 Our sermon title this morning is Light to the Blind, Light to the Blind, and we are in part two as we work verse by verse through the Gospel of John, beginning in chapter one here with John's prologue in verses one through eighteen, introducing the Gospel. And so we've come to part two in verse six here, and we have begun to be introduced to John the Baptist. We have been introduced to John the Evangelist who wrote this Gospel, and now we begin to examine the work, the ministry of John the Baptist. And that really does start beginning to take shape in verse six where the Bible says 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, and that was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. In our passage beginning in verse six we are looking into the testimony of John and what it means to be a witness for Christ. A Paul said of God that God has not left us without a witness and in that he's done good. Well God is extraordinarily merciful, extraordinarily gracious in providing us many witnesses to the light. And it's astounding that blind men need a witness to point them to the light but that's the case. And here in verses six through nine we're looking at the job description for that witness. It's a job that every Christian has signed up for. If you say that you're a Christian, you say that you're in Christ, then you're sent by God and you've been given the job of being a witness and bearing witness of the light. We are to be light to the blind. And so last week as we began looking at verse six we saw that our first responsibility is to go to the blind. In verse six there was a man that man was sent from God and his name was John. In the same way that John has been sent as Christians you and I have been sent. We'll look at that more a little bit today. And John was sent because tragically the light which is the light of the world which is the life of men is a light to which men can be blind. It's a light that men shield themselves from because they prefer the darkness. They want their sin. And so they foolishly hold up their thumb and try to block out the sun. They hold up the thumb of their sin to block out the sun, S-O-N, from their lives because they love darkness. This is just foolish. And so John was sent with the purpose of going to the blind to give a witness, to bear witness of the light. And so are we, we're to do the same thing. Secondly today in verse seven we'll see that we are to go to the blind but secondly to speak of the light, we're to speak of the light. In being sent John was given the role of a witness. And being given that role of witness he was given the responsibility to witness about Christ with a desired result that blind men might be saved. So he has a role, a responsibility and a desired result. Following that model for gospel ministry we have the same role. We've been given the same responsibility and don't you desire the same result? Don't you want to see those little babies that came forward today? Don't you want to see them saved one day worshiping and praising the Lord? Don't you have friends and co-workers, people that you're witnessing to that you want to see saved? We desire that same result. Thirdly we'll get to this next week where to stand for the truth. For the sake of the gospel, for the sake that souls would be saved, we as Christians are to take a stand for all that is true. All that is real, all that is genuine. Now that necessitates also that we take a stand against that which is false. Take a stand against religious error. There is saving light in no one else but the true light, the genuine light, the real light. The Bible says nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so as we began last week in verse 6.1 we saw that we're to go to the blind. Verse 6 says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now bear with me for a moment as we give ourselves a reminder of what we looked at last week. We're building a case here that impacts our understanding of our responsibility here, impacts us directly. There was a man sent from God. We saw last week that just like John, we're also sent from God. We're sent from God with a great commission. And these sendings are linked, they're connected together by virtue of our relationship with Christ. I want you to put this together for a moment. In verse 1, chapter 1 verse 1. We're introduced to Jesus Christ as the word, the Lagos, the word, the self expression of the Godhead, the revelation of the Godhead. And God sends his word into the world, into the darkness to accomplish the purpose for which God sent it to be a revelation of himself to lost and dying men. Now we see that reference in Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55 verse 11 says, God says there, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Now in John chapter 1 verse 1, we see Jesus Christ as the word sent by the Father who pursues this mission and who accomplishes this mission for which he was sent. You know, obedience to the one who sent him. This sender-sent relationship then provides the framework for Jesus Christ sending his followers to do the same thing. It's a framework that is repeated. John chapter 20 verse 21, Jesus says, As the Father has sent me, so I also send you. If you're a Christian, if you claim to be a Christian, you are sent by God. And just like John, we're sent with a very important purpose. That purpose is not simply to live out your Christian life with the hope that somebody's going to come to you and ask you a reason for the hope that is within you. It's not what a Christian witness is. It's not to come to dig wells. It's not to serve in a soup kitchen. Those things are very good, fine and good. But our responsibility as Christians is to point blind men to the light as a Christian. You must, you must study your Bible. It is spiritual life to you. Your life depends on it. But is that the great commission to which the Lord has called you? Prayer is a critical necessity to the Christian