The sermon titled 'The Testimony of John' by Michael Templeton focuses on John the Baptist's testimony as recorded in John 1:19-28. John the Baptist distinguishes himself from Christ, Elijah, and the prophet, emphasizing that he is merely a voice pointing to Jesus, the greater one. The sermon highlights the transition from the prologue of John's Gospel into the account of Jesus' life and ministry, starting with John the Baptist. John is portrayed as a humble witness, whose role is not to seek personal glory but to direct others to Christ. The sermon underscores the importance of humility in witnessing and the need for Christians to embrace their role as witnesses to the glory of Christ. John the Baptist's message is one of comfort and repentance, preparing the way for the Lord and emphasizing the urgency and life-changing nature of believing in Jesus. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to open their eyes to the spiritual realities and to actively proclaim the gospel, ensuring Christ does not stand among them unknown.

John 1, verse 19. Now this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "'I am not the Christ.' 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. 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. It is He who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this word.

I pray for Michael as he comes now, as we just sung, Lord, speak. Speak, Lord. Speak to our souls. Help us now. In Jesus' name, Amen.

So last week we looked at verses 17 and 18 in the first chapter of John. This was the end of what would be known as the introduction or the prologue, and What a glorious introduction that it was. We make a transition from that prologue or introduction into more of an accounting of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ starting with John the Baptist's testimony. The main point last week, I'm pretty sure this is almost a verbatim quote, Jason told us that John is saying that the fullness of God And the grace that comes from that endless flow of fullness is best and most fully understood by gazing upon Jesus and knowing Jesus as compared to the law. This week, John the Baptist is saying, don't gaze at me either.

Gaze at this Jesus. Last week, Jason gave us a glorious example, a word picture, of trying to wrap our heads around the main point of the last two verses. He told us to Think of the law as a candle in a dark room and then there's Jesus who is the sun at noon day. This week we have a lamp in John the Baptist and we still have the sun at noonday in Jesus Christ. Jesus says about John in 535, the first part, that John was a burning and shining lamp, still pointing to the all superior Jesus Christ.

That was last week and a little bit of sprinkling where we are going this week. Let's pray. Oh God, what a claim to make that we have your Word. What a claim to make that you're going to speak right now. Lord, either it's absolute foolishness or every single person in the hearing of My voice should be so focused upon what's about to be said like their life depends upon it, and it does.

Our very eternity, this life is such a vapor. The eternity of our lives hang in the balance of what we believe about Jesus Christ. Oh, convince us through the power and the testimony of John the Baptist, Through the power of your Spirit, we plead with you for an outpouring of your Spirit right now. Through these words, take me and use me to display Jesus Christ, that everyone in the hearing of my voice would believe that he is the Christ the Son of God and that believing in his name they would live forever. Oh do this in our midst I pray in Jesus name, amen.

So the main point, if I had to condense down the nine verses, if I had to condense down these nine verses, 19-28 into a single sentence, The main point would be today that John the Baptist is telling us, it's not me. I'm not the one that is to come. I am only here. I am here to point you to the one that is far greater. Read that to you one more time.

The main point, one sentence summing up all that I will say today. John the Baptist is telling us, maybe change that telling, he's crying out to us. He's not just telling us sweetly and softly, he's crying out to us, it's not me. I am not the one that is to come, but I am here to point you to the one that is far greater. So hold that main point in the back of your mind as we work through the three points that we have.

So the first point, and I'll reread verses 19 through 21. If you're filling out the blank there on your outline, the first point is who John the Baptist isn't. Who John the Baptist isn't. Let's read verses 19 through 21 again just to get them fresh in our minds. Now this is the testimony of John.

When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not.

Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. So here in verses 19-21, we have the identity of the folks that are coming to question John laid out for us. But I want you for now, let's postpone talking about who they are, because it's significant. It's significant who's coming out to cross examine John the Baptist.

We'll get a little more information down in verse 24, so I want to postpone dealing with that, not skipping it outright. We'll deal with that later. I want to first consider in 19-21, I want to consider the three denials that John the Baptist makes and just as a Side note, whose witness begins with three denials? Think of this as testimony, witness, declaring. Whose witness begins with who you're not?

