John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’”John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me.
4 sermons cite this verse
… He says, look, this is the one I meant when I said, a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. They're like, what? He goes, yeah, this is who I said. The man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. They're like, well, you have been in the sun a long time. He's like, nevermind, just look. And then things take an interesting twist. And this is where the story begins to intersect with my life. And I think it intersects with all of our lives. In fact, if you're not a religious person or maybe of a different faith or not a Christian or you used to be one, this is where the story intersects with your life. The next day, the next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. And this is important to understand. John had his own disciples. In fact, John sent his disciples out into other parts of the world to preach the message that he was preaching. …
… and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The question we have is, is that worth the wait? Like, is what God has done, is that worth the wait? Because think about this, from the beginning of the story, from the actually very first story. Here's Genesis chapter one and two, chapter three, everything falls apart. But in the midst of Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, verse 15, God promises, he promises that there is going to be one who crushes the head of the serpent. There is gonna be one who restores all things. And then the whole rest of the story is people waiting from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, to the judges, to the kings, to the divided kingdom, to the civil war, to exile, through all the whole entire story, all the way to Jesus. is that worth the wait? I was thinking about, you know, this, think of right now, Christmas Day. I think a lot of us, we get really excited. …
… I wonder if you noticed something. John 1.15, it says, or rather Luke 1.15, it says about John, he will be great before the Lord, must not take drink, wine, or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. John would be filled with the Holy Spirit in utero. What evidence do we have of John being filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, it's when he starts kicking and elbowing and jumping for joy in the womb when Mary enters the room. For John to be as an unborn child filled with the Holy Spirit gives him this grace to communicate this excitement for Christ. Look at chapter 1, verse 41. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 42, she exclaimed with a loud voice. So Elizabeth too is filled with the Holy Spirit. We're seeing the fulfillment of the prophecy from Joel that the Holy Spirit will come upon sons and daughters. They will be filled with the Holy Spirit. …
… created the heaven and the earth. John is saying, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. That sentence in and of itself was enough to keep the theologians busy for three hundred years because on the one hand the Word is distinguished from God and then from a different perspective is identified with God. And since we looked at that somewhat closely during the Advent season, I'm just going to remind you that it's there as pregnant as it is in significance and is the basis basically more than anything else for the church's confession of Trinity. We read, He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him nothing was made that was made. So that Jesus who came to this earth is now identified as the incarnation of that member of the Trinity for whom, by whom, and in whom all things were made. So that what John is saying in extraordinary ways is this, the one I'm going to tell you about, the one that I want you to believe in, and the one in whom there is life is the one who created you in the first place. …