life. You can't live your Christian life without it. But is that the purpose for which Jesus Christ sent you into the world? Some people make excuses for lack of evangelism by saying that evangelism shouldn't be emphasized anymore than any other spiritual discipline. That may be true, but listen, you can generally say back to them, well, if the other spiritual disciplines in your life look like your evangelism, then you're in trouble. You're not a Christian. We are to evangelize. We're to go to the blind and we're to point them to the light. John was sent as a heavenly herald, a royal ambassador. He was an emissary on behalf of the king sent to proclaim the coming Messiah. And just like John, you and I are also sent as a heavenly herald. John the evangelist, John the Baptist, and you and I, we all go with the same purpose. That, the blind and lost world, may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing they may have life in His name. So now we also saw on verse 6 last week that John was extremely faithful in discharging his commission, even to the point of his own death. John was certainly faithful because he loved Christ. He was faithful to his role, his responsibility, because he was grateful that Christ had saved him, because he wanted to see Christ magnified, wanted to see God glorified. He rejoiced to see Christ come, and so he rejoiced in his role as witness. But the reason that John was so faithful, the reason that John was so devoted, devoted to the point of his own death was because of Holy Spirit authored, Holy Spirit informed, Holy Spirit empowered, Holy Spirit enabled faith. John was a man of faith. John the Baptist had great faith. I love the exhortation of James 5 where James exhorts us to pray fervently because Elijah was a man with a nature just like ours, and Elijah prayed, and so we should pray like Elijah. When we think about it this way, John the Baptist had great faith. So let's exhort ourselves to have the same faith as John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a man with a nature like ours, and look at John the Baptist's witness to the light. Look at John the Baptist's faithfulness to Christ. He has a nature just like ours. John the Baptist believed Christ. He believed what was written about him that we've studied in John chapter 1 verses 1 through 5. And because John the Baptist believed Christ, John the Baptist obeyed Christ. Why? Why did John the Baptist preach Christ until they took his head? After fleeing, why did the disciples of Christ go right back into Jerusalem and preach Christ until they lost their lives? They believed in his resurrection. They believed that Christ the Lord had risen from the dead. They believed that he was the Son of God, that he was God in the flesh, and that he had come to take away the sins of the world. They believed Christ, and so they followed Christ. They believed Christ, and so they obeyed Christ. This is the fruit of genuine saving faith. This is the faith that God authors in the heart of a genuine Christian. As we saw last week, what Christians most need to do in this world, what Christians most need to do is to exercise faith in Christ. Your belief must not be a mere intellectual belief. It can't just be that you agree with facts of the Bible, and you're going to go through the motions of some external ritual, of some external Christianity, some moralism, just sort of living the right way, going to church because you know you're supposed to. It can't be that kind of faith. It must be a living practice. Your faith must be a living habit, a living hope, a living, active, obedient, hopeful, fervent, zealous faith. There's a distinguishing factor between the faith of demons, demons believe, and the faith of Christians who believe. The Bible says the demons believe and tremble. God's people believe and worship. God's people believe and pray. God's people believe and study the Bible. God's people believe and give. God's people believe and fellowship. God's people believe and disciple. God's people believe and resolve conflict. God's people believe and humble themselves. God's people believe and speak. They point blind men to the light. So how strong is your faith? How strong is your faith? I feel that's a pretty easy question to answer when you consider your evangelism. Go to the blind. Get out there and exercise your faith. If you believed your neighbor's house was on fire, certainly you'd tell your neighbor, wouldn't you? If you were a doctor, you believed your patient had cancer, certainly you would give them the diagnosis, wouldn't you? Where is your faith in Christ? Where's your faith in what Christ has said and in what Christ has done? Do you understand that you have neighbors that are dying? Their eyes will close in death and will open in torment. We are to go to the blind. Secondly, we'll see in verse 7 today that we are to speak of the light. It's simply not enough to be a witness. We have a responsibility as a witness to speak and to point men to the light. Verse 7, this man, John, came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. Now in verse 7, we have evangelistic gospel ministry modeled for us in the ministry given to John the Baptist. John was to go to spiritually blind people and to speak about the light, which is Jesus Christ, the life and the light of men. Now in John's ministry of speaking about the light as we see in verse 7, that ministry is defined for us in three different ways from that verse. One, John is given a role. Two, he is given a responsibility in that role. And three, he's given a result to pursue, a desired result. So John has a role. John has a responsibility and there's a result that we desire. So let's take a first look at John's role. In verse 7, verse 7 begins with courtroom language. It says this man came for a witness. That word is marcheria in the Greek, witness. Now the role of witness, the word witness is a legal term. This points to a verbal testimony rendered in the court of