Do we make explicit in our witness who we are not? One example came to mind as I thought about this and before I present four of these three denials, is who do people maybe have in their minds that we need to unpack and help them understand who we're not. The example that I think all of us get, a lot of us, is compliments on our children. When we go out and we get compliments on how well behaved our children are, how do we handle that? How do we unpack for that person and explain to them part of our explanation should be who we're not.

You may think this, but however, it's not me. And that's just one example that came to mind as I thought about who's witness begins with who we're not. It's important as we open our mouths like John the Baptist for Christ that part of that be about who we're not, humbling ourselves through our explanation and words to those that were around. But John's first denial in verse 20 is, I am not the Christ. I am not the Christ.

This is the second appearance of this word in John. Christ or Messiah. Same word, two different languages. Jason's already mentioned that meaning anointed. Christ unfortunately, the term Christ for many of us has become little more than Jesus' last name.

It's not His last name, It's his title. It's his title. The Christ. Gary often, intentionally, working to teach us from better grasp than most of us of Jewish stuff, helps us. Intentionally it sticks out to me.

Thank you Gary for doing that. Keep doing that. We need to reprogram our minds. It's not His last name, But what is it? It's anointed.

It's not just used for Jesus. Jesus wasn't the only anointed one in the Old Testament. Priests and kings were anointed. It was used to set men apart for special functions. But there was an expectation, there was a heightened sense of expectation among the Jews and their leaders that someone exceptional, a mighty deliverer, one who would represent God in a very special sense was coming.

We've had these anointeds, this is not a new term for the Jews, They get it a lot better than we get it. And here comes not an anointed, but the anointed. They're looking for the Messiah, not a Messiah, An anointed one. The Christ. And John's first denial has emphasis.

It's clunky. The way that verse 20 reads. We don't talk this way. And the problem is not with our author. We're not the smart ones and recognize it's clunky and he's the dumb one.

Not at all. He writes this way on purpose. He writes this way on purpose in recording John's testimony that John emphatically states, listen to how one of the translators puts it forward, I Do not deny that I am not the Christ. Almost like the Levites and the priests came to John and said, You're not the Christ, are you? Like I'm sure in the back of their mind, they probably got their fingers crossed, like I hope this isn't him.

This camel hair wearing, bug eating, wild honey eating, wild man out in the desert, preaching a baptism of repentance, baptizing Jews. You're not the Christ, are you? And John emphatically says, I do not deny that I am not the Christ. John's first statement is first and foremost, not to who He is, but who He emphatically is not, the Christ. Throughout my preparations, but right out of the gate my preparations.

I had to stop and I had to write father Help me to mortify my love for the praise of men if if you get one thing out of today May it be You need to mortify your love for the praise of man. It's so subtle. Even as I take in good and right compliments, and I say the right thing that's expected of me back to you, knowing. He's there. He's there just knowing at me like, yeah, you're good.

Like, you really nailed that one, Michael. I know I'm not alone. May we pursue the mortification of our love for the praise of men. The next denial that John gives, it's a little confusing. It's in verse 21.

John denies in verse 21 that he's not Elijah. And because it's a little confusing, I'm going to get you on your Bible drill pace here. And I'm going to take you to four different places. So let's start out and turn to Malachi chapter 3 verse 1. I've got four spots I want to take us to fairly quickly.

If you don't want to turn there, just listen. Malachi chapter 3 verse 1, under the denial that John the Baptist says he is not Elijah. Verse 1 reads, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming says the Lord of Hosts.

And over in Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 we get a crystal clear prophecy of the coming of Elijah. Listen in verse 5 and 6, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." Let's flip over to Matthew. So we have this Old Testament prophecy. We have this Old Testament prophecy of the coming of Elijah before this great and terrible day of the Lord.

This preparing work that this one will come and do before the coming of the Lord. Matthew chapter 11 verse 14. Jesus Himself says, this is why I said it may be a little confusing to you. I want to help relieve that confusion. Why is he denying that he is Elijah?

He is not Elijah. Verse 14 of chapter 11. And if you were willing to receive it, he, And in the context, this is about John the Baptist, he is Elijah who is to come. Right there in just plain letters. Jesus declares that John the Baptist is Elijah who is to come.

And the last one I am going to read Matthew 17. Matthew 17, 10 through 13 reads, and his disciples asked him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Jesus answered and said to them, Indeed, Elijah is coming first, and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know Him, but did to Him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.

