Please turn to the Gospel according to John, chapter 1. We shall read from John 1:19 through John 1:34, and then John 3:22 through John 3:30.
And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou?
And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.
They said therefore 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 Isaiah the prophet.
And they had been sent from the Pharisees.
And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: in the midst of you standeth One Whom ye know not, even He that cometh after me, the latchet of Whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!
This is He of Whom I said, After me cometh a man Who is become before me: for He was before me.
And I knew Him not; but that He should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water.
And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and It abode upon Him.
And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize in water, He said unto me, Upon Whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.
And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.
John 3:22:
After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judaea; and there He tarried with them, and baptized.
And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
For John was not yet cast into prison.
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purifying.
And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to Whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to Him.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before Him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is made full.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that through the blood of our Lord Jesus, and by the new and living way that He has opened for us through His flesh, we have access. We have this holy boldness to approach Thy throne of grace.
There we find our Lord Jesus as our great High Priest, making intercession for us, that He might save us to the uttermost. Oh, how we praise and thank Thee for such a privilege.
We commit ourselves to Thee this evening, trusting Thy Holy Spirit to open Thy Word to our hearts, to convince us, and to bring us to that place where Thou art able to do everything that Thou dost desire to do in our midst tonight. To Thee be all praise and glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
In the fullness of time, God sent His only begotten Son into this world. But before His Son was sent into this world, God first sent a man six months ahead of His Son. This man’s name was John.
John was the forerunner of Christ. He was sent by God to prepare the way for His Son.
John came; he bore witness to Christ, to the Son of God Who was coming into this world. He was a voice in the wilderness. He was a prophetic voice.
It was a voice that stirred not only Jerusalem, but Judaea and all the region around the Jordan. Why? Because before that voice was raised, for four hundred long years God was silent to His people.
The last voice heard by the children of Israel had been the voice of the prophet Malachi, four hundred years before this time. But after God spoke through the prophet Malachi, for four hundred long years God did not say a word to His own people.
Not because God did not want to speak to His own people, but because God could not speak to His own people. And if God could not speak to His own people, to whom could He speak?
Outwardly, the remnant of the Jews had returned to the promised land. Outwardly, the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt. Outwardly, even the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt. Outwardly, for four hundred years, the priesthood was restored.
Outwardly, for four hundred years, sacrifices were offered in the holy temple. The Jews—the remnant, the people who had returned to the promised land—seemed to be a most godly people.
Why? Because they not only kept the law of Moses in sacrificing in the temple, but they also had many synagogues all over the land. They not only worshipped God in the temple and offered sacrifices there, but they also worshipped God in cities scattered throughout the land.
Outwardly, they were a most religious, pious, godly people. But God was silent. God could not speak to His people for four hundred long years.
Then suddenly, a voice in the wilderness. God spoke again to His people. No wonder that voice electrified the whole nation. People went out into the wilderness to hear that prophet.
John bore witness to the One Who was coming. The Jews sent priests and Levites to John and said, “Who are you? Are you the Messiah, the Christ, for Whom we have been waiting all these years?”
John said, “No, I am not the Christ.”
“Are you the prophet Elijah?” God had promised that one day the prophet Elijah would come back to prepare the way of Messiah. “Are you the prophet Elijah?” He said, “No.”
“Are you the prophet” prophesied in Deuteronomy, of Whom Moses said that one day among the brethren God would raise up a Prophet, and that they must hear Him, because if they did not, they would perish? “Are you that Prophet?” John said, “No, I am not.”
Of course, these people were puzzled. “You are not Christ. You are not Elijah. You are not that Prophet. Then who are you? Tell us, who are you?”
And he said, “I am just a voice. I am a voice in the wilderness, as it is written in Isaiah: a voice in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord.”
Then the people asked him, “If you are not the Christ, if you are not Elijah, if you are not the Prophet, if you are just a voice in the wilderness, why do you baptize people with water?”
He said, “I baptize people with water. But there is One among you Who is greater—much greater—than I am. I am not even worthy to unloose His sandal.” This was the witness of John concerning Christ Jesus.