law. It's a verbal proclamation. The witness swears to tell what he knows, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's a witness. He doesn't speculate, doesn't give his own opinions. He doesn't mess around with conspiracies. A witness says what he knows and he knows what he says. And he's used by the court to establish truth for the purposes of a trial, a case. Now a witness is also committed. A witness is not neutral. He commits to the truth. If I'm a witness, I'm no longer neutral. I take my stand in the box and I testify of what I know. I take a stand for the truth. That's true of a Christian too, right? Christians are not. They cannot be. They must not be neutral. They commit themselves. Christians take a stand for Christ against error. Christians take a stand for Christ against sin. They take a stand for Christ against this world. It's the fake, hypocritical, disingenuous, so-called Christian that tries to remain neutral in this wicked world in which we live. Listen, friendship with the world makes you a what? An enemy of God. You can't be neutral if you're a Christian. You've got to take a stand for that, which is true. You take a stand for Christ. It's very interesting that it says there in the New King James that John came for a witness. I want you to get this. Your ESV or your NASB translates that word as, as a witness. Now, there's another Greek word that could be used for the word as. That's not the word that's used here. It's the Greek word ace that's used here. There's another Greek word that could be used for as. It's translated here, better translated here, for a witness. John came for a witness. In the phrase as a witness, so listen, every word of God's word is important, right? We believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture. Every word, every tense of the word is important. The Holy Spirit is the author. He does everything with great intention. In the phrase as a witness, witness would describe who? Would describe John. I think about it for a moment. If John came as a witness, the witness points back to John. The emphasis would be on John. For a witness places the emphasis on what? On Christ, yes. On the testimony of Christ. Listen, it describes the testimony. Witness doesn't point to John. Even this one little word in the Greek phrase points to Christ. John, John himself is just the means by which the greatest story, the greatest testimony that whatever was is given. John is just a means to point everyone to Christ, to point away from himself, and to point to the Lord. However, follow me for just a moment in this. And I think this point has practical impact for our understanding of the gospel, our understanding of the part that we play as sent ones from God, our understanding of our responsibility as witnesses. Let's consider that little word ace for a moment. Ace is most often translated into or to. It's a preposition that has an object. In other words, I took my car to the shop. Shop being the object, right? I took my car to the shop. I drove my car into the garage. Garage is the object. Here, John came into a witness or John came to a witness. The object is the witness, the witness that John came into. Now think about it for a moment. Put on your thinking caps a little bit and follow me in this. John the greatest and last of all the prophets steps into God's plan, steps into God's redemptive history into a multi millennia, multi witness plan of God to point to Christ and to save sinners where everything has been a progressive ramping up of revelation all pointing to one final glorious, perfect, spotless, blameless object, the Lord Jesus Christ. John ace, he steps into this plan of God to fulfill his role in God's great redemptive plan, his plan to save sinners like you and I. A great witness has already been taken place. The Lord from Genesis to Revelation bears witness of the light. The Lord from cover to cover in your Bible all points to Christ and so John steps into this witness that is already in progress, already taking place and into that testimony of God to play the specific role, to fulfill the specific purpose for which God sent him into God's sovereign redemptive plan. It's an awesome thought. John was sent to accomplish his part. So even here now in the Gospel of John we can get a glimpse of all these witnesses. The Lord has set up witnesses throughout his word and God has sent these witnesses for his son. God would ensure that his son had a herald. God would ensure that Jesus Christ had people pointing to him as Lord. And in this Gospel, this Gospel alone, the Gospel of John, we've seen that there are seven discourses of Christ. There are seven miracles that Christ performs. There are seven I am statements that point to the deity of Christ. And there are also seven witnesses that bear testimony of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, all with a purpose that believing in him you may have life in his name. So let's take a look at this. We want to see these witnesses and I want you to note these throughout your Bible. Turn with me first to John chapter 8. Just a few pages to the right. John chapter 8. I want to introduce you to these witnesses. And I think this is important for our understanding here. John chapter 8. And look with me down at verse 18. Now here Jesus Christ is speaking. And in verse 18 Jesus says, I am one who bears witness of myself and the Father who sent me bears witness of me. So there's two witnesses introduced to us right there in John chapter 8, the Father and the Son, right? So two witnesses. Flip a few more pages to the right to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. And look down at verse 26. And again this is Jesus speaking. And in verse 26 Jesus says, but when the helper comes whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. So there's the Holy Spirit testifying of Jesus Christ, right? Pointing men to the light. Verse 27. And you also, he's talking to the disciples here. You