I want to call your attention to John, the forerunner of Christ. On
hearing the news of the death of the king Joseph brings Jesus back to
Nazareth, and there He remained for thirty years.
I once read of the founder of the Russian Empire going down to a Dutch
sea port as a stranger and in disguise, that he might learn how to build
ships and return home and impart this knowledge to his own subjects.
People have wondered at that. But this is a far greater wonder, that the
Prince of Glory should come down here and learn the carpenter’s trade.
He was not only the son of a carpenter, but He was a carpenter Himself.
His father was a carpenter, and He was a carpenter, too, for we read that
they brought it up against Him that He was a carpenter. We read:
“And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their
synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said: ‘Whence hath
this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s
son?’”
Right here is one lesson that we ought to learn, and that is, when Christ
was here He was an industrious man. I have often said on this platform
that I have never known a lazy man to be converted. If one ever was
converted, he soon gave up his laziness. I tell you that laziness does
not belong to Christ’s Kingdom. I do not believe a man would have a lazy
hair in his head if he was converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man
has really been born of the Spirit of Christ, he is not lazy. He wants
to find something to do, and no kind of manual labor is degrading. It
is honorable. If our Master, who is the Prince of Peace and the King
of Glory, could leave Heaven and come down here and work as a village
carpenter, let us not think that manual labor is beneath our notice. Let
us be willing to go out and work. If we can not find what we want, let us
do what we can. If we can earn only twenty-five cents a day, let us earn
that rather than do nothing. We not only want something to occupy our
hands, but also our minds.
But this is not the point of the lecture this morning. I want to go back
to those two wonderful men.
The thirty years have rolled away, and it is now time that this wonderful
Messiah should come unto the nation. The Scriptures have been fulfilled,
and the first sound we hear of His coming is that strange voice crying in
the wilderness.
Those thirty years that have just expired were as nothing to the nation.
Undoubtedly, the rumors about those two children, which created a great
sensation at the time, had died out. The story of the shepherds on the
plains of Bethlehem had gone out of popular recollection--faded away. The
story of this child being brought into the Temple, and that old man and
that old woman coming in there just at the time--that wonderful scene had
faded away. Many who were in the Temple at that time had gone. Zacharias
and Elizabeth had passed away, and the Roman Empire had also died, after
sending out a decree that the country should be taxed. Herod was also
dead.
A great change had taken place in thirty years. You just carry your minds
back through thirty years, and see how many who stood with you thirty
years ago--with whom you were acquainted--have gone, and are sleeping in
their graves.
If the Holy Ghost had not come after Christ went to Heaven, the story of
His death and His resurrection would have been forgotten as soon as His
birth and His life. No doubt about that. It is that which has kept the
memory of Christ in the world, and His name so fresh and fragrant. The
Holy Ghost has come down here to keep in our minds the glory and beauty
of Christ. Now, we find His forerunner comes.
Matthew says: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wilderness.”
Mark says: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
Luke says: “The word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the
wilderness.”
John’s account is: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.”
The last prophet had closed up his prophecy by saying that John should
come before the Messiah, and that he should be the herald who would come
to introduce Him. Now, these four evangelists all take up their pens, and
they all notice it.
You know, if you let any four men write up any one thing, they will
not all write about it alike. Why, when men went to the Centennial, at
Philadelphia, not any four of them wrote about it alike. Let a man come
in here, and let any four of us look at him. One will get a side view
of him, one a front view, and so on; and no two of the four will see him
alike.
So these evangelists wrote about John, but not one of the four used the
same language. You know, it was said he was to be like Elijah. Well, he
looked like him, dressed like him, and his preaching was like him.
He came suddenly and unexpectedly upon the world, and it was not long
before his voice rang clear through the whole nation, and the whole
nation was stirred. He stood between the two dispensations. He was the
last prophet the new dispensation was to have. They had had some mighty
prophets--wonderful men; but this man was to be the last one.
Now, we find this man standing there, as it were, between these two
dispensations; and when he commenced to preach his preaching was very
much like that of Elijah. He was a reformer. His cry was: “Repent!
Reform!”
But if he had stopped there his reform would have died out with him. A
great many reformations die out with the reformers because they cry out:
“Repent! Repent! Reform! Reform!” but they do not get any farther than
that. Thank God, John had something else to tell them. He did not stop
at “Repent! Repent!” He kept telling them there was One coming mightier
than himself. Undoubtedly that was what thrilled the nation. Talk about
sensation! There was never a nation moved as that one nation was moved by
John the Baptist.
