AMONG YOU STANDS ONE YOU DO NOT KNOW
JOHN 1:19-28

John’s stated purpose;
JOHN 20:30–31
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

A man set apart from conception;
NUMBERS 6:2–6
2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. 5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. 6 All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.”

LUKE 1:14–17
14 “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

The popularity and effect of John;
MARK 1:5
5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

MATTHEW 11:11
11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Opposed by the ‘Jews’;
JOHN 7:1
1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

JOHN 9:22
22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

JOHN 4:22
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

A justified questioning;
DEUTERONOMY 18:20
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.

A common speculation;
LUKE 3:15
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ.

JOHN 3:28
28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

JOHN 4:26
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

A right identity begins in knowing who we are not.
Knowledge of one’s need for a Savior is necessary to know the Savior.

Confusion over Elijah;
MALACHI 4:5
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

2 KINGS 2:11
11 And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

MATTHEW 11:13–14
13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

MATTHEW 17:12
12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased…

LUKE 1:17
17 …and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

The Prophet?;
DEUTERONOMY 18:15–18
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

ACTS 3:22
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.”

ACTS 7:37
37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’

MATTHEW 17:5
5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

A voice;
ISAIAH 40:3–5
3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Profound humility coupled with profound dignity.
Our highest purpose and greatest dignity are found in pointing away from ourselves and to Messiah.

Those most knowledgeable in the prophecies did not recognize the Messiah;
JOHN 5:39
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.

Experts in the Scriptures, ignorant of the point of the Scriptures.
It is possible to possess intimate knowledge of the Scriptures while not knowing the God of the Scriptures.

Why are you baptizing?;
EZEKIEL 36:25
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

EZEKIEL 37:23
23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

John administers the sign. Christ brings the substance.
The water baptism administered by John was pointless without the Lamb that would actually take away sin.

9/14/2025