"Can I get a witness?"

 ‘Can I get a witness?’

Reader John 1:1-13

Text John 1:6-8

[xGJTM.1]

As we read today’s Scripture, we see a short expose’ and introduction of John the Baptist, in whom is characterized as a forerunner of the coming of Christ. It is during this time, as we note in other parts of the Gospel accounts, that John (not the writer of the Gospel Book) is shown, in detail of his humility and placement of his preaching and witnessing. He is shown to witness and preach specifically and only in the wilderness, until his arrest, which did not stop nor hinder his profession of faith, nor of his witness and preaching, he preached and witnessed during his persecution and ultimately until his death. That is where we begin today’s Message, how we are just like, or should be like John the Baptist, a forebearer of the coming of Christ, albeit His Second Coming.

I. Prerequisite of witness.

John the Baptist was chosen by God, we, however, are not just chosen, but we, that are witnesses, must be Born Again. A lost person simply can not witness The Gospel because they do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior. The lost individual, as the Scripture boldly explains it feels nothing but contempt for The Word, specifically, 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction!” So, we, as forerunners must be Born Again.

II. God sends us to witness.

Once we are saved, The Holy Spirit, not us, gives us a desire and drive to go out and witness (share The Gospel) and make disciples. This can only be done through the indwelling of The Holy Spirit, now we must surrender our will and allow Him to do it, and God knows what needs to be said when it needs to be said, and where to go to say it and who to say it to. That is it, He does the hard part, it has nothing to do with nerves, it has everything to do with complete surrendered obedience to His guidance and His Will.

 So, it needs to be clarified, that we do not plan to witness, we simply surrender our will and be willing in obedience to do as the hymn says, “wherever He leads, I’ll go.” Now let this sink in, wherever He does send us, do not get worried or upset if it is somewhere new, strange, uncomfortable, etc. Do not worry about the “right words” to say, for as Jesus assured the 72 disciples were sent out, we must not worry about what we need to say, for The Holy Spirit does, so be patient, be calm, be willing, and be ready to go, when sent by God to witness on Christ crucified and the hope that you have found in Him without shame. 

III. Planted in the wilderness to witness.

We as Born-Again Christians are in a wilderness. Look at John the Baptist, he was not preaching in churches. He was not found in any opulent building or setting. He was a humble man of God bearing witness and preaching in rags, eating bugs and honey in the wilderness, which was an arid desert and not some cool, lush green garden. 

Why in a wilderness (desert)? Because God planted him there. We must not overlook the Spiritual imagery that God has given to us to grasp. Look at it this way, The Lord sanctifies us, that is, sets us apart to draw us to Him, so in this sense, John was set apart literally from the world (machinations of the world), but not prohibited to be around the people. You see, we need to allow and be willing to be surrendered to Christ much like John was and to be humbled. Now we are not expected to eat bugs and honey and wear camel-skinned clothes, but we must be humbly surrendered to Christ. 

We all currently live in the desert wilderness called life, the land is arid, nothing grows unless God allows it to do so, now look at that in a Spiritual view, that describes the world today, doesn’t it? This is why it is imperative that while we are living this sanctified life that we obediently in Spirit, witness to everyone, whether it is to lost sheep or the brood of vipers, we must be bringing in the sheaves since the harvest is plenty and time is running out until The King comes again.

IV. The Voice.

My late dad was a talker, he always had a story to tell, no matter where he was, who he was around my daddy talked. But no matter who the audience was, what they were dealing with, and what the topic was, he always brought the topic to a Christ-centered lesson, he always made it about Jesus, and did it with so much grace, so much unashamed love and surrendered dedication to The Lord and His Gospel. 

He and my momma were and are great role models on how to be that voice in the wilderness. God gifted us with a voice, and because of that, we should take advantage of every opportunity to preach, teach, witness and disciple. We live in a society that is so quick to judge, so quick to retaliate, spread hate, and cause division. We must reflect on the warning in Amos that soon there will be a famine in the land, and that famine was the hearing of The Word. We must also remember the 400-year silence of God between the times of Malachi until John the Baptist came onto the scene, and how we can face that dreadful famine again due to our sin and selfish pride clogging our ears and abusing the gift of speaking about Christ crucified. We must, as Paul told Timothy, (I paraphrase), “be ready in season and out of season, to give an account of the hope that we have in Christ.”