In these days, if certain persons want to stir a town or city, they need
to influence the leading men of that city to stand around them, help
them and pray for them. But there stood John the Baptist, preaching in
the wilderness, without any influence of your committee. He did not have
Mr. Sankey to sing for him to draw out the people. He stood there upon
the banks of the Jordan alone, preaching the glorious tidings that the
Messiah was coming after him, and he probably was preaching this to the
lowest beggar in the land.
There John was in the wilderness, dressed like his predecessor, Elijah.
There he was, preaching in the wilderness; and just bear in mind, it was
not any milk-and-water preaching. He gave the message just as God gave it
to him. I suppose, if he had some of the Christians of the present day
there, they would have said: “Do not be so bold; be mild about it. Don’t
you know you must use a little moderation about this? Come, John! If you
talk against these Pharisees they will cut your head off.”
But that did not enter his mind. It was not what they wanted. It was
what God gave him to deliver; and if any man just takes the message and
delivers it as God gives it to him, I tell you God will stand by him.
He is going to succeed--mind that. He may be unsuccessful at first; his
labor may seem to be unprofitable for a time, and people may turn away.
But the time will come when his words will cut deep down into their
hearts and lead them to salvation.
Then the people began to tremble. They had no newspapers then to print
the sermons; they had no telegraph wires to flash them over the country.
But one man just took the matter up and passed it to the next, and so
on, and very soon it was spread over the whole country.
“There he is,” they said, “dressed just like Elijah, with his leathern
girdle and his raiment of camel’s hair.” He comes out about 9 o’clock in
the morning, and there he stands on the banks of the Jordan, and there
he continues his talk. Day after day he is seen there, and his cry is:
“Repent! Repent!” And that was his appeal.
Well, it is not very long before every city, town and village has heard
of this wonder. John preached the law just as it was given him, and as a
specimen of his preaching just read this. See how bold he was:
“Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him: ‘O
generation of vipers!’”
O generation of vipers! Pretty hard talk, wasn’t it? I don’t know as you
could get many people into this Tabernacle by such talk as that. But he
knew what he was doing. He knew they hated his Master. He knew that,
away down in their hearts, they were at enmity with God. Read a little
farther, and see what he said:
“O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to
come?
“Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to
say within yourselves: ‘We have Abraham to our father.’ For I say unto
you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”
He knew the men pretty well. I do not know where he had been all these
thirty years. But he had found out the human heart. He had found out
human nature pretty well. And those people undoubtedly said: “We belong
to the seed of Abraham. We are the descendants of Abraham. We do not
need to be converted. We have got the law from Moses, and we obey that.
Let these poor dogs of Gentiles be converted. It is not for us.”
And that is just the doctrine now.
“We do not need to be converted. John a first-rate reformer? Oh, yes;
but that does not touch us. We go to church regularly. It is for these
publicans and harlots. That kind of preaching is not for us. Oh, it is
all good enough--all very good.”
And no doubt they would put up a Tabernacle for them--for the harlots and
drunkards to go to.
“Oh, no! That preaching is not for us. It is good enough for them, but we
do not need to go. We are the seed of Abraham. We belong to Moses, and we
are not such bad men. What do you mean by conversion? We do not need to
be born again. What do we need to be born again for? We pay our debts. We
are good men.”
See? That same old spirit. Eighteen hundred years have rolled away, and
you find human nature the same. John knew them pretty well.
“I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham.”
You need not flatter yourselves that you are better than the other
people. God can make children right out of these stones, and make them
the seed of Abraham.
“And now, also, the ax is laid unto the root of the tree; every tree,
therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
the fire.
“And the people asked him, saying: ‘What shall we do, then?’”
See! They had an inquiry meeting, right there on the banks of the Jordan.
“He answereth, and saith unto them: ‘He that hath two coats, let him
impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.’
“Then came, also, publicans to be baptized, and said unto him: ‘Master,
what shall we do?’
“And he said unto them: ‘Exact no more than that which is appointed you.’
“And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying: ‘And what shall we
do?’ And he said unto them: ‘Do violence to no man, neither accuse any
falsely, and be content with your wages.’”
Now, that was his preaching up to the time that Christ came. As I said
before, it was: “Repent! Repent! Reform! Reform!” And you may tell these
men they ought to do better; but if you do not tell them how, you can not
save them. Now, we find here, in this fifteenth verse, that they were
looking for something more:
“And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts
of John, whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying unto
them all: ‘I, indeed, baptize you with water; but One mightier than I
cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
“‘Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and
will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff He will burn with
fire unquenchable.’
“And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.”