The next day the Lord Jesus passed by. When John the Baptist saw the Lord Jesus passing by, the voice was raised again: “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world.”
“This is the One Who is going to baptize, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit.”
The testimony that John the Baptist gave concerning our Lord Jesus is a most complete testimony. It is a threefold testimony.
First, he testified that the Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. This Son of God Who came into this world came as God’s Lamb.
Of course, the Jews at that time understood very well what a lamb meant, because for many, many years they had been offering lambs to God.
Not only on the day of Passover—when every family must kill a lamb without spot and without blemish, and offer a lamb for each family—but they did this to celebrate and to remember the day when they were in Egypt, and how God delivered them out of Egypt by that Passover lamb.
The blood of the lamb was put on the doorposts and the lintel, and the whole family was gathered behind the blood in the house. At midnight, when the destroyer passed through the whole land of Egypt, if there was no blood on the door, the destroyer went in and slew the firstborn of every family—not only of men, but even of animals.
God delivered the children of Israel by the lamb. So, on the day of Passover, they offered lambs to God, remembering that by the blood of the lamb they were delivered.
But not only that: they offered lambs every morning and every evening. In other words, thousands and tens of thousands of lambs had been offered to God through all those years.
But suddenly the voice came: “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
Oh, the blood of the lambs and bullocks did not take away sin. They only covered sin for a while. But here is the Lamb of God. God prepared that Lamb in the person of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In that Lamb of God, God took away the sin of the world. This is why our Lord Jesus came into this world as the Lamb of God: to take away the sin of the world.
Once upon a time, that great preacher, Spurgeon—Charles Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers the world had ever known. He had a golden mouth and a steel tongue.
One day he was going to have a campaign in the Crystal Palace in London. The Crystal Palace was a huge auditorium, and it was before the days of microphones.
Before the campaign, Charles Spurgeon went to the Crystal Palace to test his voice, to see whether his voice would carry through the whole auditorium. So he was there testing his voice.
He cried and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world.”
After a while, he tested again: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” His voice reached to the end of the auditorium.
He did not know that a carpenter, a worker, was on the roof repairing it. This worker was deeply troubled by his sin. He was convicted by the Holy Spirit of his sin, and he was wondering, “How can my sins be forgiven?”
He was asking God, “God, speak to me. Say to me, how can my sins be forgiven?” While he was praying, suddenly he heard the voice: “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world.”
But he did not know whether it was God’s voice. He said, “Say it again.”
The voice came: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” There on the roof, this man was saved.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God. He takes away the sin of the world. There is no need for any sinner to die, because the Lamb of God has taken upon Himself the sin of the world.
There is no sin too great for Him to wash away by the precious blood of the precious Lamb of God.
But the testimony of John concerning our Lord Jesus is more than just that He is the Lamb of God. As the Lamb of God, anyone who believes in Him has his sins forgiven and receives eternal life. Thank God for this marvelous, wonderful Saviour and His salvation.
John bore witness to the Lord Jesus and said that He is more than the Saviour of the world. The Lord Jesus is also the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit.
Oh yes, our Lord Jesus not only died on the cross, and by His shed blood our sins are forgiven; our Lord Jesus is also the Baptizer. John baptized people with water unto repentance, but the Lord Jesus baptizes His people with the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that our Lord Jesus is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit?
To be baptized with the baptism of John is unto repentance. But to be baptized with the baptism with which our Lord Jesus baptizes us—the Holy Spirit—is unto union.
Not only union with Him as our Head, but union with all those who are redeemed of the Lord as members of the body of Christ.
You remember in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, and the one hundred and twenty gathered in that upper room were baptized in one Spirit.
When that happened, the whole city was stirred. People came to them, wondering what was happening, because everyone was speaking in their native tongue. There were people gathered from all over the world, and they heard their own languages being spoken, magnifying the Lord.
They wondered what had happened. You remember Peter stood up with the eleven and explained what had happened. At the end of his explanation in Acts 2, he said:
This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.
