiles." Is it easy witnessing? What was the reaction of Festus? Festus says with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself. Much learning has made you mad. You're crazy. No, he was faithful and obedient. We are to be ever ready to do our duty as witnesses for Jesus. Remember what Peter told us in 1 Peter 3.15? 1 Peter 3, verse 15. But sanctify or set apart the Lord God in your hearts. Give God the full first place in your hearts. And then he says, Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. Be ready to give an answer when they ask you, why do you have this hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ? Having a good conscience. Make sure your life backs up your message, because if you have a bad conscience, your verbal testimony will be rendered of none effect. Now, the next thing in John 1.19, is we have the time and the circumstances of this interview of John. It says, it was when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. Now the Jews here, that's a general term, but in this case it's speaking of the religious leaders of the nation of Israel. And that was called the Sanhedrin. And these Jews, leading Jews, sent a delegation. And this delegation was made up of priests and Levites. The Jews sent priests and Levites. Now, the priests were those who were of the family of Aaron, the high priest. And the Levites were their attendants. who were of the priestly tribe of Levi. And these were the ones that God had set apart to minister unto him about the things of the temple. In Exodus chapter 28 and verse 1, These are the ones that God gave the responsibility to meet the spiritual needs of the people of Israel. Exodus 28 1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. Even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. There you have Aaron, the high priest, and then in Deuteronomy 10, verse 8, it says, 8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 9 to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name unto this day. So the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem, of course, was the capital and the religious center of the nation of Israel. That's where God had placed His temple, where His worship was to be observed. Psalm 132, David is saying how he wanted to find out a place for the Lord. Verse 5, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Remember he wanted to build a temple to the Lord. And God said he had chosen a place where his worship was to be conducted. And David was shown that that place was Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Verse 13 for the Lord had chosen Zion He had desired it for his habitation or his dwelling place This is my rest forever here. Will I dwell? For I have desired it And so the religious leaders sent representatives to investigate and examine John from Jerusalem where they were located. And what was the purpose or the reason that they were sent to John? What does it say in verse 19? It was to ask him or to inquire of him. They desired some further information about him. And the question that they were to ask was, Who art thou? Who are you? They did the same thing with the Lord Jesus, John 8, verses 25-27. Then said they, unto him, or the Pharisees said unto Jesus, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning, I have many things to say unto the judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake to them, of the Father. And as Jesus said in another place, you know neither me nor the Father. So the question they asked John was, who art thou? What's your identity? Remember, John had been preaching and baptizing and great multitudes were going out to hear him. And news of this had reached Jerusalem And the religious leaders wanted to know who John was and what he was doing. Who is this fellow out there in the wilderness preaching and baptizing? And it was the responsibility of the Thanhedrin as the ruling religious and political body of Israel under the high priest to investigate all religious teachers in order to determine if they were true or false. Or someone comes along and says, I'm a servant of God, I'm preaching His truth. Well, they had to go and find out, is that the case or not? Notice in Deuteronomy, chapter 13, it's talking about various issues that would arise, prophets, dreamer of dreams, doctrines that would come up and how they were to deal with them. And notice down in verse 12, If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods which we have not known. Here's a case of people teaching false gods and leading others into idolatry. Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently. Find out if that's really what they're doing. And behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought among you." Someone is preaching idolatry, false gods. Then they were to be destroyed. And so they come to John and they ask him, who are you? Identify yourself. Why are you here? What's your purpose and function? What's your authority? Who sent you? What is the reason of your preaching and baptizing? Now they should have been objective and unbiased to really find out just exactly what the case was. But unfortunately, these Jews were very corrupt and they were hostile to the truth and probably were not receptive to what John had to say. But what I want to notice is that we too should examine all teachers and teachings to see if they are what they claim to be, if they are according to the truth of God. You remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7? Verse 15, Beware of false prophets. There are false prophets out there. You need to be on your guard. You need to be very diligent and observant to make sure you don't fall prey to them. They come to you in sheep's clothing But inwardly, they are ravening wolves. They're very deceptive. They appear to be something they're not. They seem to want your best interest, but they're only out to hurt you, just like a wolf would want to devour a sheep. But he says, you shall know them by their fruits. You need to be able to tell what their fruits really are, whether they are thorns or grapes, whether they are figs or thistles, whether they are good trees or corrupt trees, whether their fruit is good or whether it's evil. You need to be able to do that. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 21, it says, Prove, put to the test all things. Don't take anything for granted. Don't accept it at face value. Examine it thoroughly. And then hold fast that which is good. And reject that which is not good. And then again, one more, 1 John 4, verse 1 says, Don't be gullible. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Not everyone says they're a servant of God and doing His work is what they claim to be. But try, test the spirits, whether they are of God. Why do we have to do that? Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4 verse 1. And so, whatever their motive was, whatever their attitude was, they were doing the right thing as to the matter of it. Who are you? Well let's see what his answer is, verse 20 of John 1. In this verse we have John's response to their probing question. And he confessed. Now this word confess means to speak the same thing. To agree with, to accord or to assent. It means to admit or to declare openly by speaking out freely. Now we know that we are to freely and openly confess Christ. He requires that. He made that a condition of salvation. Matthew chapter 10, verse 32, Jesus said, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. We need to confess Christ. And John does do that, but he does it in a roundabout way. He immediately and fearlessly told this delegation of the high priest exactly who he was, so that they would have no misunderstanding as to his person and his mission. I don't mean he did it in a roundabout way in the sense that he was hedging. I meant he approached it from this angle. He told who he wasn't. We confess Jesus by saying who he is. John confessed, first of all, he wasn't. Notice what Paul did in Acts chapter 24. Christianity was everywhere spoken against. It was persecuted, hated, ridiculed, rejected, and the gospel was considered heresy. And what does Paul say? Verse 14, But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, I mean, did that scare them off from embracing and proclaiming the gospel? Oh, people are going to think I'm a heretic. No. After the way which they call heresy, and if you're preaching the truth, you're going to be considered a heretic by those who don't follow the truth. But does that mean we have to back away from it? No. He says, After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, a general resurrection at the last day, both of the just and unjust. Both will be in the same resurrection. So the first thing John did is he removed all question as to whether he were the Messiah. That's why he started that way. People thought he might be the Messiah. Remember what we read in Luke chapter 3 verse 15? And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts or wondered about John, whether he were the Messiah, the Christ or not. Is this the Messiah? It says he confessed and he denied not. There you have both sides of it. Confessing is positive, denying not is negative. This word denied not means to say not or to contradict. In other words, his answer was of a negative form. They thought he was maybe the Messiah and he's telling them, no I am not. He was careful to dispel their false ideas of him. He confessed and denied not but confessed. In other words, he made sure that there was no possibility of anyone any longer thinking that John was the Messiah. That was the opinion or the speculation of the general populace. But we know he couldn't be the Messiah. Why? Well, first of all, he did not have a herald to announce his coming. Rather, he came on the scene quietly and unannounced. Suddenly, there he was, preaching. Another thing we know is that he did no miracles. Now, the Old Testament said, as we're going to see, the Messiah would be announced by his forerunner, which John himself is, and also that he would proved that he was the Messiah by the miracles he performed. And notice in John chapter 7, Jesus did a miracle and here's what the people concluded from that. Many of the people believed on him and said, when Christ cometh, Will he do more miracles than these which this man has done? Let's say he's not the Messiah. Is the Messiah going to come and do even more miracles than he's doing? Maybe he is the Messiah. I can't imagine anyone being able to do greater works than he's done. They were his authentications, their certifications. The signs that he was who he claimed to be. Notice in John chapter 10 and verse 41, I'll read verse 40. Jesus went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode. And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spoke of this man were true. John never said he was the Messiah. He never did a miracle. He said Jesus was the Messiah, and Jesus does all these miracles. And it says, and many believed on him there. John said very clearly, I am not the Christ or the Messiah. Now we too need to be very careful that we don't give anyone any wrong impressions by making or allowing someone to think we are something that we are not. We ought not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We ought not to allow anyone else to think more highly of us than they ought to think. Notice how the apostles were careful about this. In Acts chapter 10, Peter goes to the household of Cornelius, the centurion, to preach the gospel. Notice what happens as he arrives, verse 25. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, get off your knees, saying, stand up. I myself also am a man. Don't you dare fall down before me. I'm only a man. Another proof that he was not the first pope. Because the pope demands that you fall down and kiss his ring or feet or something. How about chapter 13 of Acts? You have Paul and Barnabas preaching and what happens is the people want to show them very wrong acknowledgement and they said, no, you cannot treat us like that. We are only men. We're not gods as you seem to think we are because of the fact that we were able to heal someone who was ill. And so again, we have to be very careful that we don't allow people to either think of us of something we're not or to treat us in ways that they should not. And so again, we have to be very, very careful about that. And John was very, very careful about that. In all we say and all we do, we should only exalt the Lord Jesus and give all the glory to him alone. I was looking for Acts chapter 14. It says in verse 13, Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people, which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, They wanted to sacrifice to them as gods? They rent their clothes in horror, and ran in among the people, crying out and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. And verse 18 says, With these sayings scarce restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice, unto them but they did stop them before they were able to carry out their evil purpose. I think we'll stop there for this morning and we'll close in prayer. Oh father thank you for John and his witness Thank you that he was very careful to give Jesus all praise and glory and not take any to himself. Help us to do that too, Lord. Father, we pray that you would bless us now as we consider these things and learn from John and follow his good example. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.