also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. So we have our third and fourth witness, right? The Holy Spirit and now the disciples. Flip back to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Now recognize that these witnesses, examples of these witnesses are all over. The Gospel of John, all over the scriptures. We can go to verse after verse after verse that point to these witnesses of God pointing to the light. So in John chapter 5, look with me beginning at verse 36. We have four witnesses so far. Father, Son, Holy Spirit and the disciples. We see another witness in John chapter 5, verse 36. Christ says, but I have a greater witness than John's for the works which the Father has given me to finish the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. So the works of Christ are our fifth witness. You have the works that Christ did. But keep reading in chapter 5, verse 37. The Bible says, and the Father himself who sent me has testified of me. So there's the Father again. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor see his form. Notice already that it's a wicked rejection of that awesome witness that men still love darkness more than the light. And so they reject the awesome witness of God, the Father testifying of Christ. Look at verse 38. But you do not have his word abiding in you because whom he sent, him you do not believe. Verse 39. You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me. So our sixth witness, the scriptures, the scriptures testify of Christ. In verse 40, sadly it says, but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life because men are blind. Men are dead and their sins and trespasses. Although these glorious witnesses are given one after the other by God blind men still reject. So that gives us six witnesses. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the disciples, the works of Christ, the scriptures testify of Christ. We're missing one. We've got a seventh witness. The seventh witness are all those believers who come by faith to Christ who testify of him. That's found in John chapter 20 verse 21. As the Father has sent me, Jesus says, I also send you all the believers in Christ testify of Christ. You cannot properly call yourself a believer in Christ if you do not testify of Christ. Now this includes John the Baptist, a great witness here. It includes the woman at the well in John chapter 4. This includes all those that saw Lazarus raised from the dead who bore witness of Christ. Andrew believed and Andrew found Simon and Simon believed, right? Philip believed and then Philip found Nathaniel and Nathaniel believed. Someone found you and you believed. Now who has believed because of you? Who has believed because of you? We're to point blind people to the light. By the grace and mercy of God, you need to see this as astounding mercy, astounding grace. By the grace and mercy of God, you and I have ace. We've stepped into a glorious cloud of witnesses. We've stepped into a glorious cloud of witnesses as a witness ourselves to fulfill our part in the great redemptive plan of God decreed from before the foundation of the world to save sinners like you and I. To be a means of witness for God to accomplish his purpose in saving sinners. Now think about it. You are to accomplish the purpose for which God sent you. If you're a Christian, you're witness then, God is sovereign. God is sovereign. If you're a Christian, then your witness is intended by God as a part of his redemptive plan in history. You're stepping into a plan already in motion. You're stepping into a witness, a cloud of witnesses already pointing to the light and you're to play your part. You're to accomplish your role and your witness is important enough to be included here with all the others. You as the seventh witness with the scriptures, with the works of Christ, with Father, Son and Holy Spirit and you're to give your witness. Someone out there is going to get saved because of your witness. The Lord intends to use you. That is the reason for which you are sent. The Lord, isn't that an awesome thought? The Lord intends to use you. He intends. He has decreed, foreordained so to speak, that you would be a witness to the light, a witness to lost and dying men and women that need the Lord. That's your role. That's your role. The writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 12 verse one, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the rates that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It's interesting if you go on there in chapter 12 verse one, that in our witness, in our living of the Christian life, the author there to the letter to the Hebrews says that we should consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself as an encouragement to us. Why would the Lord endure or incur hostility from sinners? Because of his witness, the Lord witnessed of himself, witnessed of the truth of God. The Lord preached the gospel and they crucified him for it. John the Baptist lost his head for it. The disciples were killed for it. John himself here, the author of our gospel, was exiled for it. We're to be faithful in our role. It is the astounding grace, the astounding mercy of God that he has and continues to send witnesses of the light to blind people. And you are one of those if you're in Christ. So John's role, your role, my role, is to be a witness. A witness then has a responsibility. We have our role where to be a witness. What is our responsibility? What is John's responsibility? Verse seven, back in John chapter one. This man, John, came for a witness and his responsibility is to bear witness of the light. Now John the Baptist was a pivotal witness. He was a transitional figure in biblical history. In Luke chapter 16 verse 16, Jesus says that up until John, the law and the prophets were proclaimed. But now Jesus said there, the kingdom of God is preached and everyone is pressing into it. And so John we see is the last of the great prophets, the