God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. The Lord Jesus ascended on high; He was exalted by the Father, received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and poured out the Holy Spirit, which they beheld and heard.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.
What is the meaning of baptism in the Holy Spirit? What does baptism in the Holy Spirit do for us?
First, by baptism in the Holy Spirit, we see that Jesus is Lord and Christ. We see that He is Head over all things to His body.
Second, the meaning of baptism in the Holy Spirit is explained in 1 Corinthians 12:13:
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we receive our Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God, we are saved individually. But by baptism in the Holy Spirit, we are baptized into one body, with Christ as our Head, and we become members one of another.
Oh, our Lord Jesus is the Baptizer. He is not only our Saviour; He is our Baptizer. He has baptized you and me, individual believers, to become members of one body. What a difference that is.
Before the day of Pentecost, you find one hundred and twenty believers—perhaps the best of the believers at that time. When our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, at one time He appeared to five hundred brethren. Probably five hundred brethren saw Him going up at His ascension.
But unfortunately, only one hundred and twenty remained in Jerusalem for ten days, praying with one accord. These one hundred and twenty were the best among the believers, and yet they were one hundred and twenty individual believers.
If you take every one of them separately and look at them, they are just beautiful. But when you put one hundred and twenty together, well, ten days may be all right; one hundred days will be like hell.
But on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came. They were baptized in one Spirit, and they became one body—no longer a congregation of one hundred and twenty members, but a body of one hundred and twenty members. What a difference!
Oh, brothers and sisters, do you see the Lord Jesus as the Baptizer? You know the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God—thank God for that—but do you know the Lord Jesus as the Baptizer?
Do you know that you were baptized by Him with the Holy Spirit? Do you know that you are no longer merely an individual believer who can live independently, in isolation, all by yourself—shut up the door and be a good Christian? You cannot do it.
Why? Because you were baptized by the Baptizer, our Lord Jesus, into one body. You cannot do without Him, because He is your Head; and you cannot do without me, because I am your member. Of course, I cannot do without you.
Do you not see that our Lord Jesus is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and that you were baptized already? Thank God, we are one body, members one of another.
But the testimony of John went even further. John said, “Our Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” John said, “He is the One Who will baptize in the Holy Spirit.” Oh, but he said more.
He said, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.” In other words, he testified that the Lord Jesus is the Bridegroom.
Not only the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, not only the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit to baptize us into one body under one Head, but He is the Bridegroom, and He is the One Who is to take the bride.
What a perfect testimony that is. Do you not know that our Lord Jesus came into this world for one reason?
Now, it is true that the Lord said, “The Son of Man came into this world to seek and to save the lost.” That is true. It is true that the Lord Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, that He might have a body. That is true.
But why is it that He became the Lamb of God? Why is it that He saves us? Why is it that He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, that we may become one body? Why?
Oh, you know the reason why. The reason is that He is a Bridegroom. And what will become of the Bridegroom if He does not have a bride?
The reason why our Lord Jesus came into this world is to find His bride. That is why.
When He was on earth, He was the Lamb of God. Now He is in heaven; He is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, because He baptized the church in the Holy Spirit after He ascended on high. One day, when He shall return, He will take His bride to Himself.
You know, the apostle John’s ministry is very different from the ministry of the other apostles. The apostle John’s ministry is the ministry of the ultimate.
With John, you always go back to the beginning, and you always go on to the end—the ultimate.
If you really want to know why the Lord Jesus came into this world, read the Gospel according to John. I do not say that if you read the Gospel according to Luke, you will not know why the Lord Jesus came into the world. In Luke, you find that the Lord Jesus came into the world to save the lost. That is why He came.
But if you read the Gospel according to John, you discover something. You discover the ultimate, the eternal will of God in sending His Son into this world.
Why did the Lord Jesus come into this world according to the Gospel of John? It is because He is the Bridegroom. As the Bridegroom, He came into this world to find His bride.
From John 1 through John 12, you find that this Bridegroom had come into this world, but the bride was nowhere to be found. He was almost like Adam in the garden of Eden. God let all the animals pass before him, and Adam saw the giraffe, the elephant, the crocodiles, and all the animals passing by; but he could not find his bride.