And then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. So here we have laid out clearly that in some sense, John the Baptist is a fulfillment of This Elijah. I want to put forward, so to answer the question, they're not contradicting each other. I doubt that's a revelation for anyone. Jesus and John the Baptist are not contradicting one another.

Well then, what's the deal? Why is John denying it and Jesus saying, actually you are? Well I think we can all agree that Jesus saw more than John. We can all agree that Jesus saw more and understood more than John the Baptist did. Secondly, John was primarily denying he was not the same Elijah that went up.

There was this expectation among the leaders, there was this expectation that Elijah was going to come back and it was actually going to be the same one that went up on the fiery chariots. So maybe it's a mix, maybe it's a mix of John not fully grasping every aspect of his role and who he was. Maybe John was purely refuting, like You don't understand, I am not Elijah the way you're thinking I'm Elijah. And leaving it open-ended, in the sense of not explaining it further. But he's denying that he's not Elijah.

We know clearly that in some sense he is. Because in Luke 1-17, the angel comes to his father and says that he's going to come in the Spirit and the power of Elijah. That He's going to come. I came to the end of this and we'll move on from it, but I came to the end of it. My sense of it is that He is a partial fulfillment.

He's a partial fulfillment of this prophecy. And there's going to be another dose of an Elijah-like person coming that will finish it. That will be more comprehensive and more successful in the sense of wrapping things up in preparation for the return of the Lord. You can think on those. So next, the third and the final denial that we have that John the Baptist gives.

So let's go back to John chapter 1. That will be the most flipping around that I'll do to you. John chapter 1, the third denial in Verse 21 is that I'm not the prophet. Who is this? Just listen to Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 18. I'm going to read verses 15 and 18. I'm going to explain to you from Deuteronomy who this prophet is. Verse 15 of chapter 18 reads, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him you shall hear." And then jumping down to verse 18, "'I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." So we see in Deuteronomy 18 This prophet that John is denying that he is not the prophet, we see it explained. We know that in the back of these leaders' minds from the Pharisees that they are with bated breath looking for the coming of this prophet.

This prophet may be more than any of the other two characters that he's denying that he is. There is so much anticipation as we go through the Gospel of John, you'll see multiple times the buzz being, is this the prophet? Is this the one that's coming? Why would you think they would be so worked up about this prophet? Well, if he's like Moses, he's going to put down the Romans, he's going to deliver us from them, and then he's going to re-establish us as the top of the food chain.

He's going to put the Jews back on top of society. He's going to deliver us from the oppression of the Romans. There was a strong eschatological expectation of deliverance for a Moses-like prophet that would establish this earthly kingdom. But they were so blind to it. They were so blind to the type of kingdom the Old Testament declared that this prophet, that this Elijah, and this anointed one would be ushering in.

May God help us not to be blind like they are. Acts chapter 3 defines who the prophet is. Luke writes that it's Jesus. Jesus is the prophet. Jesus is the one that Moses is writing about.

So in verses 19-21 we have three denials. Who John the Baptist isn't. Next I want to look at verses 22 and 23. And if you're filling in blanks, it's who John the Baptist is. Who John the Baptist is.

Listen to verses 22 and 23. And 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? They can't go back empty handed. They've got to get something out of him.

And verse 23, He, John the Baptist said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. John continues to put forward a testimony that just takes the attention off of him, off of himself. It's not me. It's not me.

And here, when he says who he is, it's just a voice. I'm just a voice here to call out and to point forward to the one that you need to be paying attention to. I want to go and I want to read Isaiah 40 verses 1-5. Isaiah 40 verses 1-5. I have mulled these five verses over.

I can't tell you how many times. I sat at the table last night. I have thought about trying to break out and handle the Messiah of comfort ye my people, but you guys know how bad of a singer I am. And then I thought about comfort ye my people. That's a hymn we should throw into the mix.

But these five verses, this is John's message. This is who he says he is. I think James said, I don't know if it was last week or the week before, but I think of John the Baptist as this rough necked, don't get in his way, just hell fire and brimstone. And he had some of that. He gave it to the people that needed it.

You brood of vipers. He gave it to them. He smacked them right upside the head. But this is who John is saying he is. These five verses are sweet.

Does anyone here need comfort? I know you. I know you need it. John's message to you. This is so sweet to read and meditate.

I just encourage you, mull these over. Go find that song and sing it over and over again to yourself and draw out the sweetness and the tender mercies of God that come to mind as we read these five verses. And reprogram your mind if you're like me, and this was John's message. Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, but put your name in there.

Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." John's message was repent and enjoy this. Your warfare can be over. Right now it can be over. Repent, Turn away from your sins and receive the pardon of the Lord. Oh, you have received heartache and hardship if you've been sowing a life of sin, but receive the pardon.

Verse 3, this is what John quotes, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." So sweet.

So sweet. God crying out through John the Baptist, comfort and peace and pardon. And again, don't miss that word, crying. He is crying out. This is life and death.

You may think what you have to do this afternoon is important. You may think what the week holds is important. But it is small potatoes compared to what is happening right now. This is life and death. God is offering you comfort and peace and pardon right now through my voice.

Respond to it. He was crying out with this message to the Jews. John at a minimum is a partial fulfillment of this voice. Again, one phrase that I came across in trying to understand prophecy, because I get into much prophecy and I'm drowning pretty quickly, is the mistake of wooden literalism and over imagery. It's trying to strike a balance as we look at prophetic words, whether it's about John the Baptist or anyone else, of possibly a partial fulfillment and more is to come.

John's life and preaching and baptism are preparing the way of the Lord. The Lord. John is directly asserting that Jesus is Jehovah. John is preparing the way for Jehovah. So John has identified himself as the voice, so we are still under who is John.

First, he's a voice. What's the purpose of a voice? How am I using, why are you given a voice? To communicate. It's for crying out.

It's not explicit in our text like the things that I've been dealing with, but it's something that struck me and I want to highlight it for you and commend it to you. I want us to consider quickly John as the witness, the crier, the testifier. I don't think anywhere in the Gospel of John, I may be wrong, John's referred to as John the Baptist. But over and over again, he's referred to as John the Witness. John the one that's giving testimony.

Listen to verses 6-8 in chapter 1 of John. 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." Then jumping down to verse 15, we see this insertion about John again giving witness. John bore witness of him and cried out saying, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me is is preferred before me, for he was before me.

And then verse 19, now this is the testimony of John. I want to draw your attention to the root word that's here, Martus. Any other word come to mind when you hear that? Martyr. It's where we get our English word, martyr.

The Expositors Bible Commentary counts the use of this word in the New Testament and it's 37 times. And 30 of them are in John. John is an evangelist with few rivals. John loves this word. I'm trying to drive home to you the ideal of John the Baptist as a voice and a witness.

Does it strike you that We read five verses in the prologue of John, and then all of a sudden, John writes, there was a man. What happened to Jesus? Why are you changing subjects on me? It's awkward. You could easily take out verses 6-8 and it read much better, like flow wise.

But our goal and purpose in reading the Bible is not to correct John's grammar, it's to understand, John, what are you trying to communicate to us? Why does the light of the world need a witness? Why does the light of the world need a witness? Jesus is on the earth. Maybe after Jesus leaves he needs a witness.

Even then, he could have wrote it in the sky with big puffy white letters. He could make the wind whisper it. There's a thousand different ways that God could have ordained that the gospel would go forward. But God has ordained the Gospel go forward through you and me, through John. This should melt our brains that God has ordained human beings to be the propagator of the Gospel.

Romans chapter 10, what does it say? How can they hear if you don't preach? People are not going to come to know the Lord if we don't preach it. And if that preaching word messes you up because you say I'm not a preacher, are you a Christian? I'm not looking to browbeat you because I'll get to what happens when you open your mouth and make much of Jesus.

I'm after your joy. The past couple of weeks of my life have been full of opportunities for Gospel preaching. The abortion meal on Saturday, it was just non-stop. And it's exhilarating. I can tell you, and many of you can say the same thing, when we are actively telling others about Christ, there is a joy there that you don't experience if you're not.

So I am just like, do you want to be happier? Then try me on that. Listen to this quote from John Piper. In the ideal of the witness of human beings being the means of the propagation of the Gospel. That's the plan.

The Word and the life and the light are coming into the world, but they're not going to conquer the darkness the way a bolt of lightning brightens the night. They are going to conquer it by lighting millions of cold, dead human torches with the oxygen of the gospel and the mysterious spontaneous combustion of the new birth. The word picture that he's trying to put forward to us is the gospel being spoken, Is the oxygen, the gospel being spoken from your mouth and my mouth, is the oxygen being spoken provided to you and the mysterious spontaneous combustion of the work of the Spirit in new birth blows up on Brian and sets him on fire. And there's another light. And then Brian goes and the oxygen of the Gospel goes out of his mouth and lands on one and mysteriously, we don't know where it comes from or where it goes, the Spirit blows over this next one, boom, there's another light lit for the propagation of the Gospel.