Now, what a chance there was for John to have let self come in! When
people were wondering in their hearts if he was not the true Messiah--if
he was not Christ--he might have been tempted to come out and say he was
more than himself--that he was Christ. But there was this commendable
trait about John: He never preached up self.
He was preparing the nation to receive the Lord of Glory. He had come
merely to introduce Him. He was nothing. Just as a man comes and
introduces a friend to you, he barely introduces him and steps aside. He
does not put himself forward.
So John introduces the Son of God, and then begins to fade away, and soon
is gone. He had not come to introduce himself, but to preach Christ.
And let me say, right here, that this is the very height of preaching.
When they begin to wonder who he is, he just comes right out and says: “I
am not Jesus. I am only just one sent to introduce Him. I have come for
that purpose. I have not come to preach up myself, but Him that is mighty
to save.”
And then we find that while his star was just at its height, while he was
just about at the zenith of his glory, while people were flocking in from
the towns and villages to hear him, the chief rulers of Jerusalem send
down a deputation to inquire what this religion meant. They appointed
some influential men to find him out, and they said to him: “We have been
sent by the chief priest of Jerusalem to find out who you are. Are you
Christ?” And John answered: “No.” “Well, who are you? Are you this man
or that man?” “No.” “Are you this prophet or that prophet?” “No.” “Well,
who are you?”
Did he say: “I am Jesus”? No. “Merely Mr. Nobody--merely a voice crying
in the wilderness.”
What a message that was to send back to Jerusalem! He was not trying to
put himself forward. He was all the time trying to get out of self. In
the nineteenth verse and first chapter of John we read:
“And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him: ‘Who art thou?’
“And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed: ‘I am not the Christ.’
“And they asked him: ‘What, then? Art thou Elias?’ And he saith: ‘I am
not.’ ‘Art thou the prophet?’ And he answered: ‘No.’
“Then said they unto him: ‘Who art thou? That we may give an answer to
them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?’
“He said: ‘I am the voice of One crying in the wilderness. Make straight
the way of the Lord, as said the prophet, Esaias.’
“And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
“And they asked him, and said unto him: ‘Why baptize thou, then, if thou
be not Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?’
“John answered them, saying: ‘I baptize with water; but there standeth
One among you whom ye know not. He it is who, coming after me, is
preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am unworthy to unloose.’
“These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was
baptizing.”
Now, this was the day, I say, when John was at the very zenith of his
glory; but see how noble he stood. He did not take any honor or glory to
himself, and in two different places he declared that he knew not this
Stranger that he was the herald of--his Messiah.
Some are trying to make out that this was all planned by John and Jesus,
that he should say he did not know Him. But he declares in two places
that he did not know Him. They were brought up in two extremes of the
country--one in the northern part of it, Nazareth, and the other at
Hebron.
Talk about eloquence! John was one of the most eloquent men, I suppose,
that ever lived. He was the herald of God, and when the nation was in a
terrible state of excitement, and the chief priests of Jerusalem, and
even the king himself, went to hear him.
There he stood on the banks of the Jordan. I can see the men and women
on both sides of the river--little children, mothers with their babes
in their arms--all intensely excited and leaning forward to catch what
he says. “Now,” says John, “if you believe what I say, that if you have
broken the law given at Sinai you have sinned, to be forgiven you must
repent and come down into this Jordan, and I will baptize you in the name
of the God of Hebron.”
The people went in by scores and hundreds, and there he baptized them.
And as he stood there baptizing them I can imagine about twenty thousand
people hanging upon his lips. There was a man came down through the
crowd. I can imagine that John was a man who looked as though he was more
like a mountain eagle, but his wings seemed to droop. That eye which
had been so keen and so severe on the Israelites when he called them a
generation of vipers became lusterless, his face fell and he shook his
head, as this Stranger came.
I suppose, as He came walking along toward John, God revealed the fact to
him and said: “This is My Son. This is the Savior of the world. This is
the Prince of Peace.” And when John saw Him he quailed before Him, and he
said: “I have need to be baptized of Thee.”
What excitement! How it must have thrilled the audience as John drew
back and said: “I have need to be baptized of Thee.” John knew Him. John
at once recognized Him. He knew He was the promised One of the law.
John said: “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?”
But Jesus said unto him: “Suffer it to be so now, that the law may be
fulfilled.” Now, what excitement as these two men went down into the
river together!
Oh, if Jordan could speak it could tell some wonderful stories! Wonderful
scenes have taken place there. Naaman had gone into that river and
washed, and had come forth clean. Elijah, going up with his mantle,
struck the water and went over dry-shod, as also did Elisha after Elijah
had ascended. But a more wonderful scene was taking place in Jordan than
ever took place before. It was of transcendent interest to all mankind.