The bride had to be created, had to be built. The same thing is true with our Lord Jesus. He came into this world with the one purpose of finding a bride for Himself, but the bride was nowhere to be found—nonexistent. Therefore, He had to create that bride.
Oh, if you read the Gospel of John from that perspective, how beautiful it is. Here you find Him touching this man and that woman.
You find Him talking with Nicodemus, that religious rabbi of Israel, that great theologian; yet He discussed with that great theologian the new birth, something so basic.
Then you find our Lord Jesus having a conversation with the Samaritan woman, that wicked, sinful woman; yet He discussed with her the matter of worship, the highest matter of the gospel.
You find that He healed a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years, and afterward warned him, “Sin no more.” You find how our Lord Jesus saved a woman caught in adultery.
You find our Lord Jesus standing in a high place and crying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” The water shall flow from him as rivers of living water.
You find our Lord Jesus healing a man born blind and calling Lazarus from the dead. Here you find our Lord Jesus touching this one and that one, in all different conditions, and gathering a people to Himself.
From John 13 through John 17, you find Him together with His own. There He told them that the Holy Spirit would come. They would discover that as He was in the Father and the Father was in Him, so they would be in Him and He would be in them.
He prayed that they might be one—not only they, but all those who would believe in the Lord Jesus through them—that they might be one as He and the Father are one: one body.
That is the Gospel according to John. Out of His side came blood and water to yield the body.
If you read the Epistles of John, John tells us how this body is being built, so that His body may be matured. You cannot have a marriage if the bride is still immature.
According to John’s ministry in his Epistles, you find how this body is being matured and grown up. Then, in the book of Revelation, when the wife has made herself ready, the Bridegroom comes to claim His bride. This is the testimony of John.
One day John was baptizing people, and the Lord Jesus and His disciples were also baptizing people. Actually, it was not Jesus Himself who was baptizing, but His disciples.
Here you find a disciple of John having a discussion with a Jew about purification. John’s disciples came to John the Baptist, and they were really indignant and jealous for their master.
They came to John and said, “Master, the One Whom you baptized, and of Whom you bore witness, is now also baptizing people, and people are going to Him. You are losing ground now. How about that?”
Listen to what John said. John said, “I told you, I am not the Christ.”
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is made full.
Who is this John the Baptist? Yes, he is a voice in the wilderness. But he is also the friend of the Bridegroom.
Unfortunately, today we do not really know for sure about the marriage procedures among the ancient Hebrews. We know a little bit, but somehow we are not able to put everything together into a complete picture.
So I have to apologize tonight. I have examined the references, but I am not able to put everything together fully and show you exactly how marriage was conducted among the ancient Hebrews. But we know a few things.
First, among the Hebrews and the Jews, they considered marriage a very important thing. They considered marriage the normal life of a man. According to the Talmud, a Jew who is not married is not a man.
They looked upon married life as the most normal life, and they even looked upon marriage as more than the union of a man and a woman. According to rabbinical writings, whenever a marriage was consummated between a Jew and a Jewish woman, it represented the union of God with Israel.
So you find how they regarded marriage as a most holy and sacred matter.
In a Jewish marriage, the first thing was the betrothal, the engagement. Today in this country engagement is almost nothing. But among the Jewish people in the old days, betrothal was part of the marriage procedure, and it was the most binding part.
When a man and a woman were engaged, they were considered before the law as husband and wife. The only thing they had not done was that they did not live together. Before the law, they were considered as already belonging to each other.
So first they had the ceremony of betrothal. On that day, the man would give a piece of money or a letter declaring that he would take the woman to be his wife.
The most important thing in an engagement was, of course, a dowry. But the dowry was not paid to the maiden; it was paid to the parents of the maiden.
Usually, the betrothal would not last more than twelve months. Within twelve months, there would be the marriage.
Now, this is the part about which we are not too clear. From all the references I have looked into, it seems to me—now, I am just putting an outline before you; forgive me and correct me if I am wrong—that there is some confusion here.