V. If you have ears to hear.

As forerunners of Christ’s Second Coming, we have covered how God sends us out to the vast desert wilderness that we call this world, and how it is imperative to ready hearts to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, warning them of the wages of their lost state, which is the ultimate sin. 

But for this can only be done if folks listen to what is being spoken, as Jesus had said several times in the Gospel accounts, “for those who have ears to hear,” and that is not limited to just those that we are sent to witness, preach, teach and disciple to, it also is directed towards us. Are we listening to what The Holy Spirit is saying to us through The Word of God, and are we practicing what we preach?

 We tend to be selective in our hearing when it comes to what topics we are taught when The Bible is being taught or preached, we tend to foolishly attempt to elevate ourselves too high to accept what is being preached as if we are faultless and we can never be effective in our witness when we stop listening. We can not tell others to listen to what God is saying when we are selective in what we desire to consume from The Bible through The Holy Spirit. Like I had said before, we are facing a time that is coming when we shall have a famine in the land, a famine of hearing The Word of God. 

We also must stay clear of sharing the sweetness of The Word apart from its bitter portions within it, we also must stay clear of tickling the ears of the people and simply preach The Truth of The Word, for The Truth shall set you free. Now, understand that there will be some that no matter what you say, and for whatever reason why they even showed up when you teach, preach or witness, they will go Spiritually deaf to all that you say, and they do that, because they are spiritually dead and they need to bring to life, a New Life found in Christ.

 The Word says, if you love Jesus you will keep His Word and that faith comes by hearing The Word of God so we must keep preaching, teaching, and witness to those that have ears to hear, let them listen, but leave it to God if they do listen or not. Our responsibility is to witness, what is beyond that, is on them, for we are only accountable for our obedience and not theirs, they are accountable for how they respond, good or bad, it is between them and God we must witness as God does what God does best…convict, forgive, and redeem. 

VI. Persecution because of our witness.

As we witness, as the forerunners to herald in The Second Coming of Christ Jesus, we must understand that we shall not ‘may’, but ‘shall’ which means all Christians will be persecuted as we bear witness of Christ. We need to accept these persecutions with joy, for joy is the thermostat that measures our life, even during these persecutions. We have a reward in Heaven as we witness, but that is not our goal. 

Our goal is to win souls so we may glorify God, preparing souls for the Second Coming of Christ, and that includes warning of the wages of rejecting His invitation of Grace and not just the blessings of accepting it. The warnings are the catalysts of our persecutions, because the wicked and the lost, is overflowing with so much sin, that they cannot and are not willing to surrender their will to continue to live in their sin and repent to live in, by, and through God’s Will and Redemption Plan, that Jesus saves by God’s Grace through our Faith in Jesus.

 We shall be persecuted because of Who Jesus is and what He is about and not who we are and what we are about. They will hate, mock and persecute us, for Jesus’ Namesake. Take heart, for this world, is not our home, we are strangers in a strange land and simply put, this world is our mission field. Whether it is in your own home, at work, in your neighborhood, and in the stores, you shop in. No matter where you go in this world, it is your mission field and an opportunity to prepare the way as we preach, teach, and be a witness of Christ crucified and His Second Coming.

 Remember what to do as we enter a location (opportunity) to present the Gospel to the lost that we should not worry about what to say, (this is only to those of us who are Born Again), for The Holy Spirit has the words to speak through us. Also, as Jesus had said to the 72 disciples as He sent them out, that if they enter a place and are not accepted as you come and speak, wipe off the dust from your feet and move to the next location. 

In other words, if someone is simply not going to accept your witness no matter what you do or say, do not stay and haggle with them, just walk away and let God handle them for there are many lost souls that are waiting and hungry to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Do not walk away being hateful, resentful, and portraying yourself as the antithesis of Christ and His Spirit, just walk away as you love, pray, and forgive them.

 Also, if a person or group that is of authority warns and persecutes you, do not be ashamed, do as Peter did when He was told not to preach Jesus. He preached Jesus anyway, not out of spite or for an angry and sinful reason, he was obedient for as he said, ‘I would rather obey God than man.’ We can also learn from Peter and many others who accepted the persecutions with great joy for they rejoiced to know that they suffered for the cause of Christ. Time is running out, do not be ashamed, prepare the Way for The King is Coming, so win souls even if persecuted for great is your reward in Heaven. Look for that Eternal moment when we hear Jesus says, “well done My good and faithful servant, you have done well.”