last of the Old Testament prophets. And he was ushering in, if you will, a new age. So as we've seen, a witness is someone who comes to give verbal testimony. It's verbal proclamation. So the lesson is you can't be a witness if you don't open your mouth and speak. You have to open your mouth and speak. A witness then, it was John's responsibility to proclaim Christ. That's described for us here in John chapter one, verse seven, with the words bearing witness. That's one word in Greek. However, in the scriptures there are interchangeable words, interchangeable phrases for that very same verbal proclamation about Christ. And I want you to see something in this. They're all referring to the same thing. Preaching the gospel, evangelizing, witnessing, bearing witness and so on, all referring to the same thing. In introducing John the Baptist to us, John the evangelist, John the author of our gospel, uses the word bearing witness. John is a witness who is bearing witness to the light. The synoptic gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all use the word preaching. Rather than use the word witness, they would use the word preaching. Where John might have said bearing witness, Matthew said in chapter three, verse one of his gospel, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying what? Repent, that's right, saying repent. Mark said in his gospel, chapter one, verse four, that John came baptizing, immersing, submersing, dunking in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance. That's right. Luke in his gospel in chapter three, verse three, said that John went into all the region around the Jordan preaching. All three of those words is the Greek word, keruso. It means to announce or to make known by means of a herald. In a sense, John was a herald, proclaiming, announcing the coming king. You and I are sent as a herald, herald the message of the king about Christ. In Luke chapter three, verse 18, John referred to what he did as preaching using the word euangelizo, another word in Greek, which means to announce or to proclaim good news. So in all this, all these words used interchangeably, really are referring to the same function. God has chosen to save men by the foolishness of preaching. And we're to preach the gospel, preaching a verbal proclamation, bearing witness a verbal proclamation, evangelizing a verbal proclamation. And all that verbal proclamation is to be about Christ and him crucified. Right? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. We're to preach the gospel. We're to witness. We're to evangelize. That verb there, bear witness. John chapter one, verse seven, testify in some of your translations. That word is in the heiress tense. Now what that means is, is that this was on the part of John an accomplished work. John witnessed and he preached and he evangelized and he made that a continuous pattern of his ministry. He was doing that all along until they took his head. But this word, bear witness, John came to bear witness is in the heiress. It's an accomplished work. It's a finished work. And what's that saying there is, is that John bore witness, he did what he was sent to do. He took care of his responsibility. John the Baptist accomplished the work for which he was sent. And if he was standing before the Lord, the judgment seat of Christ, he'll hear well done, good and faithful slave. Right? He accomplished the work. He ran the race. He kept the faith. Do you want that said of you? You and I have a work to do. We have a responsibility for the Lord. There's a job. There's a purpose that needs to be accomplished. There's a work that needs to be finished. Let it be said of us that we finished the work that the Lord gave us to do. When we stand before the Lord, there wasn't anything left undone that we did what the Lord sent us to do. The focus of John's witness, well, listen, the focus of John's witness was that whether by his life or by his death that Jesus Christ would be magnified. That's the focus. It should be the focus of every Christian's life. Whether by my life or by my death that Jesus Christ would be magnified with Paul in Philippians chapter one, verse 20. John the Baptist can say and let it be said of us also, his earnest expectation and hope is that in nothing I shall be ashamed but with all boldness as always. So now also Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gained. I love that from Paul that we're not to allow anything to be the case for our shame that our expectation, our earnest hope is that in nothing I shall be ashamed but with all boldness as always. So now also in Christ Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death. Is there something in your Christian life that is lacking for which you would be ashamed? Repent of that and serve the Lord. Fulfill your ministry. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill the work that the Lord has sent you to do. Accomplish your mission. We'll all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Let it be said of you. Let it be said of me that I have nothing to be ashamed about. I finished the work for which God called me to do. That you pointed sinners to the light. John proclaimed Christ until his death and he finished his work. He finished the race. He kept the faith. He was a true and faithful forerunner. And listen, John the Baptist has a nature just like yours and mine. He was a man just like you and I. Many believe that they are bearing witness by simply living the Christian life in front of people. And as important as that may be, that's not witnessing. Many people may speak their testimony and as important as the testimony of God's life transformational work in the heart of a sinner as important as that is, that's not witnessing. Living the faith is an important foundation. You can't discredit the gospel with your life. You must live a holy life. Live for Christ. But if you are going to obey the Great Commission to preach the gospel, you've got to go to