In such a marriage situation, the most important part is the wedding procession. But it seems to me that there were two wedding processions instead of one. Otherwise, I cannot reconcile all the records I have considered.
Usually, if I may put it this way, I simply put it before you. If the procedure is not exactly correct, it is all right, as long as when we apply it, you find the scriptural background to it.
On the day of marriage, the first thing would be the wedding procession. It usually happened at night.
There you find the friend of the bridegroom. In a Jewish marriage, the friend of the bridegroom was the go-between. He was the one who would go to the maiden’s home and negotiate the marriage.
On the day of marriage, the friend of the bridegroom was the one who would go to the paternal house of the bride. He would lead the bride to the house of the groom. That was the job of the friend of the bridegroom.
He represented the bridegroom. He went to the bride’s house, and usually at night the wedding procession began. There would be music, of course.
The bride would be escorted by her bridesmaids and relatives. Sometimes they were on mules, and sometimes porters would carry the furniture and other things. They would go to the husband’s house.
As they proceeded at night with torches and lamps, the whole city would be stirred. People would stand in the streets or look from balconies. They would distribute wine and oil to people, and nuts to the children.
It was almost a religious duty for all the onlookers, when the wedding procession passed by, to praise the beauty, the merits, and the wealth of the bride.
This would continue until they reached the house of the bridegroom. Now, that is where the confusion comes in.
From what I can gather, when the bride came to the bridegroom’s house to be married, the bridegroom was elsewhere. He was not there. He could not be there. He had to stay in the home of a relative or friend.
There he had his friends around him. They would sing, perhaps write poetry, and celebrate. They would have a very good time together until the bridegroom said, “Now we can start.” Usually, it was almost midnight.
Then another procession began. He was a rider, and his friends were with him. With torches and lamps, they began to go through the streets toward his own house.
Of course, voices would be raised: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh! Behold, the bridegroom cometh!” This announcement would be relayed again and again.
The bride was waiting in the house after a very busy day. The bridesmaids were busy too, waiting and waiting. They never knew when the bridegroom would come, and usually at midnight some went to sleep.
Suddenly the voice arrived: “The bridegroom cometh!” They all rose up. Now, that was the Bible story, was it not?
After the bridegroom came, there was the marriage. Actually, the marriage itself was very simple.
When the friend of the bridegroom heard the voice of the bridegroom, he said, “I am happy.” Why? Because his duty was finished. His mission was fulfilled.
Dear brothers and sisters, John said, “I am the friend of the Bridegroom. When I hear the voice of the Bridegroom, oh, my joy is filled.” Why? Because I have fulfilled my mission. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Dear brothers and sisters, John, as the friend of the Bridegroom, prepared the way for the Bridegroom. He made all the preparations and negotiations until he was able to lead the bride to the Bridegroom’s house.
How did he prepare the people? Historically, we know that all the early disciples of our Lord Jesus were disciples of John.
Those who rejected the baptism of John rejected Christ. But those who received the baptism of John unto repentance received the Lord Jesus, because they were prepared. They were led to Christ.
How did John prepare people for Christ? What was the message God used through him to prepare the people?
When John cried in the wilderness, what did he say?
Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Oh, brothers and sisters, for four hundred years God had not spoken to His people.
You remember in the days of Eli, it is said that the word of God was rare and vision was seldom. That was bad enough. But now, at that time, there was absolutely no vision and no word for four hundred years.
Perhaps you think, how could the children of Israel, how could the returned remnant, how could the Jews continue to exist for four hundred years without the Word of God? But they did. Everything went on as usual.
In outward appearance, they were the most religious people. It was a nation waiting for the Messiah; but when the Messiah came, they were frightened.
What was God’s message to His people, to prepare a people for the Lord? There was only one message, and the message was: repent.
Dear brothers and sisters, it was a strange voice. Even in John’s time, no wonder the Pharisees and scribes rejected the message of John. They rejected the baptism of John because they thought it was a wrong message.