VII. The King is Coming, are you ready?

The second coming of Christ is referenced many times in Scripture, with over 1,500 passages in the Old Testament and one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament mentioning the Messiah’s return. The large amount of material devoted to this important event underscores what God says in Amos 3:7: “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”

In short, the return of Christ brings about what is referred to as the kingdom of God in Scripture—God’s absolute rule over His creation, including humankind. To accomplish that, Jesus ushers in two different judgments, two different resurrections, and two different eternities.

When Jesus returns, He will be ready for war (Revelation 19:11–16). The nations will be gathered to fight against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2) in what we call the battle of Armageddon. But that will be the day Jesus returns: “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south” (verse 4).

 It will be a unique day in the history of the world: “On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness . . . a day is known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light” (verses 6–7). God’s enemies will be defeated, and the Antichrist and the false prophet will be “thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 19:20). Jesus will set up His kingdom, and “The Lord will be king over the whole earth” (Zechariah 14:9).

In establishing His kingdom on earth, Jesus will first set up a judgment for those who are still alive after the tribulation and who are on the earth at the time of the second coming. This is referred to as the “judgment of the sheep and the goats” or “judgment of the nations” (Matthew 25:31–46). 

Those who survive this judgment will remain on earth and enjoy a time of peace and prosperity with Christ for 1,000 years (referred to as the millennium; see Revelation 20:4–6). Those who are found guilty in this judgment are cursed and consigned to “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Satan is bound and forbidden to act during the millennium (Revelation 20:1–3).

During this time there will also be a resurrection of all believers in God (Revelation 20:4–6). These resurrected believers will join believers who are alive at the time of Christ’s coming and those Christ brings with Him from heaven, and all will live with Jesus during His 1,000-year earthly reign.

At the end of the millennium, Satan will be released, and one final battle will occur, which will rapidly be won by Christ (Revelation 20:7–9). Satan is then permanently consigned to the lake of fire. At this point, the second resurrection will occur, and another judgment. Unbelievers will be resurrected and judged at what is referred to as the great white throne judgment; based on their works, they will be assigned to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11–15).

So, the return of Jesus will usher in two different eternities—one with God and one without Him. This truth is captured in two verses in the book of Malachi: “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire. . . . Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves” (Malachi 4:1–2).

What happens when Jesus returns? Evil is defeated, the earth is restored, and God wins. Your response to Jesus’ return depends on your relationship with Him. It will either be, as John MacArthur calls it, “the greatest calamity in all of human history” or the fulfillment of the Blessed Hope (Titus 2:13). Faith in Christ makes the difference. “But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8, NLT).

The series of Left Behind novels and movies has prompted a lot of questions from a lot of people: is the rapture real? (Answer: yes.) Will the rapture be followed by a time of divine judgment on earth? (Answer: yes.) Will I be left behind in the rapture? (Answer: that depends.)

The rapture is what we call the event in which Jesus comes again to take believers out of this world. The Bible calls it a “catching away” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) and describes it as an instantaneous “change” of the body that bypasses death (1 Corinthians 15:51–52). Those raptured “will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Believers in Jesus Christ are taken in the rapture; unbelievers will be left behind when the rapture occurs.

Those left behind in the rapture will face a quickly changing world—and the change will not be for the better. Second Thessalonians 2:11 says that the “power of lawlessness” is currently being held in check by the Holy Spirit. At the rapture, the true church is removed from the earth, and the Holy Spirit’s restraint will be “taken out of the way.” 

At that moment, the world will have no born-again believers anywhere. All the Christian workers in hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, rescue missions, relief agencies—gone. Every Christian in law enforcement, social work, and health care—gone. And of course, many churches will sit empty. In addition to the great void in the service community will be the commencement of God’s judgment on a rebellious world, detailed in Revelation 6—16.

Don’t be left behind. Make sure you are ready for the rapture. Since the rapture is for believers, it is vital that you place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (Acts 16:31). Repent of your sin and fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sin. Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16). The Lord knows who are His, and He will leave none of them behind (John 10:14).