Our Lord was going down into Jordan to be baptized, and He was going to
come up on resurrection ground. So He goes down with John the Baptist,
and the moment He was baptized and came up out of the water the heavens
were opened unto Him, and the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a
dove, and alighted upon Him. Heaven witnessed the scene. God the Father
spoke then. He broke the silence of ages. The God of the Old Testament
was the Christ of the New. And he heard a voice from Heaven, saying:
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Some one says that was the first time God could look down on the world
since Adam fell and say that He was well pleased. In Hebrews, tenth
chapter and seventh verse, we read:
“Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy
will, O God.”
He was the Son that was born above. The heavens opened and the Holy Ghost
descended upon Him. The Spirit of the Lord came down on Him, and God owns
Him and recognizes Him.
Now, there is another thought to which I want to call your attention.
John’s preaching changed. But he was not like many men of the present
day, who want to reform the world without Christ, who set a good example
and tell men to sign pledges and to do this or that, and to trust in
their own strength.
The moment John got his eye on Christ he had one text: “Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” That is how you are going
to get rid of your sins. Says John: “I bear record of this in the Son of
God.” And he told his disciples: “Now, you follow Him. Go with Him.”
One afternoon, as he sat there with his disciples, he said: “Behold
the Lamb of God!” And they left him to follow Jesus--two of his own
disciples. I tell you that is something which you do not like to do--to
make your friends leave you; to preach them away--your own congregation.
But now this man begins to ask his disciples to leave him. “Why,” said
he, “I tell you I am not worthy to just unloose His shoes. He is more
worthy than I am. Follow Him.” He began to preach up Christ. “He must
increase; I must decrease.”
Some of his disciples came to him one day and said: “You know that Man
you baptized over there in the Jordan? Well, more men are coming to Him
than are coming to you.” That was jealousy--envy rankling in those men’s
bosoms. But what did John say? “I told you that I was not He. Why, He
must increase, and I must decrease. That’s right, I would rather see the
crowd flocking to hear Him.”
John, I think, was terribly abused by some one. He was cast into prison.
Then he sent two of his disciples to inquire of Christ if He was the true
Messiah, or must he look for another. I do not know, but I have an idea
that he wanted his disciples to leave him and go over to Jesus. So he
called two of his most influential disciples and told them: “Now, you go
and ask Him if He is the true Messiah.” I can not believe in John’s faith
wavering; but, if he was wavering, he took the very best way, and sent
those men to ask the Savior.
I see his deputation arrive, and when Jesus had finished preaching these
disciples come up and say: “Our master has sent us to ask if You are the
true Messiah? Or, shall he look for another?”
Jesus goes on healing the sick, causing the lame to leap, giving sight to
the blind, making the deaf to hear, and after He had gone on performing
these miracles He said to John’s messengers: “You go back and tell your
master what you have seen and what you have heard. Go back and tell John
that the blind see; that the deaf hear; that the lame walk, and that the
poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
When John heard that, in prison, it settled all his doubts. His disciples
believed, and the poor had the Gospel preached to them. That was the
test, and then John’s disciples, one after another, left him. And now
we find him thrown into prison. There he is, in prison--awaiting his
appointed time.
Just bear in mind that God had sent him. His work was done. He had only
just come to announce the Savior--only for that object. Some think that
Christ’s treatment of John was rather hard--in fact, harsh; but the
greatest tribute ever paid to any man was paid by Jesus to John.
“But what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they
that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.
“But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet.
“For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.’
“Verily, I say unto you: ‘Among them that are born of women there has not
risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least
in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.’”
There was none greater than this same John. Our Savior knew that John was
going first. He knew that He was soon to die, and that John would have
to come to Him; that they would soon be together in Glory, and then they
could talk matters over; that John must sink out of sight, and the Lord
of Glory must be the central object.
Jesus and John were like the Sun and Moon in comparison with the stars.
All the prophets were like the stars in comparison with those two men.
There was no prophet like John. None born of woman was greater. Moses was
a mighty prophet. Elijah was the son of thunder, and a great and mighty
prophet; and so was Elisha. But they were not to be compared with John.
What a character! He lost sight of himself entirely. Christ was
uppermost; Christ was the all-in-all with him. He was beheaded outside
the Promised Land. He was buried in Moab, somewhere near where Moses
was laid away. The first and last prophet of that nation were buried
near together, and there they lie, outside the Promised Land; but their
bodies, by-and-by, will be resurrected, and they will be the grandest and
most glorious in God’s kingdom.