They thought that message should be given to the Gentiles. The Gentiles needed to repent. “We Jews, the chosen people of God—we worship God, we have the oracles of God in our hands, we offer sacrifices, we are God’s chosen people. Do we need to repent?”
“Perhaps we need to be reformed. Perhaps we need to be improved. But certainly not to repent.” That is why they rejected that message, that voice.
What is repentance? What is repentance?
The Greek word for repentance means a change of mind. It is a change of mind by one hundred and eighty degrees.
It is not merely a little correction or a small deviation. It is a complete turnaround. When you are going in one direction, you must turn around and go in the other direction. That is repentance.
That is why John baptized people. What is baptism?
When you go into the water, you repent of your past—your past sins, your past life, your past success, your past moral achievement, everything that is yours. You consider it worthy to die.
It is put out of sight. When you come out of the water, you are a new person. In other words, it is not reform. It is not merely a little change. It is death, burial, and resurrection. Now, that is repentance.
You need not only repent of the sins you have committed; you need to repent of the good that you have done. Now, will you do that?
Is it wrong to offer sacrifices in the temple? God commanded us to do that. Is it wrong to read the Torah, the five books of Moses? Certainly God commanded us to meditate upon it.
Is it wrong to pray to God? Certainly we should. Is it wrong to go into the synagogue and assemble together? Certainly we should. Is it wrong to exhort one another and encourage one another? Certainly we should.
Oh, brothers and sisters, hear the voice of God to the people preparing for the Bridegroom: even these have to be reconsidered.
Why? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, not merely because you have sinned, but because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
All that you have done will not get you into that kingdom. You have to repent. The time has changed. The reality has come; the shadows must pass away.
If you hold on to the shadow, you will pass away. Holding on to the shadow is a sin from which you have to repent.
Brothers and sisters, no wonder the Pharisees and scribes rose up against John and against Christ.
Once upon a time, there was a great convention. Theologians and professors gathered together for a convention on Christian truth. They discussed different truths in the Bible.
All these learned doctors wrote their dissertations and read them. One of the topics was repentance. These worthy—or unworthy—doctors of divinity all wrote great dissertations and presented them to the audience.
The more they presented their dissertations on repentance, the more confused the people became.
Finally, an elderly missionary, retired from the foreign field, with white hair, was sitting at the back. He was not a learned person, not a theologian, just a missionary in a foreign land for many, many years.
He listened, and he could not stand it anymore. So he raised his hand. The chairman said, “What do you want?” He said, “Will you please give me five minutes to speak on that subject?”
The chairman looked at that white-haired missionary. He knew that this missionary was not a learned doctor. What could he say? But because he had been such a missionary in the field for many years, out of respect he said, “All right, I will give you five minutes.”
This missionary got up from his chair at the very end of the auditorium and began walking toward the platform. As he was walking, he shouted, “I am going to hell! I am going to hell!”
Oh, he electrified the whole audience. People looked at that missionary. He shouted all the way to the platform.
When he got to the platform, he turned around, faced the audience, and raised his hand. He said, “I am going to heaven. I am finished.”
This is repentance. I think this is the best dissertation on repentance. What is repentance? You were heading in one direction; now you turn around and head toward heaven. Yes, repentance.
Brothers and sisters, how did John, as the friend of the Bridegroom, negotiate the marriage? How did he prepare the people for Christ? With the message of repentance.
“Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” All those who repented came to the Lord. They eventually became the bride for the Bridegroom.
Dear brothers and sisters, historically, of course, this was already fulfilled. John’s mission was fulfilled because he had prepared people for Christ. When they ran to Christ, he lost them; but he was happy because the Bridegroom had the bride.
He was not holding anybody to himself. “I am just a friend of the Bridegroom, just a voice. The voice will pass away, but He shall remain forever.” Historically, it was already fulfilled.
But, dear brothers and sisters, spiritually, in spiritual application, do you know that in the time of John the Baptist, the Bridegroom was just coming into the world to find His bride?
But today we are approaching the day when the Bridegroom will return to claim His bride.