Those who are saved by faith in Christ will not be left behind in the rapture. The saved are like the five wise virgins in Jesus’ parable who are ready for the coming of the bridegroom; they have their lamps trimmed and burning and full of oil—a symbol of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 25:1–13). To make sure that you are not left behind, trust Christ. Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Do not delay another moment. The matter is urgent. Trust Christ now.

CONCLUSION

"How can I be saved?" deals with where we will spend eternity after our lives in this world are over. There is no more important issue than our eternal destiny. Thankfully, the Bible is abundantly clear on how a person can be saved. The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Paul and Silas responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

How can I be saved? Why do I need to be saved?

We are all infected with sin (Romans 3:23). We are born with sin (Psalm 51:5), and we all personally choose to sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8). Sin is what makes us unsaved. Sin is what separates us from God. Sin is what has us on the path to eternal destruction.

How can I be saved? Saved from what?

Because of our sin, we all deserve death (Romans 6:23). While the physical consequence of sin is physical death, that is not the only kind of death that results from sin. All sin is ultimately committed against an eternal and infinite God (Psalm 51:4). Because of that, the just penalty for our sin is also eternal and infinite. What we need to be saved from is eternal destruction (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:15).

How can I be saved? How did God provide salvation?

Because the just penalty for sin is infinite and eternal, only God could pay the penalty, because only He is infinite and eternal. But God, in His divine nature, could not die. So God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ. God took on human flesh, lived among us, and taught us. When the people rejected Him and His message and sought to kill Him, He willingly sacrificed Himself for us, allowing Himself to be crucified (John 10:15). Because Jesus Christ was human, He could die; and because Jesus Christ was God, His death had an eternal and infinite value. Jesus’ death on the cross was the perfect and complete payment for our sin (1 John 2:2). He took the consequences we deserved. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead demonstrated that His death was indeed the perfectly sufficient sacrifice for sin.

How can I be saved? What do I need to do?

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). God has already done all of the work. All you must do is receive, in faith, the salvation God offers (Ephesians 2:8-9). Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins. Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16). God is offering you salvation as a gift. All you have to do is accept it. Jesus is the way of salvation (John 14:6).

Are you hungry? Not physically hungry, but do you have a hunger for something more in life? Is there something deep inside of you that never seems to be satisfied? If so, Jesus is the way! Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

Are you confused? Can you never seem to find a path or purpose in life? Does it seem like someone has turned out the lights and you cannot find the switch? If so, Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus proclaimed, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Do you ever feel like you are locked out of life? Have you tried so many doors, only to find that what is behind them is empty and meaningless? Are you looking for an entrance into a fulfilling life? If so, Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus declared, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).

Do other people always let you down? Have your relationships been shallow and empty? Does it seem like everyone is trying to take advantage of you? If so, Jesus is the way! Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:11, 14).

Do you wonder what happens after this life? Are you tired of living your life for things that only rot or rust? Do you sometimes doubt whether life has any meaning? Do you want to live after you die? If so, Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

What is the way? What is the truth? What is life? Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The hunger that you feel is a spiritual hunger, and can only be filled by Jesus. Jesus is the only one who can lift the darkness. Jesus is the door to a satisfying life. Jesus is the friend and shepherd that you have been looking for. Jesus is the life—in this world and the next. Jesus is the way of salvation!

The reason you feel hungry, the reason you seem to be lost in darkness, the reason you cannot find meaning in life, is that you are separated from God. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned, and are therefore separated from God (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23). The void you feel in your heart is God missing from your life. We were created to have a relationship with God. Because of our sin, we are separated from that relationship. Even worse, our sin will cause us to be separated from God for all of eternity, in this life and the next (Romans 6:23; John 3:36).

How can this problem be solved? Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus took our sin upon Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus died in our place (Romans 5:8), taking the punishment that we deserve. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, proving His victory over sin and death (Romans 6:4-5). 

Why did He do it? Jesus answered that question Himself: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus died so that we could live. If we place our faith in Jesus, trusting His death as the payment for our sins, all of our sins are forgiven and washed away. We will then have our spiritual hunger satisfied. The lights will be turned on. We will have access to a fulfilling life. We will know our true best friend and good shepherd. We will know that we will have a life after we die—a resurrected life in heaven for eternity with Jesus!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).