the blind and speak of the light. Proclaim the light. Bear witness to the light. Preach the light. Witness the light. If you're going to be a faithful witness, you have to speak what you're given to speak. You have to speak it in a way that you are to speak it. And you're to speak it to whom? You're to speak it to. We're not to bear witness to social causes. As important as that may be. You're not to bear witness to inclusivism or ecumenism or tolerance or error like cheap grace. You're not to preach your own opinions. Bearing witness requires of you, requires of me a careful study of God's Word so that we are proclaiming as a herald the right message. Herald couldn't speak on his own. He spoke exactly what was given him to speak. Eat these words, right, to the prophet Isaiah. You're to eat them and then speak them. If you're a Christian, you'll bear witness to the light. You'll preach Christ. How are they going to hear without a preacher? And you're sent as that preacher. A 19th century Bible teacher, A.T. Pearson said, witnessing is the whole work of the whole church for the whole age. He goes on to say, a light that does not shine, a spring that does not flow, a germ that does not grow, is no more of an anomaly than a life in Christ which does not witness to Christ. In other words, what he's saying there, if you're not a witness to Christ, you're not a Christian. Just clear from the Bible. So considering John's role, considering John's responsibility, in role and responsibility, we have as a Christian both a sense of being and a sense of doing. In our role, it's a sense of being a witness. In our responsibility, there's a sense of doing, our witnessing, doing the preaching of the Word of God. Consider this for a moment. Acts chapter 1 verse 8, when the Spirit comes upon you, you will be what? Witnesses to me. When the Spirit comes upon you, you will be witnesses to me. Now, you will be. This is not a command. Acts 1-8 is not a command. It's a statement of fact. When as a Christian, the Spirit of God comes upon you, you will be a witness to Christ. It's just who you are. It's just who you are. In Mark chapter 16 verse 15, there's a command from Christ, go, he says, into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You're to do the work of a witness. So you are to be a witness, and that's by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you're commanded to go and witness, to do the work of a witness, to do the work of the ministry, both to be and to do. Isn't it gracious of God that he gives us a new nature and then gives us a job to do that is right in line with what our new nature wants to do? Now, if you're not geeked up about witnessing for Christ, one of two problems is the case. Either one, you're not a Christian. You just don't have a heart. You've not had your heart changed. And so you're still living according to your old nature. Your old nature loves the things that your old nature loves, and those things have nothing to do with the purpose and mission of Christ. Or you're a genuine Christian who has fallen into disobedience, fallen into apathy, fallen into indifference about the fact that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. The most glorious message ever imagined in the mind, ever grasped with a heart, and yet somehow it is lost on you. It just shows you. It's a testimony of our wicked hearts. You know, we have a new nature in Christ. We have a new heart in Christ. With my mind, I agree with the law of God that it is just holy and good. But we, don't we, see another law in our members that wages war against the law of my mind. And you have to take yourself in hand. By faith in Christ, get to that glorious work, step out in faith, obey the Lord. And the Lord, I promise you, if you're a Christian, he'll prime that cold heart and give you joy in the work. Because that's what Christians love to do. Christians love to serve the Lord, obey the Lord. They love to preach about the Lord. They love to see people saved. They love to point people to the light. You do that. Listen, you do that, and people are going to get saved. People are going to get saved because of your witness. People are going to get saved because you were faithful to point them to the light and the Lord used you. Just like that first light in Genesis chapter one, which would not be overcome by the darkness, Jesus Christ the light will not be overcome by the darkness. One, because God is omnipotent. God has already won the victory. Christ has already won the victory. He has secured it. But number two, because God uses means and he continuously sends witnesses, you and I, to blind people with the light of the gospel. The Lord has seen to it. With all that, we have our role as a witness. We see the responsibility that we have of speaking about the light. But lastly in verse seven, we've got a result that we're aiming for. The result that we hope for, result that we pray for. Verse seven says, this man came for a witness to bear witness to the light that all through him might believe. That's our hope. There's a purpose to this testimony, to this work of being a witness to the light. That purpose is that all through him might believe. Now people don't believe through Christ. They believe in Christ, right? So the him there doesn't refer to Christ. It refers to John the Baptist. It refers to John the Baptist witness. So John the Baptist came for a witness. He is bearing testimony of the light that all through John's witness might believe in Christ. Now think about it for a moment. You've been sent by God. You have a role as a witness. You have a responsibility to point blind men to the light that all through your witness, everyone you talk to, don't we desire that God would save them? All through your witness might be saved. That is there too. Saving faith might believe. Saving faith that they might have eternal life in his name. There's two concepts here. You have the concept, again, legal concepts of witness and