Do you not think that as the marriage day is so close, the negotiation has to be more intense and the preparation has to be more intense? Do you not believe that there should be people like John raised up?
Now, here I want you to use your imagination. It is true that we are the virgins. Those redeemed by the Lord are the virgins. We are the bride whom the Lord is coming to claim.
But in another sense, we are also the friends of the Bridegroom. We are everything because He is everything.
Let us use our imagination. Here we are, the friends of the Bridegroom. What is our mission?
Our Bridegroom has committed to us this matter of negotiating and consummating a marriage relationship between Him and His church.
As friends of the Bridegroom, dear brothers and sisters, we are supposed to prepare people for the Lord. When He comes back, He should find a bride who has made herself ready.
How are we going to make that wife ready? What is the message of the day?
Dear brothers and sisters, I feel very deeply in my heart that the message of the day for God’s people is: repent, for the Bridegroom is coming.
Do we need to repent?
What is the message of the risen Lord to His seven churches in Asia? If you read Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, you will find that out of the seven churches, His message to five of them is, “Repent.”
Do we need to repent? Do we appear as a very godly people? Do we look like a very religious people?
Do we not meet every Lord’s Day? Do we not go to prayer meeting? Do we not engage in Christian activities? Are we not reading the Bible? Are we not doing all these things?
If you want to find any people who are religious, pious, godly, and loving the Lord, perhaps you think we are that people.
But, dear brothers and sisters, is God speaking to you? When was the last time you heard His voice? When was the last time you saw Him? I am not speaking physically; I am speaking in your spirit. Do you see Him today?
You may say, “Five years ago, I was filled with the Holy Spirit.” How about today? Do you see Him? Do you hear Him?
Has your religious life become a routine, traditional?
Repent, because you have lost your first love.
Your labor may go on. Your knowledge is with you. But where is your love, your first love for the Lord? Oh, when you first loved Him, you did not think of yourself. But now you think a great deal of yourself.
Repent if you have lost your first love. Repent if you have loved the world, because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.
The message of the Lord to the church in Pergamum is: repent, because the church has mingled with the world. You cannot see the difference between the world and the church. Are we separated?
Are we doing what the people of the world are doing—perhaps even worse? Are we seeking the things that the people of the world are seeking—perhaps more?
Repent. Repent if we have become so complicated that we have lost the simplicity that is toward Christ.
The church in Sardis: repent. We keep a name that we are living, but actually we are dead.
Repent if we have lost touch with spiritual reality. We live an unreal Christian life. We think we are rich. We think we see. But we are blind; we are naked.
We have lost touch with reality. Oh, brothers and sisters, if the Lord should come tonight, will He find us ready for Him?
Do you not think that there is much in us that needs to be repented of? Oh, that God’s people may repent in dust and ashes.
God dwells with a broken and contrite heart. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Where is that brokenness? Where is the contrition of God’s people?
Dear brothers and sisters, we are not ready if we do not repent. If we think we are better than other people, if we think that we know more than other people, if we think that we have done more for the Lord than other people, I am afraid we will be like the Pharisees and the scribes.
I do believe the message of the Lord for His people today is: repent.
If we repent, He will receive us. He will make us ready. He will give us grace that we may be clothed with bright, shining linen, which is the righteous acts of the saints.
Dear brothers and sisters, as friends of the Bridegroom, let us raise that voice to God’s people, calling God’s people to repentance. We cannot go on like this, because the Lord is coming soon.
All the valleys must be filled. All the mountains must be leveled. The crooked places must be straightened. All the rough places must be made smooth, because the Lord is coming soon.
Oh, if we should hear the voice of the Bridegroom, our joy will be filled. He must increase; we must decrease.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we want to praise and thank Thee because before the midnight cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh,” Thou dost send a voice in the wilderness, calling Thy people to repentance.
That Thy people may be prepared and ready to receive Thee. Oh, our cry to Thee tonight is: May that voice be heard. May Thy people repent. Amen.
May Thy people have a broken and contrite heart. Amen. May Thy people look to Thee, wait for Thee, and be ready for Thee.
In Thy precious name. Amen.