That's how the Gospel will go forward. And it's a necessity. And you're like, whoa, wait a minute, Mike. God's dependent on me? He'll find somebody else.

God will get His gospel spread. The question is, do you want the joy of participating in it? I do, and I pray that you do as well. Let's move on to the last four verses. The last four verses of our text, verses 24 through 48.

If you're filling in blanks, the blank is the justification for John the Baptist baptism. Read verses 24 and 28. 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." Just jarring words. It is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.

These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. Verses 24-28, I want to pick back up on what I postponed in verse 19. Who is it? Who came out to cross-examine John? Who was it?

It was the Jews. It was the Jews that sent the priests and the Levites from Jerusalem. Go out and find out who this madman is. What kind of trouble is this man stirring up? Who is he?

And then in verse 24 we get a little more explanation as to who they were. They were from the Pharisees. And the commentators spent a lot more time, as I read that I'm like, that's fine, but what I really care about is I don't really care so much about their specific identity but they were the leaders of Israel. And how much more blind can you get? The people that should have been seeing the signs, the people that should be understanding the times, the people that had the Word of God in the Old Testament, had chunks of it, maybe all of it memorized, and they were blind to it.

They came out to cross-examine John, and then John even says, Jesus is in your midst and you don't even know Him. These people were utterly in the dark. And that should scare us to death in some senses. It should scare us to death that Jesus could be in our midst and we have the Word of God and we don't even know who he is. There's people like that right here in this room.

That you know more Bible than most people on the planet. You know more about Jesus, you know more about theology, and yet you still don't know Him. And it could be two categories of people. Maybe you think you know Him like they did, and you really don't know Him, Or you just outright see nothing beautiful about Him. Like going home and searching YouTube or doing this or that, that gets you more excited than thinking about Jesus.

And I'm going to plead with you at the end to cry out with me that that would not be the case. In verse 24, these Jews, you can hear it in the tone of their voice. If you're not Christ, if you're not Elijah, if you're not the prophet, meaning if you're not some heavyweight end of the world kind of guy, why are you baptizing? What authority do you have to baptize Jews? Don't miss that.

John is baptizing Jews. During this time, probably the only form, there may have been some self-baptizing in these communities out in the desert, but who was baptized? The proselytes. The Gentile dogs, they got baptized to come into Judaism. And here this prophet with no authority is baptizing believing Jews.

The scandal of it. They expected Ezekiel 36, we don't have time to go there, but Old Testament language laying the groundwork for the coming of the restoring of God's people, there was an expectation of cleansing. So I don't think they were overly shocked that John was baptizing as much as they were overly shocked that who was doing the baptizing. Like if you're baptizing, you should be one of these three people. But John was not.

John says in verse 26, he says, I baptize with water, but every time I read that, I can't help but want to say, I only baptize with water. And what does your mind think comes next? But there's one coming that baptizes with water. He doesn't say that. John makes a beeline for Jesus.

John makes a beeline for Jesus. This is a big deal, but in the grand scheme of things, this is not that big of a deal compared to the one that stands among you that you do not even know." John goes on to say, and we've heard this before, He who coming after me is preferred before me. And then he goes on and says, I'm not even worthy to unstrap his sandal. This is something the slave of your house would do. So, rabbis had students, the students did everything almost, but the line was drawn, but I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to touch your nasty feet. The slaves though would come and take your sandals off. And John here laying himself as low as he can take himself. I'm not even on par with a slave when I get up against this one that you don't know. I want to end our time before we go to the applications in chapter 3 of John.

This is where I want to go when I was talking about increasing your joy. This is, in my humble opinion, the sweetest words John the Baptist utters about Jesus. In John chapter 3, starting in verse 27, John answered, the context of it is that Jesus has already done the miracle in Cana. He's already had the conversation, so His ministry is going. John is still baptizing.

That was a bit of a revelation for me. But John is still baptizing because his disciples come to Jesus and say, everybody is going to Jesus. We used to be the thing. We used to get all the attention. We used to have the crowds, but they are not coming to us anymore.

