A man sent from God

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." 

-John 1:6

John the Baptist was not a seminary-trained preacher; he had no formal education. He was not instructed in the schools of higher learning approved by the religious hierarchy of his day. He did not seek after nor did he have the backing of the ecclesiastical authorities. He did not minister in a synagogue and he was not invited to preach within the temple walls of Jerusalem. If you wanted to hear God’s man proclaim God’s message you had to go out to the wilderness to listen to him. He refused to be identified with the leadership of Judaism, and the first time some of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to hear him preach and see him baptize, he used that opportunity to denounce those men who believed and taught salvation by works as being "a generation of vipers" (Matthew 3:7). His message was, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Had you lived in his day and desired to hear from God, he was the man you went to hear for he "was a man sent from God."

Here we are today, more than two thousand years later. Have things changed with regard to those men God sends forth with His message and the established religious world? No, not really. The Lord’s servants still do not need nor seek after the approval of organized religion. They refuse to be identified with the highly regarded religions of our day which are anti-grace, anti-God and anti-Christ. Ecclesiastical leaders still despise the Gospel of free grace. This world remains a dry and barren place full of spiritual error. In the religious realm, it remains true, "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). God’s servants continue refusing to be identified with those who despise the message of sovereign grace, no matter how powerful or influential those enemies may be.

Thank God there are a few "John the Baptists" who are sent of God with God’s message. They do not seek or want the approval, the education or the validation of this religious world. They are content to be taught of the Spirit and preach the gospel of Christ wherever God puts them. Speaking the truth in love with plainness of speech, from their hearts to the hearts of their hearers, they are out to impress no one, seeking only the glory of God and the welfare of their hearers. Like John, they are voices "crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight" (Luke 3:4). Their desire is, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30), and their message is, "Behold the Lamb of God."

-Gospel report by preacher Jim Byrd