now the concept of believing. John, you and I, we march your reign. We witness, okay, for the purpose that others will pist you aim. They will believe. Believe the testimony as being valid and true and believing have life in his name. The verb believe there, when it says that all through him might believe, is not referring to a continuous believing. As Christians, we have continuous believing. If you say you're a Christian and you've stopped believing, you're not a Christian. You were never a Christian to begin with. There is no such thing as someone who asks Jesus in their heart and then falls away and unbelief becomes an atheist. That person's not a Christian. They were never a Christian to begin with. The Christian believes and continuously believes, but that's not the belief that's being spoken of here. This one isn't talking about the continuous believing. This is talking about a specific point of believing. This is a point of saving faith. When someone hears the gospel, God causes them by his spirit to be born again and they repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is tandem out to getting saved, so to speak. We know from verse 13 in chapter one, this does not come as a result of your ethnicity. It does not come as a result of being a Jew or what family you were born into. It does not come as a result of man-striving. You can't work your way to salvation. You can't try hard enough. You can't expend your energy enough to be saved. The Lord has to do it. It's not a result of man's decision. You can't think to yourself, you know what? The Lord's been so good. I'm just going to give myself of the Lord today and get saved. It's not how it works. You can't think to yourself, you know what? I'm going to sin it up because I really love my sin and on my deathbed before I die with my last breath, I'm going to ask Jesus into my heart. I'm going to pray to receive Christ and get saved. It's not how it works. It doesn't come by your decision. The Lord God causes you by his spirit to be born again. Salvation comes from the Lord, the psalmist says. John the Baptist was extremely effective as a witness. Now think about it for a moment. He had great results. Drowes went out to see him. In Mark chapter one, verse four, the Bible there says that John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized to him in the river in the river Jordan confessing their sins. And listen, if you go out as a witness for Jesus Christ and that witness is given in a way that John the Baptist gives it, people are going to get saved. People are going to believe. If you will witness in this way, then men and women will believe as a result of your bearing witness to Christ. And notice how that puts all the emphasis on faithfulness. You just have to be faithful like John the Baptist to go out and preach the message that John the Baptist preached. Preach the message of the gospel that God gives you to preach and people are going to get saved because God is in charge of the results. It's not about how snappy you put the message together or how cleverly you weave your argument. This is all of God. You just have to be faithful. But however, is that the way, always the way that it's going to be every time that you go out to bear witness for Christ? No. John the Baptist had great results, but John the Baptist also had his head cut off, right? The purpose is that all might believe through our witness. And that's what we should fervently pray for. Listen, don't become so mechanical, so ritual, if you will, or formulaic in your witnessing that you forget to pray for that purpose, that person you're witnessing to. As you're witnessing, pray, Lord God, please, God, open their eyes. God, break their heart over their sins. Save them for your glory. Don't get so mechanical in your witnessing. You forget to pray for these people. They need to be saved. The purpose is that all might believe, but that's not the actual result. This expresses God's will of desire that through him all might believe. We saw that when we went through 1 Timothy in chapter two, verse four, where it says that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. However, despite God's desire, there are many who just love their darkness more than they love the light. Does that frustrate God? Does that frustrate God's will? Not one bit. Does that thwart God's decree? Not one bit. God is sovereign. God's decreed will stands. Bible says all, Christ says, all that the Father gives to me will come to me. God's plan is sure. God's plan is secure. However, Christ also says to enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads where? Destruction. There are many, Jesus says, there are many who go in by it, because narrow is the gate. Difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it just perpetually disgusted by that false presentation of the gospel that says it's just as easy as ABC. The Bible says otherwise. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. You know why it's hard? It's because you can't do it yourself. You can strive and strive and strive and never fully obey the commands of Christ. You can work to obey and work to obey and work to live for him, and you can't do it in your own strength. You can only have any hope of obeying from the heart in Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not by your efforts, it's by my might, says the Lord. That's why it's hard. You can't do it yourself. You need to be born again. You can't do it yourself. You need to turn from your sin, put your faith in Christ. It's faith in Christ that is the victory that has overcome the world. You can't do it yourself. You need the Spirit of God in you to be able to live for him. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name? And Christ said, I'll declare to them I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. What about you? In a crowd this size, there are many of you here today who are lost, who don't know Christ. If you close your eyes in death today, you will open them in torment. You close your eyes in death today, you will open them in eternal darkness. Others of you are here today, and you play the hypocrite. You are pretending to be a Christian. You know in the back of your mind that you're not living for Christ. You come Sunday after Sunday just pretending, playing a part. You call yourself a Christian, but you know you're not living like one. You're in your sin. You're in your sin, and the judgment of God hangs over your head. The verdict in God's courtroom is death. The sentence is eternity in hell. The pattern of your life shows an occasional interest in the things of God. A moment here, a month here, a year there maybe. But if you look at the timeline of your life, the rest of your life just demonstrates apathy toward God, rebellion toward the things of God, disobedience and sin and sin and sin. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices sin is of the devil. Christ came to make manifest those who are of him and those who are of their father the devil. Those who practice righteousness are righteous as he is righteous. Overall, you're lukewarm at best. In Revelation chapter 3 says that you being lukewarm, Jesus Christ is going to vomit you out of his mouth. The other side to that is that you're not here by accident. God who desires that all men be saved. Now who does that include? That includes you. That includes you. God desires your salvation. Not only does he desire your salvation, you're not here by accident. God purposed to bring you here to give you a witness to the light that believing in him, you may have life in his name. Now how gracious and merciful is God? God created you and you've lived in rebellion against him. And God is furious with you because of your sin. God is holy and God is just. Every sin will be held to account. Every sin will be paid for. Every sin deserves the death penalty. The fires of hell are kindled for you if you're outside of Christ. God will have justice. He won't turn a blind eye to your sin. He doesn't merely forgive. Have you seen testimony of the cross? Have you considered what Christ endured? Do you think God turns a blind eye to sin? It cost God everything to pay for sin, including his own son. He doesn't turn a blind eye and just merely forgive you and whitewash the whole thing for someone to acquit the guilty. God says it's an abomination to him. He doesn't merely just acquit the guilty. Your sins have to be paid for. They're either going to be paid by you for an eternity in hell or they're paid by Christ on the cross and Christ having come wrapped. He's God wrapped in human flesh, living the life, a perfect life you could never live, dying the death of a perfect sacrifice, a perfect death you could never die, satisfying the justice of God by bearing the penalty for sin, by bearing the wrath of God that you rightly deserve in his body on the cross. God satisfies the justice of God. God satisfies the wrath of God. He died. He was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, proving that Christ's sacrifice as a substitute was acceptable to God, proving that you and I will also one day see a resurrection. We'll either be resurrected to life or resurrected to condemnation. There will be a resurrection for you too. And even now, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for his own people, but one day he's going to come back. If you're outside of Christ, that's not good news to you. The fact that Jesus Christ could return at any moment should be terrifying news to you, because Christ will come back in judgment to judge the living and the dead at his appearing. The thought that Christ could come back at any moment should be a terrifying thought if you're outside of Christ. Will you repent and believe? God has given you a witness, and a witness, and a witness, and a witness, and a witness. God's purposes, God's desire would be that you would hear the witness of his son, and that believing in his son, you might have life in his name. Will you take God at his word? Or will you reject and reject and reject? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. You can do that right now, back to that point of believing, the point of saving faith. Make a commitment right now. To turn from your sin, disgusted with that life, disgusted with how I've lived, disgusted that my sins are so offensive to God. I want to turn from my sin. I want to put all my faith and trust in Christ. I want to entrust myself to him in all things, follow him all the days of my life, worship him in glory. And the Lord says that he will wipe the slate clean. He renders a verdict of not guilty, renders a verdict of innocent, and credits you with the perfect life of his son and adopts you into his family, adopts you into the kingdom. You become a citizen of heaven, cleansed, redeemed, able to worship God for all eternity. It is a glorious thought. And to think that that is the purpose and desire of God towards you is to, in the preaching of the gospel, that all through him might believe, or repent and believe in the gospel. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this witness of John. Thank you for the witness of your scriptures. Thank you for the witness of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thank you for the witness of the works of Christ, how glorious they are. Thank you for the witness of John the Evangelist, John the Baptist. Thank you for the witness of your people, God, faithful to go out and preach the gospel and point people to the light. And we want to see, Lord, men and women saved for your glory, fleeing the wrath to come, escaping your wrath, God, and worshiping you for all eternity in heaven. I pray that you do that work, God. Give us fruit for the labor of your people in the gospel, for your glory, for your namesake, God, for your eternal worship and praise. All this we pray in the name of our blessed God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.