And John's answer, may God make us a people like this. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, that's John, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly because the bridegroom's voice." John is rejoicing that the bride is going to the bridegroom. The bride is the Christians and the bridegroom is Jesus.

John is rejoicing that Jesus is getting His due. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. This is the total opposite of what the world's going to cram down your throats, guys. The world's going to cram down your throat that if you want to be happy, if you want to make much of yourself, you've got to make muches of yourself, you've got to take every advantage that you can see to put yourself on top of the pile.

And it's a flat out lie. Many of us in this room have tried that. And it's a lie. John the Baptist and I, we put forward to you, if you want your joy fulfilled, you must decrease and Jesus Christ must increase. I am after increasing your joy this morning.

The applications, there are two of them. The first application is we are all called to be witnesses to the glory of Christ. We are all called to be witnesses of the glory of Christ. This not only means making much of Christ, but it also means making little of ourselves. You know, you can make much of Christ in a way that makes much of yourself.

You can even talk about your weaknesses and talking about Christ in such a way that you're still making much of yourself. It's sneaky. And we have to seek it. Do you seek God to help you to be more humble? Do you ask, is part of your prayer life, God, help me to be a more humble woman or man or child?

Psalm 138 verse 6 says, Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly. But the proud he knows from afar." Do you want God to know you from far away? Pride is a spiritual killer. It will kill you. It will kill your intimacy with God.

The more humble we become, and I've got a long ways to go, the more humble we become, the more intimate with Christ we will have. The second part of this first application, so the first part was the humility of our witness. The second part is the crying out. They're not going to hear you if you don't open your mouth. This, I want to say rubbish, it's not rubbish, but it is a bit of something for some of us to hide behind.

And you know why I know it? Because I hid behind it for years. And there's evangelists among us, true. But we all are called to be a witness. Don't use the excuse that you're not an evangelist.

You don't have the giftings of evangelists to not open your mouth about Christ. If you are not open your mouth about Christ, you are missing out on so much joy. What did Jason tell us? John the Baptist was a giant in the valley. You know more than John.

I know more than John. This side of heaven, he knows a lot more than we know now. But you and I know more than John the Baptist did while he was on earth. How much more? How much more should we be crying out?

If you profess to take on the name of Christ, may you open your mouth. It may be your neighbor, your co-worker, your family member, maybe someone right here in the church that you need to talk to about Christ. It may be the nations, the nations that have little to no access. They won't hear unless someone goes and preaches. Your neighbor, he may, but you're going to miss out.

You're going to miss out on the joy that is offered to you. The last application is, it's really a call, it's a plea. It's a plea to open your eyes. It's a plea to have some holy fear about you in regards to the blindness of the unconverted heart. John the author tells us Jesus was fully God.

He declares and explains God to us. And yet people still don't know who He is. I asked Malachi about this in the car. What conclusions do you draw from that if you see God's glory, it will kill you. Jesus fully explains the glory and beauty and grace and truth of God, which will kill you if you see it, and people are blind to it.

Like the depth of the blindness of the unconverted heart. We're powerless against it. But the power of God can break this open. But my plea with you is, don't play around with this. Do you know Him?

Or does Christ stand among you and you know Him not? In honor of our absent pastor, I'm going to end with a J.C. Ryle quote, since I love Jason so much. It is a solemn thought that John the Baptist's words in this place apply strictly to thousands in the present day. He stands among you and you don't know Him.

Christ is still standing among many who neither see nor know nor believe. Christ is passing by in many a parish, in many a congregation, and the vast majority have neither an eye to see Him nor an ear to hear Him. The spirit of slumber seems poured out upon them. Money and pleasure and the world they know, but they know not Christ. The kingdom of God is close to them, but they sleep.

Salvation is within their reach, but they sleep. Mercy, grace, peace, heaven, eternal life are so near that they might touch them, and yet they sleep. Christ stands among them, and they know Him not. Let's pray. Oh, may Christ not stand among us and we know Him not, Father.

We are powerless. We are powerless in our own strength to see blind, dead, unconverted hearts see the beauty of the Gospel. I pray that your Spirit would take these words and plant them deep in our hearts to awaken some to new life and to give those of us that have been born again a great fire within our bones that we can't but help speak. We can't help but give our testimony of what Jesus has done for us. Lord, just to the neighbor across the street, Help us to open our mouths that Christ would be exalted.

In His name I pray, Amen.